SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A new San Diego County laboratory equipped with cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing how health officials monitor community disease outbreaks through wastewater testing.
The facility is more than triple the size of the old lab and includes a dedicated space for wastewater testing, allowing county doctors to analyze sewage samples for flu, RSV, and COVID-19.
"Anything that goes down the drain at your household in the sewer systems is all collected, and it's a great way to get a snapshot of population health," San Diego County Health Lab Director Dr. Jeremy Corrigan said.
The county started using this lab in January. The new technology can identify specific COVID variants in wastewater samples, and officials plan to launch flu sequencing capabilities soon.
"We can tell you what type of COVID variants are inside the wastewater sample. And very soon we're about to launch sequencing for the flu targets as well," Corrigan said.
Previously, the county partnered with Search Alliance and UC San Diego for wastewater testing. It was widely used as a testing source during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical experts said, at the time, it was the best way to predict COVID-19 levels in the community.
However, sending samples to external facilities slowed the process and provided no reliable timeline for results. Now, having the tools in-house delivers results in just two weeks.
"Which is great because then we hope is to be able to get the results out to the community in a more real-time approach," County Health Scientist Julie Tsecouras-Ramirez said.
The faster turnaround helps officials get ahead of potential outbreaks.
"If public health action needs to happen, we're able to do that faster," Tsecouras-Ramirez said.
The testing also helps track cases the county might not typically see through traditional healthcare reporting.
"You may be not sick enough to go seek healthcare, or you may be asymptomatic and still have it," Corrigan said. "Whereas wastewater is an unbiased sample, and we're able to pick up all of those different cases to help advise what's going on in the community."
All the laboratory work feeds into a public dashboard where community members can track the data.
"I'm pretty excited to see where we're at right now, but I'm more excited to see where we're going in the future," Corrigan said.
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