SF-RAD: Development and Proof-of-Concept Implementation of the South Florida Miami RADx-rad SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater-Based Surveillance Infrastructure

Background: The purpose of this study was to strengthen COVID-19 monitoring at the University of Miami (UM) and Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) by adding wastewater surveillance to existing testing and tracing systems. UM, located in Florida, operated a human surveillance program across three campuses and its hospital. WCM, based in New York City, led an international consortium that created metagenomic and metatranscriptomic maps of sewage worldwide. Together, these sites provided the foundation for a coordinated effort to develop a wastewater-based approach that supported early detection of SARS-CoV-2 on campuses.

Materials/Methods: The study developed and implemented wastewater surveillance by optimizing sampling, concentration, and viral detection strategies across UM and WCM sites. The study established data standards, quality metrics, and an informatics framework through close collaboration with the RADx-rad Data Coordination Center. Wastewater samples were collected from targeted buildings and campus clusters. Laboratory teams conducted viral quantification and metatranscriptomic analyses to assess sample composition and circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains. The study integrated wastewater viral load data with community and hospital case counts to evaluate how wastewater patterns aligned with local COVID-19 activity and to support predictive model development. The project combined experimental work, data harmonization, and coordinated analytic workflows across both institutions.

Outcome/Impact: The study demonstrated that wastewater surveillance could serve as an early signal of localized COVID-19 activity on university campuses. The study delivered standardized methods and an informatics system that supported consistent data collection, management, and analysis across research sites. Results showed how wastewater viral levels aligned with community transmission trends and informed predictive models that strengthened outbreak detection. The study contributed operational and analytic infrastructure to the national RADx-rad wastewater surveillance network and provided a proof-of-concept for using wastewater to support public health response during infectious disease outbreaks. Sequencing data from this study are available in the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) repository and can be accessed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/946141.