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Yale’s COVID-19 wastewater testing will soon cover 1 million Connecticut residents

Yale’s COVID-19 wastewater testing program, which began in New Haven in March, will soon expand to cover almost one-third of Connecticut’s residents and most of the state’s major cities — potentially giving local and state officials advance warning of coronavirus outbreaks.

A team led by Jordan Peccia, of the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been testing the wastewater in New Haven since March, measuring the levels of coronavirus genetic code embedded in feces. The variations in the amount of genetic code can show the researchers whether the virus is spreading throughout a community.

But, unlike other forms of testing, wastewater testing is a leading indicator of outbreaks — it can provide evidence of outbreaks up to seven days earlier than traditional testing, Peccia said.