The Count (corrected)

Research News

A comparison of national doubling times suggests the US had the worlds worst pandemic response, two papers raise concerns about airborne spread, particularly in closed spaces, three studies of clinical data document the risk of obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease and the low risk in children, and a catalog of cellular RNA provides more insight into the immune response.

• A paper comparing outbreak curves among countries** focuses on differences in climate and shows that doubling times, Td, (i.e., the time it takes for the number of cases to double) is higher in tropical and subtropical countries. More interesting is the fact that the United States is one of only two countries in the world to have Td decrease between the first ten days and the second (the other is the United Arab Emirates) and had the shortest doubling time in the world at 30 days, suggesting the US had the worst record of any country in the world in controlling the outbreak.
• A computer model of a sneeze** demonstrates the importance of considering wind and air currents in predicting airborne spread of droplets and aerosols.
• A detailed study of a single outbreak** in a restaurant suggests the potential for highly localized air currents to influence disease spread.
• A meta-analysis of Chinese clinical data** identifies hypertension as, by far, the most common comorbidity for COVID-19, followed by diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
• Of 5700 COVID-19 patients in New York City 57% had hypertension, 42% were obese, and 34% had diabetes. Case fatality rates among hospitalized patients ranged from 0% among those under 20 to 51% in men over 69.
• A meta-analysis of pediatric patients identified no deaths in 444 patients under 11 and one death in 553 patients aged 11 to 19.
• Single cell RNA sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 7 COVID-19 patients elucidates the details of the cellular immune response and concludes that circulating leukocytes do not significantly contribute to the COVID-19 cytokine storm.
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*Preprint **Not peer reviewed.

• Covid19- Ahead of the Curve.
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