Sunday, January 24, 2021
Image: Noun Project CC
The Narragansett Bay Commission was accepted to participate in a COVID-19 study conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study is designed to quickly monitor 100 million people in the United States by monitoring wastewater to monitor the COVID-19 epidemic and to identify best practices for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater assessment and subsequent analysis of data from around the world. the country.
Questions about the transmission of coronavirus through wastewater began in May 2020, as the World Health Organization began to raise questions.
In October, MIT reported that the university began piloting a wastewater testing program as a new tool to help keep the campus community safe this semester.
“In a project that will run through the fall semester, wastewater from seven campus buildings will be tested daily for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The project is designed to determine whether wastewater testing can be an effective early warning system for COVID-19 outbreaks on campus and is being assessed as a complementary tool in the Institute’s response to the pandemic, along with clinical testing, follow-up and other measures. ” , reported MIT.
Bullock Point Wastewater Treatment Facility, PHOTO: NBC
How much virus is in the water
NBC’s Bucklin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in East Providence is participating in Phase I of the study, during which the influence of raw wastewater is tested twice a week for six weeks. Phase I will assess 10% of the US population by monitoring wastewater. Monitoring started on December 27, 2020.
The second phase will include additional treatment facilities to reach the target of monitoring 30% of the US population. All data will be compiled and transmitted to communities by HHS, with the aim of returning the data as soon as possible so that local health departments can make quick and actionable decisions.
“Wastewater treatment has always been essential to public health, protecting our citizens from diseases and epidemics such as dysentery and cholera,” said NBC President Vincent Mesolella. “It is a natural progression of our public health mission to contribute again to the fight against COVID. We are very proud to be part of this study providing valuable data to the leaders of our country at this difficult time. ”
A paper published in Nature reported: “The health risks of COVID-19 through waterborne transmission may be higher than originally thought, and wastewater should be further explored as a potential route for COVID-19 transmission. Evidence of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater systems is accumulating worldwide. The large number of individuals infected in the current pandemic, together with the high infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, could present a new challenge for wastewater treatment and calls for a future assessment of the risk of transmission through wastewater reuse. Such risks could be expected to be higher in densely populated areas, direct exposure to aerosolised wastewater, as well as in regions that do not have adequate wastewater collection, treatment and disinfection. “
“There is an urgent need for extensive research into the frequency of detection of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater to obtain:
(1) critical information on the abundance of viruses in raw wastewater, treated wastewater and the receiving environment, which can be used to generate a quantitative risk assessment;
(2) information on the efficiency of the wastewater treatment plant;
(3) disinfection requirements depending on the loading and transmission of the virus through the treatment plants to ensure the complete removal of SARS-CoV-2 for wastewater reuse; and (4) epidemic surveillance for policy makers on the outbreak, spread and prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the community, “the report, published in August, wrote.
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