SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — After the omicron variant of COVID-19 was recently confirmed present in Sacramento County wastewater samples, epidemiology program manager Jamie White said the wastewater is exactly where the virus flourishes.

"Wastewater is a robust source of COVID-19 (because) people shed the COVID-19 virus in their stool," White said during a virtual briefing on Thursday.

The original Nov. 28 wastewater sample was picked up by a team of Stanford researchers led by civil and environmental engineering professor Alexandria Boehm.

Back in 2020, the Stanford professor developed methods to monitor wastewater in several areas across California for SARS-CoV-2 — the disease that causes coronavirus infection.

The Stanford Wastewater Surveillance Group began collecting samples at Sacramento wastewater treatment facilities on Dec. 8, 2020.