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Tracking Emergence and Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Large and Small Communities by Wastewater Monitoring in Alberta, Canada.
- Source :
-
Emerging infectious diseases [Emerg Infect Dis] 2022 Sep; Vol. 28 (9), pp. 1770-1776. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jul 22. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 enables early detection and monitoring of the COVID-19 disease burden in communities and can track specific variants of concern. We determined proportions of the Omicron and Delta variants across 30 municipalities covering >75% of the province of Alberta (population 4.5 million), Canada, during November 2021-January 2022. Larger cities Calgary and Edmonton exhibited more rapid emergence of Omicron than did smaller and more remote municipalities. Notable exceptions were Banff, a small international resort town, and Fort McMurray, a medium-sized northern community that has many workers who fly in and out regularly. The integrated wastewater signal revealed that the Omicron variant represented close to 100% of SARS-CoV-2 burden by late December, before the peak in newly diagnosed clinical cases throughout Alberta in mid-January. These findings demonstrate that wastewater monitoring offers early and reliable population-level results for establishing the extent and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
- Subjects :
- Alberta epidemiology
Humans
Wastewater
COVID-19 epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2 genetics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1080-6059
- Volume :
- 28
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Emerging infectious diseases
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 35867051
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2809.220476