The Omicron spike may finally be about to ebb in parts of Connecticut, according to Yale researchers who use wastewater to study COVID-19 rates.
Experts said COVID-19 samples in wastewater allow them to predict an outbreak in a community five to seven days before testing data catches up. Researcher Jordan Peccia of the school of engineering and applied science said samples of the virus in and around New Haven began to drop in early January.
“It gives you a little bit of an early picture. Usually one to two days earlier than the cases reported. That’s because we get that data as soon as the person is sick and they shed into the wastewater, whereas testing takes a few days to get back and then it’s got to go through the systems to be reported,” Peccia said.
Peccia said wastewater samples in Boston show a similar decline in recent days.
