‘Absolutely brutal’: Ontario to end COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program

A crucial program during the COVID-19 pandemic is ending as Ontario will scrap the wastewater surveillance program later next month.

It’s expected to be officially terminated on July 31.

Federal wastewater testing is expected to expand into the province in its place, but the move isn’t sitting well with Ontario doctors and researchers, many of them taking to social media, including Peterborough’s chief medical officer of health, who says he’s disappointed by the move to end the funding for the program.

“This has been critical information not only for COVID-19 but other infectious disease threats (Influenza, RSV, MPox, Polio & now H5N1) in Ontario,” wrote Dr. Thomas Piggott on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The science [and] infrastructure is critical on an ongoing basis, including for communication to the community on COVID-19 risk (e.g. our COVID-19 and Other Respiratory Disease Index,) but also we have learned this is needed for detecting emerging risks.

“The program costs are a small fraction of what individual-level testing for infectious disease are ($$$), and we’ve learned are a really efficient and helpful way to monitor community transmission of COVID-19 and other pathogens,” Dr. Piggott added.

The wastewater surveillance system, the largest of its kind in the country, helped track not only COVID-19 levels but also other infectious disease threats, including RSV, flu, and m-pox.

Ontario Green Party calls on province to keep wastewater surveillance in tact

The COVID-19 wastewater surveillance in Ontario report was based on the original work of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, which dissolved in September 2022.

“This is absolutely brutal,” wrote Eric Kennedy, Associate Professor of Emergency Management at York University. “Wastewater surveillance is critical for understanding the prevalence of different viruses, especially with how unreliable other forms of testing are for understanding population-level prevalence.”

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner issued a statement on Wednesday, calling the wastewater surveillance program “a vital tool” for tracking infectious disease threats in Ontario.

“Not only [COVID-19] but also influenza, RSV, polio and others,” Schreiner said. “We need this kind of detailed information to detect emerging threats, monitor community spread and make informed policy and public health decisions.”

Wastewater surveillance isn’t limited to infectious diseases; it can also monitor drug use trends, identify pollutants, assess the effectiveness of public health interventions, and track the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

“Given the scope of Ontario’s wastewater testing program, the expansion of federal testing into the province is insufficient to maintain the standard we have established,” Schreiner added.

“I join the many doctors and medical experts calling on the government to preserve funding for the wastewater testing program so that we can continue to benefit from the many insights it offers.”