by Christina Brown
Large traces of the virus were found in UK airport sewage and in airplane lavatories during the period when negative swab testing was mandatory for unvaccinated people
Is requiring a negative swab before boarding a flight an effective measure to curb the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus? Apparently not. At least that is the conclusion of a study by the University of Bangor (Wales), which was published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health. In fact, when the pandemic was still raging, researchers found large traces of the virus in the sewage from all planes that landed at three major UK airports (Heathrow, Edinburgh and Bristol), so much so that there were tight controls in place to prevent the spread of the virus (wastewater testing took place between March 8 and 31, 2022). Sars-CoV-2 was also found in samples taken from the sewers in the arrivals halls of airport terminals and from a sewage treatment plant near the airports.
let me be clear The virus is airborne, contagion occurs through inhalation of infected particles that can remain stagnant for long periods of time even in closed and poorly ventilated environments. But at the heart of the pandemic, restrictions imposed an obligation on unvaccinated passengers to have a swab before departure and a test on the second day after arrival to prove they were negative. Theoretically, according to the opinion at the time, Covid-positive people should not have been allowed to enter the airport with these regulations. However, the wastewater results show the opposite. In fact, the researchers found little difference in the levels of Sars-CoV-2 in the wastewater before and after the date the restrictions were lifted, March 18, 2022. There was Covid at the airport, and how.
Despite all the measures the UK has taken to prevent people with the disease from boarding flights bound for the UK, almost every plane we analyzed contained the virus, as did most terminal sewage, says he, the author of the Labour, Davey Jones of Bangor University. One of the hypotheses, the researcher continues, is that people contracted the disease or evaded controls despite testing negative (in a survey of 2,000 adults by the same research group, 23% of respondents admitted that this was the case). previously on a return flight to the UK whilst feeling ill).
Also, the fact that the negative smear test was only required from unvaccinated passengers cannot go unnoticed, but it is now common knowledge that vaccines do not neutralize: even those who get vaccinated can get sick, albeit in most cases not seriously . For this reason, many people entered the airport who, despite having Covid disease (in many cases unknowingly because they were asymptomatic), did not have to show negativity. Masks and controlled mechanical ventilation systems may have reduced the risk of contagion, but people who have tested positive for Covid have not been prevented from entering the country.
Research has shown that border control has essentially failed in terms of Covid surveillance. Sampling of wastewater could instead be part of a future infectious disease surveillance system, according to the study’s authors. In fact, sampling could also help detect other infections such as norovirus or enterovirus, potentially providing a clearer picture of pathogens entering countries. Sewage monitoring at the airport and on the plane, adds researcher Kata Farkas, provides a snapshot of infectious diseases passengers may bring with them upon arrival, including emerging diseases, so health systems are prepared to act accordingly.
Today, regular analysis of wastewater on planes and at airports could be an alternative method to swabs carried out on all passengers arriving from China, a measure advocated by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) since the Immunity from the European population is quite high and the possible imported infections are quite small compared to the numbers that are already occurring on a daily basis and that health systems can currently cope with. Testing won’t stop Covid, but sewage analysis will be able to show viruses crossing borders in near real time.
January 19, 2023 (change January 19, 2023 | 21:38)
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