Timiskaming Health Unit conducting wastewater tests to check COVID-19 levels

Tests are being done onsewage in Kirkland Lake and Haileybury.

It's part of the wastewater surveillance program underway by the Timiskaming Health Unit, to detect the presence of COVID-19 and any variants of concern.Other municipalities in Ontario are conducting similar programs.

"People who have COVID-19 will have COVID-19 gene fragments in their stool, even before they develop symptoms and even if they're asymptomatic," said Celine Butler, an epidemiologist with the Timiskaming Health Unit.

"We can test for those gene fragments to get an idea of how much COVID-19 there is in the community."

Results come in 2-3 days before the positive cases of the virus are confirmed.

Butler says the results from the wastewater testing provide public health officials with an early warning of an increase or decrease in local COVID-19 cases.

"If we saw an increase in case levels, we'd always use other data along with it," she said. "But we could make the community aware and encourage everybody to get tested, if they have symptoms or take other health measures."

COVID-19 case levels are low in the Timiskaming district, but Butler says they're not out of the woods just yet.

"It would show us an early warning if something were happening. There's also a lot of concern about the delta variant, which is increasing."