Tulane Outbreak Daily – October 20, 2020

Featured Headlines

Fauci: No Quick End to Pandemic – MedPageToday

But NIAID director, in CHEST speech, was optimistic about vaccine prospects. In a sobering message to physicians and their patients, the United States’ top infectious disease official suggests the rampaging SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is going to be with us for a while.

Who Are the Scientists Behind the Great Barrington Declaration?

After the authors of a declaration promoting herd immunity spoke to White House officials last week, the scientific community immediately called into question the declaration as well as the scientists who wrote it. [Previous Tulane Outbreak Daily articles on the Great Barrington Declaration here and here]

Roche’s Actemra May Curb Deaths in Critical Covid Patients – Bloomberg

Roche Holding AG’s Actemra may help critically ill patients survive Covid-19, according to researchers who used a novel approach to show those who quickly got the anti-inflammatory medication were 30% less likely to die.

How an Ill-Fated Fishing Voyage Helped Us Understand Covid-19 – New York Times

American Dynasty, a commercial trawler, departed Seattle one day in May to fish for hake off the Washington coast. Before leaving, its 122 crew members were screened for the coronavirus using the highly accurate polymerase chain reaction (P.C.R.) method, and all the results came back negative. But because those tests are “good but not perfect,” in the words of Jesse Bloom, a professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle, they missed at least one case: Somehow SARS-CoV-2 found its way on board. [Related Study Journal of Clinical Microbiology]

U.K. Moves Toward Ethically Controversial Coronavirus Vaccine Trial – NPR

The British government has announced plans for a coronavirus vaccine challenge trial: Volunteers will receive an experimental vaccine and then be deliberately exposed to the coronavirus.

Experts: Don’t count on mild flu season amid COVID-19 – CIDRAP

The Southern Hemisphere had a very light flu season in 2020, with Australia seeing only 315 cases over its winter, down 99.8% from the 130,000 cases seen in most years. But flu experts say that, while the low numbers could portend a similar scenario in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be a foolhardy not to prepare for high caseloads this winter.

Fauci admits administration has restricted his media appearances – CBS News 60 Minutes

In a wide-ranging 60 Minutes interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci expresses his frustration, and explains why, early in the pandemic, masks were largely recommended for health care workers.

Do Masks On Plane Flights Really Cut Your Risk Of Catching COVID-19? – NPR

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, air travel looked like a risky endeavor. Some scientists even worried that airplanes could be sites of superspreading events. For example, in March a Vietnamese businesswoman with a sore throat and a cough boarded a flight in London. Ten hours later, she landed in Hanoi, Vietnam; she infected 15 people on the flight, including more than half of the passengers sitting with her in business class. [Related Journal of Travel Medicine]

Bloomberg Prognosis Podcast: Europe’s Coronavirus Déjà Vu

Millions of Europeans are facing tighter restrictions on their movements, with London, Paris, and Vienna enforcing stricter curbs. On Monday, the government of Wales announced a two-week “fire-break” lockdown designed to curb the spread of coronavirus. All non-essential retail outlets, including pubs and restaurants, will be closed from October 23rd to November 9th. Bloomberg reporter Catherine Bosley reports how Europe is hoping to control this new wave of coronavirus infections and whether another round of restrictions and lockdowns can offset the economic devastation in the region the pandemic has already caused.

We May Never Know the Full Story of COVID-19 – The Atlantic

Journalism, even practiced at its highest levels, has an element of chance. Reporters spend hours riding in taxis or trains or airplanes, or on the telephone or online, hoping to land that meeting that might yield a quote or secreted document resulting in a story. And if the story is particularly noteworthy, that’s a scoop. A big scoop for a reporter is like hitting your number at a roulette table.

Clinical Considerations

Essential terms doctors need to know about COVID-19 vaccines – AMA Association

There is a sprint to develop a safe and effective vaccine to fight SARS-CoV-2—the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19—with several currently in phase 3 clinical trials. As the vaccines continue to move forward, questions have come up about the approval process. Understanding the essential terms about vaccine approval can help physicians and other health professionals educate their patients.

Official Reporting for October 20, 2020

World Health Organization

Weekly Epi Update October 16, 2020 (Last Updated)

Cumulative Cases: 40,251,950
Cumulative Deaths: 1,116,131

ECDC

Confirmed Cases: 40 472 505
Deaths: 1 119 283

Johns Hopkins

Confirmed Cases: 40,635,759
Deaths: 1,121,758

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Total cases: 8,188,585
Total deaths: 219,499

Surveillance Headlines

UNITED STATES

Maryland: Hospitalizations Up, Over 590 New Cases Reported – CBS

USA: At a breaking point’: New surge of Covid-19 cases has states, hospitals scrambling, yet again – STAT

Arizona: Is Arizona about to face another exponential increase in COVID-19 cases? – AZ Central

Arizona: Texas woman died of coronavirus ‘on the jetway’ on flight from Arizona – NBC

EUROPE

Russia: Rogue Demographer Says Russia May Top Europe in Covid Deaths – Bloomberg

Science and Tech

Covid-19’s Implications For Telework And Cybersecurity – Forbes

It’s now been six months since the Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses across the world to shutter their offices and shift their business operations from the controlled environment of office cubicles and corridors to a decentralized, work-from-home model.

Therapeutics

Studies offer little hope for tocilizumab in treating COVID – CIDRAP

JAMA Internal Medicine today published a trio of studies on use of the immunosuppressive drug tocilizumab in COVID-19 patients with pneumonia, one of them a large US observational study that suggested some promise and two randomized clinical trials from Italy and France that found no benefit.

Vaccine

Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the end of the year – if it’s proven safe. CEO Stéphane Bancel said the Cambridge-based biotech firm could get authorization from the federal government for emergency use as soon as December, contingent upon successful results from their large-scale clinical trial next month, according to the Wall Street Journal. [Related Study in JAMA]

NIH Director ‘Guardedly Optimistic’ About COVID-19 Vaccine Approval By End Of 2020 – NPR

3 min audio at the link – Coronavirus cases appear headed for a new surge in the U.S., which could eclipse the explosion of cases in July. Much of the new surge is driven by cases in the Midwest and Great Plains states.

Psychological and Sociological Impact

None Today

Published Research

Neutralizing antibodies correlate with protection from SARS-CoV-2 in humans during a fishery vessel outbreak with high attack rate – Journal of Clinical Microbiology

In-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a review of the attack rates and available data on the efficacy of face masks – Journal of Travel Medicine

Understanding Viral Shedding of SARS-CoV-2: Review of Current Literature – Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology

Pre-Print Studies

None today

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories

None Today

Published Research on Mis/Disinformation

Coping in 2020

A personal note, and shout out to my son for risking is job for standing up for public health protocols in an effort to keep additional people from being exposed to COVID. He’s in a two week quarantine now, and scheduled for a COVID test this week. Several of his colleagues have tested positive in the last few days, I’m hoping his N-95 mask protected him.

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