An innovative Oregon State University program is assisting Stayton with analysis of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community.
OSU scientists, researchers and students have been operating a program called team-based rapid assessment of community-level coronavirus epidemics (TRACE) since early in the pandemic. The program has two components, a door-to-door testing effort and a community-wide sampling of wastewater.
Declining rates of COVID infections have led OSU to discontinue the neighborhood testing program, but the wastewater piece is still in place and will be until June 2023.
Stayton is one of four Marion County communities working with OSU on wastewater testing. Salem, Silverton and Woodburn are the others. The program is paid for and operated in a partnership with the Oregon Health Authority.
Stayton Public Works Director Lance Ludwick attended an online seminar about the program in September 2020, reached out to the TRACE team “and we have been testing weekly ever since.”
According to OSU associate professor Tyler Radniecki, “the sampling is done by each participating municipality and the samples are shipped to OSU for processing. The monitoring program pays for all supplies and shipping costs.”
Alissa Angelo, Stayton acting city manager, said “the information we receive has been used to monitor what the current COVID-19 transmission rates are in the community and it guides internal policies in communication with staff and the City Council. It’s been useful information to share, especially when it comes to in-person meetings and recommended precautions.”
Information on trends is available at https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/oregon.health.authority.covid.19/viz/OregonsSARS-CoV-2WastewaterMonitoring/WastewaterDashboard.
