Airline and cruise-ship wastewater tested for SARS-CoV-2

Analysis of wastewater from airlines and cruise ships could identify potential carriage of SARS-CoV-2 among passengers.

Welcome to The Medical Republic‘s COVID Catch-Up.

It’s the day’s COVID-19 news into one convenient post. Got any tips, comments or feedback? Email me at bianca@biancanogrady.com.

16 July

• Cruise ship and airline wastewater could point to COVID-19 on board.
• Trump cuts CDC out of the COVID-19 reporting loop.
• Even a single physical distancing intervention reduces infection rates, study shows.
• Victoria has another record-breaking day of new infections.

• Analysis of wastewater from airlines and cruise ships could identify potential carriage of SARS-CoV-2 among passengers, and help target testing and contact tracing efforts.
  An Australian study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine tested multiple wastewater samples from a cruise ship and three airline flights, looking for SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. They found it in all the cruise ship samples, and in four of the five samples from one flight. Samples from the other two flights were all negative for viral RNA.
  The cruise ship was associated with 24 unconfirmed COVID-19 cases, but no cases of COVID-19 were reported for any of the passengers aboard the three airline flights. The authors suggested that the viral RNA detected in samples from one of those flights could have been cross-contamination from the wastewater truck where the samples were collected from, or could have been associated with a passenger who was infected but never developed symptoms.
  “SARS-CoV-2 RNA surveillance in airline and cruise ship wastewater has the potential to detect an onboard infection and prioritize clinical testing of all passengers to maximize the efficient use of resources,” the authors wrote.
• Just when you thought it wasn’t possible for the Trump administration to screw up its COVID-19 response any more, news comes that the US Department of Health and Human Services has instructed hospitals and healthcare facilities not to report their COVID-19 case data to the Centers for Disease Control’s National Healthcare Safety Network any more.
  As reported in Forbes, the CDC’s network is the US’s most widely used infection tracking network, so cutting it out of the loop in the middle of a pandemic is perhaps not the smartest move?
• Any physical distancing intervention is associated with at least a 13% reduction in the incidence of COVID-19, research suggests.
  Writing in the BMJ, researchers reported their analysis of the effects of five physical distancing methods – closures of schools, workplaces, and public transport, restrictions on mass gatherings and public events, and restrictions on movement – on COVID-19 infection rates in 149 countries or regions in the first five months of 2020.
  All but two countries implemented at least three of these measures, and 118 implemented all five (Australia had four, with the absence of public transport shutdowns). Implementing a single intervention was associated with a subsequent overall 13% reduction in infection rates.
  The reductions were similar between countries that implemented five and those that implemented four physical distancing interventions, but were slightly smaller for countries that only implemented three approaches.
  “No additional benefit was found associated with closures of public transport when a combination of school closures, workplace closures, restrictions on mass gatherings, and restrictions of population movement (ie, lockdown) was in place,” the authors wrote.
• No good news out of Victoria yet, with the state exceeding its previous record for the greatest number of new cases in a single day; 317 reported today, up from 238 on Wednesday.
  The Guardian has reported that 77 staff from Monash Health are now in self-isolation after potentially being exposed to COVID-19, and six staff from Melbourne’s Royal Women’s hospital are also believed to have tested positive.
  In NSW the Crossroads Hotel cluster has grown to 40 cases, including another child and a woman in her late teens. Western Australia has also reported eight new cases, but all are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
  Three more deaths have now been attributed to COVID-19 in Australia, bringing the total to 111 as of 9pm Wednesday.
  Around the country, here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection figures to 9pm Wednesday:
  National – 10,495 and 111 deaths
  ACT – 113
  NSW – 3517
  NT – 31
  QLD – 1071
  SA – 443
  TAS – 228
  VIC – 4448
  WA – 644