COVID source shout-out: Virginia’s new wastewater dashboard

May 21, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

This past week, Virginia’s health department added a new wastewater surveillance section to its COVID-19 dashboard. The new section includes a map of testing sites, coronavirus trends by site, viral loads over time, and plenty of text explaining how to interpret the data.

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COVID source callout: Montana ends its dashboard

April 16, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Last week, I wrote about the Iowa health department’s move to end COVID-19 case reporting requirements for labs, and in turn stop reporting these data to the CDC. Well, Montana just became the next state to follow this trend.

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COVID source callout: Iowa ends COVID-19 case reporting

April 9, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

As of April 1, Iowa’s state health department is no longer requiring public health laboratories to report positive COVID-19 test results—and no longer reporting statewide data to the CDC. This decision, announced in late February, is part of a growing trend away from relying on case data as people use at-home tests instead of PCR tests.

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Sources and updates, March 26

March 26, 2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

Sources and updates for the week of March 26 include paxlovid for Long COVID, vaccination rates by state, a pathogenic fungus, 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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Where to find wastewater data for your community

November 20, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

As we head into the holidays with limited COVID-19 testing and undercounted case numbers, wastewater surveillance is the best way to evaluate how much the virus is spreading in your region. And it’s now available in more places than ever, thanks to the many research groups and public health agencies setting up sewage testing.

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Tips for interpreting COVID-19 data while the CDD goes on hiatus

July 31, 2022.Reading time 13 minutes.

The COVID-19 Data Dispatch is going on hiatus for the month of August 2022. Here are some tips for keeping track of COVID-19 numbers while we’re on this break, and a bit of context about why we’re taking four weeks off.

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Introducing a new resource page on wastewater data

July 17, 2022.Reading time 10 minutes.

As official COVID-19 case data become less and less reliable, wastewater surveillance can help provide a picture of where and how much the virus is spreading. This week, I put together a new COVID-19 Data Dispatch resource page that outlines major national, state, and local wastewater dashboards across the U.S.

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Sources and updates, June 12

June 12, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Sources and updates for the week of June 12 include Long COVID deaths, ventilation in schools, Moderna’s latest vaccine, and more.

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How one wastewater plant became a leading COVID-19 forecasting source

April 24, 2022.Reading time 32 minutes.

This week, I had a new story published with FiveThirtyEight and the Documenting COVID-19 project about the data and implementation challenges of wastewater surveillance. As bonus material in today’s COVID-19 Data Dispatch, I wanted to share one of the interviews I did for the story, which provides a good case study of the benefits and challenges of COVID-19 surveillance in wastewater.

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