The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department has urged residents of western Lucas County to be especially diligent about taking coronavirus precautions after it observed a spike in virus fragments contained in sewage from that area.

The concentration of coronavirus fragments in wastewater treated at the Lucas County Water Resource Recovery Facility jumped by more than 2.5-fold between Oct. 18 and Monday (Oct. 26), the health department reported Saturday.

There was also “a marked increase” in virus fragments from samples taken from the Toledo and Oregon plants, the agency said, but the increase at the county plant serving Holland, Maumee, Waterville, Whitehouse, and portions of those municipalities’ unincorporated surroundings was deemed “significant.”