We observed bacterial or fungal co-infections in COVID-19 patients admitted between March 1 – April 18, 2020 (152/4267, 3.6%). Mortality was 57%; 74% were intubated; 51% with bacteremia had central venous catheters. Time to culture positivity was 6-7 days; 79% received preceding antibiotics. Metallo-beta-lactamase-producing E. cloacae co-infections occurred in 5 patients.

Highlights Critically-ill COVID-19 patients with New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase producing Enterobacterales infections at our medical center had poor outcomes, including death in 4 of 5 cases Multiple insults contributed to the occurrence of co-infection in these patients, including prolonged hospitalization, intubation, invasive devices, extensive antibiotic use, immunosuppressive therapy and environmental factors There are few antibiotic options for treatment of infections with New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase producing Enterobacterales , contributing to poor outcomes Hospitals and public health authorities should be vigilant for extensively drug resistant bacterial co-infections in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

Convalescent plasma with severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies (CCP) may hold promise as a treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared the mortality and clinical outcome of patients with COVID-19 who received 200 mL of CCP with a spike protein IgG titer ≥ 1:2430 (median 1:47,385) within 72 hours of admission with propensity score–matched controls cared for at a medical center in the Bronx, between April 13 and May 4, 2020. Matching criteria for controls were age, sex, body mass index, race, ethnicity, comorbidities, week of admission, oxygen requirement, D-dimer, lymphocyte counts, corticosteroid use, and anticoagulation use. There was no difference in mortality or oxygenation between CCP recipients and controls at day 28. When stratified by age, compared with matched controls, CCP recipients less than 65 years had 4-fold lower risk of mortality and 4-fold lower risk of deterioration in oxygenation or mortality at day 28. For CCP recipients, pretransfusion spike protein IgG, IgM, and IgA titers were associated with mortality at day 28 in univariate analyses. No adverse effects of CCP were observed. Our results suggest CCP may be beneficial for hospitalized patients less than 65 years, but data from controlled trials are needed to validate this finding and establish the effect of aging on CCP efficacy.

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