Earlier this month, a contractor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began taking samples from the city’s sewage system twice a day as part of the National Sewage Surveillance System, said Joe Lanzafame, the city’s director of public services. The CDC initiative, launched at the beginning of the pandemic, aims to provide an early warning system to communities about a possible increase in COVID-19. Healthcare professionals, in turn, can use the information, in conjunction with other data, to help make decisions about issues such as informing the public about encouraging testing or using a mask. Hundreds of other cities across the country are using the test method as a barometer for a potential outbreak as the number of people seeking lab tests decreases and home tests increase. The results of home tests, however, can not be monitored by health professionals. Sewage is considered an indicator of cases as people infected with COVID-19 excrete the virus in their feces. “What we have learned so far from the pandemic is that sewage is something that is not sensitive to the number of people who go out and get tested. “It’s really a reflection of what might be happening at the grassroots level,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, in a recent interview with The Day. Sewage testing, combined with other data, gives health workers “our best indicator, especially in an impending increase or not in a given community and in our state,” Jutani said. The CDC asked the DPH for help recruiting municipalities with sewage treatment plants. The DPH is not involved in data collection or analysis, but monitors publicly available wastewater test results that were included in the CDC COVID data monitoring program in February. Five Connecticut counties have been registered since Friday, according to the CDC website. More are expected to join and join the CDC target for 500 test sites across the country. Norwich Public Utilities will begin testing in the coming weeks, said NPU spokesman Chris Riley. Norwich and New London had submitted sewage samples as part of a Yale University program that declined in the fall when government funding evaporated. Riley said the NPU had contacted the state Department of Health to participate in the CDC program. Sewage in New London includes water from parts of the Waterford and East Lyme. The Norwich Wastewater Treatment Plant serves parts of Franklin, Sprague, Preston, Bozrah and Lisbon. “The NPU is pleased to be involved in such an important study and is committed to supporting the overall public health of our community whenever possible,” Riley said. Derek Albertson, an inspector with the Montville Water Pollution Control Authority, said Montville submitted the test results to the Microbial Analysis, Resources and Services (MARS) facility at the University of Connecticut. It expects the data to be submitted to CDC data to help create a broader picture of Community levels of COVID-19. About 64% of Montville is served by sewers. The initial sampling, Albertson said, shows very low levels of COVID-19. Patrick McCormack, health director for the Uncas Health District, which includes Norwich, said the test would provide data weeks before COVID-19 and its variants explode. He added that the data could help the health department inform the community about prevention strategies. Earlier this month, New London City Council hosted a briefing by Stephen Mansfield, Ledge Light Health Director. Mansfield explained that the CDC in February announced new measurements that would help guide mitigation efforts, relying more on significant results from COVID-19 and not just infections. The CDC defines counties as states with a color-coded diagram that Mansfield said “paints a more realistic picture of where we are.” The new measurements take into account the number of infections, the number of new treatments and the availability of hospital beds. All of Connecticut has been in the low risk category since Friday. Noting that “COVID-19 has receded but has not disappeared in any way,” Mansfield said the CDC still recommends that people with symptoms, test positive or report someone with COVID-19 wear a mask. Staff writer Claire Bessette contributed to this report. [email protected]
