State implements wastewater COVID-19 detection plan
New Mexico will begin testing wastewater samples at detention facilities in the southwestern region of the state in hopes of stemming the spread of COVID19, the Environment Department announced this week.
The Environment Department will lead the new initiative, dubbed the New Mexico Wastewater Surveillance System, and will oversee twice-weekly testing at “several federal, state and local correctional, and Children, Youth and Families Department facilities,” the agency said in a news release issued Wednesday.
The samples will be analyzed for the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 and can be detected in bodily fluids before an infected person starts experiencing symptoms. Wastewater testing can be used as an early detector of communal spread.
“The Environment Department is on the cutting edge of using science and innovation to improve public health outcomes for New Mexicans,” Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a statement. “The pandemic has called for unprecedented levels of collaboration among government agencies, and we appreciate the cooperation of state and local agencies to aid in protecting vulnerable populations during our fight against COVID.”
Maddy Hayden, spokeswoman for the Environment Department, said two facilities in Doña Ana County were tested Wednesday, and the department was evaluating sites in Luna and Otero counties Thursday.
The University of Arizona made headlines in August with a similar testing program. The school announced it had prevented a possible outbreak at a dorm after testing wastewater shortly after students returned to campus.
The wastewater initiative prompted novel coronavirus testing of more than 300 students at a dorm, and two who tested positive but were asymptomatic were quarantined.
Other states, including New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Ohio, have started their own wastewater testing plans as well.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to launch a portal where data from wastewater testing can be analyzed and compiled.
The southwestern region of New Mexico was selected for the first phase of the program because of its high positivity rates for COVID-19 and its “lower-than-average rates of testing,” the Environment Department said.
The program might expand to other parts of the state and different types of facilities as resources allow. Prisons and other congregate facilities across New Mexico, including nursing homes and retirement centers, have experienced concerning COVID19 outbreaks among staff and residents since the spring.
“My administration will continue to use every resource at our disposal to track and stop this virus, to prevent outbreaks and illnesses and to save New Mexican lives,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a news release on the new testing program. “We will innovate and create our own new resources and programs to execute that mission as well.”