Upcoming Virtual Events
COVID-19 Summit to be held virtually Nov. 4-5 – Cornell Chronicle
Researchers and clinicians from across Cornell’s Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech will gather for an online COVID-19 Summit, Nov. 4-5, to share their expertise and clinical experience with COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes it.
Featured Headlines
Dr. Anthony Fauci Launches YIGH Global Health Conversation Series Webinar – Yale Medicine
It was a Zoom “standing room only” with an overflow to a Facebook live stream yesterday when Anthony Fauci. M.D., appeared as the first guest of the Yale Institute for Global Health’s new Global Health Conversation Series. Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, provided a brief update on COVID-19 and then answered questions from the more than 1100 viewers. [Link Video to Conversation Here]
The Pandemic’s “Perfect and Terrible Storm” – Harvard Magazine
As the reopening of society collided with seasonal factors, Mina and other epidemiologists had expected an increase in coronavirus infections and deaths. He had tweeted in early October that “If we do not get this virus under control now, we are in for a perfect and terrible storm.” But even experts have difficulty predicting the extent of seasonality’s impact in the months ahead, because “We don’t know either the magnitude or the mechanisms,” says professor of epidemiology Marc Lipsitch, director of Harvard’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics.
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass Summer Peak And Are Climbing Higher Fast – NPR
Coronavirus cases are rising precipitously in the U.S., and have now surpassed the high levels logged in the summer when daily new cases hovered above 65,000 on average for nearly two weeks.
Lockdowns Near as European Governments Run Out of Options – Bloomberg
French President Emmanuel Macron — whose government carefully avoided publicly discussing a national shutdown through a recent surge in coronavirus cases — relented on Friday, acknowledging that the country could be heading back toward broader restrictions on movement.
[Op/Ed] Doctors Are Dreading the Winter – New York Times
It has been months now, but the brown paper bags are still here — piled on the shelves in the hospital conference room where the residents cautiously lower their masks to eat lunch, stored in corners throughout the unit, each bearing the name of its owner written across it in Sharpie.
Pharmacies See Record Flu Shot Demand in First Season With Covid – Bloomberg
While the world awaits a vaccine for Covid-19, Americans are rushing to pharmacies in record numbers for seasonal flu shots. Public health officials say that may help avoid a “twindemic.”
Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Studies Showing Waning Coronavirus Antibodies – New York Times
Clinical Considerations
A Flu Shot Might Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Early Research Suggests – Scientific American
Hospital workers who got vaccinated were significantly less likely to develop COVID than those who did not. U.S. health officials are urging Americans to get their flu shots this year in the hopes of thwarting a winter “twindemic”—a situation in which both influenza and COVID-19 spread and sicken the public. But a new study suggests that there could be another key reason to get a flu jab this year: it might reduce your risk of COVID-19. The research, released as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, indicates that a flu vaccine against the influenza virus may also trigger the body to produce broad infection-fighting molecules that combat the pandemic-causing coronavirus. [Related pre-pub paper]
A new study may help identify which COVID-19 patients with signs of heart injury are at higher risk for death. Doctors looked at 305 hospitalized patients with elevated levels of troponin, a protein released when the heart has been injured. They reported on Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that among these patients, the increased risk for death was statistically significant only when changes in the heart’s size, shape, structure, and function were seen during an echocardiogram. [Related study American Journal of Cardiology]
Some Covid Survivors Have Antibodies That Attack the Body, not Virus – New York Times
New research found ‘autoantibodies’ similar to those in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients. But patients may also benefit from treatments for those autoimmune diseases. [Related pre-pub study]
Official Reporting for October 27, 2020
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update October 16, 2020 (Last Updated)
Cumulative Cases: 42,966,344
Cumulative Deaths: 1,152,604
ECDC
Confirmed Cases: 43 598 033
Deaths: 1 160 995
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 43,421,678
Deaths: 1,158,321
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 8,680,611
Total deaths: 225,084
Surveillance Headlines
UNITED STATES
Wisconsin: COVID-19 Case Spike Stretches Medical Resources In Wisconsin – NPR
Tennessee: Uninsured Tennessee Man Sent Home From ER Twice Dies Of COVID-19 – NPR
EUROPE
Belgium: The outbreak is so bad in Belgium, some Covid-positive doctors are being asked to keep working – CNN
Italy, Spain Tighten Restrictions After Coronavirus Cases Spike – NPR
Germany: Merkel to Push for Tougher Curbs in Battle to Tame Surging Virus – Bloomberg
Science and Tech
Protein Mapping Study Reveals Valuable Clues for COVID-19 Drug Development – NIH Director’s Blog
One way to fight COVID-19 is with drugs that directly target SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the disease. That’s the strategy employed by remdesivir, the only antiviral drug currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19. Another promising strategy is drugs that target the proteins within human cells that the virus needs to infect, multiply, and spread.
Antiviral treatments can interfere with multiple, different, targets that are important for the virus to set up an infection and replicate. Since the start of the pandemic, many researchers have been searching for those targets for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now, to identify new potential therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2, a team of scientists from multiple institutions in New York City, performed a genome-scale, loss-of-function CRISPR screen to systematically knockout all genes in the human genome.
Vaccine
Astra-Oxford Vaccine Stays Near Front of Line Despite U.S. Delay – Bloomberg
A seven-week halt to a U.S. trial of the Covid vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford bumped it from pole position in the race for a protective shot, but it’s still in the leading pack.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
The hidden Covid-19 health crisis: Elderly people are dying from isolation – NBC
The lockdowns and visitor restrictions meant to protect nursing home residents from the coronavirus can also threaten their lives.
Is There Any Safe Way to Socialize Inside This Winter? – Time
For months, there’s been a relatively easy way to socialize safely during the pandemic: take it outside. But now, with cold weather creeping into many parts of the world, park picnics, socially distant walks and outdoor dining are about to get less appealing for lots of people. Experts have warned for months that indoor gatherings are prime places for the virus to spread—but does that mean there’s no way to see anyone aside from your housemates this winter?
What Are You Doing to Combat Pandemic Fatigue? – New York Times
Stress, anxiety, burnout … how are you coping these days?
Published Research
SARS-CoV-2 positive virus culture 7 weeks after onset of COVID-19 in an immunocompromised patient suffering from X chromosome-linked agammaglobulinemia – Journal of Infection
Characterization of Myocardial Injury in Patients With COVID-19 – Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Pre-Print Studies
The effect of influenza vaccination on trained immunity: impact on COVID-19 – MedRXIV
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
A guide to overcoming COVID-19 misinformation – National Geographic
False information about the pandemic is rampant, but seasoned defenders of climate science can offer tips for how to fight it.