Article Summary
February 18, 2021
FDA-Authorized COVID-19 Vaccines Are Effective per Real-World Evidence Synthesized across a Multi-State Health System
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were 89% effective (95% CI: 68-97%) in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection occurring at least 36 days after the first dose in a 1:1 propensity score matched analysis of over 60,000 individuals in the US between December 2020 to February 2021. Among those subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19, vaccinated…
Neutralizing Activity of BNT162b2-Elicited Serum — Preliminary Report
Neutralizing activity of sera from recipients of the 2-dose Pfizer vaccine (n=15, 20 serum samples) against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (USA-WA1/2020) engineered with the full set of spike protein mutations of the B.1.351 variant was weaker than the USA-WA1/2020 strain by approximately two-thirds. Using 50% plaque reduction neutralization testing (PRNT50) on sera obtained 2-4 weeks after the…
Circulating SARS-CoV-2 Variants Escape Neutralization by Vaccine-Induced Humoral Immunity
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Analysis of neutralizing activity of sera from individuals vaccinated with either 1 or 2 doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines (n=48) against SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses bearing spike proteins with the partial or full set of mutations from the B.1.351 variant show up to a 97-fold decrease in neutralization compared to wild-type. …
The Efficacy and Safety of Favipiravir in Treatment of COVID-19 A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A systematic review and meta-analysis of nine clinical trials found the antiviral medication favipiravir was associated with a significant clinical improvement (vs control) 7 days after hospital admission (RR=1.24). Risk of viral clearance by 14 days of hospital admission was higher while requirements for supplemental oxygen therapy and mortality were lower…
Epidemiological Dynamics of the Incidence of COVID-19 in Children and the Relationship with the Opening of Schools in Catalonia (Spain)
[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] Incidence of COVID-19 among children aged <18 years in Catalonia, Spain during the first 20 weeks of the 2020-2021 school year remained significantly lower than in the general population, except during late January 2021. Test positivity was also lower among children than the general population, except in January 2021, when active…
Reduction in Mobility and COVID-19 Transmission
Mobility data in 52 countries show that SARS-CoV-2 transmission decreased significantly with initial mobility reductions in 73% of countries. However, mobility explained a smaller proportion of transmission after relaxation of strict control measures in 80% of countries. In these countries, the predictive ability of mobility changed from a median R2 of 74% pre-relaxation to 30%…
Differences in Rapid Increases in County-Level COVID-19 Incidence by Implementation of Statewide Closures and Mask Mandates — United States, June 1–September 30, 2020
US county-level data from June to September 2020 show that counties in states that were closed for 0-59 days were more likely to experience rapidly increasing COVID-19 incidence (“rapid riser”) than those closed for >59 days, especially in non-metropolitan areas. The probability of being a “rapid riser” county was 43% lower all among counties that…
February 17, 2021
Overall Burden and Characteristics of COVID-19 in the United States during 2020
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A data-driven model-inference approach to simulate the COVID-19 pandemic at the US county-scale determined that approximately one third of the US population had been infected during 2020. The model concluded that there was an overall ascertainment rate of 22%, and population susceptibility at year end was 69%. The percentage of people harboring…
Real-Time Prediction of COVID-19 Related Mortality Using Electronic Health Records
The COVID-19 early warning system (CovEWS), a risk assessment system tool for real-time forecasting of COVID-19 related mortality risk, was found to predict mortality up to 192 hours prior to mortality events in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The model was constructed from a variety of clinical and biomarker inputs and at a sensitivity of greater…
Characteristics and Factors Associated with COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Mortality Across Race and Ethnicity
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A retrospective cohort study of 570,298 patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 with known race/ethnicity, found that people from racial/ethnic minority groups represented 50% of infections but only 18% of total tests. The data were drawn from a large health system spanning California, Oregon, and Washington between March 1 and December 31, 2020. People…
Previous page Next page