RAPID: Environmental Reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2

在新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行期间，一些重要的问题仍未得到解答：导致这种疾病的病毒是否就潜伏在你当地银行的键盘上？亚马逊的包裹呢虽然有很多猜测，但我们真的不知道这些非常基本的问题的答案，这些问题是关于病毒如何以及在人类以外的地方生活的。这项研究的目的是确定人类经常接触但没有常规消毒的表面是否对COVID-19的传播很重要。这些表面将被检测是否存在病毒。研究结果将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COVID-19很重要。这项研究不仅对社会应对COVID-19非常重要，而且对计划未来由其他病毒引起的大流行也很重要。该项目还将帮助培养下一代研究生态学和疾病传播的科学家。该项目将从美国圣地亚哥周围的数百个地点收集数千个表面拭子样本。将使用逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）对样本进行SARS-CoV-19筛查。这些数据将用于校准，拟合和验证描述SARS-CoV-2从环境水库传播的动态模型。从这些模型中，SARS-CoV-2流行病的重要特征，包括人类感染环境水库的风险和环境水库对病毒基本繁殖数（R 0）的贡献，将被估计。拭子样本还将通过生活在相同表面上的其他病毒和微生物的元转录组学进行表征。这将是有价值的了解这些微环境的社区生态，并作为未来研究的基线。这些知识产品将共同对控制COVID-19产生实际影响，帮助确定是否应该在消毒这些表面或控制其他水库中的病毒方面投入更多精力。该RAPID奖由环境生物学部人口和社区生态计划颁发，使用冠状病毒援助，救济，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.