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May 28, 2020
Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients with Severe Covid-19
A randomized trial among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who did not require mechanical ventilation found no differences between a 5-day course and a 10-day course of remdesivir. By day 14, clinical improvement was observed in over half of patients in both treatment arms. However, this trial lacked a placebo control and could not determine if this improvement that was attributable to remdesivir. Goldman et al. (May 27,…
Automated and Partially-Automated Contact Tracing a Rapid Systematic Review to Inform the Control of COVID-19
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] A systematic review of automated and partially-automated contact tracing methods found no empirical evidence of effectiveness. However, several modelling studies suggest that epidemic control would require high population-level uptake of automated contact-tracing apps in combination with other control measures. Braithwaite et al. (May 28, 2020). Automated and Partially-Automated Contact Tracing a Rapid Systematic Review to Inform the Control of COVID-19. Pre-print downloaded May 28…
Evaluation of World Health Organization-Recommended Hand Hygiene Formulations
The World Health Organization-recommended alcohol-based hand rub formulations do not meet the European standards for hygienic hand sanitizers or surgical hand preparation. However, modified formulas that use alcohol concentrations of 80% ethanol or 75% isopropanol in combination with a reduced glycerol concentration (0.5%) meet these requirements and may be useful alternatives to unavailable commercial hand hygiene products. Suchomel et al. (May 27, 2020)….
May 27, 2020
A Benchmark of Online COVID-19 Symptom Checkers
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Online COVID-19 symptom checkers and chatbots are being widely used in response to the global pandemic. Munsch et al. evaluated 10 online COVID-19 symptom checkers using COVID-19 case reports and found them to vary widely in their predictive capabilities, suggesting that quality assessment of these tools is necessary before they are implemented. Munsch et al. (May 26, 2020). A Benchmark…
Association of Stay-at-Home Orders With COVID-19 Hospitalizations in 4 States
In 4 states with stay-at-home orders (CO, MN, OH, and VA), cumulative hospitalizations for COVID-19 deviated from projected exponential growth rates after these orders became effective. The deviation started 2 to 4 days sooner than the median effective date of each state’s order and may reflect the use of a median incubation period for symptom onset and time to hospitalization to establish this date. Factors that potentially decreased the hospitalization include…
Bayesian Network Analysis of Covid-19 Data Reveals Higher Infection Prevalence Rates and Lower Fatality Rates than Widely Reported
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Neil et al. use a Bayesian technique called “virtual evidence” to test the sensitivity of the infection fatality rate (IFR) to two significant sources of uncertainty: survey quality and COVID-19 death counts. This approach estimates an IFR that is higher than widely reported values. For Santa Clara, CA and Chelsea, MA, the most likely IFR values are 0.3-0.4%. Neil et…
Inferring the Effective Start Dates of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during COVID-19 Outbreaks
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Kohanovski et al. applied an SEIR model to infer the effective start dates of non-pharmaceutical interventions and found that they often differ from the official dates. They hypothesize that late effects may be due to low compliance or prolonged time to adopt and organize for a lockdown. Early effects may be due to early adoption of social distancing and similar behavioral adaptations. These results highlight the complex interaction between personal, regional, and…
Cancer and Risk of COVID-19 through a General Community Survey
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Lee et al. evaluated the effect of cancer-related treatments on the risk for COVID-19 among >1.8 million patients living with cancer in the UK, US and Sweden. They found that individuals with cancer had a significantly increased risk (aOR 1.62, 95%CI 1.37-1.91) of COVID-19 compared to the general community. Those treated with chemotherapy or immunotherapy were particularly at risk (aOR: 2.42; 95%CI: 1.81-3.25). …
Efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange in severe COVID-19 patients
Zhang et al. report the efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in three severe COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in China. Approximately 10 days after TPE, all three patients had met discharge criteria. The results suggested TPE might be a possible strategy to attenuate circulating cytokines and inflammatory mediators. Zhang et al. (May 26, 2020). Efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange in severe COVID-19 patients. British Journal of Haematology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.16890
COVID-19 Serology at Population Scale SARS-CoV-2-Specific Antibody Responses in Saliva
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Randad et al. evaluated the correlation of results obtained in 167 saliva samples vs. 324 serum samples and found that SARS-CoV-2 appears to trigger a humoral immune response resulting in the almost simultaneous rise of IgG, IgM and IgA levels in serum and in saliva, consistent with the stimulation of existing cross-reactive B cells. …
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