Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the Columbia County Department of Health is now monitoring wastewater traces of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as the new BA.2.86 strain has emerged. No cases of the strain have been found yet in New York State, but they have in Michigan and Virginia. Columbia County Public Health Director Victoria McGahan said, “This mutation is so new it doesn’t have an official nickname like the Omicron variant.... We’re keeping an eye on this mutation at the moment... We have wastewater access only in Hudson, and it doesn’t represent the rural parts of the county, but that gives us a little idea of what the virus is up to.... It’s still just a tool and it doesn’t give us a whole picture of what’s going on.” McGahan says inmates and nursing home residents at high risk for the virus should now wear masks. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.