Article Summary
March 5, 2021
Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Variants to Neutralization by Monoclonal and Serum-Derived Polyclonal Antibodies
Most convalescent sera from people who had recovered from mild COVID-19 (n=29) and virtually all Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine-induced immune sera (n=24) were shown to have diminished neutralizing activity against engineered SARS-CoV-2 strains including a chimeric strain combining a strain identified in Washington state with a B.1.351 spike gene (Wash SA-B.1.351 strain), or recombinant viruses containing…
Sarilumab in Patients Admitted to Hospital with Severe or Critical COVID-19: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 3 Trial
In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, the IL-6 receptor inhibitor sarilumab did not reduce the median time to improvement by day 29 among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 compared to placebo (n=416). Patients receiving placebo had a median time to improvement of 12 days, compared to 10 days among those receiving either 200 mg or 400…
Tocilizumab plus Standard Care versus Standard Care in Patients in India with Moderate to Severe COVID-19-Associated Cytokine Release Syndrome (COVINTOC): An Open-Label, Multicentre, Randomised, Controlled, Phase 3 Trial
A multi-center, phase-3, randomized trial among patients (n=180) with moderate to severe COVID-19 conducted at 12 hospitals across India of the anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody treatment tocilizumab found no significant difference in the proportion of patients with progressive COVID-19 up to day 14 between the treatment group compared to standard care group (9% vs 13%)….
Articles Azithromycin for Community Treatment of Suspected COVID-19 in People at Increased Risk of an Adverse Clinical Course in the UK (PRINCIPLE): A Randomised, Controlled, Open-Label, Adaptive Platform Trial
Use of the antibiotic azithromycin plus usual care did not provide meaningful benefits to recovery time from COVID-19 compared to usual care alone, according to a randomized, placebo-controlled, open-label trial in the UK from May to November 2020. Patients receiving azithromycin plus usual care (n=500) had similar time to recovery compared to patients receiving usual…
Just 2% of SARS-CoV-2-Positive Individuals Carry 90% of the Virus Circulating in Communities
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] An analysis of saliva specimens collected through a campus-wide surveillance program for SARS-CoV-2 among students at the University of Colorado, Boulder during the Fall academic semester of 2020 found that 2% (1,405 of 72,500 specimens tested) of the samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2. All of the positive students self-reported no symptoms on…
Association of State-Issued Mask Mandates and Allowing On-Premises Restaurant Dining with County-Level COVID-19 Case and Death Growth Rates — United States, March 1–December 31, 2020
A comparison of US county-level data on mask mandates and restaurant re-openings in relation to county-level changes in COVID-19 case and death growth rates across the country (n=3,142 counties) between March-December 2020 found mask mandates were associated with decreases in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates in all intervals from 1-20 to 81-100 days…
March 4, 2021
COVID-19 in Youth Soccer During Summer 2020. Journal of Athletic Training
US youth soccer clubs reported a relatively low incidence of COVID-19 among their players in a retrospective cohort study of 119 US youth soccer clubs representing 91,007 players with a median duration of 73 days since restarting group activities. Soccer players reported a 49% lower incidence than children nationally over the same time period (254…
Estimated SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Among Persons Aged <18 Years — Mississippi, May–September 2020
A retrospective seroprevalence study among children and adolescents <18 years of age in Mississippi suggests that cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be more than 10-times higher than reported cases. 11% of 1,603 serum specimens collected for routine clinical testing from persons aged <18 years during May to September 2020 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies,…
SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk Among Active Duty Military Members Deployed to a Field Hospital — New York City, April 2020
Among 336 (57%) of the 591 eligible US soldiers deployed to New York City (NYC) between March to April 2020 at the height of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, prevalence of current or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection by late April was 1.7% (6 of 336) as determined by RT-PCR and antibody testing. Among those involved in direct patient…
Nursing Facilities, Food Manufacturing Plants and COVID-19 Cases and Deaths
A higher number of meatpacking plants and bakeries within a hospital reference region (HRR) or a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was associated with a higher number of COVID-19 related deaths in the US through May 2020. After adjusting for demographics and socioeconomic characteristics, an additional plant within an HRR and MSA was associated with 21%…
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