COVID-19 variant increase ‘imminent’ in Saskatoon, says U of S researcher

Warnings about COVID-19 variants of concern rising in Saskatoon are now showing up in the lab.

A team at the University of Saskatchewan that tracks the virus in the city’s sewer system says the latest numbers are trending in the wrong direction.

From April 1 to April 5, an 86 per cent increase in the main COVID strain was observed in the city’s wastewater compared to the previous week.

“About 50 per cent of the viral signal that we see in the wastewater now comes from the U.K. variant of concern,” said Markus Brinkman, U of S assistant professor and toxicologist.

“If you express that as a percentage, it would be up 285 per cent. We are certainly in dire straits and need to be very careful that this doesn’t get out of hand.”

Most people start shedding the virus through their feces within 24 hours of being infected. This viral signal detected in wastewater helps provide population-level estimates of the rate of infection in a city.

New positive cases typically start showing up seven to 10 days after a sample is taken, meaning the cases are imminent, said Brinkman.

“We have seen increases in new cases in the last couple of days so I think that really supports it,” he said.

The Saskatoon region reported 74 new COVID cases in Thursday’s update from the Ministry of Health, up from 40 the day before.

The results of the wastewater study are now available online.

The data will be updated on the site every Monday.