9/16—Opening bars and restaurants despite mounting evidence
This data is not peer reviewed. Few states make their contact-tracing data available, but in two that do — Colorado and Louisiana — bars and restaurants are responsible for about 20 percent of cases traced to a known source. San Diego traced nearly one-third of community outbreaks to restaurants and bars, more than any other setting (Weiner et al. 2020).
Substantial underestimation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States
Here, we use a semi-Bayesian probabilistic bias analysis to account for incomplete testing and imperfect diagnostic accuracy. We estimate 6,454,951 cumulative infections compared to 721,245 confirmed cases (1.9% vs. 0.2% of the population) in the United States as of April 18, 2020. Accounting for uncertainty, the number of infections during this period was 3 to 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.
Detection and infectivity potential of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) environmental contamination in isolation units and quarantine facilities
Surfaces and air sampling was conducted at two COVID-19 isolation units and in a quarantine hotel. In laboratory-controlled conditions, SARS-CoV-2 gradually lost its infectivity completely at day 4 at ambient temperature and the decay rate of viral viability on surfaces directly correlated with increase in temperature. None of the surface and air samples from all three sites (0/97) were found to contain infectious titers SARS-Cov-2 in tissue culture assay. Uncultivable viral contamination on inanimate surfaces might suggest low feasibility for indirect fomite transmission.
Quantitative assessment of the risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection: Prospective and retrospective applications
The application of a Monte Carlo method allowed the risk for an exposed healthy subject to be evaluated. To guarantee an acceptable risk […] in naturally ventilated indoor environments, the exposure time could be well below one hour. Such maximum exposure time clearly depends on the viral load emission of the infected subject and on the exposure conditions; thus, longer exposure times were estimated for mechanically ventilated indoor environments and lower viral load emissions.
SARS-CoV-2–Associated Deaths Among Persons Aged <21 Years — United States, February 12–July 31, 2020
Among 121 SARS-CoV-2–associated deaths among persons aged <21 years reported to CDC by July 31, 2020, 12 (10%) were infants and 85 (70%) were aged 10–20 years. Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native persons accounted for 94 (78%) of these deaths; 33% of deaths occurred outside of a hospital.
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