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Months after more than a dozen states adopted the practice, D.C. is finally about to begin analyzing sewage to track COVID-19 in hopes of curbing the next surge.
Starting next month, we could know how many people are infected before they test positive or show symptoms.
Why it matters: Wastewater surveillance—the literal analysis of feces—has proven a powerful tool in other parts of the country, helping officials and individuals assess risk and make decisions. It can warn of a potential spike in COVID-19 cases because it can spot the virus days before individual testing can. It can also identify specific variants.
Yes, but: D.C. is behind Maryland and Virginia in getting its sewage surveillance underway.
Four months later, the city is still waiting on critical equipment.
The big picture: Wastewater from participating jurisdictions illustrates important trends.
Between the lines: Amid loosening restrictions, individuals and businesses have been left to enforce their own rules. Meanwhile, D.C. is no longer reporting daily case counts. But there’s still a threat of new variants. See: BA.2, a subvariant of Omicron. Having access to a public poop dashboard would help many of us make smarter decisions — so long as the District reports its data in a timely fashion.
The District will be able to see what’s in most residents’ feces because it is collecting samples from four sources:
You, in turn, will be privy to how much COVID is circulating thanks to a CDC dashboard that aggregates the data.
Mangla will be eyeing the data closely and reporting trends to city officials.
Context: The program could have a real impact on group settings in particular.
What’s next: Officials plan to use the new infrastructure to identify other illnesses and public health concerns, including antibody resistance, fungus outbreaks, and even food poisoning, according to D.C.'s Department of Forensic Sciences interim public health lab director Jocelyn Hauser.
Maryland and Virginia are ahead of D.C. when it comes to gathering COVID intel from sewage, but the scope of their programs differs.
The commonwealth is collecting samples from 25 treatment plants. At least four are in northern Virginia.
Of note: Rekha Singh, who manages the program for the Virginia Department of Health, says the agency sends a weekly report to the state’s COVID-19 task force to help guide their thinking and decision-making.
Meanwhile, Maryland has focused its attention on vulnerable populations, analyzing wastewater from public housing and other group settings.
What they’re saying: Maryland’s targeted program has worked.
The bottom line: While wastewater surveillance isn’t new—it’s been used overseas for decades to monitor polio and diarrheal disease—building a robust system now means that future illness outbreaks might be controlled.
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