Amount of COVID-19 virus in St. Paul wastewater decreased from last week
ST. PAUL, Minn – The amount of COVID-19 found in St. Paul's wastewater is down from last week.
The total amount of the COVID-19 virus entering St. Paul's Metro Plant last week decreased by 22% compared to the levels two weeks ago.
As Metropolitan Council cites in their report, the viral load had been steadily increasing for several weeks.
According to the report, COVID-19 variant BA.5 made up 81% of the load. Variant XBB made up 15% of the COVID-19 RNA found in St. Paul's wastewater. It nearly doubled from the previous week's level of 8%.
XBB is a relatively new variant of COVID-19, and its explosive rise is being tracked by the CDC.
The amount of COVID-19 RNA found in wastewater is indicative of how many individuals are currently sick with COVID-19.