Pandemic ESCAPE is committed to ensuring that the solutions it develops are created in consultation with the communities they are designed to help. In doing this, we hope to drive adoption of these important technologies in the communities that need them most. We will work hand in hand with public health officials in these communities and perform surveys to gain the perspective of the average citizen regarding their consent to use of the technologies that we develop. Through the use of participatory science, we will encourage community members to take an active interest in protecting their health and the health of other members of the community. We hope to develop technologies that are simple enough to be used by citizen scientists who live in the communities where these technologies will be deployed.
Awareness is also something that the center prioritizes. While wastewater surveillance, and environmental surveillance more broadly, certainly picked up some supporters during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state funding for these programs is dissipating as we get further from the early days of the pandemic. To help facilitate a groundswell of support for the further funding of these programs, we view spreading awareness as crucial as will be engaging in a number of activities towards that end. Pandemic ESCAPE investigators have previously planned a series of field trips for younger children to a wastewater treatment plant in Kentucky to help them understand what takes place at these facilities. The team has also been working on developing a wastewater-based surveillance (WBE) exhibit for a local museum in Louisville, KY. Local efforts like these will help us educate young people about the importance of environmental surveillance and will hopefully get them excited about a future career in public health, epidemiology, virology, or microbiology.
