Weird Coronavirus Find Turns Up in Lake Water - Newser

Richard Melvin of the University of Minnesota Medical School says he stumbled on SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, in samples culled from eight beaches along Lake Superior on the weekends of September 11 and 18.

His medical school says the virus appeared in levels of 100 to 1,000 copies per liter, or 10,000 times less than levels found in wastewater.

He adds that virus levels in lake water could be an indicator of coronavirus prevalence in communities—just as levels in wastewater have provided early evidence of outbreaks and case levels in Minnesota