🦠Detecting the first signs of a COVID-19 wave | Morning Newsletter
And how to combat bike theft
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The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Expect another beautiful day with clear skies and a high of 72.
I apologize that we’re going to talk about poop probably before you have breakfast.
Philadelphia was one of the first communities nationally to look for COVID-19 clues in sewage but it dropped the effort.
It’s doing it again after getting funding from the CDC. For a while, the city wasn’t sharing the data with the public but it is now.
Our lead story explains what the valuable information can tell us (and what can make it more useful).
If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
The good news: Philadelphia’s sewage can be used to find the first signs of a COVID-19 wave. The wastewater testing could provide the earliest warning of a steep increase in COVID’s presence, which could prompt the health department to sound an alarm.
The bad news: The city is still limited in its ability to act because of lengthy turnaround times.
Testing wastewater for COVID can detect case increases days before they are identified through public reporting of PCR and antigen tests, especially since many cases are now unreported because people are either testing at home or not at all.
The city just started releasing information from the program, but the turnaround time is still slow because the Philadelphia Department of Public Health sends samples to Michigan State University for testing.
Lengthy quality control tests and the time it takes to ship samples contribute to delays of at least three or four days, and sometimes weeks, for reliable results. Also, it’s not uncommon for shipments to get lost in the mail.
Potential solution: By next month, the city aims to get test results in a day and a half, using a newly opened health department lab that can conduct genetic sequencing on COVID samples.
Reporters Jason Laughlin and Kasturi Pananjady explain what the data tell us and how Philly’s wastewater testing system works.
What you should know today
Hospitalizations for opioid overdoses are increasing among Black and Hispanic Pennsylvanians.
John Fetterman addressed Mehmet Oz’s crime attacks during a brief stop in Southwest Philadelphia.
Philadelphia’s aging police retirees are worried about inflation squeezing their pensions. 🔑
The box concealing the Christopher Columbus statue is now painted in colors of the Italian flag.
Local coronavirus numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.
Philly bike thieves are determined and relentless. You can try Kyptonite locks or steel cables. You can even try stowing bikes in yards or hiding them in parking garages, but none of these options are theft-proof.
They will use bolt cutters, pry bars, crow bars, grinders, power tools, and even low-tech devices such as a 2x4 to wedge between locks and posts until one or the other gives way.(Side note: We also have you covered if you want tips to make your bike harder to steal)
Important numbers:
Since 2018, 6,416 bicycles have been reported stolen to Philadelphia police. (This is an undercount considering how many thefts go unreported)
Nearly a third of all reported thefts occurred in Center City or University City.
Cyclists are equally as driven. They use social media and other technology to help one another track sightings and set up their own stings to confront thieves.
Reporter Frank Kummer shares multiple cyclists’ elaborate plans to hunt down their bikes.
Despite having a strong credit and enough money, a Bucks County couple were denied housing at Aspen Grove Apartment Homes in Warminster Township.
The couple were rejected because the wife, a lawful U.S. resident from Colombia, did not have a social security number, and the apartment required every adult to have one to apply.
The problem: The rule requiring Social Security numbers will most often ban immigrants, who are less likely to have them. The Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination based on national origin.
Three years later, the fiasco resulted in a $450,000 settlement and new policies to prevent housing discrimination at about 10 apartment complexes in three states
Reporter Michaelle Bond breaks down the case.
What we’re...
📰 Reading: The latest installment of A More Perfect Union reveals the University of Pennsylvania’s connections to slavery and its efforts to use its Quaker roots to shield it from accountability.
👀 Watching: PennDot is conducting a safety study on Lincoln Drive in what seems to be the result of residents’ campaign to highlight the alarming rate of crashes and demand fixes.
🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩
Hint: Franklin Music Hall
LACTIC REFECTORY
Think you know? Send your guess our way at morningnewsletter@inquirer.com. We’ll give a shout-out to a reader at random who answers correctly. Today’s shout-out goes to Richard Brasch, who correctly guessed Fishtown Iced Tea as Monday’s answer.
Photo of the Day
And that’s your Tuesday. I’m starting my morning with tea and honey 🍵. Thanks for starting yours with The Inquirer.