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Collected Item: “Boost sought in wastewater covid tracking”

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Boost sought in wastewater covid tracking

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Text Story

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This is a news article detailing the work of health officials and scientists and a new program of tracking COVID in wastewater through a program at the University of Arkansas. The Arkansas Department of Health hopes this new program will allow scientists and health officials to receive an early warning about a potential surge in the spread of COVID and take appropriate measures to minimize the potential damage. If successful, the University and the Arkansas Department of Health hope to apply for a $30 million dollar grant from the CDC to implement the process across the country and perform more research. The basic premise is to collect a sample of wastewater and test for COVID-19 and thereby generally derive if the community is increasing or decreasing in cases. While the program cannot give a specific number of afflicted individuals, it is suggested that understanding COVID in wastewater will give health officials a better understanding of those who test at home and therefore do not report on state-wide numbers.

This article is fascinating, I think, because it demonstrates a rapid growth in scientific ideas to combat the pandemic since the dawn of COVID in America. Indeed, COVID has permeated every aspect of our lives, so it is only natural to derive a solution from even the most mundane aspects of humanity. It would seem impossible to gain a greater understanding of COVID from something such as wastewater, but the pervasiveness of COVID has encouraged study such as this. I think the ultimate mission of this program is valuable. When I had COVID at the start of February, I took an at home test and therefore I was not reported as a number in the statewide totals. This article really made me think about whether or not we as a society really know how many people are afflicted with COVID and just how serious the pandemic is or not.

This article was published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

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#Arkansas, #water, #science, #understanding, #cases, #public, #health

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Janelle Jessen in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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2022-04-10
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