MMWR News Synopsis

Articles

COVID-19 Self Tests Data: Challenges and Opportunities—United States, October 31, 2021-June 11, 2022

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

COVID-19 self-tests are a valuable risk-reduction tool that can guide individual actions, but they currently offer limited utility in enhancing public health surveillance. Laboratory-based and point-of-care test result data, in combination with other COVID-19 surveillance information, continue to provide strong situational awareness. Self-tests to detect current infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are valuable risk-reduction tools that guide individual decision-making. Increased self-test use has likely contributed to an underdetection of COVID-19 cases because public health authorities do not require reporting of self-test results. Federal agencies use the data reported to manufacturers, in combination with manufacturing supply chain information, to better understand self-test availability and use. Using data from four manufacturers, investigators analyzed voluntary reports by users of nearly 11 million self-tests (at-home tests performed by users) conducted during October 31, 2021–June 11, 2022; approximately 360 million laboratory-based and point-of-care test results (e.g., tests administered in a health care setting) were reported during that same period. Overall trends in reporting volume and percentage of positive results, as well as completeness of reporting demographic variables, were similar across test types. However, the limited amount and quality of data reported from self-tests currently reduce their capacity to augment existing surveillance. Self-tests provide important risk-reduction information to users and continued development of infrastructure and methods to collect and analyze data from self-tests could improve their use for surveillance during public health emergencies.

Previously Released: Vital Signs: Hepatitis C Treatment Among Insured Adults — United States, 2019–2020

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Previously Released: Epidemiologic and Clinical Characteristics of Monkeypox Cases — United States, May 17–July 22, 2022

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Previously Released: Interim Guidance for Prevention and Treatment of Monkeypox in Persons with HIV Infection — United States, August 2022

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

• School-Based and Laboratory-Based Reporting of Positive COVID-19 Test Results Among School-Aged Children — New York, September 11, 2021–April 29, 2022Laboratory-reported positive COVID-19 results declined in children and teens ages 5 to 17 years old after the expansion of at-home testing. As the pandemic continues to evolve, health officials and individuals should consider current information including COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and the potential strain on the local health system, when making decisions about community prevention strategies and individual behaviors. In late 2021, during the Omicron surge, state and federal authorities expanded access to self-administered, at-home rapid antigen tests, which can increase persons’ knowledge of their COVID-19 status and inform risk-reduction behaviors. New York government agencies sent millions of these tests to schools for distribution to teachers, students, and staff members. New York State Department of Health investigators compared two data systems before, during, and after at-home testing was expanded to assess laboratory- and school-reported data among school-age children. Laboratory-reported data included positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and antigen test results conducted at laboratories or physician offices. School-reported data included positive results reported to the state from any test source, including those from at-home tests. Between September 11 and December 31, 2021, before at-home testing was expanded, the ratio of school-reported to laboratory-reported cases was about the same. Between January 1 to April 29, 2022, during and after at-home testing was expanded, the ratio of school-reported to laboratory-reported positive COVID-19 results increased by 167%. This indicated there was a higher frequency of positive tests reported by schools compared with those reported by laboratories, suggesting an increase in the use of at-home tests not captured by laboratory reporting. Understanding changes in testing behavior before and after the Omicron surge (December 2021-January 2022) might help public health officials better use available COVID-19 data to inform future policy.
• Overdose Deaths Involving Eutylone (Psychoactive Bath Salts) — United States, 2020Commonly called “bath salts,” eutylone (a stimulant that produces effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine) contributed to 343 drug overdose deaths in 2020 in the United States. Eutylone was the seventh most common drug identified by law enforcement during testing of drug items from January through June 2021. Eutylone may be sold falsely as methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA], or ecstasy. In 2020, eutylone contributed to 343 drug overdose deaths, which also commonly involved illicitly manufactured fentanyls (77%) and cocaine or methamphetamine (53%). These findings warrant raising awareness of eutylone and other emerging synthetic cathinones (N,N-dimethylpentylone) among people who use drugs, enhanced surveillance and testing of illicit drug products, and broadly increasing availability and access to harm reduction strategies.

• Percentage of Adults Aged ≥18 Years with Current Hepatitis C Virus Infection, by Health Insurance Coverage — National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, January 2017–March 2020

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

CDC works 24/7 protecting America’s health, safety and security. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC responds to America’s most pressing health threats. CDC is headquartered in Atlanta and has experts located throughout the United States and the world.