I'm sure there are great reasons, but why is it that we can't detect the virus in wastewater at a personal level? Could this be a less invasive way to test for covid19?
That'd arguably be less convenient than nasal swabs. But on the other hand, it might be more sensitive for early infections, given that TFA notes:
> Studies have also shown that SARS-CoV-2 can appear in faeces within three days of infection, which is much sooner than the time taken for people to develop symptoms severe enough for them to seek hospital care—up to two weeks—and get an official diagnosis, says Tamar Kohn, an environmental virologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
It could also look at other markers as a proxy for possible covid infection. If we see that a whole block is getting an unusual amount of sicknesses, we might want to investigate/quarantine that block.
> Studies have also shown that SARS-CoV-2 can appear in faeces within three days of infection, which is much sooner than the time taken for people to develop symptoms severe enough for them to seek hospital care—up to two weeks—and get an official diagnosis, says Tamar Kohn, an environmental virologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
Still, that'd be a lot of samples to test.