COVID-19 Online Newsroom

What The Study Did: This study assesses the association between COVID-19 and maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnant women with COVID-19 diagnosis compared with pregnant women without COVID-19 diagnosis.

Children with weakened immune systems have not shown a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 infection despite commonly displaying symptoms, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found a specific mechanism that enables SARS viruses to replicate efficiently in infected cells.

Substantial proportions of nearly 7,000 pregnant or postpartum women surveyed around the world reported elevated anxiety, depression, loneliness, and post-traumatic stress due to COVID-19. Seeking information about the pandemic five or more times a day or worrying about children and childcare or economic concerns were linked with worse mental health in women. Public health campaigns and medical care systems should explicitly address the impact of COVID-19-related stressors on mental health in pregnant and postpartum women.

Two of the COVID-19 vaccines currently approved in the United States require two doses, administered three to four weeks apart, however, there are few data indicating how best to minimize new infections and hospitalizations with limited vaccine supply and distribution capacity. A study published on 21st April, 2021 in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Seyed Moghadas at York University in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues suggests that delaying the second dose could improve the effectiveness of vaccine programs.

Severe cases of COVID-19 can involve extensive inflammation in the body, and clinicians have wondered if this state is similar to what are called cytokine storm syndromes, in which the immune system produces too many inflammatory signals that can sometimes lead to organ failure and death. A new study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology indicates that different markers in the blood clearly differentiate excessive inflammation in critical COVID-19 from cytokine storm syndromes.

An article published in Geographical Research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted international higher education and the mobility of students around the globe, noting that universities face the urgent task of reimagining alternative futures for themselves.

The COVID-19 pandemic heavily influenced spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. in 2020, according to the ASHP's (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures and Projections for 2021. Shifts in care related to the pandemic will continue to be a significant driver of drug expenditures in 2021, along with uptake in the use of biosimilars, a large pipeline of new cancer drugs, and increased approvals of specialty medications.

Substantial proportions of pregnant and postpartum women scored high for symptoms of anxiety, depression, loneliness and post-traumatic stress in relation to COVID-19 in a survey carried out in May and June 2020, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Karestan Koenen and Archana Basu of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, US, and colleagues.

Guilt and social pressure lead people to underreport COVID-19 protocol violations, according to study of experimental data across 12 countries.

Survey of 3,536 healthcare workers suggests 67 percent are suffering burnout, but people who receive frequent COVID-19 tests are less likely to be burned out.

Clinical trials have begun on a new vaccine candidate that may protect against variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Protein structures determined at the Advanced Photon Source helped to guide the development of this vaccine.