COVID-19 Update #2

Monterey County (05/18/20 - 06/4/20):

272 new cases (621 total; 10 total deaths)

Worldwide (05/18/20 - 06/4/20):

1.79 million new cases (6.41 million total / 382,867 total deaths)

U.S.A. (5/3/20 - 05/14/20):

360,000 new cases (1.84 million total / 107,029 total deaths)

California (05/18/20 - 06/4/20):

40,968 new cases (119,807 total / 4,422 total deaths)

05/18/20

Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1273) shows promising initial results in Phase 1 trial completion, with phases 2 and 3 to begin in July 2020
President Donald Trump admits to taking hydroxychloroquine for the past few weeks
California announces next phase plans towards reopening. Counties must qualify by attestation applications to the below:
1. Stable hospitalizations
2. Adequate preparedness planning
3. Response planning

05/19/20

Brazil becomes number three in the world in total number of COVID-19 cases
Korean CDC reports on a test of recovered COVID-19 patients, who still tested PCR positive. It found that these positive tests were found due to the detection of non-viable viral particles that are not able to infect others
New study shows that SARS-CoV-2 found in feces is viable and able to infect cells in a lab setting, therefore proposing that fecal-oral or fecal-respiratory transmission is possible

A post autopsy study of 7 patients with COVID-19 showed 3 outstanding features in the lung tissue
Severe endothelial cell injury due to intracellular SARS-CoV-2 (likely causing inherent inflammation)
Diffuse vascular obstruction of alveolar capillaries
New angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth). Also, COVID-19 lungs had a significantly higher number of ACE2 positive endothelial cells when compared to controls

05/22/20

Recent multinational data of 96,032 patients (14,888 treatment group / 81,144 control group), mean age 53.8 years, from 671 hospitals spanning six continents, reporting on hospitalized COVID-19 patients between 12/20/19 - 4/13/20, who were treated within 48 hours of diagnosis
Results showed that hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, either with or without a macrolide antibiotic, increased the risk of in-hospital mortality and new ventricular arrhythmias (heart rhythm disturbances) during the hospital stay
First ever human phase 1 vaccine trial for COVID-19 from Wuhan, China, showed that after one dose, the vaccine was able to illicit both rapid and neutralizing antibodies by day 28. Side effects included: muscle pain, fatigue, fever, and headache
Recent studies showed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA is readily detected in stool. Recent study displayed a correlation between the concentration of the virus in community sewage with future COVID-19 positive test results 7 days later and hospitalizations 3 days later. This proposes the use of this readily available data to help guide the relaxing of social restrictions or as prior warning to increased incidents, especially in countries that have limited traditional testing capabilities

05/25/20

Brazil becomes number 2 in the world in COVID-19 cases (6 days after becoming number 3)
California Department of Public Health allows places of worship to reopen if they comply with the following guidelines:

Limit attendance to 25% of the building’s capacity or up to 100 people (whatever is lower)

05/26/20

Monterey County submits the required Phase 2 Variance Attestation Form to California Department of Public Health for review
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte at 980 Fremont Street 93940 opens for free COVID-19 testing to all community members, with or without symptoms. No appointment needed. Open from 9am - 4pm
Following the Lancet Mehra Et al. article, the WHO has decided to temporarily halt the use of hydroxychloroquine in its own Solidarity trial while an independent review panel further evaluates the safety data

05/28/20

05/29/20

USA unemployment reaches greater than 40 million (> 25% of the total workforce)
New study proposes an increased risk of heightened mortality in those patients with COVID-19 who had to undergo surgery, mainly pulmonary complications, which occurred in approximately 50%. This suggest that if possible, surgeries should be postponed in those patients with COVID-19
The CDC COVID-19 Response Team brought forth 4 lines of evidence that suggested that there has been USA transmission as early as late January 2020

05/30/20

06/01/20

Eli Lilly begins testing the first ever medication formulated specifically against COVID-19, a human made antibody against SARS-CoV-2 virus. 32 currently hospitalized patients will get the drug at various doses. They could be used to either treat or prevent infection. LY-CoV555 Phase 1 trial will show results by the end of June 2020. Many such antibody medications are in development by other manufactures which may incorporate more than one type of antibody

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