New York State is closely monitoring the COVID-19 testing, hospitalization, fatalities, vaccination, and a variety of other topics. They offer dashboards, reports, and data sources summarizing key information on these topics.

Visit the NYS Department of Health COVID-19 Data website at: coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-data-new-york

To better understand the spread of COVID-19, a network across New York State is studying wastewater samples to identify virus fragments that cause the SARS-CoV-2 disease.

People infected with SARS-CoV-2 can shed the virus in their feces, even if they don’t have symptoms. The virus can then be detected in wastewater, enabling wastewater surveillance to capture the presence of SARS-CoV-2 shed by people with and without symptoms.

Wastewater is collected from communities that contribute to a public wastewater treatment plant. These communities contribute to what is known as a sewershed. Not all communities have public sewers or participate in the wastewater surveillance program.

These data can provide an early warning and indicator of COVID-19 cases in a community. Trends in wastewater data have shown to be a leading indicator within a sewershed by several days; recently reported cases lag behind wastewater trends.

There are four wastewater treatment facilities in Albany County that participate:

• The North Plant sewershed serves Cohoes, Guilderland, Town of Colonie, Village of Colonie, Green Island, Watervliet, and the North End of the City of Albany.
• The South Plant sewershed serves the majority of the City of Albany.
• The Town of Bethlehem Plant serves the majority of the Town of Bethlehem.
• The Town of Guilderland Plant serves the majority of the Town of Guilderland.

There are two trends the wastewater surveillance identifies:

• A decreasing trend. This would mean that the population could expect lower daily COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks if this trend continues.
• An increasing trend. This would mean that the population could expect higher daily COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks if this trend continues.

There are three levels used to evaluate the wastewater and spread of COVID-19 in the community:

• Not detected: low transmission, <10 cases per 100,000 in the past 7 days, and <5% test positivity.
• Detected: medium transmission, <LOQ: 10-50 cases per 100,000 in the past 7 days, and 5-7.9% test positivity.
• Quantifiable detection: substantial or high transmission, >50 cases per 100,000 in the past 7 days, and 8.0% test positivity or higher.

Albany County Wastewater Surveillance Update (November 06, 2024)

Wastewater trends should not be interpreted alone to determine public health and community mitigation actions. Other COVID-19 community-level indicators should accompany wastewater trends to best represent community disease trends.

For more information, visit the New York Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard or CDC Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard web pages; or call Albany County Department of Health at (518) 447-4580.

• NYS: "Latest Information on COVID-19"
• CDC: "COVID-19"