Article Summary
August 21, 2020
Functional SARS-CoV-2-Specific Immune Memory Persists after Mild COVID-19
• [pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Immunologic examinations of 15 people who had recovered from mildly symptomatic, PCR-confirmed COVID-19 found evidence of expanded SARS-CoV-2-specific immune mediators (IgG antibodies and neutralizing plasma, virus-specific memory B and T cells). Responses were persistent, and in some cases increased over three months following symptom onset. They also found that SARS-CoV-2-specific memory…
Effect of Remdesivir vs Standard Care on Clinical Status at 11 Days in Patients With Moderate COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial
• An open-label randomized trial of 5- or 10-days of remdesivir treatment compared to standard care found that 5-day remdesivir treatment had a statistically significant improvement in clinical status on day 11 after initiation of treatment, although the clinical importance of the effect was uncertain. The difference in clinical status on day 11 between the…
Low-Cost Polyester-Tipped 3-Dimensionally-Printed Nasopharyngeal Swab for the Diagnosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus 2
• 3D-printed polyester-tipped swabs were shown to be effective for use in nasopharyngeal sample collection and diagnosis of COVID-19. Overall concordance between the prototype and control swabs was 81%, with most discordant results resulting from prototype-positive, control-negative results. The prototype had higher sensitivity than the control swabs (91% vs. 81%). • The authors suggest that…
Limited Secondary Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Child Care Programs — Rhode Island
• Link-Gelles et al. report 52 confirmed and probable childcare-associated cases of COVID-19 in 29 childcare programs in the state of Rhode Island in the two months following reopening of childcare programs on June 1. Of the cases, 30 (58%) were among children (median age = 5 years), and 22 (42%) were among adults (20…
Characterizing Super-Spreading Events and Age-Specific Infectivity of COVID-19 Transmission in Georgia USA
• [pre-print, not peer-reviewed] An analysis of COVID-19 cases in Georgia found that 2% of cases were directly responsible for 20% of infections, with infected people under 60 infecting 2.8-times more people than older persons. Lau et al. incorporated individual-level surveillance data with geolocation data and aggregate mobility data to analyze transmission of COVID-19 in…
COVID-19 Effectiveness of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions in the United States before Phased Removal of Social Distancing Protections Varies by Region
• [pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Pan et al. quantified the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and found that only the most stringent level of restrictions (e.g, sheltering in place / stay-at-home, public mask requirements, or travel restrictions) significantly decreased COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US. These policies…
The Effect of Big-City News on Rural America during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Individual-level surveys showed that rural residents are more likely to engage in social distancing behavior than otherwise similar rural residents if their local news is produced in a city that is more affected by COVID-19. However, the effect is less than half the size of the difference in behavior that is attributable to political…
Social and Behavioral Consequences of Mask Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• A survey of 6,973 German adults suggests that the implementation of mandatory masking policies in shops and aboard public transit increased compliance despite only moderate acceptance of those policies. Individuals who reported wearing masks were also more likely to report washing their hands regularly, avoiding handshakes, and keeping physical distances. • Mandatory mask policies…
August 20, 2020
Effectiveness of Remdesivir for the Treatment of Hospitalized Covid-19 Persons
Jiang et al. synthesized results from 4 randomized trials including 2,049 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and reported that patients receiving 5-day or 10-day treatment courses with remdesivir had significantly better clinical improvement (OR=1.8 and 1.4, respectively) and higher probabilities of clinical recovery (RR=1.5 and 1.2, respectively) compared to patients receiving placebo. Jiang et al. (Aug…
Automated and Partly Automated Contact Tracing: A Systematic Review to Inform the Control of COVID-19
• A systematic review of 15 studies published from Jan 1 to April 30, 2020 reported no empirical epidemiological evidence regarding the effectiveness of automated contact tracing tools, in contrast to manual contract tracing, for identifying contacts or reducing transmission of respiratory viral infections. Four modelling studies estimated that controlling COVID-19 requires a high population…
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