Colleges combating coronavirus turn to stinky savior: sewage

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Days after he crossed the country to start college, Ryan Schmutz received a text message from Utah State University: COVID-19 had been detected at his dorm.

Within 10 minutes, he dropped the crepes he was making and was whisked away by bus to a testing site.

“We didn’t even know they were testing,” said Schmutz, who is 18 and from Omaha, Nebraska. “It all really happened fast.”

Schmutz was one of about 300 students quarantined to their rooms last week, but not because of sickness reports or positive tests. Instead, the warning bells came from the sewage.

Colleges across the nation — from New Mexico to Tennessee, Michigan to New York — are turning tests of waste into a public health tool. The work comes as institutions hunt for ways to keep campuses open despite vulnerabilities like students' close living arrangements and drive to socialize. The virus has already left its mark with outbreaks that have forced changes to remote learning at colleges around the country.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/colleges-combating-coronavirus-turn-to-stinky-savior-sewage/ar-BB18L6fa?li=BBnb7Kz

[kimbutgar]

1. I read an article that last year in Barcelona Spain they started finding COVID 19 in the sewage

System. I’m glad science is being used to track the virus finally.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

2. Great technique to trace it to a general area!

I'm also relieved to learn that there's no evidence yet that it's infectious through sewage. That was another concerning aspect of plumbing work that was done inside my apartment a few weeks ago. After removing the toilet and jack-hammering through the foundation to reach underground pipes, the plumber also temporarily left a sewage pipe exposed.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html#:~:text=Recently%2C%20ribonucleic%20acid%20(,thought%20to%20be%20low.

Recently, ribonucleic acid (RNA) from the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in untreated wastewater. While data are limited, there is little evidence of infectious virus in wastewater, and no information to date that anyone has become sick with COVID-19 because of exposure to wastewater. At this time, the risk of transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 through properly designed and maintained sewerage systems is thought to be low.