For this week's campus update we cover a story released this week about a provincial partnership between research universities in Alberta who are monitoring wastewater to see localized trends of covid before they happen. The University of Calgary and Alberta partnered on a 3.4$million dollar grant from the provincial government and are currently monitoring the wastewater of about 3.2 million albertans or about a third of our population and provide data about the presence of covid19 in certain municipalities through samples and an online tracker tool. 

Dr. Michael Perkins, an associate professor and project co-lead made the statement saying on average the testing gives them a six day warning signal of whats to come. The testing allows for researchers to see localized trends of covid 19, even on those who are asympomatic. People can watch for trends in their own community using this online tracker and can even give results of local neighborhoods. Perkins also said that the project has the potential to be used in the detection of other disease or flu outbreaks. For more info please visit the listed article on our website. 

For Cjsr this is Jarret Kamm