Wastewater WEDNESDAY - 4/2/25

Would you look at that - it's actually Wednesday today! I'll take the wins where I can get them. So let's get right to it, because the 💩 doesn't lie!

COVID

We are in our spring lull right now, which makes it a good time to take care of all those doctor, dentist, eye doctor, and other medical appointments you might have been putting off. (Though I would still STRONGLY urge you to mask up in healthcare settings especially; not only are they the places where sick people go, but also they are places where disabled and immunocompromised folks can't avoid needing to go, and I would hope that if you're the type of person who's bothering to read this blog, that means you're the type of person who cares about others enough to protect them!)

Speaking of the dentist, if you're looking for a way to make it safer, I can personally attest to the fact that Lisa Foreman's Readimask nose mask hack does work - for details and the fit test info to prove it, you can check out Gerard Hughes' video here:

Readimasks are also handy for the eye doctor, because they don't get in the way of the equipment. But I digress.

The only sewershed currently showing a significant increase is Portage. Unfortunately it's a bit of a doozie - they're seeing a near vertical rise right now, which seems to match the pattern of previous spikes:

Portage aside, the rest of the state is in reasonably good shape right now, compared to a month ago. But that doesn't mean we should let our guard down. Yes, I realize that makes me sound like an unreasonable killjoy, but think about it - the best time to prevent an infection from happening is BEFORE it happens. And just because numbers are lower now than they were before does NOT mean that the virus is gone. It only takes one infectious person to get you sick, and according to PMC data, 1 in every 142 people is currently infectious right now. That means if you're walking into a school, or getting on an airplane, or going to a concert, or even going to a particularly busy Costco, odds are, you might run across someone who's infectious.

Even in a room full of 30 students, there's still an almost 20% chance that someone in there is infectious. And people are contagious before they show symptoms, and often even after symptoms resolve. So keep masking up when you share air. Future you will thank you for it.

Influenza

In more good news, we are finally through the worst of our absolutely massive influenza wave, and, knock on wood, we didn't get a large secondary wave of Influenza B.

Measles

But in bad news, the U.S. measles outbreak is out of control.

Once upon a time, the United States had eliminated measles. But in 2025, there have already been over 500 cases, and at least one death.

The outbreak is centered in Texas and New Mexico, but as of now, there are 19 states reporting cases: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.

I'll write more about measles in another upcoming post, but for now I just want to mention that there are a LOT of schools in Wisconsin that are under the vaccination threshold required for herd immunity (the real kind) and stopping measles transmission. If/when it gets here, it will be bad. We are one of the least vaccinated states in the nation, and measles is one of the most contagious diseases of all time.

The measles vaccine is highly effective, though. As is one other tool: a well-fitting, well-sealed respirator. Take advantage of both.

Addendum

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