Article Summary
July 28, 2020
Estimation of Viral Aerosol Emissions From Simulated Individuals With Asymptomatic to Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019
A modeling study indicated that an individual with COVID-19 who is coughing or breathing normally releases large numbers of viruses, but the estimated infectious risk from an individual with a typical viral load in a space the size of a medical exam room was low. Riediker and Tsai simulated the release of viruses from individuals with asymptomatic to moderate COVID-19 infection during normal breathing and while coughing. Viral loads across different droplet sizes…
Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Asymptomatic Health Care Workers in the Greater Houston, Texas, Area
A surveillance program among asymptomatic clinical and nonclinical workers at Houston Methodist (an academic medical center with 7 community hospitals), and expanded to asymptomatic community residents, found that out of 2,872 participants (March 11 to April 19) 4% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR, with all of the positive results being in clinical healthcare workers. Among clinical healthcare…
A Prospective Cohort Study in Non-Hospitalized Household Contacts with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Symptom Profiles and Symptom Change over Time
Out of 198 household contacts exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in Wisconsin and Utah and followed longitudinally (PCR two or more times during a 14 day period) from March 22 to April 22, 47 were positive by PCR, representing an attack rate of 24%. Among children under 18 years, the attack rate was 20%, versus 26% for adults 18…
July 27, 2020
Willingness to Seek Diagnostic Testing for SARS-CoV-2 With Home, Drive-through, and Clinic-Based Specimen Collection Locations
Seigler et al. observed that participants surveyed using social media (n=1,435) were most willing to test for SARS-CoV-2 infection with a home saliva specimen (92%), followed by home swab (88%), drive-through swab (71%), and clinic-collected swab (60%). Additionally, 68% of participants indicated they would be more likely to get tested if there was a home testing option. Siegler et al. (June 30, 2020). Willingness to Seek Diagnostic Testing for SARS-CoV-2…
Risk for COVID-19 Infection and Death among Latinos in the United States: Examining Heterogeneity in Transmission Dynamics
Rodriguez-Diaz et al. compared counties with a greater proportion of Latino residents than the US average (n=443) and all other counties (n=2700) and found that COVID-19 cases were greater in Northeastern and Midwestern Latino counties (RR=1.42 and RR=1.70, respectively), while deaths were greater in Midwestern Latino counties (RR, 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.34). Factors such as greater monolingual Spanish speakers, employment rates, and less…
Simulating the Effect of School Closure during COVID-19 Outbreaks in Ontario, Canada
Using an age-structured agent-based model parametrized with demographics from Ontario, Canada, Abdollahi et al. found that increasing the duration of school closures from 3 to 16 weeks reduced the COVID-19 attack rate by 7%-13% when contacts among school children were restricted by 60-80%. Adding varying degrees of voluntary social isolation among mildly symptomatic persons further reduced…
Well-Being of Parents and Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey
A survey of a national sample of US parents with at least 1 child younger than 18 (n=1,011) found that 27% of parents reported worsening mental health for themselves, 14% reported worsening behavioral health for their children, and nearly 1 in 10 experienced both. A decrease in food security, employer-sponsored insurance, and regular childcare were also reported. Patrick et al. (July 24, 2020). Well-Being…
Google Searches for Suicide and Suicide Risk Factors in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Halford et al. analyzed Google Trends data (March-April) representing searches in the US for terms related to suicide and known suicide risk factors and found that, while the proportion of suicide-related queries was lower than expected, queries representative of financial difficulty, help-seeking, and general mental health concerns were elevated, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic may have…
SARS-CoV-2-IgG Response Is Different in COVID-19 Outpatients and Asymptomatic Contact Persons
Wellinghausen et al. conducted a retrospective analysis of serum samples (n=158) from a German cohort of PCR confirmed COVID-19 outpatients and asymptomatic contact persons (n=158) and found that overall positivity rate for SARS-CoV-2-IgG was 81% among outpatients and 15% among asymptomatic contacts. Symptomatic outpatients had a higher viral load, based on PCR cycle counts, compared to asymptomatic contacts (5-7 threshold…
Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study Shows Early Interferon Therapy Is Associated with Favorable Clinical Responses in COVID-19 Patients
Based on a retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 patients in Hubei, China (n=446), early administration of interferon-a2b was associated with lower likelihood of in-hospital mortality versus no interferon (OR=0.05, 95% CI: 0.01-0.37), while late interferon therapy was associated with greater likelihood of mortality (OR=6.82, 95% CI: 1.14-40.8). This may indicate that the timing for interferon therapy may be important. Most of the patients in the study who received…
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