Toronto Public Health is in the process of creating a wastewater monitoring initiative to identify any potential spread of illnesses during the FIFA World Cup. Dr. Michelle Murti, Toronto’s new Medical Officer of Health, announced that the project will sample sewage in areas where fans gather and analyze them for diseases like COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.
The public health unit is also exploring the possibility of monitoring other diseases, such as measles, in wastewater due to the anticipated large international attendance next summer. Dr. Murti emphasized that this additional data will complement existing information to ensure the safety and well-being of attendees throughout the event.
With an expected influx of 300,000 out-of-town visitors during six World Cup matches starting in June, the city is preparing for the occasion. The COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program in Ontario, which offered a near real-time method to track virus prevalence before symptom onset during the pandemic, concluded last year.
Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital, expressed support for extending the wastewater surveillance program beyond COVID-19 and applying it to events like the World Cup. He cited a successful case in Windsor-Essex County, where the technology detected a measles outbreak earlier this year, highlighting its potential for public health interventions.
Dr. Razak also proposed using wastewater surveillance for opioid monitoring during the World Cup to identify contaminated drug supplies. The ultimate goal is to leverage this technology for timely decision-making and interventions that can save lives and reduce illness.
Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, co-lead of the Guelph Wastewater Epidemiology Lab for Public Health, acknowledged the necessity of smaller-scale programs like the pilot due to the province’s discontinuation of the broader wastewater monitoring initiative. While the pilot may prove valuable in containing potential outbreaks at the games, its reach is limited given the mobility of attendees within the city and across the province.
Dr. Murti highlighted that the pilot program will assess the effectiveness of wastewater surveillance for future large-scale events in Toronto.
