Sudbury researcher disappointed Ontario ends COVID-19 wastewater surveillance

A researcher in Sudbury, Ont., says he's disappointed the province is ending its wastewater surveillance program to track COVID-19 and other viruses in municipal systems.

"I would be lying if I said that I don't feel sad to let the people go," said Gustavo Ybazeta, a researcher at the Health Sciences North Research Institute.

Ybazeta saidsix people work at the lab, testing local wastewater for COVID-19 and other viruses like influenza and even sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and chlamydia.

While they will continue to conduct research on ways to monitor for viruses in wastewater, losing the surveillance program means at least half of those scientists will lose their jobs, he says.

Ybazeta saidthere are a dozen labs across Ontario that face the same fate.

In a statement, an official said the province is cancelling the $15-million surveillance program to "avoid duplication" with a similar federal program.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), in collaboration with Statistics Canada, is currently testing water at four wastewater treatment plants in Toronto.

"Through this joint collaboration, work is underway to expand federal testing in Ontario as well as other provinces," spokesperson Anna Maddison said in an email to CBC News.

Maddison saidthe current plan is to expand the federal program to four more cities in Ontario. PHAC is working with Statistics Canada to determine where that testing will take place ahead of flu season.

"Testing wastewater can support public health decision-making in innovative ways," Maddison said.

"The detection of pathogens in wastewater can signal an outbreak and give public health authorities an early warning to the presence of infectious diseases circulating in a community."

Ybazeta saidthe provincial program helped build a world-class research and detection network.

"If something good has come for all the bad from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we broke silos," he said, referring to the collaborations between universities, hospitals and health units to detect the virus in wastewater.