Regional, state and federal data all point to a seasonal uptick in COVID-19 infections in Washington state and East Jefferson County, with data from the City of Port Townsend’s wastewater treatment plant showing very high levels of viral activity, underscoring this trend, according to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH).

Indeed, on July 23, DOH data gathered at Port Townsend’s wastewater treatment plant showed 1 million gene copies per liter of wastewater and a seven-day rolling average concentration of 191 million.

By Aug. 20, DOH data indicated viral levels had spiked to 6 million gene copies per liter and a seven-day rolling average concentration for SARS-CoV-2 at more than 2 billion.

By Aug. 27, the DOH classified the waste water viral activity level at the Port Townsend treatment plant as “very high,”which is the agency’s highest ranking for a facility’s viral activity.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can shed the virus in their feces, which means waste water can be used to detect and track virus trends in a community. Waste water, according to the DOH, includes water from sewers that can contain human urine.

As of Aug.  26, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that, in addition to Washington state, COVID-19 infections are growing in 30 other states. Four states, according to the agency appear in decline, with the epidemic’s status not changing in 12 states.

While current viral levels in Port Townsend’s wastewater appears high, COVID-19 related hospital occupancy for the Olympic Community of Health region shows no hospital occupancy for the week of Aug. 17 to Aug. 23, this, contrasted against a 4.5% hospital occupancy rate for roughly the same time period in August 2023 and 2024. 

The Olympic region includes Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.

Nationally, CDC early indicators for COVID-19 show positive test results at 11.2% of those testing for COVID-19, while 1.5% of those visiting emergency rooms were ultimately diagnosed with COVID-19. Nationally, the hospitalization rate hovers at 1.7 per 100,00 with 0.5% of deaths nationally were due to COVID-19.

As of June, when the CDC updated its variant tracker, the Covid variant NB.1.8.1. — nicknamed “Nimbus” — accounted for the most cases in the United States, around 43 percent. Currently, the dominant variant has changed to XFG, with CDC numbers showing it responsible for upwards of 78% of the cases.

The XFG variant does not appear to make people sicker than other recent strains of the virus, but it does have a few additional mutations that might make it more transmissible and better at evading the immune system’s defenses.

Two Port Townsend residents recently stricken with COVID-19 said this time around, “it hit fast and hard.”

According to the county health department, free home tests are available for those with symptoms at the Brinnon Fire Department, Discovery Bay Fire Department, the Jefferson County Library, the county public health office and Quilcene Fire Department.