5/28/20 - smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19
SCIENCE:
1) Wastewater testing for genetic snippets of the new coronavirus is “gaining traction” as an early warning approach for outbreaks, reports Sharon Begley for STAT (5/28/20). The approach already is being used or tested for its effectiveness in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands, and by utilities in 42 U.S. states including Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Nevada, Begley reports. In the absence of widespread testing, this sewage testing could help officials know before influxes of cases arrive at hospitals if re-opening is causing infections to rise: https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/28/wastewater-testing-gains-support-as-covid19-early-warning/.
2) A shorter piece by Erin Garcia de Jesus for Science News (5/28/20) on the wastewater testing topic reports that the approach could give officials notice a week in advance of an imminent COVID-19 case peak. The story states that the approach already is used to track poliovirus, norovirus (a common cause of stomach bugs, often reported to occur on cruise ships), and antibiotic-resistant bacteria: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-wastewater-sewage-warning-monitoring.
3) A 5/28/20 story by freelance science journalist Esther Landhuis for Scientific American reports on the potential for new SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates to trigger an immune response that “can exacerbate disease rather than guard against it,” she writes. Instead of provoking the immune system to create “neutralizing” antibodies that block viral entry to our cells, some vaccines, e.g. for the mosquito-borne tropical disease dengue, fail to bind sufficiently to the virus and actually aid in their invasion. That unwanted outcome is called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). Researchers are studying the effects and drivers of this process, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine researchers are watching for this potential response in studies of candidates, the story states. “At this stage, we do not have any evidence that this is a problem for vaccines against SARS-CoV-2,” says a University of Geneva vaccine scientist quoted in the story: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-vaccine-developers-search-for-antibodies-that-first-do-no-harm1/.
4) Researchers in some high-income countries are comparing the genetic sequences of new lineages of SARS-CoV-2 circulating worldwide to find links between cases and track transmission routes, reports Clare Watson for Nature (5/27/20). The approach, used so far in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the U.S., could help efforts to respond to or prevent “an expected second wave” of infections from loosening social restrictions, the story states. The effort works better in areas with widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2, the story states: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01573-5.
5) I like this 5/28/20 first-person story by Megha Satyanarayana for Chemical & Engineering News because it describes her experience in obtaining an antibody test for the new coronavirus and describes how specific tests, by Abbott, Roche, and by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, are designed to operate biologically on the virus’s complex molecules (proteins). The story reports high accuracy rates for the Roche and Abbott antibody tests: https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistry/diagnostics/COVID-19-antibody-tests-are-raising-as-many-questions-as-they-answer/98/i22.
HEALTH CARE:
6) In light of the global shortage of N95 “medical-grade” “respirator” masks, health care workers at “at least four major U.S. health systems" are using elastomeric respirators to protect them from exposures to the new coronavirus at work, reports Chris Hamby at The New York Times (5/27/20). These are the ones that make wearers resemble Darth Vader. Elastomeric masks usually are worn in “industrial settings," protect “as well or better than N95s,” and can be decontaminated and re-used for years, the story states. “One elastomeric could do the work of hundreds of N95s, maybe thousands,” Hamby reports. Thanks to a reader for referring me to this story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/coronavirus-masks-elastomeric-respirators.html.
PRACTICAL:
7) This New York Times story by Amelia Nierenberg clarifies, as other stories have, that the risk for transmitting SARS-CoV-2 by take-out food packaging is “astonishingly low,” as a University of Southern California immunologist quoted in the story puts it. And there is no risk of transmission via the food itself. The story reminds readers to generously tip employees, who typically are paid less than minimum wage (5/27/20): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/dining/takeout-delivery-safety-coronavirus.html.
8) I’ve been learning a lot about the pandemic by listening to Andy Slavitt’s “In the Bubble” podcast. Slavitt is the former Medicare, Medicaid & Affordable Care Act head for President Obama and involved in crafting policy proposals to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent episode, the podcast mentioned this 5/23/20 NPR guide for evaluating the safety of various summer vacation options (by Allison Aubrey, Laurel Wamsley, and Carmel Wroth): https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/23/861325631/from-camping-to-dining-out-heres-how-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit.
9) Here’s a similar summer outings guide in The Washington Post, by Fritz Han (5/28/20): https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/this-summer-doesnt-have-to-be-a-bummer-heres-where-you-can-still-savor-some-of-the-seasons-pleasures/2020/05/27/8c55f318-9b0d-11ea-ac72-3841fcc9b35f_story.html.
10) RIP author, playwright (“The Normal Heart”), LGBT activist, and public-health advocate Larry Kramer. His decades of work empowered patients, dramatically refocused health care, and opened doors for acceptance of LGBT people. This piece by Andrew Skerrett for STAT (5/28/20) includes remembrances from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, former U.S. Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Tom Frieden, Yale University epidemiologist and health-care activist Gregg Gonsalves, and others: https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/28/larry-kramer-force-of-nature-fauci-others-remember-aids-activist/.
COMIC RELIEF:
11) Bird drama, tweeted by @RyanFMandelbaum:
12) Cat drama, tweeted by @StephRNtravels:
————
BUY ME A CUP OF TEA: Please consider a Patreon contribution to support my work making this newsletter. Or use PayPal (robinlloyd99 at aol), GooglePay (ask me for details), or Venmo (ask me for details). Thanks to my patrons!
ABOUT THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY: A lot of online media content is free during the pandemic, as a public service, but publishing, like many industries, is struggling. If you have the means, please subscribe to or purchase worthy publications.
TAG ME: Please send feedback and/or good COVID-19 science coverage that you’ve read, written, or produced in English, Spanish, French, etc. to robinlloyd99 at aol.
RESOURCES, WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS AT SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, ARCHIVE TO 3/11/20
Love/In friendship, Robin