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Volume 32, Supplement –Summer 2026
SUPPLEMENT ISSUE
Other
Public Understanding of Wastewater Surveillance, United States, August 2025
, Diana Valencia, Jena Losch, Danielle Kleven, Jazmyn Moore, and Scott Santibañez
Table
Public understanding of wastewater surveillance and interpretation of wastewater detection data visualization by demographic characteristic, Porter Novelli View survey, United States, August 2025
| Characteristic | No. (%) [95% CI]* | Correctly defined wastewater surveillance, % (95% CI) |
p value† | Correctly interpreted the data visualization figure, % (95% CI) |
p value† | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, n = 508 | No, n = 506 | Yes, n = 838 | No, n = 176 | ||||
| Total |
1,014 (100.0) |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
||
| Sex | 0.53 | 0.56 | |||||
| M | 498 (48.5) [45.3–51.7] | 49.9 (45.3–54.4) | 47.0 (42.6–51.6) | 48.4 (44.9–51.9) | 48.8 (41.2–56.5) | ||
| F | 506 (51.0) [47.8–54.2] | 49.6 (45.0–54.1) | 52.5 (48.0–57.0) | 51.2 (47.7–54.7) | 50.2 (42.5–57.8) | ||
| Missing |
10 (0.5) [0.3–0.9] |
0.6 (0.3–1.3) |
0.4 (0.2–1.1) |
0.4 (0.2–0.9) |
1.0 (0.3–3.0) |
||
| Age group, y | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||
| 18–29 | 191 (19.1) [16.7–21.8] | 16.6 (13.5–20.2) | 21.7 (18.1–25.7) | 18.0 [15.4–20.9) | 24.9 [18.8–32.3) | ||
| 30–44 | 333 (26.7) [24.2–29.4] | 22.7 (19.4–26.3) | 30.8 (27.0–34.9) | 24.6 (22.0–27.6) | 37.0 (30.2–44.5) | ||
| 45–59 | 191 (22.8) [20.0–25.8] | 23.2 (19.3–27.6) | 22.4 (18.6–26.6) | 23.6 (20.6–27.0) | 18.4 (13.0–25.6) | ||
| >60 |
299 (31.4) [28.5–34.5] |
37.6 (33.2–42.1) |
25.1 (21.4–29.4) |
33.8 (30.5–37.2) |
19.6 (13.9–26.8) |
||
| Race and ethnicity‡ | |||||||
| Black or African American | 116 (12.1) [10.2–14.4] | 9.7 (7.3–12.8) | 14.6 (11.6–18.2) | 0.13 | 10.7 (8.7–13.1) | 19.3 (13.6–26.6) | <0.001 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 143 (17.9) [15.4–20.7] | 18.3 (14.7–22.5) | 17.5 (14.1–21.5) | 18.3 (15.5–21.5) | 15.9 (10.8–22.8) | ||
| White | 641 (60.8) [57.5–63.9] | 63.1 (58.5–67.5) | 58.4 (53.8–62.8) | 63.0 (59.5–66.4) | 49.5 (41.8–57.1) | ||
| Other race§ |
114 (9.2) [7.7–11.1] |
8.9 (6.8–11.6) |
9.5 (7.4–12.2) |
8.0 (6.4–9.9) |
15.4(10.8–21.4) |
||
| Marital status | 0.31 | <0.001 | |||||
| Married or in a union | 546 (52.4) [49.1–55.5] | 53.7 (49.1–58.2) | 51.0 (46.5–55.5) | 51.5 (48.0–55.0) | 56.6 (48.8–64.1) | ||
| Divorced, widowed, or separated | 179 (19.4) [16.9–22.1] | 20.2 (16.7–24.3) | 18.5 (15.1–22.3) | 21.6 (18.7–24.7) | 8.2 (4.8–13.4) | ||
| Never married |
289 (28.3) [25.5–31.3] |
26.1 (22.3–30.2) |
30.6 (26.6–34.9) |
26.9 (23.9–30.1) |
35.2 (28.2–43.0) |
||
| Education | 0.005 | 0.07 | |||||
| High school or less | 327 (39.1) [35.9–42.4] | 34.7 (30.3–39.4) | 43.5 (39.0–48.1) | 38.0 (34.5–41.6) | 44.7 (37.1–52.5) | ||
| Some college | 265 (24.6) [22.0–27.4] | 23.9 (20.3–27.8) | 25.4 (21.7–29.5) | 25.4 (22.6–28.6) | 20.6 (15.3–27.2) | ||
| Bachelor's degree | 275 (23.8) [21.3–26.5] | 27.9 (24.1–31.9) | 19.7 (16.5–23.3) | 24.8 (22.0–27.8) | 18.9 (13.9–25.3) | ||
| Postgraduate degree |
147 (12.5) [10.6–14.6] |
13.5 (10.9–16.6) |
11.5 (9.0–14.4) |
11.8 (9.9–14.1) |
15.8 (11.2–21.7) |
||
| Children in household | <0.001 | 0.05 | |||||
| Y | 349 (31.2) [28.4–34.1] | 25.7 (22.1–29.7) | 36.7 (32.5–41.1) | 29.9 (26.8–33.2) | 37.5 (30.6–45.0) | ||
| N |
665 (68.8) [65.9–71.6] |
74.3 (70.3–77.9) |
63.3 (58.9–67.5) |
70.1 (66.8–73.2) |
62.5 (55.0–69.4) |
||
| Household income, USD | 0.02 | 0.39 | |||||
| <25,000 | 182 (20.4) [17.8–23.2] | 17.1 (13.7–21.1) | 23.7 (19.9–27.8) | 20.2 (17.4–23.4) | 21.0 (15.3–28.1) | ||
| 25,000–49,999 | 266 (27.6) [24.8–30.6] | 25.8 (22.0–30.1) | 29.3 (25.3–33.7) | 26.6 (23.6–29.9) | 32.5 (25.6–40.2) | ||
| 50,000–99,999 | 311 (29.3) [26.5–32.3] | 31.6 (27.6–35.9) | 26.9 (23.2–31.1) | 30.1 (27.1–33.4) | 25.1 (19.0–32.4) | ||
| >100,000 |
255 (22.8) [20.3–25.5] |
25.4 (21.8–29.5) |
20.1 (16.8–23.7) |
23.0 (20.3–26.0) |
21.4 (16.1–28.0) |
||
| Community type | <0.001 | 0.003 | |||||
| Urban | 328 (31.7) [28.8–34.7] | 26.7 (22.9–30.9) | 36.6 (32.4–41.1) | 29.4 (26.3–32.7) | 43.1 (35.7–50.9) | ||
| Suburban | 463 (45.9) [42.7–49.1] | 52.2 (47.7–56.7) | 39.5 (35.1–44.0) | 47.6 (44.1–51.1) | 37.4 (30.3–45.2) | ||
| Rural |
223 (22.5) [19.9–25.3] |
21.1 (17.6–25.0) |
23.9 (20.2–28.0) |
23.1 (20.2–26.2) |
19.4 (14.1–26.2) |
||
| Region¶ | 0.36 | 0.33 | |||||
| Northeast | 182 (17.3) [15.0–19.8] | 16.2 (13.1–19.8) | 18.3 (15.2–22.0) | 16.3 (13.9–19.1) | 21.9 (16.3–28.8) | ||
| Midwest | 199 (20.5) [18.0–23.2] | 20.6 (17.2–24.6) | 20.3 (16.8–24.3) | 21.0 (18.3–24.1) | 17.6 (12.4–24.4) | ||
| South | 382 (38.6) [35.5–41.8] | 37.2 (32.9–41.7) | 40.0 (35.7–44.6) | 38.6 (35.2–42.1) | 38.6 (31.4–46.4) | ||
| West | 251 (23.7) [21.1–26.5] | 26 (22.2–30.1) | 21.3 (17.9–25.2) | 24.0 (21.2–27.1) | 21.9 (16.3–28.8) | ||
*Unweighted counts and weighted percentages. †Statistical significance of differences in responses was determined at α = 0.05 by using Pearson χ2 tests corrected for survey design ‡Persons of Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) origin might be of any race but are categorized as Hispanic; all racial group tabulation is limited to those persons reporting being non-Hispanic. §Includes Middle Eastern or North African persons, persons identifying as another race not listed in the survey, and persons identifying as >1 race. ¶Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont; Midwest: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin; South: Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.