Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across 40 U.S. states from February to June 2020

Fuqing Wu; Amy Xiao; Jianbo Zhang; Katya Moniz; Noriko Endo; Federica Armas; Mary Bushman; Peter R Chai; Claire Duvallet; Timothy B Erickson; Katelyn Foppe; Newsha Ghaeli; Xiaoqiong Gu; William P Hanage; Katherine H Huang; Wei Lin Lee; Kyle A McElroy; Steven F Rhode; Mariana Matus; Stefan Wuertz; Janelle Thompson; Eric J Alm

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2021.117400

Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across 40 U.S. states from February to June 2020

Water Res. 2021 Sep 1:202:117400. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117400. Epub 2021 Jul 2.

Authors

Fuqing Wu¹, Amy Xiao¹, Jianbo Zhang¹, Katya Moniz¹, Noriko Endo², Federica Armas³, Mary Bushman⁴, Peter R Chai⁵, Claire Duvallet², Timothy B Erickson⁶, Katelyn Foppe², Newsha Ghaeli², Xiaoqiong Gu³, William P Hanage⁴, Katherine H Huang⁷, Wei Lin Lee³, Kyle A McElroy², Steven F Rhode⁸, Mariana Matus², Stefan Wuertz⁹, Janelle Thompson¹⁰, Eric J Alm¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Biobot Analytics, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, Antimicrobial Resistance Interdisciplinary Research Group, Singapore; Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore.
⁴ Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA.
⁵ Division of Medical Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA; The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Division of Medical Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA; The Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University.
⁷ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
¹⁰ Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
¹¹ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, Antimicrobial Resistance Interdisciplinary Research Group, Singapore; Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: ejalm@mit.edu.

Abstract

Wastewater-based disease surveillance is a promising approach for monitoring community outbreaks. Here we describe a nationwide campaign to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater of 159 counties in 40 U.S. states, covering 13% of the U.S. population from February 18 to June 2, 2020. Out of 1,751 total samples analyzed, 846 samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, with overall viral concentrations declining from April to May. Wastewater viral titers were consistent with, and appeared to precede, clinical COVID-19 surveillance indicators, including daily new cases. Wastewater surveillance had a high detection rate (>80%) of SARS-CoV-2 when the daily incidence exceeded 13 per 100,000 people. Detection rates were positively associated with wastewater treatment plant catchment size. To our knowledge, this work represents the largest-scale wastewater-based SARS-CoV-2 monitoring campaign to date, encompassing a wide diversity of wastewater treatment facilities and geographic locations. Our findings demonstrate that a national wastewater-based approach to disease surveillance may be feasible and effective.

Keywords: Detection rate; SARS-CoV-2; Spatiotemporal dynamics; United States; Wastewater surveillance.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
RNA, Viral
SARS-CoV-2*
Wastewater

Substances

RNA, Viral
Waste Water

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

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