Englewood Wastewater Plant Shows Record High COVID Samples

ENGLEWOOD, CO — Despite official reports that COVID-19 cases are falling in Colorado after a November surge, wastewater testing at an Englewood-Littleton sewage plant is showing record-high signs of the virus in the South Denver population.

The South Platte Renew, an Englewood wastewater treatment plant that is the third largest in the state, collects daily samples of the sewage produced by about 300,000 people, according to a report in the Colorado Sun. Although reported cases are only about half of last year’s winter peak, tests conducted in recent weeks show higher amounts of the virus than at any other point in the pandemic, according to the Sun. The data that researchers have found is not in line with official reports.

In most measurements, recent data is more than double what was measured in late summer or early fall, and surpasses the trajectory of case counts, according to a KDVR report.

Wastewater surveillance can be an effective indicator for how much the virus is spreading in a given area, since about 50% of people who catch COVID will shed it in their stool. Researchers suspect they are seeing higher counts from people who are vaccinated but may not know that they’ve contracted the virus.

“That’s entirely a possibility that people aren’t realizing they have symptoms, yet they’re still shedding the virus,” facility director Pieter Van Ry told KDVR.