Kansas and Missouri are two of 27 states where levels of COVID-19 are currently “very high” in wastewater, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wastewater testing is used as a tool to track potential outbreaks and trends. While watershed data can’t tell researchers how many people are infected with COVID-19, the virus can be detected in a person’s waste even before they are symptomatic.
“It is a very meaningful and useful way to tell how much infection there is in that community,” said Marc Johnson, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri.
Johnson is heavily involved in the Sewershed Surveillance Project, a collaborative effort that tracks levels of COVID-19 in Missouri by testing and tracking wastewater data from watersheds in the state.
Johnson said post-pandemic, fewer people are being tested for COVID by their doctors or at clinics. He said wastewater data can help fill in the gaps.
“Wastewater just gives you a true reality check,” Johnson said. “It gives you a true readout of whether it's (COVID) in the community and whether it is increasing, regardless of what is being reported.”
The CDC rates COVID in wastewater at six levels, ranging from “insufficient data” or “minimal” to “very high.” The levels are “very high” in Kansas and Missouri at the moment.
“What this means is that if you feel like you have COVID, you probably have COVID,” Johnson said. “It’s there, it’s circulating. People are being exposed to it.”
In an email to the Kansas News Service, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said there are 13 treatment facilities in Kansas that regularly report wastewater data to the CDC. Since July, the spokesperson said, COVID has been detected at all of the Kansas facilities.
“Looking at the data, we can see that the current wastewater levels are about two-thirds of what were seen over the 2023 winter holidays,” the spokesperson said. “This means that even though there are a lot of people infected with COVID-19 right now, it is likely that there are still fewer people infected than during the holidays.”
The KDHE spokesperson said the high numbers are concerning, but people can be vaccinated to gain immunity from variants of the virus.
“Because these waves are associated with variants that people become immune to after vaccination or an infection, the waves are self-limiting and we are already seeing the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in some sites in Kansas level off and even decrease,” the spokesperson said.
Johnson said COVID levels are nowhere near as high as they were during previous major outbreaks, like when the omicron variant of the virus hit the U.S. in 2021. But he said COVID levels now are almost the highest he’s seen all year, and they’re approaching the highest he’s seen in the past two years.
Johnson said he isn’t sure why COVID is surging right now. He said unlike the flu and other respiratory illnesses that tend to be seasonal, COVID has proven it can strike any time of year.
One possibility is that people’s immunity is waning, he said.
“We've seen the virus before, but it's been a while. And so our immunity for it is going down,” Johnson said. Johnson, who is not a medical doctor, said he thinks it is wise for people to get vaccinated or get a booster for the coronavirus. Research has shown that the vaccines help reduce the risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.
The CDC recently released an updated vaccine for COVID-19. It recommends the vaccine for anyone 6 months or older.
Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports on health care disparities and access for the Kansas News Service. You can email her at r.shackelford@kcur.org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
