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With the aim of describing the association between sociodemographic characteristics and contextual factors with COVID-19 mortality during 2020-2021 in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan in Argentina, we conducted an ecological study, which included the sociodemographic factors: age, sex and educational level, and the contextual factors: poverty and urbanization at the departmental level. The analyses were estimated using negative binomial Bayesian hierarchical models. Educational inequalities existed regardless of socioeconomic context and level of urbanization. The exception was the age group 65 years and older during 2021, which, regardless of educational level, showed a higher risk of death by COVID-19 in departments with high levels of structural poverty. In conclusion, educational inequality is an indicator of social inequality that increases vulnerability to COVID-19 mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objetive. To identify the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater from hospitals in Peru. Materials and methods. Water samples were collected from the effluents of nine hospitals in Peru during March and September 2022. SARS-CoV-2 was identified by using Illumina sequencing. Variant, lineage and clade assignments were carried out using the Illumina and Nextclado tools. We verified whether the SARS-CoV-2 variants obtained from wastewater were similar to those reported by the National Institute of Health of Peru from patients during the same period and region. Results. Eighteen of the 20 hospital wastewater samples (90%) provided sequences of sufficient quality to be classified as the Omicron variant according to the WHO classification. Among them, six (30%) were assigned by Nextclade to clades 21K lineage BA.1.1 (n=1), 21L lineage BA.2 (n=2), and 22B lineages BA.5.1 (n=2) and BA .5.5 (n=1). Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2 variants were found in hospital wastewater samples and were similar to those reported by the surveillance system in patients during the same weeks and geographic areas. Wastewater monitoring could provide information on the environmental and temporal variation of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]