The state of Maine has launched two wastewater testing programs to detect Covid-19 in communities.
One is a partnership with the U.S. CDC, in which seven municipalities will test wastewater samples twice a week as part of a nationwide screening project. But the sites are only in the southern half of the state, which Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah says was a choice made by the U.S. CDC.
"The site selection was something that they did. But as we saw what that looked like from a geographic and equity perspective, that's why we pursued a parallel track," Shah says.
Maine's own screening program currently involves eight municipalities, including Presque Isle and Calais, but will be expanded up to 16.
Shah says detecting COVID at the community level through wastewater testing is a better way to track the virus at this stage of the pandemic. The rapid spread of the omicron variant has overwhelmed the Maine CDC, which is facing a backlog of 56,000 test results to process.
