b'62 YYZOPERATIONSOnsite Lab at Toronto Pearson Intl TestsEarly Warning System for Infectious DiseasesBY SCOTT BERMANBy their very nature, airports areA lab established at the airport is testing FACTS&FIGURESchallenging environments to keepwastewater samples collected from terminals Project: Onsite Wastewater Testing Pilotclean and hygienic. The high1 and 3 and samples from the aircraft waste volume of visitors alone makes it tough. Addcollection area Triturator for a wide range of Location: Toronto Pearson Intl Airport the fact that new waves of passengers andviruses such as COVID, influenza and mpox Project Cost: $2.6 millioncrews from around the world are constantly(widely known as monkeypox). Funding: Grant from Natl Research Council ofconverging then dispersing, and they can beBy adding an onsite lab with these Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program ideal places for spreading germs. The COVIDcapabilities, YYZ is helping safeguard the Facilities: 300 sq. ft. lab in Terminal 3,pandemic made that painfully clear, andhealth of passengers, employees and the reconfigured from previous COVID-inspiredairports responded with electrostatic sprayers,general public. It also is demonstrating that passenger swabbing pilot ultraviolet light systems, antimicrobial surfaces Strategy: Test samples of wastewater fromand more frequent cleaning/disinfecting byairports can be important partners in the terminals & incoming aircraft for SARS-COV-2, itspublic health battle against the spread of custodial staff.COVID and other infectious diseases. variants & wide spectrum of other virusesPartner Companies: Fusion Genomics;Toronto Pearson International AirportThe onsite lab at YYZ became operational LuminUltra; Kraken Sense (YYZ) is taking a new industry-leading stepin November 2022 with a $2.6 million Duration of Pilot: Nov. 2022-March 2023 by piloting a new kind of testing strategy grant from the National Research Council one that doesnt involve swabbing theof Canada Industrial Research Assistance Scientific Strategies: Polymerase Chainnoses of passengers or airport workers. Reaction; Metagenomic Sequencing Program. The Greater Toronto Airports March | April 2023AirportImprovement.com'