Wastewater as an early indicator for short-term forecasting COVID-19 hospitalization in Germany
This study reinforces the potential of wastewater surveillance as an early warning tool for COVID-19 hospitalizations in Germany. While strong correlations were observed, the integration of wastewater data into predictive models did not improve their performance. Nevertheless, wastewater viral load serves as a valuable indicator for monitoring pandemic trends, suggesting its utility in public health surveillance and resource allocation. Further research may help to clarify the real-time applicability of wastewater data and expand its use to other pathogens and data sources.
Authors
- Steffen Thiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4817-155X)
- Aimo Kannt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5197-2286)
- Holger Fröhlich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5328-1243)
- Jonas Botz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6056-3144)
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (DE)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (DE)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (DE)
- Bonn Aachen International Center for Information Technology (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Public Health
- Published
- 2025-08-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-24149-2
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.79