LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - A study that tests for parts of the coronavirus in sewage is giving public health workers advance notice of virus surges.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the City of Lawrence has been taking weekly sewage samples at both of its wastewater treatment plants to test for components of the virus shed in feces as part of a study contracted through the University of Kansas School of Engineering. The city has also been sharing that data with local and state health departments.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health spokesman George Diepenbrock said that the presence of the virus in wastewater has served as an early predictor of surges in positive cases, providing about a week’s notice and giving the health department valuable lead time.
Research has shown that COVID-19 concentrations in wastewater rise about a week before a surge in new cases, and that both symptomatic and asymptomatic people with the virus shed components of it in their feces.
“As we saw those levels go up, that was an indicator that we need to prepare,” Diepenbrock said.
In particular, the health department can see whether it needs to add more disease investigators to inform people of their test results and initiate the contact tracing process for positive cases.
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