Boston COVID-19 Wastewater Levels Fall 47% In 2 Weeks

BOSTON, MA — COVID-19 particles in Boston’s wastewater continue to trend downward, decreasing by 47% over the past 14 days, the Boston Public Health Commission announced in a news release Thursday.

In addition, as of Sunday, new Boston COVID-19 cases per day decreased by 16% in two weeks, the agency said. Hospitalizations also dropped by 15 percent.

Data shows that COVID-19 levels in Boston-area wastewater reached their highest point in about a year in early January, though levels have steadily decreased since then. Levels in other locations across MA, including Peabody and Upper Blackstone, were higher than those of Boston and saw small spikes over two weeks before decreasing and leveling out, respectively, at the end of January.

Since early January—when data showed that the once-rare XBB.1.5 variant of the omicron strain had come to account for 75 percent of all cases in the region—the XBB domination has continued, now accounting for 83 percent of all viral particles sampled in wastewater.

The XBB, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 Omicron subvariants are currently the most antibody-resistant variants of COVID-19, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell in December by scientists affiliated with Columbia University and the University of Michigan.

The CDC states that the Omicron variant also spreads more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Delta variant. However, symptoms are generally milder, and unlike the Delta variation, the Omicron strain often affects the upper-respiratory tract rather than the lungs, Dr. Karine Markosyan, a physician at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Medical Center, told Unicef in March 2022.

As experts continue to emphasize that vaccination is the best way to prevent severe disease, the Boston Public Health Commission announced it will keep offering free COVID-19 vaccines at sites throughout the city at least through the end of 2023.

“Offering free COVID-19 vaccines has been an indispensable part of our pandemic response in Boston and will become even more important as the national public health emergency ends,” Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission and Commissioner of Public Health said, according to the news release.