2023-05-10 04:50:43
International flight wastewater inspection begins in earnest
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the first U.S. airport to do so, has officially launched a program that will take wastewater samples from international flights and test them for pathogens that might cause a pandemic. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) can be detected in the stool of infected people even if they do not have symptoms. CNN reported this on the 9th (local time), emphasizing that SFO is the first airport, suggesting that this measure is likely to spread to other airports in the United States.
SFO announced today that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partner Ginkgo Bioworks has installed an automated device that regularly collects wastewater samples from various international flights arriving at SFO. SFO Airport Director Ibar Satero also said that SFO has become the first airport to launch this pilot program with the CDC.
The CDC also issued the same press release on the same day, saying, “As seen in the Corona 19 pandemic, pathogens can spread rapidly around the world and affect travel and trade.” “We appreciate the SFO’s cooperation in helping to detect new strains of the new coronavirus or other pathogens that might cause a pandemic early through airplane wastewater testing,” said Dr. Cindy Friedman, director of the CDC’s Office of Traveler Health.
Aircraft wastewater testing involves collecting sewage from individual commercial airliners. “We manage this whole process of collecting wastewater from an airplane in less than two minutes and quickly sending it to a laboratory network,” said Matt McKnight, general manager of Ginkgo Bioworks, in January. He said monitoring for signs of coronavirus mutations in wastewater is no longer a pilot phase, but a validated scientific process.
When wastewater samples arrive at the lab, scientists analyze them for signs of a new strain of coronavirus. If a sample tests positive for the virus, scientists perform genetic sequencing (which usually takes six to seven days) to pinpoint which variant the virus is, and report the results to the CDC.
The US declaration of a public health emergency over COVID-19 is set to end on the 11th, but White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Assisi Jah said, “If you think regarding what data is really valuable today, wastewater monitoring is the best way to assess infection in a community.” He emphasized the importance of continuous wastewater testing.
“When we look at data to assess the status of infections every day, we look at wastewater data,” he said, as people are not testing as much due to easing testing requirements and increasing test fatigue, so the number of confirmed cases alone doesn’t paint a complete picture. The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center has been testing airplane wastewater samples to track the influx of new corona19 mutations in the United States, and these samples were collected from SFO’s wastewater treatment plant.
1683695852
#SFO #airport #test #wastewater #coronavirus
