Until a vaccine and/or effective cure for COVID-19 becomes available, battling the current pandemic strongly relies on how well people follow behavioural advice, such as adhering to local restrictions, social distancing rules, and engaging in effective personal hygiene. However, overcoming the relationship between risk perceptions and comparative optimism during the pandemic is a major hurdle...
A new study of beliefs and attitudes toward COVID-19 in five different countries – UK, US, Ireland, Mexico and Spain – has identified how much traction some prominent conspiracy theories have within these populations. The research reveals “key predictors” for susceptibility to fake pandemic news, and finds that a small increase in the perceived reliability...
For every two deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S., a third American dies as a result of the pandemic, according to new data published October 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University, shows that deaths between March 1 and Aug. 1 increased 20%...
People who have recovered from COVID-19, and their close contacts, could hold the key to understanding how immunity to the disease develops, how long it lasts and what happens when immunity is lost. The COVID PROFILE study, led by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, will use blood samples from people in Victoria to look...
Scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have recorded real time changes in dopamine and serotonin levels in the human brain that are involved with perception and decision-making. These same neurochemicals also are critical to movement disorders and psychiatric conditions, including substance abuse and depression. Their findings are published in the October 12 edition of...
A new study by Simon Fraser University (SFU) researchers has found clear evidence that wearing a mask can have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19. The researchers, from SFU’s Department of Economics, have determined that mask mandates are associated with a 25 percent or larger weekly reduction in COVID-19 cases. The finding of...
As scientists around the world develop life-saving COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, many are still wondering exactly why the disease proves deadly in some people and mild in others. To solve this puzzle, scientists need an in-depth understanding of how the body’s many types of immune cells respond to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A...
Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely male, younger, and, in both the US and Spain, had fewer comorbidities and lower medication use than hospitalized influenza patients according to a recent study published by the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community. OHDSI has established an international network of researchers and observational health databases...
Trust in public institutions is linked to fewer COVID-19 deaths, but trust and belonging to groups is associated with more deaths, according to a wide-ranging, McGill-led study of 30-day COVID-19 mortality rates in 84 countries. Greater economic inequality is also associated with COVID-19 mortality. The study led by McGill researchers published in Social Science & Medicine,...
As the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the country, health care providers and scientists relied on the standard method for detecting respiratory viruses: sticking a long swab deep into the nose to get a sample. The obstacles to implementing such testing on a mass scale quickly became clear. Among them: Many people were wary of...
