Article Summary
November 25, 2020
Disaggregating Asian Race Reveals COVID-19 Disparities among Asian Americans at New York City’s Public Hospital System
[Pre-print; not peer-reviewed] A retrospective analysis of 85,328 patients tested for COVID-19 at New York City’s public hospital system between March and May of 2020 found that among Asian American patients, South Asian patients had the highest rates of SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Patients of South Asian descent also had higher rates of comorbid conditions such as…
Effect of Hot Zone Infection Outbreaks on the Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Spread in the Community at Large
[Pre-print; not peer-reviewed] A mathematical modeling study of SARS-CoV-2 transmission described two types of SARS-CoV-2 “hot zones” that may be important in understanding community transmission. The first type of “static hot zone” modeled included nursing homes, prisons, and other places in which the same people repeatedly interact. The model found that even if community transmission…
Evaluating the Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Long-Term Care Residents’ Mental Health: A Data-Driven Approach in New Brunswick
Implementation of lockdown policies was not significantly associated with measures of depression, delirium, or behavioral problems among residents (n=765) of seven long-term care facilities in Canada between January and June. In-person visits and group activities were restricted in March 2020. Strategies to keep residents connected to family included use of iPads for video chatting and…
Nurses’ Burnout and Associated Risk Factors during the COVID-19 Pandemic a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
[Pre-print; not peer-reviewed] A systematic review of 14 studies examining burnout symptoms among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic found that roughly 34% of the 17,390 nurses included reported experiencing emotional exhaustion. Increased burnout was associated with being younger, having decreased social support, having a relative or friend diagnosed with COVID-19, and working in a high-risk…
Higher Viral Loads in Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients Might Be the Invisible Part of the Iceberg
By comparing viral loads of asymptomatic and symptomatic laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients in samples obtained on admission to a hospital, researchers found that asymptomatic patients had higher SARSCoV-2 viral loads than symptomatic patients. Viral loads decreased with increasing disease severity. Viral loads of patients with at least one comorbidity (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, malignancy, chronic pulmonary disease)…
Implementation of Hospital Practices Supportive of Breastfeeding in the Context of COVID-19 — United States, July 15–August 20, 2020
During summer 2020, 18% of hospitals reported that in-person lactation support for new mothers had decreased. An analysis of data from 1,344 US hospitals indicated that hospitals were attempting to balance evidence-based practices to support breastfeeding with SARS-CoV-2 infection control measures. For mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, 14% of hospitals discouraged and 7% prohibited…
Estimated SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in the US as of September 2020
A repeated cross-sectional study carried out in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico found that although SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence varied between 1% and 23%, fewer than 10% of people nationally had detectable antibodies. A total of 177,919 samples were obtained during four periods between July 27 and September 24, 2020 from…
Decline in SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies After Mild Infection Among Frontline Health Care Personnel in a Multistate Hospital Network — 12 States, April–August 2020
Among 156 frontline health care personnel who had positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody test results in spring 2020, 146 (94%) experienced a decline in antibody concentrations at repeat testing approximately 60 days later. In addition, 28% had seroreverted (negative antibody test). Individuals with higher initial antibody responses were more likely to have antibodies detected at the follow-up…
A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Hydroxychloroquine for Prevention of Covid-19
An open-label, cluster-randomized trial of healthy contacts of patients with PCR–confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in Spain found that hydroxychloroquine did not prevent infection or symptomatic COVID-19 in these individuals. The incidence of PCR-confirmed, symptomatic COVID-19 was similar between those who received hydroxychloroquine and those who received usual care (5.7% and 6.2%, respectively; RR = 0.86). Hydroxychloroquine…
The Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Tests in the View of Large-Scale Testing
A comparison of two point-of-care antigen tests to PCR testing concluded that the low sensitivity of antigen testing contributes to a significant risk of false negatives when used in symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. The two antigen tests exhibited sensitivities of 0.66 and 0.62 among all COVID-19 patients, 0.74 and 0.69 among symptomatic patients, and…
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