Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

PCR testing

N.B. wastewater data suggests some COVID-19 cases went undetected in 2021

N.B. wastewater data suggests some COVID-19 cases went undetected in 2021

Public Health officials have raised questions around whether some COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick went undetected in early 2021, after an apparent mismatch between the amount of COVID-19 appearing in wastewater and the province's own COVID-19 testing. The wastewater data shows four apparent spikes of COVID-19 in 2021: on Feb. 8, March 18, April 29 and June 28, all times when there were "minimal cases or positive tests" reported and PCR testing was widely offered. The wastewater testing is conducted by the City of Moncton, which has a partnership with Dalhousie University, and is provided to New Brunswick Public Health. CBC News obtained a copy of the test results, and discussion within the Department of Health about the results, through access to information.

COVID in the (waste) water: How testing sewage for coronavirus variants can be 'life-saving'

COVID in the (waste) water: How testing sewage for coronavirus variants can be 'life-saving'

John Giesy helps run a level two biosafety lab at the University of Saskatchewan. “Level four would be where you’re working with things like anthrax, and everyone is in hazmat suits,” the toxicologist and environmental chemist explains. At the Saskatoon biolab, people sit before fume hoods, “where we vent things and filter things, so we’re not releasing anything to the environment, and our people aren’t exposed.” One of the things they’re filtering is wastewater, searching for signals of SARS-CoV-2 from human stool.

Omicron was in Nova Scotia wastewater before it was identified in South Africa

Omicron was in Nova Scotia wastewater before it was identified in South Africa

New data from researchers at Dalhousie University show that Omicron was in Nova Scotia wastewater weeks before it was identified by the province — and even before the new COVID-19 variant was reported by South Africa. Graham Gagnon, professor, and director of the Centre for Water Resource Studies confirmed in an email that: “Our team detected Omicron , retrospectively, in Nova Scotia wastewater in mid-November and will be able to provide further information in the future.”

'It was stunning': Wastewater data shows high levels of Omicron variant in Waterloo Region

'It was stunning': Wastewater data shows high levels of Omicron variant in Waterloo Region

Researchers studying the presence of the virus causing COVID-19 in local wastewater say the amount of Omicron variant detected in the water has increased rapidly over the past few weeks. Mark Servos, the Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection, said Omicron spread appeared in wastewater far faster than any other variant to date. "It just went up so dramatically, so quickly," he said at Waterloo Region's weekly COVID-19 update on Friday. "It was stunning."

Sudbury-Manitoulin health unit considers posting COVID-19 wastewater data

Sudbury-Manitoulin health unit considers posting COVID-19 wastewater data

As Ontario government criteria have changed for eligibility for PCR testing for COVID-19, Public Health Sudbury and Districts says it is looking into posting that data online. As of Dec. 31, symptomatic testing became available for only high-risk individuals or people who work in high-risk settings, like hospitals and long-term care facilities. Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, medical officer of health for the Sudbury-Manitoulin districts, said that change means reported case numbers aren't telling the whole story.

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