Estimating the effective reproduction number from wastewater (Rt): A methods comparison.

BACKGROUND

The effective reproduction number (Rt) is a dynamic indicator of current disease spread risk. Wastewater measurements of viral concentrations are known to correlate with clinical measures of diseases and have been incorporated into methods for estimating the Rt.

METHODS

We review wastewater-based methods to estimate the Rt for SARS-CoV-2 based on similarity to the reference case-based Rt, ease of use, and computational requirements. Using wastewater data collected between August 1, 2022, and February 20, 2024, from 205 wastewater treatment plants across New York State, we fit eight wastewater Rt models identified from the literature. Each model is compared to the Rt estimated from case data for New York at the sewershed (wastewater treatment plant catchment area), county, and state levels.

RESULTS

We find a high degree of similarity across all eight methods despite differences in model parameters and approach. Further, two methods based on the common measures of percent change and linear fit reproduced the Rt from case data very well and a GLM accurately predicted case data. Model output varied between spatial scales with some models more closely estimating sewershed Rt values than county Rt values. Similarity to clinical models was also highly correlated with the proportion of the population served by sewer in the surveilled communities (r = 0.77).

CONCLUSIONS

While not all methods that estimate Rt from wastewater produce the same results, they all provide a way to incorporate wastewater concentration data into epidemic modeling. Our results show that straightforward measures like the percent change can produce similar results of more complex models. Based on the results, researchers and public health officials can select the method that is best for their situation.