50+ long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
A total of 18,251 publications were identified, of which 15 met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of 55 long-term effects was estimated, 21 meta-analyses were performed, and 47,910 patients were included (age 17–87 years). The included studies defined long-COVID as ranging from 14 to 110 days post-viral infection. It was estimated that 80% of the infected patients with SARS-CoV-2 developed one or more long-term symptoms. The five most common symptoms were fatigue (58%), headache (44%), attention disorder (27%), hair loss (25%), and dyspnea (24%).

Epidemiological characteristics of the B.1.526 SARS-CoV-2 variant
[Preprint.] We utilized nine epidemiological and population datasets collected in New York City (NYC), where B.1.526 emerged. Estimated transmission rate in the neighborhood where B.1.526 was initially detected was consistently higher than other neighborhoods in NYC and further increased during the weeks preceding B.1.526 detection, likely due to its early spread there. Overall, models estimated that B.1.526 had transmissibility about 15-25% higher than previously circulating variants and that it could escape immunity in 0-10% of previously infected persons.

Occupational risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and reinfection during the second pandemic surge: a cohort study
[Preprint.] Essential workers were selected from a seroprevalence survey cohort in Geneva, Switzerland and were linked to a state centralized registry compiling SARS-CoV-2 infections. 10457 essential workers were included. After a follow-up period of over 27 weeks, 5 (0.6%) seropositive and 830 (8.5%) seronegative individuals had a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, with an incidence rate of 0.2 (95% CI 0.1 to 0.6) and 3.2 (95% CI 2.9 to 3.4) cases per person-week, respectively. A ten-fold reduction in the hazard of being virologically tested positive was observed among anti-SARS-CoV-2 seropositive essential workers regardless of their sector of occupation, confirming the seroprotective effect of a previous SARS-CoV2 exposure at least six months after infection.

Full vaccination is imperative to suppress SARS-CoV-2 delta variant mutation frequency
[Preprint.] Here we present the first evidence that the vaccination coverage rate is inversely correlated to the mutation frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant in 16 countries (R2=0.878), strongly indicating that full vaccination against COVID-19 is critical to suppress emergent mutations.

Threshold analyses on combinations of testing, population size, and vaccine coverage for COVID-19 control in a university setting
We simulated epidemic projections of a potential COVID-19 outbreak in a residential university population in the United States. Our results suggest that, in the absence of vaccines, testing alone without reducing population size would not be sufficient to control an outbreak. If the population size is lowered to 34% (or 44%) of the actual population size to maintain contact rates at 4 (or 7) among non-essential workers, mass tests at 25% (or 33%) per day would help control an outbreak. With the availability of vaccines, the campus can be kept at full population provided at least 95% are vaccinated. If vaccines are partially available such that the coverage is lower than 95%, keeping at full population would require asymptomatic testing, either mass tests at 25% per day if vaccine coverage is at 63–79%, or mass tests at 33% per day if vaccine coverage is at 53–68%. If vaccine coverage is below 53%, to control an outbreak, in addition to mass tests at 33% per day, it would also require lowering the population size to 90%, 75%, and 60%, if vaccine coverage is at 38–53%, 23–38%, and below 23%, respectively.