December Monthly Update...

Thank you for being a part of Oregon’s efforts to identify, prepare for, and respond to future pandemic threats. The premiere scientific journal Science published Wastewater surveillance for public health in January 2023 (https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ade2503) . The article concludes “There is now an opportunity to build upon existing momentum to form the backbone of future surveillance capacity and scientific ecosystems across the world. Doing so will require global surveillance networks to encourage equitable technology distribution, data sharing, and collective exploration of microbial diversity, both human and zoonotic, to help pinpoint possible outbreaks and spillover risks. Close integration with local and international public health organizations will be essential to ensure timely, transparent, and effective intervention. Wastewater provides the means to identify, prepare for, and respond to future pandemic threats - what remains is to expand capacity to ensure readiness for the next potential outbreak.”

 Utilities: Consider joining the NWSS Utilities Community of Practice, a collaborative for promoting review, synthesis, and sharing of lessons learned among utilities to accelerate the implementation of wastewater surveillance. You can join by filling out the application on this page:  https://nwbe.org/?page_id=41#how. See a video describing the Utilities Community of Practice (https://youtu.be/I7Ncj94Bw7U) by selecting the image below.