COVID levels in wastewater surge, new strain may target guts

[KARAH RUCKER]

SCIENTISTS CAN USE WASTEWATER SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS TO DETERMINE WHETHER COVID-19 INFECTION RATES IN A COMMUNITY ARE INCREASING OR DECREASING. RIGHT NOW, COVID ACTIVITY IN WASTEWATER IS CURRENTLY LISTED AS “VERY HIGH” BY THE CDC – THAT’S THE HIGHEST LEVEL BY CDC METRICS. 

LEVELS ARE AT THE HIGHEST THEY’VE BEEN ALL YEAR, WITH WINTER OFTEN BEING A TIME MANY PEOPLE GET SICK. BUT THIS YEAR, SOME SCIENTISTS ARE SUGGESTING THE SPIKE IN COVID CASES DETECTED IN WASTEWATER COULD SIGNAL THE LATEST STRAIN OF COVID IS MORE SO TARGETING PEOPLES’ GUTS RATHER THAN THEIR RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS.

THE NEWEST VARIANT OF COVID THAT EMERGED IN AUGUST IS SAID TO BE THE FASTEST-GROWING VARIANT IN TWO YEARS. AND WHILE COVID LEVELS IN WASTEWATER ARE ELEVATED, SO FAR, IT’S NOT SENDING PEOPLE TO THE HOSPITAL AT HIGH RATES LIKE WE SAW IN YEARS PAST.

A CDC RESEARCH DIRECTOR SAID,

“PEOPLE ARE DETECTING IT IN WASTEWATER AT AS HIGH A RATE AS THEY WERE DETECTING OMICRON WHEN IT FIRST EMERGED. BUT SO FAR, WE’RE NOT SEEING A PARALLEL INCREASE IN HOSPITALIZATION. I THINK WE HAVE TO WATCH THAT SPACE.”

SOME SCIENTISTS SAY THE NEWEST VARIANT IS “SELECTIVELY TARGETING PEOPLES’ INTESTINAL TRACTS.” AND WHILE PATIENTS WITH THE CORONAVIRUS HAVE LONG LISTED A VARIETY OF SYMPTOMS, THE MOST SEVERE OF THEM HAVE LARGELY BEEN IN THE UPPER RESPIRATORY FROM ITS ONSET.

BUT SOME MICROBIOLOGY RESEARCHERS SAY INFECTION TRENDS HAVE SHIFTED AWAY FROM LOWER LUNG INFECTIONS SINCE THE DELTA VARIANT IN 2021 AND CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THIS NEWEST VARIANT.

WHILE THIS COULD BE AN EXPLANATION FOR WHY COVID DEATHS AND HOSPITALIZATIONS ARE LOWER THAN YEARS PAST YET INFECTION RATES IN WASTEWATER REMAIN HIGH, IT’S ONLY ONE POSSIBLE EXPLANATION.

RESEARCHERS SAY THE EVIDENCE IS LIMITED AS THEY CONTINUE TO STUDY A VIRUS THAT – IN ITS SHORT HISTORY HAS BEEN UNIQUE AND UNPREDICTABLE.