COVID-19: Risk Calculator / Senate Hearing / Choir Practice Super-Spreading Event

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

See some of the latest news on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19):

Risk calculator: Researchers have developed a web-based risk calculator to estimate the probability that a COVID-19 patient will develop critical illness, defined as intensive care unit admission, invasive ventilation, or death. Reporting in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers examined the hospital records of nearly 1600 patients in China and assessed 72 potential risk factors. They found that the following 10 variables at admission were associated with increased risk for critical illness: chest radiographic abnormality, age, hemoptysis, dyspnea, unconsciousness, number of comorbidities, cancer history, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, and direct bilirubin. (Try the calculator at the second link below.)

Senate hearing: The U.S.'s top public health officials on Tuesday told senators that the country is "not out of the woods yet" regarding COVID-19, as some states begin the process of reopening. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed concern about communities reopening without passing certain checkpoints, including a continued reduction of cases for 14 days.

Choir practice: Roughly 87% of 60 members of a Washington State choir became ill with confirmed or probable COVID-19 following a 2.5-hour practice that was also attended by a symptomatic person, according to an MMWR study. Two attendees died. The authors say that the act of singing may have contributed to viral transmission.