New tool helps track COVID-19 in Calgary’s wastewater
Posted Mar 8, 2021 10:57 am.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – You can now track COVID-19 in Calgary’s sewage.
The University of Calgary has teamed up with the city and Alberta Health Services (AHS) to share real-time data showing levels of the virus in wastewater.
The Centre for Health Informatics (CHI) COVID-19 Data Tracker aims to identify outbreaks early and pinpoint areas of Calgary where infection rates are high.
“Wastewater data is unbiased and comprehensive. It captures all cases in a defined population, including symptomatic and asymptomatic cases – not just those diagnosed cases,” said Dr. Michael Parkins with the Cumming School of Medicine.
The website divides the city into three areas, based on the collection zone for each wastewater treatment plant.
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“Each data point represents a 24-hour period, where a 100 ml sample is taken every 15 minutes to generate a 10-litre sample,” said Parkins. “We then test to look for evidence of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genetic material.” The tracker shows data starting in July 2020, when the group started gathering samples.”
Ottawa public health has been tracking COVID-19 in sewage for months and last summer noted a 580 per cent increase just before cases in the national capital region rose sharply.
Danielle Southern, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Health Informatics said future wastewater data will be helpful to answer the question of what can be re-opened safely, when so many sources are unknown.
“Policymakers might be interested to use wastewater tracking in specific locations, where you might be able to pick up on the outbreaks earlier and limit the spread,” Southern said. “The wastewater could give us some predictive tools. Say you’re seeing it in a high school, that means it’s probably out in your community, whereas if it’s in a hospital, those people are likely constrained to that one place.”
Parkins added the data from Calgary wastewater could come in a matter of weeks as they are currently assessing a number of different communities.
