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May 26, 2020
Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 Patients A Systematic Review
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] A meta-analysis of 22 studies comprising 650 COVID-19 patients found that the duration of positive detection of SARS-CoV-2 following symptom onset among mild cases was 12.1 days in samples from the upper respiratory tract (URT), 24.1 days in samples from the lower respiratory tract (LRT), and 15.5 days in fecal samples. Differences in the…
Rising Evidence of COVID-19 Transmission Potential to and between Animals Do We Need to Be Concerned
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] While there is no evidence to suggest household pets can infect humans with COVID-19, there is mounting evidence that transmission from humans to pets occurs. Across 17 case reports on confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals as of May 15, all but two animals had recovered fully and had only mild respiratory or digestive symptoms. Data…
May 22, 2020
Identifying Potential Undocumented COVID-19 Using Publicly Reported Influenza-like-Illness and Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Disease in the United States: An Approach to Syndromic Surveillance?
Using CDC FluView data, Wiemken and Shacham found a 76% decrease in influenza positive tests and a 27% increase in influenza-like illness in the weeks since COVID-19 was introduced to the US, compared with the previous three influenza seasons. The authors suggest FluView could be used for COVID-19 syndromic surveillance. Wiemken and Shacham. (May 2020). Identifying Potential Undocumented COVID-19 Using Publicly Reported Influenza-like-Illness and Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Disease in the…
Universal and Serial Laboratory Testing for SARS-CoV-2 at a Long-Term Care Skilled Nursing Facility for Veterans — Los Angeles, California 2020
In March 2020, two residents of a long-term care skilled nursing facility in the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System tested positive for COVID-19. Subsequently, all residents underwent serial (approximately weekly) nasopharyngeal PCR testing and all clinical and nonclinical staff were screened through April 10. Positive test results were found in 19 of 99 (19%) residents and 8 of…
Collateral Crises of Gun Preparation and the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Infodemiology Study
Caputi et al. used an autoregressive integrated moving average model fit to Google search data from January 2004 to the week that COVID-19 was declared an emergency to predict the expected number of gun preparation searches that would have occurred in the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found a 158% (95%CI 73 to 270%) increase…
Outbreak Investigation of COVID-19 Among Residents and Staff of an Independent and Assisted Living Community for Older Adults in Seattle, Washington
In March 2020, public health surveillance of staff and residents at an independent living residence for older adults in Seattle, WA revealed 3 of 80 (3.8%) residents (mean age 86 years) and 2 of 62 (3.2%) staff infected with SARS-CoV-2. None of the three residents reported feeling ill, while both staff members were symptomatic. Repeat testing after one week identified one new asymptomatically infected resident. All residents were subsequently isolated for 14 days and remained clinically stable. …
Impact of Superspreaders on Dissemination and Mitigation of COVID-19
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Sneppen and Simonsen developed an agent-based model that includes superspreaders (persons who spread the disease far more readily than others) to investigated the effect of containment strategies under different models of population mixing. They found that limiting contacts in settings with diffuse social interactions, such as bars, public transport, or lecture halls, was far more effective than limiting the same amount of contact events in the home and work setting. They conclude that limiting…
Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Insomnia among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A systematic literature review that included 13 studies, corresponding to 33,062 healthcare workers, found a pooled prevalence of anxiety of 23%, depression of 23%, and of insomnia of 39%. Female providers and nurses had a higher prevalence of these outcomes. A considerable proportion of healthcare workers are experiencing mood and sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pappa et al. (May 2020). Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Insomnia among…
Factors Contributing to Healthcare Professional Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic A Rapid Turnaround Global Survey
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] A cross-sectional study of over 2,500 healthcare professionals from 60 countries found 50% self-reported burnout. Burnout was found to be associated with work impacting household activities, feeling pushed beyond training, exposure to COVID-19 patients, and making life prioritizing decisions due to supply shortages. Adequate PPE was associated with lower risk of burnout. Morgantini et al. (May 22,…
Clinical Predictors of COVID-19 Mortality
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Machine learning techniques were applied to clinical data from a cohort of 5,051 COVID-19 patients in New York City to predict mortality (training set of n=3,841). A mortality predictor based on five clinical features (age, minimum oxygen saturation, type of encounter, hydroxychloroquine use, and maximum body temperature) had good predictive performance (AUC=0.91) on a test set of retrospective (n=961) and prospective…
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