Several academic, industry and public health laboratories successfully implemented wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to track community-wide infection trends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital PCR (dPCR) technologies offer ultra-sensitive detection and resistance to inhibitors commonly present in concentrated wastewater extracts. As such, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strictly endorses dPCR datasets for WBE. The current status of the pandemic seen through the WBE lens, unfortunately, reveals a spike across the United States. Mutational signature dPCR approaches indicate this spike is likely due to the Omicron BA.5 lineage's rapid emergence and spread.

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