New York State's Wastewater Surveillance System Named 'Center of Excellence' by CDC

State Health Department's Wastewater Surveillance Program Integral to Advanced COVID-19 Tracking and Nation-Leading Polio Detection Efforts

Program Now Testing for Influenza, RSV, Hepatitis A, Norovirus and Antimicrobial-Resistant Genes

ALBANY, N.Y. (August 26, 2024) – The New York State Department of Health Wastewater Surveillance Program has been named a new Center of Excellence in the National Wastewater Surveillance System by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for exemplary performance in the early detection and monitoring of communicable diseases such as COVID-19, Polio, Influenza and more.

"The CDC's 'Center for Excellence' designation of New York State Department of Health's Wastewater Surveillance System is a testament to the cutting-edge and critical work conducted by the Department along with our partners at Syracuse University to monitor for viruses and provide information that we use to protect the public's health," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. "The Department's wastewater surveillance technology has been a key part of the State's most critical public health responses including the COVID-19 pandemic and allows us to remain vigilant in our efforts to identify this and other public health threats across New York State."

As a Center of Excellence, New York State will work with the CDC to collaborate with and support other wastewater surveillance programs throughout the country, and specifically in New England, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The CDC funding of more than $1 million for the Center of Excellence adds to New York State's leading program, which includes more than $28 million in total grants from CDC and $15 million in total state support committed by Governor Hochul over the last three state fiscal years.

Established in August 2021 to support the State's COVID-19 pandemic response, NYSDOH's Wastewater Surveillance Network has proven integral to the detection of spread of infectious diseases in New York State. Wastewater surveillance, a process by which sewage samples (containing feces and urine flushed down the toilet) are collected from treatment plants and sent to laboratories for testing, can provide early detection for both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections and detects changes to the level of public health risk in a community. It also provides a valuable resource for developing medical treatments for diseases that can mutate over time or become drug resistant.

Led by the Department, the State's Wastewater Surveillance Network and program provides health officials with yet another mechanism to assess COVID-19 circulation in communities. The results are used alongside clinical case information and test data to provide an even more dynamic view of transmission trends. The Department's partners in this work include Syracuse University, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), SUNY Environmental Sciences & Forestry, University at Buffalo, and Stony Brook University.

Director of the CDC Division of Infectious Disease Readiness and Innovation Peggy Honein, Ph.D., MPH said, "CDC is very pleased that New York will be joining our network of wastewater Centers of Excellence, which serve as regional leaders. New York will join five other wastewater Centers of Excellence who foster innovation, offer training and workforce development, and provide expertise to other jurisdictions to help advance and strengthen wastewater monitoring across the U.S. in support of public health actions."

Following a case of paralytic polio being identified in Rockland County in July of 2022, State Health Department officials quickly adapted its existing network—partnering with CDC and local entities—to test for poliovirus, a new approach for the U.S. decades after polio was eliminated. These monitoring activities, which are ongoing, enabled the State to assess communities for signs of circulating polio and prioritize the public health response to those areas most at risk.

The latest wastewater surveillance report issued August 19, 2024 shows that there have been no new detections of poliovirus in wastewater since a February 2023 detection in Rockland County. Furthermore, there have been no other cases since the one announced in July of 2022.

Building on these successful surveillance efforts, the Department applied additional investment in the program to conduct pilot studies monitoring additional pathogens and chemicals of concern to public health including Influenza A, RSV, Hepatitis A, and Norovirus, and the presence of antimicrobial-resistance genes. The new pilots were undertaken in selected counties (Erie, Onondaga, Jefferson and Westchester) and generated highly informative data that will inform the next phase of expansion of wastewater surveillance for these diseases.

New York's wastewater surveillance program continues to conduct research in areas that may require further research and development. For example, new data suggests that wastewater surveillance may not be as effective in the sensitive detection of certain diseases such as measles but can provide important information on the circulation of other specific pathogens.

Epidemiologists from the Wastewater Surveillance Network and the Department's world-renown Wadsworth Center have also been working with counterparts at CDC to evaluate methods and models for using wastewater surveillance to predict trends in COVID-19 hospital admissions. This can, in-turn, inform how other state, local, territorial, and tribal (STLT) health departments can use wastewater data, and is an example of how, as a Center of Excellence, the State Health Department will serve as a national resource.

In collaboration with a consortium of sequencing laboratories, originally formed in 2021 for monitoring circulating COVID-19 strains in clinical samples, the Wadsworth Center and partners also oversee the genomic analysis of COVID-19 in New York State wastewater samples. These tools and capabilities allow the State Health Department and local health departments to target their public health action more effectively.

New York's wastewater surveillance program is supported by a network of partners and treatment plants throughout the State. More than 200 partner plants and more than 10 million New Yorkers power the Department's proactive public health detection systems.

Syracuse University Public Health Department Chair Dave Larsen, Ph.D., MPH said, "We are excited to partner with the New York State Department of Health in this Center of Excellence. The National Wastewater Surveillance System is an important initiative that will empower our public heath response to infectious disease threats, including emerging and re-emerging pathogens. We extend our deep appreciation to the wastewater treatment plant operators, municipal officials, and local health departments – they are true public health champions, and we wouldn't have one of the nation's leading wastewater surveillance networks without their dedication and hard work."

New York State's wastewater data will continue to be shared with CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System, publicly available at CDC's COVID-19 Data Tracker.

The Wastewater Surveillance Center for Excellence designation adds to a long list of programs in the Department that have also been recognized as Centers of Excellence, from world-renown programs in its Wadsworth Center and beyond to its leadership on communicable and foodborne diseases.

New Yorkers can learn more about the Department's wastewater surveillance efforts here and the State's network here. The latest polio wastewater surveillance results are available at the page here and the report here.