BUCYRUS – A statewide wastewater monitoring effort has indicated that COVID-19 cases may be increasing in the Bucyrus community.  Residents should be on alert and remain vigilant in their efforts to social distance, wear face coverings, frequent hand-washing and staying home when not feeling well.

The monitoring network that detected signs of a possible spike is studying samples of wastewater across the state to look for the presence of fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19.   This monitoring cannot identify or provide data on individual cases, but rather tracks trends in community infection rates potentially providing an early warning of future outbreak events.  Bucyrus voluntarily participated in this monitoring effort in order to provide residents another tool in staying healthy.

Recently, levels in the Bucyrus community wastewater increased 2.5 times in just four days, from 430,000 Million Gene Copies (MGC) on November 18, 2020 to 1,100,000 MGC on November 22, 2020.   The next set of data to be released from testing the raw wastewater at the Bucyrus Wastewater Treatment Plant earlier this week is scheduled for Friday, December 4, 2020.

Research has shown that non-infectious RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the virus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater in a community as many as three to seven days before symptoms and infections begin.   An upward trend in an area served by a specific wastewater treatment plant could be an early indicator that cases of COVID-19 may soon increase.  We urge residents to act now to protect themselves and their families.

Crawford County Public Health is using this indicator, along with the daily number of COVID-19 cases recently observed, to guide decisions as we respond to the pandemic.  At this time, with community help, we are focused on trying to help mitigate spread of COVID-19 before cases begin to occur.  We are asking the community to continue to be vigilant in following the recommended public health precautions of social distancing, wearing face coverings when appropriate, increased hand-washing, cleaning of commonly touched surfaces, and staying home when not feeling well.

The Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network is a collaboration between the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), the Ohio Water Resources Center (Ohio WRC) at The Ohio State University, and other participating universities, including The University of Toledo, Kent State University, and The University of Akron.

For additional local data and details on the network and its monitoring methods, visit

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/wastewater/wastewater.