HSN researchers mark one year of detecting COVID-19 in northern wastewater
This week marked one year since researchers at Health Sciences North started to test wastewater in the region for COVID-19.
Experts at the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) are now looking at the results for several communities across the northeast, including Sudbury, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and the Porcupine region (Timmins, Kapuskasing and Moosonee.)
They've also been monitoring the output from Laurentian University.
In the last few days, they've noticed a downward trend in COVID-19 levels, which could indicate the northeast has hit a plateau.
"The idea is … everything that will go out of our system is collected in the wastewater and if you have some way to measure it, you can find out the concentration of the thing you want to measure," said researcher Gustavo Ybazeta.
"We are using a technique able to amplify the signal of the remnants of the RNA that's basically the signature of the (COVID-19) virus in the wastewater."
Ybazeta used last month's spike with the Omicron variant as an example.
"Numbers that we obtained through the wastewater, they were going through the roof in some places," he said. "We were seeing numbers up to that we hadn't even seen in previous waves."
It's work that's helping public health officials do their job and is now more important than ever, given how Ontario recently changed its PRC testing guidelines.
"The testing system right now is down at the Kelly Lake wastewater treatment plant, so it's taking all the wastewater from all of Sudbury, all of New Sudbury and we can watch the trends working with that," said Burgess Hawkins, from Public Health Sudbury and Districts.
Public Health Sudbury and Districts, the City of Greater Sudbury and the researchers are working collaboratively to try and come up with a way where they can publish the results in a manner that's easy to understand.
Several cities have already started to routinely publish findings, including Ottawa.
"The trend lines are pretty obvious but they don't always give you an A equals B correlation," said Hawkins, who said the health unit wants to see the data published.
In the past year, the team at Health Sciences North made a lot of improvements to the procedure with Ontario's consortium of testing sites. For example, what used to take them 10-12 hours to get results, may take 6-8 hours now.
"We share our best results and techniques with other labs and look at how other labs are doing their results," said Ybazeta. "We're trying to produce the best measurement of this signature and we're getting better."
"People are getting very tired in the lab because it's been a long year, but we're very happy to share this data, to do what we can to beat this pandemic," he added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police arrest 3 Indian nationals in killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Five areas Canada's foreign interference commissioner says needs more investigation
Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue released her interim report examining foreign election interference on Friday. Here are five elements of the issue that Hogue says she needs to further probe before she can make conclusions or recommendations.
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Human remains found in rural Sask. possibly a decade old, RCMP say
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
New weight-loss drug Wegovy not a 'magic bullet,' doctor warns
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Why your airfare may be getting more expensive
Skyrocketing airfare prices are linked to heightened competition and rising food and fuel, according to the CAA.
Manitoba man sentenced to house arrest for keeping fishing tournament funds meant for Children's Hospital Foundation
A Manitoba man who pleaded guilty to keeping the funds raised from an ice-fishing fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba has been handed a sentence of 18 months house arrest.