Can biofilm facilitate COVID-19 virus survival and persistence in sewer system?

新冠肺炎病毒对我们的社会来说是新的。关于这一点，我们还有很多需要了解的。我们与新冠肺炎疫情的斗争是多方面的。这不仅需要医生和医学研究人员开发拯救生命的疫苗和药物，还需要工程师和公共卫生研究人员确保城市基础设施的安全，防止新冠肺炎在社区传播。自2020年3月以来，城市基础设施的一个重要领域-废水和污水收集系统-在我们与新冠肺炎的斗争中被提升为国家重要性，现在已经成为一种全球现象。 首先从检测新冠肺炎患者粪便中的新冠肺炎病毒核糖核酸开始。随后，荷兰、澳大利亚、美国和加拿大的研究人员开始使用废水中的RNA数据来构建更完整的病毒在城市和社区传播的图景，包括医院和老年护理设施等热点地区。这被称为基于废水的流行病学。土耳其和中国最近的报告显示，新冠肺炎患者的分泌物(例如粪便和尿液)中含有活的传染性新冠肺炎病毒，这表明一些传染性颗粒可能会进入并持续存在于下水道收集系统中，到达污水处理厂。虽然目前的焦点都集中在废水上，但我们忽略了下水道系统的另一个重要组成部分--生物膜。现在是时候问一个问题了：生物膜能促进新冠肺炎病毒在下水道系统中的存活和持续吗？这不仅是当地的一个重要问题，而且是国家和国际的一个重要问题。 在艾伯塔省，我们召集了一支由来自学术界、工业界和政府的高素质研究人员组成的团队，利用最先进的技术和综合的专业知识来解决这个问题。这项拟议研究的预期结果将提供关键的和缺失的数据，以便向艾伯塔省政府和公用事业公司通报保护热点附近的废水/下水道工人和社区居民的适当措施。研究成果也将在国内和国际上具有重要意义。

COVID-19 virus is new to our society. We have still a lot to learn about it. Our fight with COVID-19 pandemic is multifaceted. It requires not only doctors and medical researchers to develop vaccines and medicines saving lives, but also engineers and public health researchers to secure urban infrastructure preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the communities. Since March 2020, an important area of urban infrastructure - wastewater and sewage collection systems - has been elevated to national importance in our fight with COVID-19, and it has now become a worldwide phenomenon. It started with the detection of COVID-19 virus RNA in COVID-19 patient's feces. Then, researchers in the Netherlands, Australia, United States, and Canada started to use the RNA data in wastewater to construct a more complete picture on the spread of the virus in cities and communities, including hotspots such as hospitals and senior care facilities. It is called wastewater-based epidemiology. Recent reports from Turkey and China have shown that COVID-19 patient's secretions (e.g. feces and urine) contain viable infective COVID-19 virus, suggesting some infectious particles may potentially enter and persist in sewer collection system and reach wastewater treatment plant. While the current focus is all on wastewater, we have missed the other important component of the sewer system - biofilm. It is time to ask the question, "Can biofilm facilitate the survival and persistence of COVID-19 virus in sewer system?" This is an important question not only locally, but also nationally and internationally. In Alberta, we have assembled a team of high caliber researchers from academia, industry and government to tackle this problem, using the most advanced technologies and combined expertise. The expected outcomes of this proposed study will provide crucial and missing data to inform Alberta Government and the utility company regarding appropriate measures to protect wastewater/sewer workers in proximity to hotspots and residents in the communities. The research results will also have national and international importance.