New research indicates 1 in 5 Harrisburg residents could have coronavirus

Earlier this month, we reported the city of Harrisburg, along with municipalities throughout the country, has been using a new technology to identify COVID-19, testing wastewater to calculate and quantify how many residents have the virus.

Today, the Department of Health announced that the number of coronavirus cases is continuing to drop, even as testing expands.

Researchers who are exploring new technology, like waste water testing, however, said the numbers are going in the opposite direction.

Scientists and local leaders are touting that the advantage of testing the municipality’s waste is that it accounts for residents who haven’t been tested because they may be asymptomatic.

But now, after alarming reports showed that nearly 20% of Harrisburg residents could have contracted the virus, we called around and spoke with potential partners at Harrisburg University to take a closer look at the numbers, to see if they are the best tool for policymakers.

Last Friday, Harrisburg mayor Eric Papenfuse announced that recent testing indicated that 1 in 5 residents have the virus.

"There is an estimate from the May 25 report that is the prevalence rate in Harrisburg may be as high as one in five," Papenfuse said.

However, the spike in recent results has some researchers concerned.

“The science of perfecting the testing and prediction for this specific disease is something that is being developed in real-time," said John Quigley, director of Harrisburg University's Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy (E3). “The more refined information that's available for decision-makers, the more refined the policy response can be."

We had the opportunity to discuss the past two weeks' results with Capital Waste. They couldn’t confirm if cases were as high as 20%, but they did confirm that they will be resampling the test to gain more clarity on the results.