SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater Settled Solids Is Associated with COVID-19 Cases in a Large Urban Sewershed

Graham, Katherine E.; Loeb, Stephanie K.; Wolfe, Marlene K.; Catoe, David; Sinnott-Armstrong, Nasa; Kim, Sooyeol; Yamahara, Kevan M.; Sassoubre, Lauren M.; Mendoza Grijalva, Lorelay M.; Roldan-Hernandez, Laura; Langenfeld, Kathryn; Wigginton, Krista R.; Boehm, Alexandria B.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c06191

SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater Settled Solids Is Associated with COVID-19 Cases in a Large Urban Sewershed

Journal Article · Mon Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c06191· OSTI ID:1768252

Graham, Katherine E. ^[1]; Loeb, Stephanie K. ^[1]; Wolfe, Marlene K. ^[1]; Catoe, David ^[2]; Sinnott-Armstrong, Nasa ^[1]; Kim, Sooyeol ^[1]; Yamahara, Kevan M. ^[3]; ^[4]; Mendoza Grijalva, Lorelay M. ^[1]; ^[1]; Langenfeld, Kathryn ^[5]; ^[5]; ^[1]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States)
Univ. of San Francisco, CA (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Wastewater-based epidemiology may be useful for informing public health response to viral diseases like COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. Here, we quantified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater influent and primary settled solids in two wastewater treatment plants to inform the preanalytical and analytical approaches and to assess whether influent or solids harbored more viral targets. The primary settled solids samples resulted in higher SARS-CoV-2 detection frequencies than the corresponding influent samples. Likewise, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was more readily detected in solids using one-step digital droplet (dd)RT-PCR than with two-step RT-QPCR and two-step ddRT-PCR, likely owing to reduced inhibition with the one-step ddRT-PCR assay. We subsequently analyzed a longitudinal time series of 89 settled solids samples from a single plant for SARS-CoV-2 RNA as well as coronavirus recovery (bovine coronavirus) and fecal strength (pepper mild mottle virus) controls. SARS-CoV-2 RNA targets N1 and N2 concentrations correlated positively and significantly with COVID-19 clinically confirmed case counts in the sewershed. Together, the results demonstrate that measuring SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in settled solids may be a more sensitive approach than measuring SARS-CoV-2 in influent.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1768252

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 55; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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