COVID-19 Literature Situation Report May 29, 2020

• Carnino et al. demonstrated that household paper towels pretreated with a salt-based solution for as little as 10 minutes may provide similar protection against viral-sized particles compared with a medical grade mask. This suggests pretreated inexpensive materials might be used to complement homemade, surgical, or N95 masks to increase their lifespan and effectiveness.  

Carnino et al. (May 25, 2020). Pretreated Household Materials Carry Similar Filtration Protection against Pathogens When Compared with Surgical Masks. American Journal of Infection Control. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.05.024 

• A critical review of alcohol-based sanitizing products reported that hand sanitation is a main preventive measure during the COVID-19 pandemic and consumer demand is likely to remain high until widespread pharmacological measures are available. The presence of substandard products on the market (i.e., not meeting 60-95% ethanol content) points to the need for customer counseling, awareness campaigns, and review by regulatory bodies. 

Berardi et al. (May 16, 2020). Hand Sanitisers amid CoViD-19: A Critical Review of Alcohol-Based Products on the Market and Formulation Approaches to Respond to Increasing Demand. International Journal of Pharmaceutics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2020.119431 

• Syndromic surveillance, virus surveillance, phylogenetic analysis, and retrospectively identified cases provide evidence that sustained community transmission in the US may have begun before the detection of the first two non-travel related US cases in late February 2020, likely from a single importation from China, followed by several importations from Europe. 

Jorden et al. (May 29, 2020). Evidence for Limited Early Spread of COVID-19 Within the United States, January – February 2020. MMWR. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6922e1 

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] Contrary to earlier conclusions, based on phylogenetic analysis, Worobey et al. conclude that the first SARS-CoV-2 case identified in Washington State in January 2020 was not linked to outbreaks that occurred weeks later. Rather, the subsequent outbreak was due to a separate later importation from China. The authors speculate that the rapid public health response may have prevented an earlier outbreak. 

Worobey et al. (May 23, 2020). The Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe and the US. Preprint downloaded May 29 from. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.109322  

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] Jin et al. used a weighted risk-score to characterize the distribution of risk for COVID-19 mortality for populations across 442 large US cities and found that though 1.34 million individuals are at a 10-fold higher risk than the general population, the majority of deaths will still occur outside these high–risk groups. The authors suggest that targeted interventions for high–risk groups such as shielding do not fully substitute for broader community–level interventions such as social distancing. 

Jin et al. (May 29, 2020). Estimating the Size of High-Risk Populations for COVID-19 Mortality across 442 US Cities. Preprint downloaded May 29 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.27.20115170 

• Huff et al. completed a narrative review summarizing emerging evidence that SARS-CoV-2 transmission is likely high during pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic phases. Data from settings with universal testing, such as in a homeless shelter in Boston and on the US Navy aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt indicate that a high proportion of individuals test positive without reporting symptoms. The authors conclude that there is a need to shift from testing of persons with symptoms to universal testing of exposed individuals. 

Huff and Singh. (May 28, 2020). Asymptomatic Transmission during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications for Public Health Strategies. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa654  

• Aaby et al. review studies showing that live vaccines like BCG have non-specific effects including protection against respiratory and viral infections, and that females develop a greater antibody response to BCG. There is no conclusive evidence, however, that BCG vaccination provides non-specific protection against COVID-19, and social justice issues could arise from shifting BCG vaccine supplies from low– to high–income countries. 

Aaby et al. (May 27, 2020). The Non-Specific and Sex-Differential Effects of Vaccines. Nature Reviews Immunology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-0338-x 

• Investigators in Paris, France found that pulmonary embolism identified by post-mortem CT was much higher among those who had unexplained deaths during the COVID-19 outbreak compared to a control group who had unexplained deaths in 2019. Furthermore, the prevalence of unexplained deaths was much higher during the COVID-19 outbreak compared to 2019. These results suggest the need for additional PPE when handling bodies of persons whose death was unexplained, and that pulmonary embolism should be explored in patients with severe COVID-19. 

Benzakoun et al. (May 28, 2020). Excess Out-of-Hospital Deaths during COVID-19 Outbreak: Evidence of Pulmonary Embolism as a Main Determinant. European Journal of Heart Failure. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.1916  

• Among 91 medical residency programs, representing 2,306 residents around New York City, 45.1% of programs report at least one resident with confirmed COVID-19. These include 101 residents with confirmed positive tests (2 of whom were hospitalized), and 163 residents who were presumed positive but not tested. Anesthesiology, emergency medicine, and ophthalmology appeared to cluster as high-risk specialties based on the proportion of residents with confirmed COVID-19. Mask reuse or extended mask use was reported by 90 out of 91 programs, while 43 programs reported suboptimal PPE. 

Breazzano et al. (May 28, 2020). New York City COVID-19 Resident Physician Exposure during Exponential Phase of Pandemic. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI139587 

• Vizcarra et al. compared the characteristics of 51 HIV–infected individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in Spain to 1,288 HIV-infected individuals not diagnosed with COVID-19 and found that age and CD4 cell count were similar between the groups, but that a greater proportion of persons with COVID-19 had at least one comorbidity (63% vs. 38%). The clinical and radiological presentation of COVID-19 was similar to that described in the general population.  

Vizcarra et al. (May 28, 2020). Description of COVID-19 in HIV-Infected Individuals: A Single-Centre, Prospective Cohort. The Lancet HIV. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(20)30164-8   

• [pre-print, not peer reviewed] Chernozhukov et al. constructed counterfactual causal models to evaluate the dynamic impact of various policies on behavioral responses relevant to COVID-19 control. They concluded that these policies (e.g., school, business, and restaurant closures) explain a large fraction of observed changes in social distancing behavior. They estimate that if all policies had been removed on April 1, it would have led to an additional 30– to 200-fold more cases and that nationally mandating face masks would have led to 30%-57% fewer reported cases by late May. 

Chernozhukov et al. (May 29, 2020). Causal Impact of Masks Policies Behavior on Early Covid-19 Pandemic in the U.S. Preprint downloaded May 29 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.27.20115139