PUEBLO, Colorado (KKTV) – The city of Pueblo is launching a COVID-19 warning system to alert residents to high levels of COVID-19 in their neighborhoods.
Mayor Nick Gradisar made the announcement on Wednesday morning. This system will advise residents to test for the virus when the Pueblo Wastewater Department reports extreme levels of COVID-19 in the wastewater.
When these extreme levels are found in one of the seven basins in the Department of Sewage, a recorded voice message and a text message will be sent to residents within the impacted area. He will tell residents to monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately for COVID-19.
Here is a map of how the areas will be divided in Pueblo:
Although the number of cases appears to be decreasing in Pueblo County, Mayor Nick Gradisar says that this system is a preventive measure to slow the spread of the virus.
“We can take preventive measures to slow the spread of the virus by using wastewater data and alerting puebloans when there is evidence of high levels of viruses in their neighborhood. If we see a peak and more people get tested, they will be able to know whether they are positive or negative earlier and this is critical to keeping Pueblo’s case count under control, ”Gradisar said, according to a press release.
This warning system has been put in place to encourage puebloans to test for the virus before they start seeing spikes in the virus, and will give health workers information about how the virus is moving in the community.
This system is expected to identify areas of Pueblo that will have significantly increasing or decreasing cases approximately five to seven days before the onset of symptoms.
The state is collaborating with laboratories and wastewater companies to test the particles of the COVID-19 virus in wastewater. The virus can appear in human waste before anyone has any symptoms. People who have no symptoms can also transmit the virus. Wastewater testing can give health workers advance notice of increases or decreases in COVID-19 cases in a community.
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