Aspirin does not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients; COVID-19 control policies still needed in warm weather

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Aspirin does not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Aspirin did not improve survival or reduce disease severity in a study of nearly 15,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Researchers had hoped that because aspirin helps reduce blood clots in other diseases, it might be helpful in COVID-19 patients who are at a higher risk for clotting issues.

Patients randomly assigned to receive 150 milligrams of aspirin once a day did have fewer blood clots, but no lower risk of becoming sicker and requiring mechanical ventilation or better odds of being alive after 28 days.

And they had a higher risk of major bleeding complications, a not uncommon issue with aspirin therapy.

They did have slightly better odds of getting out of the hospital alive, researchers reported on medRxiv on Tuesday ahead of peer review.

But "this does not seem to be sufficient to justify its widespread use for patients hospitalized with COVID-19," said Peter Horby of the University of Oxford, co-chief investigator of the trial.

COVID-19 control policies still needed in warm weather

In the absence of lockdowns and social distancing, weather and crowding have the biggest impact on COVID-19 spread, a new study found.

But even if virus transmission tends to be somewhat lower in warmer conditions, summer weather "cannot be considered a substitute for mitigation policies," because population density matters more than temperature, according to the report from Imperial College London published on Wednesday in PNAS.

Warmer regions should not expect to ease mobility restrictions before colder regions, especially because "warmer regions tend to have higher population densities - for example, the population in Florida is more densely packed than in Minnesota," coauthor Will Pearse said in a statement.

Lockdowns have stronger effects than either temperature or population density, his team reported.

Because temperature changes have a much smaller effect on transmission than policy interventions, "while people remain unvaccinated, governments mustn't drop policies like lockdowns and social distancing just because a seasonal change means the weather is warming up," said coauthor Dr. Tom Smith.

The study also suggests "that lower autumn and winter temperatures may lead to the virus spreading more easily in the absence of policy interventions or behavioral changes." -- Reuters