January 11, 2021

In today's episode we discuss: —Epidemiology: Do we need routine COVID-19 testing of Emergency Department staff? A study from the University of Washington uses a mathematical model based on the Diamond Princess cruise ship data to predict detection of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic health care workers (HCWs) in the emergency department in regions with high COVID-19 rates. Results revealed that within six months, weekly testing in asymptomatic HCWs would reduce infection rates by 3 to 5.9% when the transmission constant is 1.219e-4 new infections/person^2, while a transmission constant of 3.660e-4 new infections/person^2 would result in reduction of infections by 11 to 23%. The authors urge more frequent testing in asymptomatic HCWs to help reduce the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection. —Understanding the Pathology: Dynamic changes are witnessed in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery in a retrospective analysis by bioinformatics and global health specialists in Jiangsu, China where 1,850 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were analyzed and those with mild or moderate disease were found to develop IgG antibodies one week earlier than patients with severe disease. While spike protein and receptor-binding domain specific IgG levels were 1.5- and 2-fold higher in critically ill hospitalized patients and SARS-CoV-2 RNA-negative recovered patients, respectively, compared to those who are remained RNA-positive. These data suggest earlier development of antibodies may be protective against developing severe disease; however, those who recover from more severe disease may also have higher levels of antibodies and a shorter duration of viral shedding. —Management: Coronary calcium scoring was found to be a predictor for outcome in COVID-19. A retrospective cohort study conducted at the University of Munich by a team of internal medicine and radiology specialists found the coronary artery calcification (CAC) score to be a significant prognostic indicator based on 109 SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. Authors found the median CAC to be 140 [IQR 1–1165] in patients with critical COVID-19, and 160 [IQR: 88–562] in patients with fatal outcome. Authors note limitations due to retrospective design and small sample size, however, these findings suggest that coronary artery disease is significantly associated with an adverse clinical outcome in COVID-19. —Adjusting Practice During COVID-19: There is a high prevalence of deep venous thrombosis in non-severe COVID-19 patients hospitalized for a neurovascular disease. This prospective study from Strasbourg University Hospital, France evaluates 13 patients with non-severe COVID-19 and concurrent neurovascular disease for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) via doppler ultrasound scanning (DUS) of the lower limbs. Results showed that despite thromboprophylaxis, the prevalence of asymptomatic DVT was 38.5%. The authors thus advocate for the use of bedside DUS to identify DVT in patients with COVID-19 given that D-dimer, the classic marker of DVT, has been shown to correlate with COVID-19 severity and may be elevated in this population regardless of coagulable state.