‘All signs are looking good’: Boston area COVID-19 wastewater data shows we’re past the omicron surge

Wastewater COVID-19 data shows some good news from the last few weeks.

Biobot, a Cambridge company that tracks the concentration of COVID-19 in wastewater across the country, is now showing data that indicates we have moved past the omicron surge.

In fact, our COVID-19 wastewater levels are back to the relatively low level they were at last fall.

Joseph Allen, a professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said in an interview with GBH that what we’re currently seeing is encouraging.

“Last year, after the surge in January, February, we had a plateau in March, if you remember, when the Alpha variant hit,” he told GBH. “And so far, the good news is we haven’t seen a plateau. In fact, it’s starting to be below the levels we saw last August right now. So all signs are looking good.”

Allen pointed out that wastewater COVID-19 data is one of the best leading unbiased indicators of where we are in the pandemic because it is not affected by COVID-19 testing rates or who does or doesn’t get tested.

When looking at differences from last year, Allen said, it is first important to recognize that omicron’s peak was astronomically high compared to other variant case peaks.

“While we’re on the back end of the surge, the peak was massive compared to last year, even through the alpha and delta surges. So that’s really quite different,” he said. “We’ve seen this around the world, where omicron hits, it hits fast and furious, but also drops fast and furious, which is a good thing.”

Another big difference, Allen told GBH, is that we now have a majority of the country vaccinated, and many people are also boosted. He also said that the huge omicron wave has begun creating an “immune wall” that has contributed to the sharp drop in cases we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Along with these drops in cases, though, comes the lifting of mask mandates before their reinstatement later when cases rise again.

Allen said this trend of enacting mask mandates, ending them, and reenacting them could very well continue for the next few years. He said it’s ok to enjoy the reprieve and then mask up again when the time is right.