Wastewater shows COVID levels dipping as hospitalizations tick up

New data collected from wastewater samples indicates that detected COVID-19 levels are decreasing nationwide, while cases and hospitalizations continue to tick up.

The levels of COVID detected in wastewater samples dropped by about 5 percent nationwide in the last week, according to data from Biobot Analytics, a platform that tracks COVID through wastewater. Data from wastewater can provide early warnings of the spread of COVID cases across regions.

Though wastewater collection sites in the West, Midwest and Northeast show a steady uptick in levels of COVID detected, wastewater samples in the South show enough of a decrease to tip the overall national detected levels in a downward trajectory for the last week.

However, wastewater data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows virus levels increasing at more sites reporting data within the last week, though the CDC indicates that data collected since the beginning of the month may be subject to reporting delays.

In addition, positive cases and COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths are still continuing to rise through the end of summer and into the beginning of fall, according to data from the CDC.