At-home tests, wastewater: COVID-19 testing after the public health emergency ends

March 19, 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

When the public health emergency ends this spring, COVID-19 testing is going to move further in two separate directions: rapid, at-home tests at the individual level, and wastewater testing at the community level. That was my main takeaway from an online event last Tuesday, hosted by Arizona State University and the State and Territory Alliance for Testing.

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Sources and updates, March 5

March 5, 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Sources and updates for the week of March 5 include a joint COVID/flu rapid test, new Long COVID studies, RSV vaccines, and more.

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COVID-19 is inspiring improvements to surveillance for other common viruses

February 26, 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

This week, I have a new story out in Gothamist and WNYCabout norovirus, a nasty stomach bug that appears to be spreading a lot in the U.S. right now. The story shares some NYC-specific norovirus information, but it also talks more broadly about why it’s difficult to find precise data on this virus despite its major implications for public health. Reporting this story led me to reflect on how COVID-19 has revealed cracks in the country’s infrastructure for tracking a lot of common pathogens.

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Wastewater surveillance can get more specific than entire sewersheds

February 5, 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

This week, I had a new article published in The Atlantic about how COVID-19 wastewater surveillance can be useful beyond entire sewersheds, the setting where this testing usually takes place. Sewershed testing is great for broad trends about large populations (like, an entire city or county), the story explains. But if you’re a public health official seeking truly actionable data to inform policies, it’s helpful to get more specific.

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Looking ahead to the big COVID-19 stories of 2023

January 15, 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

As someone who’s been reporting on COVID-19 since the beginning, a new year is a good opportunity to parse out what feels like an eternity of pandemic reporting. So this week, I reflected on the major trends and topics I hope to cover in 2023—both building on my work from prior years and taking it in new directions.

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NYC’s wastewater program models the challenges facing local public health agencies

December 18, 2022.Reading time 10 minutes.

My second big story this week is a detailed report about New York City’s wastewater surveillance program, highlighting its lack of transparency. I’m particularly excited to share this one with NYC-based readers, as it uncovers a public program that’s been running under our feet for nearly three years.

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COVID source shout-out: HealthWeather dashboard

November 13, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

I recently learned about the Kinsa HealthWeather dashboard, a resource providing COVID-19 risk estimates by state and county based on data from smart thermometers.

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The U.S.’s flu and RSV surveillance is insufficient for tracking this fall’s outbreaks

October 30, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

I recently received a question from a reader, asking how to follow both COVID-19 and the flu in the county where she lives. For COVID-19, county-level data sources aren’t too hard to find; for the flu, this is much harder.

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