Medical officer of health for Peterborough Public Health, Dr. Thomas Piggott talks with host Molly Thomas about why he believes we shouldn’t drop wastewater testing for diseases — even if COVID-19 is not the same threat it was when the program was rolled out.
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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario
Radio | Ontario suspends wastewater testing in the province
The provincial government is suspending the program that tests for COVID-19, flu and disease levels in community sewage systems.
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‘I was shocked’: Ontario to cancel widely used wastewater surveillance program
The Ontario government is shutting down the wastewater surveillance program that has provided early warning for incoming waves of COVID-19 and a growing list of other infectious diseases since it was developed.
By the time it ends on July 31, the program that got its start in Ottawa early in the pandemic will be one of the biggest in the world to monitor the spread of infectious diseases through wastewater. Researchers were told of the decision to end funding last week.
Its closure comes at a time when COVID-19 is again beginning to spread through the world after a lull and when the United States and other countries are ramping up wastewater surveillance programs to warn about the possible spread of H5N1 avian influenza.
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Topic: take actionView all posts for the topic: take action
Ontario: Call Members of Provincial Parliament on #WastewaterWednesday!
📣 Take action! Let MPPs know you want funding for Ontario’s wastewater monitoring program to continue
📱 Call MPPs to voice your support for wastewater monitoring.
✉️ Use our online tool to send letters to MPPs.
✉️ Use our online tool to send emails to municipal councillors in Ottawa or Waterloo Region.
📸 Post photos on social media.
Why take action? Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ontario’s communities.
Comments closedTopic: YukonView all posts for the topic: Yukon
Wastewater monitoring shows COVID-19 uptick in Haines Junction, Yukon
Residents of Haines Junction, Yukon, have had an early warning system to track COVID-19 and other pathogens for almost a year — and it’s showing an uptick in COVID-19 this fall.
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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau
Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2023‑09‑06
COVID-19 wastewater viral signal
The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+963%) since a low on July 12, 2023.
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COVID-19 : les experts s’attendent à une recrudescence des cas cet automne à Ottawa
Public health experts warn that the higher levels of COVID-19 observed in Ottawa over the past month are expected to continue to rise throughout the fall.
Leave a commentTopic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau
‘The pandemic is not over’: Experts expect a surge in COVID cases this fall
Higher COVID-19 levels seen in Ottawa in the past month are expected to continue to rise through the fall, public health experts warn.
Comments closedTopic: wastewater monitoringView all posts for the topic: wastewater monitoring
A look inside Waterloo Region’s wastewater surveillance program
You may not have heard as much about the spread of COVID-19 lately, but the threat remains.
Wastewater testing continues in Waterloo Region and over the last several weeks, it’s been picking up increased signals of the virus.
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Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2023‑08‑30
COVID-19 wastewater viral signal
The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+732%) since a low on July 12, 2023. The viral signal is still lower than the extremely high peaks in early January and early April.
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Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2023-08-23
COVID-19 wastewater viral signal
The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa has increased substantially (+644%) since a low on July 12, 2023. The viral signal is still lower than the extremely high peaks in early January and early April.
Comments closedTopic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
B.C. wastewater showing increases in COVID-19 concentrations as new variant spreads
For the first time in months, weekly wastewater data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows increasing concentrations of COVID-19 at most monitored treatment plants around the province.
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What’s the future of wastewater testing for COVID‑19?
Wastewater surveillance became an important tool for detecting COVID-19 outbreaks in communities throughout the pandemic, and it continues to be used in search for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 as well as other pathogens.
But it’s unclear whether current levels of government funding to monitor wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 will continue beyond next year. Experts are calling on the federal government to create a standardized system for wastewater surveillance to bolster and replace the patchwork being used today.
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Wastewater sampling in Canada suggests COVID case rate 19 times higher than reported
At the peak of a SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant wave in Ontario, wastewater sampling conducted before the surge suggested that COVID-19 cases were 19 times higher than reported because of changes in clinical testing.
Continue readingWastewater sampling in Canada suggests COVID case rate 19 times higher than reported
Comments closed Topic: MontrealView all posts for the topic: Montreal
How McGill University is using wastewater testing to get a handle on COVID-19 outbreaks
Since September, the university has been testing wastewater coming from some student residences to get a better sense of the scale of the pandemic on campus and to help administrators adjust measures based on results.
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New research examines wastewater to detect community spread of Covid-19
A series of crucial setbacks in Covid-19 testing has made it difficult to keep up with the virus’ rapid spread, and has inspired some researchers to look to wastewater to help fill in the gap of measuring how prevalent SARS-CoV-2 is in a given community.
In a paper posted Tuesday to the preprint server medRxiv, researchers collected samples in late March from a wastewater treatment plant serving a large metropolitan area in Massachusetts and found that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 particles in the sewage samples indicated a far higher number of people likely infected with Covid-19 than the reported cases in that area.
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