Publication date: May 08, 2025
Widespread immunity through vaccination or natural infection has altered the predictive ability of wastewater for hospitalization and mortality. Between January 2022 and August 2024, we conducted a longitudinal observational study aimed to examine the correlation between symptomatic COVID-19 in healthcare employees and the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater community levels. Wastewater was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR for detection of SARS-CoV-2. The employee occupational health office for Fairview Health provided deidentified data. We collected 215 wastewater samples from the TCWWTP over a 32-month interval. Over that period, there were 6,879 positive SARS-CoV-2 test results reported to Fairview Employee Health from individuals who lived in the wastewater catchment area. We found that SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater accurately predicted the subsequent COVID-19 case count the following week in the community (p = 0. 001). These data demonstrate the utility of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance as it accurately predicts the frequency of symptomatic infection in the community.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| August | COVID-19 |
| Hospitalization | SARS-CoV-2 |
| Pcr | Wastewater |
| Week |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | Infections |
| disease | IDO | infection |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |