Article Summary
April 20, 2020
Population movement, city closure in Wuhan and geographical expansion of the 2019-nCOV pneumonia infection in China in January 2020
Using data on daily reported new cases and population movement during the month of January, Liu et al observe a significant positive association between population movement and the number of COVID-19 cases. Spatial distribution of cases indicate that some areas with large outflow (i.e. Henan and Hunan) might have been underestimated in disease spread. The…
SARS-CoV-2 RNA Found on Particulate Matter of Bergamo in Northern Italy: First Preliminary Evidence
Setti et al share some preliminary evidence that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be present on outdoor particulate matter (PM), indicating that the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 may be enhanced in conditions of atmospheric stability and high concentrations of PM. Further studies to assess the vitality and virulence of SARS-CoV-2 when adsorbed on PM are needed and correlations…
Breastfeeding of Infants Born to Mothers with COVID-19: A Rapid Review
Yang et al conduct a systematic review of case reports and series involving a total of 16 mothers with COVID-19 and 42 mothers with influenza to investigate mother-to-child transmission of SARS-Cov-2 during breastfeeding and conclude that current evidence indicates that SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid has not been detected in breast milk. Based on these findings,…
April 17, 2020
A COVID-19 Risk Assessment for the US Labor Force
Using data from the National Health Information Survey and Quarterly Census of Earnings and Wages, Maher et al estimate the proportion of the U.S. workforce at-risk for COVID-19 complications across regions, counties and industries, and share that: (1) Nearly 80% of all workers have at least one health risk and 11% are over 60 with…
BCG Vaccines may not Reduce COVID-19 Mortality Rates
The authors argue that BCG vaccination may not be the primary cause for lower infection and case fatality rates (CFR) observed in select countries with universal BCP policies. They believe the large variation in CFR could be resulting from underlying population characteristics, such as age, co-morbidities and genetics, and from different SARS-CoV-2 strains circulating in…
COVID-19 pandemic: A Hill type mathematical model predicts the US death number and the reopening date
Aboelkassem presents a model to predict the total number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. and the reopening date. The model estimates that by mid-June or early July the outbreak will sharply decline, and the U.S. will have about 736K confirmed cases and about 41K deaths. The author suggests that late May or…
Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak
Gao et al conducted a cross-sectional survey among 4,872 adult Chinese citizens during Jan 31 to Feb 2, using an online survey to assess the prevalence of mental health problems and the association with social media exposure (SME). The prevalence of depression, anxiety and combination of depression and anxiety (CDA) was 48%, 23% and 19%,…
Association between platelet parameters and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019: Retrospective cohort study
The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 patients from a hospital in Wuhan to evaluate the association between platelets and poor outcomes and find that thrombocytopenia at admission was associated with morality of almost three times as high compared to those without thrombocytopenia. Among the 383 patients, 334 (87%) were discharged and 49…
Sequential analysis of viral load in a neonate and her mother infected with SARS-CoV-2
The authors report on changes in viral load over time in a 27-day old neonate diagnosed with COVID-19 who presented with fever, cough and vomiting. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in all clinical specimens (nasopharynx, oropharynx, stool, saliva, blood and urine) with the highest viral load found in the nasopharynx, which decreased over time, while viral…
Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest In Critically Ill Patients-Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Girotra et al conducted a simulation study and used survival data of 5,690 patients hospitalized in ICU with a diagnosis of pneumonia or sepsis, and who were receiving mechanical ventilation at the time of cardiac arrest during 2014-2018 to understand survival outcomes in severe COVID-19 patients. They found that survival outcomes following in-hospital resuscitation were…
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