Milwaukee Health Department launches COVID-19 wastewater dashboard

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- COVID-19 continues to be a part of our everyday lives, the virus prompted city of Milwaukee health officials to look in unlikely places for answers to fight against the deadly variant.

for the past two years, the Milwaukee Health Department has been looking at your wastewater to determine the growth and movement of COVID-19, now they’re putting that information in your hands.

"It's in your whole body and you shed it in your feces," said David Payne, Director for the City of Milwaukee health department laboratory.

Payne said his team has been looking at wastewater throughout Milwaukee County to determine the pathology of COVID-19.

"The levels that show up in the sewer correlate to how many people have it in the community," said Payne.

In the past, Payne and his team have gathered the information behind closed doors, to be analyzed and released to the public. Now, that data can be accessed by you.

According to Milwaukee County data, since March 2020 through May 2023, more than 2,300 people have died due to COVID-19, with more than 14,000 being hospitalized with the virus.

Payne said he hopes by making the data public people can make informed decisions on their everyday lives.

"[COVID-19] is something that is still today putting people in the hospital here in Milwaukee it's still something that's killing people, and so we still need to be aware of it," said Payne.

According to the City of Milwaukee Health Department data evaluation, between Nov. 1, 2023 through Jan. 24, 2024, there have been 217 COVID hospitalizations, eight of whom died due to complications from COVID-19.

The COVID wastewater dashboard currently shows Milwaukee’s population just in the past week shifted down into the "moderate category" based on wastewater collected from the city’s sewer sheds. Before that, Milwaukee was in the "high category."

While the City of Milwaukee Health Department COVID-19 Wastewater Dashboard currently focuses on COVID-19, the MHD is working toward eventually using this technology to also monitor respiratory illnesses like influenza and RSV.