Over the past week, U.S. researchers reported a secondary infection rate of 53% among household contacts of people with COVID-19. In another study, risk factors for transmission among close contacts of infected people — like sharing a vehicle or being spoken to by the infected person within 2 meters — were detailed. Elsewhere, the FDA warned about false-positives with rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2. And in Denmark, all farmed minks were set to be killed after reports that a SARS-CoV-2 mutation had jumped from minks to humans.

https://www.jwatch.org/fw117204/2020/11/07/latest-covid-19-news-week-ending-nov-7

Click on the link above for the NEJM Journal Watch weekly update. 

Meanwhile in El Paso…

A fourth mobile morgue has been sent to El Paso as the Texas border town grapples with an ever-growing COVID-19 crisis.

Citation: El Paso Gets Fourth Mobile Morgue as COVID-19 Deaths Surge – Medscape – Nov 05, 2020. — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/940459?src=rss

Click on the link for the NEJM Journal Watch weekly update.  There are no paywalls on any of the links in this article.  The links in this week’s edition are pretty good. https://www.jwatch.org/fw117158/2020/10/24/latest-covid-19-news-week-ending-oct-24

Meanwhile in El Paso…

EL PASO, Texas — The massive Covid-19 surge in El Paso County went from extremely bad to critically worse on Saturday as all-time highs were shattered for a half-dozen critical markers: New cases, active infections, positivity rate, and hospitalizations – along with ICU and ventilator usage.

The health department reported a record 1,216 new cases on Saturday, as well as 75 unreported cases from earlier, increasing the total number of additional cases reported to 1,291. The number of active infections jumped to just shy of 11,000 at a record-level of 10,911.

There were a record 715 patients in El Paso hospitals due to Covid-related illness as of Saturday morning, representing nearly 2% of hospitalizations nationwide. El Paso hospitals have seen a staggering 203% increase in Covid patients over the past two weeks. In addition, record numbers of virus patients Saturday required intensive care (199) and the use of ventilators (85).

El Paso shatters records for new & active virus cases, positivity rate, hospitalizations, ICUs, ventilators — https://kvia.com/coronavirus/2020/10/24/el-paso-shatters-all-time-highs-for-new-active-virus-cases-positivity-rate-hospitalizations-icus-ventilators/

The city just told everyone to stay home.