They claim "the first report of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage" but if I search Google News for 'covid wastewater' I find several reports of similar studies going back months.
That aside I wonder if there's already an infrastructure in place for mass testing of wastewater for all sorts of things. If it's useful for covid it might be useful for other diseases or health problems.
Then I start to wonder about the privacy implications of mass sewage collection. If it was localized I can imagine an authoritarian state using it to enforce anti-drug or anti-beef policies.
That aside I wonder if there's already an infrastructure in place for mass testing of wastewater for all sorts of things. If it's useful for covid it might be useful for other diseases or health problems.
Then I start to wonder about the privacy implications of mass sewage collection. If it was localized I can imagine an authoritarian state using it to enforce anti-drug or anti-beef policies.