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.
Keywords: COVID-19; Omicron variant; SARS-CoV-2; communities; coronavirus disease; pathogens; public health; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; surveillance; variants of concern; viruses; wastewater; zoonoses.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, viruses, respiratory infections, public health, SARS-CoV-2, variants of concern, wastewater, Surveillance, Omicron variant, Pathogens, communities, zoonoses., 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, respiratory infections, zoonoses, public health, coronavirus, variant, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, omicron, delta variant, variants, COVID-19 disease, Spread, wastewater, SARS-CoV-2 variants, International, Early detection, Community, Omicron variant, Pathogens, Canada, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, proportions, offer, Calgary, Edmonton, Resort town, proportion, diagnosed, exhibited, 【제목키워드】 emergence, monitoring,