Northeast partner Summerville seeks coronavirus in urban sewage

With the emphasis on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic response, the City of Summerville is turning to science and sewers.

Mayor Somerville said he hopes to “be ahead of the virus” by testing sewage at 10 locations throughout the city to see if it sheds coronavirus particles.

The initiative is a partnership between the city, the engineering firm Stantech, and the Northeastern University research team led by environmental engineer and microbiologist Amit Pinto.

Curtatone expects to provide coronavirus data that is more reliable, faster, and more affordable than individual tests.

“When facing an ever-evolving and ever-changing pandemic, you can’t have enough conduits for your data,” Cartertone said. “Contact tracing is not where it should be. Traditional PCR testing is not where it should be.”

Pinto emphasized that the purpose of his team was to supplement, rather than replace, the clinical nasal scooping approach that we came to know.

Nevertheless, sewage-based testing has its advantages. You don’t have to wait for 10,000 different tests. You can take a wide range of snapshots with this one test. The first samples from Summerville will arrive at Pinto’s lab on Friday. He expects a team of four to deliver results within two days.

At a basic outline, the Northeastern team’s approach Not new.. For example, it has been used for years to track poliovirus. There, it said it is showing impressive results. [approach] You may be able to pick up one out of 10,000 infected people. “

And this method is already used to track coronaviruses State Deer Island Processing Plant, In partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Water Resources and Cambridge-based private biotechnology company Biobot. (MWRA will share the resulting data website.. )

But Pinto’s hope is that his team’s more granular approach can provide useful and even life-saving insights.

Somerville’s first ten manholes were chosen for their ability to capture localized outbreaks in delicate masses, from areas favored by college students to areas including public housing and senior centres.

Pinto said so, Somerville’s plans more resemble a similar initiative at the University of Arizona than the efforts of the MWRA.

“They were testing 10 dormitories several times a week,” Pinto said. Last week, university researchers detected coronavirus particles in sewage From a single dormitory.. “The next morning…they entered the country, quarantined 340 students in the dormitory, and did a quick test on all students.” This test found two asymptomatic carriers of the virus. , They were immediately removed.

“The next day, the dormitory sewage was no longer positive,” Pinto said, calling it a “beautiful demonstration” of the approach’s potential.

Pinto acknowledged that his findings would be somewhat inconclusive in the dense Somerville district. His team has sought a way to calculate a reliable number, taking into account the dilution due to rain, the rate of viral decay, and the “very dirty matrix” of urban sewer systems.

But he hopes this approach will help the city authorities respond quickly and practically. “In my mind,” Pinto said. [questions] For example, where is the Popup Test Center located? “

Somerville’s approach to the pandemic was more cautious than the state as a whole. July, city Pressed the brake Citing the increase in the number of cases, about proceeding to “Phase 3” of the resumption. Then, in early August, the school official was one of the first to oppose state leadership. Commit remote start To grade.

But that is starting to change. On Thursday, Kurtatone announced plans to allow him to resume his business in Summerville from September 8th, though under strict safety protocols (fitness club, filmmaking, educational programs, etc.).

It is despite the fact that the daily incidence of COVID-19 cities is rising. Curtatone says, “We need to be ethical in the way we use, while authorities work hard to collect data. [it].. It’s not just a way to rollback or stop an activity. “

According to Cartertone, the gradual resumption partly reflects the impression that many of the city’s businesses are “on the chin”; operating revenue and financial support are needed to prevent widespread closures. It will be.

But Cartathone added that neither a promising project in Northeastern nor this business-related resumption is a sign that the school can reopen faster. Point out school-related outbreaks in the state Georgia And Israel“You need to be very careful with these lessons,” Kurtatone said.

He wants Pinto’s team to add a school-based test site when Summerville returns to the hybrid model, but the timing of that transition is still unknown.