Title: Monitoring SARS CoV-2 markers to support wastewater-based epidemiology to inform public health actions (Wayne State University and Detroit MI)
PI: Jeffrey Ram
According to scientists worldwide, markers of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, shows up in sewage long before symptoms and tests of individuals reveal outbreaks of the disease in the community. Working in concert with vaccination campaigns, testing, and public health good practices like social distancing and “masking up”, early warning signals from wastewater from various sewersheds in Detroit will be used to warn of new outbreaks or, when the signals fall to a low level, to give residents and local agencies guidance on reducing mitigation strategies, when appropriate. The proposed project in Detroit focuses on congregate facilities (dormitories, correctional facilities, nursing homes) and relatively small sewersheds. A sewershed represents the whole of an area estimated to drain into a certain pipe or sewer node. All monitoring-sampling locations were determined and prioritized in collaboration with DHD and LimnoTech. This selection process led to twenty sites in the City of Detroit and includes: Wayne State dormitories, Detroit Medical Center sewersheds, 12 congregate living facilities (nursing home, correctional facility), and 2 communities drained by small-sewersheds and otherwise zipcode-identified locations in Detroit. This project provides prompt reporting of results (48 hours). When vaccination begins to decrease the current level of COVID-19 in the community, weekly wastewater monitoring results for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, when present, may be useful for detecting if a new outbreak is beginning. When data indicate the circulation of the virus at any given location(s), we have the network-liaison infrastructure in place with the DHD and the Wayne State University Administration to develop an appropriate public health response. Title: Monitoring SARS CoV-2 markers to support wastewater-based epidemiology to inform public health actions (Wayne State University and Detroit MI)
PI: Jeffrey Ram
According to scientists worldwide, markers of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, shows up in sewage long before symptoms and tests of individuals reveal outbreaks of the disease in the community. Working in concert with vaccination campaigns, testing, and public health good practices like social distancing and “masking up”, early warning signals from wastewater from various sewersheds in Detroit will be used to warn of new outbreaks or, when the signals fall to a low level, to give residents and local agencies guidance on reducing mitigation strategies, when appropriate. The proposed project in Detroit focuses on congregate facilities (dormitories, correctional facilities, nursing homes) and relatively small sewersheds. A sewershed represents the whole of an area estimated to drain into a certain pipe or sewer node. All monitoring-sampling locations were determined and prioritized in collaboration with DHD and LimnoTech. This selection process led to twenty sites in the City of Detroit and includes: Wayne State dormitories, Detroit Medical Center sewersheds, 12 congregate living facilities (nursing home, correctional facility), and 2 communities drained by small-sewersheds and otherwise zipcode-identified locations in Detroit. This project provides prompt reporting of results (48 hours). When vaccination begins to decrease the current level of COVID-19 in the community, weekly wastewater monitoring results for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, when present, may be useful for detecting if a new outbreak is beginning. When data indicate the circulation of the virus at any given location(s), we have the network-liaison infrastructure in place with the DHD and the Wayne State University Administration to develop an appropriate public health response. Title: Monitoring SARS CoV-2 markers to support wastewater-based epidemiology to inform public health actions (Wayne State University and Detroit MI)