Zymo Research has launched its Environ™ COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Service. This service facilitates daily community-wide monitoring of COVID-19 cases and variants from a single wastewater sample. A secure digital report provides daily case estimates and detected SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.
The Environ™ COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Service uses daily wastewater samples to provide institutions with the means to monitor COVID-19 variants and case levels. Participants will be provided with sample collection devices, enabling daily wastewater sample submission, and materials for secure, pre-paid overnight shipping. Within 24 hours of each sample submission, users will receive an electronic report containing their trend and case estimate analysis. The data pertaining to SARS-CoV-2 variants will be processed weekly. Case estimates are provided as well as daily concentration trends and the detection of variant strains of concern, relating to those found in Brazil, the UK, and South Africa. A Zymo Research Environ™ wastewater scientist guides every step of the process, from sample collection to interpretation of results.
Zymo Research’s Project Manager, Environmental Microbiomics, Michael Lisek said: “COVID-19 variants pose a significant risk to vaccination strategies making fast, reliable SARS-CoV-2 variant surveillance at scale more critical than ever before. We are grateful for the opportunity to help universities, public health agencies, and communities with limited testing resources monitor COVID-19 cases and variants at scale in a way that has not been possible before.”
Institutions of higher education, schools with on-campus housing, nursing homes, correctional facilities and hospitals are ideal candidates for wastewater testing due to the need for focused monitoring of populations at higher risk for COVID-19. By sampling in wastewater from group-living situations, organizations can quickly identify COVID-19 outbreaks up to a week before symptomatic cases appear with the Environ™ COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Service. The data from the service may be used to guide health strategies for public and private institutions.
