To catch a virus: City of Oak Ridge tracking COVID-19 in wastewater

Sep 8, 2020

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/to-catch-a-virus-city-of-oak-ridge-tracking-covid-19-in-wastewater/51-3774f914-413a-4935-8e7d-0b2676383a9a

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The city of Oak Ridge has begun tracking COVID-19 in its wastewater, part of a strategy to know where and at what volume the highly contagious virus is circulating.

The city started the effort this summer, City Manager Dr. Mark Watson said. Watson said he and Public Works Director Shira McWaters wanted to find a way the city could do its own tracking of the presence of the virus.

A growing number of governments and agencies in the United States are experimenting with identifying the virus's genetic markers in their wastewater.

University of Tennessee Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman said Aug. 29 administrators planned to start such "surveillance testing" in early September. UT scientists at the Center for Environmental Biotechnology will do the work.