Water Lens COVID-19 Scout

A proven, three-prong approach to monitor and detect COVID-19 in buildings, schools, and multi-tenant residences before outbreaks can occur

Rapid, molecular-based covid-19 testing for buildings and individuals

Early in the pandemic, Water Lens emerged as a pioneer in monitoring for COVID-19 in sewage at wastewater plants for major municipalities. Because the Water Lens COVID-19 system is portable, our system can also effectively monitor COVID-19 infection levels within communities upstream from the wastewater plants through local sewer lines. And now, we can monitor infection levels in buildings by sampling the air in high-traffic areas or through the HVAC system. These two tools are especially useful in places such as schools, dormitories, offices, business complexes, multi-tenant residential complexes, nursing & retirement homes, and low and high-rise condominiums, Once an infection is discovered, targeted testing of individuals is then essential. This approach is far more cost-effective and practical than trying to test everyone on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis. Water Lens’ customers are free to employ their own individual testing solution of their choice or Water Lens can provide its customers with a dedicated supply of noninvasive, molecular-based COVID-19 saliva tests for their employees, tenants, and students.

The Water Lens Solution

Water Lens has developed a three-prong approach to monitoring COVID-19 in workplaces and high-spread areas like dormitories, schools, and universities. It combines inexpensive sewage and air monitoring with the ability to offer a fast, non-intrusive COVID-19 test for individuals as indicated by the monitoring results.

Relying solely on individual testing is not practical nor cost-effective

The human resources and capital required to test every person in a city, community, school, or building (as often as would be needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 in high-spread environments) is a monumental and expensive task. Consequently, reliable monitoring tools are essential. Water Lens has developed two testing protocols that target key indicators of viral spread (sewage and air).

Sewage Monitoring

Since the beginning of the pandemic, sewage has been studied as an effective indicator of COVID-19 infection. It was pioneered in The Netherland and is being deployed around the world. Recently, it was used by Arizona State University to stop an outbreak at one of their dormitories. However, sending sewage samples back to traditional laboratories suffers from the same problem that individual testing does; backlogs. Our specialty at Water Lens is to bring lab-quality testing capabilities to the field, where they are needed the most, that are easy enough for non-technical people to perform. Our proprietary sewage and air testing systems can be safely run by trained employees on location. This eliminates the long turnaround time caused by antiquated laboratories and enables proactive decisions that can prevent the spread of COVID-19 in high-spread environments.

Air Monitoring

By placing air monitors in high-traffic areas in a building, levels of COVID-19 can be detected periodically throughout the day. Additionally, depending on the filters being used in an building’s HVAC system, it is possible to monitor levels of COVID-19 being recirculated throughout the building.

Non-Invasive Individual Testing

Water Lens has developed a fast and accurate saliva test for COVID-19 that is simple to administer and results can be as fast as 30 minutes. Our solution uses the gold-standard qPCR molecular test with CDC-approved primers, but instead of the painful nose swab, you use a simple mouth rinse. Other rapid, easy to administer tests are based on antigens and suffer a high rate of false positives and false negatives. With Water Lens, there is no need to compromise accuracy for speed and fast turnaround. Additionally, should there be an indication of an uptick or breakout in a given location, Water Lens has dedicated tests for its customers and can deploy them same-day. There is no need to separately source tests that are too often in short supply. Additionally, this eliminates the risk that your employees, students or tenants go home and either: (1) don’t get tested; or (2) they get tested using a less accurate method.

High-Value, Comprehensive Solution for Employers

By deploying the Water Lens COVID-19 Scout 3-prong approach, owners, school districts, management companies, employees, and tenants now have the assurance they need to return to work and school, on location. They can proactively manage the effects of COVID-19 in their daily operations.. And if individual testing is indicated from the results of monitoring, Companies have the confidence that they can make fast and accurate, non-invasive tests available to their people to protect their health and the health of their coworkers, families, and the community at-large..