City health officials are asking residents of a Baltimore housing development to get tested after elevated levels of COVID-19 were detected in its wastewater.
The Housing Authority of Baltimore City announced on Monday that it began notifying residents of Latrobe Homes that one or more residents or visitors to the development were likely infected with COVID-19.
The Baltimore City Health Department said it would be conducting free testing out of a daycare center on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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“Protecting our residents’ health and wellbeing is our number one job,” Janet Abrahams, HABC president and CEO, said in a statement. “This innovative detection program is working exactly the way we had hoped it would, giving us a chance to stop a spread before it starts.”
Abrahams called on all who may have been exposed to get tested in order to curb the virus’s spread.
“We have all been encouraged to see the number of COVID cases drop nationally and in Maryland in recent weeks, but we are not letting down our guard,” she said. “That is why I am asking everyone in the Latrobe community to take the short time needed this week to receive a test.”
The statement said inspectors have been monitoring COVID-19 levels in HABC communities’ wastewater for two months and that the recent incident represents the first time elevated levels have been detected.
The HABC’s language echoed recent sentiments from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which argued that a lack of vigilance could result in a fourth wave of the virus during a press conference on Monday.
“These variants are a very real threat to our people and our progress. Now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know can stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, not when we are so close,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. “We have the ability to stop a potential fourth surge of cases in this country. Please stay strong in your conviction. Continue wearing your well-fitted mask and taking other public health prevention actions that we know work.”
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On Monday, Maryland recorded 603 new cases of the coronavirus, according to data collected by the New York Times. The state’s daily case numbers have been steadily decreasing since Jan. 9, when it recorded 3,754 new cases. In total, Maryland has reported 383,352 COVID-19 cases and 7,905 deaths related to the virus. In Baltimore County, 51,096 cases have been reported, along with 1,284 related deaths.
