This is the Coronavirus Briefing, an informed guide to the global outbreak. Sign up here to get the briefing by email.
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The U.S., British and Canadian governments said Russian hackers were trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research.
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Retail sales in the U.S. jumped 7.5 percent in June, and unemployment claims topped one million for the 17th straight week.
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Four countries — the U.S., Brazil, India and South Africa — account for two-thirds of the world’s cases.
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Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and trackers for U.S. metro areas and vaccines in development.
Curves and waves: The pandemic’s shifting shape
“Flatten the curve” was the popular refrain early in the pandemic, as officials across the U.S. began issuing stay-at-home orders to stop the rapid spread of infection. But as the virus continues to rage and the world awaits a vaccine, it’s clear that tamping down an outbreak — no matter how quickly — does not mean victory. Instead, it’s often a waiting game until another wave comes crashing down.
For Washington State, that situation is all too familiar. After having the first confirmed case in the U.S. in January, it became an early epicenter of the country’s outbreak and imposed a swift lockdown, which is credited with preventing high rates of infection and death. While the virus began surging across the South and West, Washington’s case counts remained relatively low into June, and bars and salons started reopening.
But the virus has returned with a vengeance, putting the state’s reopening on pause. Since mid-June, Washington has reported an average of 700 new cases per day — its highest levels since the pandemic began. The surge is largely being driven by two factors: young people, and an outbreak in Yakima County, an agricultural area with many essential workers.
Outbreaks that started slower in some countries are taking off, and second waves are also rolling out around the world. Hong Kong is facing what some call its “third wave” — the most serious yet. The city reported a record 67 new cases on Thursday, a vast majority of which were attributed to community spread, a worrying development. (When Hong Kong set its last daily record, in late March, most infections were linked to travel.)
New York’s curve, as decoration. Of the state’s harrowing fight with the virus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said: “One mountain was enough. The last thing we need is to see this virus spike again.”
That metaphoric mountain stars in Mr. Cuomo’s new, artsy political poster, which portrays essential workers (and his kids and dog) pulling down “the curve,” along with myriad other odd details. Our colleague Amanda Rosa, who reports on New York, unpacked the symbolism.
Can you get Covid-19 twice?
We’ve recently come across a few stories about doctors who’ve said their patients were reinfected with coronavirus after testing negative — a worrying prospect that could impact the effectiveness of vaccines and our ability to reach herd immunity.
To understand more about the possibility, we turned to Apoorva Mandavilli, a science reporter for The Times.
How long does immunity last?
We don’t know. One of my sources put it to me this way yesterday: The only way to know how long immunity lasts is to wait that amount of time. And we’re not there yet.
Is reinfection real?
It’s possible to get Covid twice, but that’s possible for any virus, ever. Some people will not, just as a matter of statistics, make strong immune responses to a virus, so they remain vulnerable. And that may also be true for coronavirus.
Still, the virus began circulating in China almost eight months ago now, and in New York not long after that. So if reinfection were possible this early on, and in a lot of people, we would have seen it already. We’re going to hear more about possible reinfections because it’s affecting so many people and we are looking at it so closely.
What’s going on with the reported cases of reinfection?
We don’t know for sure. They may be these rare cases. Or somebody who thought they had recovered may not have fully recovered. It may be that the tests were faulty and gave a false negative. It may be that their immune system was keeping the virus down to levels at which the test wasn’t picking it up for a while. It may be that there wasn’t a lot of virus in their nose, or wherever they put in the swab. There are a lot of possible explanations.
Tracking treatments
As doctors and scientists scramble to understand Covid-19, a flood of remedies have been offered up as treatment for the disease — some better than others, a few just bunk.
To help you understand the effectiveness and safety of the available options, The Times created a treatment tracker of the 20 most-talked-about treatments, grouped according to approach and ranked according to their level of promise. Some block the virus, some mimic the immune system, while others counter a dangerously overactive immune response or offer physical assistance or healing.
The Coronavirus Outbreak ›
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated July 16, 2020
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Is the coronavirus airborne?
- The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
- Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
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What’s the best material for a mask?
- Scientists around the country have tried to identify everyday materials that do a good job of filtering microscopic particles. In recent tests, HEPA furnace filters scored high, as did vacuum cleaner bags, fabric similar to flannel pajamas and those of 600-count pillowcases. Other materials tested included layered coffee filters and scarves and bandannas. These scored lower, but still captured a small percentage of particles.
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Is it harder to exercise while wearing a mask?
- A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.
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What is pandemic paid leave?
- The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.
Among the most promising treatments are the antiviral medication remdesivir, the steroid dexamethasone and positioning patients facedown to open their lungs. In the pseudoscience or fraud category: silver-based products and using UV light on the body.
Resurgences
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The authorities in Bangladesh arrested the owner of a hospital who they said sold migrant workers thousands of certificates showing a negative result on coronavirus tests, when in fact many tests were never performed.
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India reported a single-day record of 32,695 new infections today, as its total caseload — now the third highest, after the U.S. and Brazil — neared one million.
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In South Korea, imported virus infections — including from construction workers returning from Iraq — continued to rise, making up 47 of the 61 new cases recorded today, according to an official tally.
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France will require people to wear masks in all public indoor spaces starting next week, as authorities try to contain a recent uptick in cases.
Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.
What else we’re following
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In some parts of the U.S., private schools are planning to reopen while public schools are not.
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The White House press secretary said “science should not stand in the way” of reopening schools.
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The University of Akron cut nearly 100 faculty jobs, as the pandemic savages college finances.
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In China, employees of state-owned companies and members of the military have been offered several vaccine candidates that are still in clinical trials, effectively turning them into guinea pigs for virus research.
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A year ago, the Maryland company Novavax was on the verge of collapse. This month, it reached a $1.6 billion deal with the Trump administration to make a vaccine, despite never having brought one to market.
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We may feel as though we’re doomed, but if we look to the past, our science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. writes, our ancestors overcame worse pandemics through science and public spending.
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Spain held a ceremony honoring medical workers and victims of the coronavirus. Watch it here.
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The pandemic has drawn new business to start-ups that provide end-of-life services, from estate planning to a final tweet.
What you’re doing
We are raising butterflies from eggs taken from milkweed we planted last year. The first one flew away from our caterpillar farm today. Thirty-nine left to emerge. It’s a great feeling setting one free, when we’re confined by a virus.
— James Hercules Sutton, Des Moines
Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.
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