Saber LB, Kennedy SS, Yang Y, Moore KN, Wang Y, Hilton SP, Chang TY, Liu P, Phillips VL, Akiyama MJ, Moe CL, Spaulding AC. Correlation of SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater and Individual Testing Results in a Jail, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Emerg Infect Dis 2024;
30:S21-S27. [PMID:
38561638 PMCID:
PMC10986836 DOI:
10.3201/eid3013.230775]
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Abstract
Institution-level wastewater-based surveillance was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, including in carceral facilities. We examined the relationship between COVID-19 diagnostic test results of residents in a jail in Atlanta, Georgia, USA (average population ≈2,700), and quantitative reverse transcription PCR signal for SARS-CoV-2 in weekly wastewater samples collected during October 2021‒May 2022. The jail offered residents rapid antigen testing at entry and periodic mass screenings by reverse transcription PCR of self-collected nasal swab specimens. We aggregated individual test data, calculated the Spearman correlation coefficient, and performed logistic regression to examine the relationship between strength of SARS-CoV-2 PCR signal (cycle threshold value) in wastewater and percentage of jail population that tested positive for COVID-19. Of 13,745 nasal specimens collected, 3.9% were COVID-positive (range 0%-29.5% per week). We observed a strong inverse correlation between diagnostic test positivity and cycle threshold value (r = -0.67; p<0.01). Wastewater-based surveillance represents an effective strategy for jailwide surveillance of COVID-19.
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