GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- It’s a method widely used in the past. Sandra Mclellan, a professor at UW-Milwaukee's School of Freshwater Sciences, was one of the people that decided to bring wastewater testing to Wisconsin.

“January, February, March the wheels started turning for a lot of us to think, ‘oh, even though it’s a respiratory virus, maybe we can detect it in sewage.’”

The Department of Health Services launched a year-long wastewater testing study at the beginning of the month.

“The goal is to be able to focus public health resources and focus our response more quickly to bring the disease under control as quickly as possible,” said Jon Meiman, the DHS's Chief Medical Officer on Environmental and Occupational Health.