MOLINE, Ill — Since more people are now testing for COVID-19 at home, the Moline City Water Department is using wastewater to measure trends, not only with COVID, but for flu and RSV.
It's through a program with the Illinois Department of Public Health for wastewater surveillance. Lab Technicians in the utilities lab at Moline's water department gather samples of raw wastewater and then ship them to a lab at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The samples are then analyzed for signs of COVID-19, flu or RSV.
"What the data provides is, it's a composite of everything that's being flushed down the pipe," Moline utilities lab manager Charles Brown said. "So all, everyone's individuality and their data is protected. We can't say this person has it, or that person has it. On the flip side, we can't even tell exactly how many people have it because some people will shed more virus than others."
Both Brown and Janet Hill, interim administrator with the Rock Island County Health Department, said they've seen a rise in COVID cases in the Illinois Quad Cities.
"We actually saw an uptick, starting a couple weeks ago," Brown said.
"We are now seeing COVID cases in the wastewater rising pretty quickly, the slope is pretty steep," Hill said. "And that's an early indication that we're getting ready to have a big rise in cases."
This testing has been running for two years in collaboration between the Illinois Dept. of Public Health and the research group, Discovery Partners at UI Chicago. The testing does not cost the city any money. Hill says the program is important in the preparation for cold and flu season.