Article Summary
April 16, 2021
COVID-19 and the Drug Overdose Crisis: Uncovering the Deadliest Months in the United States, January-July 2020
An estimated 9,000 people in the US died from drug overdose in May 2020, representing a 58% increase over May 2019. The largest number of deaths occurred in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Monthly deaths and pandemic-related spikes were estimated by disaggregating provisional CDC data that were aggregated into 12-month rolling sums. Friedman and Akre….
Disparities in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination-to-Infection Risk Massachusetts 2020-2021
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] An analysis of the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 cases and the number of people vaccinated in Massachusetts indicated that communities with increased socioeconomic vulnerability and higher proportions of Black/Latinx residents had fewer people vaccinated per cumulative number of individuals infected, measured by the vaccination-to-infection risk (VIR) ratio. Improved VIRs were associated with higher…
Notes from the Field: Update on Excess Deaths Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, January 26, 2020–February 27, 2021
An estimated 545,600 to 660,200 excess deaths occurred in the US during January 2020 to February 2021 according to data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). Excess deaths peaked during the weeks ending April 11, 2020, August 1, 2020, and January 2, 2021. Approximately 75-88% of excess deaths were directly associated with COVID-19. Excess…
E-Cigarette Use Among Youths and Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: United States, 2020
Odds of past 30-day e-cigarette use among US youth were significantly lower following widespread stay-at-home orders in mid-March 2020 compared to the pre-pandemic period (ages 15-17, OR=0.72; ages 18-20, OR=0.65), according to a weekly online cross-sectional survey (n=5,752) conducted from January to June 2020. In a subsample analysis among current e-cigarette users (n=779), reduced access…
Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics and Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Weekly prescriptions for opioid analgesics to new patients were at 66% of the level that would have been normally projected during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020, but rebounded to 100% by August, according to a cross-sectional study (>90 US million patients). Weekly prescriptions for buprenorphine for opioid use…
Safety and Reactogenicity of 2 Doses of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Observed safety and reactogenicity to 2 doses of mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech) weas similar to that reported in clinical trials among a cohort of US solid organ transplant recipients recruited through social media (n=741). Local site reactions were reported by 85% and 78% of participants and systemic reactions were reported by 49% and 69%…
Distinct Antibody and Memory B Cell Responses in SARS-CoV-2 Naïve and Recovered Individuals Following mRNA Vaccination
A single dose of an mRNA vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) administered to SARS-CoV-2 naïve individuals produced neutralizing activity against the D614G variant in 50% of recipients and against the B.1.351 variant in 16% of recipients (n=33). Neutralizing activity improved to 100% against the D614G variant and 96% against the against the B.1.351 variant following a…
Spike Antibody Levels of Nursing Home Residents With or Without Prior COVID-19 3 Weeks After a Single BNT162b2 Vaccine Dose
Nursing home residents with a past history of COVID-19 were far more likely than those without a history of COVID-19 to mount an antibody response to the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Among a cohort of nursing home residents in France, all 36 residents with prior COVID-19 were seropositive for anti-spike (S) IgG antibodies…
SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity and Subsequent Infection Risk in Healthy Young Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study
US Marine recruits who were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at baseline were 82% less likely than seronegative individuals to have a PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during a 6-week long cohort study. The study population consisted of predominantly male US Marine recruits aged 18-20 years (n=3,076). At baseline, all participants were PCR-negative. During the study period, 19…
Evaluating the Impact of Keeping Indoor Dining Closed on COVID-19 Rates among Large US Cities a Quasi-Experimental Design
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Closure of indoor dining venues was associated with approximately 43% lower COVID-19 incidence over 4 weeks in an ecological study comparing 11 US cities from March to October 2020. The study included 4 “treatment” cities in which restaurants were allowed to reopen but indoor dining remained closed and 7 “comparison” cities in…
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