BY ANDY GARDNER

North Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County’s Board of Health president is hoping that wastewater surveillance could be used to check for the presence of the novel coronavirus in public schools.

Dr. Andrew Williams discussed the project with St. Lawrence County legislators at their Monday, Sept. 14 meeting.

He said analyzing wastewater could be “a way to essentially screen an entire school.”

“Clarkson does have the ability to do this. The SUNY system is doing it,” he said. “I’m hoping we can have a conversation with the local schools”

He said Clarkson is in the preliminary stages of possibly offering this to other community organizations.

 “The K-12 schools may be an excellent opportunity for this,” the doctor said. “It’s being used across the country now.”

He noted that wastewater analysis has been used in the past for polio research.

Dr. Williams pointed out that 15,000 children in St. Lawrence County are now returning to school, some under hybrid in-person/remote instruction models.

“They’ve all made huge efforts to open in as safe of a manner as possible,” he said, pointing to measures like daily temperature screening, environmental modifications and strict requirements on wearing a face covering while in school.

He said the collaborative process between the schools and public health agencies is “really to focus on the safety of students, safety of families, and the safety of the community.”

He also applauded the “tremendous efforts to try and keep our community safe” that St. Lawrence County’s four colleges made, which go above and beyond state requirements in the fight against COVID-19.

“Despite a large number of students tested … we really only have identified, between students and staff, two cases at each of the respective campuses,” he said. “We’ve been able to appropriately isolate or quarantine people.”

“It reflects the hard work the colleges all put into this, and that they’ve worked so closely with the county and Department of Health,” Dr. Williams said.

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