Article Summary
October 23, 2020
The Temporal Association of Introducing and Lifting Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions with the Time-Varying Reproduction Number (R) of SARS-CoV-2: A Modelling Study across 131 Countries
A modeling study of the impacts of introducing and lifting non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on the level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission (measured as R) found that school and workplace closures, public events bans, and other social distancing requirements were associated with reduced R, though this was only significant for public events bans. The effect of introducing and…
Modeling COVID-19 Scenarios for the United States
An Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model suggests that universal mask use in the United States could save an additional 129,574 lives from September 22, 2020 through the end of February 2021, or an additional 95,814 lives assuming 85% mask adoption, when compared to the reference scenario. Three possible boundary scenarios were delineated:…
Disparities in Outpatient Visits for Mental Health and/or Substance Use Disorders during the COVID Surge and Partial Reopening in Massachusetts
Following a sharp drop in outpatient visits for mental health and/or substance use disorders early in the COVID-19 period, there was and increase in these visits over the course of the surge period in Massachusetts, supported by telemedicine, which was used in more than 80% of visits. During the surge, mental health visit volume increased…
SARS CoV-2 Surveillance and Exposure in the Perioperative Setting with Universal Testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Policies
Universal PCR-based surveillance testing for SARS-CoV-2 before surgeries or procedures at a tertiary care center in New York City identified 65 patients (0.6%) were positive out of 11,540 patients tested. The proportion of tests that were positivity peaked at 4.3% and fell below 0.3% after April 2020. Three of the 65 individuals who tested positive…
Clinical and Epidemiologic Analysis of COVID-19 Children Cases in Colombia PEDIACOVID
At the national level in Colombia, pediatric patients with more severe COVID-19 were significantly younger than those who experienced mild illness or no symptoms. A retrospective analysis found that the mean age of children who had asymptomatic infection was 9.4 years compared to a mean of 4.9 years among those with severe infection and a…
Utilization and Results of Repeat SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Testing in a Presumptive Low Prevalence Population
In a population of patients with a low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, repeat testing of negative patients who had persistent symptoms still yielded a negative result in 96% of the cases. Out of more than 5,000 patients who were tested, 4% of patients were tested more than once, and 96% of those patients were tested…
Tocilizumab in Nonventilated Patients Hospitalized with Covid-19 Pneumonia
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The randomized, placebo-controlled multi-country EMPACTA trial indicated that tocilizumab reduced the likelihood of progression to requiring mechanical ventilation or death in patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia and were not on a ventilator (n=389). The cumulative proportion of patients requiring mechanical ventilation or who had died by day 28 was 12%…
Early Use of Nitazoxanide in Mild Covid-19 Disease Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the antiparasitic drug nitazoxanide indicated that for patients with mild COVID-19, at 1-week follow-up, 78% of patients (n=194) who had received nitazoxanide and 57% who had received placebo (n=198) reported complete resolution of symptoms (p=0.048). Swabs collected were negative for SARS-CoV-2 in 30% of patients in…
Viral Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and the Predictive Value of Repeat Testing
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Prospective longitudinal testing for SARS-CoV-2 among players, staff, and vendors associated with the National Basketball Association (n=68) indicated that on average, individuals with symptomatic infection reached similar peak viral RNA concentrations to those with asymptomatic infection (cycle threshold 22.2 vs. 22.4) within similar amounts of time, but acute shedding lasted longer for…
Frequency and Duration of SARS-CoV-2 Shedding in Oral Fluid Samples Assessed by a Modified Commercial Rapid Molecular Assay
A study using the Simplexa COVID-19 Direct assays on oral fluid found that the assay had high sensitivity and specificity to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Simplexa COVID-19 Direct is a rapid assay platform that does not require additional equipment. The assay was used to test oral fluids and nasopharyngeal swab specimens collected in parallel from 164…
Previous page Next page