Today's Headlines: November 16, 2020 |
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Join us on November 17 at 11am for the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Security’s webinar Navigating a Pandemic: The Strategic Role and Future Development of Diagnostic Technologies.
COVID-19
Clinical Practice
Belgian Nursing Homes Failed Patients Amid Pandemic (AP) Belgian authorities “abandoned” thousands of elderly people who died in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic and did not seek hospital treatment for many who were infected, violating their human rights, Amnesty International said in an investigation published Monday. During the first wave of the pandemic last spring, the European nation of 11.5 million people recorded a majority of its COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes. Between March and October, Amnesty International said “a staggering” 61.3% of all COVID-19 deaths in Belgium took place in nursing homes. The group said authorities weren’t quick enough in implementing measures to protect nursing home residents and staff during this period, failing to protect their human rights.
Hospital-Acquired SARS-CoV-2 Infection Lessons for Public Health (JAMA) Through a detailed epidemiologic study supplemented by phylogenetic analyses, investigators documented how a single unsuspected case of SARS-CoV-2 led to 6 major clusters involving 5 hospital wards and an outside nursing home and dialysis unit, with infection ultimately confirmed among 80 staff members and 39 patients, 15 of whom died.
Public & Global Health
Risk Assessment and Management of COVID-19 Among Travelers Arriving at Designated U.S. Airports, January 17–September 13, 2020 (MMWR) Passenger entry screening was resource-intensive with low yield of laboratory-diagnosed COVID-19 cases (one case per 85,000 travelers screened). Contact information was missing for a substantial proportion of screened travelers in the absence of manual data collection. Symptom-based screening programs are ineffective because of the nonspecific clinical presentation of COVID-19 and asymptomatic cases. Reducing COVID-19 importation has transitioned to enhancing communication with travelers to promote recommended preventive measures, strengthening response capacity at ports of entry, and encouraging predeparture and postarrival testing. Collection of contact information from international air passengers before arrival would facilitate timely postarrival management when indicated.
Science & Technology
Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccine Found to be Nearly 95 Percent Effective in a Preliminary Analysis (Washington Post) Biotechnology firm Moderna announced Monday that a preliminary analysis shows its experimental coronavirus vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective at preventing illness, including severe cases — a striking initial result that leaves the United States with the prospect that two coronavirus vaccines could be available on a limited basis by the end of the year. Of the 95 cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, 90 were in the group that received the placebo. There were 11 severe cases reported — all in people who received the placebo. The data have not yet been published or peer reviewed, and the overall effectiveness of the vaccine may change as the study continues.
COVID-19, Decarceration, and the Role of Clinicians, Health Systems, and Payers: A Report From the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (JAMA) A new report from a consensus panel of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides recommendations on decarceration.3 The committee recognized that the current public health response in corrections is insufficient and that reducing the size of the incarcerated population could help increase the penetration and effectiveness of standard prevention measures in jails and prisons, such as testing, quarantining, and medical isolation for those who remain.
The Hot New Covid Tech Is Wearable and Constantly Tracks You (New York Times) The powerful new surveillance systems, wearable devices that continuously monitor users, are the latest high-tech gadgets to emerge in the battle to hinder the coronavirus. Companies and industry analysts say the wearable trackers fill an important gap in pandemic safety. Many employers and colleges have adopted virus screening tools like symptom-checking apps and temperature-scanning cameras. But they are not designed to catch the estimated 40 percent of people with Covid-19 infections who may never develop symptoms like fevers.
Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
Emerging Arboviruses in the Urbanized Amazon Rainforest (BMJ) The rapidly changing fate of the Amazon, an ecosystem we all depend on, has been highlighted by rampant wildfires, extreme droughts, and deforestation in recent years. Brazilian satellite images show 64% more deforestation in 2020 than in 2019. This promotes conflict and environmental degradation, exacerbates health risks for indigenous populations, and leads to loss of ecosystem at local, regional, and global scales. Environmental and climatic changes affect transmission of other vectorborne diseases, but arboviruses show these effects in the context of rapid urbanization.
Tracking Infectious Diseases in a Warming World (BMJ) Here we illustrate how “climate-sensitive infectious diseases” (CSIDs) are being used as climate change indicators to help stimulate and inform public health responses to climate change.
Domestic Preparedness & Response
Missing From State Plans to Distribute the Coronavirus Vaccine: Money to Do It (New York Times) While the Trump administration has showered billions of dollars on the companies developing the vaccines, it has left the logistics of inoculating and tracking as many as 20 million people by year’s end — and many tens of millions more next year — largely to local governments without providing enough money, officials in several localities and public health experts involved in the preparations said in interviews. Public health departments, already strained by a pandemic that has overrun hospitals and drained budgets, are racing to expand online systems to track and share information about who has been vaccinated; to recruit and train hundreds of thousands of doctors, nurses and pharmacists to give people the shot and collect data about everyone who gets it; to find safe locations for mass vaccination events; and to convince the public of the importance of getting immunized.
Government Affairs & National Security
States Vow Extra Scrutiny of Coronavirus Vaccine (New York Times) Within weeks, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to review safety and efficacy data for what may be the first Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, with hopes of immunizing some Americans soon after. But about a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia have planned an extra layer of scrutiny: committees that would vet any vaccine reviewed by the F.D.A., a step many public health experts and officials deem unnecessary given a federal review process they describe as meticulous. The committees — most of them in states led by Democratic governors — are in part a response to the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic and concerns that political considerations would influence vaccine approvals.
Science & Technology
Building Safeguards for Genetically Engineered Microbes (Global Biodefense) To reduce the risk of unintended ecological consequences from environmentally deployed, genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMS), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators are developing built-in “security mechanisms” that ensure they function where and when needed. The team hopes to stabilize GEMs to prevent the transfer of potentially “invasive traits” to neighboring native microorganisms and to control the niche-specific function of GEMs for safer and more effective environmental applications.
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Published by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
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