Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment expanding COVID wastewater testing

As a new COVID-19 variant takes hold in Colorado, the state health department is expanding how it monitors the virus. This fall, the plan is to test wastewater samples from specific buildings, starting with schools. 

More than two years into the pandemic, there are countless ways to track the virus' spread, and one useful tools traces back to the bathroom. Experts call it wastewater surveillance, a practice used by the state and universities alike.  

"We're testing to identify COVID-19 virus, quantify how much, and then determine what variants of concern are present in those samples," said Rachel Jervis, an epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.  

Currently, CDPHE is testing samples from 53 wastewater utilities across the state. While that data gives a unique glimpse at community transmission, the state wants to narrow the focus even more.  

This fall the plan is to expand the testing program to schools that choose to partner with CDPHE  

"By going to the building level, it gives us more granular data," Jervis said. "Instead of looking at representation of COVID within an entire community contributing to a wastewater utility, it's just contributing to this one building." 

According to Jervis, the biggest challenge will be interpreting the data and making sure it's actionable.  

"If they were to notice an increase or a spike, then working closely with their local health departments and our COVID team, to decide, what does this mean? Do we want to have a vaccination campaign? Do we want to encourage additional testing? What makes sense for us," Jervis said.  

In the long term, the state could expand its wastewater surveillance efforts to other types of buildings, including nursing facilities and jails or prisons. The surveillance could also be used to monitor other viruses, like monkeypox.  

"I like to think about public health surveillance sort of like Swiss cheese," Jervis said. "No component of surveillance covers everything, but if we layer multiple types of surveillance, we have really robust data."