Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matthew Parry, Dr Leah Grout, Prof Michael Baker
This blog briefly considers the issue of wastewater testing as part of Covid-19 control in Aotearoa NZ. Our analysis suggests that wastewater testing is much more effective in determining if a population is very likely to be Covid-19 free, when compared to typical levels of community testing. It also achieves these better results at perhaps only 1% of the cost of community testing. Even though there are large benefits in maximising the use of wastewater testing, community testing does still have a critical role to play, especially if cases are actually present.