'Incredibly disappointing': Ontario halts wastewater testing for COVID, other viruses
CTV
Ontario is officially ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program today in a move some public health experts call shortsighted.
Ontario is officially ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program today in a move some public health experts call shortsighted.
Dr. Fahad Razak, the former scientific director of the COVID-19 Ontario Science Table, says the province's decision is "incredibly disappointing."
Razak says wastewater testing gives an early indication of when COVID-19 and other viruses are on the rise.
Razak says the wastewater surveillance in dozens of communities across Ontario is useful not only for detecting COVID, but for monitoring potential threats, including the possible arrival of H5N1 avian flu.
Ontario's environment ministry says it is "winding down" its program as the Public Health Agency of Canada expands its wastewater surveillance sites in the province.
But a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada says it only plans to test in four Ontario cities in addition to its four existing sites in Toronto, which won't duplicate the provincial program.
"The scope of the expansion would not replace the current scope of the Ontario program," Anna Maddison said in an email Tuesday evening.
