Article Summary
January 29, 2021
The effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 on symptomatology re-infection and transmissibility
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] No association was found between the proportion of the UK SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 in circulation and reported disease severity, according to data obtained from reporting of symptoms and test results via the COVID Symptom Study application. The authors controlled for both demographic characteristics (age, sex) and seasonal variables (temperature, humidity). No effects…
Outcomes of COVID-19 Among Hospitalized Health Care Workers in North America
Health care workers (HCWs) hospitalized with COVID-19 were less likely to require admission to an intensive care unit (aOR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9) and less likely to be admitted for 7 days or longer (aOR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.8) when compared to matched non-healthcare workers in a retrospective, observational cohort involving 36 North American centers….
Duration of SARS-CoV-2 Sero-Positivity in a Large Longitudinal Sero-Surveillance Cohort The COVID-19 Community Research Partnership
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Follow-up of 11,468 adults with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection found that serological evidence of previous infection, specifically the presence of either IgG or IgM antibodies, waned quickly over time, with roughly 50% of people undergoing sero-reversion within 30 days of their initial positive test. The rate of sero-reversion was not associated…
The effectiveness of the first dose of BNT162 b 2 vaccine in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infection 13-24 days after immunization real-world evidence
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The first dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer–BioNTech) is associated with an approximately 51% reduction in the incidence of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections at 13 to 24 days after immunization compared to the rate during the first 12 days. These findings are based on a retrospective cohort study in Israel (December…
SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 is susceptible to neutralizing antibodies elicited by ancestral Spike vaccines
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Using a lentivirus-based pseudovirus assay, the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant was shown to exhibit only modestly reduced susceptibility to neutralization from convalescent sera (1.5-fold average reduction) and sera from recipients of both the Moderna and Novavax vaccine phase 1 studies (2-fold average reduction after two inoculations. The authors used the prototypic D614G…
Johnson & Johnson Announces Single-Shot Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Met Primary Endpoints in Interim Analysis of its Phase 3 ENSEMBLE Trial
[Press release, not peer-reviewed] The Johnson and Johnson single-dose COVID-19 candidate vaccine had 66% efficacy against moderate to severe COVID-19, based on a press release describing the phase 3 clinical trial results from the ENSEMBLE trial. Among all participants including those infected with an emerging viral variant the vaccine prevented moderate to severe COVID-19 28…
Characteristics and outcomes of clinically diagnosed RT-PCR swab negative COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study
One in five symptomatic patients admitted to the medical department who had a negative SARS-CoV-2 swab received a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 according to a retrospective cohort study from two large London hospitals. Swab-negative clinical COVID-19 cases were defined as (a) clinical COVID-19 or high level of suspicion as defined by the treating medical team…
A Rapid and Low-Cost protocol for the detection of B.1.1.7 lineage of SARS-CoV-2 by using SYBR Green-Based RT-qPCR
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Abdel-Sater et al. reported the development of a rapid molecular test to identify the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant using a set of RT-PCR primers that were designed to confirm the deletion mutations Δ69/Δ70 in the spike and the Δ106/Δ107/Δ108 in the NSP6 gene. The large-scale screening method may help bypass the need…
Trends in Outbreak-Associated Cases of COVID-19 — Wisconsin, March–November 2020
COVID-19 cases linked to outbreaks on college campuses in Wisconsin increased rapidly in August 2020, and were followed by outbreaks at long-term care facilities, correctional facilities, and colleges/universities. From May 13–September 2, long-term care facilities (2,850 cases; 21%) and manufacturing or food processing facilities (2,672 cases; 20%) accounted for the largest number of outbreak-associated cases,…
Response to a COVID-19 Outbreak on a University Campus — Indiana, August 2020
After an outbreak of 371 cases of COVID-19 on an Indiana university campus, the university was able to rapidly decrease new cases and gradually return to in-person learning by implementing aggressive transmission mitigation policies. These included aggressive testing, tracing, and isolation program, switching to online instruction for 2 weeks, mandating masks and physical distancing, developing…
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