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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 29 June 2020 – WHO

Although a vaccine will be an important long-term tool for controlling COVID-19, there are five priorities that every single country must focus on now, to save lives now. First, empower communities. Every individual must understand that they are not helpless – there are things everyone should do to protect themselves and others. Your health is in your hands. That includes physical distancing, hand hygiene, covering coughs, staying home if you feel sick, wearing masks when appropriate, and only sharing information from reliable sources. You may be in a low-risk category, but the choices you make could be the difference between life and death for someone else. Second, suppress transmission. Whether countries have no cases, clusters of cases or community transmission, there are steps all countries can take to suppress the spread of the virus. Ensure that health workers have access to training and personal protective equipment.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. coronavirus outbreak is ‘going to be very disturbing,’ could top 100,000 new cases a day – NBC

The U.S. is “not in total control” of the coronavirus pandemic and daily new cases could surpass 100,000 new infections per day if the outbreak continues on its current trend, White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

Worst could be yet to come, WHO warns – BBC

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the virus would infect many more people if governments did not start to implement the right policies. His message remained “Test, Trace, Isolate and Quarantine”, he said. More than 10m cases have been recorded worldwide since coronavirus emerged in China late last year. The number of patients who died is now above 500,000. Half the world’s cases have been in the US and Europe but Covid-19 is rapidly growing in the Americas.

How the World Missed COVID-19’s Silent Spread – NYT

Symptomless transmission makes the coronavirus far harder to fight. But health officials dismissed the risk for months, pushing misleading and contradictory claims in the face of mounting evidence. [If link above does not work, try this]

‘Throwing a match at kindling’: Why a few people infect so many. – New York Times

Most infected people don’t pass on the coronavirus to someone else. But a small number pass it on to many others in so-called superspreading events. Transmission seems to happen in a narrow window of time starting a couple days after infection, even before symptoms emerge. Certain places seem to lend themselves to superspreading. A busy bar, for example, is full of people talking loudly. Any one of them could spew out viruses without ever coughing. And without good ventilation, the viruses can linger in the air for hours.

COVID Trials Threatened by Shifting Surges – MedPageToday

While COVID-19 has delayed and disrupted clinical trials across specialties, the trials aimed at disrupting the pandemic have struggled to keep up with the wild swings in epidemiology.

Studying SARS-CoV-2 spread in poultry and domestic animals – The Poultry Site

Many new human pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, are known to originate in other species before entering human hosts, and so one frequently arising question about SARS-CoV-2 is whether the virus can infect non-human animals and, if so, what we should think or do about it. There have been a handful of reports on SARS-CoV-2 infection in domestic and zoo animals, so this question is not idle speculation. A recent report in Science sheds some light on how SARS-CoV-2 may affect non-human animals and provides a path for future research to benefit humans and animals alike.

Clinical Considerations

Do COVID-19 Symptoms Run Skin-Deep? – MedPageToday

Jury still out, as conflicting evidence for ‘COVID toes’ continues to emerge. Two small studies called into question early research suggesting that so-called “COVID toes” may be tied to coronavirus infection. [Related JAMA Study] [Another JAMA Study] [JAMA paper]

Does COVID Mess With the Menstrual Cycle? – MedPageToday

Women with COVID-19 report changes to their periods; estrogen’s potential protective effects being investigated

Researchers report nearly 300 cases of inflammatory syndrome tied to Covid-19 in kids – STAT

Two U.S. research groups have reported finding nearly 300 cases of an alarming apparent side effect of Covid-19 in children, a condition called multisystem inflammation syndrome, or MIS-C. While researchers have previously reported on the condition, the papers mark the first attempt to measure how frequently the side effect occurs and how it affects children who develop it. [Related NEJM Study]

Early Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 Infection Manifesting With Hypoxemia Requiring Respiratory Support – American Academy of Pediatrics

We describe a case of neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infection, in an infant diagnosed abstract 3 days after birth, and manifesting with silent hypoxemia, requiring respiratory support.

Cardiac Arrest and COVID-19 – FLARE

Early reports from China indicated very poor outcomes with cardiac arrest in COVID-19. These reports likely reflected a high prevalence of factors such as primary respiratory (as opposed to cardiac) arrest and out-of-ICU arrest, which were known to worsen prognosis in the pre-COVID-19 era. Cardiac arrest in COVID-19 does present unique infection control challenges which are addressed by national guidelines. Post-arrest care does not meaningfully differ from post-arrest care in the pre-COVID-19 era.

CDC Adds 3 New Symptoms to Coronavirus List – NBC

Congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea are now considered symptoms of COVID-19, according to the nation’s top health agency.