Mia Rabson
Professor Robert Delatolla poses in front of a pumping station used to collect wastewater samples that are screened for COVID Thursday April 8, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld April 11, 2021 - 4:00 AM
OTTAWA - When Ottawa Public Health officials are trying to decide whether restrictions in the city need to tighten up, they look to the normal markers like positive tests, patients in hospital, and outbreaks. But they are also among the few in the country that take cues from the city s sewers.
Using municipal wastewater to look for evidence of the virus behind COVID-19 is part of a rapidly expanding body of science. The virus is shed in human waste, often before a patient even knows they are sick.
The COVID-19 wasteland: searching for clues to the pandemic in the sewers - Medicine Hat NewsMedicine Hat News
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Searching for clues to the COVID-19 pandemic in the sewers
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OTTAWA When Ottawa Public Health officials are trying to decide whether restrictions in the city need to tighten up, they look to the normal markers like positive tests, patients in hospital, and outbreaks. But they are also among the few in the country that take cues from the city s sewers.
Using municipal wastewater to look for evidence of the virus behind COVID-19 is part of a rapidly expanding body of science. The virus is shed in human waste, often before a patient even knows they are sick.
Wastewater testing initiatives were virtually nonexistent in Canada before COVID-19, but there are now more than two dozen universities researching the method. At least seven cities and the Northwest Territories, meanwhile, are already reporting publicly on the wastewater results.