WISC-TV interviewed Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Senior Scientist Martin Shafer about the statewide SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 virus) wastewater surveillance project.
Looking for COVID-19 virus in wastewater is being heralded as a potential way to identify emerging outbreaks in communities.
The surveillance study will provide for trend analysis and potential early detection of SARS-CoV-2 in communities across the state by monitoring viral RNA in influent streams at wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF). High frequency sampling will focus on the two largest WWTFs in each of the 21 most populace counties. Lower frequency sampling will take place at 80 additional WWTFs located in more rural WI.