Search

This paper follows European countries as they struggled through the first wave of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic. We analyze when countries were confronted with the virus, how long it took until the number of new infections peaked and at what level of infections that peak was achieved via social distancing and lockdown policies. Most European countries were able to successfully end the first wave of the pandemic – defined as a two-week incidence rate smaller than 10 cases per 100,000 people. We find that countries in which the virus made significant landfall later in time enjoyed a latecomer advantage that some of these countries squandered, however, by not responding quickly enough and that an early lockdown was more effective than a hard lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 11 March 2020 when officially declared a global pandemic, Covid‐19 (or SARS‐COV2) has turned out to be a multifaceted disease differently affecting countries and individuals. What makes certain countries more vulnerable than others has attracted the interest of scientists from various disciplines. This paper intends to compare the impact of demographic parameters, population health conditions and policy actions on prevalence and fatality levels of Covid‐19 during the first 3 months since its declaration of global pandemic. A country‐level exploratory analysis has been conducted in order to assess how demography, national health conditions and measures taken interact and condition the disease outcomes. Analysis relies on publicly available data on Covid‐19 reported cases, deaths and number of persons tested. Those data are combined with demographic parameters (sex ratio, mean age, population density and life expectancy), health data (cardiovascular death rate, diabetes prevalence, share of smokers among males and females and number of hospital beds) and information about relative national policies aiming the management of the pandemic (lockdown timing and duration). Our analysis confirms the diversity of factors and the complexity of their interaction in explaining the propagation and fatality of the disease across Europe. Our findings question some well‐established attitudes concerning the role of demographic variables and public health conditions in the spread of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweden has been considered both pioneer and pariah in regard to its approach to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its pandemic disease, COVID-19. While much of Europe went into economic hibernation and rigid lockdown in the first wave of novel coronavirus infections in the spring of 2020, Sweden kept its borders, bars, restaurants, schools, gyms etc. open. Organised children’s sporting arrangements were also encouraged, on the basis that socialising and physical activity outweighed the risks posed by COVID-19 to children. Public transportation could still be freely used. Masks were not worn. This paper examines the often controversial tenets of the Swedish public health response to COVID-19, and how widely it has appealed to public health experts and officials in Europe and beyond. Debates within the country are also discussed. What it shows is that, despite rising levels of infection in a second wave in Europe and concessions that it might have even failed, the Swedish model is being adopted by stealth and admired from afar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The use of remdesivir (RDV) as the first drug approved for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains controversial. Based on the Lean European Open Survey on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected patients (LEOSS), we aim to contribute timing-focused complementary real-world insights to its evaluation. Methods: SARS-CoV-2 infected patients between January 2020 and December 2021 treated with RDV were matched 1:1 to controls considering sociodemographics, comorbidities and clinical status. Multiple imputations were used to account for missing data. Effects on fatal outcome were estimated using uni- and multivariable Cox regression models. Results: We included 9,687 patients. For those starting RDV administration in the complicated phase, Cox regression for fatal outcome showed an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 0.59 (95%CI 0.41–0.83). Positive trends could be obtained for further scenarios: an aHR of 0.51 (95%CI 0.16–1.68) when RDV was initiated in uncomplicated and of 0.76 (95% CI 0.55–1.04) in a critical phase of disease. Patients receiving RDV with concomitant steroids exhibited a further reduction in aHR in both, the complicated (aHR 0.50, 95%CI 0.29–0.88) and critical phase (aHR 0.63, 95%CI 0.39–1.02). Conclusion: Our study results elucidate that RDV use, in particular when initiated in the complicated phase and accompanied by steroids is associated with improved mortality. However, given the limitations of non-randomized trials in estimating the magnitude of the benefit of an intervention, further randomized trials focusing on the timing of therapy initiation seem warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics have been greatly modulated by human contact behaviour. To curb the spread of the virus, global efforts focused on implementing both Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) and pharmaceutical interventions such as vaccination. This study was conducted to explore the influence of COVID-19 vaccination status and risk perceptions related to SARS-CoV-2 on the number of social contacts of individuals in 16 European countries. Methods: We used data from longitudinal surveys conducted in the 16 European countries to measure social contact behaviour in the course of the pandemic. The data consisted of representative panels of participants in terms of gender, age and region of residence in each country. The surveys were conducted in several rounds between December 2020 and September 2021 and comprised of 29,292 participants providing a total of 111,103 completed surveys. We employed a multilevel generalized linear mixed effects model to explore the influence of risk perceptions and COVID-19 vaccination status on the number of social contacts of individuals. Results: The results indicated that perceived severity played a significant role in social contact behaviour during the pandemic after controlling for other variables (p-value < 0.001). More specifically, participants who had low or neutral levels of perceived severity reported 1.25 (95% Confidence intervals (CI) 1.13 - 1.37) and 1.10 (95% CI 1.00 - 1.21) times more contacts compared to those who perceived COVID-19 to be a serious illness, respectively. Additionally, vaccination status was also a significant predictor of contacts (p-value < 0.001), with vaccinated individuals reporting 1.31 (95% CI 1.23 - 1.39) times higher number of contacts than the non-vaccinated. Furthermore, individual-level factors played a more substantial role in influencing contact behaviour than country-level factors. Conclusion: Our multi-country study yields significant insights on the importance of risk perceptions and vaccination in behavioral changes during a pandemic emergency. The apparent increase in social contact behaviour following vaccination would require urgent intervention in the event of emergence of an immune escaping variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the moment of writing this communication, the health crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 120 million cases, with 40 million corresponding to Europe. In total, the number of deaths is almost 3 million, but continuously rising. Although COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory disease, SARS-CoV-2 infects also endothelial cells in the pulmonary capillaries. This affects the integrity of the endothelium and increases vascular permeability. In addition, there are serious indirect consequences, like disruption of endothelial cells' junctions leading to micro-bleeds and uncontrolled blood clotting. The impact of COVID-19 in people with rare chronic cardiovascular diseases is unknown so far, and interesting to assess, because the virus may cause additional complications in these patients. The aim of the present work was to study the COVID-19 infection among the patients with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT). A retrospective study was carried out in a 138 HHT patients' sample attending an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) reference consult. The evaluation of the COVID-19 infection in them reveals milder symptoms; among the 25 HHT patients who were infected, only 3 cases were hospitalized, and none of them required ICU or ventilation assistance. The results are discussed in the light of macrophage immune response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]