This is not breaking news or anything, but I’ve been fascinated by the predictive power of analyzing the quantity of COVID-19 in metro wastewater. (See the live graph, updated weekly.) The rise and fall of the viral load in our wastewater accurately predicts the approximate number of reported cases about 6–8 days in advance.

In the screenshot below, you can see the massive spike of cases in January. You can also see how quickly it peaked and began to fall. The high point in wastewater was around January 10. Cases continued rising for another week or two, but then started falling rapidly. This information is exceptionally helpful to schools who are in the uncomfortable position of needing to make weekly decisions about whether to stay open and how to handle staffing challenges.

Another element that they are tracking in our wastewater is the type of COVID-19 virus present. The chart below shows the rise of delta (in blue) followed by omicron (in red/purple). Let’s hope we won’t need a new color anytime soon.