Article Summary
July 14, 2020
Who Is Wearing a Mask Gender- Age- and Location-Related Differences during the COVID-19 Pandemic
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] An observational study of shoppers (n=5,517) entering 36 different grocery and retail locations across southeastern Wisconsin (June 3-9, 2020) found that the likelihood of an individual wearing a mask was associated with older age, being female, and shopping in an urban location. Fewer than 50% of individuals observed were wearing a mask. Haischer et al. (July 14, 2020). Who…
Factors Associated with Cloth Face Covering Use Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, April and May 2020
Two internet surveys administered in April and May of representative US samples found that following the announcement of the behavioral recommendation of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and CDC to wear a cloth face covering in public, higher prevalence of face covering use was reported among all sociodemographic groups, especially among non-Hispanic white persons, persons aged ≥65 years, and…
July 13, 2020
SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Prevalence in Blood in a Large School Community Subject to a Covid-19 Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Study
Among a representative sample of students and staff from a large school in Santiago, Chile that experienced a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in mid-March, 10% of students and 17% of staff were antibody positive by mid-May, with younger students more likely to be seropositive. Forty percent of positive students and 18% of positive staff were asymptomatic, and the most common symptoms were fever (children and adults), abdominal pain (children), and chest pain (adults). Torres et…
Guidance for Authorities and Organizers of Sports Events Planning Mass Gatherings during the Current COVID-19 Pandemic
The World Health Organization published a risk assessment tool for mass gatherings organized around three pillars: risk evaluation, risk mitigation, and risk communication. This tool is available for download as an Excel file, and includes a risk versus mitigation decision matrix to facilitate planning. Guidance for Authorities and Organizers of Sports Events Planning Mass Gatherings during the Current COVID-19…
The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Outcomes and Expectations
A survey of nearly 6,000 small businesses in the US found that small firms are financially fragile and that only 39% expected they could stay open if the crisis lasted 6 months or longer, resulting in an estimated 35.1 million jobs lost. Both grants-based programs (consistent with the Paycheck Protection Program) and traditional loans with…
A Minimal Model for Household Effects in Epidemics
[pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Huber et al. present a mathematical model that reflects the effect of social distancing interventions on contact structures, allowing for fast transmission within households and slow transmission between households. They show that epidemic growth depends on household size, but this effect is attenuated beyond a threshold (following a square root law), suggesting that establishment of larger households (i.e., social circles) may be preferred to re-integration…
Estimating the Effect of Social Distancing Interventions on COVID-19 in the United States
[pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Modeling of state-level interventions to control COVID-19 indicates that only school closures and lockdowns have a non-trivial impact on effective reproductive numbers. Olney et al. use an established semi-mechanistic Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the effect of state-level interventions on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the US. Infection fatality is parameterized for each state using…
Adolescents’ Health Literacy Health Protective Measures and Health-Related Quality of Life during the Covid-19 Pandemic
[pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A cross-sectional survey conducted among adolescents in Norway during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic found that television and family were the main sources of pandemic-related health information, and that higher health literacy was associated with a decrease in socializing with friends. Being quarantined or isolated, or having confirmed or suspected COVID-19, were associated with reduced health-related quality of life, but were not associated with seeing fewer friends than normal. Riiser et al. (July…
COVID-19: Outcomes of Patients with Confirmed COVID-19 Re-Admitted to Hospital
Among 391 COVID-19 patients discharged from the North Middlesex University Hospital in London, 39 re-presented to the hospital emergency department, including 25 that were re-admitted, 2 that required ICU care, 3 that died, and 3 who were discharged home as part of end-of-life care. Average time to re-admission was 10 days, and median age of the re-admission group was higher than the discharged patients (73 vs 59 years). The authors…
Rate of Intensive Care Unit Admission and Outcomes among Patients with Coronavirus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A systematic review (n=37 articles, 24,983 participants) of coronavirus (SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV) outcomes found the rate of ICU admission was 32% (95%CI 26%, 38%), and pooled case fatality among ICU patients was 39% (95%CI 34%, 43%). Among US studies (n=5), case fatality among ICU patients was 36% (95%CI 18%, 53%). Abate et al. (2020). Rate of Intensive Care Unit Admission and Outcomes among…
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