Water Sector News
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How We Track COVID-19 (And Other Weird Stuff) In Sewage
May 17, 2022
https://theparadise.ng/how-we-track-covid-19-and-other-weird-stuff-in-sewage/
When the COVID-19 pandemic was just getting started in early 2020, every major city, state health department, and federal agency involved built out data dashboards you could access online to check case counts and trends. Public health officials could constantly be heard asking everyone to “flatten the curve,” that curve being a graph of infection rates over time. But how do you get such a graph? By and large, our measure of the pandemic came through individual case counts confirmed with laboratory testing and reported to a data clearinghouse like the local public health department or the CDC.
There was a lot of confusion about testing, positivity rates, how that information applied to the greater population, and how it could be used to implement measures to slow the spread of disease. The limitations of individual testing data – including test shortages, reporting delays, and unequal access to healthcare – made public health decisions extremely challenging. Much of the controversy surrounding mask mandates and stay-at-home orders was provoked by the disconnect between what we could reliably measure and the reality of the pandemic on the ground. Public health officials were constantly on the lookout for more indicators that could help inform decisions and manage the spread of disease.
When the COVID-19 pandemic was just getting started in early 2020, every major city, state health department, and federal agency involved built out data dashboards you could access online to check case counts and trends. Public health officials could constantly be heard asking everyone to “flatten the curve,” that curve being a graph of infection rates over time. But how do you get such a graph? By and large, our measure of the pandemic came through individual case counts confirmed with laboratory testing and reported to a data clearinghouse like the local public health department or the CDC.
There was a lot of confusion about testing, positivity rates, how that information applied to the greater population, and how it could be used to implement measures to slow the spread of disease. The limitations of individual testing data – including test shortages, reporting delays, and unequal access to healthcare – made public health decisions extremely challenging. Much of the controversy surrounding mask mandates and stay-at-home orders was provoked by the disconnect between what we could reliably measure and the reality of the pandemic on the ground. Public health officials were constantly on the lookout for more indicators that could help inform decisions and manage the spread of disease.