'Thinking beyond just COVID': BCCDC lab hopes to expand wastewater testing to entire province

Now that B.C. health officials have dramatically limited who can be tested for COVID-19, wastewater surveillance has become the most important indicator of how many people are infected with the virus.

Researchers who test for COVID-19 in wastewater in Metro Vancouver are hoping to expand the project to all of British Columbia.

Natalie Prystajecky, a microbiologist at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s public health laboratory, says wastewater testing has become increasingly important as the pandemic stretches beyond its second year.

"It has transcended from being a research project to a product that people depend on heavily," she told CTV News on Wednesday.

The BCCDC currently monitors five wastewater sites in Metro Vancouver for the presence of COVID-19, which accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the province's population.

The testing started before the pandemic began, so researchers have been able to watch for COVID-19 in wastewater since early 2020.

Prystajecky says this has given researchers strong evidence that wastewater data correlates with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in laboratory settings.

"The wastewater data wasn't predictive, it was actually lagging on average by a couple of days. But they correlated extremely well," she said.

"So we know now that when the testing is different, we can rely on that wastewater data."

Prystajecky points to this past December, when the Omicron variant of COVID-19 swept across the province. The variant swamped testing facilities, prompting health officials to change the province's PCR testing guidelines to only accept specific workers and those who are extremely vulnerable.

When this happened, Prystajecky said wastewater data became a vital source of information for policy makers.

"The interest in wastewater data certainly surged during the Omicron wave," she said.

EYES TOWARDS EXPANSION

The BCCDC's wastewater monitoring project began as a research initiative before the pandemic began.

Now that the monitoring has received wider attention, Prystajecky hopes the project can expand to all five health authorities in the province.

"We recognize that COVID-19 does not impact all parts of B.C. equally (and) at the same time, and that's why we'd like to see it expanded," she said.

The project is entirely research funded, with some funding coming from Metro Vancouver, which is why the research is limited to the area.

Prystajecky says her lab is looking for provincial funding to have the project in place permanently across all health authorities.

"Expanding from a small research project to a routine service takes time," said Prystajecky, adding that the BCCDC was still in its planning stages.

"Ideally, I would like to see it in the upcoming months."

Prystajecky says researchers can also scan for other types of illnesses, such as norovirus and salmonella, as well as for illicit drug use, which is what wastewater monitoring in Canada was initially designed for.

"For example, you can see if fentanyl use goes up," she said.

"We are thinking beyond just COVID-19," she added. "Wastewater testing could provide a huge benefit to surveillance in general."