ESCANABA — While the full effects of the holiday season won’t be known for several weeks, the amount of DNA from the virus responsible for COVID-19 has remained low in the Escanaba area this month.

According to the Sentinel Wastewater Epidemiology Evaluation Project (SWEEP), a state-run project that tracks the amount of detectable DNA from the virus in select sewersheds across the state, the last sample submitted by the Escanaba Waste Water Treatment Plant contained more viral DNA than only 9% of all samples submitted by the treatment plant since the city began participating in the program in August of 2021. The sample was dated for Dec. 11.

With the exception of the sample dated for Dec. 9 — which contained more DNA than 61% of samples from the city and may have been the result of an error — all of Escanaba’s samples have contained only small amounts of detectable DNA. On Dec. 4, the sample contained more DNA than only 6% of samples, and on Dec. 2, the sample is recorded as having more viral DNA than 0% of samples from the site.

Despite the Dec. 2 sample being marked as being in the zeroth percentile, the sample did contain viral DNA. According to SWEEP, the water plant had seen 76 consecutive weeks of virus detection as of Dec. 11.

It is impossible to know how many individuals are actively infected with COVID-19 at any given point in time based on the amount of viral DNA in sewage alone. Not all people infected with the virus ever develop symptoms and even among those that do, viral load can vary greatly from person to person. However, lower amounts of viral DNA do correlate with a reduction in the number of cases reported by healthcare providers.

During the early days of the pandemic, when testing for the virus could only be done in healthcare settings and all results were reported to the state, there were more publicly-available metrics to track active infections. As at-home testing became the norm and most cases were no longer being reported, many of the infection tracking programs were retired.

The Michigan Department Health and Human Services has continued to report the number of cases identified in healthcare settings across the state. Based off this data, the state as a whole is experiencing significantly fewer cases of the virus than was seen this time last year. On Dec. 14 of this year, 2,096 cases were reported statewide, while on Dec. 16  of 2023, 10,322 cases were identified with numbers continuing to climb.

While the number of cases reported last year was falling by Dec. 16 in Delta County, with 59 cases reported, the number of infections still far outpaced this year’s infections. On Dec. 14, 2024, only 9 cases were reported.

The number of cases reported the week of Dec. 14 by MDHHS for each U.P. county is as follows:

Gogebic – 4

Ontonagon – 1

Houghton – 7

Keweenaw – 0

Iron – 1

Baraga – 3

Dickinson – 25

Marquette – 10

Menominee – 4

Delta – 9

Alger – 1

Schoolcraft – 0

Luce – 1

Mackinac – 0

Chippewa – 8