Sewage Now Being Used To Predict Coronavirus Cases

RACINE COUNTY, WI—The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) launched an online dashboard that displays findings from the wastewater surveillance program of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Wisconsin. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19 and is found in the feces of infected people.

Sites in both Milwaukee and Racine are being tested.

Sewage testing has been used for early detection of other infectious diseases, and this surveillance system will make it possible to better understand COVID-19 transmission in Wisconsin.
“Surveillance of wastewater is part of our broader statewide efforts to better understand and monitor this virus,” said Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm.

This project is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For people with COVID-19, the virus can be detected in their feces shortly after they are infected with the virus, even before they experience symptoms or if they are infected but asymptomatic, according to the Department of Health Services.

"By testing wastewater, we can measure the amount of the virus and see whether the levels are increasing or decreasing. This can be an early warning sign of increasing COVID-19 cases within a community," the DHS explained."While testing is a crucial tool to help track the spread of the virus, it does not capture the full extent to which COVID-19 is present within a community."
Wastewater monitoring does not replace traditional COVID-19 testing, but can provide a broader understanding of COVID-19 activity, the DHS explained.

Local public health officials can use this information to make decisions to help slow the spread of the disease in their communities.

Wastewater samples are being collected at sewersheds around the state, including in both large and small cities (sample sites are shown in the map below). The goal is to eventually include 100 sewersheds, which will cover nearly 60 percent of Wisconsin's residents.