ROANOKE, Va. – A tool used to track down COVID-19 outbreaks may now be used to help fight the fentanyl crisis in the Commonwealth.
Wastewater testing is not a new phenomenon but there was a lot more attention brought to it during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is tasking the Department of Health to come up with a way to test for fentanyl at treatment facilities.
John Littel, Secretary of Health and Human Resources for Virginia is the one heading the initiative. He – like much of Gov. Youngkin’s team – believes the crisis has gotten way out of hand.
“Last year, 2,000 Virginians died from fentanyl poisoning and so that’s more than motor vehicle deaths and gun-related deaths combined,” Littel said.
VDH is working with localities to figure out how to conduct tests in a cost-efficient way. One of the facilities preparing to do some of the testing is in Roanoke.
Lacy Burnett, Wastewater Operations Manager for the Western Virginia Water Authority, is ready to help out with another crisis similar to the way they’ve been helping with COVID-19.
“This is a pandemic. It may not get the attention that COVID got just because of the level it’s on but it’s getting there. I think the ultimate goal of this project is just to save lives. If we can do that, to me that would be great,” Burnett said.
Wastewater testing data is not the solution to the fentanyl crisis but it’s a step in the right direction for some. Dr. Cynthia Murrow, Director of Roanoke and Alleghany Health District, says it’s all about looking at trends.
“One of the unfortunate realities is that the Roanoke City area is disproportionately impacted. We have one of the highest rates in the country of fatal overdoses associated with it,” Murrow said.
Data from the wastewater testing can be looked at along with other organizations or businesses collecting data on fentanyl use.
“The department of health, the community service boards, emergency rooms, poison control centers … those are various tools that combined with wastewater tracking surveillance will tell us that there’s a spike of a kind of fentanyl or fentanyl in an area,” Littel said.
Many see this imitative as another tool in the toolbox. At the end of the day, they say it’s all about saving lives.
“We’ve lost far too many lives and we want to prevent the next death. It is entirely preventable. We have the tools to do it. There’s potentially a new tool in our surveillance toolbox. To me the executive order brings light to a crisis that we know has been going on for a long time,” Morrow said.