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COVID-19 Response: Promising Practices in Health Equity June 2, 2020 3-4pm ET
Featured Headlines
Fauci’s testimony warning against reopening too soon, in less than 3 minutes – Washington Post
video at the link Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned states against reopening too early and said the coronavirus death toll is likely higher than reported during a Senate hearing.
How countries are using genomics to help avoid a second coronavirus wave – Nature
Scientists in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and other places are using sequence data to track new infections as lockdowns ease.
Pharma execs say several COVID vaccine options needed – CIDRAP
Claiming not to be in competition with each other but rather with time and the coronavirus, top executives from the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies said yesterday they’re working as fast as they can to develop, scale up, and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine.
Nearly 300 Healthcare Workers Have Died From Coronavirus – Forbes
294 healthcare workers have died from Covid-19 after fighting it on the frontlines, according to CDC data, which the National Nurses Union says is a consequence of PPE shortages.
The pandemic isn’t over. But America sure seems over it. – Washington Post
We’re over it. The masks, the kids, the Lysol. Over it. The tragic hair, the diminished hygiene, the endless construction next door, the Zoom meetings from hell, the mind games with the unemployment office, the celibacy, the short tempers and long evenings, the looking forward to the mail, the feeling guilty about the mail carrier working double time, the corporate compassion pushing products we didn’t need even before the world went funky and febrile. The now-more-than-everness, the president-said-whatness. Over it. Does 99.1 count as a fever? Over it. Some of us have reached the outskirts of Netflix, and we’re over it. Some of us can’t make rent; over it. And so we are deciding to have a summer after all, it seems. A summer of playing freely, of living dangerously. One hundred thousand dead, 40.8 million jobless claims. Not past it, but over it.
Coronavirus Stalks The Country With The World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis – NPR
Clinical Considerations
New York physicians propose early theory, detailing four case studies that were remarkably similar. The four children showed up at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in late April and early May, almost exactly one month after the peak of New York City’s coronavirus surge. All had fevers, rashes and strange blood readings that did not look like any illness doctors had seen before. And yet, the cases looked remarkably similar to one another. [Related Study]
Infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the coronavirus causing COVID-19, can induce the onset of acquired hemophilia A (AHA), a case report has found. [Related Study]
Predictors of Care in Persons Under Investigation for COVID-19 – Pulmonology Advisor
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most reports have focused on patients who test positive for SARS-CoV-2; however, stress on the health care system has also occurred because of the surge in the number of persons under investigation (PUI) with symptoms possibly but not exclusively as a result of COVID-19. Because of shortages in testing, delays in test results, false negatives, and daily fluctuations in test results within individual parties, all PUI must be considered to have COVID-19 until proven otherwise. [Related Study]
How comorbidities affect SARS-CoV-2 viral entry – Med News Today
Almost from the start of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that individuals suffering from other medical conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and lung disease are far more likely to contract the infection and to have a poorer outcome. Medical conditions influence the expression of genes that are linked to the entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into the cell. The finding could have a significant bearing on potential therapeutic targets for COVID-19. [Related pre-print study]
Researchers flag similarities between COVID-19 deaths and severe rheumatic illnesses – Science Daily
Medical researchers recommend rheumatic drugs, exercise to boost immune-regulating ‘natural killer’ cells
Official Reporting for May 29, 2020
| WHO SITREP #129 | ECDC | Johns Hopkins | |
| Confirmed Cases | 5,593,631 | 5,776,934 | 5,867,727 |
| Deaths | 353,334 | 350,212 | 362,238 |
Total deaths: 100,446
Surveillance Headlines
USA
Washington (State): Report says half of new COVID-19 cases in Washington are under 40 years old – Local News
Indiana: Its Coronavirus Caseload Soaring, India Is Reopening Anyway – NYT
Southern California: Mexican farmworkers crammed into border tunnel despite contagion risk – Reuters
San Diego California: Deaths at Local Nursing Homes Spike – Local News
Texas: Workers Share Carpool Vans at Meat Plant With COVID-19 Outbreak – NBC
Illinois: Illinois Is Reopening But Chicago Isn’t Because Of Coronavirus Cases – NPR
Iowa: Over 500 Employees Of A Tyson Pork Processing Plant In Iowa Test Positive For Coronavirus – Forbes
Georgia: Spike in Georgia COVID-19 cases partly from virus spread, expert says – Atlanta Journal Constitution
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Now Has Just 1 Active COVID-19 Case – NPR
MEXICO
SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil: Global COVID-19 total tops 5.7 million, Brazil surge continues – CIDRAP
EUROPE
France: to ease Covid-19 travel restrictions and open restaurants – Guardian
Moscow, Russia: Moscow more than doubles city’s Covid-19 death toll – BBC
Turkey: How Turkey took control of Covid-19 emergency – BBC
ASIA
Japan: Social Distancing Likely Key to Japan Virus Success, Panel Says – Bloomberg
Japan: Japan Saw Fewer Deaths in First Quarter From Year Ago Despite Virus Outbreak – Bloomberg
Science and Tech
COVID-19 research in Africa – Science
When two French doctors recently discussed the ease of conducting clinical research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in African nations, with an insinuation that ethical and safety standards for testing vaccines and treatments in these nations are lower than in other countries, anti-African research sentiments flared on social media and in news reports. Suggesting that clinical trial conduct is at a lower standard in Africa is unacceptable. Africa has innovated and implemented health solutions with high ethical regard for its people. In March, the Academy of Science of South Africa stressed the importance of research and development on COVID-19 in Africa as “key to the response to outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging pathogens.” The expertise and infrastructure of African clinical research sites, along with African nations’ engagement of their communities who wish to contribute to effective solutions, are ready to be leveraged to tackle this pandemic emergency.
AntiVirals
5 days of remdesivir for COVID-19 may be enough – CIDRAP
Results from an ongoing phase 3 study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed no significant difference in the clinical status of hospitalized COVID-19 patients not requiring mechanical ventilation after a 5-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir compared with patients who had a 10-day course. [Related study]
Diagnostics
Researchers Applaud Spanish COVID-19 Serological Survey – The Scientist
After initial setbacks, the country’s recent antibody screen estimates that 5 percent of the population has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
Vaccine
GSK aims for one billion doses of booster as COVID-19 vaccine race heats up – Reuters
A strategic approach to COVID-19 vaccine R&D – Science
There is an unprecedented need to manufacture and distribute enough safe and effective vaccine to immunize an extraordinarily large number of individuals in order to protect the entire global community from the continued threat of morbidity and mortality from severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
CanSino publishes first COVID-19 vaccine data to muted response – Chemical Engineering News
The Chinese vaccine company is pushing ahead with clinical trials in China and Canada, despite mixed results from its Phase I study
Infection Prevention
Diners walking into a restaurant might be able to tell a lot about how the establishment is mitigating the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus. They can see the servers in masks, the touchless systems many are offering for payment, the frequent disinfection by staff of commonly touched surfaces. But there’s one thing they can’t see that could play a part: The air around them. By now, we’re used to staying six feet from others, per social-distancing recommendations. For months, public health experts have described the virus as being primarily transmitted through droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze to nearby people or surfaces. [Related article]
Published Research
Features of COVID-19 post-infectious cytokine release syndrome in children presenting to the emergency department – American Journal of Emergency Medicine
The first case of acquired hemophilia A associated with SARS‐CoV ‐2 infection – American Journal of Hematology
SARS-CoV-2 and HIV – Journal of Medical Virology
Reduction of secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in households by face mask use, disinfection and social distancing: a cohort study in Beijing, China – BMJ
Cohort of 4404 Persons Under Investigation for COCID-19 in a NY Hospital and Predictors of ICU Care and Ventilation – Annals of Emergency Medicine
Screening for Covid-19 in Skilled Nursing Facilities – NEJM
Pre-Pub (not yet peer reviewed, should not be regarded as conclusive)
Coping in Quarantine
4-star quarantine: At a Milan hotel, guests don’t get room keys – Washington Post
Those who arrive at the Hotel Michelangelo are treated like anything but normal hotel guests. They stay free of charge. Their meals are dropped off outside their door. They are given detergent and a sponge at check-in and asked to do all cleaning themselves. They are given no room key. They are forbidden from leaving their rooms.
Pandemic Baking, the Sourdough Edition
What happens with physicists start making sourdough?