DESPERATE MEASURES

CDC Mulls Sampling Wastewater from Planes to Track New COVID Variants as China Cases Rocket

It comes as a U.K. health data firm estimates that China is seeing around 9,000 COVID deaths a day.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering testing wastewater samples from international aircraft to track COVID variants to protect the U.S. from new strains of the virus as fears grow about rising cases in China. The novel detection method would give American health officials a better idea about mutations in the virus given Beijing’s notoriously secretive approach to disclosing COVID data, according to a Reuters report. Three infectious disease experts also said the policy would be more effective in stopping the virus’s entry in the U.S. than the new travel restrictions announced this week. The wastewater testing idea comes as Airfinity, a U.K.-based health data company, estimated that around 9,000 people are dying with COVID every day in China, almost twice the figure estimated by the firm last week.