WASTEWATER TESTING FOR COVID-19 IN CEDAR KEY UPDATE

October 25, 2020

Editor’s Note:  Below is an informative note from Joseph H. Bisesi Jr, Ph.D., the UF professor conducting the weekly  COVID-19 wastewater testing in Cedar Key study.  The “James” referred to in paragraph two is, of course, the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District’s James McCain.

Just wanted to provide an update on the data we have been collecting from Cedar Key WWTP.  Ever since the spikes we saw at the end of July and into August, we have had all negative samples from Cedar Key.  This is good news for you guys as it seems like there isn’t a lot of the virus in town.  It also meshes well with the new case data which showed some spiking in Levy County in July and August with new cases on the lower end in September and October.  In the Cedar Key zip code specifically, it makes sense as Cedar Key only has 10 reported cases over the whole period with the majority of those cases being reported in July and August when we saw our spikes.  There have only been 2 new cases reported in Cedar key in September.