Dashboard for Tracking SARS-CoV-2 Presence in Wastewater

One method of tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the population is by testing wastewater to find the presence of the virus. This method is valuable because reductions in public testing, asymptomatic cases, and the availability of vaccines and treatments have reduced the amount of data available from other sources. An article about the importance of wastewater testing can be found on the website of the U of M’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy: Wastewater surveillance may be best marker of community COVID-19 prevalence.

U-Spatial has worked with health agencies in Minnesota since September 2020 to create an easy-to-read dashboard showing results from wastewater testing. They recently released an updated, expanded dashboard (http://z.umn.edu/ww_dashboard) for this study. The new dashboard provides data at the facility level, rather than aggregating the data into regions. Thirty-eight treatment facilities throughout the state are participating in the study. U-Spatial is continuing to work with this project and will update the dashboard as necessary in the future. Stacey Stark, U-Spatial Associate Director, is the PI for the project.

Image description: Screenshot of the MN Wastewater Surveillance Study dashboard. To see data for a specific facility, clicking the “Select a Facility” button at the top right will give a drop-down menu of the 38 facilities participating in the study.