The Oklahoma City-County Health Department is tracking COVID-19 in an unique way, through the sewer system.
The research team, made up of several different organizations, said tracking COVID-19 through wastewater can pinpoint a hotspot within a city before an outbreak happens. Those outbreaks can be predicted a week in advance. Virus mutations can also be detected.
OU Medicine s Vice President of Community Health Impact Halley Reeves said tracking COVID via wastewater is the most accurate way to show virus activity in large populations. A hotspot can be whittled down from an entire city s population to just a few thousand. According to researchers, having a specific place on a map helps determine where more testing sites need to be. Vaccine distribution is impacted as well.