Encouraging new data was released by the Maine CDC Monday as the agency published its first batch of results from a new wastewater testing effort for COVID-19.

Compared to peak levels detected in January, some communities are now seeing a sharp decline.

“We went from very low levels to the highest we’ve seen,” said Scott Firmin, Portland’s director of wastewater services.

Firmin says after a post-holiday spike in January, the concentration of COVID-19 detected in the city’s wastewater is “dropping very dramatically.”

Portland's effort to measure COVID-19 rates through wastewater started in the summer of 2020.

The service area’s latest batch of data was released this week along with results from roughly a dozen other municipalities.