COVID-19 levels in Saskatoon highest in recent weeks, according to wastewater study

Saskatoon is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 levels according to the most recent results from a study that tracks the virus in the city's wastewater.

The University of Saskatchewan's Global Water Futures Program has been tracking the virus in Prince Albert, North Battleford and Saskatoon via samples taken from wastewater since summer 2020.

Saskatoon's viral load has increased by 85.8 per cent from last week's report and is the highest it has been in the past month, according to the study.

In their report summary sent out on Christmas Day, researchers said the concentration of the virus found in wastewater indicates that the SARS-CoV-2 infection in the city "is not over yet."

The viral load of COVID-19 has dropped in Prince Albertby 44.4 per cent, and in North Battleford by60.4 per cent.

Neither are considered low by researchers, but said that the virus' presence in North Battleford is "reducing."

Wastewater can predict rise and fall in COVID-19 infections in communities about a week in advance.

John Giesy, a lead researcher on the project, said in an emailed summary of the data that, "as usual, Prince Albert and the Battlefords are out of phase with Saskatoon and are still declining from the previous wave."

He said he's unsure why the smaller cities trail behind Saskatoon.

"We think it has something to do with demography and size of the cities, Saskatoon maybe being bigger and having more people moving in and out, who knows, but it seems to respond more quickly."

The research says all three cities are considered in a medium level, which Giesy said means the viral level of COVID-19 is moderate when considering historical data.

The University of Regina posted on social media Monday morning stating its report, which is typically published on Monday, would be held for the following week.

Omicron and lineages driving pandemic in Sask.

Giesy said that according to recent data the pandemic in Canada and likely in Saskatchewan is being driven by the Omicron lineage BQ.1.

He said that a high presence of that variant was found in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and some First Nations as part of the project in late November.

Public Health Ontario said earlier this month that evidence shows that BQ.1 is highly immune evasive, which may be why it's more transmissible.

The BA.5 variant, which made up about half of the viral levels found in wastewater in early November, has now reduced to about 10per cent of the overall lineages found in wastewater samples.