Modelling SARS-CoV-2 movement through a city via municipal sewage networks: Kamloops, British Columbia COVID-19 reemergence warning system pilot project

由于地方、地区和国家政府在缺乏疫苗或广泛的群体免疫力的情况下，正在努力计划放松与SARS-CoV-2大流行有关的物理距离限制，因此在全人口水平上进行病毒监测的工具至关重要。这些工具包括检测个人的病毒感染，免疫学检测以检测先前的病毒暴露，以及接触者追踪。该项目是在国际社会努力监测社区污水收集和处理系统中病毒遗传物质水平的基础上开展的。汤普森里弗斯大学、坎卢普斯市、城市系统公司、里贾纳大学、不列颠哥伦比亚省环境与气候变化战略部在不列颠哥伦比亚省卫生部的指导下，将使用污水收集网络的样本测量坎卢普斯市和坎卢普斯目标亚群的SARS-CoV-2遗传物质的基线人口规模水平。这些信息将与当地卫生当局收集的病毒爆发数据相结合，以便在疫苗广泛可用之前，持续监测污水中的病毒水平可用作病毒重新出现的早期指标。重要的是，在这里获得的方法、数据集、最佳做法和经验将与加拿大各地的社区以及在这一领域工作的日益扩大的国际研究人员网络广泛分享。这项工作还将借鉴日本、瑞典和意大利等国针对脊髓灰质炎、诺如病毒和甲型肝炎所做的类似努力。

As local, regional and national governments grapple with planning for loosening physical distancing restrictions relating to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the absence of a vaccine or widespread herd immunity, tools for viral monitoring at a population-wide level are essential. These tools include testing individuals for viral infection, immunological testing to detect prior viral exposure, and contact tracing. This project builds on international efforts to monitor levels of viral genetic material in community sewage collection and treatment systems. This collaboration between Thompson Rivers University, the City of Kamloops, Urban Systems Inc., the University of Regina, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy, with direction from the British Columbia Ministry of Health, will measure baseline population-scale levels of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material for the city of Kamloops, and targeted sub-populations in Kamloops using samples from the sewage collection network. This information will be put in context of viral outbreak data collected by local health authorities, such that continual monitoring of viral levels in sewage can be used as an early indicator of viral reemergence until such a time as a vaccine is widely available. Importantly, methodologies, datasets, best practices and experiences gained here will be widely shared with communities across Canada, and with the growing network of international researchers working in this area. This work will also be informed by similar efforts that have been described for polio, norovirus and hepatitis A in countries such as Japan, Sweden and Italy.