Want to know if the novel coronavirus is in your town? The answer might be in the sewers. Researchers at the University of Kansas are teaming up with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to track the coronavirus pandemic by measuring virus particles in wastewater. The technique, called wastewater surveillance, may provide an early warning system to give Kansas communities advance notice of future COVID-19 surges. Wastewater surveillance also helps fill in gaps in COVID-19 clinical testing, which can be limited, costly, and plagued by slow turnaround times. “The amount of positive cases that are reported understate the actual extent of infection within a city or county population,” said Tom Stiles, the director of the KDHE Bureau of Water.
(Read more: Wichita Eagle)
