Coronavirus [NEW TOPIC PAGE]

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 Coronavirus

Trans-ethnic analysis reveals genetic and non-genetic associations with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity
JF Shelton et al, MEDRXIV, September 7, 2020

“When Will We Have a Vaccine?” — Understanding Questions and Answers about Covid-19 Vaccination
BR Bloom et al, NEJM, September 8, 2020

As Covid-19 vaccines move into phase 3 clinical trials, enthusiasm about the innovative and sophisticated technologies being used needs to be replaced by consideration of the actions and messages that will foster trust among clinicians and the public.

Prevalence of Third-Party Tracking on COVID-19–Related Web Pages
MS McCoy et al JAMA, September 8, 2020

This study found that 99% of COVID19 related web pages included a third-party data request. Amid debate focused on the privacy implications of COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, The findings suggest that attention should be paid to privacy risks of online information seeking.

The coronavirus is mutating — does it matter?
E Callaway, Nature News, September 8, 2020

Researchers still have more questions than answers about coronavirus mutations, and no one has yet found any change in SARS-CoV-2 that should raise public-health concerns. But studying mutations in detail could be important for controlling the pandemic.

How the Aging Immune System Makes Older People Vulnerable to Covid-19
V Greenwood, NY Times, September 8, 2020

As we age, the immune system begins to shift into a heightened state of alert, dialing up inflammation and running out of certain immune cells.

Developing a COVID-19 mortality risk prediction model when individual-level data are not available
N Barda et al, Nat Comm, September 7, 2020

At the COVID-19 pandemic onset, when individual-level data of COVID-19 patients were not yet available, there was already a need for risk predictors to support prevention and treatment decisions. Here, we report a hybrid strategy to create such a predictor, combining the development of a baseline severe respiratory infection risk predictor and a post-processing method to calibrate the predictions to reported COVID-19 case-fatality rates.