April 16, 2020

Incidence, clinical outcomes, and transmission dynamics of hospitalized 2019 coronavirus disease among 9,596,321 individuals residing in California and Washington, United States: a prospective cohort study

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

• This study of 1,277 hospitalized, COVID-19 patients who resided in CA or WA and had Kaiser Permanente insurance identified these key characteristics: (1) older and male patients were more likely than younger or female patients to be admitted to the ICU and to die, (2) an 11-day average duration of stay for hospitalized patients and (3) a 14-day average duration of stay among non-survivors. 
• The authors also looked at transmission dynamics and found that the effective reproduction number (RE) declined in conjunction with implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions.
• Estimates of cumulative infection suggest that the western U.S. remains far from reaching a herd immunity threshold, and that hospitals should continue to ensure capacity to manage COVID-19 cases in a manner than is responsive to changes in social distancing or other pandemic-mitigating measures. 

Lewnard et al. (Apr 16, 2020). Incidence, clinical outcomes, and transmission dynamics of hospitalized 2019 coronavirus disease among 9,596,321 individuals residing in California and Washington, United States: a prospective cohort study. Pre-print downloaded Apr 16 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.12.20062943