As of mid-May, the trends from a nearly year-long COVID-19 study at all seven Westchester County Wastewater Treatment plants collectively continue to decrease significantly week after week. These levels are as low as they were in mid-September of last year.
Since early in the pandemic, the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities, DEF, has partnered with the City University of New York,
CUNY, to study the wastewater at county treatment plants to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on large urban areas. “These trends, as a part of this
forward thinking study, continue to show a positive outlook on our war against COVID,” Westchester County Executive George Latimer said. “I commend
the work of our Environmental Facilities Department and the scientists they partnered with to help monitor the health of Westchester residents during
this unprecedented time.”
Below are the SARS-CoV-2 RNA laboratory results from the 24-hour composite collected on May 16, 2021. Results were obtained for each of the seven sewer
sheds. The week of May 16 results (copies per capita) are compared to the previous week’s results for Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Peekskill, Ossining,
Port Chester and Blind Brook. Decreases were seen in six of the seven sewer sheds. While Ossining, despite showing an increase, from a statistical standpoint
remained very low.
These numbers collectively continue to decrease significantly week after week. These levels are as low as they were in mid-September of last year. As a reminder, 20,000 copies per liter or lower can be considered background or “noise” from a statistical standpoint; the limit of quantitation from our laboratory is 15,000 copies/L and the limit of detection is 4,500 copies/L. Therefore, only Yonkers is showing numbers of any significance, but improving and approaching the low level of detection.
(Submitted)
WWRF COPIES/L COPIES/CAPITA
Blind Brook 11,000 4.8
Mamaroneck 8,000 4.1
New Rochelle 13,000 7.5
Ossining 16,000 6.1
Peekskill <4,500 <2.4
Port Chester 17,500 8.6
Yonkers-Joint 37,000 18.4
