Wastewater study finds COVID-19 declining in some Sask. cities

An ongoing study of COVID-19 levels in wastewater conducted by the University of Saskatchewan has found there are less traces of the virus in some of the cities it is tracking.

The University of Saskatchewan and Global Water Futures program have been examining wastewater samples from Saskatoon, Prince Albert and North Battleford since the summer of 2020.

Their goal is to track the spread of COVID-19 in the community through wastewater, with their results usually dictating a rise or fall about a week in advance of changes in cases.

Femi Oloye, the research project manager, said this week's report shows a downward trend.

"In some of the cities, we can say we are going down, but we have not got to the level that we can say we are over it," he said.

"It is not over yet, but things are getting better than it was before."

Saskatoon's viral levels have remained basically unchanged in the researchers' most recent weekly report compared to last week.

Prince Albert's viral load dropped by more than half (61 per cent) and the absolute viral load is lower than the 10-week average.

North Battleford's viral load dropped by about 12 per cent from the previous week's report.

Both North Battleford and Saskatoon's viral loads are greater than the 10-week average.

Oloye said the majority of the virus detected in the three cities is the Omicron subvariant BA.5.