Article Summary
May 20, 2021
Incident SARS-CoV-2 Infection among mRNA-Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Nursing Home Residents
The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections among a sample of residents of nursing homes in the US who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (n=18,242, 80% Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) decreased from 4.5% within 0-14 days after the first dose to 1.4% within 15-28 days after the first dose. Cases occurring 14 or more days after the second dose…
Tocilizumab in the Treatment of COVID-19 – a Meta-Analysis
The immunosuppressive monoclonal antibody treatment tocilizumab (TCZ) was associated with a 11% reduction in risk for all-cause 28- and 30-day mortality compared to placebo/control in a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8 randomized trials, which included 6,481 patients mostly with severe but non-critical COVID-19. TCZ was also associated with reduced risk of mechanical ventilation, ICU…
Characteristics of COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks at Child Care Facilities — District of Columbia, July–December 2020
24% of 469 licensed childcare facilities in Washington, DC reported at least one SARS-CoV-2 infection from July to December 2020, but facility-associated outbreaks (defined as two or more linked cases within a facility) only occurred in 6% of facilities. Among the 316 total cases, 56% were among teachers or staff and 49% occurred during outbreaks….
May 19, 2021
Community Factors Associated With Telemedicine Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Telemedicine visits comprised 20% of total outpatient visits early in the COVID-19 pandemic (from March 18 to July 14, 2020), according to an analysis of deidentified medical claims data. Across 2,800 US counties with at least 100 Medicare Advantage enrollees, less telemedicine use (below the median) was observed in counties with a lower median income,…
Modeling the Impact of Racial and Ethnic Disparities on COVID-19 Epidemic Dynamics
A SARS-CoV-2 transmission model fitted to prevalence data on anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (n>15,000) collected in April 2021 from New York and matched with census data found that the burden of infection largely fell on minority populations until the herd immunity threshold was reached. Ma et al. (May 18, 2021). Modeling the Impact of Racial and Ethnic Disparities…
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
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 cases identified an expanding US-specific sub-lineage of the B.1.1.7 variant.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 isolates in the US belonging to this sub-lineage increased…
Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Pregnancy
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The prevalence of adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes was the same among pregnant women who received a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy and unvaccinated pregnant women (5%). Findings are based on an analysis of a delivery cohort (n=2,002) created by matching a delivery database from the Mayo Clinic with a comprehensive vaccine registry….
Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Between Urban and Rural Counties — United States, December 14, 2020–April 10, 2021
Vaccination for COVID-19 among US adults aged 18-64 years was lower in rural (39%) than urban (46%) counties as of April 10, 2021 according to administrative data reported to the CDC. Disparities persisted across age and sex. Among 46 health jurisdictions where urban-rural comparisons could be assessed, only 5 had higher coverage in rural counties…
Neutralizing Antibody Levels Are Highly Predictive of Immune Protection from Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Vaccine efficacy of 7 COVID-19 vaccines correlated well with reported vaccine-elicited neutralization titers (r=0.9), according to an analysis of phase 3 vaccine trial data. Using data from the trials and neutralization data from cohorts of convalescent patients, the authors estimated that levels of vaccine-elicited anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies required for 50% protection against detectable SARS-CoV-2 infection…
Effectiveness of BNT162b2 MRNA Vaccine and ChAdOx1 Adenovirus Vector Vaccine on Mortality Following COVID-19
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Even in the small percentage of vaccine recipients who develop symptomatic disease, vaccination with either the Pfizer-BionNTech vaccine or the Oxford-AztraZeneca vaccine conferred additional protection against death, according to analysis of data from England. Among adults aged ≥70 years with COVID-19, those vaccinated with 1 dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 1 dose…
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