Figure 5.

Aggregate abundance of SARS‐CoV‐2 wastewater signal during Delta or Omicron as a function of outbreak status. Aggregate SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA data from the Delta‐wave (i.e., mid‐August to end of November 2021) or Omicron‐wave (i.e., January 2022) were compared from samples collected during outbreak‐free periods or within 5 days of an outbreak being declared. (A) Combined N1 SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA signal (copies/ml) and (B) Combined N1 SARS‐CoV‐2 genomic copies normalized to genomic copies of the fecal biomarker PMMoV. Median and interquartile ranges are indicated as the middle, top, and bottom lines of each box. Ends of the whiskers mark the lowest and highest signal determined in each category for each hospital analyzed. Differences were determined using the Mann–Whitney U test. VOC, variants of concern