Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University joins over a dozen other universities across Ohio in testing wastewater to detect coronavirus on their campuses.
“We are doing this as a way of guarding against outbreaks,” said Abimbola Ola Kolawole, a research assistant professor at Wright State.
Wright State announced it will be participating in a state-funded program that tests wastewater to detect coronavirus.
The sampling program will take place at its main campus in Dayton and its Lake campus in Celina in an effort to catch COVID-19 early. According to a release, the sampling effort will be focused on residential halls on both campuses.
Those that are infected with coronavirus shed virus particles through their feces when they go to the bathroom. Wastewater testing can detect traces of COVID-19 in sewage up to a week before physical symptoms may occur in a person, and it can detect infections in those that are asymptomatic.
Wastewater testing cannot inform the university who is infected, but a positive test would indicate that at least one campus resident is ill and allows the university to respond.
- Read more in the Dayton Daily News
