How scientists are testing for Covid in the bowels of Erie County

The Buffalo News, WGRZ-TV, Spectrum News and WIVB-TV quoted Ian Bradley, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, in stories about a pilot program in Erie County to test wastewater for presence of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The program could display outbreaks in certain geographic areas served by a specific sewer district. If an area “lights up,” it would give public health officials a chance to more quickly respond with resources, such as pop-up testing clinics and other methods to stay ahead of a potential outbreak.

Bradley told WKBW-TV that “…if we know somewhere that there is a disease that's endemic and we're worried about it becoming the next pandemic, we can start monitoring that in our wastewater. You can see it arrive much earlier than symptoms and people actually going to hospitals and things like that. We can actually detect it weeks earlier.”

Read the stories in the Buffalo News, WGRZ-TV, WIVB-TV, WKBW-TV and Spectrum News here.

Bollyinsider also covered the story.