As human beings, we spend a big part of our lives trying to find fresher and more productive growth avenues. This allows us to significantly widen our spectrum over time, thus creating a system where we always stand a chance at scaling up beyond what we have known till then. Now, looking for growth avenues is something easier said than done. You see, there are a lot of boxes that demand to be checked before we can actively pursue anything. Hence, in a bid to counter such laborious examination procedures, humans have developed concrete ways through which they can literally manufacture these avenues. In fact, today, we have various methods tasked with doing the said job, but none of them really come close to matching what technology has done for the world. Technology’s high stature within the global hierarchy is often put down to the convenience it has added to our lives, and rightfully so. However, we must acknowledge how, alongside convenience, the creation has also brought in unprecedented efficiency levels. This efficiency is apparent across every major area, including the all-important medical sector. Technology and healthcare link-up has proven to be a collaboration that still continues to defy pre-conceived boundaries, therefore guiding us towards a very promising future on a rather consistent basis. The latest by-product to emerge from the said collaboration was on full display during a recent announcement.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is officially tightening up the response against new Covid 19 variant, as the agency makes wastewater tracking data available to the public. Since the pandemic kicked off, these sewage-related tracking projects have done a whole lot in helping the authorities gauge the spread of Covid 19 virus. Basically, the system functions by detecting possible virus particles in human waste. In case it detects the virus, the health officials and communities associated with that area are instantly notified. Covering 400 sites in the US right now, wastewater tracking approach started in New York, while education institutes like University of Arizona were also involved. Soon enough, though, the idea of being able to visualize and predict the virus spread convinced many more areas about practicing a similar method.
“These data are uniquely powerful because they capture the presence of infection from people with or without symptoms,” Amy Kirby, team lead for the National Wastewater Surveillance System.
Kirby further went on to reveal that apart from National Wastewater Surveillance System, which has so far fulfilled the responsibility of providing relevant data in this context, we can expect other websites to soon join the cause too. As far as delivering data to the public is concerned, it will be available through a tool on CDC’s Covid 19 data tracking website.
