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Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice
August 18, 2020
Assessment of COVID-19 Hospitalizations by Race/Ethnicity in 12 States
Across 12 states, the share of the COVID-19 hospitalizations (April 30 and June 24) of white patients was substantially smaller than the corresponding proportion of the state population. Asian patients were underrepresented among hospitalized patients in 6 of 10 states reporting hospitalization of Asian individuals. Black patients were overrepresented among the hospitalized patients in all 12 states, and Hispanic patients were overrepresented in 10 out of the 11 states reporting hospitalizations of…
August 13, 2020
Knowledge and Behaviors of Adults with Underlying Health Conditions During the Onset of the COVID-19 U.S. Outbreak: The Chicago COVID-19 Comorbidities Survey
O’Conor et al. conducted a survey among older adults who had at least one chronic condition (n=673, average age 63 years) to characterize their knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, prevention strategies, and prevention behaviors. Although 70% of participants were aware of symptoms and preventive actions, only 38% reported social distancing themselves, and only 29% reported obtaining prescription medication to prepare for the outbreak. The authors concluded that consistent messaging and the…
An Examination on the Transmission of COVID-19 and the Effect of Response Strategies: A Comparative Analysis
Using data from WHO reports over 133 days, Chen et al. categorized 6 countries (China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, US, and Brazil) by their COVID-19 mitigation effectiveness (estimated from time to reach the peak of daily new confirmed cases and the maximum drop rate), and pandemic severity (estimated from prevalence and mortality). They report that South Korea and China had relatively higher mitigation effectiveness and lower pandemic severity, while the USA and Brazil had the…
August 11, 2020
Association of Nursing Home Ratings on Health Inspections, Quality of Care, and Nurse Staffing With COVID-19 Cases
Figueroa et al. found that nursing homes (NHs) with good ratings for nurse staffing were less likely to be in the highest category for COVID-19 cases in an analysis of nursing homes in 8 states rated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services across 3 domains (nurse staffing, health inspections, quality measures, and). In contrast, there was no significant difference in the burden of COVID-19 cases between high- vs low-performing NHs for health inspection or…
August 6, 2020
Lifting COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Restrictions: Impact on Heart Failure Hospitalizations in Northeast Georgia
Ling et al. collected data at a large, community health system in Georgia from February 1–June 12, 2020 and describe a decrease in heart failure hospitalizations during the emergency declaration and shelter-in-place periods, followed by a return to a level similar to baseline after the reopening. These data were compared to the same period in 2019 (Jan 31 to June 12). The weekly hospitalization admission rate for heart failure during weeks 1-5 (prior to emergency declaration) were comparable (27.4/week in 2019 vs. 28.2/week in 2020). During the…
COVID-19 Outbreak Among Employees at a Meat Processing Facility — South Dakota, March–April 2020
Steinberg et al. reported an outbreak of COVID-19 among employees at a meat processing facility in South Dakota during March 16–April 25, 2020. A total of 929 (26%) employees and 210 (9%) of their contacts were diagnosed with COVID-19. Two employees died. The highest attack rates occurred among employees who worked <6 feet from one another on the production line. Steinberg et al. (Aug 7, 2020)….
August 5, 2020
Big Data, Natural Language Processing, and Deep Learning to Detect and Characterize Illicit COVID-19 Product Sales: An Infoveillance Study on Twitter and Instagram
Mackey et al. identified 1,271 tweets and 596 Instagram posts marketing fake COVID-19 health products, including unapproved, illegal, and counterfeit testing kits and treatments. Between February and May of 2020, they observed three distinct waves of advertisements for “immunity-boosting” treatments, suspect testing kits, and pharmaceutical products that are not approved for COVID-19 treatment. Each wave…
Serious Adverse Health Events, Including Death, Associated with Ingesting Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers Containing Methanol — Arizona and New Mexico, May–June 2020
Fifteen cases of methanol poisoning associated with ingestion of alcohol-based hand sanitizers were reported in Arizona and New Mexico between May 1 and June 30, 2020. All 15 people were hospitalized, 6 developed seizures, and 9 received hemodialysis or continuous renal replacement therapy. Four of these patients had died as of July 8. An additional three were discharged from the hospital with visual impairment. An ongoing FDA investigation identified…
August 4, 2020
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in a San Francisco Homeless Shelter
Imbert et al. report on an outbreak of COVID-19 in a San Francisco homeless shelter, during which 255 residents and 64 staff were present. An initial strategy of tracing bedmates of the first 2 cases and temperature checks and symptom screening of residents identified 7 additional cases. Subsequently, mass testing of 150 of 255 residents identified that 67% were positive, of which 48% were symptomatic at the time of testing. Of the 60 staff…
August 3, 2020
Characteristics and Outcomes of Contacts of COVID-19 Patients Monitored Using an Automated Symptom Monitoring Tool — Maine, May – June 2020
During May 14, 2020 – June 26, 2020, Maine CDC enrolled 1,622 contacts of 614 COVID-19 patients through an automated symptom monitoring as a part of the state’s contact tracing program. Resources constraints prompted Maine CDC to implement an automated system for monitoring contacts. Enrolled contacts automatically received daily symptom questionnaires via their choice of e-mailed weblink, text message, texted…
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