Please Note: The gap in reporting of results was because Clemson University changed analysis labs in order to more effectively pick up the omicron variant. Data marked as “AP” (for Analytical Problem) represent the data sets where this issue was realized and the transition was occurring. Continue reading for more details:
The gap in reporting of results was because of a change from using SiREM as the lab to do the analysis to Biobot. After students returned to Clemson at the start of the Spring semester, the wastewater levels were expected to rise quickly. When they didn’t, it was suspected that something might be wrong with the analysis. To evaluate this, samples were split between SiREM and another company, Biobot, which performs wastewater testing for hundreds of municipalities in the US. The results confirmed that Biobot measured virus levels more than 10 times higher, consistent with the positivity rate observed from personal testing. In fact, for the 2/3/22 sample from Pendleton/Clemson, Biobot detected the highest concentration we’ve seen since monitoring started at that treatment plant, over 1.5 million copies per liter.
We can reasonably expect that the wastewater levels will be dropping soon, just as the positivity rate is, and just as what was observed in Boston (https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm). In the meantime, however, the recent results are telling us that there are still quite a few infected individuals in all three sewersheds.
The spreadsheet does not include the data from SiREM for the four sampling events that occurred after the spring semester had started. The data for this timeframe was replaced with an "AP" for Analytical Problem.
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Other Notes:
"-" means no sample was taken on that date
"BLD" means below the detection limit, which is typically ~4,000 copies/L
"AR" means awaiting results of a sample that has been sent to the lab