5/21/20 - smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19
VACCINE AND TREATMENT:
1) A feature story by Lila Thulin for Smithsonian explores the challenges of developing antiviral drugs for families of viruses (e.g. all bat coronaviruses, all influenza viruses, all Ebola viruses, or all severe acute respiratory syndrome — SARS — viruses) and specifically for SARS-CoV-2. Thulin also covers what is known so far about two anti-viral treatment options — remdesivir and another called EIDD-2801 — that show potential for defending cells from SARS-CoV-2. She also writes that an antiviral drug that stops the virus is not all that is needed to treat patients with COVID-19. Doctors also need treatments for the array of symptoms that accompany the disease (5/13/20): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/remdesivir-works-against-many-viruses-why-arent-there-more-drugs-it-180974859/.
2) Here’s another visual explanatory guide to the types of approaches (e.g. whole virus, genetic, viral vector, protein-based, and virus-like particle) to vaccines to protect against the new coronavirus. By Jonathan Corum, Knvul Sheikh, and Carl Zimmer (5/20/20): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/20/science/coronavirus-vaccine-development.html.
3) For Kaiser Health News, Arthur Allen describes the challenges of a proposed experiment under discussion by a U.S. National Institutes of Health committee to test four or five candidate vaccines on thousands of participants already diagnosed as exposed to SARS-CoV-2. A new vaccine for the virus might not provide the “overnight success” that came when the polio vaccine was announced in 1955, Allen writes. A SARS-CoV-2 vaccine might function more like a flu vaccine, diminishing the risk or severity of illness and requiring new annual shots, he writes (5/21/20): https://khn.org/news/analysis-get-ready-for-the-vaccine-theyre-never-simple/.
SCIENCE:
4) STAT has published a nicely written, technical piece by Sharon Begley that describes some unusual features of how SARS-CoV-2 infects our cells and hijacks our genes to make copies to itself. It does so “in a way that might explain why the elderly are more likely to die of COVID-19 and why antiviral drugs might not only save sick patients’ lives but also prevent severe disease if taken before infection,” she writes for STAT (5/21/20): https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/21/coronavirus-hijacks-cells-in-unique-ways/.
PUBLIC HEALTH:
5) “If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers,” write James Glanz and Campbell Robertson for The New York Times (5/20/20). For comparison, close to 93,500 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 as of this writing, per the COVID-19 Dashboard run by Johns Hopkins University The Columbia results point to the importance of closely monitoring infections after regions relax shut-down orders: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/coronavirus-distancing-deaths.html.
6) ProPublica published an in-depth, investigative feature by Joe Sexton and Joaquin Sapien on why New York has suffered so many more COVID-19 deaths so far than has California (5/16/20). Factors include miscommunication among state and local health officials in New York, an enduring conflict between New York state and New York City leaders, a delayed shutdown in New York, and other slow responses including a slow recognition by New York City’s mayor of “silent” transmission from “people in contact with travelers,” the story reports. Also, California state health officials created their own models of the outbreak, whereas New York officials did not, the story reports. Read the excellent story at ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org/article/two-coasts-one-virus-how-new-york-suffered-nearly-10-times-the-number-of-deaths-as-california or republished at Medscape (I prefer their font): https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/930832.
7) Contact tracing is “an art as much as a science,” writes Sharon Otterman for The New York Times (5/21/20). Her story focuses on a New Jersey city's successes in tracking people at risk for SARS-CoV-2 infections due to interactions with others who recently tested positive for the virus. The city of Paterson has investigated the contacts of about 90 percent of its positive cases, the story reports (it’s unclear if this means positive for the virus or for the disease). And the city's death rate among people who test positive “for the disease” (again, unclear because there is no test for the disease, just for the virus and for antibodies to it) is reportedly lower than the state’s rate: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/nyregion/contact-tracing-paterson-nj.html.
HEALTH CARE:
8) A patient's recent dental visit in Florida involved him having his temperature taken and swishing hydrogen peroxide solution in his mouth before being seen, according to a story by Phil Galewitz for Kaiser Health News (5/21/20). Dental offices now are re-opening in 40 U.S. states, the story states. The story describes the mixed advice on the safety of dental visits, missing data on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during these visits, and additional safety measures taken at some dental practices: https://khn.org/news/reopening-dental-offices-for-routine-care-amid-pandemic-touches-a-nerve/.
AT HOME:
9) Here’s a list of virtual volunteer opportunities: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/the-coronavirus-and-the-rise-of-the-virtual-volunteer/.
10) And here’s a set of recommendations for things to do with any down-time you might have these days or ways to live more consciously, by a handful of staffers at The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/at-home/reporters-editors-diaries-lists-recommendations.html.
11) Here are some tips for reducing your risk of PTSD in response to the pandemic, by Jennifer Taitz for The New York Times (5/20/20): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/smarter-living/coronavirus-coping-ptsd-mental-health.html.
12) And this story by Katherine J. Wu for Smithsonian covers the history of the bidet and whether it’s a healthier or safer solution than toilet paper, which has been scarce in the U.S. since the outbreak arrived (5/20/20): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/bottom-line-bidets-180974916/.
ENTERTAINMENT:
12) Workout + puppy, tweets @soledadobrien:
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RESOURCES, WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS AT SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, ARCHIVE TO 3/11/20
Love/In friendship, Robin