5 things to know about the coronavirus today: Case reporting at schools and wastewater testing

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine released more information about a public health order requiring school districts to create coronavirus reporting system where parents can notify schools of confirmed cases of the virus. Starting Sept. 8, parents and staff should notify schools of positive cases within one day, and then the school with inform local health departments, who will report to the state. Districts will also be required to notify parents and guardians within 24 hours of receiving a notification.

Rising college cases raise county alert status in Montgomery, Butler counties

After both moving to alert level 2, Butler and Montgomery counties have moved back up to coronavirus alert level 3 as hundreds test positive at the University of Dayton and Miami University. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said that there have been outbreaks associated with parties and gatherings at colleges and universities across the state.

Ohio will start testing for coronavirus fragments in wastewater to predicting surges

Ohio is planning to begin testing wastewater to help detect signs of a surge of coronavirus cases before there is a rise in cases and hospitalizations. Studies have shown that non-infectious RNA from coronavirus can be excreted as many as three to seven days before the infections lead to increases in case counts of hospitalizations.

Miami University is expanding its testing strategy

Miami University is increasing its testing as students return to campus. The new strategy includes wide net and surveillance testing in addition to checking people with symptoms. This would include people who may have been exposed, but have not been identified as having close contact or shown symptoms of the virus.

Montgomery County is now second in the state for highest occurrences of coronavirus

In a list mostly dominated by rural counties, Montgomery County has swiftly moved to the second spot on the top 10 Ohio counties ranked by highest coronavirus occurrence per population. Montgomery County is joined by five other Miami Valley counties, including Butler, Dark, Shelby, Mercer and Auglaize counties.