Wastewater COVID detection science linked to MIT goes nationwide

Wastewater testing first started with a discovery by MIT researchers is being used nationwide as an early warning sign — and not just for coronavirus.

Estimates suggest that between 40% and 80% of people with COVID-19 shed viral RNA making wastewater and sewage an important opportunity for monitoring the spread of infection, said Amy Kirby, program director of the National Wastewater Surveillance System, or NWWS.

Seeing the value of collecting this type of data during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC initiated NWWS in September of 2020.

Kirby called it “the latest public health tool that’s providing critical information on COVID-19 trends, as well as giving us a glimpse into a new frontier of infectious disease surveillance in the U.S.”

She praised the science long used in Massachusetts, with the latest readings suggesting the virus in Greater Boston is falling.

“What started as a grassroots effort by academic researchers and wastewater utilities has quickly become a nationwide surveillance system with more than 34,000 samples collected, representing approximately 53 million Americans,” she said.

On Friday, the CDC unveiled its COVID Data Tracker’s new tool highlighting the NEWS to detect potential outbreaks in communities.

By visiting the CDC wastewater monitoring site, people can, for the first time, download the 15-day percentage change in COVID found in wastewater samples from communities that submit results to the CDC.

Currently, the CDC is helping 37 states, four cities and two territories develop wastewater surveillance systems, Kirby said. More than 400 testing sites around the country have already implemented their wastewater surveillance plans, she said, and the CDC expects another 250 in the weeks ahead.

“With 650 sites, we will not have a look in every state,” she said, “but we will with most states.”

Brian Katzowitz of the CDC said there are other wastewater testing efforts being implemented in communities throughout the country, and not all commercial companies performing wastewater testing report to the NWWS and therefore may not appear on the COVID Data Tracker.

Signs of the virus found in samples of feces are “a very powerful … early warning” that tells communities where they need testing sites and prepares hospitals in those areas for a potential influx of people with COVID, Kirby said.

Two drawbacks are that the system can’t provide the percentage change in samples for places with high tourism or for the smallest populations, she said.