Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 251 new positive cases and 10 new deaths on May 27.
Washington: The state reported 398,316 cases and 5,741 deaths as of May 25.
United States: The CDC reports 32,994,369 cases and 588,421 deaths as of May 26.
Global: WHO reports 168,040,871 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,494,758 deaths as of May 27.
Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
UW Medicine COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Update
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 316,044
- Total first dose: 162,640
- Total second dose: 153,404
As of May 25, 2021.
UW Medicine in the News
The New York Times: Immunity to the Coronavirus May Persist for Years, Scientists Find
Featuring: Marion Pepper, Immunology
“The results of Dr. Nussenzweig’s study suggest that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who have later been vaccinated will continue to have extremely high levels of protection against emerging variants, even without receiving a vaccine booster down the line. ‘It kind of looks exactly like what we would hope a good memory B cell response would look like,’ said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the new research. The experts all agreed that immunity is likely to play out very differently in people who have never had Covid-19. Fighting a live virus is different from responding to a single viral protein introduced by a vaccine. And in those who had Covid-19, the initial immune response had time to mature over six to 12 months before being challenged by the vaccine. ‘Those kinetics are different than someone who got immunized and then gets immunized again three weeks later,’ Dr. Pepper said. ‘That’s not to say that they might not have as broad a response, but it could be very different.’”
Men’s Health: People are Freaking Out About Covid Infections After Vaccination
Featuring: Jesse Erasmus, Fuller Lab, Microbiology
“‘The vaccines clearly work, with some of the highest efficacy rates for any vaccine on the market today,’ says Dr. Jesse Erasmus, microbiology researcher and virologist in the Fuller Lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who is also working on a second-generation Covid-19 vaccine candidate. ‘An ideal vaccine would protect against infection and disease, and there is evidence that these vaccines do both, but they are definitely better at protecting against disease than they are at protecting against infection. Breakthrough disease is extremely rare, with no serious disease detected at all in vaccinated individuals. Most likely, these will occur in immunocompromised individuals or those with weakened immune systems.”’
NBC News: To mask or not to mask: Three doctors answer the big lingering questions
Featuring: Vin Gupta, IHME
“Q: What’s the risk for masked kids under 12 to enter stores or restaurants with unmasked, unvaccinated people?
Dr. Gupta: The risk of Covid-19 to younger kiddos in most public places is VERY low. That changes if the variants (particularly the one circulating in Brazil) starts to dominate here, but I still think we’re very much in a place where risk remains minimal to kids. That said, for now, we still mask our 4-year-old in public.”
COVID-19 Literature 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 May 24, 2021
- A population-based cohort study among pregnant people in England (n = 342,080) screened for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of delivery hospitalization found risk of fetal death (aOR = 2.2), preterm birth (aOR = 2.2), preeclampsia/eclampsia (aOR = 1.6), and emergency Cesarean delivery (aOR = 1.6) were all significantly higher among SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals. More.
- An analysis of excess mortality in the US during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March – August 2020) found higher-than-expected deaths due to drug overdoses (n = 10,443 excess deaths), homicides (n = 2,014), and unintentional injuries (n = 7,497), and lower-than-expected numbers of suicides (n = 2,432 fewer deaths). More.
- Chlamydia and gonorrhea screening in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic was at its lowest during April 2020, with decreases of 59% among female and 63% among male patients relative to baseline levels. Between March and June 2020, 27,659 (26%) cases of chlamydia and 5,577 (17%) cases of gonorrhea were potentially missed. More.
COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team, is an affiliated group of medical students, PhDs and physicians keeping up with the latest research on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 by finding the newest articles, reading them, grading their level of evidence and bringing you the bottom line.
Read the latest report: May 14 | Weekly COVID-19 LST Report.
Tweet of the Week
"If one community suffers, we all suffer because we're all in it together. Providing vaccine equity is key to ending the #COVID19 pandemic," said Dr. Lisa Chew @Harborviewmc @UWMedicine @VulcanInc @thedaily https://t.co/3K0kRSS1hh
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) May 26, 2021
