7/23—Feasibility of Home Isolation and Quarantine for COVID-19 in the United States
More than 1 in 5 U.S. homes [25.29 million dwellings (95% CI, 25.04 to 25.48 million)], housing about one quarter of all Americans, lack sufficient space and plumbing facilities to comply with recommendations to isolate or quarantine to limit household spread of COVID-19. Policymakers should consider offering (but not requiring) persons needing isolation or quarantine the option of staying at no cost in underutilized hotels (source).
Comparison of Unsupervised Home Self-collected Midnasal Swabs With Clinician-Collected Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Compared with clinician swabs, sensitivity and specificity of home swabs was 80.0% (95% CI, 63%-91%) and 97.9% (95% CI, 94%-99.5%), respectively (Table). Cohen κ statistic was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.70-0.93), suggesting substantial agreement. Unsupervised home self-swab collection presents several advantages, including accessibility outside of the health care system and minimizing personal protective equipment use. This approach is safe and scalable in the pandemic setting.
Population Point Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Based on a Statewide Random Sample — Indiana, April 25–29, 2020
In a random sample of Indiana residents aged ≥12 years, the estimated prevalence of current or previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in late April 2020 was 2.79%. Among persons with active infection, 44% reported no symptoms.
The Path to Zero and Schools: Achieving Pandemic Resilient Teaching and Learning Spaces
The single best policy to support school re-opening prior to the development of a vaccine or treatment is suppression of COVID to near zero case incidence via Testing, Tracing and Supported Isolation (TTSI). Facing the reality, however, that this cannot be achieved before the start of the new school year and that the mounting costs to
children of school shutdowns are significant, the second best policy, and path we should pursue, is to re-open in-person Grades K-5 (1st priority) and Grades 6-8 (second priority) in lower risk level jurisdictions.
Rapid Decay of Anti–SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Persons with Mild Covid-19
Antibodies against the virus decreased by about half every 73 days. The initial mean IgG level was 3.48 log10 ng per milliliter (range, 2.52 to 4.41). On the basis of a linear regression model that included the participants’ age and sex, the days from symptom onset to the first measurement, and the first log10 antibody level, the estimated mean change (slope) was −0.0083 log10 ng per milliliter per day (range, −0.0352 to 0.0062), which corresponds to a half-life of approximately 73 days over the observation period (Figure 1A).
Get it by email: