Coronavirus COVID-19 Update for August 7, 2020

In-Hospital Use of Statins Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Mortality among Individuals with COVID-19
Authors report a retrospective study on 13,981 patients with COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China, among which 1,219 received statins. Based on a mixed-effect Cox model after propensity score-matching, authors found that the risk for 28-day all-cause mortality was 5.2% and 9.4% in the matched statin and non-statin groups, respectively, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.58. The statin use-associated lower risk of mortality was also observed in the Cox time-varying model and marginal structural model analysis. These results give support for the completion of ongoing prospective studies and randomized controlled trials involving statin treatment for COVID-19, which are needed to further validate the utility of this class of drugs.

Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection impairs DC and T cell responses
The role of host immune responses in early COVID-19 pathogenesis remains unclear. Authors evaluated 15 acute and 24 convalescent patients’ immune profile. Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in broad immune cell reduction including T cells, NK cell, monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs). DCs were significantly reduced with functional impairment, and cDC/pDC ratios were increased among acute severe patients. Besides lymphocytopenia, although neutralizing antibodies were rapidly and abundantly generated, there were insufficient receptor binding domain (RBD)- and nucleocapsid protein (NP)-specific T cell responses during the first 3 weeks post symptoms onset. Moreover, acute RBD- and NP-specific T cell responses were mainly CD4 but not CD8 T cells with effector memory dominance. The findings provided evidence that impaired DCs, together with timely inverted strong antibody but weak CD8 T cell responses might contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and have implications to vaccine development.

Rapid Tests
This website contains important information about rapid antigen testing for SARS-CoV-2. Existing technology using paper strips allows for rapid, inexpensive COVID-19 testing of asymptomatic individuals. Research shows that if done properly, these testing protocols could drive down infections close to zero. Millions of these tests can easily be manufactured and distributed. At as low as $1 per test, you can take a test every day. Tests could be administered at the entrance to schools and offices, and some could be taken at home. Rapid tests of this type are currently not approved for this type of use, since they do not meet strict sensitivity requirements.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission at an overnight camp
This report documents an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 at an overnight youth camp in Georgia. The observations demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission. Asymptomatic infection was common and potentially contributed to undetected transmission. This investigation adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that children of all ages are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports, might play an important role in transmission.