Aaron Carroll

ICYMI. The COVID-19 week in review.

This will be an ongoing, weekly post that will highlight the things you should have read (at least in MY opinion). Articles you might have missed: Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing, by Ed Yong at The Atlantic. Few journalistsRead More
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Review: Collateral benefit of COVID-19 control measures on influenza activity, Taiwan

It appears that the same measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan have also significantly slowed the spread of influenza. These measures work. Taiwan has been at the forefront of infection control measures to prevent the spread ofRead More
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Review: Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals

This study provides evidence that room ventilation, open space, sanitization of protective apparel, and proper use and disinfection of bathrooms can effectively limit the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the air.  While we are confident that COVID-19 can be spreadRead More
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Review: Rapid point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2 in a community screening setting shows low sensitivity

This study showed that some rapid antibody tests have low sensitivity and therefore would be insufficient for community screenings. At this time, the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis is PCR-based system taking several hours to confirm positivity. This is insufficientRead More
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Review: Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission in a skilled nursing facility

This study found that than half of skilled nursing facility residents with positive COVID-19 tests were asymptomatic at the time of testing and most likely contributed to transmission. Researchers assessed the transmission and adequacy of symptom-based screening to identify infectionsRead More
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Review: Effect of high vs low doses of chloroquine diphosphate as adjunctive therapy for patients hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection: A randomized clinical trial

The early results of this study suggest that higher chloroquine doses should not be recommended for critically ill patients with COVID-19 because of potential safety hazards, especially if combined with azithromycin and oseltamivir. In this parallel, double-masked, randomized clinical trialRead More
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Review: Estimating the size of a COVID-19 epidemic from surveillance systems

This study discusses methods by which we can estimate the size of an outbreak from various surveillance measures. Policymakers dealing with COVID-19 will need to decide when to switch from measures that contain and eliminate the outbreak to measures designedRead More
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Review: Presenting characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes among 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area

This large case series provides characteristics and early outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the NYC area. Researchers described the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 5700 patients with COVID-19 admitted to 12 hospitals in the NYC area. All wereRead More
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Review: Changes in testing rates could mask the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) growth rate

This study warns that limited testing rates because of limited testing ability can cause models to give incorrect results. We need reliable estimates of the COVID-19 epidemic growth rate to guide the timing and intensity of intervention strategies. A numberRead More
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Review: Naive forecast for COVID-19 in Utah based on the South Korea and Italy models – The fluctuation between two extremes

This modeling study of Utah found that handing the pandemic like South Korea versus Italy had a 3-month variation in pandemic length, a 1.5-fold difference in the peak number of daily infections, and a 3-fold difference in the total cumulativeRead More
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