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Two studies published late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases highlight the role of airborne spread of COVID-19 and the importance of efficient ventilation systems. One study found that patients can exhale millions of viral RNA particles per hour in the early stages of disease, and the second tied an outbreak affecting 81% of residents and 50% of healthcare workers at a Dutch nursing home to inadequate ventilation. (Van Beusekom, 8/31)

Researchers across the planet are racing to harness one of our immune system’s front-line defenders as an early treatment for covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus that has killed more than 800,000 people globally. Until now, early-stage treatments have remained elusive. But an improved understanding how the virus disarms some of the body’s immune fighters, called interferons, is creating excitement among scientists who theorize they might be able to counter that process and prevent infections from developing into severe disease. (Guarino, 8/31)

Twenty of 91 children (22%) diagnosed as having COVID-19 in a South Korean study had no symptoms, and most symptoms in clinically ill children went unrecognized or developed only after diagnosis, suggesting that this age-group may silently spread coronavirus in the community. The study, which involved pediatric contacts of people with COVID-19 at 22 medical centers from Feb 18 to Mar 31, was published late last week in JAMA Pediatrics. Of the 71 symptomatic children, 47 (66%) had symptoms that went unrecognized as coronavirus symptoms, and 18 (25%) developed symptoms only after diagnosis, while only 6 (9%) were diagnosed at the time of illness onset. (8/31)

It has now been almost six months since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in the United States. For all researchers have learned, there's still so much more to understand. The key to moving forward is understanding where Covid-19 has spread around the country and what the science tells us about what to do next. (Simon, 8/31)

US counties with large declines in cell phone activity at workplaces, transit stations, and stores and concomitant increases in home activity during COVID-19 lockdowns had lower rates of coronavirus infections 5, 10, and 15 days later, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers made 22,124 to 83,745 daily observations of cell phone location data from 949 to 2,740 counties, depending on data availability, from Jan 22 to May 11 and compared them with COVID-19 growth rates. (8/31)

Brian Van Buren applied to five Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials after being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and losing his mother and aunt to the illness. He wanted to participate despite a painful family history with medical research: His grandfather died from syphilis after involvement with the infamous Tuskegee study, in which African-American men were deliberately left untreated. (Ansberry, 8/31)