The Maine CDC says daily case counts of COVID-19 are becoming a less valuable metric to track the pandemic. Officials say staff are unable to keep up with a deluge of daily lab results to process amidst the spread of the omicron variant. To better track the virus, agency director Dr. Nirav Shah says that the state will soon expand wastewater testing.
"It gives us a picture of how much COVID is in a community at any given point. We've learned from wastewater testing so far that it can be a leading indicator of the presence of COVID-19 in a community," Shah says.
Shah says detecting COVID in wastewater will give an early warning to local health providers and hospitals about spread in a community. He says 20 municipalities in both urban and rural areas will participate in the expanded program.
