Timeline 2020: Week 26

Home | Top 10 | DEU | ENG | ESP | FRA | ITA | POR | TUR | VNM

<<< Timeline 2020

Week 26

This week has seen important local outbreaks. The recurring patterns: family celebrations (Melbourne, Berlin, Lagos) and people living (Malaga), working (Gütersloh, Tokyo, Huesca) or playing (Adria Tennis Tour) close together. The next outbreaks are anticipated in Liverpool, Naples (football celebrations) and some Italian cities (movida).

On 24 June, the US established a new national SARS-CoV-2 record. In Texas, the number of deaths is expected to increase about two to three weeks from now.

Sunday, 21 June

The number of infections in the Gütersloh (Germany) meat-processing plant exceeds one thousand. Nearly 7,000 employees are quarantined. After repeated outbreaks in the meat industry, The Guardian publishes Why you should go animal-free: 18 arguments for eating meat debunked.

The Spanish authorities increase the purchase of flu vaccines. Immunizations will start as soon as possible and priority will be given to health personnel.

Monday, 22 June

France reopens schools, colleges, kindergartens, cinemas, game rooms and small sports.

In India, 25 luxury hotels are to be transformed into COVID-19 care centers.

Injectable dexamethasone is more difficult to manufacture than tablets, and could soon run out.

The New York Times publishes Lessons on Coronavirus Testing From the Adult Film Industry.

Wednesday, 24 June

More than 1,500 workers have tested positive in Gütersloh, Germany. The abattoir cooling systems may have contributed to spreading aerosol droplets laden with coronavirus. The authorities order a lockdown for 640,000 people.

In the US, more than 38,000 cases are detected, a record since the start of the coronavirus epidemic. The states that lifted containment measures, mainly governed by Republicans, are the most affected.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/texas

Income emerges as a major predictor of coronavirus infections, along with race.

Tennis player Novak Djokovic tests positive for COVID-19 amid Adria Tour fiasco (dixit Le Monde: Adria Cluster Tour).

The Guardian publishes The coronavirus backlash: how the pandemic is destroying women’s rights.

Thursday, 25 June

In young children, SARS-CoV-2 infection is largely asymptomatic or accompanied by few symptoms. Now, two pre-published studies by Fontanet et al. from the Institut Pasteur, Paris, also suggest lower infection rates in a French primary school (6 to 11-years-old) when compared to a high school in Crépy-en-Valois, a small town 60 km northeast of Paris. The studies show that 38% of high school students had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, but only 8.8% of primary school students in the same town (see following table).

	High school students*		Children in primary school**
Pupils	240	92 (38.3%)	510	45 (8.8%)
Parents	211	24 (11.4%)	641	n.n. (12%)
Close family	127***	13 (10.2%)	119	n.n. (12%)
Teachers	53	23 (43.4%)	42	3 (7%)
Staff	27	16 (59.3%)	28	1 (3.6%)
Others	3	3 (100%)
Total	661	171 (25.9%)	1 340

* Cluster of COVID-19 in northern France, By Fontanet A, et al.*

** Press report (Le Monde), incomplete data

*** Siblings

A study of residents in the Alpine ski resort of Ischgl find that 42% have antibodies for the virus.

More than 80 people test positive in an outbreak at a Red Cross center in Malaga.

Tokyo detects new outbreaks of coronavirus in offices, with 55 new cases, its biggest rebound in a month and a half.

Sokolowska et al. publish Immunology of COVID-19: Mechanisms, Clinical Outcome, Diagnostics and Perspectives – A Report of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)

The Guardian publishes On different planets: how Germany tackled the pandemic, and Britain flailed.

The New York Times publishes How the Virus Won, analyzing travel patterns, hidden infections and genetic data to show how the epidemic spun out of control.

Liverpool wins Premier League. At the title party, thousands gather on the streets without face masks. Rallies on UK beaches and at street parties in London.