SARASOTA (WSNN) – A Suncoast University is leading a new initiative to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Among the many steps, it’s taking to keep everyone on campus, safe, Ringling College is one of the first Florida universities to test dorm wastewater for COVID-19.
“It’s mainly associated with human feces,” VHB’s Southeast Region Environmental Service Leader, Gary Serviss said. “Of course, if it’s on your hands or if you blow your nose, it could end up in the wastewater that way, so there’s probably some minor sources, but it’s mainly in the human feces that comes out.”
The university is partnering with VHB, a civil engineering and design firm, to test wastewater from four major residence halls.
“We sample once an hour for 24-hours on a Sunday and pick the samples up on Monday morning,” Serviss said. “And then we put them on ice and ship them up to the lab who does the actual COVID analysis and reports.”
Once the samples are sent to the testing facility in Massachusetts, they receive results within a couple of days.
Ringling College’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, Tracy Wagner, Ph.D., says it’s an early detection mechanism.
“We felt this was an additional non-invasive step we could take to potentially identify the presence of the virus on campus before students might present any symptoms or if students were asymptomatic,” Wagner said.
Wagner says, so far, all tests have come back negative. And if there is a positive sample then everyone in that dorm will be tested.
“[It’s] to mitigate the risk of virus spread among our students, faculty, and staff,” Wagner said.
All in an effort to keep students and staff healthy.
