Thread by @39Magilla

@_stah (1) I have located several references that say the half life of the virus is short in undiluted sewer water. There appears to be another common protist that consumes #coronavirus.

@_stah (2) I have references that say the virus can stay viable in diluted waste water for long periods of time (days to 25d). This may indicate that the virus has to be freshly delivered to the sewer and quickly diluted by stormwater.

@_stah (3) Another reference says that stool samples from hospitalized patients did not provide viable virus 6 days after the start of symptoms.

@_stah (4) I think your occupational hazard approach is brilliant, but we probably should be looking at plumbers working in cities with high infection rates, not waste water facility workers.

If they don't have elevated case numbers, I agree, my theory over emphasizes this risk.

@_stah (5) I've reviewed the paper you linked. Here's the chart showing that stool samples weren't looked at early in the progression.

I suspect patients reporting diarrhea may have different results, since it suggests an active GI infection at the time.

@_stah (6) This is one of the two papers that reported viable cultures from waste water.

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

@_stah (6) There are indications that plumbers are taking extreme precaution in Chicago.

abc7chicago.com/coronavirus-ti…

@_stah (7) Roto-Rooter also has a long list of precautions that its employees are taking.

rotorooter.com/covid-19/

@_stah (8) This article from 3/23 shows that plumbers immediately took extremely high precautions before doing work on the sewer line side of installations.

pmmag.com/articles/10273…

@_stah (9) There is some anectoal evidence of plumbers dying of COVID-19 early in the outbreak. As a whole, plumbers appear to have taken high precautions since the outbreak.

@_stah (10) "Building Cleaning Services" is identified as a high risk occupation for #COVID19 by several sources. This likely includes cleaning public bathrooms.

@_stah (7) It appears that the plumbing profession is well aware of the Amoy Gardens scenario and has taken high precautions since the outbreak of the pandemic.

infectioncontroltoday.com/view/infection…