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News Scan for Mar 26, 2021

Long-haul COVID-19 likelihood associated with middle age, female sex

Researchers reporting on two non-peer–reviewed studies published this week on the preprint server medRxiv followed up months after adults' COVID-19 hospitalization and found that 55% to 71% have not fully recovered. Middle age and female sex were associated with a higher likelihood of worse recovery in both studies.

News Scan for Mar 29, 2021

Adults 20-49 key to last year's US COVID-19 resurgence, study says

Adults 20 to 49 years old may be sustaining the resurgence of COVID-19, according to a study published late last week in Science.

Stewardship / Resistance Scan for May 05, 2021

WHO highlights importance of good hand hygiene

To mark World Hand Hygiene Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) today called for countries to reduce inequalities in the availability of good hand hygiene and other infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.

News Scan for May 05, 2021

Study says COVID-19 recurrence could be less than 0.1%

Less than 0.1% of all COVID-positive patients in the Intermountain Healthcare system had probable or possible recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a PLOS One study yesterday.

COVID-19 Scan for May 06, 2021

Clotting, bleeding issues uncommon with AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is associated with some increases in bleeding and clotting events, according to a BMJ study yesterday, but experts say the benefits outweigh the risks.

News Scan for May 07, 2021

Experts estimate global COVID-19 deaths may actually be double

Direct COVID-19 deaths may be more than double previous estimates, according to a report yesterday by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

News Scan for May 10, 2021

Mild COVID-19 not associated with heart damage, study says

Mild COVID-19 infection was not linked to longer-term heart damage, according to a JACC Cardiovascular Imaging study late last week.

COVID-19 Scan for May 11, 2021

COVID-19 death rates low in pregnant, hospitalized women, study finds

Compared with non-pregnant women hospitalized with COVID-19, pregnant women with COVID-19 had lower in-hospital death rates, according to a research letter in the Annals of Internal Medicine today.

COVID-19 Scan for May 12, 2021

Postpartum depression associated with COVID-19 lockdown

Twice as many mothers with babies 6 months or younger reported postpartum depression during the first UK COVID-19–related lockdown, according to a Frontiers in Psychology study yesterday.

News Scan for May 13, 2021

Most long-haul COVID-19 patients younger, healthier, Mayo Clinic says

The inaugural cohort of Mayo Clinic's COVID-19 Activity Rehabilitation Program (CARP) for post–COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) were mostly women, younger, had few pre-existing comorbidities, and experienced milder forms of COVID-19, but only a third were able to return to full-time work.

News Scan for May 14, 2021

Call for ideas for safe campus reopening amid COVID nets 82 solutions

A crowdsourcing appeal for creative solutions for safely reopening the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill amid the COVID-19 pandemic in fall 2020 netted 82 submissions from 110 students, faculty, and staff, according to a qualitative study today in JAMA Network Open.

News Scan for Aug 11, 2021

Corticosteroid tied to shorter recovery in non-severe COVID-19

Inhaled budesonide, a corticosteroid often used for Crohn's disease, was tied to a shorter recovery time in COVID-19 patients who were at a higher risk of severe infection, according to a study published in The Lancet yesterday.

News Scan for Aug 12, 2021

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine found to be non-inferior in adolescents

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was safe in adolescents 12 to 17 years old, with a similar immune response to that in young adults, according to results of an ongoing phase 2-3 trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday.

News Scan for Aug 13, 2021

Higher COVID-19 transmission tied to crowded households

COVID-19 transmission among households was three times more likely if the household had a high living density, according to a study yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Higher living density is defined as having more than three household members but fewer than six rooms.

News Scan for Aug 16, 2021

US wildfires associated with excess COVID-19

US wildfires were associated with excess COVID-19 cases and deaths from mid-August to mid-October 2020, according to a study published late last week in Science Advances.

COVID-19 Scan for Aug 17, 2021

China's COVID-19 vaccine tied to slight risk of Bell's palsy

China's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine is tied to a slight increased risk of Bell's palsy, while the Fosun/BioNTech (Pfizer/BioNTech's parallel product in China) did not show a significantly increased risk, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Both the researchers and a related commentary conclude that COVID-19 vaccines' benefits outweigh the risks.

COVID-19 Scan for Aug 18, 2021

Refugees' mental health affected by COVID-19 stressors

For refugees, the biggest predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), health anxiety, depression, or disability during COVID-19 was if their pandemic experiences triggered memories of past trauma, according to survey results published today in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.

Stewardship / Resistance Scan for Aug 19, 2021

COVID-19 restrictions in Australia linked to lower community antibiotic use

COVID-19 restrictions in Australia were associated with a substantial decline in community dispensing of antibiotics for respiratory infections, researchers reported this week in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

News Scan for Aug 19, 2021

Convalescent plasma didn't prevent severe COVID-19 in high-risk patients

Early use of convalescent plasma didn't prevent COVID-19 progression in a group of high-risk adult outpatients, concludes a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

COVID-19 Scan for Aug 20, 2021

More hospitalization, complications for kids with COVID-19 than with flu

Hospitalization and respiratory complications were more frequent in children and adolescents with COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic than in those diagnosed as having influenza in past flu seasons, an international team of researchers reported today in Pediatrics.

News Scan for Aug 23, 2021

Breakthrough COVID-19 may be less infectious

Being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 significantly decreased the probability of virus culture positivity in breakthrough cases versus cases in unvaccinated healthcare workers, according to a study on the non–peer-reviewed research server, medRxiv.

News Scan for Nov 19, 2021

1.6 million US COVID survivors may still have impaired sense of smell

Upwards of 700,000—perhaps as many as 1.6 million—US COVID-19 survivors haven't recovered their sense of smell after more than 6 months, according to a research letter yesterday in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

News Scan for Nov 22, 2021

Disrupted care, discrimination tied to less infant vaccination during COVID

US infants born early in the pandemic were less likely to receive routine childhood vaccinations if their mothers had perinatal care disruptions (those just before or after birth) or experienced discrimination during pregnancy, according to a prospective study today in JAMA Pediatrics.

COVID-19 Scan for Nov 23, 2021

Study: No risk of serious adverse events in elderly COVID vaccine recipients

A new nationwide study in France involving people 75 years or older found no increase in acute myocardial infarction, stroke, or pulmonary embolism 14 days following each Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine dose. The data was published as a research letter yesterday in JAMA.

COVID-19 Scan for Nov 24, 2021

SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels predict COVID vaccine efficacy, study finds

SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentrations predict COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, with higher levels correlating with greater protection, according to an ongoing US phase 3 clinical trial yesterday in Science.

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