Featured Headlines
U.S. reports world record of more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases in single day – Reuters
The United States set a new all-time high for coronavirus cases confirmed in a single 24-hour period on Friday, reporting just over 100,000 new infections to surpass the record total of 91,000 posted a day earlier.
The Virus Rate in One Area Plummeted. Experts Wonder Why. – New York Times
The question has become particularly salient in Orange County, the suburban area about 65 miles north of New York City where a skyrocketing case count in mid-October prompted a state-imposed lockdown and drove the positivity rate in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish village up to 34 percent. Two weeks later, the rate has dropped to 2 percent, and restrictions in the area have been eased.
‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci warns of covid-19 surge – Washington Post
“We’re in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation,” Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious-disease expert, said in a wide-ranging interview late Friday. “All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”
COVID-19 Hospitalization – NPR
Audio file at the link – As coronavirus cases rise swiftly around the country, surpassing both the spring and summer surges, health officials brace for a coming wave of hospitalizations and deaths. Knowing which hospitals in which communities are reaching capacity could be key to an effective response to the growing crisis. That information is gathered by the federal government — but not shared openly with the public.
How COVID turns our immune defences against us – Nature
The fiendishly complicated relationship between our immune systems and SARS-CoV-2, how scientists are making lab life comfy for ‘extremophile’ microbes and a Trump order alarms US government scientists.
Clinical Considerations
The magnitude of nasopharyngeal (NP) SARS-CoV-2 load either at hospital admission or during the course of hospitalization has been directly associated with mortality of COVID-19 patients.
Pregnant women with Covid-19 are more likely to need intensive care, a new C.D.C. study finds – NYT
Federal health officials on Monday added pregnancy to the list of conditions that put people with Covid-19 at increased risk of developing severe illness, including a heightened risk of death. [Related CDC Report]
Doctors Begin to Crack Covid’s Mysterious Long-Term Effects – Wall Street Journal
Severe fatigue, memory lapses, heart problems affect patients who weren’t that badly hit initially; ‘It’s been so long’ Nearly a year into the global coronavirus pandemic, scientists, doctors and patients are beginning to unlock a puzzling phenomenon: For many patients, including young ones who never required hospitalization, Covid-19 has a devastating second act.
Add Skin Conditions to COVID-19 Long-Hauler Effects – MedPageToday
Benign but potentially painful skin conditions may persist for months in some patients with COVID-19, preliminary data from an international registry suggested. [Related article: COVID Toes and Fingers, Several Coronavirus Patients Experience Purple Skin Rashes]
Lung Ultrasound Beats X-Rays in COVID Pneumonia Screening – MedPageToday
Portable ultrasound scans were more sensitive than x-rays at the preliminary detection of atypical pneumonia in patients who may have COVID-19, a researcher reported.
Interferon deficiency can lead to severe COVID – Nature
Understanding what contributes to the development of severe COVID-19 would be of great clinical benefit. Analysis of people in whom this occurred pinpoints a key role for the signalling pathway mediated by type I interferon proteins.
Age-specific mortality and immunity patterns of SARS-CoV-2 – Nature
Estimating the size and infection severity of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic is made challenging by inconsistencies in available data. The number of COVID-19 deaths is often used as a key indicator for the epidemic size, but observed deaths represent only a minority of all infections1,2. Additionally, the heterogeneous burden in nursing homes and variable reporting of deaths in elderly individuals can hamper direct comparisons across countries of the underlying level of transmission and mortality rates3. Here we use age-specific COVID-19 death data from 45 countries and the results of 22 seroprevalence studies to investigate the consistency of infection and fatality patterns across multiple countries.
Official Reporting for November 2, 2020
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update October 30, 2020 (Last Updated)
Cumulative Cases: 46,403,652
Cumulative Deaths: 1,198,569
ECDC
Confirmed Cases: 46 597 299
Deaths: 1 201 162
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 46,857,505
Deaths: 1,204,274
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 9,182,628
Total deaths: 230,383
Surveillance Headlines
UNITED STATES
Missouri: An eighth grader has died of Covid-19 complications – NYT
Massachusetts: Massachusetts issues new restrictions and a stay-at-home advisory – NYT
EUROPE
European Leaders Driven to New Lockdowns by Surge in Virus – Bloomberg
Slovakia: Over 2.5 million Slovaks take part on first day of nationwide COVID-19 testing – Reuters
ASIA
Cambodia: Schools begin reopening – NYT
Science and Tech
Mathematical analysis suggests that preventing large gatherings could significantly reduce Covid-19 infection rates. There have been many documented cases of Covid-19 “super-spreading” events, in which one person infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects many other people. But how much of a role do these events play in the overall spread of the disease? A new study from MIT suggests that they have a much larger impact than expected.
Researchers urge a holistic approach to forecasting the virus’ impact on public health and the economy.
T-cell study adds to debate over duration of COVID-19 immunity – Retuers
A small UK study has found that “cellular immunity” to the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 virus is present after six months in people who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections – suggesting they might have some level of protection for at least that time.
Therapeutics
Vaccine
A Vaccine Data Guide for the Perplexed – Bloomberg
What to expect when vaccine data arrives. Corporate earnings calls tend to be dry affairs filled with mind-numbing questions about obscure revenue numbers. But Pfizer’s third-quarter earnings call last week was all about the vaccine.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
The Double Whammy of Seasonal Affective Disorder in a Season of Covid – New York Times
This winter the pandemic is expected to intensify the depression experienced by many people with the syndrome known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
Published Research
Assessing the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in the respiratory tract and COVID-19 mortality – Journal of Med Virology
Characteristics of Symptomatic Women of Reproductive Age with Laboratory-Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Pregnancy Status — United States, January 22–October 3, 2020 – CDC
Evidence that coronavirus superspreading is fat-tailed – PNAS
Pre-Print Studies
None Today
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
One of the conspiracy theories that have plagued attempts to keep people informed during the pandemic is the idea that the coronavirus was created in a laboratory. But the vast majority of scientists who have studied the virus agree that it evolved naturally and crossed into humans from an animal species, most likely a bat.
What These Athletes Learned From Their Pandemic Pauses – New York Times
The coronavirus disrupted lives around the world and sent the gymnast Sunisa Lee, the swimmer Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart and the Seattle Mariners’ Kyle Lewis on unexpected journeys.