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Essentially not at all, unless they have a weird enough mutation that they produce some protein unique to them. They're tracking this person because the only th

Essentially not at all, unless they have a weird enough mutation that they produce some protein unique to them. They're tracking this person because the only thing they know about them is the strain of covid they have. If you have a target in mind, literally any other method would be better than getting close enough to sample their shit and then running away and only tracking them on a long delay.

prepend 3y ago
So first you have to tag someone with a unique pathogen that is subclinical and doesn’t transmit to others. But I guess if you have that level of access to someone, you can track in other ways. But I think we’re a few decades away from being able to quickly hash every human gene to fingerprint individual dnas within huge populations.
- bastawhiz 3y ago
  The amount of testing (and testing with accuracy) would be extremely high. Even if it's possible, I can't imagine the cost would be remotely feasible given the sheer number of ways to track someone without searching for their poop in sewers.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    Maybe you're thinking the wrong direction... For example looking for populations that aren't leaving houses.
    - jstanley 3y ago
      If you're trying to track someone who doesn't leave their house, don't you already know where they are?
      - cypherpunks01 3y ago
        When I asked above, I was thinking about the problem of locating someone who you know well, but you just have no clue where they are. Something along the lines of nationwide decades-long hunt for the Unabomber, but in an alternate timeline where 1. his identity and his DNA (or his brother's) were known, but his location was not, and 2. he did not live in an off-grid cabin, but instead somewhere connected to a wastewater treatment plant, or regularly showed up in one. It's a far-fetched scenario, but I don't know enough about the breakdown of DNA in wastewater to know if it'd be possible to locate him via this method. If he wasn't shedding a unique strain of a virus, let's say, but where his genetics are known. This researcher explained to a reporter how they conducted a binary search of sewer lines from the treatment plant, all the way back to a single manhole which was only fed by a single employer with 30 employees. I just don't know if this is only possible using viral RNA, or if anyone's DNA would be possible to search on in a similar manner. For good public health reasons, we're likely to have continual wastewater surveillance at all major plants going forward - I just don't know how far it could be pushed.
        bastawhiz 3y ago
        Again, that's an incredible amount of testing and cost to identify poop in a public sewer system rather than identifying literally anything else. How do you have someone's DNA and identity but not their location? Who is this person that leaves no trace (financial, digital, social) except for feces? Like hypothetically yes, it's possible. But what real scenario could possibly make it even remotely feasible?
        lalopalota 3y ago
        Brother: "Hey, the guy you are looking for is my brother, Ted. Here's a sample of my DNA, my parents' DNA, and Ted's baby teeth. He lives somewhere in Atlanta, probably using a false identity."
- ssnistfajen 3y ago
  Someoone shedding this much viral load to reach detectable levels in municipal sewage is almost certainly not having healthy bodily functions. It'd be pretty noticeable for most victims that they've been infected with something bad unless they have pre-existing immunocompromised conditions.
deleted 3y ago
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prepend 3y ago

So first you have to tag someone with a unique pathogen that is subclinical and doesn’t transmit to others. But I guess if you have that level of access to someone, you can track in other ways. But I think we’re a few decades away from being able to quickly hash every human gene to fingerprint individual dnas within huge populations.

bastawhiz 3y ago
The amount of testing (and testing with accuracy) would be extremely high. Even if it's possible, I can't imagine the cost would be remotely feasible given the sheer number of ways to track someone without searching for their poop in sewers.
- pixl97 3y ago
  Maybe you're thinking the wrong direction... For example looking for populations that aren't leaving houses.
  - jstanley 3y ago
    If you're trying to track someone who doesn't leave their house, don't you already know where they are?
    - cypherpunks01 3y ago
      When I asked above, I was thinking about the problem of locating someone who you know well, but you just have no clue where they are. Something along the lines of nationwide decades-long hunt for the Unabomber, but in an alternate timeline where 1. his identity and his DNA (or his brother's) were known, but his location was not, and 2. he did not live in an off-grid cabin, but instead somewhere connected to a wastewater treatment plant, or regularly showed up in one. It's a far-fetched scenario, but I don't know enough about the breakdown of DNA in wastewater to know if it'd be possible to locate him via this method. If he wasn't shedding a unique strain of a virus, let's say, but where his genetics are known. This researcher explained to a reporter how they conducted a binary search of sewer lines from the treatment plant, all the way back to a single manhole which was only fed by a single employer with 30 employees. I just don't know if this is only possible using viral RNA, or if anyone's DNA would be possible to search on in a similar manner. For good public health reasons, we're likely to have continual wastewater surveillance at all major plants going forward - I just don't know how far it could be pushed.
      - bastawhiz 3y ago
        Again, that's an incredible amount of testing and cost to identify poop in a public sewer system rather than identifying literally anything else. How do you have someone's DNA and identity but not their location? Who is this person that leaves no trace (financial, digital, social) except for feces? Like hypothetically yes, it's possible. But what real scenario could possibly make it even remotely feasible?
        lalopalota 3y ago
        Brother: "Hey, the guy you are looking for is my brother, Ted. Here's a sample of my DNA, my parents' DNA, and Ted's baby teeth. He lives somewhere in Atlanta, probably using a false identity."
ssnistfajen 3y ago
Someoone shedding this much viral load to reach detectable levels in municipal sewage is almost certainly not having healthy bodily functions. It'd be pretty noticeable for most victims that they've been infected with something bad unless they have pre-existing immunocompromised conditions.

deleted 3y ago

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