Tracking coronavirus in sewage — South Carolina’s multi-partner study
Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) April-December study
The Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) has a long-term, multi-partner study underway to assess the potential use of monitoring influential wastewater for viral loading as a contributory tool for early-on public health decision-making. Several treatment facilities are in the study, ranging from smaller domestics to larger municipals. Data acquisition commenced in April and is scheduled to run thru December. Viral loading data will be analyzed relative to positive case counts on a zip code basis to test the hypothesis of expected association.
Partners currently include:
— SCDHEC Bureau of Water
— 8 utilities which contribute composite, flow-weighted samples twice weekly
— University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Professor Sean Norman, whose Lab analyzes the wastewater samples (more than 250 so far) [For sake of inter-lab comparison, he shares a fraction of samples with colleagues at state university in another state.]
— Distinguished Professor Dan Knapp, Medical University of South Carolina, Senior consultant
— Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for epidemiological modeling.
SCDHEC expects to publish analytic results and study conclusions after December.