Surprising Findings about Kids and COVID. And More Science Journal News

Compiled by veteran medical journalist Brian Owens, this roundup of some of the newest science on the COVID-19 pandemic, straight from the scientific journals, is presented by Hakai Magazine in partnership with The Tyee.

People are shunning health-care workers

According to a survey of people in Canada and the United States by researchers at the University of British Columbia, one in three people have been avoiding health-care workers during the pandemic, and one in four say health-care workers’ freedoms should be restricted. People who participate in nightly shows of support for health-care workers by clapping, cheering and banging pots are not any less likely to stigmatize health-care workers. Previous research has shown that COVID-19 is only slightly more prevalent among health-care workers than it is among the general population: 0.14 per cent compared to 0.10 per cent. Much of that difference may be because of higher rates of testing among health-care workers.

Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Aug. 19, 2020

Kids carry more virus than adults

Children infected with SARS-CoV-2, even those with mild or no symptoms, have a significantly higher amount of virus in their airways than adults, including adults who have been hospitalized in intensive care. The higher the viral load, the greater the risk of transmission, so these results suggest that children may be a big potential source of contagion even if they rarely become seriously ill themselves. This contradicts some previous studies that have suggested children are not a major source of infection.

Journal of Pediatrics, Aug. 19, 2020

Official government COVID-19 information is too complex

The official information about COVID-19 provided by governments is too complex for the average person to understand. Researchers reviewed English-language public health websites from all 50 U.S. states and 15 other countries, including Canada, and found that the information provided routinely exceeded the recommendation that medical information for the public be written at no higher than a Grade 8 reading level. Canada’s information was rated at a Grade 10 reading level.

JAMA Network Open, Aug. 18, 2020

Hyperactive immune response may prevent long-term immunity

Cytokine storms — the excessive immune response that is common in COVID-19 patients — may prevent people from developing long-term immunity to the virus. Researchers found that severely ill COVID-19 patients lack germinal centres — important structures in both spleens and lymph nodes — that develop during infection and help create the long-lived immune cells that remember previous infections. High levels of cytokines, a small signalling molecule that is part of the immune system, can prevent the formation of germinal centres. This means that the antibodies that protect people from being reinfected with COVID-19 may only last a few months. It also means that to achieve immunity, multiple rounds of vaccination will likely be necessary.

Cell, Aug. 19, 2020

Internet searches for anxiety jumped during the pandemic

Internet searches related to acute anxiety, such as “am I having a panic attack,” spiked dramatically in the U.S. after the country declared a national emergency on March 13. The largest increase, 17 per cent, happened between March 16 and April 14, with spikes coinciding with specific events, such as on March 26 when the U.S. surpassed China with the most reported cases. Queries returned to typical levels by April 15.

A study in the U.K., however, found that young teenagers actually felt less anxious during lockdown. While 54 per cent of girls and 26 per cent of boys aged 13 and 14 were at risk of anxiety last October before the pandemic, those numbers dropped to 45 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in May. Within the survey, however, there was not much change in anxiety levels for more vulnerable kids, such as LGBTQ teens and those with disabilities.

JAMA Internal Medicine, Aug. 24, 2020
National Institute of Health Research, Aug. 23, 2020

People worry more about others than themselves

People are more concerned about whether their family members could contract COVID-19 or if they are unknowingly spreading the virus than they are about getting sick, according to a survey in the U.S. and Israel. The researchers also measured peoples’ mental resilience — emotional regulation, self-reliance and the like — and found that respondents with higher resilience scores had lower COVID-19-related worries, as well as a reduced rate of anxiety and depression.

Translational Psychiatry, Aug. 20, 2020

Inconsistent data formats could be harming COVID-19 research

A huge amount of research has already been done on the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 pandemic (and these updates just scratch the surface). But the publicly available data and the formats in which it is presented lack consistency across different countries’ national public health institutes, greatly limiting its usefulness.

Aside from most countries keeping a similar running total of confirmed cases and deaths, the collection of other data varies widely in the information collected and how it’s presented. Even if countries collect the same data — for instance number of tests conducted, ranges of symptoms, patient demographics — it’s presented in incompatible formats. Researchers recommend that countries develop standardized content and formats, and that research on COVID-19 should be curated by experts who can identify useful studies and help merge the results from clinical trials and basic science.

Science and Diplomacy, Aug. 19, 2020

Spit is as good as swab for testing

Self-collected saliva and deep nasal swabs collected by health-care providers are equally effective for detecting SARS-CoV-2, according to a study done at a testing centre in Utah. Five different saliva-based tests have been approved in the U.S., but none have so far been approved for use in Canada.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Aug. 12, 2020

How to predict disease severity and survival

Researchers have identified two markers in the immune system that can reliably predict the severity of COVID-19 cases and the likelihood of survival. Patients with elevated levels of two cytokines, called IL-6 and TNF-α, are twice as likely to develop severe cases of COVID-19 and die as those with lower levels. The researchers say these markers could be used to help determine how the disease is likely to present in a patient, and determine the relevant treatments.

Nature Medicine, Aug. 24, 2020