SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected people who experience incarceration in state or federal run correctional facilities. To mitigate transmission and disease burden, US state and federal Departments of Correction (DOCs) implemented vaccine programs in the winter of 2020–2021. However, vaccine hesitancy is common among incarcerated populations due to distrust of the medical community and uncertainty around vaccine effectiveness.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been presenting in periodic waves and multiple variants, of which some dominated over time with increased transmissibility. SARS-CoV-2 is still adapting in the human population, thus it is crucial to understand its evolutionary patterns and dynamics ahead of time. In this work, we analyzed transmission clusters and topology of SARSCoV-2 phylogenies at the global, regional (North America) and clade-specific (Delta and Omicron) epidemic scales.

University of Florida researchers are refining wastewater surveillance techniques—a public health tool dating to the 1940s—to monitor cities, neighborhoods, and individual buildings for traces of COVID-19, fentanyl, and pesticides.

A UF mathematician collaborates with Yale School of Public Health researchers to evaluate the agreement of results between PCR testing and 18 commercially available rapid antigen tests for decision-making in remote work settings on when to end an individual's quarantine.

UF researchers find particles from virus that causes COVID are transported beyond quarantine spaces due to airborne nature.

UF researchers determined how long children remain infectious with the omicron viral variant after receiving a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2.

UF medical geographer Sadie Ryan makes the case that we need to better study human-to-wildlife viral transmission factors to better understand "spillback" events. How do we know when spillback will threaten species conservation — or fuel the next pandemic?

UF researchers updated their model projecting how an omicron-driven surge may unfold in Florida over the next few weeks and months. (This version supersedes the model information published Dec. 17, 2021.)

UF researchers created a model projecting how various omicron-driven surge scenarios may unfold in Florida over the next few months.

A new model compares how various rapid antigen tests could be optimized with quarantine and surveillance efforts to reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.