The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has promoted the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration are initiating the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data generated by NWSS will help public health officials to better understand the extent of COVID-19 infections in communities. CDC is currently developing a portal for state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to submit wastewater testing data into a national database for use in summarizing and interpreting data for public health action. Participation in a national database will ensure data comparability across jurisdictions. Data from wastewater testing are not meant to replace existing COVID-19 surveillance systems, but are meant to complement them. The literature indicates that an outbreak can be detected up to a week before clinical manifestations in the population.

Video on Surveillance of Waste water indicates infections in Residence before symptomatic infections

Key collection points used throughout the campus. The Mason Global Center is used as a ge control site as students are quarantined there. The entire sewage drainage flows from north to south and exit the campus at the Potomac Heights residence, another key sampling point.