Study finds amazing predictor of timing and scale of coronavirus outbreaks: Feces

They re nearly identical. The amount of virus in the sludge gave them almost perfect insight into how many new cases there would be a week later. The implications are obvious. By tracking the presence of virus in sewage day to day, local health authorities can potentially detect new outbreaks as they happen rather than wait for a bunch of sick and contagious people to show up at doctor s offices days after they ve already unwittingly begun infecting others. That would be especially useful in communities that are poor and might not have the same access to conventional PCR testing to warn them that the virus is spreading locally. Spotting an increase in the volume of virus in dookie would also provide notice to nearby hospitals to get ready and could give federal and state officials time to ship testing components and PPE to that community. And of course it would allow the local government to warn residents that the virus is surging and that they should immediately practice stringent social distancing to reduce the risk to themselves. With an early alarm like that, people might be able to choke off an outbreak before it gets going.

via hotair.com

Makes sense.