Viral monitoring in Ottawa wastewater to continue despite provincial funding cut: Memo

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A program to monitor the circulation of viruses in the capital by looking at the city's wastewater will continue after concerns it could be cancelled when provincial funding runs out.

A memo from Board of Health chair Coun. Catherine Kitts sent to city councillors and the mayor on Wednesday says the University of Ottawa has secured funding to keep the program running for several more months.

Provincial funding runs out at the end of this month.

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"Local wastewater testing for infectious diseases has proven to be a valid, near real-time, and reliable method of unbiased public health surveillance and a leading indicator of community transmission, and is an important tool for local public health units, including Ottawa Public Health (OPH), and numerous local health partners," Kitts wrote.

"Information from wastewater surveillance has been useful in the ability to keep Ottawa residents informed and allows OPH and healthcare partners to implement early public health interventions, based on the level of community risk."

Kitts cited actions such as implementing additional infection, prevention and control measures; RSV prophylaxis for at-risk infants at CHEO; promoting vaccination to higher-risk populations; and encouraging residents to take appropriate preventative precautions when viral loads start to increase.

Monitoring of the wastewater became a pivotal tool during the COVID-19 pandemic to chart the level of circulation in the community, especially at times when testing was limited. It was later expanded to include monitoring of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The program began in April 2020 and is performed in the lab of Dr. Robert Delatolla, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa.

Kitts did not reveal the source of the funding the University of Ottawa had secured.

The province informed OPH earlier this year it would stop funding the provincial wastewater monitoring initiative because the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) would be expanding its own wastewater surveillance within Ontario.

"We await further details on the program implementation," Kitts said.

Ottawa's medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, has sent letters to Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, and to the Chief Science Officer and Chief Public Health Officer at PHAC seeking "to collaborate to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of high quality wastewater surveillance in Ottawa," according to the memo.

Data from the program can be found at https://613covid.ca/wastewater/