Colorado Health Authority Scientists Expand Coronavirus Wastewater Tracking Pilot Project

Denver-Colorado health officials and scientists plan to expand a pilot program to test wastewater and faeces for early detection of new coronaviruses as another tool for early detection of outbreaks.

At the beginning of this spring, wastewater pilots Made in Gunnison County And in two Front Range wastewater districts with a Massachusetts-based Biobot, they try to find coronaviruses in their sewage and see if that data can be used as a tool to identify outbreaks in different communities. did.

On Wednesday, officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Colorado State University, Metro State University, and the Metro Sewage Agency announced a new and extended one-year pilot program to test wastewater across the front for viral load. I explained in detail. First reported Last month, Colorado Sun.

Sixteen front-range wastewater utilities, from Fort Collins to Pueblo, participate in the initial phases of the program. As part of their regular sampling, they will collect samples from 16 utility companies twice a week from the catch points of 18 wastewater facilities and send them to the CSU for processing and testing. ..

GT Molecules is also a testing partner, as is Metropolitan State University in Denver, which is working to launch its own test lab.

Samples are sent quickly within hours to minimize the time it takes to collect and have results available, said Jim McQuarrie, Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. I will.

Upon receiving the sample in the lab, scientists filter the sample to remove solids, then use a concentrating pipette to capture the viral particles from the filter and extract the viral RNA from it. The RNA is then converted to DNA, says Dr. Susan De Long, an associate professor of civil engineering and environmental engineering at CSU, who then copied the virus and used a droplet chain reactor to wastewater.

Using 16 front-range wastewater utilities participating in the first phase, authorities expect to collect wastewater data for approximately 60% to 65% of the Colorado population. This will be yet another tool that will try to quantify where the virus is located in the states and regions where it occurs.

John Putnam, Environmental Program Director at CDPHE, said such data could provide scientists, epidemiology, and authorities with 4-7 days’ advance notice of where COVID-19 is in the community. I can do it. Virus.

“If you know that the symptoms are not seen for days or weeks, unlike the usual tests that are usually done after the symptoms appear, the virus can be used within a few days after infection before symptoms appear. It begins to be emitted from human faeces.” Putnam added that early warning systems give state and local authorities time to respond to possible outbreaks.

McQuarrie says the exact number of people carrying the virus in a particular wastewater area is not shown in the data, but the combination of the RNA signal strength from the virus and other factors has led researchers to A given community that can show signs of how prevalent.

Nisha Alden, CDPHE’s Respiratory Disease and COVID Surveillance Program Manager, said public health officials may need to test wastewater data in addition to other data to see where to shift resources. You can relax and decide if you need to be strengthened and said that you can be notified if you have distance requirements.

“We think we want to add to the data we already have and use it as another tool to make the best public health decisions,” Alden said.

Nicole Rowan, CDPHE’s water purification program manager, said it would take months for the team to understand enough and collect enough data to establish trends.

Authorities used some of the samples collected earlier this year to build a dataset with the new data included in the new program, where groundwater infiltration, dilution, and wastewater into the sewer line were collected from homes or businesses. Length of travel-depends on wastewater area.

Also, before you publish your data, you need to determine the error bars and confidence levels for your data. However, he says he wants to set up a public dashboard as well as other states and cities in the future. Utah And Tempe, Arizona.

Each wastewater utility collects its own sample and guarantees delivery to its respective lab.

Authorities want to introduce more wastewater utilities within the next few months, and have already installed utilities so they can further drill down to specific regions or cities within specific systems for COVID analysis. We would like to expand the number of collection points in 19 data.

According to the authorities, this data will be cross-referenced with existing data on cases and outbreaks in specific regions to gather detailed information about the spread of the virus. Authorities also need to figure out how much viral signal is in the wastewater compared to the amount of human waste.

They said the CSU has already begun to take samples and has an agreement with the utility and MSU Denver. But it can take at least several months before meaningful data is available,” Rowan said.

McAlley said the pilot program would cost about $520,000 initially, but said having another science-based early warning tool would be a significant benefit to the state. Arapahoe County said wastewater facilities have taken part in the past few weeks, and GT molecular testing is just a fraction of the cost of biobot testing, which will significantly improve turnaround times.

McAlley said having a lab locally would be more cost and time efficient for researchers here.

MSU Denver said Biobot will share the protocol and allow others to continue this type of testing, leading to a new program in Colorado.

“The overall goal is to develop an early warning system,” said Tracy Fielder of MSU Denver, Project Associate Researcher, in a statement. Post on university website About the program. “If the detected (COVID-19) signal begins to rise, we can respond by alerting the authorities to respond accordingly.”