SARS-CoV-2 Sewage Monitoring Data

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2021-07-15 08:30:08

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) is a tool that can complement current infectious disease surveillance systems through the study of viral pathogens in liquid wastes, such as sewage in a population. SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is shed in feces by infected individuals and can be measured in wastewater. Increased cases of COVID in the community is associated with increased levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, meaning this data can inform the understanding of transmission of COVID-19 in the community. The process looks for the non-infectious RNA in wastewater, not the viable virus. There are no known cases of transmission resulting from exposure to wastewater. WBE has several potential advantages because it includes asymptomatic individuals and people who are unable or unwilling to obtain clinical tests for a variety of reasons. Wastewater information is available sooner than information from clinical testing, which means that monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can serve as an early indicator of increasing or decreasing COVID-19 infections in the community. During an increase, this additional time could be used to enhance public health messaging in the affected communities regarding safe practices, promote more clinical testing, and highlight strategies the public can take to help stop a surge in new cases. In addition, wastewater data can help confirm current trends of COVID-19 infections in the community that are based on clinical data and can increase confidence that clinical testing results are not biased by availability, time lags, and other factors.

The wastewater samples used for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring are collected at consolidated treatment plants, and the samples collected from these plants represent the entire community that the plant services. All four wastewater treatment plants within Santa Clara County have been participating in this project. The plants are located in San José, Gilroy, Sunnyvale, and Palo Alto. The plants each serve between approximately 100,000 and 1,500,000 people living in their service areas, which cover the vast majority of the population of Santa Clara County. We are able to observe trends in SARS-CoV-2 levels at each plant individually. Samples are collected seven days a week from the wastewater treatment plants and results are typically ready within 24 hours of sample drop-off and uploaded to this page.

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