M Focus on: Public Works
Springfield, Vt., Town Hall. (Photo provided by the town of Springfield, Vt.)
The town of Springfield’s banner welcomes visitors alongside the gorgeous colors of autumn in Vermont in the background. (Photo provided by the town of Springfield, Vt.)
Vermont towns participate in CDC COVID testing program By DENISE FEDOROW | The Municipal
You may have heard that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working on ways to test wastewater for the presence of COVID-19 — the respiratory pandemic that’s gripped the world over the last two years. Several Vermont towns took part in a pilot program with the CDC, including Brighton, Springfield and St. Albans. The city of Burlington was also reportedly testing wastewater, but it was potentially less access to clinical testing — which meant more rural not involved in the federal program. communities. The CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System first launched in Nate Fraser, chief operator of the wastewater treatment plant for the September 2020. According to information posted on the CDC’s website, town of Springfield, shared his town’s experiences with the program. the agency began enlisting municipalities across the country to take part “The state reached out to see if we were interested in doing COVID in the program. There were approximately 900 testing sites across the monitoring,” he said. “We agreed to do the weekly testing.” Fraser said the town started the program at the beginning of February, country, including the ones in Vermont. The NWSS traces levels, changes and detection of SARS-COV2 viral RNA in the wastewater. People infected and it ended April 15. He explained in Springfield, staff members just did with COVID-19 can shed the virus (viral RNA) through their feces even if “grab and go” samples versus composite samples. “Normally, for wastewater testing, we do composite testing, but due to they don’t have symptoms. Therefore, the CDC feels this type of testing lack of time and staff, we just did grab samples,” he said. can serve as an early warning of community spread. In Vermont, the State Department of Environmental Conservation, Fraser explained with composite testing, a machine takes samples over Watershed Management Division helped facilitate the program. Approxi- a 24-hour time period. The composite machine is refrigerated, and it ranmately nine towns were selected. The CDC reportedly asked them to domly grabs samples over a 24-hour period. With grab sample testing, a select “vulnerable communities” — those with lower vaccine rates and staff member has to physically go out to the headwater and grab a sample. 26 THE MUNICIPAL | JULY 2022
