More responsive COVID-19 wastewater test developed

A new wastewater testing approach developed by researchers at the University of Michigan and Stanford University is capable of better detecting viral infection patterns in communities, and could prove a crucial step forward in an informed public health response as the pandemic continues. Their new study published in Environmental Science & Technology identifies a method that not only detects the virus in wastewater samples but also tracks whether the infection rates are trending up or down. Those infected with COVID-19 shed the virus in their stool. Wastewater testing could be used for more responsive tracking and supplementing information public health officials rely on when evaluating efforts to contain the virus, including vaccines when they become available. The new test works by identifying and measuring genetic material in the form of RNA from SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It is able to provide more accurate results than other similar wastewater tests because it samples the more concentrated solids that settle in wastewater tanks, rather than the more diluted liquid influent slurry that flows in to plants. "These results confirmed our early thinking that targeting the solids in wastewater would lead to sensitive and reproducible measurements of COVID-19 in a community.