MU to use sewer lines to monitor COVID-19 on campus

The University of Missouri is using a different method this fall as students make a return to campus.

Rather than testing students with the traditional COVID-19 swab test, MU will be taking a much different approach, monitoring wastewater from residence halls for signs of the virus.

This method, the University believes, will work to isolate which residence hall has infection and will help to narrow in on those who are contagious.

The novel monitoring program is an outgrowth of a project that has been checking samples from 71 wastewater systems, large and small, from around the state, reports The Examiner.

After just a month, the program has served as an early warning system, showing where the coronavirus is circulating in a population.

A sample will be taken from the common sewage outfall from each cluster where students are grouped, said Johnson.

A portion from each sample will be pooled into a single lab run where the RNA proteins are separated and checked for evidence of the virus. If the pooled sample is positive, the individual samples will be tested.

Testing of wastewater is being conducted in a cooperative effort with the Department of Natural Resources, which has the infrastructure for collecting the samples.

The Department of Health and Senior Services is part of this effort by looking for ways to identify where the virus is spreading.

The operation is being funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant through the state health department.