While the state has limited ability to test residents for the new, highly contagious variant of Covid-19, the city of Burlington announced Friday that the mutated virus can be detected in wastewater.
Mayor Miro Weinberger told reporters that septage testing is an advanced warning system for the city, which has been grappling with a post-holiday hike in virus cases.
The city sewer department had already been sending samples of local wastewater to a lab to test for the presence of viral RNA, which gives officials an idea of just how much virus is circulating locally. Now, the lab can also test for viral RNA that matches the B.1.1.7 strain.
The results for Burlington’s first sample, which came back on Friday, registered as a “non-detect.”
“I think part of the value of the wastewater monitoring system is that it should serve, ideally, as an early warning system in general, and that same principle applies here with a new variant,” said Brian Lowe, Burlington’s chief innovation officer.
Lowe underscored that the “non-detect” result doesn’t definitively mean that the new strain is not present in Burlington; however, it does say that, even if it is, it’s in extremely small quantities.
Now, states check for the presence of the new variant by sending a small number of randomly selected positive coronavirus tests to the Centers for Disease Control for full genome sequencing.
But local officials worry that Vermont’s small number of samples — just 20 at a time every two weeks — is too small to detect the new strain. Officials say Vermonters should act as if the variant of Covid-19 is already in their communities.
So far, the closest confirmed case of the B.1.1.7 strain was in Saratoga Springs, New York, about an hour’s drive from Vermont. The CDC counts 76 active cases of the strain across 12 states, including four in New York and two in Connecticut.
The proximity of those cases and the lack of bans on travel, either into the country or into the state, is why Dr. Mark Levine, the state health commissioner, said last week that the B.1.1.7 strain “has probably been here longer than people realize.” The CDC announced on Friday that the strain could be the “predominant variant” in the United States by March.
Cases of Covid-19 are steadily increasing in Chittenden County, and the 197 current cases in Burlington are an all-time high. Levine referred last week to a “post-holiday spike in cases,” and Weinberger explained the growth similarly.
“We know that the [B.1.1.7 strain] has been detected near here, and there is not completely definitive testing,” Weignberger said. “But I think it is reassuring that it’s unlikely that the recent case growth we’ve seen in the area is being really driven by that.”
In what should aid Burlington’s efforts against the virus, the city’s program to distribute high-efficiency particulate air — HEPA — filters to high-traffic businesses is off to a strong start.
The city had received 50 HEPA filter applications as of Friday morning, said Kara Alnasrawi, Burlington’s business support director, and the program should be fully subscribed by Monday — when the current application period closes.
“I can only say that we’re really pleased with the initial response for this, and at keeping all of our public spaces … where commerce is happening, as treated and clean as possible,” Alnasrawi said.
The city received so many applications that an additional $15,000 in emergency funds, in addition to the $25,000 already announced, will be used to buy HEPA filters. Alnasrawi said she hopes the first filters will be delivered early next week, with more arriving through the week.
As Vermont navigates a difficult post-holiday period with regard to Covid-19, Chittenden County faces an extra threat, as both Champlain College and the University of Vermont plan to have in-person instruction as an option in February. Though students arriving from higher-risk out-of-state areas will be required to quarantine, the influx of travelers poses a risk at a time when cases are much more prevalent than they were last fall.
“There may be a need to take steps that go beyond … the very robust steps that took place last fall,” Weinberger said. “I have heard from both of the presidents [at Champlain and UVM] that that’s the way they’re thinking about this; they do want to proceed.
“I also think we need to, because we are in different circumstances, be watching very carefully.”
