Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on September 4 reported on prescribing patterns of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine by provider specialty in the US between January and June 2020. New prescriptions by specialists who do not typically prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine increased from 1,143 in February 2020…

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Editor's Note In this study from Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, researchers found that a heterologous COVID-19 vaccine based on recombinant human adenovirus type 26 (rAD26) and type 5 (rAD5) had a good safety profile over 42 days and induced strong antibody responses in all participants…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health finds that depression symptoms in the US are three-fold higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Of 1,441 individuals surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic and 5,065 surveyed before the pandemic, depression symptoms were higher…

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Editor's Note In an August 27 letter, Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asked the nation’s governors to have COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites fully operational by November 1, the September 2 McClatchy DC reports. Delivery firms received guidance to prepare freezer farms in…

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Editor's Note This prospective meta-analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO) Rapid Evidence Appraisal for COVID-19 Therapies, which pooled data from seven randomized clinical trials of critically ill patients with COVID-19, finds that administration of systemic corticosteroids, compared with usual care or placebo, was associated with lower 28-day all-cause mortality.…

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Editor's Note Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health told the Kaiser Health News on September 1 that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if clinical trial results are overwhelmingly positive. An independent Data and…

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Editor's Note The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, on September 1, released draft guidelines to help policymakers plan for equitable allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine. The committee that drafted the guidelines was formed at the request of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from Iceland finds that antibodies against COVID-19 remained stable 4 months after diagnosis. The researchers measured antibodies in serum samples from 30,576 people in Iceland, using six assays (including two pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) assays). They then tested 2,102 samples collected from 1,237 people up to…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 13 academic medical centers in 12 states found that 6% of healthcare workers had antibody evidence of COVID-19 infection, but 29% of them were asymptomatic and 69% had not received a diagnosis of COVID-19.…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 21 recommended that children in the community setting under age 5 not wear face masks as a preventive measure against COVID-19. Other recommendations include: For those aged 6 to 11 years, there should be a risk-based approach that considers factors such…

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