Meeting the Challenge of Coronavirus

With limitations on COVID-19 testing making it difficult to know how widespread the virus is, researchers at Yale University are looking to wastewater for a more accurate picture of the epidemic. “If a disease shows up in a community, it shows up in the wastewater" says Jordan Peccia, PhD,  of the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Yale School of Medicine. Along with Saad Omer, PhD, and Edward Kaplan, PhD, Peccia is leading efforts to measure the concentration of COVID-19 in wastewater samples within New Haven. In the long term, daily wastewater surveillance could provide an early warning if/when flare ups or hotspots of the virus occur.

Everyone is eager to get back to normal life. But what does it mean for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis to be over? It’s not a matter of flipping a switch and going back to life as it was before. As long as the virus persists—even at a lower level—the norms of our daily life will be different. This video explains what you need to know about transmission rates, surveillance testing, pandemics, and the second wave that experts are anticipating. It points to the unified efforts and outbreak preparedness that are needed to help conquer COVID-19 and other infectious diseases—now and in the future. Written and created by Yale Neuroscience PhD student Clara Liao in collaboration with Yale Public Health PhD student Mary Petrone.