Covid 19: Career Development Award: Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences: Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus in Environmental Surface Water in Southeastern Kentucky

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly developing but has limited application in rural communities lacking centralized wastewater collection, like many in Southeast Kentucky. We propose assessing environmental surface water for SARS-CoV-2 RNA as a strategy to identify virus presence in rural communities. Aim 1 will assess viral transit dynamics in a watershed by spiking a surrogate organism upstream to assess viral transit time and stability using downstream samples. Aim 2 will seek to identify SARS-CoV-2 RNA from six watersheds in Southeast Kentucky using bimonthly samples. We will correlate environmental SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations with watershed populations and the community prevalence of clinical cases.