Covid19-Sources

Nature Communications - While SARS-CoV-2 S protein targeting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are well studied, little is known about N protein-targeting mAbs. Here, Kang et al. provide the crystal...

Nature Communications - Here, in a longitudinal case study, Weigang et al. demonstrate that evolution of SARS-CoV-2 within a persistently infected immunosuppressed patient can result in the...

Modeling and Bayesian inference reveal the time dependence of SARS-CoV-2 interventions on the number of new infections.

Objective To review the evidence on the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Biosis, Joanna Briggs, Global Health, and World Health Organization COVID-19 database (preprints). Eligibility criteria for study selection Observational and interventional studies that assessed the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality. Main outcome measures The main outcome measure was incidence of covid-19. Secondary outcomes included SARS-CoV-2 transmission and covid-19 mortality. Data synthesis DerSimonian Laird random effects meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effect of mask wearing, handwashing, and physical distancing measures on incidence of covid-19. Pooled effect estimates with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were computed, and heterogeneity among studies was assessed using Cochran’s Q test and the I2 metrics, with two tailed P values. Results 72 studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 35 evaluated individual public health measures and 37 assessed multiple public health measures as a “package of interventions.” Eight of 35 studies were included in the meta-analysis, which indicated a reduction in incidence of covid-19 associated with handwashing (relative risk 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.19 to 1.12, I2=12%), mask wearing (0.47, 0.29 to 0.75, I2=84%), and physical distancing (0.75, 0.59 to 0.95, I2=87%). Owing to heterogeneity of the studies, meta-analysis was not possible for the outcomes of quarantine and isolation, universal lockdowns, and closures of borders, schools, and workplaces. The effects of these interventions were synthesised descriptively. Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19. Public health efforts to implement public health measures should consider community health and sociocultural needs, and future research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of public health measures in the context of covid-19 vaccination. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42020178692. No additional data available.

Objectives To assess transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools mainly kept open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design Population-wide register-based cohort study. Setting Primary and lower secondary schools in Norway have been open during the academic year 2020/2021 with strict infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in place. All identified contacts including student and staff members were urged to get tested following a positive SARS-CoV-2 case in a school. Participants All students and educational staff in Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools from August 2020 to June 2021. Main outcome measures Overall secondary attack rate (SAR14) was operationalized as the number of secondary cases (among students and/or staff) in the school by 14 days after the index case, divided by the number of students and staff members in the school. Moreover, we calculated SAR14-to-students , denoting transmission from all index cases to students only, SAR14-to-school staff , denoting transmission from all index cases to staff members only. We also calculated these measures in stratified samples consisting of student index cases or school staff index cases. Results From August 2020 to June 2021 there were 4,078 index cases, 79% were students and 21% were school staff. In the majority (55%) of schools with an index case, no secondary cases were observed by 14 days, and in 16% of the schools there were only one secondary case within 14 days. Overall SAR14 was found to be 0.33% (95%CI 0.32-0.33). Staff-to-staff transmission (SAR14 0.45%, 95%CI 0.40-0.52) was found to be slightly more common than student-to-student (SAR14 0.33%, 95%CI 0.32-0.34) and student-to-staff (SAR14 0.28%, 95%CI 0.25-0.30) transmission. Conclusions Our results confirm that schools have not been an important arena of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Norway and therefore support that schools can be kept open with IPC measures in place. ### Competing Interest Statement All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work. PS have received a grant from the OAK Fellowships Programme in Molecular and Environmental Epidemiology (Grant number OCAY-12-356) and have acted as an expert witness in court cases for the National Office for Health Service Appeals. Other than this, no author had financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years or report other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. ### Funding Statement The study was funded by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which was where the study was conducted. The institute had no direct role in the design and conduct of the study; compilation, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. No external funding was received. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The emergency preparedness register, BEREDT C19, was established according to the Health Preparedness Act 2-4 and the project was approved by the Ethics Committee of South-East Norway (9th March 2021, #198964). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes No additional data available. The datasets that support the findings of this study contain sensitive information and cannot be shared by the authors due to privacy laws. Individual-level data for research are generally available within Norway upon application conforming with strict regulations and procedures.

Since the beginning of October, there have been 35 cases of PIMS, which shows up 2-6 weeks after children recover from the coronavirus

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Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug being investigated for repurposing to SARS-CoV-2. In-vitro, ivermectin showed limited antiviral activity and a COVID-19 animal model demonstrated pathological benefits but no effect on viral RNA. This meta-analysis investigated ivermectin in 18 randomized cl...

Dirk Brockmann Research on Complex Systems, Department of Biology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Prof. Brockmann

New data was released today regarding PIMS (MIS-C) frequency by age, severe COVID19, and severe myocarditis as a vaccine side effect. For kids, the most common issue is PIMS. More data is required to evaluate myocarditis, but it is most likely to remain small. data https://t.co/a6BhuKTuTf pic.twitter.com/nN8OgIvQBM— Yuval Harpaz (@yuvharpaz) November 4, 2021

COVID-19 Sars-CoV-2 Event Risk Assessment Planner

Vaccination reduces the risk of delta variant infection and accelerates viral clearance. Nonetheless, fully vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections have peak viral load similar to unvaccinated cases and can efficiently transmit infection in household settings, including to fully vaccinated contacts. Host–virus interactions early in infection may shape the entire viral trajectory.

Neuinfektionen, Tote, Intensivpatienten: Sehen Sie hier, wie viele Menschen sich in Ihrer Region mit Covid-19 anstecken – täglich aktuell direkt aus den 400 Kreisen.

CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website.

Background A cluster of over a thousand infections with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant was identified in a predominantly fully vaccinated population in Provincetown, Massachusetts in July 2021. Immune responses in breakthrough infections with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant remain to be defined. Methods Humoral and cellular immune responses were assessed in 35 vaccinated individuals who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health outbreak investigation. Results Vaccinated individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated substantially higher antibody responses than vaccinated individuals who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, including 28-fold higher binding antibody titers and 34-fold higher neutralizing antibody titers against the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. Vaccinated individuals who tested positive also showed 4.4-fold higher Spike-specific CD8+ T cell responses against the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant than vaccinated individuals who tested negative. Conclusions Fully vaccinated individuals developed robust anamnestic antibody and T cell responses following infection with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. These data suggest important immunologic benefits of vaccination in the context of breakthrough infections. ### Competing Interest Statement DHB is a co-inventor on provisional vaccine patents (63/121,482; 63/133,969; 63/135,182). The authors report no other conflict of interest. ### Funding Statement The authors acknowledge NIH grant CA260476, the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, the Massachusetts Consortium for Pathogen Readiness, and the Musk Foundation (D.H.B.). The authors also acknowledge the Reproductive Scientist Development Program from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development and Burroughs Wellcome Fund HD000849 (A.Y.C.)x. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) gave ethical approval for this work (#2021P000344) I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data are available in the manuscript or the supplementary material.

How do we get broad immunity to SARS-CoV-2 that will protect against future variants? 2 studies (are there more?) suggest that vaccination followed by infection gives broader protection than infection followed by vaccination. @florian_krammer @profshanecrotty @GuptaR_lab https://t.co/rqdf6rE9ej

A report published last year by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) highlighted that COVID-19 case counts are more likely to be high in lower quality nursing homes than in higher quality ones. Since then, multiple studies have examined this associa- tion with a handful also exploring the role of facility quality in explaining resident deaths from the virus. Despite this wide interest, no previous study has investigated how the relation between quality and COVID-19 mortality among nursing home residents may have changed, if at all, over the progression of the pandemic. This understanding is indeed lack- ing given that prior studies are either cross-sectional or are analyses limited to one specific state or region of the country. To address this gap, we analyzed changes in nursing home resident deaths across the US between June 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021 (n = 12,415 nursing homes X 8 months) using both descriptive and multivariable statistics. We merged publicly available data from multiple federal agencies with mortality rate (per 100,000 resi- dents) as the outcome and CMS 5-star quality rating as the primary explanatory variable of interest. Covariates, based on the prior literature, consisted of both facility- and community- level characteristics. Findings from our secondary analysis provide robust evidence of the association between nursing home quality and resident deaths due to the virus diminishing over time. In connection, we discuss plausible reasons, especially duration of staff short- ages, that over time might have played a critical role in driving the quality-mortality conver- gence across nursing homes in the US.

The implementation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) may enhance the efficiency of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) testing, as RDTs are widely accessible and easy to use. The aim of this study was to evaluate ...

Your one-stop source on all things vaccine and COVID-19 related.

Nuvaxovid schützt nicht per RNA, sondern mithilfe von Proteinen vor Covid-19. Für seine Herstellung braucht es aber trotzdem Gentechnik. Und Impfverstärker.

Because the N protein is *inside* the actual virus, antibodies directed against the N protein cannot target viral particles. It's thought that these antibodies occur because of the rupturing of infected cells leaking N protein where a B cell might find them and become activated.

Das Rätsel von Gibraltar. Speziell die Blicke der Impfskeptiker richten sich derzeit wieder gerne nach Gibraltar. Das kleine britische Territorium an der Südspitze Spaniens hat Angaben zufolge eine Impfquote von 100 Prozent und dennoch gehen die Infektionszahlen derzeit durch die Decke. Täglich über 50 Neuinfektionen und eine 7-Tage-Inzidenz von über 1500.

Boostern oder nicht boostern: Eine große Studie zeigt, wer sich eine dritte Dosis holen sollte

Side by side event curves for the original Pfizer vaccine trial vs the Booster trial You can see the curves diverge about a week earlier with a booster, ~14 vs 7 days, which aligns with much faster induction of neutralizing antibodies https://t.co/WhnZbjyIXj

Ist eine Intensivstation voll, müssen die stabileren Schwerkranken auf Normalstationen verlegt werden. Dort steigt aber ihr Risiko, wieder intensivpflichtig zu werden. Ein gefährliches Dilemma.

In total 5,976 genomically sequenced index cases in household clusters were matched to 11,952 sporadic index cases (single case within a household). 43.3% (n=2,586) of cases in household clusters were confirmed Delta variant compared to 40.4% (n= 4,824) of sporadic cases. The odds ratio of household transmission was 1.70 among Delta variant cases (95% CI 1.48-1.95, p 0.001) compared to Alpha cases after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, index of multiple deprivation (IMD), number of household contacts and vaccination status of index case.

Correspondence from The New England Journal of Medicine — Neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 Mu Variant by Convalescent and Vaccine Serum

This Medical News article discusses the stress and grief reactions that children and teens face after losing a parent or close caregiver to COVID-19.