SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater are higher than expected from clinically confirmed cases

Abstract

XQ(2); Lee WL(2); Kauffman K (3); Hanage WP(4); Matus M (5); Ghaeli N(5); Endo N(5); Duvallet C(5); Moniz K(1); Erickson TB(6); Chai PR (6); Thompson J(7); Alm EJ (1,2,5) Abstract. Wastewater surveillance may represent a complementary approach to measure the presence and even prevalence of infectious diseases when the capacity for clinical testing is limited. Moreover, aggregate, population-wide data can help inform modeling efforts. We tested wastewater collected at a major urban treatment facility in Massachusetts and found the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at high titers in the period from March 18 -25 using RT-qPCR. We then confirmed the identity of the PCR product by direct DNA sequencing. Viral titers observed were significantly higher than expected based on clinically confirmed cases in Massachusetts as of March 25. The reason for the discrepancy is not yet clear, and until further experiments are complete, these data do not necessarily indicate that clinical estimates are incorrect. Our approach is scalable and may be useful in modeling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and future outbreaks.

The most eagerly awaited summer of the Anthropocene: A perspective of SARS-CoV-2 decay and seasonal change

“…Still we can remain optimistic about the endurance declination of COVID-19, as human immunity increases in the summer owing to favourable seasonal variation in the genetic activities, blood composition and adipose tissue (van der Hoek et al, 2004;University of Cambridge, 2015;Castro Dopico et al, 2015;Donnelly, 2015). Nevertheless, factors like carrier prevalence, treatment efficacy of wastewater burden (virus source), and level of spread, will remain critical variables Wu et al, 2020;Sims and Kasprzyk-Hordern, 2020). Overall, at this juncture, we just intend to point out that in this crisis we should not lose faith on scientific facts and principles logics which strongly suggests COVID will not endure high temperature and humidity of the (Indian/Tropical) summer.…”

Using random testing in a feedback-control loop to manage a safe exit from the COVID-19 lockdown

“…Nevertheless, over a short period of time where such conditions remain constant, and the fraction of immune people does not change significantly, we can assume the effective growth rate k(t) to be piecewise constant in time. 8 We will exploit this below.…”

“…Such a stable state needs to be reached before a reboot of the economy can be considered. At t = 0 8 Replacing the function k(t), assumed to be differentiable, by a piecewise constant function is a good approximation provided…”

“…A feedback and control approach [6], familiar from everyday implementations such as thermostats regulating heaters and air conditioners, should allow policy makers to damp out oscillations in disease incidence which could lead to peaks in stress on the healthcare system as well as the wider economy. Any other measurement of the fraction of currently infected people can replace the random testing, for example there are proposals to estimate this fraction from analysis of sewage water with PCR tests [7,8].…”

<strong>Foodborne Transmission of Sars-Cov-2 Is More Evident Than It Has Been Before</strong>

“…Furthermore, infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus was isolated recently from the feces of a COVID-19 patient in China, which indicates the potential for fecal-oral route of transmission (Xiao et al, 2020). To date, no data are available on the survival of SARS-CoV-2 in human excrements.…”