SANTA FE – New Mexico has begun monitoring sewage from prisons and youth rehabilitation facilities to more efficiently detect COVID-19 outbreaks in the southwest region of the state, the state Environment Department announced Wednesday.
The agency says the goal is to sample human feces in group-living situations to quickly identify coronavirus outbreaks. The results may be used to more effectively deploy individual testing to pinpoint infections and halt the spread.
Initial sampling will take place at federal, state and local jails, along with facilities overseen by the state Children, Youth and Families Department. A list of individual facilities was not immediately available.
Environment Department spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said the initial effort comes at a cost of about $300,000, using federal relief money. Lexington, Massachusetts-based ERG was contracted to perform the sewage testing.
The southwest region was selected for the initial phase of testing because of high rates of positive testing along with limited access to testing.
