CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The city of Cape Canaveral is one of a handful of municipalities in Brevard County taking part in a COVID-19 mapping project using wastewater samples.

Since Cape Canaveral began testing wastewater May 6 coronavirus concentration per liter was zero until the fourth week of testing on May 26.

According to the city, the increased concentrations coincided with the preparations and launch period for the May 30 SpaceX Demo-2 launch, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people.

The virus concentration per liter of sewage was more than 14,000 copies and suggested an estimated 85 cases, which the city says is not necessarily associated with resident infections because of the rocket launch tourism.

Cape Canaveral resident and retired scientific director Larry Heller says the increasing concentrations concerned him.

“Brevard has very few cases, and the reason for that was we eliminated tourists and everything was closed with no one coming into the state. Around here at least people were wearing masks and physically distancing,” Heller said.

Heller said that because the population in the area fits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's higher COVID-19 risk category, it's important that tourists coming to see the launches or visit the area wear masks.

“People (should) wear masks when possible, particularly indoors, or a situation where there is density … like a store or bar," he said. "At this point we cannot go back to lockdown."

The information from the testing results was provided to the Brevard County Emergency Operations Center.