The expert group that advises the Scottish government on coronavirus and education is looking at using wastewater monitoring as a means of providing an early warning of potential outbeaks in schools, as well as providing an additional layer of data on the distribution of the virus. 

The Scottish government’s advisory sub-group on education - which brings together education and public health experts - is planning a pilot study to explore if wastewater monitoring can be effective “as an early warning system at school level”.

Scientists at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) were among the first in Europe - according to the body’s website - to begin exploratory work to see if the prevalence of Covid-19‘s genetic footprint in wastewater samples mirrored cases in the general population.

It found that sampling results were consistent with information on cases in the community.

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In England, meanwhile, a purpose-built laboratory has been set up to test sewage for the coronavirus in a bid to understand where the virus is circulating and to get an early warning of future potential spikes in infection.

Sewage monitoring ‘could warn of spike in school Covid infections’

That the process of analysing wastewater is now being seen as a potential means of determining levels of Covid-19 in Scottish schools and nurseries is revealed in the minutes from a meeting of the government’s Covid 19: Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues.

The minutes of the group’s 6 April meeting - published yesterday on the Scottish government’s website - reveal that “the sub-group discussed the option of utilising wastewater data to determine levels of Covid-19 in school and ELC [early learning and childcare] settings”.

They add that the group “was interested in looking more closely at the ability of wastewater monitoring to provide an early warning of potential outbeaks in schools, as well as providing an additional layer of data on the distribution of the virus”. 

The minutes noted that: “Sepa, working in conjunction with Scottish Water and Public Health Scotland, has formed a monitoring network across Scotland for the purpose of analysing wastewater samples to determine the level of Covid-19 infection markers present. This then provides data on the prevalence and distribution of the virus within Scotland.”

The minutes said the group planned to “invite colleagues to speak to the sub-group (and other interested colleagues) at a standalone meeting to look specifically at the issue of wastewater monitoring, with a view to establishing a pilot study of its efficacy as an early warning system at a school level”.