Article Summary
April 27, 2020
Transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 to healthcare workers – observational results of a primary care hospital contact tracing
Vera et al tracked 21 healthcare worker contacts of an initially undiagnosed COVID-19 case who were without PPE, including facemasks. All healthcare workers tested negative 7 days after initial index case contact. The team found a low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a primary care setting, and concluded that the current protective measures for healthcare…
Neonatal Resuscitation Where the Mother Has a Suspected or Confirmed Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Infection: Suggestion for a Pragmatic Action
This perspective aims to provide a practical support tool for the planning of delivery and neonatal resuscitation of infants born by mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. Trevisanuto et al. Neonatal Resuscitation Where the Mother Has a Suspected or Confirmed Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Infection: Suggestion for a Pragmatic Action. Neonatology: preprint downloaded April 24…
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vertical Transmission in Neonates Born to Mothers With COVID-19 Pneumonia
Hu et al report on seven cases of COVID-19 during late pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Maternal and neonatal samples were tested with PCR for evidence of vertical transmission. Amniotic fluid samples obtained at delivery from seven patients were negative, and one of the seven neonates tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. These findings suggest that the…
Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Transmission in a Skilled Nursing Facility
This study assessed transmission and evaluated the adequacy of symptom-based screening to identify infections in residents in a skilled nursing facility. Of the 48 residents registered for the study, 56% were asymptomatic at second testing and 50% subsequently developed symptoms. A RT-PCR sequencing of specimens isolated from 34 residents fitted into two clusters with a…
The dynamics of Covid-19: weather, demographics and infection timeline
Pedrosa studied the effects of weather variables, population density and the timeline of Covid-19 infection on the early pace of spread of Covid-19 all 50 U.S. states and 110 countries. Findings suggest that higher the temperature and the absolute humidity were associated with faster Covid-19 transmission in U.S. states in the early stages of the…
April 24, 2020
A guide to chatbots for COVID-19 screening at pediatric healthcare facilities
The COVID-19 outbreak has required healthcare institutions to rapidly adapt to changing public health circumstances, including switching to novel healthcare delivery modes such as use of chatbots to offer digital health and telehealth services. Chatbots are one digital health tool that can help evolve triage and screening processes in a scalable manner. Espinoza et al…
Scalable and Resilient SARS-CoV2 testing in an Academic Centre
This article provides a roadmap instructing how a research institute can be repurposed in the midst of this crisis, in collaboration with partner hospitals and an established diagnostic laboratory. Existing expertise in virus handling, robotics, PCR and data science can be harnessed to create a rapid, high throughput diagnostic pipeline for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in patients…
Healthcare worker mask reuse in a global pandemic: Using idle resources to create an inexpensive, scalable, and accessible UV system for N95 sterilization
This article describes how to modify existing, or create custom light fixtures compatible with common UV-C bulbs to sterilize N95 masks. This system is scalable and can be created for less than 50 US dollars, on site, at the point of need, and leverages resources that are currently untapped and sitting unused in public and…
The potential health care costs and resource use associated with COVID-19 in the United States
Bartsch et al developed a Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate the burden COVID-19 will impose on the US health care system. The model represented the U.S. population and what could happen to each person who gets infected with SARS-CoV-2, predicting that a single symptomatic COVID-19 infection would cost a median of $3,045 in direct…
Modest effects of contact reduction measures on the reproduction number of SARS-CoV-2 in 2 the most affected European countries and the US
The authors analyzed the dynamics of new SARS-CoV-2 infection and death cases to estimate the daily reproduction numbers (Rt) and the effectiveness of control measures in the most affected European Countries and the US. They report that calculating Rt based on both the daily number of infections and deaths provides a more reliable estimates than…
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