Ohio is beginning a program to monitor wastewater samples in large population areas, testing for COVID-19 to catch infections 3-to-7 days before the virus leads to outbreak.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that Ohio is now testing public wastewater in urban areas to uncover COVID-19 outbreaks, before they become apparent due to testing or symptom onset.
The eyebrow-raising development was announced during the governor's briefing, and a new webpage explaining the practice was added to the state's Coronavirus Dashboard.
"Non-infectious RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the virus that causes COVID-19 can be excreted in the feces of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected people," the webpage explains.
In Central Ohio, nine different wastewater treatment plants are providing samples to the state for COVID-19 testing including Columbus, Delaware, Marysville, Zanesville, Newark, Lancaster, Marion and Mansfield.
DeWine said positive samples may indicate a pending virus outbreak up to a week before it appears in the community due to symptoms or test results.
The webpage says researchers expect to see a baseline level of COVID-19 RNA in each sample, but "a significant increase in viral gene copies over time is an indicator that cases may be increasing in the community."
According to the Ohio Water Resources Center at The Ohio State University, the sewage monitoring is being funded as part of the Coronavirus Relief Fund, through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. CARES Act.
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