The City of Barrie, the City of Orillia, the Town of Collingwood and the Town of Midland have joined the province-wide Wastewater Surveillance Initiative for COVID-19. Starting the week of February 1, they will be providing samples from their Wastewater Treatment Facilities that will be analyzed to measure the amount of COVID-19 present.
Tracking the number of people who test positive for COVID-19 is one way to look at the overall level of COVID-19 activity in a community; however, not everyone with COVID-19 has symptoms or is tested, and waiting for test results takes time.
Studies have shown that a significant proportion of people with active COVID-19 infections shed the virus in their stool, sometimes even before symptoms start. Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facilities collect and treat wastewater from across their communities, which allows for centralized measuring of the level of the COVID-19 genetic material (known as RNA) present in the wastewater. Testing wastewater captures both asymptomatic and symptomatic people, is comprehensive, anonymous, and positive detections are not attributable to an individual. This data is another tool that can help shed light on whether the infection rate in Barrie is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same.
The samples will be analyzed by Ontario Tech University. As part of this initiative, and with support from the province, samples from the City of Barrie Wastewater Treatment Facility and from the collection system near Roberta Place will also be provided to the University of Ottawa to help with their research into the new UK variant of the virus.
This initiative poses no risk to the public or municipal workers. Wastewater systems are closed off from the public and there is currently no epidemiological evidence that wastewater is a route of transmission of COVID-19. Wastewater workers will continue to follow routine practices to prevent exposure to wastewater.