Protecting the Health of Our Community
It hasn’t been an easy few years in our region. The long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to emerge in Windsor-Essex. During the 2021-2022 year of the pandemic, University of Windsor researchers were at the forefront of understanding how COVID-19 was spreading in our community. At the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Dr. Mike McKay pivoted from his work investigating harmful algal blooms and started to collaborate with local municipal governments and the City of Detroit to introduce wastewater monitoring. By sampling local wastewater and measuring for evidence of COVID-19, his team was able to help health officials understand and respond to changes in the local burden of disease. Employing the approach on campus at the University of Windsor, the team identified early evidence of COVID-19 transmission through residence halls which resulted in directed public health action and prevention of further disease spread. “Beyond COVID-19, the applications of this approach are vast,” states Dr. McKay whose team has already extended the approach to detecting other respiratory diseases including flu and RSV.
Dr. Mike McKay tests water samples in his campus lab.
"The University of Windsor is proud to be an engaged partner with our local hospitals, school boards, service organizations, arts venues, and industry to make Windsor-Essex a better place to live, work, and thrive. University of Windsor researchers are putting their research to work in local greenhouses and farm fields, working with teachers and doctors, creating art, music, literature, drama, and poetry, building resilient networks of knowledge, training the next generation of scholars, scientists and engineers. Research, scholarship, and creative activity are creating a world that is healthier, more innovative, more just, and more sustainable."
- Dr. Chris Houser, Acting Vice President, Research and Innovation