Stakeholder Interviews to Inform Best Practice for Public Facing COVID-19 Wastewater Dashboards

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Wastewater-based epidemiology (WWBE) analyzes pathogens and chemicals in sewage for population health monitoring.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development of public-facing SARS-CoV-2 dashboards for tracking infection prevalence.
• A lack of standardized templates hinders global adoption and consistent data reporting for WWBE.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater dashboards during the pandemic.
• To identify essential content and rationale for effective dashboard design and implementation.
• To provide recommendations for future wastewater-based epidemiology surveillance systems.

Main Methods:

• Interviews were conducted with wastewater data dashboard implementers and users across Europe and North America.
• The study focused on commonalities and inconsistencies in presenting SARS-CoV-2 data, COVID-19 clinical parameters, variant information, and data transparency.
• Thematic analysis was used to identify key elements for dashboard standardization and interoperability.

Main Results:

• Key dashboard elements facilitating standardization include inter-organizational communication, stakeholder-specific open access, and population-normalized graphical data summaries.
• Simultaneous reporting of clinical surveillance data alongside wastewater data is recommended.
• Further research is required for robust flow and fecal indicators for data normalization and for analyzing variant representation.

Conclusions:

• Wastewater dashboard development from 2020-2023 demonstrated a real-time, iterative process for data representation.
• Effective data communication via dashboards can significantly enhance early warning systems for infectious diseases.
• Standardization and interoperability of wastewater-based epidemiology dashboards are crucial for public health surveillance.