Notice2021-19160
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 7, 2021
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled National Wastewater Surveillance System for COVID-19. The proposed information collection project aims to collect SARS-CoV-2 wastewater and associated sewershed-level case data from participating jurisdictions in the United States to inform COVID-19 prevention and control efforts.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 170 (Tuesday, September 7, 2021)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 170 (Tuesday, September 7, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50125-50126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19160]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-21-21HT; Docket No. CDC-2021-0090]
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice with comment period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part
of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the
utility of government information, invites the general public and other
Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or
continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed
information collection project titled National Wastewater Surveillance
System for COVID-19. The proposed information collection project aims
to collect SARS-CoV-2 wastewater and associated sewershed-level case
data from participating jurisdictions in the United States to inform
COVID-19 prevention and control efforts.
DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before November 8, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2021-
0090 by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road
NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments
to <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>.
Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking
portal (regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan
and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton
Road NE, MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7118; Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0b6466694b686f68256c647d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="57383a351734333479303821">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information
collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a
proposed data collection as described below.
The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected;
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses; and
5. Assess information collection costs.
Proposed Project
National Wastewater Surveillance System for COVID-19--New--National
Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for timely,
actionable surveillance data to inform prevention and control
activities. The genetic material of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19, has been detected in the feces of infected individuals,
regardless of their symptom status. Therefore, sampling and testing
wastewater provides a means to obtain an assessment of SARS-CoV-2
infection trends in the community independent of health care seeking,
or other clinical indicators.
The Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch (WDPB) in the Division of
Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases works to prevent
domestic and global water, sanitation, and hygiene related disease. In
support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-
19 response, WDPB established the National Wastewater Surveillance
System (NWSS). NWSS serves as a public health tool to provide
environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Wastewater data
have provided impactful information to local public health authorities,
whether to confirm trends observed in testing or hospitalization rates,
or to assert the need for increased testing or healthcare resources.
NWSS has supported
[[Page 50126]]
jurisdictions throughout the United States to implement wastewater
surveillance, and will continue to support state, tribal, local, and
territorial (STLT) partners to collect wastewater data. Data are input
to the Data Collation and Integration for Public Health Event Response
(DCIPHER) platform for participants to view and analyze their data in
near real time.
Wastewater surveillance provides aggregated, anonymized data at the
community level to indicate trends in SARS-CoV-2 infections. These data
can be particularly useful in underserved populations where clinical
testing is limited or health care seeking is reduced. Wastewater data
collection could inform locations that require greater resource
allocation early in outbreaks and provide health departments with an
additional, clinical-testing agnostic surveillance method to assess
community-level COVID-19 trends.
Wastewater data collection will be coordinated by health department
jurisdictions through close collaboration with wastewater utilities,
testing laboratories, and CDC. Wastewater utilities will collect grab,
time-weighted composite, or flow-weighted composite samples of
wastewater from wastewater influent lines at least once a week. The
wastewater samples will be shipped along with their associated sampling
metadata to testing laboratories where SARS-CoV-2 RNA will be
quantified. The testing laboratory will deliver wastewater sample
collection and laboratory testing data to the jurisdiction health
department to compile, review, and submit to CDC using the comma
separated value (CSV) bulk upload template into the NWSS DCIPHER
platform.
In addition to wastewater data, jurisdiction health departments
will work with participating utilities to obtain spatial files of the
utility service areas, also called a sewershed. These sewershed spatial
files will be uploaded by jurisdiction health departments into the NWSS
DCIPHER platform. Finally, health department jurisdictions using the
sewershed spatial files will develop a line list of COVID-19 cases who
reside within the participating wastewater utility service areas. The
health department jurisdiction will submit to CDC, the line list of
COVID-19 cases using a CSV bulk upload template into the DCIPHER NWSS
platform.
The proposed data collection will occur over three years. The data
collection involves three data components: (1) SARS-CoV-2 wastewater
data, (2) spatial files of the wastewater utility service area
(referred to as sewersheds), and (3) COVID-19 sewershed case data.
Based on pilot data collection, it is expected that 64,480 wastewater
samples, 620 spatial files, and 1,550,000 COVID-19 sewershed cases will
be collected and reported to NWSS each year. This will lead to a total
annual burden of 238,089 hours (107,682 hours for wastewater data,
1,240 hours for spatial files, and 129,167 hours for COVID-19 sewershed
case data). There is no cost to respondents other than their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
Number of Number of burden per Total burden
Type of respondents Form name respondents responses per response (in (in hours)
respondent hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State, tribal, local, National 64,480 2,080 100/60 107,682
territorial health department Wastewater
staff. Surveillance
System: SARS-
CoV-2
wastewater data
collection.
State, tribal, local, No form; 620 20 2 1,240
territorial health department provision of
staff; Wastewater utility sewershed
staff. spatial files.
State, tribal, local, National 1,550,000 50,000 5/60 129,167
territorial health department Wastewater
staff. Surveillance
System: COVID-
19 sewershed
case data
collection.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 238,089
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2021-19160 Filed 9-3-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 7, 2021.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.