Canadian researchers have started testing wastewater samples from long-term care facilities in hopes that it will help identify increases in COVID-19 cases faster.
The research project is being led by the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto and Ryerson University throughout six Canadian provinces. It is being supported by the federal government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, the CBC reported. Traces of the virus can be detected through an infected person’s feces before they develop symptoms, according to experts.
The method was used in mid-July and was able to catch a 400% increase in COVID-19 levels at a water treatment plant in Ottawa several days before testing confirmed an increase in cases. The sampling method also was used to help curb an outbreak at the University of Arizona, the report noted.
University of Ottawa engineering professor and co-project leader Robert Delatolla equated the method to a smoke detector, saying it could serve as a “[signal] that things are starting to come online, outbreaks are happening.”
“By being able to monitor a facility that is doing well and doesn’t have an outbreak, the wastewater is a potential tool to actually catch when that outbreak first happens,” he said.
Overall, about 63% of overall COVID-19 deaths are from residents and workers in long-term care facilities, according to latest government figures. Facilities throughout the country are required to conduct surveillance testing on residents every one or two weeks.
“It’s a way of doing a survey or census on everyone, every day. Instead of testing thousands of people, we can just test the sewer system once a day at the treatment plant,” added Ottawa Hospital senior scientist Doug Manuel.
