diff --git a/pioreactor/actions/leader/backup_database.py b/pioreactor/actions/leader/backup_database.py
index a91c62da..d35e917d 100644
--- a/pioreactor/actions/leader/backup_database.py
+++ b/pioreactor/actions/leader/backup_database.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from pioreactor.config import config
 from pioreactor.exc import RsyncError
 from pioreactor.logging import create_logger
-from pioreactor.pubsub import subscribe
+from pioreactor.utils import local_intermittent_storage
 from pioreactor.utils import local_persistant_storage
 from pioreactor.utils import managed_lifecycle
 from pioreactor.utils.networking import resolve_to_address
@@ -18,15 +18,8 @@
 
 
 def count_writes_occurring(unit: str) -> int:
-    msg_or_none = subscribe(
-        f"pioreactor/{unit}/{UNIVERSAL_EXPERIMENT}/mqtt_to_db_streaming/inserts_in_last_60s",
-        timeout=2,
-    )
-    if msg_or_none is not None:
-        count = int(msg_or_none.payload.decode())
-    else:
-        count = 0
-    return count
+    with local_intermittent_storage("mqtt_to_db_streaming") as c:
+        return c.get("local_intermittent_cache", 0)
 
 
 def backup_database(output_file: str, force: bool = False, backup_to_workers: int = 0) -> None:
diff --git a/pioreactor/background_jobs/leader/mqtt_to_db_streaming.py b/pioreactor/background_jobs/leader/mqtt_to_db_streaming.py
index 95df7fb3..bb276209 100644
--- a/pioreactor/background_jobs/leader/mqtt_to_db_streaming.py
+++ b/pioreactor/background_jobs/leader/mqtt_to_db_streaming.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 from pioreactor.config import config
 from pioreactor.hardware import PWM_TO_PIN
 from pioreactor.pubsub import QOS
+from pioreactor.utils import local_intermittent_storage
 from pioreactor.utils.sqlite_worker import Sqlite3Worker
 from pioreactor.utils.timing import current_utc_datetime
 from pioreactor.utils.timing import RepeatedTimer
@@ -59,11 +60,6 @@ class TopicToCallback(Struct):
 
 class MqttToDBStreamer(LongRunningBackgroundJob):
     job_name = "mqtt_to_db_streaming"
-    published_settings = {
-        "inserts_in_last_60s": {"datatype": "integer", "settable": False},
-    }
-
-    inserts_in_last_60s = 0
     _inserts_in_last_60s = 0
 
     def __init__(
@@ -92,7 +88,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.initialize_callbacks(topics_and_callbacks)
 
     def publish_stats(self) -> None:
-        self.inserts_in_last_60s = self._inserts_in_last_60s
+        with local_intermittent_storage(self.job_name) as c:
+            c["inserts_in_last_60s"] = self._inserts_in_last_60s
+
         self._inserts_in_last_60s = 0
 
     def on_disconnected(self) -> None: