ESCANABA — Despite the warm weather, the virus responsible for COVID-19 hasn’t taken a vacation.

According to the Sentinel Wastewater Epidemiology Evaluation Project (SWEEP), which monitors the amount of detectible DNA from the virus in select wastewater treatment plants across the state, June has been a mixed bag for the virus in Escanaba. Data from the June 17 sample shows that there was more detectable DNA than 13% of all samples collected at the plant since Escanaba began participating in the program in August of 2021. The sample from only six days earlier, June 12, shows more viral DNA than 67% of samples.

From June 5 through June 12, the city appeared to have a steady increase in viral activity, going from the 15th percentile on June 5, to the 39th percentile on June 10, and the 67th on June 12.

While June 17’s 13th percentile is a significant drop, looking at a changes based on a single sample may be misleading. Changes in collection methods or data recording can lead to significant changes in trend data. As of the 17th, viral activity was reported as as dropping between 1% and 9% over the last 15-day period.

Still, even the lower percentile values suggest the virus is still active in the community. It is impossible to know exactly how many people are infected based on sewer data alone, as even between infected individuals viral load can vary greatly and many people who are infected how no symptoms.

At the start of the pandemic, when testing was done exclusively by professionals in controlled settings and test results were reported to the state, data about the number of infected individuals was much more accurate. However, as home testing became the norm, state-reporting became less accurate and many publicly-available reporting dashboards were retired entirely.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) still maintains one reporting dashboard that shows the number of newly-discovered infections found in healthcare settings each week for each Michigan county. For the week of June 15, the last available data set, there were 20 new cases in the U.P. and one death. A disproportionate amount of new cases came from Delta County.

The MDHHS numbers for the week of June 15 are as follows:

Gogebic – 1

Ontonagon – 0

Houghton – 3, 1 death

Keweenaw – 0

Iron – 1

Baraga – 0

Dickinson – 1

Marquette – 3

Menominee – 2

Delta – 6

Alger – 0

Schoolcraft – 2

Luce – 0

Mackinac – 0

Chippewa – 1