In September 2021, a cluster of 6 patients with nosocomial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were identified in a transplant unit. A visitor and 11 healthcare workers also tested positive for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Genomic sequencing identified 3 separate introductions of SARS-CoV-2 with related transmission among the identified patients and healthcare workers.

In rediscovering the interpenetration of popular culture and politics in Latin America, and thus the ways these realms mutually constitute one another, scholars have also witnessed the analytic irruption of one particular cultural field: religion. Close attention to grassroots political culture allows us to probe how people's spiritual subjectivity and political subjectivity overlap and cross-fertilize one another. In the process, religion shapes political outcomes in ways often unintended. Two further analytic insights are discussed: First, analysis of lived religion must partially decenter religious institutions from the focus of analysis but also pay attention to how institutions shape spiritual and political subjectivities. Second, our theoretical frameworks—while rightly rejecting dominant Western forms of anti-body dualism—must preserve analytic place for a realm of human experience termed here “embodied dualism” or “experiential dualism.”

Seabirds are declining globally and are one of the most threatened groups of birds. To halt or reverse this decline they need protection both on land and at sea, requiring site-based conservation initiatives based on seabird abundance and diversity. The Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) programme is a method of identifying the most important places for birds based on globally agreed standardised criteria and thresholds. However, while great strides have been made identifying terrestrial sites, at-sea identification is lacking. The Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean, supports four terrestrial IBAs (tIBAs) and two proposed marine IBAs (mIBAs). The mIBAs are seaward extensions to breeding colonies based on outdated information and, other types of mIBA have not been explored. Here, we review the proposed seaward extension mIBAs using up-to-date seabird status and distribution information and, use global positioning system (GPS) tracking from Red-footed Booby Sula sula – one of the most widely distributed breeding seabirds on the archipelago – to identify any pelagic mIBAs. We demonstrate that due to overlapping boundaries of seaward extension to breeding colony and pelagic areas of importance there is a single mIBA in the central Indian Ocean that lays entirely within the Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area (MPA). Covering 62,379 km2 it constitutes ~10% of the MPA and if designated, would become the 11th largest mIBA in the world and 4th largest in the Indian Ocean. Our research strengthens the evidence of the benefits of large-scale MPAs for the protection of marine predators and provides a scientific foundation stone for marine biodiversity hotspot research in the central Indian Ocean.

Background: In late September 2021, a cluster of patients with nosocomial COVID-19 was identified on a liver transplant unit at University of Nebraska Medical Center. Methods: The outbreak investigation included contact tracing via patient chart and employee health record reviews and serial prevalence testing for SARS-CoV-2 among potentially exposed patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). Routine admission and preprocedural screening for SARS-CoV-2 was performed, and involved patients had negative admission screening results with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests >5 days from admission. Mitigation strategies involved reinforcement of patient care and visitation procedures. Whole-genome sequencing of positive SARS-CoV-2 specimens was conducted. Results: The potential outbreak cluster included 6 patients in the same quadrant of the liver transplant unit, 1 visitor, and 11 healthcare workers (Fig. 1). Moreover, 4 patients had severe liver disease, including 2 with liver transplants. All HCWs and half of the patients had received 2 doses of mRNA vaccine, albeit >5 months from their second vaccination. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed patients 1–6 and HCWs 1–3 had related transmission of COVID-19. However, infections in HCWs 4–6, who worked in a transplant-related office setting without patient contact, were due to 2 separate introductions of SARS-CoV-2 unrelated to the hospital outbreak. Sequencing could not be performed on HCWs 7–11 due to low viral concentration in the original specimens or unavailable specimen. The SARS-CoV-2 δ (delta) variant (B.1.617.2) was identified in all sequenced samples. HCWs 8–10 were asymptomatic and had had contact with each other and had been involved with an intubation without proper PPE for SARS-CoV-2 on patient 6. HCW 8 had had contact with all 6 patients and HCW 9 had had contact with 5 patients. A clear index case could not be identified; however, we suspect that the index case was either visitor 1, who tested positive during patient 2’s admission, or an asymptomatic healthcare worker (HCWs 8–10). Conclusions: We identified a nosocomial outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 δ (delta) variant in a solid-organ transplant unit including patients, a visitor, and vaccinated healthcare workers with multiple introductions of the virus. Further transmission was not detected after enhanced infection control measures were introduced, including universal masking and eye protection, closing patient doors, and enforcement of visitor masking policy. We describe the difficulties tracing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the hospital setting, even with advanced sequencing techniques. This outbreak highlights the importance of booster vaccination and strict infection control practices, especially in the setting of the δ (delta) variant.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.