Toronto Public Health is in the process of developing a wastewater monitoring initiative to identify any potential spread of diseases during the FIFA World Cup. Dr. Michelle Murti, Toronto’s new Medical Officer of Health, revealed that the pilot project will gather sewage samples from areas where fans gather and analyze them for infections such as COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.
Murti mentioned that the public health unit is also exploring the possibility of monitoring other illnesses like measles in wastewater, considering the anticipated large international audience next summer. She emphasized that this surveillance program will provide additional valuable data to ensure the safety and well-being of people throughout the games.
The city authorities anticipate approximately 300,000 out-of-town visitors in Toronto during the six World Cup matches scheduled to commence in June. Ontario’s COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program, which offered a nearly real-time method to track virus prevalence before symptom onset, concluded last year.
Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital, expressed that extending this technology to a major event like the World Cup represents an innovative approach to fill the void left by the provincial program’s termination. Razak suggested that the program should have been continued and its potential for disease detection beyond COVID-19 should have been explored.
Highlighting an example, Razak mentioned that Windsor-Essex County utilized wastewater surveillance earlier this year to detect an increase in measles cases within the region. He stressed the importance of utilizing wastewater surveillance for opioid monitoring to identify a contaminated drug supply during the World Cup to prevent harm and illness effectively.
Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, co-lead of the Guelph Wastewater Epidemiology Lab for Public Health, commented on the province’s decision to discontinue its widespread wastewater monitoring program, necessitating smaller-scale initiatives like the current one. While acknowledging the potential usefulness of the pilot program in the event of a significant outbreak during the games, Goodridge noted its limitation in scope due to the mobility of people during the World Cup.
Dr. Murti, Toronto’s chief health official, stated that the pilot program will assess the efficacy of wastewater surveillance for potential application in upcoming large-scale events in the city.