Using Wastewater Surveillance Data to Support the COVID-19 Response — U.S. 2020–2021

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Kirby, Amy E. ; Walters, Maroya Spalding ; Jennings, Wiley C. ; Fugitt, Rebecca ; LaCross, Nathan ; Mattioli, Mia ; Marsh, Zachary A. ; Roberts, Virginia A. ; Mercante, Jeffrey W. ; Yoder, Jonathan ; Hill, Vincent R.
• Description:
  Wastewater Surveillance, the measurement of pathogen levels in wastewater, is used to evaluate community-level infection Trends, augment traditional Surveillance that leverages clinical tests and services (e.g., case reporting), and monitor public health interventions (1). Approximately 40% of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes COVID-19, shed Virus RNA in their stool (2); therefore, community-level Trends in SARS-CoV-2 infections, both symptomatic and asymptomatic (2) can be tracked through wastewater tTesting (3-6). CDC launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in September 2020 to coordinate wastewater Surveillance programs implemented by state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to support the COVID-19 pandemic response. In the U.S. wastewater Surveillance was not previously implemented at the national level. As of August 2021, NWSS includes 37 states, four cities, and two territories. This report summarizes NWSS activities and describes innovative applications of wastewater Surveillance data by two states, which have included generating alerts to local jurisdictions, allocating mobile tTesting resources, evaluating irregularities in traditional Surveillance, refining health messaging, and forecasting clinical resource needs. NWSS complements traditional Surveillance and enables health departments to intervene earlier with focused support in communities experiencing increasing concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The ability to conduct wastewater Surveillance is not affected by access to health care or the clinical tTesting capacity in the community. Robust, sustainable implementation of wastewater Surveillance requires public health capacity for wastewater tTesting, Analysis, and interpretation. Partnerships between wastewater utilities and public health departments are needed to leverage wastewater Surveillance data for the COVID-19 response for rapid assessment of emerging threats and preparedness for future pandemics.
• Subjects:
  CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 Epidemiological Monitoring Humans Pandemics Public Health Surveillance SARS-CoV-2 Waste Water Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring
• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 70(36):1242-1244
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/MMWRmm7036a2
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  34499630
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8437053
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  3 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  36
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5b9ba39ccb260d2940edc179e7951fdf3f467198471599b1bc7f90b3be701b280f9b648d836551d3be96564965ffa15e8e8b012ed7c5a11e73c95ba57a391cea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110239/cdc_110239_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 81.97 KB ]