MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (06/23/2025) — Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases , a University of Minnesota research team demonstrated that measuring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater continues to accurately predict COVID-19 infections in a community.
Between January 2022 and August 2024, the research team examined the correlation between symptomatic COVID-19 in healthcare employees and levels of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — in wastewater. They found that SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater accurately predicted subsequent COVID-19 case counts the following week in the community.
"We learned during 2020 that rising SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater provided a two week heads up of coming COVID visits to hospitals and clinics," said Timothy Shacker, MD , a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and an infectious disease physician with M Health Fairview. "This ongoing work demonstrates the continued importance of wastewater surveillance to public health planning for our state's hospitals and clinics."
The University of Minnesota continues to monitor COVID-19, influenza, RSV, mpox and measles in the wastewater through its Wastewater Surveillance Study . The research team suggests that future work focuses on integrating wastewater surveillance with other epidemiological data sources to develop real-time decision-making frameworks that support public health responses to emerging outbreaks.
This work was supported through a contract with the Minnesota Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
