Contagion Live News Network: Coronavirus Updates for May 7, 2020

Segment Description: A summary of our daily SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 coverage.

Transcript:

Hello and thank you for joining Contagion. I’m assistant editor Grant Gallagher, here with an update on our COVID-19 coverage for May 7, 2020.

Many people recently infected with COVID-19 likely acquired the infection through someone they were locked down with, according to a new study. People who live in the same household as people who tested positive for COVID-19 had a 17% chance of becoming infected themselves.

In diagnostic news, the FDA has authorized the first CRISPR test kit for COVID-19. The hourlong test programs a CRISPR molecule to detect specific signature for SARS-CoV-2 in a series of differing test samples.

In clinical news, it has been observed that reduced T cell count in patients with coronavirus could be as important an indicator for urgent intervention as reduced respiratory function.

And in academic developments, a new study argued that artificial intelligence could be a key tool in helping to evaluate the new barrage of new scientific information given the amount of SARS-CoV-2 research published daily.

Lastly, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has released new guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19. These guidelines provide a standard COVID-19 definition for clarity.

More on all of these stories and other infectious disease news is available on contagionlive.com. For Contagion, I’m Grant Gallagher, thanks for watching.