Rates of enterovirus D68, a respiratory virus that usually causes mild cold-like symptoms in adults but can lead to a rare polio-like illness in small children, are rising in multiple parts of the Bay Area, recent data from municipal wastewater shows.
According to WastewaterSCAN, which monitors traces of multiple viruses throughout the entire country, concentrations of EV-D68 are high and rising in Palo Alto, Napa and southeast San Francisco. Just across the bridge, San Rafael also shows high levels of the virus.
Cold and flu season has arrived early in San Francisco, with the city’s Department of Public Health announcing the first flu-related death last week…