September 20, 2023 – The summer COVID-19 surge could also be peaking in some parts of the U.S., based on wastewater monitoring.
The average concentration of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, in wastewater is down about 5% in comparison with last week, based on NBC News reportedciting data from wastewater samples at 257 sites monitored nationwide Biobot analytics.
“Fingers crossed, this wave is plateauing and could decline,” biobot epidemiologist Cristin Young, PhD, MPH, told NBC News.
According to the news outlet, a University of North Carolina lab recently saw a decline at its 12 monitoring sites, while other monitoring programs are seeing increases within the Midwest and Northeast.
Another nationwide surveillance program covering 183 sites in 36 states is reporting no decline in virus levels in wastewater.
“What we’re seeing right now is kind of a flattening,” says Marlene Wolfe, PhD, assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University and program director for WASTE SCANsaid NBC News. “We haven’t really seen a downturn yet.”
The CDC is currently measuring COVID-19 activity and viral spread based on wastewater surveillance, the speed of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19, and the speed of individuals dying from the disease. All of those measures are typically lagging indicators of the impact of COVID-19 on the community level.
In the week ending Sept. 9, 20,538 people were hospitalized with COVID statewide, which equates to about six hospitalizations per 100,000 people. Hospitalizations have increased every week because the end of June.
Of the three,227 counties tracked by the CDC, about 88% reported low or declining hospitalization rates in comparison with the previous week. There were 27 counties with increases in hospitalizations that were considered high, and people counties were in Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.