An asymptomatic coronavirus carrier traveled from the US to China in March. Even though she didn’t interact with anyone face-to-face, her downstairs neighbor was infected. According to a new study, transmission likely occurred in the elevator, when the neighbor touched the same buttons that the quarantined traveler had. The neighbor was later linked to 70 [...]

I’m surprised that we can’t stop arguing about the modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, despite the fact that most experts (including our friends at WHO) agree on the important issues. Our colleague Jorge Salinas very nicely summarized these issues (and their implications) in this post. The latest kerfuffle: media coverage of 239 experts who are upset that [...]

Are you concerned about your alcohol intake? Maybe you feel that you’re drinking too much or too often. Perhaps it’s a habit you’d like to better control. It’s always wise to check with your doctor — she should be able to help you decide whether it is best for you to cut back or to abstain. [...]

My wife recently asked me, “Why do you assume you’ll die before me?” It’s true, I have made that assumption. So, I answered, as matter-of-factly as I could, with one word: statistics. I knew that, on average, women live longer than men. In fact, 57% of all those ages 65 and older are female. By age 85, [...]

The news: An experimental covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech provoked immune responses in 45 healthy volunteers, according to a preprint paper on medRXiv. The levels of antibodies were up to 2.8 times the level of those found in patients who have recovered. The study randomly assigned 45 people to get either one of three [...]

President Donald Trump held a White House press briefing today in which he said the 4.8 million jobs added in June prove that the economy is “roaring back” from the impact of COVID-19 and that more signs of the recovery will be apparent before the general election on Nov 3. “This is the largest monthly jobs [...]

Among the takeaways from a large COVID-19 research and innovation meeting led by the World Health Organization (WHO) this week, the vaccine pipeline is healthy and scientists are eager to learn more about the impact of social distancing and other nonpharmaceutical interventions. As the 2-day online meeting wrapped up today, the global COVID-19 total reached [...]

Many Americans decided to start physical distancing even before statewide stay-at-home orders were issued, likely helping slow transmission of COVID-19 in the 25 hardest-hit counties, a modeling study published yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases has found. Using mobile phone data from Jan 1 to Apr 20, researchers at Johns Hopkins University identified a decline in the number of [...]

Key Points Question  How does the risk of acute ischemic stroke compare between patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and patients with influenza, a respiratory virus previously associated with stroke?Findings  In this cohort study, 1916 patients with emergency department visits or hospitalizations with COVID-19 had an elevated risk of ischemic stroke compared with 1486 patients with [...]

Evidence for transmission in closed spaces and the role of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are used to provide comfortable environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) and clean air in indoor settings such as buildings and vehicles. HVAC systems can be configured in a variety of ways, depending on [...]