MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Health Department is expanding its monitoring of disease in our wastewater, and sharing the results in a user friendly, online dashboard.
“We’re not waiting until people feel sick before we start to get the data,” MHD Lab Director, Doctor David Payne, told Wisconsin’s Morning News. “We’re able to get ahead of these things before they become a widespread problem.”
MHD can now use samples from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to detect COVID, Flu, and RSV in wastewater.
Cait McCroy is an epidemiologist at MHD. She tells WTMJ understanding what’s going around has a lot of benefits for health officials.
“Knowing what things are going to be impacting our hospitals, our schools, as well as individual people in Milwaukee. What’s making them sick,” McCrory said. “That allows us to change how we are messaging to them about things they should be watching for, things they need to be protective of, as well as being able to change resources.”
The dashboard is also meant to help the general public stay informed. It was designed to be user friendly, and offer interpretations of the data.
If you’re interested in exploring the dashboard, click here.
