Researchers hunt for coronavirus in Tiburon Peninsula sewage

Tiburon-based Sanitary District No. 5 of Marin has joined an innovative experiment that uses a fast, inexpensive technique to identify potential coronavirus hotspots by testing local wastewater. San 5, which serves Belvedere and southern Tiburon, is one of 11 wastewater treatment facilities throughout Marin and the Bay Area working with the University of California at Berkeley pop-up lab to monitor the region’s wastewater for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “People infected with SARS-CoV-2 tend to shed the virus before they show symptoms and get tested — or even if they never show symptoms — so the wastewater data can help identify hot spots of cases and provide an early warning for outbreaks,” says Sasha Harris-Lovett, a post-doctoral fellow with the university’s Berkeley Water Center. (via Tony Rubio, San 5)

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