Article Summary
March 23, 2021
Surveillance-Based Informative Testing for Detection and Containment of SARS-CoV-2 Outbreaks on a Public University Campus: An Observational and Modelling Study
A novel strategy of random testing combined with follow-up targeted testing in outbreak areas (“surveillance-based informative testing”, SBIT) was associated with a 36% reduction in peak weekly COVID-19 cases at Clemson University in South Carolina over a 2-week period. The strategy helped identify outbreaks in 45 residence halls across 8 buildings. Transmission models based on…
COVID-19 Cases Among Employees of U.S. Federal and State Prisons
The prevalence of COVID-19 infection among prison staff was estimated to be 3.2 times higher than the general U.S. population during the period of March 31, 2020 to November 4, 2020, according to an analysis of publicly available reports from the Bureau of Prisons. In 89% of jurisdictions, case burden among prison staff was greater…
Details of COVID-19 Disease Mitigation Strategies in 17 K-12 Schools in Wood County Wisconsin
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Minimal in-school transmission of COVID-19 occurred despite low adherence to mitigation measures and minimal improvements in ventilation systems between August and November 2020 in Wood County, Wisconsin. According to surveys distributed to the administrations of participating schools, 89% of elementary students did not maintain 6 feet of physical distancing in the classroom,…
March 19, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 variants lack higher infectivity but do have immune escape
The infectivity of the 501Y.V2 variants (which include the B.1.351 variant that was first identified in South Africa) was not significantly different than the reference strain (D614G) across multiple cell types. The neutralizing activity of multiple RBD-targeting monoclonal antibodies decreased significantly, and polyclonal antibodies (from RBD-immunized mouse sera and from SARS-CoV-2 convalescent sera) also had…
Bacterial Superinfections Among Persons With Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Comprehensive Review of Data From Postmortem Studies
Potential bacterial lung superinfections were found post-mortem in 32% of persons who died of COVID-19, with proven super-infection occurring in 8% of persons who died of COVID-19, based on a review of 75 published postmortem studies including post-mortem findings from 621 COVID-19 patients. Histopathologic findings in patients with potential lung infections demonstrated diffuse pneumonia was…
Variation in COVID-19 Mortality Across 117 US Hospitals in High- and Low-Burden Settings
Patients admitted to the most COVID-19 burdened hospitals had increased mortality compared to non-burdened hospitals, according to an analysis of patient admission data (n=14,226 patients) from an administrative database in April 2020. As of June 2020, 21% of all patients admitted with a COVID-19 diagnosis had died, and 1% remained hospitalized. At the hospital level,…
Neutralizing Antibodies Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants After Infection and Vaccination
Neutralizing antibody activity against four SARS-CoV-2 variants, including B.1, B.1.1.7, and N501Y was maintain in sera from individuals with infection- and vaccine-induced antibodies. There was minimal reductions in serum neutralization observed across four representative SARS-CoV-2 strains. Serum was obtained from adults (n=20) hospitalized with COVID-19 5 to 19 days after symptom onset, convalescent individuals (n=2)…
Safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in moderate to severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia
A multicenter randomized open-labeled clinical trial found that adding Favipiravir to the treatment protocol for in patients with moderate to severe SARS-CoV-2 infection did not reduce the number of ICU admissions or intubations or In-hospital mortality compared to Lopinavir/Ritonavir regimen. It also did not shorten time to clinical recovery or length of hospital stay. Solaymani-Dodaran…
Interleukin-6 blocking agents for treating COVID-19: a living systematic review
A systematic review (10 randomized trials among 6896 people with COVID-19) found that treatment of COVID-19 patients with the IL-6 blocker tocilizumab reduces the risk of all-cause mortality over 28 days, compared standard of care (with or without placebo). On average, tocilizumab reduced the risk of death by 32 deaths per 1000 compared to standard…
Effect of Intermediate-Dose vs Standard-Dose Prophylactic Anticoagulation on Thrombotic Events, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Treatment, or Mortality Among Patients With COVID-19 Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit
Intermediate-dose prophylactic anticoagulation treatment did not improve clinical outcomes among patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 compared with standard prophylactic anticoagulation, according to a randomized clinical trial (n=562). There was no difference in the primary composite outcome (an adjudicated venous or arterial thrombosis, treatment with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or mortality within 30 days) between…
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