On my early walk this morning I notice that the chimneys at the COVANTA incinerator are still pumping steam into the sky. While people may think this is not a nice sight, today I saw it and thought it was a positive sign. As long as were as still alive, active and producing our household waste – the stuff that COVANTA uses, we know there is a great chance that we will conquer this COVID-19 disease.
Today, I think about our Nobel prize winning poet Samuel Beckett. He wrote this beautiful poem Imagine, that sprung to mind – on seeing the steam from the incinerator chimneys – odd I know…
Imagine si ceci
un jour ceci
un beau jour
imagine si un jour
un beau jour ceci cessait
imagine
Imagine if this
One day this
One beautiful day
Imagine if this
One beautiful day this stopped
Imagine…
Scientists across the world are working hard to track the virus, to develop antiviral drugs and test them, develop vaccines and test, test, test for the virus in communities – as the WHO recommend strongly.
I am interested in how the virus behaves in water and if this is a route of infection. We know that many groups like Water Institute scientists, are looking at wastewater epidemiology as a study of societal burden from many things – chemicals, pharmaceutical and plastic pollution to name a few. Many of us believe also, that this science is an excellent way to track the spread and duration of the disease occurrence. Over the coming weeks and months, we will look at how we can get back to our research to apply these theories to help those trying to understand this virus.