With Christmas just around the corner, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed the states with the highest COVID-19 levels in their wastewater.
The CDC began tracking COVID-19 levels in wastewater, adding wastewater, at the beginning of the pandemic, while collecting data from everyone who uses the wastewater treatment system, adding those who are asymptomatic, untested, or unreported.
This gives a more accurate picture of virus spread in a community than only relying on COVID testing.
Wastewater samples can be tested for genetics to detect the presence of expressed variants of the virus, which will help track its spread.
For the week between December 01 and December 07, 2024, six states reported “very high” wastewater levels of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
These states included Arizona, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota.
Last week, between Nov. 24 and Nov. 30, New Mexico had “very high” grades of the virus.
However, Missouri and South Dakota have “limited coverage” for this week’s data, which means that their viral activity is “based on a small part (less than 5 percent) of the population and may not represent viral activity levels for the entire state or territory,” the CDC explains.
Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wyoming had “high” degrees of the virus during this recent peak period, while Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa and Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and DC all had “moderate” degrees.
Fifteen states had “low” levels of SARS-CoV-2 and six states had “minimal” levels of wastewater supply. Mississippi also had “limited coverage” for this week, while North Dakota reported no data.
“Wastewater can be tested for infectious disease lines circulating in a community, even if other people do not have symptoms,” the CDC explains.
“You can use this knowledge as an early warning that infection levels could increase or decrease in your community. “
Reported viral activity may not be fully representative of virus levels in the network because the state has a number of other wastewater sampling sites.
“States and territories may have a higher density of sampling sites in certain geographic areas, so the midpoint of wastewater viral activity is unlikely to constitute the point of wastewater viral activity for the state or territory. ” network,” the CDC said.
New: CDC’s COVID Data Tracker now features nationwide wastewater tracking data. Using wastewater tracking to track levels of the virus that causes #COVID19 can warn communities early about an increase in COVID-19 cases and prepare them. View data: https://t. co/xlwzpIWLGL pic. twitter. com/67xpYrdWuZ
COVID-19 has many variants. In the two weeks leading up to Dec. 7, the KP. 3. 1. 1 variant accounted for 39% of COVID-19 variants in U. S. wastewater. The XEC variant accounted for 16%. The MC. 1 variant accounted for 12%, the KP. 3 15%, and the “others” 19%.
Is there a health problem that’s worrying you? Do you have a question about COVID-19? Let us know via [email protected]. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured in Newsweek.
Jess Thomson is a Newsweek science journalist based in London, UK. It focuses on reporting on science, generation and healthcare. He has extensively covered animal behavior, area news and the effects of climate change. Jess joined Newsweek in May 2022 and previously worked at Springer Nature. He graduated from Oxford University. Languages: English. You can contact Jess by emailing j. thomson@newsweek. com.