HOUSTON (AP) — City health officials and Rice University scientists have begun testing Houston wastewater samples for COVID-19, a process they hope will reveal the true spread of the new coronavirus as clinical testing continues to lag.
The city-led effort makes use of studies that show traces of the virus can be found in human feces, according to the Houston Chronicle. By testing samples of sewage collected at the city's wastewater treatment plants, officials hope to uncover the scale of the outbreak in Houston and, perhaps, locate hotspots undetected by in-person tests.
"It's an evolving field. We hope that it will help give us just more information on where the virus is and how much of it is out there," said Loren Hopkins, a Rice University statistics professor who also serves as the health department's chief environmental science officer.
