Dexamethasone can be considered in the treatment for children and adolescents with COVID-19 but only in those receiving oxygen therapy.
Welcome to The Medical Republic‘s COVID Catch-Up.
It’s the day’s COVID-19 news into one convenient post. Got any tips, comments or feedback? Email me at bianca@biancanogrady.com.
17 July
- Dexamethasone can be considered in children and adolescents on oxygen therapy for COVID-19.
- COVID-19 messes with weather forecasting.
- Eighty percent of US cruise ships were hit with COVID-19.
- Low-dose radiation being trialled as treatment for COVID-19-related pneumonia.
- Three more lives lost to COVID-19 in Victoria in another record-breaking day of new infections.
- Dexamethasone can be considered in the treatment for children and adolescents with COVID-19 but only in those receiving oxygen therapy, according to the latest update from Australia’s National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce.
The conditional recommendation – which awaits more information from the UK-based RECOVERY trial – is for oral or intravenous daily dexamethasone. The update noted that the RECOVERY trial has used a daily dose of 0.15 mg/kg/day to a maximum of 6 mg/day for children.
The Taskforce also advised that patients with COVID-19 who are on ACE inhibitors or ARBs should continue to take those medications, as there is currently no evidence to justify deviating from usual care. - Not that it matters given so many of us are staying home and indoors right now, but the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised weather forecasts because of the low numbers of planes in the air, according to a report in Geophysical Research Letters.
It turns out that, in addition to shifting large numbers of people across vast distances, commercial aeroplanes are simultaneously recording information about air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and wind, and that information is used by weather forecasters.
However the pandemic and associated grounding of so many flights has seen those vital weather observations drop by 50%-75%. As a result, there has been a deterioration in the accuracy of weather forecasts, particularly in the northern hemisphere where there were generally more flights and therefore more data drawn from aircraft recordings. The impact was also felt more in parts of the world where the network of meteorological stations is less dense, such as Australia.
The author warned that the situation could worsen as the pandemic continues, and the error margins for longer-term forecasts could therefore become larger.
“This could handicap early warning of extreme weather and cause additional hardship for daily life in the near future,” they wrote.
Good thing nobody’s planning picnics right now anyway. - Speaking of things that nobody’s doing, 80% of cruise ships in US waters were affected by COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which has also announced that the No Sail Order for cruise ships has been extended to September 2020.
From March to July, there were nearly 3000 cases of COVID-19 on 123 different cruise ships, as well as 34 deaths. - Once investigated as a treatment for pneumonia, low-dose radiation is being trialled in COVID-19, according to an article in STAT. Four clinical trials are underway in the US, and several more elsewhere in the world, sparked by the discovery of historical data suggesting low-dose radiation therapy – in the form of X-ray – reduced symptom of viral pneumonia.
- Another terrible day of record-breaking numbers of new cases in Victoria. According to today’s press conference from the Victorian premier and others, 428 new cases have been recorded since yesterday’s update, and a further three people have died from the disease. This brings the nation’s COVID-19 losses to 113 people.
At the press conference, Premier Dan Andrews said the ring around Melbourne and Mitchell shire was succeeding in reducing spread of the virus into regional Victoria, but this could change. Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government was keeping a close eye on regional Victoria, and was increasing testing capacity in regional areas.
In NSW, the Crossroads Hotel cluster now numbers 42 people, 27 of whom never set foot in the hotel. Speaking at a press conference, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said many of those who tested positive were diagnosed while self-isolating, which meant these individuals were staying at home and helping to break the chain of transmission.
With several other locations now associated with positive cases, including Stockland Mall and the Thai Rock restaurant at Weatherill Park, Dr Chant said anyone who had been at these venues – even if they weren’t experiencing symptoms – should come forward for testing.
One new case has been reported in South Australia – the first in more than two weeks – but in a traveller who had returned from quarantine in Victoria and had had two previous negative tests. The case was described as an old infection that was no longer contagious.
Around Australia to 9pm Thursday, here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection figures:
National – 10,810, with 113 deaths
ACT – 113
NSW – 3527
NT – 31
QLD – 1071
SA – 444
TAS – 228
VIC – 4750
WA – 646
