COVID wanes in Palm Beach County, but flu and one other disease are popping up

COVID-19 levels in Palm Beach County have receded to their pre-July lows, but a strain of the flu and a nauseating stomach illness are spreading, the latest sewage tests show.

Recent wastewater samples from the Jupiter-area Loxahatchee River District show the lowest coronavirus concentration since summer started. But sewage testing also reveals the spread of the flu and norovirus infections.

“It appears the increase in COVID trends that began in July have dropped back down,” district Information Services Director Bud Howard said Tuesday by email. “However, the concentrations indicate that there is certainly still COVID circulating in the community.” Viral particle counts are more than twice as high as spring 2021, Biobot data shows.

Previously: Is COVID surge coming to an end in Palm Beach County again? Here's the latest to know

Wastewater samples from the Jupiter-area Loxahatchee River District had about 313 coronavirus particles per milliliter, testing from Sept. 18 shows. It’s the lowest level since June 28, around the time the latest surge started, save for a one-time dip July 5. Boston-based private laboratory Biobot Analytics conducted those tests.

The national WastewaterSCAN initiative found about 73.5 viral particles per milligram of Loxahatchee River District sewage on Sept. 20, down from more than 100,000 during August.

Hospitals across Florida tended to 1,554 COVID-positive patients as of Sept. 16, down from nearly 2,000 earlier in the month, the latest data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows.

Measuring COVID through case counts alone has become impossible because most people take at-home tests, whose results rarely show up in official statistics. But measures such as sewage and hospitalizations can show how widespread or severe COVID is.

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The flu is back in Palm Beach County

As Loxahatchee River District sewage shows the current COVID surge shrinking, it also reveals the flu is surging.

WastewaterSCAN found eight particles of Influenza B for each milligram of sewage sample tested Sept. 20, up from nothing in early September. It’s the highest amount WastewaterSCAN found since it started testing district sewage for flu viruses in December.

Influenza B is one of the four types of flu viruses, the others being A, C and D. B-type viruses are much less dangerous than A-types, which are the only ones known to cause pandemics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The Loxahatchee River District has not detected Influenza A in its sewage since last winter.

About 26% of recent positive flu tests are Influenza B, according to the latest CDC data collected during the week ending Sept. 16. But just 0.8% of flu tests came back positive during that week for either A or B.

But WastewaterSCAN testing has found a rising concentration of norovirus in district sewage. Noroviruses inflame the stomach and intestines, leading to diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain.It is rarely fatal.

Tests conducted Sept. 20 found more than 6,600 viral particles per milligram of sewage, nearly three times as many as what was recorded Aug. 28, but about 76% less than in March.

People can catch this stomach bug through their mouths, the CDC says. Touching people, food or objects that have the pathogen on them and putting your fingers in your mouth is one way to become infected, as is drinking from the same cup as an infected person’s.

There are no vaccines for a norovirus infection nor any drug to treat it, the CDC says. Infected people should drink plenty of liquids, the federal agency says. Washing hands helps prevent the virus' spread.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: COVID all but over in Palm Beach County as flu, stomach bug spreads