Virus Coming-in on International Flights Says Captain Obvious

 

I've been a fan of wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2. I have blogged about it, and have included figures in the weekly summary for some time now.

To review, the virus shows up in wastewater because when people are infected they shed virus in their feces, so it's present in wastewater systems and samples from those systems can be used to estimate population level spread. It's a great public health method because it's 100% anonymous and can cover large groups of people without needing them to do anything except what comes naturally.

The CDC recently decided to try the technique to see if they could detect virus incoming on international flights. They tested 80 international flights incoming to JFK International Airport in New York.

Guess what? They were able to detect virus in 81% of the samples! It worked!

Well, we know we can detect virus in wastewater and planes contain wastewater. Why did we need this study to prove we can detect virus in airplane wastewater? Moreover why did it require a research team of ten co-authors?! I'm tempted to nominate it for the ig nobel prize. 

Maybe the goals were more applied, like finding out how long it takes, what cooperation is required from airlines, etc. In that context it makes more sense, though still not with ten co-authors.

These measures that they tested are important because individual testing is fading, and we might need to screen for new viruses in the future. The researchers pointed out limitations, like connecting flights fouling up tracking the origins of the passengers. 

Another limitation is that people have to be in the air long enough that they poop. I have never pooped in an airliner toilet, and will die happy if it stays that way. They would never catch an infection of mine this way.

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