you should always use it! to help you remember, there’s a toggle in your accessibility settings that won’t let you post til you add alt text.

Wastewater monitoring for different COVID strains has opened the door to monitoring sewage for different diseases and even illicit drugs. We may update our tracker with more features in the future, so bookmark this and check back regularly at: www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...

Besides following your local health department, follow @thesicktimes.bsky.social, a long COVID accountability and investigative publication run by @betsyladyzhets.bsky.social and @mileswgriffis.bsky.social, and other folks monitoring long COVID advocacy and impacts (6/7)

Local and state health departments have created dashboards displaying wastewater levels along with death, hospitalization and case data.
coronavirus.marinhhs.org/surveillance (Marin County)
covid19.sccgov.org/dashboard-wa... (Santa Clara County)
www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID... (CDPH)

This being said, COVID wastewater levels are one of several reliable indicators of whether there’s a surge in your community. If levels are higher than normal in your area, consider protecting yourself by masking up, washing your hands often and/or getting an air purifier. (4/7)

Public health researchers agree that JUST looking at wastewater data isn’t enough to make community-level health decisions or gauge how much COVID exposure risk there is in a community. (3/7)

We realized when we first launched this tracker back in May that this is NOT a post-COVID era. There are still thousands of cases and hospitalizations every week nationwide, and the number of people experiencing long COVID is increasing. (2/7)