Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) provides an early warning and trend analysis
approach for determining the presence of COVID-19 in a community and complements
clinical testing in assessing the population level, even as viral loads fluctuate. Here,
we evaluate combinations of two wastewater concentration methods (i.e., ultrafiltration
and composite supernatant–solid), four pre-RNA extraction modifications, and
three nucleic acid extraction kits using two different wastewater sampling locations.
These consisted of a quarantine facility containing clinically confirmed
COVID-19-positive inhabitants and a university residence hall. Of the combinations
examined, composite supernatant–solid with pre-RNA extraction consisting of water
concentration and RNA/DNA shield performed the best in terms of speed and sensitivity.
Further, of the three nucleic acid extraction kits examined, the most variability was
associated with the Qiagen kit. Focusing on the quarantine facility, viral
concentrations measured in wastewater were generally significantly related to positive
clinical cases, with the relationship dependent on method, modification, kit, target,
and normalization, although results were variable-dependent on individual time points
(Kendall’s Tau-b (τ) = 0.17 to 0.6) or cumulatively (Kendall’s Tau-b
(τ) = −0.048 to 1). These observations can support laboratories
establishing protocols to perform wastewater surveillance and monitoring efforts for
COVID-19.
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