Posted on 10/21/2023 10:03:24 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
PCR and rapid tests aren't the only places where evidence of SARS-COV-2, commonly known as COVID-19, shows up. The virus that causes COVID-19 also turns up in a city's wastewater.
Because of that, wastewater has become a powerful tool to give scientists early glimpses into when infections are peaking.
"Wastewater actually tells us a really great story," said Amanda Wegner, communications and public affairs director at the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. "What we've learned with viruses is that people shed the virus. When they use the bathroom, that enters the wastewater stream."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with COVID-19 can shed the virus in their feces even if they don't have symptoms. The virus is flushed down the toilet and travels through the sewage system.
Wastewater analysis often alerts health officials of upticks in infection several days before health care facilities report increases in positive tests.
"When we were really at the peak of COVID, we were able to use wastewater samples to tell, was it starting to ramp up, were we coming into another surge?" Wegner said. "This work we've been doing helping researchers learn about COVID, it really shines a light on the public health part of our mission, and that's a very rewarding thing."
Before wastewater is treated, collections systems specialists from the sewerage district take samples from across the area. Then, the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene tests the samples for COVID-19 and other pathogens like influenza and RSV.
"It's a very unbiased and objective way to measure the amount of a given pathogen in the community," said Martin Shafer, senior scientist and research lead at the state lab. "We can closely follow trends over time, but what does [it] mean in terms of prevalence in the community? It's the only reliable source of case prevalence in the community at this point."
In 2020, Shafer and his colleagues enrolled 70 wastewater facilities to monitor wastewater across the state. They are currently monitoring 44 facilities.
Wisconsin was one of just six states that formed the National Wastewater Surveillance System, which tracks wastewater at 1,700 unique sites across the country.
In the lab, scientists isolate and concentrate the viral particles then extract and quantify the genetic material characteristic of the viral pathogen.
"The tools that we're using are PCR, which I think most people are familiar with," Shafer said. "It's a tool that lets us amplify a certain section of a gene. We're not looking for an intact virus as such; we're looking for the genetic material from the given virus."
Unlike other COVID-19 surveillance, which relies on individual nose swabs or spit vials, the wastewater method takes a wider view.
"For example, in Dane County we've seen a definite increase, a couple of significant consecutive increases if you look at the dashboard, said Dagmara Antkiewicz, a scientist with the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene. "This is that everyone can look at at any time. It's at your fingertips."
Scientists have now compiled more than two years of showing how closely COVID-19 cases in Dane County correlated with virus level in the wastewater.
"I can show you the trend of wastewater cases versus clinical cases," Shafer said. "For a year and a half, they mirrored each other almost exactly, and then when home testing took off, there's this huge divergence with clinical testing on the bottom and wastewater testing skyrocketing, which is reflecting what's really happening in the community."
Both scientists and sewerage district teams stress the importance of collaboration with each other and with partners across the state and with fellow researchers all over the world.
The CDC recently named the Wisconsin Wastewater Surveillance Program a National Center of Excellence within the National Wastewater Surveillance System. Wisconsin joins just three other CDC-NWSS Centers of Excellence in the country.
Not my kind of job for sure.
One more way for Mother Government to track your every ‘movement,’ as it were. ;)
I wouldn’t believe anything they say about the so called COVID, especially since in the first couple months of the scam, the CDC sent 20 samples of their COVID to USC for diagnosis and testing, 80% were actually Influenza B and the rest were Influenza A. THEY FOUND NOTHING ELSE. USC and the Doctor/Professors that did the test Filed a Lawsuit against the CDC. Not sure whatever happened to it???
Swami Paramhansa Yogananda, author of The Autobiography of a Yogi said even on your happiest days your mind could have put its attention on something unhappy.
I never mastered that, maybe because I’m not a Hindu.
“Avoid a negative approach to life. Why gaze down the sewers when there is loveliness all around us? One may find some fault in even the greatest masterpieces of art, music, and literature. But isn’t it better to enjoy their charm and glory?”
Soon to come will be drug testing toilets and urinals at the work place.
Actually this is a better quote:
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honorable,
whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things.
Or it will detect you recently ate meat, and they’ll raise your health premiums.
Kinda hard to do if you’re on a septic system.
Solution: septic tanks
Mr Ardis just might be right that they’re putting it in the water
They can track the meth-lab leftovers that get flushed down the toilet too.
Be prepared to have your mind expanded and blinders removed from your eyes...
Dr. Ardis has other interviews where he gets into the water supply and water treatment areas on how this stuff gets into the water (ingested by sheep) and how they monitor the movement through the population....
“Soon to come will be drug testing toilets and urinals at the workplace.”
Most, if not many of us would be surprised if that has not been happening for years, from sea to shining sea and in between.
They are here but they’re hiding it.
Yep. Got a well, got a septic tank. And both are clean as a whistle. ;)
How can they find a disease in the wastewater? What size of swab do they have, and at what PCR value do they run the test at?
“...and at what PCR value do they run the test at?”
Whatever suits the current ‘Fear-Mongering Overlords’ at the time? ;)
How can they find a disease in the wastewater? What size of swab do they have, and at what PCR value do they run the test at?
In many N. California cities/counties in the Bay Area, they have been testing for Covid for over 2+ years.
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