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home / 世界杯决赛2022

wastewater data fills void as province relies less on pcr testing: researchers

'if we can get a sample of wastewater that represents a large community, we can do a single pcr test ... to cover a million people'

by michael rodriguez

jan 3 2022
read time 2 minute read
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university of calgary researchers check monitoring equipment as they track traces of covid-19 in the wastewater system in calgary on wednesday, july 14, 2021. the canadian press/jeff mcintosh
scientists say testing what calgarians flush down the toilet could fill the void left by diminished covid-19 testing numbers in getting a sense of just how much of the virus is in calgary.
as the alberta government moves away from the widespread use of pcr tests — instead telling most people to get their covid results from at-home rapid antigen tests, reserving pcr tests for at-risk groups — case numbers alone aren’t as accurate a reflection of the virus’s hold on the province as they were a month ago. researchers testing wastewater say the data they’re collecting provides a fuller picture of how much of the virus is present and spreading within the population.
“if we can get a sample of wastewater that represents a large community, we can do a single pcr test . . . to cover a million people,” said university of calgary researcher casey hubert, part of a joint project with the university of alberta that is monitoring the wastewater of about 3.2 million albertans — around three-quarters of the province’s total population.
“so, that’s quite efficient, especially in the context of less pcr testing happening on a case-by-case basis.”

funded by a $3.4-million grant from the provincial government, the team is providing data about the presence of covid-19 in wastewater samples to alberta’s health agencies and to the public via an online tracker tool.

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the method uses pcr tests to detect the level of covid-19 in samples of wastewater. through that, it catches “everybody who is pooping into the wastewater,” hubert said, whether they’re symptomatic or not.
it won’t give a number as to exactly how many people have the virus, though, so hubert said it’s important to look at the trends rather than individual data points. and as with recent case numbers, wastewater trends are shooting up.
“what’s maybe noteworthy is the signal in calgary now is maybe twice as high as it’s ever been (in previous waves),” said hubert.
the data has proven helpful to health officials, showing trends within populations days before case numbers do. hubert said members of the general public could also use the data in their own decision-making in the same way they check the weather, as a sort of covid forecast.
“the power of the wastewater testing is it’s truly inclusive,” hubert said.
“everybody who’s contributing to the sewer system is part of the signal and is part of the sample. so it really gives, in a way, a more reliable signal for what’s going on. we just don’t know who’s infected.”
at a recent covid-19 update, premier jason kenney pointed to the available wastewater data as a good way to keep track of the virus’s spread despite the decrease in pcr testing.
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“we continue to have good data available to us to assess covid transmission on a population basis through the wastewater treatment program,” kenney said.
“we’ve invested significantly in that program, stepped it up at a number of locations where we take samples.”
university of calgary researcher casey hubert is participating in a joint project with the university of alberta that is monitoring the wastewater of about 3.2 million albertans.
university of calgary researcher casey hubert is participating in a joint project with the university of alberta that is monitoring the wastewater of about 3.2 million albertans. adrian shellard/ university of calgary
despite the lower testing numbers, case counts have soared to record levels. the latest provincial data released last week showed more than 21,000 confirmed active cases. alberta health officials are slated to give their first live covid-19 update of 2021 on tuesday afternoon.
mrodriguez@postmedia.com

twitter: @michaelrdrguez

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