Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Studies Warn We've Counted Only A Fraction Of Youth Covid Cases
ABC News: Pediatric COVID-19 Cases In Mississippi 10 Times Higher Than Previously Thought: Study
The number of children and adolescents with COVID-19 in Mississippi may be more than 10 times the number of previously reported cases, according to a new study. Pediatricians have previously suggested that because children are more likely to have COVID-19 without showing any symptoms, many infections in children are never diagnosed. (Jain, 3/4)
CIDRAP: Study In Mississippi Finds COVID-19 Vastly Underestimated In Kids
A retrospective seroprevalence study in Mississippi indicates that only a fraction of COVID-19 cases in children and adolescents were detected last spring and summer. In the study, published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), researchers from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), and the CDC tested a convenience sample of 1,603 residual serum specimens from people under the age of 18, collected from May 17 through Sep 19, 2020, for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. They then estimated the cumulative number of coronavirus infections during that period by extrapolating the seroprevalence to all Mississippi children and compared it with the number of reported pediatric COVID-19 cases through Aug 31. (3/4)
In other updates on the spread of the coronavirus —
The New York Times: Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is A Warning To The Whole World, Scientists Say
Covid-19 has already left a trail of death and despair in Brazil, one of the worst in the world. Now, a year into the pandemic, the country is setting another wrenching record. No other nation that experienced such a major outbreak is still grappling with record-setting death tolls and a health care system on the brink of collapse. Many other hard-hit nations are, instead, taking tentative steps toward a semblance of normalcy. (Andreoni, Londono and Casado, 3/4)
CIDRAP: California Farmworkers Show Higher COVID-19 Incidence Than Community
From June to November 2020, farmworkers in Salinas Valley, California, had 22.1% COVID-19 positivity compared with 17.2% of adults living in the same communities with a 7.2% rate in higher-risk farmworkers who had no symptoms, according to a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. From Jun 15 to Nov 30, 2020, researchers gathered COVID-19 diagnoses from 6,864 farmworkers and 7,305 non-farmworkers who were tested through the Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS). Farmworkers, 75% of whom were Latino, had a 28.5% higher probability of positive tests (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.1% to 37.4%). (3/4)
Axios: "Fludemic" Model Accurately Maps Where COVID Hotspots Will Crop Up A Week Out
By combining a range of private and public information, a small startup says it is able to predict COVID-19 hot spots at the neighborhood level a week out — with 92% accuracy. The startup, Data Driven Health, made a version of its flu and COVID-prediction model freely available Wednesday, offering data down to the neighborhood level. (Fried, 3/4)
And some good news out of Florida —
Axios: Tampa-Area Officials Say Super Bowl Wasn't A Super-Spreader Event
Despite dire predictions, Tampa’s Super Bowl was not a coronavirus super-spreader event, Hillsborough County health officials said yesterday, per the Tampa Bay Times. 53 cases in Florida and four more elsewhere were found to be associated with official Super Bowl events. (Montgomery and San Felice, 3/4)
Tampa Bay Times: Coronavirus Cases Plummet After Vaccines At Florida Care Facilities
The number of coronavirus cases in Florida nursing homes and assisted-living facilities is down dramatically since their peak in January and after nearly a year of deadly outbreaks and resident isolation. On Tuesday, the state Department of Health reported 684 coronavirus cases among Florida’s 136,780 long-term care residents, down from 3,651 cases on Jan. 17. (LaFever, 3/5)
