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June 15, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC in Scotland: Demographics, Risk of Hospital Admission, and Vaccine Effectiveness
SARS-CoV-2 infections caused by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of concern were at increased risk of hospitalization (HR=1.9) compared to the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant after adjusting for demographics, temporal trends, and comorbidities, according to an analysis of 19,543 confirmed infections and 377 hospitalizations in Scotland from April 1 to June 6, 2021. Considering the whole population…
SARS-CoV -2 Antibody Persistence in COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Donors: Dependency on Assay Format and Applicability to Serosurveillance
SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses were shown to increase over time in a study of plasma collected up to 63-129 days following symptom resolution from 18 patients recovered from COVID-19 when using direct double Ag-sandwich assays (Ortho Total Ig and Roche Total Ig). By contrast, measurements from indirect binding assays showed a declining antibody response. Due to…
Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in All of Us Research Program Participants, January 2-March 18, 2020
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were detected in persons from diverse geographic regions in the US prior to the first syndromic cases identified by PCR, according to analysis of samples collected as part of the All of Us study. The All of Us study was started in 2018 and has enrolled a diverse population of US adults from…
Rapidly Emerging SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Sub-Lineage in the United States of America with Spike Protein D178H and Membrane Protein V70L Mutations
Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 cases identified an expanding US-specific sub-lineage of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant. This sub-lineage is characterized with sequential acquisition of a membrane protein mutation, V20L, in November 2020 and a spike mutation, D178H, in early February 2021. The proportion of B.1.1.7 (Alpha) isolates in the US belonging to this sub-lineage increased from…
June 14, 2021
An Investigation of Associations Between Race, Ethnicity, and Past Experiences of Discrimination with Medical Mistrust and COVID-19 Protective Strategies
An online cross-sectional survey conducted in May 2020 (n=963) found that experiencing structural discrimination was associated with higher health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, while everyday discrimination was associated with more general medical mistrust but not with health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. In addition, higher endorsement of health-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, but not general medical mistrust, was associated…
Deaths Involving COVID-19 by Disability Status a Retrospective Analysis of 29 Million Adults during the First Two Waves of the Coronavirus Pandemic in England
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A cohort study of over 29 million adults in the UK found that compared to people without disabilities, mortality involving COVID-19 was higher both among people who self-identified as more-disabled (HR=3.1) and less-disabled (HR=1.9). Between January 24, 2020 and February 28, 2021, >100,000 people in the UK died from COVID-19-related causes, 58%…
Effect of Specific Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention Policies on SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in the Counties of the United States
A modeling study estimating the impact of different non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) policies on the SARS-CoV-2 effective reproduction number (Reff) found that NPIs that included closure of schools and leisure activities and nursing home visiting bans were all associated with a median Reff below 1 when combined with either stay at home orders (median Reff 0.97) or face…
Spatial Accessibility Modeling of Vaccine Deserts as Barriers to Controlling SARS-CoV-2 Transmission
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A modeling study showed that the early SARS-CoV-2 vaccine allocation (February 19 and March 17, 2021) in the US created “vaccine deserts” – areas with localized, geographic barriers to vaccine-associated herd immunity – which the authors suggest may impact population-wide efforts to curb SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Using an empirically-parameterized spatial accessibility model that…
Comparison of Symptoms and RNA Levels in Children and Adults With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Community Setting
SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels, as determined by cycle threshold (Ct) values, were significantly higher in symptomatic compared to asymptomatic individuals, and no significant differences in RNA levels were detected between adults and children, according to results from a community-based cross-sectional study in King County, Washington. Among 555 SARS-CoV-2–positive participants, 47 of 123 children (38%) were asymptomatic…
International Analysis of Electronic Health Records of Children and Youth Hospitalized With COVID-19 Infection in 6 Countries
A cohort study of children and adolescents (n=671) from France, Germany, Spain, Singapore, the UK, and the US found varying trends in COVID-19 hospitalizations and complications between countries, with hospitalizations in the cohort mirroring those of national-level pediatric hospitalization trends for most countries with available data. Laboratory values for 16 assays were analyzed, which indicated…
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