What do we know (either from theory, experiment, but probably more importantly from actual experience in real world contexts, including this pandemic) about when compulsion helps, or undercuts, protective behaviour (e.g., social distancing, mask wearing, remote working, etc)?A simple and intuitive story would be: compulsion always helps---the law, backed by actual sanctions, will get us all in line, both through the threat of sanctions, but perhaps more importantly through signalling the 'right' behaviour we are all supposed to adopt.

Do you know any schools/charities/youth organisations who'd like to partner with researchers on a project that will look into how the pandemic is affecting wellbeing and social development in adolescents in the next academic year?

Looking for partnersfor project on pandemic and adolescents' wellbeing

behavioural scientists can also seek to identify issues, problems, and relevant evidence in advance. And, here, a behavioural science perspective can be useful even in the absence of 'definitive answers'.To this end, we will be starting a new regular activity on r/BehSciAsk that seeks input on upcoming, future issues. These will concern either 1) likely impending policy decisions - to be scrutinized in the recurring "Policy Problem Challenge" or 2) looming general issues further down the road - identified with the "Issue Radar"

Introducing "Horizon Scanning" - a new scibeh.org activity

Ideally, perhaps we'd like some idea of:i. behaviourally different populations and their connectivity to each otherii. a (small) number of different routes for infectioniii. behaviour changes that might modify those different routes (e.g., masks, more hand-washing, 1m vs 2m social distance, compliance rates for all these...) - which might be modified by policy.

He mentioned specifically modelling compliance, hinting at doing that in a heterodox way, presumably that identified that compliance is a function of an individual's opportunity, capability and willingness to do so and that there are network effects in that. Are there behavioural findings that are robust enough to be integrated into this sort of modelling already (that are not already included), or is it more about making the case to add complexity into the model by which these sort of things can be modelled and therefore contribute to the inferences as data becomes available?

Integrating Behavioural Science into Epidimiology

Excellent question. I have been quite worried about that angle all along. I think we should worry about the tracing apps, unless they do preserve privacy. We also need sunset clauses on all those interfering laws and regulations.

On the issue of voting, will adherence to social distancing and worries about safety affect voter behaviour as well? How will that affect whether people can participate in democratic processes?

Various concerns have been raised:· is an emergency response to the pandemic an opportunity for governments to smuggle through draconian legislation with other purposes?· Should we be concerned about contact tracing, particularly using apps, potentially adding an additional layer of surveillance of the population by the state, or are sufficient safeguards in place? (how can we tell?)· How might the pandemic affect the ability to run political campaigns and to vote?

Issue Radar: Covid-19 and threats to democracy

The project that polled people's attitudes towards privacy-encroaching technologies has grown to include 8 countries (Taiwan, Australia, the UK, the USA, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan), with more than 15,000 participants.In an nutshell the project can be described as follows:The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic may require governments to use big data technologies and apps on people's smartphones to help contain its spread. Countries that have managed to “flatten the curve”, (e.g., Singapore), have employed collocation tracking through mobile Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth as a strategy to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Through collocation tracking, Government agencies may observe who you have been in contact with and when this contact occurred, thereby rapidly implementing appropriate measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The effectiveness of collocation tracking relies on the willingness of the population to support such measures. This project involved a longitudinal cross-cultural study to trace people’s attitudes towards different tracking-based policies during the crisis.

From social licencing of contact tracing to political accountability: Input sought on next wave of representative surveys in Germany, Spain, and U.K.

But there is also an important additional factor when dealing with a pandemic---that for most of us (if reasonably healthy), the main risk is to others. We don't normally, as a society, allow people free latitude to risk the lives of others (hence we have speed limits). [the behavioural science addition would be that we certainly don't see evidence of high enough levels of altruism so that this would not be a problem]

the majority of social distancing benefits could be achieved by giving people information rather than specific guidelines (he idealised a scenario where testing was extensive and fast enough to give pertinent relevant information). Many, especially in the US have made a similar case. It seems to me that there are several plausible challenges to this, including:that the amount of information that any individual would be required to assimilate in order to form a correct understanding of socially responsible behaviour could be too large,that adherence is greater when people feel that everyone else is working to the same standards,that some of the features of the situation (e.g. exponential growth curves) are not ones that most are well-positioned to reason on,that there is a formalised mechanism by which negative behavioural outliers can be sanctioned.

Personally-determined vs mandated behaviour

This is bringing into focus the issue of how to deal with the inevitable bugs and error programming will likely give rise to (and almost certainly give rise to once the code becomes sufficiently complex).There are multiple aspects to this:best practice for checking our code during developmentthe importance (and feasibility) of making code available for checkingbest practice for checking others codethe implications for science communication and policy decisions of programming errors

Programming errors and their implications

The policy implication, in the short term, is probably (i) look at lots of models; (ii) pay special attention to past experience, e.g., in our other countries, where available; (iii) don't forget simple qualitative reasoning as a 'sanity check.' If a model does 'odd things' it may have discovered some new and counterintuitive; but equally could be a bug---and hence counterintuitive model behaviour is (of course) a clue that we should look for bugs.

I am a big fan of an orderly house, but my experience as climate scientists tells me it is impossible to do science in a way that bad faith people will not attack it. If they cannot find a flaw (and there is always a flaw in real research, they are just mostly too stupid and ignorant to find it), they will make something up.Improving scientific practices should be done to improve science,, because it helps the scientific community doing good science, not to appease bad faith actors.

Standard tests in New York City can take days. Wealthier people are turning to concierge services and small laboratories to get results in as little as 24 hours.

A Quick Virus Test? Sure, If You Can Afford It

K-12 schools plan limited attendance, more online learningWhite House has made campus re-openings a top priority

Trump Back-to-School Threats Pressure Educators Fearing Covid

With nations determined to return to in-person learning, many will have trouble matching Germany’s formula: fast and free testing, robust contact tracing and low community spread.

Schools Can Reopen, Germany Finds, but Expect a ‘Roller Coaster’

What role will art and artists play in helping communities rebuild during these unprecedented crises? How do artists help frame and reframe the current moment, and how do they help us understand the past? In conversation with Jessica Wolf of Strategic Communications, Kristy Edmunds, Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, shares her thoughts on how art and artists can help heal pain, build resilience and ultimately, tell our stories for the ages.

How will artists help us get through this?

"Having one case in one school is one thing. But having that case multiplied by 25, I'd want to know that as a parent."

Dad sets up website to track number of COVID cases in Quebec schools

The researchers found that the most common source of exposure for those who acquired secondary infections was household environments (10.3%), followed by health care settings (OR = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.04–0.20) and public transportation (OR = 0.01; 95% CI, 0– 0.08). The secondary infection rate increased with the severity of the index cases, from 0.3% (95% CI, 0%–1%) for asymptomatic, to 3.3% (95% CI, 1.8%–4.8%) for mild, 5.6% (CI, 4.4%–6.8%) for moderate and 6.2% (95% CI, 3.2%–9.1%) for severe or critical cases. Index cases with expectoration were associated with a higher risk for secondary infection (13.6% vs. 3% for index cases without expectoration [OR = 4.81; 95% CI, 3.35–6.93]).

Study of secondary COVID-19 cases underscores importance of physical distancing

2009.00443

The decision of whether or not to vaccinate is a complex one. It involves the contribution both to a social good -- herd immunity -- and to one's own well being. It is informed by social influence, personal experience, education, and mass media. In our work, we investigate a situation in which individuals make their choice based on how social neighbourhood responded to previous epidemics. We do this by proposing a minimalistic model using components from game theory, network theory and the modelling of epidemic spreading, and opinion dynamics. Individuals can use the information about the neighbourhood in two ways -- either they follow the majority or the best-performing neighbour. Furthermore, we let individuals learn which of these two decision-making strategies to follow from their experience. Our results show that the flexibility of individuals to chose how to integrate information from the neighbourhood increases the vaccine uptake and decreases the epidemic severity if the following conditions are fulfilled. First, the initial fraction of individuals who imitate the neighbourhood majority should be limited, and second, the memory of previous outbreaks should be sufficiently long. These results have implications for the acceptance of novel vaccines and raising awareness about vaccination, while also pointing to promising future research directions.

Flexible imitation mechanisms suppress epidemics through better vaccination

10.1140/epjds/s13688-020-00243-w

Social media users post content on various topics. A defining feature of social media is that other users can provide feedback—called community feedback—to their content in the form of comments, replies, and retweets. We hypothesize that the amount of received feedback influences the choice of topics on which a social media user posts. However, it is challenging to test this hypothesis as user heterogeneity and external confounders complicate measuring the feedback effect. Here, we investigate this hypothesis with a predictive approach based on an interpretable model of an author’s decision to continue the topic of their previous post. We explore the confounding factors, including author’s topic preferences and unobserved external factors such as news and social events, by optimizing the predictive accuracy. This approach enables us to identify which users are susceptible to community feedback. Overall, we find that 33% and 14% of active users in Reddit and Twitter, respectively, are influenced by community feedback. The model suggests that this feedback alters the probability of topic continuation up to 14%, depending on the user and the amount of feedback.

Estimating community feedback effect on topic choice in social media with predictive modeling

Careful recording of symptoms and patient examination should allow understanding of which part of the sequelae is common to all severe infections, which symptoms might be explained by the anxiety caused by a new disease and by the isolation,9Vindegaard N Benros ME COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: systematic review of the current evidence.Brain Behav Immun. 2020; (published online May 30.)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.048Crossref PubMed Scopus (9) Google Scholar and which symptoms are secondary to a complicated form of COVID-19 (eg, pulmonary involvement during the acute disease). If indeed COVID-19 is causing long-term sequelae then are the mechanisms underlying the long-term consequences immunological? Or caused by new or relapsing inflammation, ongoing infection, or side-effects of immunomodulatory treatment? Such data can serve to point at candidate management strategies to be tested in trials.

10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30701-5

Long-term consequences of COVID-19: research needs

children and young people do contract SARS-CoV-2 but have severe disease less frequently than adults. A possible explanation for the mild disease phenotypes of COVID-19 in the majority of children and young people is higher titres of antibodies directed against seasonal coronaviruses abrogating immune complex deposition and antibody-dependent enhancement. Higher ACE2 expression might facilitate infection while enabling maintenance of a less inflammatory state by maintaining a functioning ACE2–Angiotensin-(1-7)–MAS system. Finally, non-specific protective effects after live vaccination and a more diverse T-cell repertoire in children and young people might contribute to mild presentations. Children with systemic autoimmune or inflammatory conditions might be further protected by overcoming immune evasion mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2, and some treatments might protect from the development of cytokine storm syndrome later in the disease course.

10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30212-5

COVID-19 in children and young people

10.1038/d41586-020-02512-0

Jeff C. Clements reckons with a recent set of reviewer comments that used ‘being critical’ as a justification to be mean.

Don’t be a prig in peer review

10.31234/osf.io/ydt95

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a devastating global health crisis. Without a vaccine or effective medication, the best hope for mitigating virus transmission is collective behavior change and support for public health interventions (e.g., physical distancing, physical hygiene, and endorsement of health policies). In a large-scale international collaboration (N = 46,450 across 67 countries), we investigated why people adopted public health behaviors and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stages of the pandemic (April-May, 2020). Results revealed that respondents who identified more strongly with their nation consistently reported engagement in public health behaviors and greater support for public health policies. We also found a small effect of political orientation, indicating that left-wing respondents were more likely to report public health behaviors and support for public health measures than right-wing respondents. We discuss the implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing the COVID-19 and future pandemics.

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

10.31234/osf.io/4nj6u

The present study was aimed to investigate the causes of COVID-19 worry and its effect on initial behaviors that observed in early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh. In the online survey, participants‟ were asked about normative concerns, COVID-19 worry, initial behaviors, and the neuroticism personality trait. Results demonstrated that (i) higher normative concerns and neurotic trait were predictors of higher COVID-19 worry; and (ii) higher normative concerns and COVID-19 worry significant predictors of buying preparatory materials, higher worry for postponing travel plan, and higher worry and neuroticism for purchasing daily commodities more than usual and difficulties in concentration.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Initial Psychological Responses by Bangladeshi People

10.31234/osf.io/an8m4

Alcohol consumption within the COVID-19 time may be a stress reliever. Loneliness and social distancing results in the increased use of alcohol. Alcohol consumption for endless period during the isolation has created new cases of disorders associated with alcohol use. Especially the increased risk of infection and deteriorating symptoms. Citizens should be properly trained about alcohol-related problems during this emergency period. The Coronavirus Disease pandemic has undoubtedly had a serious impact on the supply of physical healthcare worldwide. The psychological state impact of this pandemic can’t be underestimated, particularly of patients affected by addiction. Heightened public stress and anxiety levels, increasing isolation and therefore the physical consequences of addiction play an outsized role within the proliferation and ongoing relapse of substance misuse and behavioural addiction.

Lockdown stress amid COVID-19 on Alcoholics and Drug addicts

10.31234/osf.io/y34uv

The new public health crisis threatening the world with the emergence due to the spreading of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or it can also say as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus instigated in bats and was transmitted to humans through yet unknown transitional animals in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in December 2019. There have been around 3.04 million reported cases by WHO of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) and 895 thousand are recovered, 211 thousand reported deaths to date (28/04/2020) from all over the world. The disease is spread by inhalation/breathing or interaction with infected droplets. The quarantine period ranges from 2 to 14 days. The symptoms are typically breathlessness, cough, sore throat, fever, fatigue, malaise, among others. The disease is mild in most people; while in about some (generally the aged and those with comorbidities), it may progress to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multi-organ dysfunction. Many people are asymptomatic. Treatment is very essentially supportive; the role of antiviral agents is up till now to be recognized. Prevention requires home quarantine of alleged cases and those with mild illnesses and severe infection control measures at hospitals that contain interaction, touch and droplet precautions.

Probable immersions for novel Coronavirus and its preventions: A systematic review

BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported from China in January, 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is efficiently transmitted from person to person and, in 2 months, has caused more than 82 000 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 2800 deaths in 46 countries. The total number of cases and deaths has surpassed that of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Although both COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) manifest as pneumonia, COVID-19 is associated with apparently more efficient transmission, fewer cases of diarrhoea, increased mental confusion, and a lower crude fatality rate. However, the underlying virus–host interactive characteristics conferring these observations on transmissibility and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 remain unknown.MethodsWe systematically investigated the cellular susceptibility, species tropism, replication kinetics, and cell damage of SARS-CoV-2 and compared findings with those for SARS-CoV. We compared SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV replication in different cell lines with one-way ANOVA. For the area under the curve comparison between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV replication in Calu3 (pulmonary) and Caco2 (intestinal) cells, we used Student's t test. We analysed cell damage induced by SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV with one-way ANOVA.FindingsSARS-CoV-2 infected and replicated to comparable levels in human Caco2 cells and Calu3 cells over a period of 120 h (p=0·52). By contrast, SARS-CoV infected and replicated more efficiently in Caco2 cells than in Calu3 cells under the same multiplicity of infection (p=0·0098). SARS-CoV-2, but not SARS-CoV, replicated modestly in U251 (neuronal) cells (p=0·036). For animal species cell tropism, both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 replicated in non-human primate, cat, rabbit, and pig cells. SARS-CoV, but not SARS-CoV-2, infected and replicated in Rhinolophus sinicus bat kidney cells. SARS-CoV-2 consistently induced significantly delayed and milder levels of cell damage than did SARS-CoV in non-human primate cells (VeroE6, p=0·016; FRhK4, p=0·0004).InterpretationAs far as we know, our study presents the first quantitative data for tropism, replication kinetics, and cell damage of SARS-CoV-2. These data provide novel insights into the lower incidence of diarrhoea, decreased disease severity, and reduced mortality in patients with COVID-19, with respect to the pathogenesis and high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 compared with SARS-CoV.

10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30004-5

Comparative tropism, replication kinetics, and cell damage profiling of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV with implications for clinical manifestations, transmissibility, and laboratory studies of COVID-19: an observational study

We found a decrease in pediatric outpatient visits for notifiable infectious diseases in a university hospital in Beijing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Except for scarlet fever (transmitted only via droplet) and acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (transmitted only via contact), the notifiable diseases studied, especially influenza, infect people via either droplet or contact transmission.3 Strict implementation of public health control measures in response to COVID-19 might have inhibited droplet and contact transmission of common infectious viruses.

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19224

Assessment of Pediatric Outpatient Visits for Notifiable Infectious Diseases in a University Hospital in Beijing During COVID-19

Epidemiological and genetic studies on COVID-19 are hindered by inconsistent and limited testing policies to confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection. Recently, it was shown that it is possible to predict potential COVID-19 cases using cross-sectional self-reported disease-related symptoms. Using a previously reported COVID-19 prediction model, we show that it is possible to conduct a GWAS on predicted COVID-19 which benefits from a larger sample size in order to gain new insights into the genetic susceptibility of the disease. Furthermore, we find suggestive evidence that genetic variants for other viral infectious diseases do not overlap with COVID-19 susceptibility and that severity of COVID-19 may have a different genetic architecture compared to COVID-19 susceptibility. Our findings demonstrate the added value of using self-reported symptom assessments to quickly monitor novel endemic viral outbreaks in a scenario of limited testing. Should there be another outbreak of a novel infectious disease, then we recommend repeatedly collecting data of disease-related symptoms.

10.1101/2020.08.21.20177246

Using symptom-based case predictions to identify host genetic factors that contribute to COVID-19 susceptibility

IntroductionThis study examines COVID-19–associated discrimination regardless of infection status. It evaluates the contribution of various risk factors (e.g., race/ethnicity and wearing a face mask) and the relationship with mental distress among U.S. adults in March and April 2020, when the pandemic escalated across the country.MethodsParticipants consisted of a probability-based, nationally representative sample of U.S. residents aged ≥18 years who completed COVID-19–related surveys online in March and April (n=3,665). Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict the probability of a person perceiving COVID-19–associated discrimination. Linear regression was used to analyze the association between discrimination and mental distress. Analyses were conducted in May 2020.ResultsPerception of COVID-19–associated discrimination increased from March (4%) to April (10%). Black, non-Hispanics (absolute risk from 0.09 to 0.15 across months) and Asians (absolute risk from 0.11 to 0.17) were more likely to perceive discrimination than other racial/ethnic groups (absolute risk from 0.03 to 0.11). Individuals who wore face masks (absolute risk from 0.11 to 0.14) also perceived more discrimination than those who did not (absolute risk from 0.04 to 0.11). Perceiving discrimination was subsequently associated with increased mental distress (from 0.77 to 1.01 points on the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score).ConclusionsPerception of COVID-19–associated discrimination was relatively low but increased with time. Perceived discrimination was associated with race/ethnicity and wearing face masks and may contribute to greater mental distress during early stages of the pandemic. The long-term implications of this novel form of discrimination should be monitored.

10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.007

Perceived Discrimination and Mental Distress Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the Understanding America Study

A virus-laden particle movement from urinal flushing is simulated. Similar to the toilet-induced flushing, results indicate that the trajectory of the particles triggered by the urinal flushing manifests an external spread type. Even more alarmingly, the particle can reach 0.84 m (man’s thigh) in 5.5 s when compared with the diffusion performance of the toilet-induced one (around 0.93 m in 35 s). A more violent climbing tendency is discovered in this Letter. Wearing masks should be made mandatory in public washrooms, and anti-diffusion improvements of facilities in public washrooms are urgently needed, especially in the current “SARS-CoV-2” crisis.

10.1063/5.0021450

Virus transmission from urinals

Background Accurate estimates of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence are crucial for the implementation of effective public health measures, but are currently largely lacking in regions with low infection rates. This is further complicated by inadequate test performance of many widely used serological assays. We therefore aimed to assess SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in a region with low COVID-19 burden, especially focusing on neutralizing antibodies that presumably constitute a major component of acquired immunity. Methods We invited all individuals who were enrolled in the Rhineland Study, an ongoing community-based prospective cohort study in people aged 30 years and above in the city of Bonn, Germany (N=5427). Between April 24th and June 30th, 2020, 4771 (88%) of these individuals participated in the serosurvey. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG levels were measured using an ELISA assay, and all positive or borderline results were subsequently examined through both a recombinant immunofluorescent assay and a plaque reduction neutralisation test (PRNT). Findings Seroprevalence was 0.97% (95% CI: 0.72-1.30) by ELISA and 0.36% (95% CI: 0.21-0.61) by PRNT, and did not vary with either age or sex. All PRNT+ individuals reported having experienced at least one symptom (odds ratio (OR) of PRNT+ for each additional symptom: 1.12 (95% CI: 1.04-1.21)). Apart from living in a household with a SARS-CoV-2 confirmed or suspected person, a recent history of reduced taste or smell, fever, chills/hot flashes, pain while breathing, pain in arms/legs, as well as muscle pain and weakness were significantly associated with the presence of neutralizing antibodies in those with mild to moderate infection (ORs 3.44 to 9.97, all p<0.018). Interpretation Our findings indicate a relatively low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Bonn, Germany (until June 30th, 2020), with neutralizing antibodies detectable in only one third of those with a positive immunoassay result, implying that almost the entire population in this region remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

10.1101/2020.08.24.20181206

Seroprevalence and correlates of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies: Results from a population-based study in Bonn, Germany

Background: Hydroxychloroquine has not been associated with improved survival among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the majority of observational studies and similarly was not identified as an effective prophylaxis following exposure in a prospective randomized trial. We aimed to explore the role of hydroxychloroquine therapy in mildly symptomatic patients diagnosed in the outpatient setting. Methods: We examined the association between outpatient hydroxychloroquine exposure and the subsequent progression of disease among mildly symptomatic non-hospitalized patients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. The primary outcome assessed was requirement of hospitalization. Data was obtained from a retrospective review of electronic health records within a New Jersey USA multi-hospital network. We compared outcomes in patients who received hydroxychloroquine with those who did not applying a multivariable logistic model with propensity matching. Results: Among 1274 outpatients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection 7.6% were prescribed hydroxychloroquine. In a 1067 patient propensity matched cohort, 21.6% with outpatient exposure to hydroxychloroquine were hospitalized, and 31.4% without exposure were hospitalized. In the primary multivariable logistic regression analysis with propensity matching there was an association between exposure to hydroxychloroquine and a decreased rate of hospitalization from COVID-19 (OR 0.53; 95% CI, 0.29, 0.95). Sensitivity analyses revealed similar associations. QTc prolongation events occurred in 2% of patients prescribed hydroxychloroquine with no reported arrhythmia events among those with data available. Conclusions: In this retrospective observational study of SARS-CoV-2 infected non-hospitalized patients hydroxychloroquine exposure was associated with a decreased rate of subsequent hospitalization. Additional exploration of hydroxychloroquine in this mildly symptomatic outpatient population is warranted.

10.1101/2020.08.20.20178772

Hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of outpatients with mildly symptomatic COVID-19: A multi-center observational study

We previously reported the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in different clinical samples.1Pan Y Zhang D Yang P Poon LLM Wang Q Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples.Lancet Infect Dis. 2020; (published online Feb 24.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30113-4Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (126) Google Scholar This virus can be detected on different surfaces in a contaminated site.2Ye G Lin H Chen L et al.Environmental contamination of the SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare premises: an urgent call for protection for healthcare workers.medRxiv. 2020; (published online March 16.) (preprint).DOI: 10.1101/2020.03.11.20034546Google Scholar Here, we report the stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions.

10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30003-3

Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions

we analyzed ADM expression in the left ventricular myocardial tissue of patients who were deceased from COVID-19. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 had been verified by PCR in all of these patients. As control, we used a combination of left ventricular myocardial tissue of patients who died from other respiratory infections or from patients destined for organ donation, which could ultimately not be performed. We found a significantly elevated expression of ADM in patients who died from COVID-19 in contrast to controls (Fig. 1c).Our findings suggest a potential role for ADM in severe COVID-19. While ADM might be a therapeutic target in sepsis and septic shock, further research is needed regarding ADM in COVID-19. Further, the diagnostic potential of ADM as a marker for progression to severe COVID-19 at first medical contact should be evaluated.

10.1186/s13054-020-03246-1

RNA-expression of adrenomedullin is increased in patients with severe COVID-19

It's possible to pick up coronavirus on a flight through direct contact with an infected person, or from a surface that they might touch. You can also become infected via droplet transmission if someone with COVID-19 coughs or sneezes in close proximity to you.Then there's the risk of inhaling small virus particles circulating in the air.

How might coronavirus be transmitted on a flight and what can you do to protect yourself?

Researchers are looking into why the new coronavirus seems to affect the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.One study concluded blood pressure medications may help with survival rates among people with COVID-19.Another study said blood thinners could help reduce the severity of outcomes among people with COVID-19.

Blood Thinners, Blood Pressure Meds May Improve COVID-19 Survival Rate

A study earlier this year showed that it is possible.

Getting COVID-19 and the flu at the same time: What are the risks?

COVID-19 has been shown to spread on airplanes even among asymptomatic travelers, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, which was published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, found evidence of transmission on an evacuation flight from Milan, Italy, to Seoul, South Korea in late March.

CDC study reveals evidence of COVID-19 spreading in airplanes

10.31234/osf.io/c3vsr

In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a period of lockdown that impacted individual’s lifestyles, in both professional and personal spheres. New problems and challenges arose, as well as opportunities. Numerous studies have examined the negative effects of lockdown measures, but few have attempted to shine light on the potential positive effects that may come out of these measures. We focused on one particular positive outcome that might have emerged from lockdown: creativity. To this end, this paper compared professional creativity (Pro-C) and everyday creativity (little-c) before and during lockdown, using a questionnaire-based study conducted on a French sample (N = 1266). We expected participants to be more creative during than prior to lockdown, in both professional and everyday spheres. Regarding professional creativity, we did not see any significant differences between the two comparison points, before and during lockdown. Regarding everyday creativity, we observed a significant increase during lockdown. Furthermore, our results suggest that participants with a lower baseline creativity (before lockdown) benefited more from the situation than those with a higher initial baseline creativity. Our results provide new insights on the impact of lockdown and its positive outcomes. These measures may have inarguably negative consequences on the physical and mental health of many, but their positive impact exists as well.

COVID-19: A Boon or a Bane for Creativity?