February 10, 2021
Stories about computer security tend to go viral when they bridge the vast divide between geeks and luddites, and this week’s news about a hacker who tried to poison a Florida town’s water supply was understandably front-page material. But for security nerds who’ve been warning about this sort of thing for ages, the most surprising aspect of the incident seems to be that we learned about it at all.
Spend a few minutes searching Twitter, Reddit or any number of other social media sites and you’ll find countless examples of researchers posting proof of being able to access so-called “human-machine interfaces” basically web pages designed to interact remotely with various complex systems, such as those that monitor and/or control things like power, water, sewage and manufacturing plants.
Michaela Chesin, Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN As the country inches closer to the one-year mark of living with COVID-19, clues to when the threat will end sit in the town s waste streams.
Provincetown is the only town on Cape Cod to track the levels of COVID-19 through sewage, although various pilot programs have been adapted in cities, towns and universities all around the country. Nantucket is also testing sewage for COVID-19.
The wastewater tests help monitor when COVID-19 is stable within the community, or indicative of worsening conditions or an outbreak.
“When you re trying to control a virus, having the information about how much virus you have in your community, or may have in your community is very useful,” Provincetown Board of Health Vice-Chairman Susan Troyan said in a recent interview. “We knew from the beginning, that simply knowing the number of cases diagnosed in the town wasn t the full picture”
Traces of COVID in Greater Boston wastewater showing steady decline
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
Traces of COVID in wastewater samples from the Boston metropolitan area have declined in recent weeks, according to data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
The reduction in viral RNA from wastewater samples is seen on both the north and south sides of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority system, according to data released this week.
The authority embarked on a pilot study to measure viral particles in wastewater, sampling for data three times a week. The Deer Island Treatment Plant, where researchers are analyzing the findings, removes pollutants from wastewater in 43 Greater Boston communities.
Mass. reports 2,781 new confirmed coronavirus cases, 98 new deaths
By Martin Finucane Globe Staff,Updated January 29, 2021, 5:24 p.m.
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Gene Leonard, a World War II veteran, received a vaccination earlier this month in Woburn. With coronavirus variants arriving in the US, officials are racing against time to get the population vaccinated.Lane Turner/Globe Staff
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts rose by 2,781 on Friday, while the seven-day average was 3,400. The new cases brought the stateâs total to 491,642.
The death toll from confirmed cases increased by 98 to 14,154, the Department of Public Health reported.
The stateâs second case surge has subsided in recent weeks. But officials and experts are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of new variants arriving in the United States that could fuel another rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. A race is on to get the population vaccinated before that happens.
NATICK The E. coli contamination found in samples of the town’s drinking water was likely caused by an inadvertent cross-contamination at the testing lab, said acting Town Administrator Robert Rooney.
Rooney gave that conclusion provided by town staff and an independent engineer Wednesday night to the Select Board.
Natick will find another lab to test its samples, Rooney said. The lab Natick currently uses is certified by the state Department of Environmental Protection. It has tested 20,000 Natick water samples through the years, including more than 1,500 annually.
Until a deal is reached with a new lab, a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority lab will test Natick’s water samples.