ABSTRACT
Wastewater-based epidemiology has played a significant role in monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic, yet little is known about degradation of SARS-CoV-2 in sewer networks. Here, we used advanced sewershed modeling software to simulate SARS-CoV-2 RNA degradation in sewersheds across Houston, TX under various temperatures and decay rates. Moreover, a novel metric, population times travel time (PT), was proposed to identify localities with a greater likelihood of undetected COVID-19 outbreaks and to aid in the placement of upstream samplers. Findings suggest that travel time has a greater influence on RNA degradation across the sewershed as compared to temperature. SARS-CoV-2 RNA degradation at median travel times was approximately two times greater in 20 degrees C wastewater between the small sewershed, Chocolate Bayou, and the larger sewershed, 69th Street. Lastly, placement of upstream samplers according to the PT metric can provide a more representative snapshot of disease incidence in large sewersheds. This study helps to elucidate discrepancies between SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater and clinical incidence of COVID-19. Incorporating travel time and SARS-CoV-2 RNA decay can improve wastewater surveillance efforts.
ABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2020.07.010.][This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2021.07.022.].
ABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2021.07.021.][This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2020.07.010.].
ABSTRACT
The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a health crisis. It remains unclear how anxiety affects blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular risk among older patients with hypertension. In this study, we extracted longitudinal data on home BP monitored via a smartphone-based application in 3724 elderly patients with hypertension from a clinical trial (60-80 years; 240 in Wuhan and 3484 in non-Wuhan areas) to examine changes in morning BP during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Anxiety was evaluated using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 item scores. Changes in morning systolic BP (SBP) were analyzed for five 30-day periods during the pandemic (October 21, 2019 to March 21, 2020), including the pre-epidemic, incubation, developing, outbreak, and plateau periods. Data on cardiovascular events were prospectively collected for one year. A total of 262 individuals (7.0%) reported an increased level of anxiety, and 3462 individuals (93.0%) did not. Patients with anxiety showed higher morning SBP than patients without anxiety, and the between-group differences in SBP change were +1.2 mmHg and +1.7 mmHg during the outbreak and plateau periods (P < 0.05), respectively. The seasonal BP variation in winter among patients with anxiety was suppressed during the pandemic. Anxious patients had higher rates of uncontrolled BP. During the 1-year follow-up period, patients with anxiety had an increased risk of cardiovascular events with a hazard ratio of 2.47 (95% confidence interval, 1.10-5.58; P = 0.03). In summary, COVID-19-related anxiety was associated with a short-term increase in morning SBP among older patients and led to a greater risk of cardiovascular events. (ClinicalTrials. gov number, NCT03015311).
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Hypertension , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Anxiety/epidemiology , Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Blood Pressure/physiology , Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory , Humans , Hypertension/complications , Hypertension/epidemiology , Middle Aged , PandemicsABSTRACT
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
ABSTRACT
Detection of asymptomatic or subclinical novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical for understanding the overall prevalence and infection potential of COVID-19. To estimate the cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, we evaluated the host serologic response, measured by the levels of immunoglobulins M and G in 17,368 individuals, in the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, and geographic regions in the country, during the period from 9 March 2020 to 10 April 2020. In our cohorts, the seropositivity in Wuhan varied between 3.2% and 3.8% in different subcohorts. Seroposivity progressively decreased in other cities as the distance to the epicenter increased. Patients who visited a hospital for maintenance hemodialysis and healthcare workers also had a higher seroprevalence of 3.3% (51 of 1,542, 2.5-4.3%, 95% confidence interval (CI)) and 1.8% (81 of 4,384, 1.5-2.3%, 95% CI), respectively. More studies are needed to determine whether these results are generalizable to other populations and geographic locations, as well as to determine at what rate seroprevalence is increasing with the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Serologic surveillance has the potential to provide a more faithful cumulative viral attack rate for the first season of this novel SARS-CoV-2 infection.