Across the country, universities, nursing homes, even entire cities are turning to an unlikely

tool to monitor the spread of the coronavirus.

Sewage water.

Yeah, it turns out people who are infected with COVID-19 shed particles of the virus in

their stool when they go to the bathroom.

When they flush the toilet, those particles make their way through sewage pipes that are

accessible via manholes or other openings.

And from there, researchers can collect samples that may offer clues about how much virus

is circulating in a community.

It's fascinating research.

So on today's episode, we decided to take a look at how this sort of testing has been

playing out at a very specific location, the University of Virginia.

What does it really take to get the testing up and running?

How can it help researchers detect the virus early?

And I guess most importantly, what does it mean for me and you?

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent.

And this is coronavirus, fact versus fiction.

So we fish down this, you know, long tube down to the wastewater and then it sucks up 30

miles every 15 minutes and then we get a large composite of fluid and then we process

that composite sample and enrich for the RNA and then send it to the lab for detection.

That's Dr. Amy Mathers.

She's an infectious disease physician at UVA Health and also associate director of clinical

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