diff -u b/core/modules/tracker/tests/src/Functional/TrackerTest.php b/core/modules/tracker/tests/src/Functional/TrackerTest.php
--- b/core/modules/tracker/tests/src/Functional/TrackerTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/tracker/tests/src/Functional/TrackerTest.php
@@ -142,21 +142,21 @@
   public function testTrackerUser() {
     $this->drupalLogin($this->user);
 
-    $this->nodes = [];
-    $this->nodes['unpublished'] = $this->drupalCreateNode([
+    $nodes = [];
+    $nodes['unpublished'] = $this->drupalCreateNode([
       'title' => $this->randomMachineName(8),
       'uid' => $this->user->id(),
       'status' => 0,
     ]);
-    $this->nodes['my_published'] = $this->drupalCreateNode([
+    $nodes['my_published'] = $this->drupalCreateNode([
       'title' => $this->randomMachineName(8),
       'uid' => $this->user->id(),
       'status' => 1,
     ]);
 
     $this->drupalGet('user/' . $this->user->id() . '/activity');
-    $this->assertSession()->pageTextNotContains($this->nodes['unpublished']->label(), "Unpublished nodes do not show up in the user's tracker listing.");
-    $this->assertSession()->pageTextContains($this->nodes['my_published']->label(), "Published nodes show up in the user's tracker listing.");
+    $this->assertSession()->pageTextNotContains($nodes['unpublished']->label(), "Unpublished nodes do not show up in the user's tracker listing.");
+    $this->assertSession()->pageTextContains($nodes['my_published']->label(), "Published nodes show up in the user's tracker listing.");
 
     // Assert cache contexts.
     $this->assertCacheContexts([
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@
     );
     // Assert cache tags for the visible nodes (including owners) and node list
     // cache tag.
-    $expected_tags = Cache::mergeTags($this->nodes['my_published']->getCacheTags(), $this->nodes['my_published']->getOwner()->getCacheTags());
+    $expected_tags = Cache::mergeTags($nodes['my_published']->getCacheTags(), $nodes['my_published']->getOwner()->getCacheTags());
     // Because the 'user.permissions' cache context is being optimized away.
     $role_tags = [];
     foreach ($this->user->getRoles() as $rid) {
@@ -203,8 +203,8 @@
     ]
     );
 
-    $this->assertSession()->linkExists($this->nodes['my_published']->label());
-    $this->assertSession()->linkNotExists($this->nodes['unpublished']->label());
+    $this->assertSession()->linkExists($nodes['my_published']->label());
+    $this->assertSession()->linkNotExists($nodes['unpublished']->label());
     // Verify that title and tab title have been set correctly.
     $this->assertSession()->pageTextContains('Activity');
     $this->assertSession()->titleEquals($this->user->getAccountName() . ' | Drupal');
@@ -233,16 +233,15 @@
     $edit = [
       'title' => $this->randomMachineName(8),
     ];
-    $this->node = $this->drupalCreateNode($edit);
+    $node = $this->drupalCreateNode($edit);
 
     // Verify that the history metadata is present.
     $this->drupalGet('activity');
-    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($this->node->id(), $this->node->getChangedTime());
+    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($node->id(), $node->getChangedTime());
     $this->drupalGet('activity/' . $this->user->id());
-    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($this->node->id(), $this->node->getChangedTime());
+    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($node->id(), $node->getChangedTime());
     $this->drupalGet('user/' . $this->user->id() . '/activity');
-    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($this->node->id(), $this->node->getChangedTime());
-
+    $this->assertHistoryMetadata($node->id(), $node->getChangedTime());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -368,11 +367,13 @@
    *
    * @internal
    */
-  public function assertHistoryMetadata(int $node_id, int $node_timestamp, int $node_last_comment_timestamp, bool $library_is_present = TRUE): void {
+  public function assertHistoryMetadata(int $node_id, int $node_timestamp, int $node_last_comment_timestamp = NULL, bool $library_is_present = TRUE): void {
     $settings = $this->getDrupalSettings();
     $this->assertSame($library_is_present, isset($settings['ajaxPageState']) && in_array('tracker/history', explode(',', $settings['ajaxPageState']['libraries'])), 'drupal.tracker-history library is present.');
     $this->assertCount(1, $this->xpath('//table/tbody/tr/td[@data-history-node-id="' . $node_id . '" and @data-history-node-timestamp="' . $node_timestamp . '"]'), 'Tracker table cell contains the data-history-node-id and data-history-node-timestamp attributes for the node.');
-    $this->assertCount(1, $this->xpath('//table/tbody/tr/td[@data-history-node-last-comment-timestamp="' . $node_last_comment_timestamp . '"]'), 'Tracker table cell contains the data-history-node-last-comment-timestamp attribute for the node.');
+    if (isset($node_last_comment_timestamp)) {
+      $this->assertCount(1, $this->xpath('//table/tbody/tr/td[@data-history-node-last-comment-timestamp="' . $node_last_comment_timestamp . '"]'), 'Tracker table cell contains the data-history-node-last-comment-timestamp attribute for the node.');
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff -u b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
--- b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
+++ b/core/modules/tracker/tracker.module
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
           ->groupBy('uid')
           ->execute();
         if ($result) {
-          $query = db_insert('tracker_user');
+          $query = $connection->insert('tracker_user');
           foreach ($result as $row) {
             $query->fields([
               'uid' => $row['uid'],