Power 5 conference school found a gross way to detect COVID-19 outbreak before it happened
As testing for the COVID-19 virus continues to improve and get faster and cheaper, it’s only going to help us battle the pandemic.
However, there are some other, more… interesting, shall we say… ways to detect the virus, and it was recently put to use at Arizona.
Per the university’s Twitter account, wastewater testing was able to identify and prevent a potential outbreak of COVID-19 before it even started:
This has worked perfectly at Likins as we found some shedding and detected two cases that same day through our testing protocols. This will be a valuable tool in controlling the spread.
— #BearDownMaskUp (@uarizona) August 27, 2020
What does that mean, exactly? Author Charles Fishman took to Twitter to explain why Arizona’s news is positive in this lengthy Twitter thread:
Some big news out of the University of Arizona (@uarizona):
UA scientists & staff found a coronavirus outbreak on campus *before it happened* — and seem to have snuffed it out.
How in the world do you do that?
You use wastewater testing.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
3/ As campus reopened, Arizona set up a system to test the wastewater leaving about 20 buildings on campus, including all the dorms that are occupied.
Early work in Europe in the spring showed that people infected with coronavirus shed it into their stool very early.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
5/ Those 2 Arizona undergrads are in isolation at UA's isolation dorm now (& their contacts being traced).
The other 309 residents of Likins: Back to covid-life-on-campus.
Mind you, all 311 of those residents had already been tested once, on arrival, and come up negative.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
7/ Those two students would have wandered their dorm, asymptomatic, likely infecting their fellow students unknowingly.
Then instead of 2 students in Likins being infected, you might have had 10.
Those students would have been out and about on campus, and in Tucson.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
9/ But wastewater testing is a reasonable surrogate.
In Europe, it caught infections a week before anyone showed symptoms.
In practice, at UArizona, that's exactly what happened: A dorm outbreak, detected, isolated, stopped in its tracks.
This is how you do it.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
11/ Wastewater testing is not common at all — here in the US, or anywhere else.
It requires a consistent population (you wouldn't want to wastewater test a restaurant or a movie theater), it requires access to the pipes, & an understanding of the plumbing.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
13/ Lots of *cities* don't have much in the way of quick-test ability on demand.
But this is how it's done. This is how you find people who might get sick, isolate them, and get back to work.
Imagine using wastewater testing at high schools, for instance, or workplaces.
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
15/ UArizona's most recent testing data:
Total tests since reopening:
• 10,126 tests
–>46 positiveWednesday, 8/26 testing:
• 770 tests
–> 9 positiveNote that yesterday's results are a small warning.
Overall positive rate: 0.5%
Yesterday's positive rate: 1.2%— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
17/ But UArizona's wastewater testing is a smart, invaluable technique.
Let's hope other colleges and universities, and lots of other organizations, jump in and put it to use as well.
#
— (((Charles Fishman))) (@cfishman) August 27, 2020
Yes, that might be a gross method of detection, but hey, anything that helps battle the virus is a great thing.
