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Well that COVID wastewater drop didn’t last very long.

The closely watched Boston-area COVID-19 wastewater data is climbing once again after it briefly started falling in April. The north-of-Boston COVID wastewater average has jumped 38% in the last week, and the south-of-Boston average has increased 25%.

This rise in the local virus wastewater samples comes after spring school vacation week and holiday gatherings — and as Massachusetts last week hit a three-month high for most COVID cases in a single day. The omicron BA.2 variant continues to spread, along with the subvariant BA.2.12.1.

“I expected this,” Matthew Fox, a Boston University School of Public Health epidemiology professor, said about the wastewater ticking up. “We had the school breaks in late April and so you had lots of people traveling and mixing again.

“We nearly always see an increase after the holidays,” he added. “We will have to wait and see if this leads to a large uptick or a small one. I’m still hopeful for a small one.”

The sewage data is the earliest sign of future virus cases in the community. COVID wastewater levels are rising in Suffolk County, Essex County and Middlesex County, according to wastewater monitoring from Biobot Analytics.

The north of Boston’s COVID wastewater average had dropped to 502 copies per milliliter on April 26. Since then, the average has risen to 692 copies per milliliter — with the highest single-day count of 953 copies on Thursday.

The south of Boston’s average had gone down to 531 copies on April 23. Now, the southern average is up to 664 copies.

As the wastewater data has climbed, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health this week reported the highest daily virus case count in more than three months. The state reported more than 4,000 infections on Thursday, while the state’s average percent positivity is approaching 7%.

The wastewater numbers ticking back up again is “worrisome although not too surprising,” said Davidson Hamer, a Boston University School of Public Health infectious diseases specialist.

“The subvariant, BA.2.12.1, is on the rise in Massachusetts and New England,” Hamer said. “This may explain the rise in new cases.

“We may be looking at another ripple or perhaps the beginning of another real wave,” he added. “Good news is the weather will be nice later this week so people can spend more time outside.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention variant tracker for New England shows that the omicron BA.2 variant makes up about 71% of new virus cases, while the omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 has jumped to 28% of new infections. The subvariant BA.2.12.1 appears to be more even more contagious than BA.2.

BOSTON —

Many areas of Massachusetts are seeing an uptick of COVID-19 cases, including the city of Boston.

The rise of cases also comes as some large events are being held in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

For instance, the Duckling Day Parade from the Parkman Bandstand in Boston Common to the "Make Way for Ducklings" sculpture in the Public Garden was held Sunday, the first such celebration since 2019.

In addition, the popular "Lilac Sunday" event returned to Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Boston for the first time in three years.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was on hand for the Duckling Day Parade, which drew hundreds of children and their families.

Wu said there are no plans to reinstitute a mask mandate for the city, but she said the Boston Public Health Commission is closely monitoring the number of positive COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 hospitalizations and waste water testing data.

"If you look back at historic data from pandemics in the past, often Year 3 is when there's a little bit of fatigue about living with these policies, but the virus is still very much here," the mayor said.

The BPHC voted to drop Boston's indoor mask mandate starting on March 5. But late last month, the city's health commission released new safety precautions, which included a renewed push to wear masks while inside crowded places.

Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of infectious diseases at South Shore Health, said the increase of people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who are carrying antibodies will help combat the impact of future subvariants of the coronavirus.

"Even though the virus has gotten more contagious, we've also gotten stronger," Ellerin said. "Overall, I'm optimistic about the fact that we continue to uncouple cases from hospitalizations and deaths."

Ellerin said he is keeping an eye on the number of COVID-19 cases in Europe, which is often a predictor for what happens in North America. Europe saw a surge in COVID-19 cases in March, but that surge has since fallen.

The Boston Teachers Union is holding an emergency meeting Monday about the potential for the state to take over the school district. It's a process known as receivership, and in a letter, the union calls it an "undemocratic, racist takeover scheme."

"As many of you are aware, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been threatening for years an anti-democratic, racist takeover of our schools by putting us in Receivership," the union said in an email to its membership. "The threat is ramping up, with the possibility of a vote by the Board in less than two weeks."

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been threatening receivership due to concerns about the performances of Boston schools in recent years.

Right now, if Boston doesn't improve 34 underperforming schools, the state education commissioner could step in.

The teachers union is scheduled to hold what it is calling an "emergency town hall" at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Two years ago, DESE announced a memorandum of understanding with Boston aimed at addressing what it called "persistent challenges" identified in a review of the district. DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said in April that progress has been made on some of those issues, but concerns remain.

He decided to conduct a district review ahead of an update to state education board members.

The Pioneer Institute, an education think tank, is urging Massachusetts education officials to appoint a receiver to address what it calls the Boston Public School District’s “chronically low performing schools.”

Mayor Michelle Wu said earlier this year that Boston schools should not be placed under receivership. She said receivership would be "counterproductive" in light of some of the progress that is already being made.

"I continue to seek partnership with the state, welcome this chance to work with DESE on this review and will also continue to seek partnership with every entity across the city, every institution," she said.

Three Massachusetts districts -- Lawrence, Holyoke and Southbridge -- are currently under receivership, which involves the commissioner appointing a receiver tasked with leading the district and improving schools. Riley was previously the receiver in Lawrence.

The commissioner is able to appoint a receiver when the board designates a district as "chronically underperforming." That designation, according to DESE, is based on an analysis of "the findings of the most recent district review report, along with quantitative indicators such as promotion, graduation and dropout rates."

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Massachusetts, wastewater data shows levels continuing to climb upward.

Experts have said tracking wastewater data may be a more accurate indicator of the prevalence of the virus than case counts, with more people using at-home test kits and leaving results unreported to health authorities.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's tracking system, run by Cambridge-based Biobot, works by analyzing bits of genetic material in the Boston area's sewers to indicate how much of the virus is circulating in the community.

The data for Boston is collected from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's Deer Island wastewater treatment plant and analyzed by Cambridge-based Biobot Analytics three to seven times a week.

As of data with sampling collected through Friday, the Northern system, which includes Boston and surrounding northern communities was reporting a seven-day average around 1,000 RNA copies/mL. The Southern system average, representing the communities just south of Boston, was coming in around 1,100 copies/mL.

The last time Boston saw levels in this range was in February, and reflects levels previously only seen during winter month peaks. During the peak of the omicron surge, levels averaged just under 9,000 in the Northern System and over 11,000 in the neighboring Southern System.

Wastewater data has been found to be a leading indicator during the pandemic, giving an early warning for new waves. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been trending up in recent weeks. On Friday the state reported 4,654 new cases, 729 people hospitalized for COVID-19 (with 223 of them being primary cases) and nine new deaths.

What is causing the latest surge?

This latest increase is being attributed to subvariants of omicron -- the "stealth" omicron variant BA.2, and the BA.2. 12.1 subvariant, which health officials say appears to be up to 27% more contagious than BA.2. However, there is no data to indicate it causes more serious illness.

The subvariant now accounts for 40% of all virus circulating in New England, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Tuesday.

Will there be new mask mandates or other COVID-19 restrictions?

Despite the rising cases here, Massachusetts and the other New England states have yet to take any steps to bring back mask mandates or any other COVID-related restrictions that were relaxed following January's omicron-fueled surge.

But some schools in areas where transmission is high have already made the decision to recommend that students and staff start wearing masks again. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education dropped their mandate earlier this year. The city of Worcester issued an announcement last week "strongly encouraging residents to wear masks" in indoor public settings, but did not go so far as to mandate it.

All public schools in Brookline, Massachusetts, were closed Monday as educators went on strike, despite a last-minute emergency negotiating session with a mediator.

The Brookline School Committee and the Brookline Educators Union were not able to come to an agreement over the weekend, prompting the district to make the "difficult decision" to close all schools Sunday. The key sticking points were wages, teacher diversity and the amount of preparation time teachers get during the school day.

"There will simply not be the staffing capacity to operate all schools safely, nor can PSB provide the structured education required by the state for the day to legally count as a school," Superintendent Dr. Linus Guillory said in a statement posted online Sunday.

All public schools in Brookline, Massachusetts, are closed Monday as educators go on strike, despite a last-minute emergency negotiating session with a mediator.

Striking teachers and picket signs replaced school buses and students outside Brookline High School Monday morning. About 900 teachers from nine schools gathered outside of all the public school district buildings Monday to walk the picket line.

Negotiations were expected to continue Monday afternoon; school plans for Tuesday were expected to be announce by 6 a.m.

"It's been really hard," school psychologist Robin Toback said. "You know, we don't want to be out here today. We'd much rather be doing our jobs."

Brookline public school teachers announced plans to strike after mediators were not able to help the union and the school committee reach an agreement on parts of their contract over the weekend.

The Brookline School Committee released a statement Monday saying it was "profoundly saddened" that schools were closed, saying that the body had asked teachers not to strike Sunday.

"We again call on the BEU to cease and desist all strike activity so that we can focus our joint efforts on bargaining toward successful resolution. Brookline students must not be the victims of this situation any longer than they already have," the statement said.

Teachers called for change outside of the district's school buildings Monday.

“More time to get work done, more time to be with students, obviously with inflation, we’re talking about cost-of-living increases, and we have been met with really stonewalling tactics,” said Eric Schiff, a Brookline High guidance counselor and negotiations chair for the Brookline Educators Union.

The Brookline Educators Union acknowledges that the strike is illegal under state law, but they felt it was important to go through with it anyway.

"BEU (Brookline Educators Union) would rather reach an agreement, but last night's discussions made it impossible for us to accept," Brookline Educators Union President Jessica Wender-Shubow told NBC10 Boston on Sunday.

According to the BEU, teachers in the district have been working without a contract for the last three school years and are "fed up" with the Brookline School Committee and its approach to bargaining.

Brookline High School English teacher Zack Broken Rope said he can't afford to live in the community where he teaches. He said he has had to resort to living out of his car for a period of months because he couldn't afford rent.

"I've been a teacher for 10 years and in that time I've never not had to work at least one or two part time jobs," Broken Rope said. "Teaching is a career worth fighting for and our kids are worth fighting for. And I want my students to see that we're willing to put ourselves on the line when it matters."

The Norfolk County Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction Friday against the BEU, prohibiting them from striking or threatening to strike. The Court stated that if the union were to strike, “[s]erious and irreparable harm will occur to the Town, the students and their caretakers, and the public welfare.”

"You’ve left us no other options because you’re refusing to show any seriousness about looking at what we need you to look at," Wender-Shubow said. "The strike is all that’s left.”

The superintendent said he understands the Brookline community will have many questions and reiterated this was not an easy decision for anyone.

"I also understand that this juncture in negotiations is challenging and frustrating for all, and that closing schools on Monday will be extremely difficult for students, caregivers, staff, and our community," Guillory said. "Please know that the mediator is continuing to facilitate discussions to settle the contracts. The School Committee and PSB leadership will be working through Monday’s mediation session, and are determined to come to an agreement."

More negotiations are scheduled to take place Monday. Guillory promised an announcement on any additional school closures would occur no later than 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Union members rallied Saturday morning at Brookline Town Hall, saying in a statement, "The inexcusable delays in settling contracts and the complete unwillingness to even talk about issues that have such an impact on students and the quality of education that we provide them have brought us to a point where Brookline educators must take bold action."

"The educators have been saying for months, actually for years, even before COVID, we have an emergency in these buildings," Wender-Shubow said. "We need more staff of color, we need them to stay, we need to show them the respect that will keep them in the district and we have ideas and you are not interested in working with us."

Students say this is a busy time of year when every day counts.

“It would be disruptive, a lot of stuff going on in school, there’s MCAS coming up,” said student Zac Roffman.

“Sure we’ll get behind on certain assignments,” said student Owen Bergstein. “And we have a few tests this week but it’s for a really good cause and I think that means a lot.”