Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 644 new positive cases and 15 new deaths on Dec. 9.
Washington: The state reported 189,863 cases and 3,016 deaths as of Dec. 8.
United States: The CDC reports 15,040,175 cases and 285,351 deaths as of Dec. 7.
Global: WHO reports 68,165,877 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,540,777 deaths as of Dec. 8.
*Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
COVID-19 Literature Situation Report
COVID-19 Literature Situation Report is a daily (M-F) newsletter put together by the Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness that provides a succinct summary of the latest scientific literature related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways: COVID-19 Literature Situation Report Dec. 9, 2020
- An interim analysis of ongoing phase 2/3 trials for the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 showed overall vaccine efficacy was 70.4%, with no COVID-19-related hospital admissions occurring in vaccine recipients and 10 occurring in the control group. More
- A randomized placebo-controlled trial among PCR-negative close contacts of persons with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection found no difference in SARS-CoV-2 acquisition by day 14 between those receiving hydroxychloroquine post-exposure prophylaxis or placebo (HR = 1.10). More
- A retrospective study at 2 Philadelphia hospitals found no significant or clinically relevant changes between pre-pandemic and pandemic rates of preterm births and stillbirths. More
- Immunization rates in Colorado dropped by 31% for children aged 0-2 years, by 78% among those 3-9 years, and by 82% for those age 10-17 years following the release of social distance guidance in March 2020. More
- Prior infection with a seasonal coronavirus was not associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that past seasonal coronavirus infection does not provide subsequent protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. More
You can read more literature reports from the COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team, an affiliated group of medical students, PhDs, and physicians keeping up with the latest research on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19. Here’s their latest report: Dec. 9 | Daily COVID-10 LST Report.
UW Medicine in the News
USA Today: The CDC advises COVID-19 tests for holiday travel: 8 do’s and don’ts ahead of your trip
Featuring: Christopher Sanford, family medicine
“If travelers concerned about a surge in coronavirus cases heed the CDC’s advice to get tested before and after travel, something the agency did not mention when it recommended against Thanksgiving travel, demand for tests will likely spike. ‘Whether that is a small bump or large bump is unknown,’ said Dr. Christopher Sanford, associate professor of family medicine and global health at the University of Washington in Seattle and founder of the travel medicine clinic at the University of Washington Medical Center. ‘It depends on A) how many people travel and B) how many of those people get tested.’’”
NPR: New Data Reveal Which Hospitals Are Dangerously Full. Is Yours?
Featuring: Ali Mokdad, IHME
“Anything above 20% represents “extreme stress” for the hospital, according to a framework developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. If that figure gets to near 50% or above, the stress on staff is immense. ‘It means the hospital is overloaded. It means other services in that hospital are being delayed. The hospital becomes a nightmare,’ IHME’s Ali Mokdad told NPR.”
CNBC: ‘The next two months will be a disaster without all hands on deck’, says Dr. Vin Gupta
Featuring: Vin Gupta, IHME
“Dr. Vin Gupta, NBC news medical contributor and pulmonologist, joins Shep Smith to talk about how it’s possible to see 500,000 deaths by February because of the strain in ICU beds and medical care in the U.S. He joins to talk about what the federal government and the public needs to do to limit the spread of the virus.”
Tweet of the Week
The pandemic teaches that plans for efficiently allocating scarce resources in determining who can be saved don't always reflect the reality & emotional toll of decisions clinicians are called upon to make @KateButler @crosscut @Weinbergrrrrr https://t.co/cdmEr7irDD
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) December 10, 2020
