U of S wastewater study yet to find Omicron variant in Sask.

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan now have the ability to detect the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Saskatoon’s wastewater, but they have yet to find any traces.

As of  Tuesday, the province has reported five cases of the Omicron variant. Four cases were announced last Wednesday and one more case was reported Monday.

The Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan has been using wastewater samples since July of 2020 to help predict COVID trends.

Dr. Kerry McPhedran has been involved with the latest studies dealing with Omicron and said the team can now find the new variant through specific tests here in the province.

“It has been tested at a clinical level through individual cases, but we haven’t seen it yet in wastewater,” McPhedran said.

“We do have a new ability to test for it, so that is here now. We are working on improving it still, but we haven’t seen any Omicron in our wastewater as of yet.”

Omicron is starting to create a larger presence in other parts of the country. McPhedran believes Saskatchewan will start to see similar numbers to what Ontario is currently seeing.

There have been more than 1,000 COVID cases per day in Ontario in the past week. On Tuesday, 1,429 cases were added to the total.

“One of the issues we see with Omicron is the doubling time,” McPhedran said. “For the amount of cases in Ontario, (that time frame) was about three days, which was a lot faster than Delta.

“We can anticipate once it is in the province that we’ll see it quite a bit faster. I imagine within the next couple of weeks we’ll see it being potentially about the same level of Ontario.”

Delta has been the most dominant variant in Saskatchewan since the summer months. However, the Omicron variant is projected to take over that title in the coming months, according to McPhedran.

“Just like we saw with Delta where Delta became the dominant one, we will likely see Omicron become the dominant one here as well,” McPhedran said.

McPhedran believes wastewater tests have a place in the ongoing future if and when the pandemic winds down.

“Technology is getting faster,” McPhedran said. “When the pandemic first started off, it usually took one to two weeks for you to get results and now we find out in 15 minutes.

“The goal is going to be to have this wastewater and to be able to consistently test it and be able to see viruses in the future, much more quickly than we have in the past.”

Testing periods will slow down over the upcoming holiday season but will resume on a normal schedule in the new year.