Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 94 new positive cases and 0 new death on Sept. 28.
Washington: The state reported 86,638 cases and 2,100 deaths as of Sept. 27.
United States: The CDC reports 7,129,313 cases and 204,598 deaths as of Sept. 29.
Global: WHO reports 33,249,563 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,000,040 deaths as of Sept. 29.
*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 Sept. 25, 2020
- Both surgical masks and KN95 masks reduce outward particle emissions during coughing (74% reduction) and speaking (90% reduction). More
- Despite similar rates of testing, non-English speakers from a variety of language groups had a 4.6-fold higher proportion of positive SARS-CoV2 tests in King County, WA. More
- Healthcare professionals with COVID-19 had similar age and sex distributions relative to the overall US healthcare workforce, but those who died from COVID-19 tended to be older and were more likely to be male and to identify as Black or Asian. More
- A systematic review and meta-analysis found that children and adolescents had a 44% lower odds of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 after potential exposure to an index case. More.
UW Medicine in the News
The Seattle Times: Suffering from COVID-19 science overload? This UW team wades through the deluge so you don’t have to
Featuring: Brandon Guthrie, Jennifer Ross, Lorenzo Tolentino, Global Health
“For the past five months, a small group of faculty and students at the University of Washington has been wading through the deluge so you don’t have to. Five days a week, the Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness produces the “COVID-19 Literature Situation Report,” which provides a succinct summary of key scientific developments. ‘It’s a very distilled version,’ said Brandon Guthrie, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology and co-leader of the effort. ‘What are the most important things (we) need to know that are coming out today?’ A typical report includes a list of key takeaways and summaries of a dozen or so studies, sorted into categories like ‘testing and treatment,’ ‘transmission’ and ‘public health policy.’ There’s also a shortlist of other interesting research, along with links for those who want to delve more deeply. It’s a quick read and mostly jargon-free in keeping with a target audience that includes not only public health officials, but also politicians, community leaders and the general public. The group also prepares occasional in-depth reports about issues of pressing interest, like the long-term health effects of COVID-19.”
(See COVID-19 Literature Situation Report above.)
EMS World: Data: King Co. COVID-19 Protocols Kept Providers Safer
Featuring: Catherine Counts, Emergency Medicine
“When COVID-19 hit King County, Washington, the county’s emergency medical services (EMS) immediately implemented procedures to protect its providers. Those protocols were updated as the outbreak intensified and more was learned about the virus. These efforts, a new study has found, greatly reduced the risk of exposure among EMS providers who came into contact with patients with COVID-19, reducing the providers’ risk of infection and the number of days they had to be quarantined, and conserving their personal protective equipment (PPE). The study reviewed 911 calls for COVID-19-infected patients in King County between Feb. 14 and March 26, 2020, and the EMS providers who responded. It was conducted by researchers at UW Medicine, Public Health-Seattle & King County, and the region’s agencies and fire departments that provide EMS services.” The paper appears online in Emergency Medicine Journal. ‘Because we were the first region in the U.S. to be hit by the virus, we knew we had to track the occupational exposure of our providers carefully and monitor the effectiveness of our procedures and PPE protocols,’ said co-author Catherine Counts, Ph.D., an acting instructor of emergency medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and quality-improvement and research manager for the Medic One service. ‘Operationally, we were fluid. As more information about COVID-19 became apparent and we better understood the disease, we modified how we responded to guarantee the safety of our providers while not sacrificing clinical care.’”
More on this topic from Catherine Counts and the UW Medicine Newsroom.
Newsweek: If 95 Percent of Americans Wear Masks, 100,000 Lives Can Be Saved by January 1: IHME Report
Featuring: Christopher Murray, IHME
“As winter weather merges with many people moving life indoors, global health experts said wearing masks could save 100,000 lives from COVID-19 by January 1. Several infectious disease expert—including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation—warned of a fall and winter season ‘surge’ of coronavirus cases and deaths. Researchers at the University of Washington’s IHME said outdoor mask usage is just above 50 percent, and between 95,000-100,000 lives could be protected from COVID-19 related deaths if 95 percent of Americans wear masks in the coming cold weather months.”
NBC: Covid Chronicles, Vol. 10: Three scientists race to track deadly pathogen in their city
Featuring: Trevor Bedford, Epidemiology and Genome Sciences; Lea Starita, Genome Sciences; Helen Chu, Infectious Disease
An illustrated feature chronicling personal accounts of life and death from the frontlines of COVID-19.
Tweet of the Week
Doctors Tell Me I Have COVID. Why Won't the Tests? Dr. Geoff Baird @UWMedicine explains. @UWVirology https://t.co/SfBlTbDuXH via @gqmagazine
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) September 29, 2020
