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Nasal swabs and saliva are conventional methods for detection of SARS-CoV-2, but the virus is also present in feces. Therefore, fecal material in wastewater samples could be used to track community dynamics of the virus. To do that, Brumfield et al. (2022) collected wastewater samples from manholes and then processed them for microbial genome sequencing...

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants is important for disease monitoring and assessing the evolution of the virus. Additionally, variant monitoring is also important for accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 lineages, which helps with predicting the prognosis of disease and making treatment decisions. Until recently, assigning epidemiological SARS-CoV-2 lineages has been challenging due to the small number of sequenced...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, new and various SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged, affecting morbidity, mortality and effectiveness of the initial COVID-19 vaccines. Despite the effectiveness of vaccines, cases have increased due to a combination of pandemic fatigue and  a sense of security in a growing number of vaccinated people. This puts unvaccinated health care workers...