Mass. Company Tracking Coronavirus In Sewage Goes National

A Massachusetts company that has been analyzing Boston-area sewage for COVID-19 has been selected by the federal government to launch a national wastewater-based coronavirus monitoring program.

Cambridge-based Biobot Analytics has been tracking wastewater at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Deer Island Treatment Plant throughout the pandemic. Detection in sewage can head off outbreaks.

The company was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to analyze samples from 320 wastewater treatment plants, covering 100 million people across the country.

“With this contract, hundreds of local communities across the country will be able to leverage data from wastewater to stay on top of COVID-19, especially as we move into later stages of the pandemic and clinical testing ramps down,” Newsha Ghaeli, Biobot’s president and co-founder, told the Boston Herald.