There was a case of the virus being transmitted that way but it shouldn't be a concern if the plumbing is up to code with things like s-curves in the pipes. There are a lot of viruses and bacteria like norovirus and cholera that are much better at traveling that way than a coronavirus and modern toilet and sewer systems should be designed with that in mind.
Larger scale, a decent size rain can upset a wastewater treatment plant, and that is also assuming nobody is dumping waste directly into the river, intentional or otherwise.
Additionally, there have been multiple articles of detection via feces.
The water treatment plant may be redistributing the virus from an upstream contamination.
In general feces from people infected with various varieties of Coronavirus aren't infectious. You can find segments of RNA in it but, though I'm not an expert on it, the good folks at This Week in Virology think that's just from mucus that's been swallowed. We had one instance of fecal transmission with the first SARS but it wasn't typical the way it is with other viruses and we haven't seen that with the new virus.
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There was a case of the virus being transmitted that way but it shouldn't be a concern if the plumbing is up to code with things like s-curves in the pipes. There are a lot of viruses and bacteria like norovirus and cholera that are much better at traveling that way than a coronavirus and modern toilet and sewer systems should be designed with that in mind.
I am not talking vent pipes...
Larger scale, a decent size rain can upset a wastewater treatment plant, and that is also assuming nobody is dumping waste directly into the river, intentional or otherwise.
Additionally, there have been multiple articles of detection via feces.
The water treatment plant may be redistributing the virus from an upstream contamination.
In general feces from people infected with various varieties of Coronavirus aren't infectious. You can find segments of RNA in it but, though I'm not an expert on it, the good folks at This Week in Virology think that's just from mucus that's been swallowed. We had one instance of fecal transmission with the first SARS but it wasn't typical the way it is with other viruses and we haven't seen that with the new virus.