COVID in Palm Beach County sewage testing indicates big drop is on its way
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Palm Beach County may experience a big drop in COVID-19 cases, a sewage testing report released this week indicates.
Coronavirus fragments found in north county wastewater fell 19% between Aug. 1 and Monday, the Loxahatchee River District reported.
Boston-based laboratory Biobot Analytics found 1,990 viral fragments per milliliter in the wastewater sample the district sent, down from 2,451 seven days before.
The latest numbers: COVID in Florida: Wave appears to be flattening with new infections, hospitalizations holding steady
Antivirals: Why the main antiviral medicine for COVID may be underused
Editorial: Better data from Florida essential for pandemic control
Sewage sampling can reveal COVID trends faster than official case counts. Infected people often shed the most virus at the beginning of their infection. Sewage testing can give the public and health officials a five- to 10-day lead on the prevalence of new clinical cases.
Health officials have documented an average of 600 to 800 positive cases daily in Palm Beach County since late May with no sign of dropping, data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. But with the rise of at-home testing, many positive test results don’t make it into official statistics.
COVID sewage testing will now happen twice a week thanks to CDC program
Until Monday, the Loxahatchee River District sent Biobot samples every other week. But now the district plans to have its sewage tested twice a week, thanks to a federal program that tracks coronavirus in wastewater nationwide.
“With school starting and snowbird season in the coming months, the increased frequency of monitoring, and the additional detail it provides, is timely,” district Information Services Director Bud Howard said.
The district had applied in May to be part of the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System, which would give it federal dollars to pay for more frequent sewage testing. But, Howard said, the CDC accepted only large metropolitan water treatment facilities into the program.
Now, the federal program will give the district money through January, Howard said.
The district plans to publish results Wednesdays and Fridays on its website at loxahatcheeriver.org.
The district serves the Tequesta-Jupiter area ZIP codes of 33458, 33477 and 33469.
Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: COVID sewage testing in Palm Beach Beach County shows big reduction
