Local COVID-19 updates

As of 4PM this afternoon, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is reporting 93 more deaths from COVID-19 (for a total of 6,640 to date), 675 new cases (for a total of 94,895) and 10,179 more tests reported (for a total of 562,323). The ratio of new cases to new test results is 6.7%.

This makes three days in a row of rising deaths and two days in a row of rising new cases. Not good at all. The Boston Globe's coverage of today's numbers stressed that three of the four "Dashboard of Public Health Indicators" numbers "remained stable or trended downward"; that's all very well and good, but seeing upticks in anything ten days after starting to permit non-essential businesses to reopen is, in my not terribly official opinion, incredibly goddamn bad.

Also, today the Boston Marathon (already postponed from April) was officially cancelled for the first time in the century-plus history of the race. Not surprising, given just how dangerous it would be, gathering a million spectators together to watch thirty thousand runners breathing as hard as humanly possible.

In slightly more positive news, the folks at StatNews are reporting that there's strong evidence that testing sewage could provide an accurate early warning system of COVID-19 outbreaks:

What only a month ago had been merely an intriguing laboratory finding about analyzing wastewater to detect the virus that causes Covid-19 has quickly leapt to the threshold of real-world use.

With swab tests still plagued by capacity issues, inaccuracy, and slow turnaround, testing wastewater for the novel coronavirus’ genetic signature could give communities a faster way to spot a rebound in cases — as soon as this fall.

"There is real hope that this can be a sensitive, early warning" if, as officials ease social distancing measures, Covid-19 begins to spread again, said Peter Grevatt, CEO of the nonprofit Water Research Foundation. "Several labs have achieved a proof-of-concept in terms of demonstrating the ability to detect the RNA [genetic material] of the virus in wastewater." Studies in the U.S. and the Netherlands, among others, have shown you can pick up a signal about a week before the first clinical case.

I'll take any good news at this point.

Still no update from the town of Acton; the last report was on Tuesday the 26th, which listed 165 cumulative cases, 47 individuals in isolation, 97 persons recovered and 21 deaths.