Article Summary
October 28, 2020
Saliva Is a Promising Alternative Specimen for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Children and Adults
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Paired testing between nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) and saliva samples from 300 patients (including both pediatric and adult patients) showed that the concordance of saliva and NPS samples was 91.0% and 94.7%, respectively. The positive percent agreement was 81.4% (79/97) and 89.7% (87/97), respectively. The authors suggest that saliva can be an…
Head-to-Head Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antigen-Detecting Rapid Test with Self-Collected Anterior Nasal Swab versus Professional-Collected Nasopharyngeal Swab
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A direct comparison between the STANDARD Q-COVID-19 Antigen Test (Ag-RDT) (Roche) and an approved RT-PCR (Roche Cobas) in samples obtained from 289 ambulatory participants demonstrated that the sensitivity of Ag-RDT with a supervised, self-collected anterior nasal swab sampling was 74.4% and specificity was 99.2%. The sensitivity with a professional-collected nasopharyngeal swab…
COVID-19 Infections Following Physical School Reopening
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A study examining the effect of school re-opening on county-level COVID-19 incidence in Florida reported that counties with in-person instruction experienced a 16% increase in SARS-CoV-2 incidence at day 20 after school reopening among children age 6-13 years (from 11 to 12.8 per 100,000) and an increase of 27% among children…
COVID-19 Infections Following Outdoor Mass Gatherings in Low Incidence Areas Retrospective Cohort Study
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Among 20 counties in the US in which mass-gathering rallies associated with presidential campaigns were held (19 outdoor and 1 indoor) during August-September 2020, the COVID-19 incidence increased from 8.6 per 100,000 capita at the time of the gathering to 12.8 per 100,000 capita 15 days after the gathering (average of…
October 27, 2020
Decarcerating Correctional Facilities during COVID-19
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a report of best practices for implementing decarceration (release of inmates and detainees) as a strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities. Recommendations include diverting individuals from incarceration by avoiding pre-trial detention and prioritization of non-custodial penalties. They advise correctional officials to work…
Hospitalizations for Chronic Disease and Acute Conditions in the Time of COVID-19
A retrospective study of admissions to 4 hospitals in a New York health system found a substantial decrease in non-COVID-19 hospitalizations across a range of diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have been due in part to patient avoidance of emergency care for fear of COVID-19. Compared to baseline data from 2018 and 2019,…
Hospital Volumes of 5 Medical Emergencies in the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2 US Medical Centers
There were significant drops in the daily caseload of 4 common medical emergencies after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on analysis of data from March 2018 to May 2020 from 2 academic medical centers in New York and California. Reductions in the average daily volume for acute MI (heart attack), ischemic stroke, nontraumatic…
Effect of Timing of and Adherence to Social Distancing Measures on COVID-19 Burden in the United States
An agent-based model applied to New York City (NYC), Milwaukee metro area, and Dane County, WI shows that the timing of and adherence to social distancing measures could have major effects on COVID-19 occurrence. Implementing measures in NYC 1 week earlier would have reduced the number of cases by 80%, while a 1-week delay in…
EXPRESS: Stroke in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A meta-analysis of 61 studies (108,571 patients) found a 1.4% prevalence of acute cerebrovascular disease (CVD) among patients with COVID-19. The most common manifestation was acute ischemic stroke (87.4%). Patients developing acute CVD were older and more likely to have pre-existing vascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and coronary artery disease. Nannoni et al….
Longitudinal Observation and Decline of Neutralizing Antibody Responses in the Three Months Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Humans
A longitudinal study that followed 65 SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals up to 94 days post onset of symptoms found that the neutralizing antibody (nAb) response to SARS-CoV-2 is typical of an acute viral infection, with an initial peak whose magnitude is dependent upon disease severity, followed by declining titers. Some infected individuals with a high peak…
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