LANCASTER, Pa. — Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster is testing for COVID-19 in its sewage. It's called "wastewater testing" and sample collection began last month.
It sounds like a pretty crappy job, but according to leaders at F&M College -
"This is actually very sophisticated science," Alan Caniglia, VP for Strategic Initiatives, said.
Caniglia is talking about testing waste for the presence of COVID-19.
"Turns out the virus leaves a trace of its genetic code in human waste and we can access in several different spots on campus," Caniglia said.
It's not an alternative to regular swab testing. This method is more of a compliment. It's less time consuming, costs less, and it's not as intrusive.
"I think it's a great idea," Emma Frazier, a senior, said. "I mean any way that we can try to catch COVID before there's a huge outbreak."
The school gets the sample from six different manholes once a week. The results come back 3 days later. The sites they chose lead to dormitories and residence halls.
So far none of the samples have come back positive. If any do they'll determine next steps.
"It's possible that even a trace amount would lead to us testing the whole building," Caniglia said. "It would depend on the details."
So why even do this type of testing if we can't determine who it came from? F&M said it's the first leading indicator of any major outbreaks.
The school is still doing random swab testing every two weeks of 20% of the student body. So far only 7 students have tested positive for COVID-19. Two of those were false positives.