Wastewater now holds much more than just the sum of its parts: waste and water. It holds invaluable public health signals. Viral RNA shed by infected individuals can be detected in sewage days or even weeks before clinical diagnoses appear.
Launched in 2020 under the leadership of Dr. Amy Kirby, the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) has transformed these signals into a strategic layer of early-warning infrastructure across the U.S. 5 years later and this program is now a true national asset with significant potential to improve public health outcomes.
This progress introduces both a challenge and an opportunity for those looking for novel ways to impact public health: how do we operationalize the new lead time?
BranchLab deploying AI to transform this new signal into action
Using predictive AI, we can build models to ingest wastewater trend data and, after some cleanup, align it with social determinants of health and other leading indicators of infection at the community level. The result: probabilistic forecasts of outbreak acceleration, often months before clinical data reflects the surge.
Armed with this predictive foresight, outreach is calibrated to risk probability. Community-targeted messaging, both direct-to-consumer and HCP-focused, is deployed via autonomous audiences in regions where outbreak risk scores exceed defined thresholds. No human intermediation required.
These interventions are already driving measurable gains: improved vaccination uptake, earlier treatment engagement, and reduced hospital strain. In well-structured executions, efficacy is being quantified in terms of lives saved, usually among our youngest and most vulnerable.
Each drop of wastewater is now a valuable data point and an opportunity to impact public health. Join us in turning this undervalued resource into a life-saving national asset.