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COVID-19 study shows that men have over double the death rate of women – Eureka Alert

In the largest COVID-19 dataset, over 70% of the patients who died were men, meaning that men had almost 2.5 times the death rate of women. And interestingly, being male was a significant risk-factor for worse disease severity, regardless of age. [Related Study]

Unexpected Cause of Death in Younger COVID-19 Patients is Related to Blood Clotting – Biospace

(In case you missed this yesterday…) Investigators from New York City’s Mount Sinai describe five COVID-19 patients all under the age of 50 who had large vessel strokes over a two-week period. Of the five, one died, one is still hospitalized, two are in rehabilitation and one was discharged and sent home. All five patients had mild or no symptoms of COVID-19. [Related Study] [Related Publication]

The Interplay between Diabetes and COVID-19 – FLARE

The FLARE team discuss patients with diabetes and risk for severe COVID-19.

COVID-19 Thickens Blood, Causes Strokes In Some Patients With Mild Symptoms – NPR [3-minute audio file at link]

COVID-19 can cause a person’s blood to thicken, doctors say. This manifestation of the infection may be causing strokes and other circulatory problems in patients whose symptoms are mild otherwise.

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests – New York Times

Total deaths in seven states that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic are nearly 50 percent higher than normal for the five weeks from March 8 through April 11, according to new death statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is 9,000 more deaths than were reported as of April 11 in official counts of deaths from the coronavirus.[CDC Report]

How (Not) to Do an Antibody Survey for SARS-CoV-2 – The Scientist

Preprints from the first round of seroprevalence studies indicate that many more people have been infected with the virus than previously reported. Some of these studies also have serious design flaws. [Related pre-print study]

Hotline staffed by psychiatrists helps coronavirus doctors in distress – NBC

The calls to the Physician Support Line often begin with an apology from a desperate doctor. “All of a sudden, we are being called heroes and being put on a pedestal, and we are having this deep fear that we are not heroes,” Masood said. “Some doctors are feeling that vulnerability and have no place to express that.”

Coronavirus: More Is Different – Scientific American

A single virus particle is infinitesimal, but this tiny packet of information, a crystalline form of matter, has changed our world almost overnight.

Up Close and Personal With SARS-CoV-2’s Replication Machinery – Technology Networks

When a viral pathogen invades, it enters the host cells and must rapidly divide to survive. In order to divide, it is required to multiply its genetic material – long strands of RNA. The machinery responsible for performing this task is known as the viral polymerase. [Related pre-print study]

From ‘COVID Toes’ to Hives, These Are the Skin Conditions Dermatologists Think Could Be Signs of Coronavirus – Time

ermatologists around the world are gathering data on what may be largely overlooked symptoms of COVID-19: skin conditions ranging from rashes to “pseudo-frostbite.” [Related Paper] [American Academy of Dermatology COVID-19 Symptom Registry]

Study reveals SARS-CoV-2 RNA cap structure – Medical News.net

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in April 2020 reports the discovery of the structure of the cap created by the novel coronavirus on virally encoded mRNAs. The finding could help create new antiviral strategies. [Related pre-print study]

Microbe Mappers Are Tracking Covid-19’s Invisible Traces – Wired

DURING THE SECOND week of March, as the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, a team of latex-gloved scientists from Cornell Weill Medical School fanned out across Penn Station armed with packs of sterile, long-armed swabs and a tripod-mounted instrument for capturing air samples. In New York City, the 100th person had just tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the deadly new respiratory disease, but the subways remained open and packed with daily commuters. The researchers were there, in one of the most crowded areas of the city, to see if the coronavirus was, too.

Why don’t some coronavirus patients sense their alarmingly low oxygen levels? – Science Magazine

Among the many surprises of the new coronavirus is one that seems to defy basic biology: infected patients with extraordinarily low blood-oxygen levels, or hypoxia, scrolling on their phones, chatting with doctors, and generally describing themselves as comfortable. Clinicians call them happy hypoxics.

Surveillance

Official Reporting for April 29, 2020