Article Summary
August 25, 2020
Performance of Fabrics for Home-Made Masks against the Spread of COVID-19 through Droplets: A Quantitative Mechanistic Study
Ayden et al. compared the performance of 11 common household fabrics at blocking large, high-velocity droplets using a commercial medical mask as a benchmark and found that while most fabrics have substantial blocking efficiency, two layers of highly permeable fabric can achieve >94% efficiency compared to medical mask by reducing the velocity of transmitted droplets…
August 24, 2020
Risk for Severe COVID-19 Illness Among Teachers and Adults Living With School-Aged Children
A nationally representative survey in the US shows that 40% of teachers have “definite” risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness (according to CDC criteria) and 51% have “definite” or “possible” risk factors, based on results from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey. Among adults living with school-aged children, 41% have definite and 54% have definite…
A Modelling Framework to Assess the Likely Effectiveness of Facemasks in Combination with ‘Lock-down’ in Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stutt et al. report modeling results that show that when facemasks are used universally, Re can be reduced below one without the use of further mandated lockdowns or other non-pharmaceutical interventions. They conclude that lockdowns in combination with universal facemask use could substantially reduce Re and prevent subsequent waves of disease transmission. Stutt et al….
Quarantine and Testing Strategies in Contact Tracing for SARS-CoV-2
[pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Modeling by Quilty et al. found that for known contacts of COVID-19 cases, a quarantine period of at least ten days, combined with a PCR test on day nine, may yield similar results to a 14-day quarantine period in terms of averted transmission potential from secondary cases. Fourteen days of quarantine averted…
Modeling Contact Tracing Strategies for COVID-19 in the Context of Relaxed Physical Distancing Measures
Bilinski et al. developed a model to examine the potential for contact tracing to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and tested scenarios including relaxation of physical distancing measures. When all individuals identified through contact tracing were tested and isolation and quarantine measures were at 90% efficacy, Rt was reduced by 46%. When community detection of…
Prevalence and Social Determinants of Food Insecurity among College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Among 502 students at three state-funded college campuses in Texas, 35% reported experiencing food insecurity in the previous 30 days. The strongest predictors of food insecurity were change in current living arrangement (OR = 2.7), being furloughed (OR = 3.2), laid off (OR = 4.1), or losing part-time work (OR = 5.7) due to the…
Perceived Discrimination and Mental Distress Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the Understanding America Study
Liu et al. report that the overall percentage of American adults experiencing COVID-19-associated discrimination more than doubled from 4% to 10% between March and April of 2020. In particular, non-Hispanic Black and Asian people were more likely to report experiencing discrimination, as were people who reported wearing facemasks in public. Experiencing COVID-19-associated discrimination was associated…
How Do Presenting Symptoms and Outcomes Differ by Race/Ethnicity Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 Infection? Experience in Massachusetts
McCarty et al. found no association between race or ethnicity and COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality after controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics (including age, gender, obesity, cardiopulmonary comorbidities, hypertensions, and diabetes) among a cohort of patients with COVID-19 (n=379) patients admitted to nine Massachusetts hospitals. McCarty et al. (Aug 22, 2020). How Do Presenting Symptoms…
COVID-19-Associated Hyperinflammation and Escalation of Patient Care: A Retrospective Longitudinal Cohort Study
Laboratory values indicating hyperinflammation were associated with poor outcomes among patients admitted to hospitals in the UK with COVID-19 (n=269). Patients with hyperinflammation (n=90) had a younger median age (66 vs 71 years) and lower median Charlson Comorbidity Index score (1 vs 2), but a higher proportion of them died during the 28-day follow-up period…
SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among Children in the Biospecimens from Respiratory Virus-Exposed Kids (BRAVE Kids) Study
[pre-print, not peer-reviewed] In a cohort of children and adolescents who had close contact with a person with known SARS-CoV-2 infection (n=382), SARS-CoV-2-infected children (n=293) were more likely to be Hispanic (88% vs 57%), less likely to have asthma (6% vs 17%), and more likely to have an infected sibling contact (49% vs 29%), compared…
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