Objective To investigate the associations of state gubernatorial party control and 2016 county-level presidential election preference on COVID-19 case and death rates in the United States. Study design This was a secondary analysis of publicly available data. Methods Data including county-level COVID-19 case and death counts through February 9, 2021, 2020 gubernatorial data, and county-level US Census Bureau data, Broadstreet area deprivation index, and 2016 presidential voting tallies were included. Negative binomial regression estimated the adjusted impact of each variable on COVID-19 case and death rates. Results A total of 3102 counties in the 48 continental United States plus Washington DC were included. County-level case and death rates were higher (12% and 22%, respectively) in Republican vs Democrat controlled states. Case and death rates were higher in counties voting Republican vs Democrat in 2016 and were modified by counties with median ages ≥ 50 years (54% increase in case rate and 91% increase in death rate). Conclusions These data further support the need for prevention efforts to focus on public health while extricating guidance and prevention from political agendas.

Background: The infectious disease society of America (IDSA) recommends routine laboratory tests for all patients receiving outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) to monitor for adverse events. There are no data to support how often patients should take monitoring laboratory tests. In addition, the relevance of different laboratory tests commonly used for OPAT follow up is not clearly known. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study over a 7-year study interval (1 January 2014 to 31 December 2021). Clinical data were obtained to identify the risk factors associated with abnormal laboratory tests and determine if abnormal laboratory tests led to antibiotic change or hospital readmission. Results: Two hundred and forty-six patients met the inclusion criteria for this study. In our multivariate analysis, the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) of 0–4 (aOR 0.39, 95%Cl 0.18–0.86), the use of ceftriaxone without vancomycin (aOR 0.47, 95%Cl 0.24–0.91) and an OPAT duration of 2–4 weeks (aOR 0.47, 95%Cl 0.24–0.91) were associated with a lower risk of OPAT complications. A CCI of 5 or more (aOR 2.5, 95%Cl (1.1–5.7)) and an OPAT duration of 5 or more weeks (aOR 2.7, 95% Cl 1.3–5.6) were associated with a higher risk of OPAT complications. An abnormal complete metabolic panel or vancomycin levels, but not an abnormal complete blood count, were associated with antibiotic change or readmission. Conclusion: Patients with fewer comorbidities, ceftriaxone and short OPAT durations are at lower risk for OPAT complications. These patients could be followed with less frequent laboratory monitoring.

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Computational surveillance of pneumonia and influenza mortality in the United States using FluView uses epidemic thresholds to identify high mortality rates but is limited by statistical issues such as seasonality and autocorrelation. We used time series anomaly detection to improve recognition of high mortality rates. Results suggest that anomaly detection can complement mortality reporting.

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