As the return to normality in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic enters its early stages, the necessity for accurate, quick, and community-wide surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 has been emphasized. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been used across the world as a tool for monitoring the pandemic, but studies of its efficacy in comparison to the best-known method for surveillance, randomly selected COVID-19 testing, has limited research. This study evaluated the trends and correlations present between SARS-CoV-2 in the effluent wastewater of a large university campus and random COVID-19 testing results published by the university. A moderately strong positive correlation was found between the random testing and WBE surveillance methods (r = 0.63), and this correlation was strengthened when accommodating for lost samples during the experiment (r = 0.74).

An exploration into the history of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the societal impacts associated with it, as well as an analysis of the developing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic today. Based upon these analyses, similarities were drawn between the two pandemics which suggested a lack of innovation in preventative measures over the last century. Given this conclusion a series of proposals were made that should be further explored to give not only the United States, but the world at large, a better chance in the face of the next emerging disease.