The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Alabama is among the U.S. States with “high” levels of COVID-19 as of July 25th. The test period included an examination of wastewater nationally to see where the virus is spreading. This method can detect infectious diseases in a community whether residents are complaining of symptoms or not. The tests looked for the COVID variant known as SARS-COV-2.
Alabama is among the southern states with “high” levels of COVID-19 in their wastewater. Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina fall into this category. Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and South Carolina’s test results put those states into the “very high” level. New York State is reportedly the only spot in the U.S. with “low” levels of Covid. North Dakota and Arizona have no wastewater plants participating in the CDC study, so no data is available.
Wastewater testing is pretty much what the name implies. The CDC says residents with COVID can shred the virus or bacteria when they use the restroom, bathe, shower, wash their hands, or wash their clothes. This wastewater goes into the local sewage system where samples are collected and submitted for laboratory analysis to detect disease, in this case COVID-19. This process can track the virus in a given community, and even spot a heavy presence of COVID, which the CDC says may prompt additional action by local or federal health officials.
Data from CDC also says cases of COVID-19 are growing in Alabama and throughout the south. Only Florida’s virus caseload is considered “stable or unknown.” Symptoms to be aware of with COVID include a cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache or muscle aches, fever, nausea, and newly found loss of the sense or taste or smell.
