Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 on College Campuses: Initial Efforts, Lessons Learned, and Research Needs

Abstract

Wastewater surveillance for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging approach to help identify the risk of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. This tool can contribute to public health surveillance at both community (wastewater treatment system) and institutional (e.g., colleges, prisons, and nursing homes) scales. This paper explores the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from initial wastewater surveillance efforts at colleges and university systems to inform future research, development and implementation. We present the experiences of 25 college and university systems in the United States that monitored campus wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 during the fall 2020 academic period. We describe the broad range of approaches, findings, resources, and impacts from these initial efforts. These institutions range in size, social and political geographies, and include both public and private institutions. Our analysis suggests that wastewater monitoring at colleges requires consideration of local information needs, sewage infrastructure, resources for sampling and analysis, college and community dynamics, approaches to interpretation and communication of results, and follow-up actions. Most colleges reported that a learning process of experimentation, evaluation, and adaptation was key to progress. This process requires ongoing collaboration among diverse stakeholders including decision-makers, researchers, faculty, facilities staff, students, and community members.

Rapid, Large-Scale Wastewater Surveillance and Automated Reporting System Enable Early Detection of Nearly 85% of COVID-19 Cases on a University Campus

“…In addition to the overarching social consequence for robust and rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks on college campuses, the university setting can also serve as an ideal test for collating and relating information about SARS-CoV-2 incidence and spread, which can facilitate similar studies across different scales and different types of communities. Over the last few months, around 210 universities nationally and globally have implemented wastewater surveillance as a part of their SARS-CoV-2 monitoring programs ( https://www.covid19wbec.org ) ( 8 – 10 ). However, most of these campuses monitor either a few buildings or on an infrequent scale, and none monitor on a daily basis.…”

Wastewater Surveillance during Mass COVID-19 Vaccination on a College Campus

“…Wastewater surveillance has been leveraged to manage COVID-19 at universities across the United States, 22 , 23 including the University of Notre Dame (ND). 24 Previously, SARS-CoV-2 RNA in campus wastewater was used to infer the RNA shedding distribution following infection. 25 More recently, the raw wastewater solids fraction collected from individual residence halls was used to monitor SARS-CoV-2 infections among building-level populations.…”

High-resolution within-sewer SARS-CoV-2 surveillance facilitates informed intervention

“…Monitoring the upstream sewer network and sampling at the building- or microsewershed-scale, however, enhances spatial resolution and enables more targeted surveillance and response efforts. A number of building-level campaigns have been implemented in response to COVID-19, particularly at colleges, but more experience and guidance are desired to inform their further implementation ( Harris-Lovett et al, 2021 ).…”