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May 6, 2020
Epidemiology of and Risk Factors for Coronavirus Infection in Health Care Workers: A Living Rapid Review
This paper reviews 64 studies examining the burden of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV on health care workers (HCWs) and risk factors for infection. HCWs accounted for a significant proportion of coronavirus infections and commonly experienced depression, anxiety, and psychological distress during the outbreak. PPE use and infection control training are associated with decreased risk of infection. Certain exposures…
Test Agreement Between Roche Cobas 6800 and Cepheid GeneXpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 Assays at High Cycle Threshold Ranges
Broder et al. compared the positive test agreement between the Roche cobas 6800 assay and the Cepheid GeneXpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay. Thirty-five nasopharyngeal samples with low viral loads (cycle threshold values >30) from the cobas 6800 were run on the GeneXpert platform. The close agreement between the two tests conducted on samples with low viral concentration indicates that the two assays could be used interchangeable in accordance with testing algorithms. Broder et al. (May…
Tocilizumab for the Treatment of Severe COVID-19
Alattar et al. report a case series from 25 patients who had severe COVID-19 and received tocilizumab therapy, an interleukin-6 inhibitor that may ameliorate the inflammatory manifestations. During the 14 days of follow-up, tocilizumab was associated with dramatic decline in inflammatory markers, radiological improvement, and reduced ventilator support requirements. However, the majority (92%) of patients experienced at least one adverse event. Adequately…
A Simple Method for Estimating the Number of Unconfirmed COVID-19 Cases in a Local Area that Includes a Confidence Interval: A Case Study of Whatcom County Washington
Swanson and Cassman estimate the number of positive, unconfirmed COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County, Washington and construct a confidence interval around the estimate, using a previously established method employed by demographers to estimate a population in the absence of a census count. On April 25, 2020, when Whatcom County had reported 284 confirmed cases, the authors estimate that…
SARS-COV-2 was already spreading in France in late December 2019
Deslandes et al. report the retrospective identification by RT-PCR of a patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Paris in December 2019. The patient hospitalized in December 2019 for hemoptysis with no etiological diagnosis. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in a stored respiratory sample. Based on this result, it appears that SARS-CoV-2 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases…
Effective Heat Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2
Wang et al. evaluate the stability of SARS-CoV-2 under four different heat conditions (37, 42, 56, 60°C) and report that the virus is stable at 37°C for at least 24 hours. However, heating at 56°C for 30 minutes effectively inactivates the virus while preserving the stability of viral RNA for further analysis in both human sera and sputum samples….
May 5, 2020
Mathematical Assessment of the Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on Curtailing the 2019 Novel Coronavirus
Ngonghala et al. predict that use of face masks with efficacy ≥ 70% (e.g. surgical masks) could lead to the elimination of the pandemic if at least 80% of the U.S. residents use such masks in public consistently. The use of lower–efficacy masks (e.g. cloth masks with <30% efficacy) could still lead to significant reduction of COVID-19 cases, but would not lead…
COVID-19 Pandemic Response Simulation Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on Ending Lockdowns
An agent-based simulation (FRED – Framework for Reconstructing Epidemic Dynamics) was used to model the incidence of COVID-19 in King County, WA in a variety of scenarios including case isolation at home, school closure, and social distancing. While non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were effective in flattening the curve, any relaxation of social distancing strategies yielded a second wave. …
Clinical Features of Pediatric Patients with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
This retrospective analysis of clinical characteristics of children diagnosed with COVID-19 (n=16, age 11 months to 14 years) found that no children experienced severe illness. Most cases (12/16) were exposure to a family member with COVID-19. Among asymptomatic children (8/16), the median time from exposure via family member to first positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test (NAT) result was 15.5 days (range, 10–26 days; the median…
Analysis of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in the Mount Sinai Health System Using Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Reveals Important Prognostic Factors for Improved Clinical Outcomes
An analysis of 3,272 persons with COVID-19 who required hospitalization at Mount Sinai Health System in New York found that age, body-mass index (BMI), baseline oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, white blood cell count, creatinine, and alanine aminotransferase were significant predictors of mortality. Asthma was associated with increased length of hospital stay, but not mortality. Among patients who were tested for SARS-CoV-2, a higher proportion of Hispanic and…
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