Evidence & info dissemination

Guidance on interpreting COVID-19 test results
INFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19 AND EVIDENCE DISSEMINATION
Here is an up to date page with answers to some recent (2022) questions about COVID19: https://publichealthcollaborative.org/faq/
A nice review of updated research about bivalent vaccination efficacy, as of Jan 2023:
Project Healings in Minnesota has some wonderful information about COVID19 and the impact on communities, with videos in more than 30 languages
Inter Tribal Council of Michigan and the National Native Network launched the healthcare site Care For Us, By Us
Dolores Huerta Foundation and the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators have led town halls on Black & Brown Unity, specifically working on expanding virus protection across communities
African Family Health Organization in Philadelphia serves Pan African and Caribbean refugees and immigrants
NIH updated COVID dashboard as of Feb 2021: https://covid19.nih.gov/
NIH Expert panel review of available evidence and coronavirus treatment guidelines
CDC Resource Hub for COVID19
Article about lessons learned on college campuses:
Selected Peer reviewed publications
Should you get tested?
Info about antibody and serology testing
Info about temperature checks and other symptoms
JAMA article (clinical summary as of early April 2020)
American Geriatrics Association
National Academy for State Health Policy
Covid19 Infographics in multiple languages (Arabic, Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Mandarin, and Urdu)
World Health Organization (WHO) myth buster page
FEMA rumor control page
American Sign Language (ASL) video resources on Covid19
What's the deal with cloth face coverings for the general public? Glad you asked!
What about disinfectants and cleaning products?
Air conditioning related
National Organizations (Professional)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Tracking prevention, treatments and vaccines
Discussions regarding social equity, justice, and policy
Some context about the history and legality of public health rules and restrictions:

Guidance on interpreting COVID-19 test results

INFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19 AND EVIDENCE DISSEMINATION

Here is a Resource Hub put together by the CDC and collaborating organizations across the country. This Resource Hub includes fact sheet in a dozen languages, graphic flyers, audio messages, and toolkit materials. https://vaccineresourcehub.org 

Here is an up to date page with answers to some recent (2022) questions about COVID19: https://publichealthcollaborative.org/faq/ 


A nice review of updated research about bivalent vaccination efficacy, as of Jan 2023:

https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-bivalent-vaccine-booster-outperforms 


Project Healings in Minnesota has some wonderful information about COVID19 and the impact on communities, with videos in more than 30 languages

https://projecthealings.info/  and videos here: https://projecthealings.info/psa-videos/ 


Inter Tribal Council of Michigan and the National Native Network launched the healthcare site Care For Us, By Us

Videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/NNNKeepItSacred

https://keepitsacred.itcmi.org/ 


Dolores Huerta Foundation and the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators have led town halls on Black & Brown Unity, specifically working on expanding virus protection across communities

April 1st CAAASA Conference Closing Session https://fb.watch/cw7uNFxn5Z/

https://doloreshuerta.org/

African Family Health Organization in Philadelphia serves Pan African and Caribbean refugees and immigrants

@AFAHO (Twitter)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A5jorZOXw0b9Pl4ytWdEqN-b_I4hnXDe/view?usp=sharing

 AFAHO Video AD Campaign 


NIH updated COVID dashboard as of Feb 2021: https://covid19.nih.gov/

NIH Expert panel review of available evidence and coronavirus treatment guidelines 

Q&A with Dr. Fauci recorded on June 2, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MH-3ICY-N4&feature=youtu.be 


CDC Resource Hub for COVID19

Here is a Resource Hub put together by the CDC and collaborating organizations across the country. This Resource Hub includes fact sheet in a dozen languages, graphic flyers, audio messages, and toolkit materials.

https://vaccineresourcehub.org 


Article about lessons learned on college campuses:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-5-biggest-lessons-weve-learned-about-how-coronavirus-spreads-on-campus?cid=gen_sign_in 


Selected Peer reviewed publications

We're starting to see some clinical outcomes- here are some publications- **please note that my summaries are for your rapid overview, and you should read the articles and draw your own conclusions** Most of these are available as open access as of this posting. If you would like assistance accessing a full article, please email me directly at trcharisse@gmail.com. (bold print inserted for quick reference)

Bottom line: There are 3 main considerations that you need when making individual decisions: what is the area prevalence of the virus, what is the actual risk of exposure, and what do you do if you are exposed. This is a short article- free access at link above.


Bottom line: yes, risk is substantially reduced for the entire population if everyone keeps 1 meter apart and wears a face covering of some kind; note that these estimates are not guesses at your individual risk- these studies are looking at entire populations, and estimating spread and dangerousness of the virus based on different scenarios. Experts make recommendations based on protecting the most amount of people from the most dangerous of outcomes. However- the benefit is only accomplished if 95% of people follow the plan. For every % point of people who do not follow these guidelines, the risk increases for everyone.


Claus Hann von Weyhern, Ines Kaufmann, Frauke Neff, Marcus Kremer. (Published June 4, 2020) Early evidence of pronounced brain involvement in fatal COVID-19 outcomes. 

Bottom line: There is some preliminary evidence that older patients die from cardiorespiratory causes, but younger patients are showing brain bleeds and pulmonary embolism. It appears that there are both direct viral implications and also immune responses that put the body at risk. "In summary, in addition to viral pneumonia, a pronounced CNS involvement with pan-encephalitis, meningitis, and brainstem neuronal cell damage were key events in all our cases. In patients younger than 65 years, CNS haemorrhage was a fatal complication of COVID-19."


Bottom line: While children generally seem to have less serious engagement with the disease, there are some reports of very serious systemic and heart related issues that may be triggered by the immune system response.


Shekerdemian LS, Mahmood NR, Wolfe KK, et al. Characteristics and Outcomes of Children With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Admitted to US and Canadian Pediatric Intensive Care Units. JAMA Pediatr. Published online May 11, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1948 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle66037?resultClick=1 

 

Bottom line: "In this case series that included 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area, the most common comorbidities were hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Among patients who were discharged or died (n= 2634), 14.2% were treated in the intensive care unit, 12.2% received invasive mechanical ventilation, 3.2% were treated with kidney replacement therapy, and 21% died." (text from abstract) 

Note that the stats here indicate that not everyone who has serious outcomes end up in the ICU- decline may be very rapid, and may not require mechanical ventilation, so the death rate is higher than the rate of people who went to the ICU. In this sample, 21% of the group that they looked at died; that is just about 1 in 5 people who were hospitalized.


Bottom line: This is a study of a system in California, which surveyed a large number of people presenting to the hospital. Overall mortality rate for those with COVID-19 is around 16%, but only around 8% of the total population of over 16,000 people tested were identified with the virus- of those, 29% were admitted to hospital and 9% were admitted to an ICU.


Bottom line: This study was stopped early and may not have gone long enough to get truly meaningful results (underpowered). However, findings were that although results were promising, plasma did not significantly change outcomes (time to improvement within 28 days).


Bottom line: Overall, approximately 40% of deaths from the virus have been in long term care settings. This article argues for separate risk projections in those settings due to the complexities of those contexts.


Bottom line: This is another outcomes study, although only looks at people who were patients in Intensive Care in one region of Italy. Majority of patients were male and older; mortality (death) was 26% among this group. Bear in mind that this is not the same as a study of general population- this is mortality rate in an ICU. The Richardson et al study (linked above) has a better estimate of overall population outcomes.


Should you get tested?

CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html#Symptoms-&-Testing 

Info about antibody and serology testing


Info about temperature checks and other symptoms


JAMA article (clinical summary as of early April 2020)

American Geriatrics Association

National Academy for State Health Policy


Covid19 Infographics in multiple languages (Arabic, Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Mandarin, and Urdu)

World Health Organization (WHO) myth buster page

FEMA rumor control page 


American Sign Language (ASL) video resources on Covid19 


What's the deal with cloth face coverings for the general public? Glad you asked! 


What about disinfectants and cleaning products?


Air conditioning related


National Organizations (Professional)


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Tracking prevention, treatments and vaccines


Discussions regarding social equity, justice, and policy


Some context about the history and legality of public health rules and restrictions: 

Gostin LO, Wiley LF. Governmental Public Health Powers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stay-at-home Orders, Business Closures, and Travel Restrictions. JAMA. 2020;323(21):2137–2138. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.5460 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764283?resultClick=1