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Featured Headlines
Coronavirus Survivors Hope for Immunity — The Reality Is More Complicated – Bloomberg
When it comes to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, little is known yet about the body’s immune response to an infection. Understanding the level of viral immunity in survivors of Covid-19 will prove key in making decisions about how and when to lift restrictions.
Skin Rashes: An Emerging Symptom of COVID-19 – Cleveland Clinic
What clinicians need to know about cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19
More than 9,000 U.S. health-care workers have been infected with the coronavirus – Washington Post
CDC report details how a Solano County, Calif., patient exposed 121 hospital staff, kicking off one of first-known cases of workplace transmission in the country [Related Study]
Antibody Tests For Coronavirus Can Miss The Mark – NPR
Sweden’s relatively relaxed approach to controlling the spread of the coronavirus has come under fire in international media and from many locals in the capital Stockholm, where more than half the country’s deaths have been recorded. Now, 22 researchers have publicly criticized the strategy and called on politicians to make changes.
Underreporting Of COVID-19 Coronavirus Deaths In The U.S. And Europe – Forbes
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state, county, and municipal authorities report cases and deaths in which the presence of the novel coronavirus is confirmed in a laboratory test. However, many people who died and had COVID-19 symptoms – at home, in a nursing home, or a long-term care facility – are not being tested.
WHO Sets 6 Conditions For Ending A Coronavirus Lockdown – NPR
For the billions of people now living under some form of stay-at-home or lockdown orders, experts from the World Health Organization have new guidance: We should be ready to “change our behaviors for the foreseeable future,” they say, as the agency updates its advice on when to lift COVID-19 lockdown orders.
Some coronavirus social distancing may be needed into 2022, study says – C|Net
Sociologists have suggested that some social distancing methods, like avoiding hugs and handshakes, could persist beyond the end of the pandemic, but the paper published Tuesday in the journal Science notes that even after the spread of the virus appears to wane, a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024. [Related Study]
Ending coronavirus lockdowns will be a dangerous process of trial and error – Science
Governments around the world must triangulate the health of their citizens, the freedoms of their population, and economic constraints. Could schools be reopened? Restaurants? Bars? Can people go back to their offices?
New model looks at what might happen if SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay – ARS Technica
Most of the optimistic ideas about what to do about SARS-CoV-2 involve engineering the virus’s extinction. We could ramp up testing and isolate anyone who has been in contact with an infected individual. We could carefully manage infections to build up herd immunity without exceeding our hospital capacity. Or, in an ideal world, we could develop herd immunity using an effective vaccine. [Related Study]
n early April, about four months after a new, highly infectious coronavirus was first identified in China, an international group of scientists reported encouraging results from a study of an experimental drug for treating the viral disease known as COVID-19.
Clinicians around the world are seeing evidence that suggests the virus also may be causing heart inflammation, acute kidney disease, neurological malfunction, blood clots, intestinal damage and liver problems. That development has complicated treatment for the most severe cases of covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, and makes the course of recovery less certain, they said.
Surveillance
Official Reporting for April 15, 2020
| WHO SITREP #85 | ECDC | Country Data | Johns Hopkins | |
| Confirmed Cases | 1,914,916 | 1,948,511 | 2,006,513 |
| Deaths | 123,010 | 125,966 | 129,045 |
Total deaths: 21,942
Travel Related: 6,515
Close Contact: 13,341
Under Investigation: 534,993
Total Cases: 554,849
Surveillance Headlines
USA
California: California sees single-day high in COVID-19 deaths – Mercury News
Virginia: Half Of Virginia’s Coronavirus Outbreaks Are In Long-Term Care Facilities – NPR
Boston, Massachusetts: Testing Reveals ‘Stunning’ Asymptomatic Coronavirus Spread Among Boston’s Homeless – WBUR
Georgia: Health officials can’t track COVID-19 spread in Middle Georgia – The Telegraph
Hawaii: Volunteers Needed for the Medical Reserve Corps – KHON
SOUTH AMERICA:
Ecuador: As Bodies Accumulate, So Do Fears of a High Coronavirus Toll in Ecuador – NYT
MIDDLE EAST:
Iran: Virus deaths nearly double reported figures – AP
EUROPE
Sweden: 22 Scientists Say Coronavirus Strategy Has Failed As Deaths Top 1,000 – Forbes
AFRICA
Algeria Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa have reported increased cases and deaths. Six of the countries with high case loads have high case-fatality rates, ranging from Algeria at 15% to Niger at 2.7%. Most countries are experiencing local transmission with the virus spreading from country capitals to rural areas. The WHO said rigorous efforts are needed to control the situation, such as stepped-up surveillance and other preparedness actions. – CIDRAP
‘Starve or get sick’: Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown dilemma – Gulf News
Nigeria: 373 confirmed cases, 99 discharged, 11 deaths recorded – Vanguard
Science and Tech
How Digital Contact Tracing Slowed Covid-19 in East Asia – Harvard Business Review
As Covid-19 steamrolls across international boundaries, public health officials are paying close attention to countries that are flattening the curve, slowing the spread of infection. Can other countries emulate their success? Top of mind has been whether authoritarian regimes have an edge over democracies, because they can mandate top-down measures like lockdowns and digital tracking of infected people’s movements and contacts.
For many who have already tested positive, home stays are the best option to avoid an already massively overtaxed hospital system in many areas and to avoid further infecting others. The question, then, is how doctors and nurses can continue to provide treatment remotely with the pronounced limitations of telemedicine.
How to manage a pandemic – MIT Tech Review
Coronavirus was a test, and many of the world’s most advanced nations have all too visibly failed. What can we do better?
Vaccine
Researchers in Spain Use Biotech to Produce SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Plants – Crop BioTech
Researchers María Coca and Juan José López-Moya from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) are using their expertise in plant biotechnology and virology to produce SARS-CoV-2 antigens to be used in vaccine development. The researchers will experiment with different expression systems from plants and have formed a team including an immunologist expert in coronavirus.
Diagnostics
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will pump approximately $180,000 into a new partnership with DiaSorin, Inc. to create a clinical lab test capable of identifying people infected with and recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Published Research
Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period – Science
Pre-Pub (not yet peer reviewed, should not be regarded as conclusive)
The global population of SARS-CoV-2 is composed of six major subtypes – BioXiv
A New Features of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a City of China – BMC Infectious Disease
Infection Prevention
Does Widespread Disinfecting Kill the Coronavirus? It’s Under Debate – New York Times
Spraying streets and inside buildings might calm a worried public, but it’s too early to know whether such efforts reduce transmission.
COVID-19 Respiratory Protection Commentaries – CIDRAP
Recent commentaries on optimizing respiratory protection against the COVID-19 virus and on modes of transmission that were written by Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, and Margaret Sietsema, PhD, or by Dr. Brosseau alone. Select the title to go to the full commentary.
Studies: Hand sanitizers kill COVID-19 virus, e-consults appropriate – CIDRAP
In a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Swiss and German researchers found that alcohol-based hand sanitizers recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are effective in killing the novel coronavirus.