UVA researchers and facilities workers test wastewater to track spread of COVID-19
Facilities management workers place waste water testing technology in a manhole. (Source: wvir)
By Elizabeth Holmes | December 13, 2020 at 2:03 PM EST - Updated December 13 at 3:54 PM
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Researchers and facilities managers from the University of Virginia are teaming up with Charlottesville and Albemarle County to help track and hopefully prevent the spread of COVID-19 by extracting wastewater samples from manholes across the area.
“If someone is symptomatic, they often will be diagnosed and they will be confined, so they are not contributing to the transmission to the disease because they are confined, while the a-symptomatic cases are still continuing to the spread,” said Heman Shakeri, an associate professor at UVA’s School of Data Science. “We want to have a good representation of people who are still shedding the virus, and the sewage data is good at providing that for us.”