Scientists have observed that molecular markers for COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater of infected communities both during an outbreak and, in some cases, before the first case is confirmed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government entities are considering whether to add community surveillance through wastewater monitoring to assist in tracking disease prevalence and guiding public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This scientific breakthrough may lead to many useful potential applications for tracking disease, intensifying testing, initiating social distancing or quarantines, and even lifting restrictions once a cessation of infection is detected and confirmed. Yet, new technologies developed in response to a public health crisis may raise difficult legal and ethical questions about how such technologies may impact both the public health and civil liberties of the population. This paper describes recent scientific evidence regarding COVID-19 detection in wastewater, identifying public health benefits that may result from this breakthrough, as well as the limitations of existing data. The paper then assesses the legal and ethical implications of implementing policy based on positive sewage signals. It concludes that the first step to implementing legal and ethical wastewater monitoring is to develop scientific understanding. Even if reliability and efficacy are established, limits on sample and data collection, use, and sharing must also be considered to prevent undermining privacy and autonomy in order to implement these public health strategies consistent with legal and ethical considerations.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2废水监测对COVID-19监测的法律和道德意义。

科学家观察到，在暴发期间以及在某些情况下，在确定第一个病例之前，都可以在受感染社区的废水中检测到COVID-19的分子标记。疾病控制与预防中心和其他政府机构正在考虑是否通过废水监测增加社区监测，以帮助跟踪疾病的流行情况并指导公众对COVID-19大流行的反应。这一科学突破可能会导致许多有用的潜在应用，可用于跟踪疾病，加强检测，与社会隔离或隔离，甚至在检测到并确认感染停止后解除限制。然而，为应对公共卫生危机而开发的新技术可能会引发关于这些技术如何影响民众的公共卫生和公民自由的棘手的法律和道德问题。本文介绍了有关废水中COVID-19检测的最新科学证据，确定了这一突破可能带来的公共健康益处，以及现有数据的局限性。然后，本文根据积极的排污信号评估了实施政策的法律和伦理意义。结论是，实施法律和道德废水监测的第一步是发展科学认识。即使确定了可靠性和功效，样品和数据收集，使用，