EditorialA plate containing small amounts of coronavirus RNA is processed at the Pandemic Response Lab, a commercial laboratory, in Queens on July 30, 2022. (Jonah Markowitz/The New York Times)
EditorialSampled RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) from a wastewater sample at the Lab Science Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, Mo. on May 6, 2022. (Michael B. Thomas/The New York Times)
EditorialMarc Johnson, a virologist at the University of Missouri, examines leftover ribonucleic acid (RNA) from samples of wastewater collected by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, at the school’s campus in Columbia, Mo., May 6, 2021. (Michael B. Thomas/The New York Times)
EditorialLab technicians Angelica Garces, left, and Sarah Clarke, right, prepared to load human RNA samples into a sequencing machine at Duke University in Durham, N.C. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)