Academic journals answer some virus questions
Thousands of scientists around the world are working on problems raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a summary of some recent research from peer-reviewed academic journals and scientific agencies:
— A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has estimated the impact of Italy’s public health moves to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. It concluded that the restrictions on mobility and other measures taken reduced transmission of the virus by 45 per cent. That translates into 200,000 fewer hospitalizations from Feb. 22 to March 25. Without such measures, the study estimates each person with the virus would have infected, on average, 3.6 other people.
— A survey conducted at the University of Sherbrooke suggests Quebecers are much more confident in government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic than other Canadians. Half of Quebecers questioned had very high confidence compared with 27 per cent outside Quebec.
— The blog Retraction Watch has noted that the journal Practical Preventive Medicine has retracted a paper claiming that aerosolized novel coronavirus — from breath, coughs or sneezes — could be spread nearly five metres, twice as far as previously thought. The Chinese-language journal didn’t respond to queries from the blog as to why. Several Chinese COVID-19 studies have been retracted. Retraction Watch points to speculation that the retractions are the result of recent government policy in that country requiring scientists to get approval to publish — or publicize — their results.
— Chicago’s Field Museum is reporting that the association between bats and coronaviruses similar to the one that causes COVID-19 goes back millions of years. After examining thousands of blood samples from 36 different African bat species, researchers found eight per cent of them carried coronaviruses. Different bat species carried different coronaviruses, suggesting the two evolved together. Researchers also concluded their data shows transmission of viruses between species is very rare.