Editor's Note In this study from Germany, researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is highly susceptible to irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) light. High viral loads (5x106TCID50/mL) were inactivated in 9 minutes with UVC (254 nm) irradiation. The UVC dose required for complete inactivation was 1,048 mJ/cm2. Exposure to UVA (365…

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Editor's Note ECRI on September 22 released an analysis showing that 60% to 70% of N95 masks from China do not meet US standards for filtration and effectiveness. ECRI tested nearly 200 masks, reflecting 15 different manufacturer models, which have been purchased by large US healthcare systems. ECRI recommends not…

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Editor's Note This controlled, in-vitro study investigates the minimum contact time for povidone-iodine nasal antiseptic to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus. All laboratory work was conducted in biosafety level 3 laboratories at the Institute for Antiviral Research at Utah State University, Logan. Povidone-iodine was tested at diluted concentrations of 0.5%, 1.25%,…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from India’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Israel’s Technion-IIT discover how to recharge used N95 masks after decontamination to recover their 95% efficiency. Also included is a proof-of-concept construction of a battery-operated smart mask. N95 masks are 95% efficient at filtering out 0.3…

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Editor's Note This cohort study of US children with COVID-19 or seasonal flu found no difference in hospitalization rates, ICU admission rates, or mechanical ventilator use between the two groups. More COVID-19 patients reported clinical symptoms at the time of diagnosis. The study included 315 children with COVID-19 (median age…

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Editor's Note This survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the extent to which adults are delaying and avoiding medical care because of concerns about COVID-19. By June 30, an estimated 40.9% of those surveyed (4,978 US adults) had delayed or avoided medical care including urgent…

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Editor's Note Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis is the clinical coordinating center for a new worldwide clinical trial to test whether the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) can protect frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) against COVID-19. The researchers say there are two main reasons why the…

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Editor's Note In this study from Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, researchers found that a heterologous COVID-19 vaccine based on recombinant human adenovirus type 26 (rAD26) and type 5 (rAD5) had a good safety profile over 42 days and induced strong antibody responses in all participants…

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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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