Concerns after spike in COVID-19 found in U.S. sewage systems

LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- There are concerns over a potential rise in COVID-19 cases as the CDC reports increased levels of the coronavirus detected in sewage systems across the United States.

Nearly 40% of wastewater sampling sites reported at least some increase over the past 15 days, more than twice what it was a month ago.

"We've been watching it closely, of course," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. "We currently have about 35,000 cases in this country. We expect some fluctuation, especially at this relatively low level, and, certainly, that to increase."

Experts say wastewater data cannot estimate the number of cases in a community, but monitoring it can serve as an early warning sign of increased transmission -- often detecting increasing infection days before positive case counts.

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Even if the answers are in the wastewater, it's still hard for scientists to pinpoint precisely what they mean. Another COVID surge? Or a smaller COVID uptick with few medical consequences?

Dr. David Larsen from Syracuse University is testing wastewater around New York state.

"What it means is there's an increase in virus," he said. "Whether that means a surge in hospitalizations depends on the immunity levels in the population."

Experts also suggest the U.S. could follow Europe in seeing a major increase in cases of the omicron sub-variant known as BA.2, or "stealth omicron."

In the UK, BA.2 now accounts for more than 50% of cases. In the U.S., that number is only about 10%.

But with BA.2 spreading faster than omicron, that percentage is likely to rise.

The warnings come just days after Congress stripped $15 billion dollars in COVID funding from a spending bill.

The White House says, as a result, testing capacity could drop significantly in the coming weeks and supplies of COVID-related drugs could run low.

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"China has a population that is very vulnerable to this new variant, and they haven't employed vaccines that are effective against this particular variant," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.

White House officials say the U.S. is at less risk than China because of the mRNA vaccines, which China did not use.