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The poop doesn’t lie — at least in Lynden, where it has helped guide the city’s pandemic response for over a year. The Whatcom city has become home to one of the most thorough COVID-19 wastewater testing programs in the U.S., said Kent Oostra, owner of Ferndale-based Exact Scientific Services. His lab has tested Lynden’s sewage for traces of the virus shed in people’s feces since June 2020. This data can help predict when a COVID-19 outbreak may be on the horizon, he explained, giving about 10 days of notice before one occurs. “They’ve got the tsunami alert 10 second before it comes. This is similar,” said Lynden Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gary Vis. “It’s just a heads up. This is here, it’s happening.”