Weekly Rounds with Infection Control Today: Flu or Omicron?, Animals Incubate COVID-19, Pandemic Might End in March

Here are 5 highlights from ICT®’s wide-ranging coverage of the infection prevention and control world. Everything from interviews with known opinion leaders, to the news that infection preventionists and other health care professionals can use on their jobs.

Flu or Omicron? Diagnosis Must be Done Quickly

The highly transmissible and dominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 places added pressure on infection preventionists and other clinicians to determine just what they’re dealing with.

COVID-19 Infecting White Tail Deer To Create Transmission Danger

COVID-19 seems to be present in many white-tail deer. The danger posed by that includes COVID-19 mutating into a new variant that reinfects humans, says a study.

Spring Break? COVID-19 May Finally Become Endemic by Mid-March

Some experts see Omicron starting to peak in the U.S., and “normal” may soon return. In the meantime, unfortunately, be prepared for a rough month or so.

Infection Preventionists Can Only Lend a Shoulder to Overworked Nurses

There’s not much IPs can do to help nurses who battle the Omicron surge except urge hospital administrators to listen to their grievances.

Animal Farms: COVID-19 Doesn’t Need Humans to Survive

Animal infection sets the stage for an independent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 which, after an extended evolutionary period, can jump back to humans causing disease with an unpredictable infectivity and case fatality rate.