The test works by isolating the RNA in the virus that causes COVID-19 from the excrement.
According to Stanford s findings, the increases and decreases of virus RNA from the waste over the past nine months have matched that of clinical COVID-19 data in the county.
The daily RNA concentration in the stool declined in May and June and peaked in July, according to a Stanford study.
So far the data is promising, Balliet said, but the process still has limits.
Health officials can divide COVID-19 wastewater data into different regions based on the treatment plant they receive it from.
However, tracking waste data by neighborhood seems unlikely as extracting sewage from the systems underneath each neighborhood would be too timely and costly, Balliet said.