COVID detection is literally going down the toilet!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
When health officials see new COVID-19 cases in a community, too late—it’s ALREADY been circulating. Is there an “organic” way to predict rising case numbers?
Enter Haley Kappus-Kron and team from Syracuse University. They collected wastewater samples from a New York school throughout 2021. Each week, they tested for coronavirus R-N-A, comparing results with new COVID cases.
Results? School sewage containing coronavirus R-N-A matched with COVID cases EIGHTY PERCENT of the time! Accuracy was strongest when sampling wastewater just ONE DAY after a person’s positive COVID test.
Wastewater testing offers a new approach to detect a community’s early COVID cases!
But hey school kids, just don’t call COVID-19 “COVID-Number Two.” Please.
Reference: Kappus-Kron H., Chatila D.A., MacLachlan A.M., et al., Precision public health in schools enabled by wastewater surveillance: A case study of COVID-19 in an Upstate New York middle-high school campus during the 2021–2022 academic year. PLOS Glob Public Health 4, e0001803. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001803