Orange County finds ‘historic increase’ of coronavirus remnants in wastewater

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County Utilities said this week that testing has discovered a “historic increase” of COVID-19 remnants in the county’s wastewater.

The data also shows that the COVID-19 omicron variant has rapidly become the most dominant version of the virus after being first detected in early December, officials said.

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Officials said the new data shows numbers have more than doubled previous record highs in all testing areas.

“While the rapid increase is concerning, I want to stress to our residents, business owners and guests that there are precautions we can take to protect ourselves and our loved ones,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings in a news release. “We should all remain vigilant and continue to wear masks and follow other precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus as best we can.”

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The data was found by testing samples taken on Dec. 27, and may increase after testing for Christmas celebrations is factored in.

“This data helps predict infections four to 10 days before we see changes in our community’s caseload, allowing county leadership and medical professionals to adjust public health resources accordingly,” said Ed Torres, director of Orange County Utilities. “Because both symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers of the virus shed remnants in their waste, this data provides an accurate picture of how the virus is spreading in our community regardless of the number of people tested.”

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Officials said, in addition to omicron, sample data shows that the delta and delta-plus variants are still present within all service areas.

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