RAPID: Environmental Reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2

在新冠肺炎大流行的过程中，一些重要的问题仍然没有得到解答：导致这种疾病的病毒是潜伏在你们当地银行的键盘上的吗？亚马逊寄来的包裹怎么样？虽然有很多猜测，但我们真的不知道这些非常基本的问题的答案，这些问题是病毒如何以及在人类以外的地方生存的。这项研究的目的是确定人类经常接触但不经常消毒的表面是否对新冠肺炎的传播很重要。这些表面将被测试病毒的存在。结果将被用于开发新的数学模型，以确定经常接触的表面是否对传播新冠肺炎很重要。这项研究不仅对社会对新冠肺炎的反应很重要，而且对计划未来由其他病毒引起的大流行也很重要。该项目还将帮助培训研究疾病生态学和传播的下一代科学家。该项目将从美国圣地亚哥周围数百个地点收集数千个表面拭子样本。这些样本将使用逆转录聚合酶链式反应(RT-PCR)进行SARS-CoV-19的筛查。这些数据将被用来校准、拟合和验证描述SARS-CoV-2从环境水库传播的动力学模型。根据这些模型，将估计SARS-CoV-2疫情的重要特征，包括人类从环境水库感染的风险以及环境水库对病毒基本繁殖数(R0)的贡献。拭子样本还将对生活在同一表面的其他病毒和微生物进行变转录组学鉴定。这将对了解这些微环境的群落生态有价值，并为未来的研究提供基线。这些知识产品加在一起，将对控制新冠肺炎产生实际影响，帮助确定是应该在这些表面消毒还是在其他水库控制病毒。这一快速奖项由环境生物学部门人口与社区生态计划颁发，资金来自冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全法案(CARE)。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the midst of the CoVID-19 pandemic, important questions remain unanswered: Is the virus that causes the disease, lurking on that keypad at your local bank? What about that package from Amazon? While there is much speculation, we really do not know the answers to these very basic questions about how and where the virus lives outside of humans. The goal of this research is to determine if surfaces commonly touched by humans, but not routinely disinfected, are important for the spread of CoVID-19. Such surfaces will be tested for the presence of the virus. Results will be used to develop new mathematical models to determine if commonly touched surfaces are important for spreading CoVID-19. This research is important not only for society's response to CoVID-19 but also to plan for future pandemics caused by other viruses. The project will also help train the next generation of scientists who study the ecology and spread of disease. This project will collect thousands of surface swab samples from hundreds of sites around San Diego, USA. The samples will be screened for SARS-CoV-19 using the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reactions (RT-PCR). These data will be used to calibrate, fit and validate dynamical models that describe SARS-CoV-2 transmission from the environmental reservoirs. From these models, important characters of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, including risk of human infections from environmental reservoirs and contribution of environmental reservoirs to the basic reproduction number (R0) of the virus, will be estimated. The swab samples will also be characterized by metatranscriptomics for other viruses and microbes living on the same surfaces. This will be valuable for understanding the community ecology of these micro-environments and serve as a baseline for future studies. Together these intellectual products will have practical impact on controlling CoVID-19 by helping determine whether more effort should be put on disinfecting these surfaces or controlling the virus in other reservoirs.This RAPID award is made by the Population and Community Ecology Program in the Division of Environmental Biology, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.