Prevalence of COVID-19 and Long COVID in Collegiate Student Athletes from Spring 2020 to Fall 2021: A Retrospective Survey

Symptomatic COVID-19 and post-COVID conditions, also referred to as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) or Long COVID, have been widely reported in young, healthy people, but their prevalence has not yet been determined in student athletes. We surveyed a convenience sample of 18 collegiate school administrators, representing about 7,000 student athletes. According to their survey responses, 9.8% of student athletes tested positive for COVID-19 in spring 2020 and 25.4% tested positive in the academic year of fall 2020 to spring 2021. About 4% of student athletes who tested positive from spring 2020 to spring 2021 developed Long COVID, defined as new, recurring, or ongoing physical or mental health consequences occurring 4 or more weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study highlights that Long COVID occurs in healthy collegiate athletes and merits a larger study to determine population-wide prevalence.

Internal Tremors and Vibration Symptoms Among People with Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: A narrative review of patient reports

To introduce the perspective of patients who have PASC with vibrations and tremors as a prominent component, we leveraged the efforts by Survivor Corps, a grassroots COVID-19 patient advocacy group, to gather information from people in their Facebook group suffering from vibrations and tremors. Survivor Corps collected 140 emails and 450 Facebook comments from members. From the emails, we identified 22 themes and 7 broader domains based on common coding techniques for qualitative data and the constant comparative method of qualitative data analysis. Facebook comments were analyzed using Word Clouds to visualize frequency of terms. The respondents emails reflected 7 domains that formed the basis of characterizing their experience with vibrations and tremors. These domains were: (1) symptom experience, description, and anatomic location; (2) initial symptom onset; (3) symptom timing; (4) symptom triggers or alleviators; (5) change from baseline health status; (6) experience with medical establishment; and (7) impact on peoples lives and livelihood. There were 22 themes total, each corresponding to one of the broader domains. The Facebook comments Word Cloud revealed that the 10 most common words used in comments were: tremors (64), covid (55), pain (51), vibrations (43), months (36), burning (29), feet (24), hands (22), legs (21), back (20). Overall, these patient narratives described intense suffering, and there is still no diagnosis or treatment available.

Breakthrough Symptomatic COVID-19 Infections Leading to Long Covid: Report from Long Covid Facebook Group Poll

Vaccines have been shown to be extremely effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. However, a question remains whether vaccine breakthrough cases can still lead to Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), also known as Long Covid. To address this question, the Survivor Corps group, a grassroots COVID-19 organization focused on patient support and research, posted a poll to its 169,900 members that asked about breakthrough cases, Long Covid, and hospitalizations. 1,949 people who self-report being fully vaccinated have responded to date. While robust data are needed in a larger, unbiased sample to extrapolate rates to the population, we analyzed the results of this public poll to determine what people were reporting regarding Long Covid after breakthrough infection and to prompt discussion of how breakthrough cases are measured. The poll was posted in the Survivor Corps Facebook group ([~]169,900 members). Of the 1,949 participants who responded to the poll, 44 reported a symptomatic breakthrough case and 24 of those reported that the case led to symptoms of Long Covid. 1 of these 24 cases was reported to have led to hospitalization in addition to Long Covid.

Change in Symptoms and Immune Response in People with Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-Cov-2 Infection (PASC) After SARS-Cov-2 Vaccination

As more people are vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, many of those already infected are still suffering from Post-Acute Sequelae (PASC). Although there is no current treatment for PASC, reports from patients that the vaccine itself improves, and in some reports, worsens, PASC symptoms may lead to a deeper understanding of the causes of PASC symptoms and viable treatments. As such, we are conducting a study that measures the changes in PASC symptoms after vaccination. We are collecting baseline self-report and biospecimens for immune assays and then are following up with participants to collect the same data at 2-weeks, 6-weeks, and 12-weeks post-vaccination (first dose). Immune assays using blood specimens will include B-cell, T-cell, and myeloid cell panels; evaluation of T-cell responsiveness to SARS-CoV-2 peptides and antigen specific response; autoantibody screening (of IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies that attack human proteins); and TCR sequencing and antigen mapping of CD8+ T-cells. Mucosal immunity will be measured using saliva specimens. The study aims to provide answers for people with PASC, especially regarding the causes of their symptoms and how the vaccine may affect them, and clues for PASC treatment.

Physical Activity Patterns Among Patients with Intracardiac Remote Monitoring Devices Before, During, and After COVID-19-related Public Health Restrictions

Nationwide public health restrictions due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have disrupted peoples routine physical activities, yet little objective information is available on the extent to which physical activity has changed among patients with pre-existing cardiac diseases. Using remote monitoring data of 9,924 patients with pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) living in New York City and Minneapolis/Saint Paul, we assessed physical activity patterns among these patients in 2019 and 2020 from January through October. We found marked declines in physical activity among patients with implantable cardiac devices during COVID-19-related restrictions and the reduction was consistent across age and sex subgroups. Moreover, physical activity among these vulnerable patients did not return to pre-restrictions levels several months after COVID-19 restrictions were eased. Our findings highlight the need to consider the unintended consequences of mitigation strategies and develop approaches to encourage safe physical activity during the pandemic.

Trends in Thoracic Impedance and Arrhythmia Burden Among Patients with Implanted Cardiac Defibrillators During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hospitalizations for acute cardiac conditions have markedly declined during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, yet the cause of this decline is not clear. Using remote monitoring data of 4,029 patients with implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) living in New York City and Minneapolis/Saint Paul, we assessed changes in markers of cardiac status among these patients and compared thoracic impedance and arrhythmia burden in 2019 and 2020 from January through August. We found no change in several key disease decompensation markers among patients with implanted ICD devices during the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that the decrease in cardiovascular hospitalizations in this period is not reflective of a true population-level improvement in cardiovascular health.

Engagement with COVID-19 Public Health Measures in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Social Media Analysis from June to November 2020

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread in the US and globally. Closely monitoring public engagement and perception of COVID-19 and preventive measures using social media data could provide important information for understanding the progress of current interventions and planning future programs. ObjectiveTo measure the publics behaviors and perceptions regarding COVID-19 and its daily life effects during the recent 5 months of the pandemic. MethodsNatural language processing (NLP) algorithms were used to identify COVID-19 related and unrelated topics in over 300 million online data sources from June 15 to November 15, 2020. Posts in the sample were geotagged, and sensitivity and specificity were both calculated to validate the classification of posts. The prevalence of discussion regarding these topics was measured over this time period and compared to daily case rates in the US. ResultsThe final sample size included 9,065,733 posts, 70% of which were sourced from the US. In October and November, discussion including mentions of COVID-19 and related health behaviors did not increase as it had from June to September, despite an increase in COVID-19 daily cases in the US beginning in October. Additionally, counter to reports from March and April, discussion was more focused on daily life topics (69%), compared with COVID-19 in general (37%) and COVID-19 public health measures (20%). ConclusionsThere was a decline in COVID-19-related social media discussion sourced mainly from the US, even as COVID-19 cases in the US have increased to the highest rate since the beginning of the pandemic. Targeted public health messaging may be needed to ensure engagement in public health prevention measures until a vaccine is widely available to the public.