Health: ‘Incredibly disappointing’: Ontario halts wastewater testing for COVID, other viruses

Ontario is officially ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program as of Wednesday in a move some public health experts say is shortsighted.

Dr. Fahad Razak, the former scientific director of the COVID-19 Ontario Science Table, called the province’s decision “incredibly disappointing.”

Wastewater testing gives an early indication of when COVID-19 and other viruses are on the rise, Razak said in an interview.

The wastewater surveillance in dozens of communities across Ontario was useful not only for detecting COVID, but for monitoring potential threats, including the possible arrival of H5N1 avian flu, he said.

Ontario’s environment ministry said in an email on Tuesday it was “winding down” its program as the Public Health Agency of Canada expands its wastewater surveillance sites in the province.

But a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada said it only plans to test in four Ontario cities in addition to its four existing sites in Toronto, which won’t duplicate the provincial program.

“The scope of the expansion would not replace the current scope of the Ontario program,” Anna Maddison said in an email Tuesday evening.

“Ontario’s decision to not continue their wastewater testing program was not co-ordinated with PHAC’s decision to expand its wastewater monitoring program.”

The additional federal wastewater surveillance is expected to begin before flu season this fall, Maddison said.