Gradual recovery of building plumbing-associated microbial communities after extended periods of altered water demand during the COVID-19 pandemic

Building closures related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in increased water stagnation in commercial building plumbing systems that heightened concerns related to the microbiological safety of drinking water post re-opening. In this study tap water samples were analyzed using full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing to evaluate changes in microbial communities with extended periods of altered water demand, starting the month of phased reopening (i.e., June 2020).