Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health finds that depression symptoms in the US are three-fold higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Of 1,441 individuals surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic and 5,065 surveyed before the pandemic, depression symptoms were higher…

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Editor's Note In an August 27 letter, Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asked the nation’s governors to have COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites fully operational by November 1, the September 2 McClatchy DC reports. Delivery firms received guidance to prepare freezer farms in…

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Editor's Note This prospective meta-analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO) Rapid Evidence Appraisal for COVID-19 Therapies, which pooled data from seven randomized clinical trials of critically ill patients with COVID-19, finds that administration of systemic corticosteroids, compared with usual care or placebo, was associated with lower 28-day all-cause mortality.…

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Editor's Note Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health told the Kaiser Health News on September 1 that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if clinical trial results are overwhelmingly positive. An independent Data and…

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Editor's Note The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, on September 1, released draft guidelines to help policymakers plan for equitable allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine. The committee that drafted the guidelines was formed at the request of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from Iceland finds that antibodies against COVID-19 remained stable 4 months after diagnosis. The researchers measured antibodies in serum samples from 30,576 people in Iceland, using six assays (including two pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) assays). They then tested 2,102 samples collected from 1,237 people up to…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 13 academic medical centers in 12 states found that 6% of healthcare workers had antibody evidence of COVID-19 infection, but 29% of them were asymptomatic and 69% had not received a diagnosis of COVID-19.…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 21 recommended that children in the community setting under age 5 not wear face masks as a preventive measure against COVID-19. Other recommendations include: For those aged 6 to 11 years, there should be a risk-based approach that considers factors such…

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Editor's Note This study, led by economists from Washington University in St Louis, finds that the ideal COVID-19 vaccine policy should emphasize age more than work-exposure risk for vaccination priority. To provide a best-practice scenario to supplement a vaccine distribution strategy, the researchers tracked eight age groups in more than…

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Editor's Note In an interview with the Financial Times, Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD, on August 30, said the FDA could fast-track approval of a COVID-19 vaccine before late-stage clinical trials are complete if regulators believe the benefits of doing so outweigh the risks. Dr Hahn…

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