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PDH Live Webinar: COVID in Wastewater
June 3, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
PDH Live Webinar: COVID in Wastewater
Date: June 3, 2021
Time: 12:00PM – 1:00PM
PDH Credit: 1.0
Member Price: Free
Non-member Price: $15
A webinar link will be emailed, the morning of the webinar, to those who sign up. Directions on how to obtain your PDH certificate will be emailed directly after the presentation’s conclusion. Registration will close on Monday, May 31, 2021 at 8PM.
PDH Webinar Summary
COVID-19 virus transmission occurs from symptomatic and asymptomatic people. This transmission occurs “silently” in about 50% of cases, allowing the virus to spread rapidly. Monitoring the wastewater collection system can help a community understand where the virus is present at a low per-capita cost, and with the local Health Department’s involvement can reduce the number of case with non-pharmacological interventions. This technique can also be applied to facilities.
Wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 along with human health data can be used to assess the spread of the virus within a community and inform health decision makers of localized outbreaks of COVID-19. This knowledge on increasing community transmission is gained up to 7 days (or more) in advance of what can be seen with human testing. Early detection of transmission allows officials to take precautionary safety measures that can prevent future spread while maintaining a layer of anonymity for residents. When transmission decreases, monitoring wastewater confirms the decline in the presence of COVID-19 cases. Even with progress toward vaccinating our entire population, there are and will be people who cannot or do not get vaccinated. These individuals can continue to spread the virus until herd immunity is reached, particularly with more contagious variants in New York State.
The presentation will cover the basics of wastewater epidemiology, as well as results from several studies and active projects. This will include an overview of the NYS Pilot results in one municipality, and show the power of this tool in a community setting when an outbreak occurs.
Please contact Bill Finch (wfinch@bartonandloguidice.com) with any questions.