Top in ID: COVID-19 trajectory, timeline of cases in US

Experts recently weighed in on what they think this fall will look like for Americans who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. It was the top story in infectious disease last week.

Another top story revealed an earlier timeline for the first COVID-19 infections in the United States. Blood specimens collected as early as Jan. 7 in Illinois, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Mississippi contained traces of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:

What will COVID-19 look like in the fall for unvaccinated Americans?

As of June 16, more than half of Americans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including more than 76% of adults aged 65 years or older. Read more.

Infections occurred weeks before first reported COVID-19 cases in US, NIH study shows

Researchers detected SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in blood specimens collected weeks before the first reported cases in several U.S. states — more evidence that the novel coronavirus was spreading earlier than originally thought. Read more.

Novavax says COVID-19 vaccine highly protective in trial, including against variants

Novavax said its COVID-19 vaccine was 100% protective against moderate and severe disease and 90.4% protective overall during a phase 3 trial that included almost 30,000 adults in Mexico and the United States. Read more.

CureVac says its COVID-19 vaccine was 47% efficacious in trial beset by variants

CureVac said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was 47% efficacious against disease of any severity in a phase 2b/3 trial that took place “in the unprecedented context of at least 13 variants circulating within the study population.” Read more.

Regeneron cocktail reduces risk for death in some hospitalized patients, study finds

Regeneron’s antibody cocktail reduced the risk for death by 20% in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 who had not mounted their own immune response, researchers from the phase 3 RECOVERY trial said. Read more.