Originally Published by New Jersey Patch
Much of the country, including New Jersey, is experiencing a summer bump in COVID-19 cases, according to updated wastewater surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Communities can use sewage samples to track the presence of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) as a data point to anticipate any spikes locally.
As of Aug. 9, there are 27 states reporting “very high” levels of wastewater viral activity, and another 17 states reporting “high” levels. New Jersey is seeing “moderate” levels of COVID in wastewater samples, data shows, with a very slight increase in the number of people hospitalized with the virus.
In the last week, close to 13 percent of COVID tests have been positive in the Garden State, compared to 17.6 percent nationally.
A ‘summer wave’
The “very high” level is the highest used by the agency to quantify viral activity. The states in that category are California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Maine and Alaska.
The lowest level reported among states is “moderate,” and no states reported “low” or “minimal” levels of viral activity in wastewater. In July, only seven states reported “very high” levels of viral activity in wastewater and 19 reported “high” levels.
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