Coronavirus detected in lake water, researchers find. Experts say don't panic.
A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has found traces of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in lake water.
The virus was detected by a group led by Richard Melvin, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota Medical School, in mid-September. Melvin and his team have been sampling water from various beaches on Lake Superior since July 4 on a weekly basis as a partnership with Minnesota Sea Grant, an organization that works to enhance the state’s coastal environment. The team hadn’t found the virus during weekly tests, but, on Sept. 11, that changed.
The research team detected SARS-CoV-2 at 100 to 1,000 copies per liter, or 10,000 times lower than levels observed in wastewater. “I was surprised and not surprised,” Dr. Richard Melvin, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus, tells Yahoo Life. “We were testing a hypothesis that beachgoers would bring this on their bodies into the water, but when you see it on the machine, there’s this sinking feeling.”
The source — or sources — of the virus are unknown at this point, Melvin says, but the research team plans to continue to monitor the water, as well as work with local health experts to try to pinpoint the source of the virus in the water.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/covid19-detected-lake-water-dont-panic-191828650.html
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