Featured Headlines
Fauci: Moderna’s Phase 3 Covid-19 Vaccine Trial Of 30,000 Individuals Will Begin In July – Forbes
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Phase 3 trial of Moderna’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine will begin in July and include study of 30,000 patients who will be as young as 18 and include elderly Americans as well.
Address ‘appalling impact’ of COVID-19 on minorities, UN rights chief urges – UN News
The disease is exposing alarming inequalities in some countries: disparities similar to those fuelling current protests for greater racial justice in multiple cities – as well as online, through “Blackout Tuesday” – across the United States, Michelle Bachelet stated. Disproportionate impact of #COVID19 on racial & ethnic minorities needs to be urgently addressed.
Experts Fear Minneapolis Protests Will Trigger Spike In Coronavirus Cases – Forbes
Minnesota reported a single-day record of 35 deaths on Thursday from Covid-19, as health officials warned that recent mass protests could exacerbate the spread of the virus, with the potential to disproportionately impact minorities.
Bloomberg COVID-19 Podcast: Why New York Got Hit So Hard
At least 21,000 New Yorkers are dead from Covid-19, with a few dozen added to the city’s count every day. The city’s deaths are 10 times those of Los Angeles County’s. They’ve surpassed the 16,000 lives lost in Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region. Drew Armstrong reviewed the statements of experts, officials, and politicians to better understand the root causes of New York City’s devastating outbreak.
COVID Brain Invasion? Aging Without Dementia; Sneaking Past the Brain’s Gates – Med Page Today
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of a young radiology technologist with COVID-19 and anosmia showed a signal alteration compatible with viral brain invasion in a cortical region associated with olfaction. [Related JAMA paper]
Will Warm Weather Slow Spread of Novel Coronavirus? – NIH Directors Blog
With the start of summer coming soon, many are hopeful that the warmer weather will slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. There have been hints from lab experiments that increased temperature and humidity may reduce the viability of SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile, other coronaviruses that cause less severe diseases, such as the common cold, do spread more slowly among people during the summer.
6 Health Workers Talk About Their Battles With the Pandemic – Wired
HEALTH CARE WORKERS the world over have never faced combat with anything quite like Covid-19, a disease that spreads rapidly and so far has killed more than 360,000 people worldwide. Health officials were so concerned that hospitals would be overwhelmed by patients that in March much of the world went into an unprecedented lockdown to “flatten the curve,” or to slow the rate of new infections to give facilities time to muster a response. Regions that acted quickly, like the San Francisco Bay Area, have so far succeeded—those that stalled, like New York City, saw their hospitals flooded with patients. It got so bad in NYC that one hospital had to bring in a refrigerated semi-truck trailer to hold the dead.
15 West Point Cadets Test Positive for Coronavirus – New York Times
At least 15 of the graduating cadets who returned to West Point ahead of President Trump’s commencement speech in June tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a U.S. Army spokeswoman. None of those cadets had coronavirus symptoms, and the virus had not spread from them to any other cadets among the class of 1,106 since they returned to the U.S. Military Academy last week, the spokeswoman, Col. Sunset Belinsky, said on Tuesday. She said that the academy learned that the 15 had the coronavirus after all cadets were tested immediately upon arriving on campus. The cadets who tested positive were immediately isolated. [If the link above does not work, try this one]
Clinical Considerations
Why coronavirus hits men harder: sex hormones offer clues – Science Magazine
In January, one of the first publications on those sickened by the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, reported that three out of every four hospitalized patients were male. Data from around the world have since confirmed that men face a greater risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 than women and that children are largely spared. Now, scientists investigating how the virus does its deadly work have zeroed in on a possible reason: Androgens—male hormones such as testosterone—appear to boost the virus’ ability to get inside cells.
Blood vessel attack could trigger coronavirus’ fatal ‘second phase’ – Science
Frank Ruschitzka told his pathologist to be ready before the first COVID-19 patient died. In early March, Ruschitzka, who leads the cardiology department at University Hospital Zürich, noticed that patients with the disease had strange symptoms for what was then thought to be chiefly a respiratory infection. Many patients had acute kidney failure, organ damage, and mysterious blood clots. Several weeks later, the first body was autopsied: Tiny clots and dead cells littered the capillaries of the lungs, and inflammation had distended blood vessels supplying every organ in the body.
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 causes abnormal laboratory results of multiple organs in patients – Aging
Elevated neutrophil-to-LYM ratio (NLR), D-dimer(D-D), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-2, interferon-Y, and age were significantly associated with the severity of illness. However, significant and sustained decreases were observed in the LYM subset (p<0.05). D-D, T cell counts, and cytokine levels in severe COVID-19 patients who survived the disease gradually recovered at later time points to levels that were comparable to those of mild cases. Second, D-D increased from 0.5 to 8, and the risk ratio increased from 2.75 to 55, eventually leading to disseminated intravascular coagulation. Moreover, the acute renal function damage occurred earlier than abnormal heart and liver functions (p<0.05).
Mental Health Issues After COVID-19 May Require Additional Care – Med Page Today
It is early days in terms of evaluating the long-term mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there may be lessons to be learned from preceding diseases caused by closely related human coronaviruses. Biologically speaking, such a comparison makes sense, because SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, resembles MERS-CoV (>50% similarity) and SARS-CoV (>79% similarity). Even the spike protein that attaches to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor to hijack human cells is largely similar.
What Experts Know About a Rare Inflammatory Syndrome Linked to COVID-19 – Smithsonian
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, reports of new and unusual symptoms are on the rise. The latest side effects of a novel coronavirus infection range from nerve damage to “COVID toe.” In rare cases, COVID-19 seems to cause severe inflammation in children.
Pulmonary embolism and COVID-19 – Science Direct
Researchers say early diagnosis of a life-threatening blood clot in the lungs led to swifter treatment intervention in COVID-19 patients. A new study finds that 51 percent of patients found to have a pulmonary embolism, or PE, were diagnosed in the Emergency Department, the entry point for patients being admitted to the hospital.
Pulmonary Complications Common in Surgery Patients With COVID-19 – MedPageToday
Pneumonia and other pulmonary complications occurred in half of postsurgical patients with perioperative COVID-19 in an international study, and these complications were associated with a higher risk for early death. [Related Lancet Paper]
Official Reporting for June 3, 2020
| WHO SITREP #135 | ECDC | Johns Hopkins | |
| Confirmed Cases | 6,287,771 | 6,348,900 | 6,445,457 |
| Deaths | 379,941 | 380,810 | 382,451 |
Total deaths: 106,202
Surveillance Headlines
An integrated national scale SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance network – The Lancet
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) was launched in March, 2020, with £20 million support from UK Research and Innovation, the UK Department of Health and Social Care, and Wellcome Trust. The goal of this consortium is to sequence severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for up to 230 000 patients, health-care workers, and other essential workers in the UK with COVID-19, which will help to enable the tracking of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, identify viral mutations, and integrate with health data to assess how the viral genome interacts with cofactors and consequences of COVID-19. [Related study]
USA
Minnesota: Minneapolis Hospitals Brace for COVID-19 Surge Following Protests – Med Page Today
Wisconsin: Racine Now Has Worst COVID-19 Outbreak in Wisconsin – Urban Milwaukee
Dallas, Texas: Dallas County Reporting New Highs In Coronavirus Cases And Deaths, Report Says – Forbes
Arkansas: Cases, patients on ventilators reach new highs in Arkansas – Local News
North Carolina: NC COVID-19 June 2 update: Hospitalizations jump to highest number amid pandemic – Local news
MEXICO
EUROPE
Sweden: We should have done more, admits architect of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy – BBC
Germany: Germany Moves to Reactivate European Travel as Virus Ebbs – Bloomberg
ASIA
India: Scientists identify genetically unique strain of novel coronavirus in India – Hindu Business
AFRICA
New WHO Model Forecasts A Different Coronavirus Spread Pattern In Africa – NPR
Nigeria: Nigeria reopens churches, mosques and hotels amid rising cases of Covid-19 – CNN
SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil: Brazil Reports Record Covid-19 Deaths as Surge Continues – Bloomberg
Science and Tech
Genetic study reveals similarities and differences of COVID-19 and SARS viruses – Medical Express
Researchers have identified specific portions of the genetic codes of the COVID-19 and SARS viruses that may promote the viruses’ lifecycles. The new technique is researchers’ first tool for determining what genetic sequences stored as RNA—DNA’s chemical cousin—are more stable.
In a major scientific study published in the journal Cell, scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health have characterized the specific ways in which SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – infects the nasal cavity to a great degree – replicating specific cell types – and infects and replicates progressively less well in cells lower down the respiratory tract, including the lungs.
Therapeutics
Important scientific questions have been raised about data reported in the paper by Mandeep Mehra et al—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis published in The Lancet on May 22, 2020. Although an independent audit of the provenance and validity of the data has been commissioned by the authors not affiliated with Surgisphere and is ongoing, with results expected very shortly, we are issuing an Expression of Concern to alert readers to the fact that serious scientific questions have been brought to our attention. We will update this notice as soon as we have further information.
Coronavirus: Ibuprofen tested as a treatment – BBC
The team from London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital and King’s College believe the drug, which is an anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller, could treat breathing difficulties. They hope the low-cost treatment can keep patients off ventilators. In the trial, called Liberate, half of the patients will receive ibuprofen in addition to usual care.
Diagnostics
Infection Prevention
Incorporating Dry Vapor Steam into Disinfection Processes Against SARS-CoV-2 – Food Safety Magazine
A dry vapor steam cleaner or generator is designed to produce saturated and superheated steam typically with pressures ranging between 60–145 psi and temperatures in the range of 307–363 °F. Dry vapor steam refers to water in its purely gaseous state, being completely heated above and beyond the 212 °F/ 100 °C boiling point. It has relatively low pressure but high temperature ratings.
Published Research
SARS-CoV-2 infection: the role of cytokines in COVID-19 disease – Science Direct
Venous Thrombosis Among Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) – JAMA
Acute myocarditis and multisystem inflammatory emerging disease following SARS-CoV-2 infection in critically ill children – Annals of Intenseive Care
SARS-CoV-2 Reverse Genetics Reveals a Variable Infection Gradient in the Respiratory Tract – Cell
Pre-Pub (not yet peer reviewed, should not be regarded as conclusive)
Coping in Quarantine
I didn’t make this list, but I understand this list. I’ve ordered more stuff from Amazon than ever this year. I’d like to give a shout out to all of the delivery people who have brought us countless packages of stuff during this strange time. Here’s a list of things you never knew you needed