RPH SHARES OHIO WASTEWATER STUDY FOR COVID-19 TRACKING
For Immediate Release: 9-29-2020
Contact: Reed Richmond, Health Educator, 419-774-4726
Monitoring of community wastewater detects elevated levels of COVID-19
In a new effort to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, a network across Ohio is studying samples of wastewater to look for the presence of fragments from the virus that causes the disease. An upward trend of viral gene copies has been detected in the Mansfield sewershed which serves all Mansfield communities.
This trend is an early indicator that cases of COVID-19 in the community may be increasing. Richland County has been operating in Level 2 (Orange) of the Ohio Public Health Advisory System since September 17.
The increase of COVID-19 cases in communities is typically tracked by testing people with symptoms, an indicator that lags behind the actual spread of the disease. However, research has shown that non- infectious RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the virus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater as many as three to seven days before those infections lead to increases in case counts orhospitalizations. This means that monitoring raw wastewater in sewage collection systems can provide an early warning of disease increase in acommunity.
When interpreting this specific viral data in wastewater, it is only appropriate to monitor and observe the trends of viral gene copies detected in a community over time, not individual readings themselves. Over the past seven (7) days, levels in the Mansfield community have increased 750%, from 160,000 MGC/day* on September 13 to 1,200,000 MGC/day on September 20.(*MGC/day = N2 [virus gene] Average per sample times Flowrate, divided by million and rounded to first two significant digits.) *See map on next page.
The Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network is a collaboration between the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency(U.S.EPA),theOhioWaterResourcesCenter(OhioWRC)atTheOhioStateUniversity, and other participating universities, including The University of Toledo, Kent State University, and The University ofAkron.
For additional local data and details on the network and its monitoring methods, visit https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/wastewater/wastewater.