Publications - December 2021
Preprint and peer-reviewed publications from RECOVER’s studies
Schools were closed extensively in 2020-2021 to counter COVID-19 spread, impacting students’ education and well-being. With highly contagious variants expanding in Europe, safe options to maintain schools open are urgently needed. We developed an agent-based model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school. We used empirical contact data in a primary and a secondary school, and data from pilot screenings in 683 schools during the 2021 spring Alpha wave in France.
Clinicians have worked feverishly to treat patients with COVID-19 while also carrying out clinical research studies. We discuss how the clinical research community responded to the pandemic in Europe, what lessons were learned, and provide recommendations for future clinical research response during pandemics. We focused on two platform trials: RECOVERY and REMAP-CAP. Both trials were able to enrol patients very rapidly during the beginning of the pandemic because of pre-established structures and procedures, and because they share simple execution and flexibility to adjust when evidence emergences.
The severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) is characterized by a high number of mutations in the spike (S) protein that have immune evasive potential. Based on transmission characteristics and immune evasion, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Omicron as a novel variant of concern (VOC). The Omicron variant has been identified worldwide and models have predicted rapid surges of cases that could surpass earlier peaks. More data are needed to understand the Omicron disease severity profile, and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity