Article Summary
March 18, 2021
Mavrilimumab in Patients with Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia and Systemic Hyperinflammation (MASH-COVID): An Investigator Initiated, Multicentre, Double-Blind, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial
The monoclonal antibody treatment mavrilimumab did not significantly lower the proportion of patients with severe COVID-19 who were alive and off oxygen therapy at day 14 compared to placebo (52% vs 47%, OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 0.43-5.16) in a multicenter, double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial (n=40). Patients were included in the study if they were…
Minimal SARS-CoV-2 Transmission After Implementation of a Comprehensive Mitigation Strategy at a School — New Jersey, August 20–November 27, 2020
A New Jersey private boarding school with high adherence to COVID-19 mitigation protocols reported 17 positive PCR tests among faculty and staff (0.18% of total) and 8 positive tests among students (0.06% of total) during August to November 2020. Case investigations found likely off-campus sources for all but 2 of the positive cases (both students),…
Notes from the Field: SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Associated with High School Football Team Members — Florida, September–October 2020
In an outbreak investigation by the Florida Department of Health, an index case of COVID-19 in a high school football player was linked to an additional 18 confirmed cases (12 players, 2 coaches, and 2 non-player classroom contacts). Because of potential close contact between infected team members and classmates, 267 students at the football team’s…
Estimating the Increased Transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 Strain over Previously Circulating Strains in England Using Fractions of GISAID Sequences and the Distribution of Serial Intervals.
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 strain is suggested to be 40% more transmissible than previously circulating strains, according to a model-based analysis using the time course of the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections with the B.1.1.7 variant applied to SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence data and the distribution of serial intervals in England. For mitigation, the authors…
Transmission Dynamics and Timing of Key Events for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Healthcare Workers
In a retrospective study of healthcare workers (HCWs) in Turkey with SARS-CoV-2 infection (n=149), 98% of symptomatic HCWs had developed symptoms within 14 days of their index case developing symptoms. Among 39 HCW infector-infectee pairs, the median serial interval (time between symptom onset in the pair) was 4 days (IQR: 2-6). The authors suggest that…
March 17, 2021
Increased Mortality in Community-Tested Cases of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7
The risk of death associated with the presence of the B.1.1.7 variant was 55% higher than previous strains, according to an analysis from the UK. The authors used S gene target failure (SGTF) to define B.1.1.7 and performed analysis of SARS-CoV-2 community tests (n=2,245,263 positive results) and COVID-19 deaths (n=17,452) in England from September 1,…
A Modeling Study to Inform Screening and Testing Interventions for the Control of SARS-CoV-2 on University Campuses
A model developed for COVID mitigation upon the return of students to school at Emory University concluded that screening at least weekly would be required to ensure substantial case reductions. According to a “susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered” (SEIR) model, monthly and weekly screening among the approximately 30,000 students could reduce SARS-CoV-2 cumulative incidence (CI) by 59% and 87%,…
Nursing Home Characteristics Associated With Resident COVID-19 Morbidity in Communities With High Infection Rates
A study of residents of nursing homes (NHs) in communities with high SARS-CoV-2 infection rates found that NHs with more COVID-19 cases have residents who were older and had higher activities of daily living scores. Additionally, higher incidence NHs had a lower proportion of white residents and a higher proportion of residents who were insured…
County-Level COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Social Vulnerability — United States, December 14, 2020–March 1, 2021
Counties with high social vulnerability had lower first-dose vaccination coverage (14%) compared to those with low social vulnerability (16%) during the first 2.5 months of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination program in the US (December 15, 2020 – March 1, 2021). Vaccination coverage was lower in low vulnerability counties compared to high vulnerability counties among those aged…
Associations of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness with Patient Age and Comorbidities
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gradually increased starting at 12 days after the first vaccine dose and then plateaued around 35 days, according to an analysis of electronic health records from 1.79 million individuals in Israel. This period of maximum effectiveness corresponds to a period 2-weeks after the scheduled administration of the…
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