sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
hat tip Jason Gale
posted with permission
Trump Warns Crisis to Worsen; Antibodies Fade Fast: Virus Update
2020-07-21 22:56:51.553 GMT
By Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump warned that the U.S.
coronavirus crisis will probably worsen before improving. The
outbreak escalated across the country, with California’s
infections topping 400,000 and Texas reporting its second-
deadliest day.
A study found that Covid antibodies fade quickly in some
patients, raising concerns that their immunity from a future
infection may not last long. The U.S. accused two Chinese
hackers of working with Beijing to steal coronavirus research
from Western companies.
With new infections flaring up, Tokyo’s governor is
considering urging residents to stay home during the upcoming
four-day weekend. Hong Kong said speculation that the city will
be locked down is false.
Key Developments:
* Global Tracker: Cases pass 14.8 million; deaths top 613,000
* First vaccine may be approved this year, EU regulator says
* U.S. infections far exceed reported cases, CDC finds
* Trump encourages use of masks after initial resistance
* Seniors weigh long-term care plans against Covid-19 risks
* Covid-19 threatens to undo women’s economic progress, IMF says
Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s
Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data
on coronavirus cases and deaths.
Trump Warns of Worsening Crisis (6:06 a.m. HK)
President Donald Trump rebooted his coronavirus briefings
with a warning about a surge in U.S. cases even as he sought to
reassure Americans that his administration has the crisis under
control. He took a notably more reserved tone than in earlier
briefings, encouraging Americans to wear masks and avoid risky
behavior.
“We will defeat the virus,” Trump said. But he added: “It
will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.”
U.S. Cases Rise 1.7%, Less Than Average (5:30 p.m. NY)
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed 1.7% to 3.86 million
as of 1:56 p.m. New York time, according to data compiled by
Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. That was less than
the average 1.9% increase over the past week. Deaths rose 0.5%
to 141,426.
* California reported 9,231 new virus cases, a 2.4% increase and
greater than the 14-day average of 8,606, according to state
health data. The state had 61 new deaths, compared with the 14-
day average of 95.
* Texas’s cases increased by more than 9,300, according to state
health department figures. It had 131 new deaths, the second-
highest daily tally since the pandemic began.
* Mississippi recorded the biggest daily increase in cases among
states, according to the Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg data, with
a 3.7% rise.
Texas Reports Its Second-Deadliest Day (5:10 p.m. NY)
Texas recorded 131 Covid-19 fatalities, the second-highest
daily tally since the pandemic emerged, according to state
health department figures.
The rise brought the total deaths to 4,151. New cases
increased by more than 9,300 and the positive-test rate advanced
for the first time in four days, reaching 15.05%. The state’s
positivity rate has been above 10% since June 23.
Infections Far Exceed Reported Cases, CDC Estimates (3 p.m. NY)
Far more people were infected with the novel coronavirus
than previously reported in several corners of the U.S.,
according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
The agency conducted a survey looking at antibodies to the
virus in 10 U.S. regions. It found prevalence was highly
variable from one region to the next, but far higher than the
reported number of cases across the board. The presence of
antibodies in the blood is evidence that a person’s body had
mounted an immune response to the coronavirus.
In the New York City metropolitan area, for example, the
CDC estimated based on samples collected in March and April that
6.9% of the population had contracted the virus, a level that
would be equivalent to at least 12 times the number of reported
cases.
California Surpasses 400,000 Cases (2:30 p.m. NY)
California reported 9,231 new virus cases, a 2.4% increase,
pushing its total to 400,769, according to state health data.
The most-populous state crossed the 400,000 milestone less than
two weeks after hitting 300,000, and has doubled its confirmed
cases in the past month. It’s now poised to surpass New York,
with about 408,000 cases, as having the most infections in the
U.S.
Hospitalizations have also reached a record, jumping 2.5%
from the prior day to top 7,000 for the first time. Governor
Gavin Newsom said Monday that California has enough hospital
capacity, with Covid-19 patients occupying just 17% of available
beds across the state. But he pointed out that some counties in
more rural areas are seeing strains.
Florida Creates Nursing Homes for Virus Patients (1:15 p.m. NY)
Florida officials are trying to ease pressure on the
health-care system by creating a network of nursing homes for
people who have Covid-19 but aren’t sick enough to be
hospitalized. The state now has about 1,400 beds where elderly
Covid-positive patients can be isolated without taking up a bed
in a hospital, said Governor Ron DeSantis.
“We cannot allow a contagious patient to be sent back into
a long-term care facility that doesn’t have the capability to
appropriately isolate them,” DeSantis said at a roundtable
discussion about Covid-19 in Tallahassee. “It’s also helpful for
hospitals to manage caseloads.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been criticized for a
March directive forcing nursing homes to accept patients
released from hospitals who were infected with Covid-19.
Antibodies Fade Quickly, NEJM Report Says (12:20 p.m. NY)
Covid antibodies in patients with mild symptoms fade
quickly, raising concerns that their immunity from a future
infection may not last very long, researchers said in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
The first analysis was done on antibodies taken an average
of 37 days after symptoms began, with a second after about 86
days, or less than three months. The researchers determined that
antibody levels had fallen precipitously, with a half-life of
about 73 days between the two time frames. That raises concern
that immunity may not last long in people who develop a mild
infection, which accounts for the majority of cases.
The results call for caution regarding antibody-based
“immunity passports,” herd immunity and perhaps vaccine
durability, especially in light of short-lived immunity against
common human coronaviruses, according to the researchers led by
F. Javier Ibarrondo, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at
the University of California Los Angeles.
N.Y. Quarantine List Grows to 31 States (12:08 p.m. NY)
Ten states were added to New York’s quarantine list and one
was removed, for a new total of 31, Governor Andrew Cuomo said:
Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, North
Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington. Minnesota was
removed.
Cuomo said he’s looking at potentially adding territories,
such as Puerto Rico, to the mandatory quarantine list. The
advisory is based on a seven-day rolling average of the number
of positive tests in excess of 10%, or the number of positive
cases exceeding 10 per 100,000 residents.
Austria Tightens Restrictions (10:05 a.m. NY)
Austria is tightening measures against the spread of the
virus again, dialing back part of its easing in the past few
weeks as new infections have surged in various clusters. Border
controls will tighten because a significant share of infections
are coming from travelers returning from Balkan countries such
as Serbia and Romania. Face masks will again be required in
supermarkets, banks and post offices.
Tokyo to Urge Residents to Stay Home Over Weekend (8:33 a.m. NY)
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is considering urging residents
to avoid unnecessary trips outdoors during a forthcoming four-
day weekend. The holiday was originally scheduled to celebrate
the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games, now postoponed until 2021.
Daily coronavirus cases in the Japanese capital rose are
back above 200, with 237 cases reported on Tuesday. Tokyo has
now seen more than 1,600 infections in the past week, while
hospitalizations have risen almost fivefold in the past month.
First Vaccine May Be Approved in 2020: EU Regulator (8:02 a.m.
NY)
European regulators could approve the first vaccine against
Covid-19 this year, after a flurry of trials by drugmakers
leading the race showed promising results.
“We are preparing ourselves for that possibility so that we
as regulators will be ready,” Marco Cavaleri, head of anti-
infectives and vaccines at the European Medicines Agency, said
in an interview Tuesday. “It will be a matter of seeing whether
this data could be sufficient for allowing any kind of approval
by the end of 2020.”
Separately, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior
medical adviser, Chris Whitty, said there is only a slim chance
of an effective vaccine being available by Christmas, even as
the University of Oxford reported progress on its initiative.
Hong Kong Denies Lockdown Speculation (7:26 a.m. NY)
Hong Kong’s government said speculation the city would be
locked down in coming days was false after reporting 58
additional local cases on Tuesday, 24 of which were of unknown
origins. The Asian financial hub has been taken off-guard by the
sudden eruption of infections, close to half of which are
untraceable.
While other places in the region like Australia are also
facing aggressive resurgences, their hospital bed vacancies and
testing capabilities appear to outstrip those of Hong Kong’s.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Kara Wetzel in San Francisco at kwetzel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Timothy Annett at tannett@bloomberg.net
Mark Schoifet
posted with permission
Trump Warns Crisis to Worsen; Antibodies Fade Fast: Virus Update
2020-07-21 22:56:51.553 GMT
By Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump warned that the U.S.
coronavirus crisis will probably worsen before improving. The
outbreak escalated across the country, with California’s
infections topping 400,000 and Texas reporting its second-
deadliest day.
A study found that Covid antibodies fade quickly in some
patients, raising concerns that their immunity from a future
infection may not last long. The U.S. accused two Chinese
hackers of working with Beijing to steal coronavirus research
from Western companies.
With new infections flaring up, Tokyo’s governor is
considering urging residents to stay home during the upcoming
four-day weekend. Hong Kong said speculation that the city will
be locked down is false.
Key Developments:
* Global Tracker: Cases pass 14.8 million; deaths top 613,000
* First vaccine may be approved this year, EU regulator says
* U.S. infections far exceed reported cases, CDC finds
* Trump encourages use of masks after initial resistance
* Seniors weigh long-term care plans against Covid-19 risks
* Covid-19 threatens to undo women’s economic progress, IMF says
Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s
Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data
on coronavirus cases and deaths.
Trump Warns of Worsening Crisis (6:06 a.m. HK)
President Donald Trump rebooted his coronavirus briefings
with a warning about a surge in U.S. cases even as he sought to
reassure Americans that his administration has the crisis under
control. He took a notably more reserved tone than in earlier
briefings, encouraging Americans to wear masks and avoid risky
behavior.
“We will defeat the virus,” Trump said. But he added: “It
will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.”
U.S. Cases Rise 1.7%, Less Than Average (5:30 p.m. NY)
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed 1.7% to 3.86 million
as of 1:56 p.m. New York time, according to data compiled by
Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. That was less than
the average 1.9% increase over the past week. Deaths rose 0.5%
to 141,426.
* California reported 9,231 new virus cases, a 2.4% increase and
greater than the 14-day average of 8,606, according to state
health data. The state had 61 new deaths, compared with the 14-
day average of 95.
* Texas’s cases increased by more than 9,300, according to state
health department figures. It had 131 new deaths, the second-
highest daily tally since the pandemic began.
* Mississippi recorded the biggest daily increase in cases among
states, according to the Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg data, with
a 3.7% rise.
Texas Reports Its Second-Deadliest Day (5:10 p.m. NY)
Texas recorded 131 Covid-19 fatalities, the second-highest
daily tally since the pandemic emerged, according to state
health department figures.
The rise brought the total deaths to 4,151. New cases
increased by more than 9,300 and the positive-test rate advanced
for the first time in four days, reaching 15.05%. The state’s
positivity rate has been above 10% since June 23.
Infections Far Exceed Reported Cases, CDC Estimates (3 p.m. NY)
Far more people were infected with the novel coronavirus
than previously reported in several corners of the U.S.,
according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
The agency conducted a survey looking at antibodies to the
virus in 10 U.S. regions. It found prevalence was highly
variable from one region to the next, but far higher than the
reported number of cases across the board. The presence of
antibodies in the blood is evidence that a person’s body had
mounted an immune response to the coronavirus.
In the New York City metropolitan area, for example, the
CDC estimated based on samples collected in March and April that
6.9% of the population had contracted the virus, a level that
would be equivalent to at least 12 times the number of reported
cases.
California Surpasses 400,000 Cases (2:30 p.m. NY)
California reported 9,231 new virus cases, a 2.4% increase,
pushing its total to 400,769, according to state health data.
The most-populous state crossed the 400,000 milestone less than
two weeks after hitting 300,000, and has doubled its confirmed
cases in the past month. It’s now poised to surpass New York,
with about 408,000 cases, as having the most infections in the
U.S.
Hospitalizations have also reached a record, jumping 2.5%
from the prior day to top 7,000 for the first time. Governor
Gavin Newsom said Monday that California has enough hospital
capacity, with Covid-19 patients occupying just 17% of available
beds across the state. But he pointed out that some counties in
more rural areas are seeing strains.
Florida Creates Nursing Homes for Virus Patients (1:15 p.m. NY)
Florida officials are trying to ease pressure on the
health-care system by creating a network of nursing homes for
people who have Covid-19 but aren’t sick enough to be
hospitalized. The state now has about 1,400 beds where elderly
Covid-positive patients can be isolated without taking up a bed
in a hospital, said Governor Ron DeSantis.
“We cannot allow a contagious patient to be sent back into
a long-term care facility that doesn’t have the capability to
appropriately isolate them,” DeSantis said at a roundtable
discussion about Covid-19 in Tallahassee. “It’s also helpful for
hospitals to manage caseloads.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been criticized for a
March directive forcing nursing homes to accept patients
released from hospitals who were infected with Covid-19.
Antibodies Fade Quickly, NEJM Report Says (12:20 p.m. NY)
Covid antibodies in patients with mild symptoms fade
quickly, raising concerns that their immunity from a future
infection may not last very long, researchers said in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
The first analysis was done on antibodies taken an average
of 37 days after symptoms began, with a second after about 86
days, or less than three months. The researchers determined that
antibody levels had fallen precipitously, with a half-life of
about 73 days between the two time frames. That raises concern
that immunity may not last long in people who develop a mild
infection, which accounts for the majority of cases.
The results call for caution regarding antibody-based
“immunity passports,” herd immunity and perhaps vaccine
durability, especially in light of short-lived immunity against
common human coronaviruses, according to the researchers led by
F. Javier Ibarrondo, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at
the University of California Los Angeles.
N.Y. Quarantine List Grows to 31 States (12:08 p.m. NY)
Ten states were added to New York’s quarantine list and one
was removed, for a new total of 31, Governor Andrew Cuomo said:
Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, North
Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington. Minnesota was
removed.
Cuomo said he’s looking at potentially adding territories,
such as Puerto Rico, to the mandatory quarantine list. The
advisory is based on a seven-day rolling average of the number
of positive tests in excess of 10%, or the number of positive
cases exceeding 10 per 100,000 residents.
Austria Tightens Restrictions (10:05 a.m. NY)
Austria is tightening measures against the spread of the
virus again, dialing back part of its easing in the past few
weeks as new infections have surged in various clusters. Border
controls will tighten because a significant share of infections
are coming from travelers returning from Balkan countries such
as Serbia and Romania. Face masks will again be required in
supermarkets, banks and post offices.
Tokyo to Urge Residents to Stay Home Over Weekend (8:33 a.m. NY)
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is considering urging residents
to avoid unnecessary trips outdoors during a forthcoming four-
day weekend. The holiday was originally scheduled to celebrate
the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games, now postoponed until 2021.
Daily coronavirus cases in the Japanese capital rose are
back above 200, with 237 cases reported on Tuesday. Tokyo has
now seen more than 1,600 infections in the past week, while
hospitalizations have risen almost fivefold in the past month.
First Vaccine May Be Approved in 2020: EU Regulator (8:02 a.m.
NY)
European regulators could approve the first vaccine against
Covid-19 this year, after a flurry of trials by drugmakers
leading the race showed promising results.
“We are preparing ourselves for that possibility so that we
as regulators will be ready,” Marco Cavaleri, head of anti-
infectives and vaccines at the European Medicines Agency, said
in an interview Tuesday. “It will be a matter of seeing whether
this data could be sufficient for allowing any kind of approval
by the end of 2020.”
Separately, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior
medical adviser, Chris Whitty, said there is only a slim chance
of an effective vaccine being available by Christmas, even as
the University of Oxford reported progress on its initiative.
Hong Kong Denies Lockdown Speculation (7:26 a.m. NY)
Hong Kong’s government said speculation the city would be
locked down in coming days was false after reporting 58
additional local cases on Tuesday, 24 of which were of unknown
origins. The Asian financial hub has been taken off-guard by the
sudden eruption of infections, close to half of which are
untraceable.
While other places in the region like Australia are also
facing aggressive resurgences, their hospital bed vacancies and
testing capabilities appear to outstrip those of Hong Kong’s.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Kara Wetzel in San Francisco at kwetzel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Timothy Annett at tannett@bloomberg.net
Mark Schoifet