Wastewater Data Indicates Omicron May Have Peaked in Minnesota

UNDATED -- Wastewater tracking data indicates the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may have peaked in Minnesota.

Tracy Hodel is the Public Services Director for the city of St. Cloud. She says they are taking samples from our wastewater here in town, but they are only doing it twice a week and there is about a two to three-week delay in getting the information back from the University of Minnesota in Duluth. So our samples aren't in real-time.

They've been doing that here in St. Cloud since September of 2020.

However, Hodel says in the Twin Cities metro area they test the wastewater daily and there it looks like Omicron peaked on Monday.

Down in Rochester, they test four times weekly with the help of the Mayo Clinic and also have peaked.

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Hodel says testing our wastewater is by far the best way of knowing where we're at with the spread of COVID-19 because it is sampling absolutely everybody in the community.