Article Summary
May 11, 2020
Effectiveness of interventions targeting air travellers for delaying local outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2
This study evaluated whether interventions aimed at air travelers can delay local SARS-CoV-2 community transmission in a previously unaffected country. Results from stochastic simulation showed that introducing exit and entry screening for SARS-CoV-2 at departure and/or arrival, in combination with traveler sensitization about COVID-19 symptoms, can delay a local outbreak by 8 days (50% interval: 3-14 days). The additional benefit of entry…
Acceptability of app-based contact tracing for COVID-19: Cross-country survey evidence
This large-scale (N=5,995) online survey investigates user acceptability of a contact-tracing app across different installation scenarios (voluntary installation vs. automatic installation by mobile phone providers) in France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US. Results show strong support for the app under both installation scenarios, with at least 68% of respondents across countries indicating that they would install the app…
May 8, 2020
Public Health Response to the Initiation and Spread of Pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24-April 21, 2020
The CDC COVID-19 response team reports on factors associated with spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the US. The first confirmed COVID-19 case in the US was reported on January 21, 2020. The outbreak appeared contained through February, and then accelerated rapidly in March. Factors contributing to accelerated spread included continued travel-associated importations, large gatherings, introductions into high-risk workplaces and densely populated areas, and…
Estimating The Infection Fatality Rate Among Symptomatic COVID-19 Cases In The United States
Basu et al. fit a statistical model to COVID-19 case fatality rates over time in 116 US counties and estimated the symptomatic infection fatality rate among symptomatic cases (IFR-S) to be 1.3% (95% CI 0.6-2.1%). Estimates by county varied from 0.5% to 3.6% (estimated IFR-S for seasonal flu is 0.1%). The author acknowledges the conservative nature of the estimate and that the overall IFR would be lower, since…
Quantitative Estimation of Covid-19 Related Unemployment On Suicide and Excess Mortality in the United States
Bhatia estimates impacts of unemployment in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide and all-cause mortality by extrapolating from a study of unemployment and suicide rate during the 2007–2010 Great Recession and a meta-analysis of 40 studies evaluating the relationship between unemployment and all-cause mortality. They predict 7,444 excess deaths from suicide in the coming year and 556,000 avoidable deaths from all causes over…
T Cell Subset Counts in Peripheral Blood Can Be Used as Discriminatory Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Severity Prediction of COVID-19
Among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 (n=103), compared to healthy controls (n=13), there were slight lower CD4+T cells counts but a severe lower CD8+T cell counts in COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 patients with severe disease showed significant decreases in T cell subset counts compared to mild-to-moderate patients. This suggests that T cell subset counts, particularly elevated CD4/CD8 ratios could potentially be used as discriminatory biomarkers for diagnosis and severity prediction. Jiang et al. (May 7, 2020). T Cell Subset Counts…
Detection of Low Levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Nasopharyngeal Swabs Using Three Commercial Molecular Assays
Lowe et al. compared the testing results of SARS-CoV-2 between three commercial assays for SARS-CoV-2 (Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2, cobas, and Lightmix Modular SARS) using 37 nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs with lower levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (30 with Ct value between 30-33.9, 22 with Ct ≥34, and 5 negative for SARS-CoV-2). The overall concordance was 86.5% (32/37), including a 100% concordance for samples with moderate viral concentrations (Ct between 30 to –33.9), but a discordance…
Occurrence and Timing of Subsequent SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Positivity Among Initially Negative Patients
Two independent research teams from the University of Washington (UW) and Stanford Health Care reported a similar frequency of discordant SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results among initially negative patients subjected to repeat testing. Among 626 patients who were initially test-negative and re-tested within 7 days, repeat testing yielded a positive result in 3.5% of cases (4.3% UW, 2.8% Stanford). The majority (96.5%)…
Observational Study of Hydroxychloroquine in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19
Geleris et al. conducted an observational study of the association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death among 1,446 consecutive patients at a large medical center in New York City. During a median follow-up of 22.5 days, 59% received hydroxychloroquine either within 24 or 48 hours after presentation to the emergency department, and 25% experienced a primary endpoint (either intubation or death). Those who were treated…
Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Performance of Serological Tests for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies and Public Health Implications
A meta-analysis of the diagnostic performance of several serological tests (commercial ELISA or CMIA/CLIA assays and in-house tests) to assess their real-world performance under scenarios of varying proportion of infected individuals found high specificity (pooled estimates of 98% for IgM and 99% for both IgG and total antibodies) but an unsatisfactory pooled sensitivity of 82-85%. Even…
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