Surveillance of Vermont wildlife in 2021-2022 reveals no detected SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA (preprint)

Previous studies have documented natural infections of SARS-CoV-2 in various domestic and wild animals. More recently, studies have been published noting the susceptibility of members of the Cervidae family, and infections in both wild and captive cervid populations. In this study, we investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in mammalian wildlife within the state of Vermont. 739 nasal or throat samples were collected from wildlife throughout the state during the 2021 and 2022 harvest season. Data was collected from red and gray foxes (Vulpes vulples and Urocyon cineroargentus, respectively), fishers (Martes pennati), river otters (Lutra canadensis), coyotes (Canis lantrans), bobcats (Lynx rufus rufus), black bears (Ursus americanus), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Samples were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 via quantitative RT-qPCR using the CDC N1/N2 primer set and/or the WHO-E gene primer set. Our results indicate that no sampled wildlife were positive for SARS-CoV-2. This finding is surprising, given that most published North America studies have found SARS-CoV-2 within their deer populations. The absence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in populations sampled here may provide insights in to the various environmental and anthropogenic factors that reduce spillover and spread in North American's wildlife populations.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Attenuated Ongoing Declines in Drinking Trajectories in Emerging Adults: A Longitudinal Behavioral Economic Analysis (preprint)

Background: Longitudinal research on COVID-19 impacts on drinking is scarce and largely restricted to comparing drinking levels before and after the introduction of COVID mitigation measures. This brief snapshot of behavior ignores the extended pre-COVID drinking trajectory, which may be decreasing increasing, or remaining stable over time. Behavioral economics predicts that pandemic-related constraints on behavioral alternatives to alcohol and drug use, and decreased constraints on alcohol, may result in increases in drinking at later stages of the pandemic. Therefore, the current study characterized drinking trajectories among emerging adults before and during the pandemic and investigated time-invariant demographic predictors and time-varying behavioral economic predictors of trajectories of drinking and behavioral economic variables. Methods: A pandemic-focused survey was distributed between May 15 and June 29, 2020 to emerging adults participating in an ongoing longitudinal study involving pre-COVID data collection every four months. Participants with four pre-COVID assessments were included in the current study (N = 312, ages 21.5-24 years; 65.1% female). Results: Linear piecewise models best fit the drinking days and drinks per week data, suggesting a pandemic-related disruption of ongoing drinking trajectories. After controlling for all other time-invariant predictors, lower environmental reward was associated with greater increases in heavy drinking days and income loss was associated with lower drinking days, drinks, and heavy drinking days per week. In parallel LGCM models, increases in alcohol demand indices were generally associated with increases in drinking from the pre- to the post-COVID onset timepoint. Conclusions: The results suggest that the pandemic attenuated ongoing declines in drinking trajectories and highlight the value of examining trajectories to characterize COVID-19-related effects. Behavioral economic measures of environmental and alcohol reward may be useful predictors of changing alcohol use patterns, particularly in the context of emergent public health crises.

Rapid Implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic qRT-PCR Test with Emergency Use Authorization at a Large Academic Safety-Net Hospital (preprint)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is now a major global public health crisis. In the United States, significant delays in the rapid development and distribution of diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection have prevented adequate COVID-19 patient care and public health management of the pandemic, impacting the timely mapping of the dynamics of viral spread in the general population, and more topically, the conservation of personal protective equipment. Furthermore, vulnerable populations such as those served by Boston Medical Center (BMC), the largest safety net hospital in New England, represent a high-risk group across multiple dimensions, including a higher prevalence of pre-existing conditions and substance use disorders, lower general health maintenance, unstable housing, and a propensity for rapid community spread, highlighting the urgent need for rapid and reliable in-house testing infrastructure. Here, we report the rapid implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic RT-PCR assay with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our test offers a more rapid turnaround time in comparison to currently available commercial or state laboratory facilities, and enables clinicians and patients to make more informed decisions with personal and public health ramifications. The template and protocol that we have generated and validated could be useful for other smaller community hospitals lacking capital intensive automated clinical laboratory machinery to run molecular biology assays.