NATIONAL PRIORITIES: INNOVATIVE SAMPLING DESIGNS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE OF CORONAVIRUSES AND OTHER PATHOGENS IN WASTEWATER

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for effective tools to monitor the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking applications proposing innovative research to inform effective wastewater sampling network designs which allow for early detection and can provide evidence of spread of infection from national to local levels in a form that can be readily used by public health agencies nationwide to address current and future epidemics/pandemics. Wastewater sampling has been widely deployed during the pandemic as a cost-effective, screening-level approach to assess infection levels in the community. In addition to improved analytical detection methods and understanding of pathogen fate and transport in sewer systems, advancing wastewater-based monitoring will require well-designed sampling networks and public health data integration approaches.

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