Article Summary
November 18, 2020
Remote Household Observation for Non-Influenza Respiratory Viral Illness
Self-collection of swabs was feasible and frequently detected respiratory viruses in a community study, including early detection of circulating SARS-CoV2. Self-collection of nasal swabs (n=678) from households in Seattle (n=303) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and during the early pandemic period (November 2019 to April 2020) found that 35% of swabs tested positive for one…
Secondary Attack Rate and Family Clustering of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children of Healthcare Workers with Confirmed COVID-19
Seropositivity against SARS-CoV-2 was found in 45% of children in households with a parent who is a healthcare worker and who had confirmed COVID-19. Secondary cases appeared to cluster in certain households, with 95% seropositivity among children in households with at least one secondary transmission. In a cohort study of 44 children from 21 households…
November 17, 2020
Trends in Outpatient Care Delivery and Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US
Analysis of private insurance claims in the US (n=16,740,365 enrollees) showed a net decrease in total medical visits from January to June 2020, with the substantial decline in in-person visits partially offset by an increase in telemedicine visits. Telemedicine visits increased from 0.8 visits to 17.8 visits per 1,000 enrollees, peaking in mid-April 2020. In-person…
Optimizing COVID-19 Control with Asymptomatic Surveillance Testing in a University Environment
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A SARS-CoV-2 transmission model parametrized to the University of California, Berkeley community found that an approach combining group size limits, rapid symptom-based isolation and contact tracing, and targeted high frequency asymptomatic surveillance testing offers the most cost-effective outbreak control. The model suggests reducing group sizes to a maximum of 12 greatly…
Prevalence of IgG Antibodies against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 among Healthcare Workers in Tennessee during May and June 2020
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was low (<1%) among a large cohort of healthcare workers (HCWs) in Tennessee (n=11,787) from May to June 2020, despite sustained community-wide transmission during the same time period. Differences in seroprevalence across facilities reflected the differences in levels of community transmissions, with higher prevalence among HCWs located in urban…
Prolonged Shedding of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Patients with COVID-19. Emerging Microbes & Infections
In a cohort of “long-term” COVID-19 patients who recovered from acute disease but still shed viral RNA for more than 3 months (n=38), the median shedding duration was 92 days. Fluctuations between positive and negative PCR tests were observed and viral loads were lower than in patients with acute infection. Most participants were elderly people…
SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Syndromes and Predictors of Disease Severity in Hospitalized Children and Youth
In a multicenter study of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (n=281), over half had respiratory disease and 69/281 (25%) had multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Obesity and low blood oxygen levels (hypoxia) on admission predicted severe respiratory disease, while lower absolute lymphocyte count predicted severe MIS-C. Neither race/ethnicity…
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Invasive Pneumococcal Disease and Risk of Pneumococcal Coinfection with SARS-CoV-2: Prospective National Cohort Study, England
A national cohort study in England found a 30% decline in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) incidence across all age groups following COVID-19 lockdowns, similar to other reported reductions in bacterial and viral infections attributable to social distancing measures. Although IPD/COVID-19 co-infections were rare (about 0.025% of SARS-CoV-2 infections), the case fatality rates were much higher…
Immunological Memory to SARS-CoV-2 Assessed for Greater than Six Months after Infection
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Different components of the immune memory against SARS-CoV-2 exhibited distinct kinetics over time in a cross-sectional study of 185 recovered COVID-19 cases. Spike IgG levels were relatively stable over >6 months, memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months than at 1 month, and CD8+ and CD4+ T cells declined…
Estimating the Cumulative Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and the Infection Fatality Ratio in Light of Waning Antibodies
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be underestimated by using cross-sectional data from serology tests without adjusting for waning antibodies. By estimating the average time from seroconversion to seroreversion and combining with population-level cross sectional data, Shioda et al. calculated the cumulative incidence to be 27% in New York City…
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