Article Summary
August 31, 2020
Acceptability of a COVID-19 Vaccine among Adults in the United States: How Many People Would Get Vaccinated?
Sixty-nine percent of respondents to an online survey targeting American adults (n=2,006) were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Participants were more likely to get vaccinated if they thought their healthcare provider would recommend vaccination (RR=1.73) or if they described their political affiliation as moderate (RR=1.09) or liberal (RR=1.14) compared to people who identified as…
Antibody Profiles According to Mild or Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Atlanta, Georgia
Examining both IgG and IgM against multiple SARS-CoV-2 antigens may better inform vaccine studies than focusing on a single antibody. Among patients with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections, IgM levels increased early after symptom onset for those with either mild (n=15) or severe (n=28) COVID-19 disease, but IgG levels increased early only in those with severe disease….
COVID-19 Re-Infection by a Phylogenetically Distinct SARS-Coronavirus-2 Strain Confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing
A second episode of infection following recovery from an initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was observed in a patient from Hong Kong who was re-infected after traveling to Europe. The two episodes were confirmed by sequencing of the viral strains from each episode, which occurred 4.5 months apart. The patient was described as being in good health…
Genomic Evidence for a Case of Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2
Tillett et al. found evidence of SARS-CoV-2 re-infection by identifying two viruses with distinct genetic sequences corresponding to two different periods of illness in the same person. The two positive specimens were collected 48 days apart from a patient in Nevada. In between collection of the two positive samples, the patient made a full symptomatic…
Saliva or Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens for Detection of SARS-CoV-2
Wyllie et al. found that self-collected saliva specimens have similar sensitivity to clinician-collected nasopharyngeal specimens for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 during hospitalization. At 1 to 5 days after diagnosis by RT-PCR testing on nasopharyngeal swabs (n=70), 81% of the saliva samples were positive, compared to 71% of the nasopharyngeal swab samples. Wyllie et al. (Aug…
Safety Update: COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma in 20,000 Hospitalized Patients
Severe adverse events related to transfusion of convalescent plasma were rare (<1%) among a sample of 20,000 adult patients with severe or life-threatening lab-confirmed COVID-19 who received convalescent plasma treatment. A total of 141(<1%) people experienced serious adverse events (SAEs) related to the transfusion of convalescent plasma within four hours of the procedure and an…
Low Utility of Repeat Real-Time PCR Testing for SARS-CoV-2 in Clinical Specimens
Among people retested for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR within 7-days of a negative test (n=1,113), 2% had a positive result. Challener et al. conclude that the decision to repeat a SARS-CoV-2 PCR should involve the revised probability of COVID-19 based on the initial negative test, an assessment of whether an alternate specimen type may provide a…
August 28, 2020
Fear and Avoidance of Healthcare Workers: An Important, under-Recognized Form of Stigmatization during the COVID-19 Pandemic
An online survey of a random sample of adults from the US and Canada who were not healthcare workers (HCWs) (n=3,551) found that over a quarter of respondents believed that restrictions should placed on HCWs, such as being isolated from their communities and families, and over a third of respondents avoided HCWs for fear of…
Prevalence of Surface Contamination With SARS-CoV-2 in a Radiation Oncology Clinic
In a quality improvement study of a radiation oncology department in New Jersey, 128 environmental swabs were obtained following WHO protocols over 6 days from May 1 to May 13 (peak daily rate for New Jersey), of which none were positive for SARS-CoV-2. The investigators suggest routine cleaning and disinfecting protocols appear to be adequate…
Return Hospital Admissions Among 1419 Covid‐19 Patients Discharged from Five US Emergency Departments
A retrospective cohort study of 1,419 patients with COVID-19 who were seen in emergency departments and discharged found that 66 (5%) returned to a hospital within 72 hours and were admitted. Those age > 60 years were more likely to experience a return hospital admission compared to those age 18-39 (aOR=4.6). Hypoxia (aOR=2.9), presentation with…
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