Neighborhood-level sampling could close equity gap in wastewater disease surveillance

Wastewater surveillance was hailed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a more equitable way to track disease. It provided a system that could monitor entire communities regardless of whether residents had access to a doctor or a test. But a study published in the American Journal of Public Health finds that wastewater surveillance carries its own built-in blind spots, and the communities bearing the brunt are the ones already most vulnerable.