And it just so happens that the output of the restrooms and cells at Cook County Jail run in defined sewers out of each division, isolated from storm water or melting snows. It s an ideal place to look for traces of the virus.
If you know how and where to look, that is (and if you don t mind staring down a torrent of sewage).
Enter the scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago. It s much easier to test a couple of wastewater samples than to test hundreds of people, says UIC s Dr. Samuel Dorevitch. If we tell them, that building where they thought they didn t have any COVID cases actually does, then they know what measures to put in place -to isolate people, move people out, so COVID isn t being transmitted in that building any more.