Alberta COVID-19 wastewater results indicate emerging Omicron BA.2 subvariant
Posted Mar 25, 2022 7:51 pm.
Last Updated Mar 26, 2022 12:27 pm.
Wastewater data in Alberta shows a slight increase in the dominant COVID-19 strain detected in the province, indicating the region could soon see another increase in overall cases.
A dashboard created by the University of Calgary Centre for Health Informatics reveals an average amount of COVID-19 detected in wastewater. Data shows Edmonton, Calgary and several other areas of the province saw a slight increase of Omicron subvariant BA.2 (also called Stealth Omicron sub-variant).
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Kevin Frankowski, Executive Director of Advancing Canadian Water Assets (ACWA) at the University of Calgary, says this type of testing has proven to be valuable.
“Wastewater monitoring is a very effective way of monitoring for COVID and perhaps other pathogens. We get about a six-day lead time relative to clinical testing, back when clinical testing was done quite frequently,” Frankowski explains.
However, he adds that we still need to see a trend to prove that virus levels are increasing.
Due to the absence of widespread testing, wastewater data does show increasing rates of the virus in Calgary and some other areas.
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While the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is becoming the dominant strain in the province, Frankowski says it’s not quite the time to panic, yet.
However, Dr. Malgorzata Gasperowicz, a developmental biologist at the University of Calgary, is encouraging a proactive approach to prevent more damage before the variant spreads.
“Consistent with what we observed last week in Europe, Switzerland, and the overall cases were doubling every 16 days,” Gasperowicz said.
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She warns the province could see a new wave in May if nothing else changes.
“Even if we don’t completely quench the wave, we can make it much smaller so twice or three times less than that and those are lives saved,” Gasperowicz said.
