By the Daily Post staff
Tests on sewage in Palo Alto and Santa Clara County show Covid infections spiked last week and are now dropping.
The test results are in contrast to comments Public Health chief Dr. Sara Cody made to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Jan. 11. Instead of acknowledging the drop, which started two days earlier, she warned the supervisors of a “dramatic and really breathtaking explosion of cases.” Cody did acknowledge the drop in remarks on Friday, Jan. 14.
The county measures the quantity of Covid genes in sewage at treatment plans in Palo Alto, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Gilroy (see graphics). At the four locations, the highest levels of Covid since Dec. 3 were detected on Jan. 7. Since then, the levels have been dropping.
Scientists have said that nearly all of the new Covid cases are from the Omicron variant, which produces either mild or unnoticeable symptoms but spreads faster than previous mutations. Doctors in South Africa, where Omicron was first detected, and the U.K. have found that the variant is short-lived.
Other benchmarks, such as positive test rates and hospitalizations, are considered lagging indicators because they show the extent of the variant days ago, but not at the moment.
Thank you for the factual reporting. I’ve grown weary of the fear porn most of the media is dispensing about Covid. I appreciate the factualy, non-sensationalistic approach the Post takes.
Hear! Hear! Much respect for Post’s sober reporting on Covid.
Now that Omicron is fading away, whatever will Dr Cody do to stir fear amongst residents and extend mask-wearing rules? Maybe this year’s common cold is enough to force lockdowns and school closures?
They will find (fabricate) a new variant to keep the fear hysteria going. One thing to keep in mind, leaving aside public officials’ and politicians’ desire for power and control, is the vaccines that are being administered are under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status, meaning that there has to be an “emergency” and no adequate/alternative treatments available…or the EUA status – and liability shield – gets yanked. So-called “cases” and “Covid hospitalizations” are necessary for those reasons.