Welcome to City of Cape Canaveral

Bi-Weekly Testing Results

February 2, 2021 Data**.
cocc_pws_covid19labtesting_20210203

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*The SARS-CoV-2 material is a 1044 nucleotide RNA specific for the SARS-CoV-2 N (nucleocapsid) gene. It contains all three markers (N1, N2 and N3) detected by the CDC Real-Time RT PCR Panel for Detection of 2019 Novel Coronavirus. The RNA material assists in the development of diagnostic assays and the evaluation of the performance of nucleic acid tests for determination of the presence of SARS-COV-2. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/20-1246_article

**There will be no results for 8/13/20 due to shipping error.
**There will be no results for 10/28/20 due to a lost UPS shipment.

Wastewater Testing History

June 19, 2020

CAPE CANAVERAL RELEASES COVID-19 WASTEWATER TESTING RESULTS

In early May, the City of Cape Canaveral announced that it was taking part in a low cost four-week program to help map COVID-19 across the United States with a company called Biobot Analytics. By sampling raw sewage at the Cape Canaveral Wastewater Treatment Facility, the technology detects fragments of the genetic material of the virus from people who are actively shedding the virus in their stool.

The Results:

Week 1 Report (May 6th): Virus concentration per liter of sewage 0 copies.
Week 2 Report (May 12th): Virus concentration per liter of sewage 0 copies.
Week 3 Report (May 19th): Virus concentration per liter of sewage 0 copies.
Week 4 Report (May 26th): Virus concentration per liter of sewage 14,737 copies which corresponds to 85 cases of COVID-19.

Due to delays at Biobot, Staff received results of week #2 and #3 on Friday, June 12. On Wednesday, June 17 Staff received results of week #4.

This information was provided to the Brevard County Emergency Operations Center for coordination with County health officials. Case estimates may not match the confirmed case numbers in the community for a variety of reasons.

The fourth week’s higher test result findings coincide with the preparation and launch period of the Demo-2 Mission when large numbers of people gathered to view the liftoff and is not quantitatively associated to resident infections.

Due to the inconsistency of the results and the significant delay between sampling and receipt of the reports, the City is securing additional testing services with a laboratory that provides a faster turnaround time. Results will continue to be reported to the Brevard Emergency Operations Center for coordination with County health officials.

This is an important reminder that everyone should continue to take COVID-19 very seriously. Please wear a mask whenever possible and social distance yourself from others staying at least six feet away per CDC guidelines.

July 17, 2020
CAPE CANAVERAL RELEASES COVID-19 WASTEWATER TESTING RESULTS

Following the conclusion of its one month pilot program with Biobot in May 2020 to monitor the amount of COVID-19 material in the City of Cape Canaveral’s sewage, a new vendor was found to continue regular testing. New sewage samples began being collected on June 30 and the first set of results were received on July 10 via a new testing vendor named Source Molecular, a Miami-based company that performs environmental COVID-19 testing and analysis. A second set of results was received on July 16. Subsequent tests will be conducted on a weekly basis every Tuesday. Results are received approximately 8 days after sampling.

Latest results can be viewed in the chart above. Unlike the previous testing vendor, which included the presumed numbers of infection cases in conjunction with the testing results, Source Molecular only reports the “copies” of virus per liter or the amount of viral material per liter (1 liter equals 0.26 gallons). At this time, we do not have the presumed number of cases reflected by this data.

It is important to note that weekly wastewater testing results may not match the confirmed case numbers residing in the community due to the periodic influx of visitors for holiday weekends and launch events, such as Memorial Day and the NASA-SpaceX Demo-2 Mission. City Staff and local health officials will be actively monitoring trends in the amount of copies present to determine if overall cases are increasing or decreasing as sampled in the City’s sewage.