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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Two more cases of reinfection were reported in Europe today, a day after a man in Hong Kong was confirmed to have been infected twice.
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Mississippi reported 67 new deaths and Montana reported six, each setting single-day state records.
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American Airlines plans to furlough 19,000 employees after federal restrictions on job cuts end on Oct. 1.
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Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and trackers for U.S. metro areas and vaccines in development.
A push for plasma
The Food and Drug Administration this week gave emergency approval for the expanded use of blood plasma to treat Covid-19, making the treatment more available to those who want it.
Convalescent plasma, as it’s known, comes from blood taken from people who are recovering from Covid-19. The blood is spun down to remove red and white blood cells, leaving a pale yellow liquid that contains antibodies. That serum can be injected into a patient early in an infection to help them fight the virus.
While the treatment is considered safe, scientists can’t say for sure whether it works because there haven’t been many clinical trials with control groups. Setting up those studies has been difficult, because sick people are generally unwilling to sign up for a trial in which they might get a placebo.
Among the limited studies that have been done, researchers found that the treatment showed the best results among patients under 80 years old and not on a ventilator, who received plasma with a high level of antibodies within three days of diagnosis.
President Trump had been pushing for expanded use of the treatment over the concerns of top government scientists who argued that the data was too weak. Our colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr. told The Daily that Mr. Trump’s approach might end up doing more harm than good.
“It’s exactly what happened with hydroxychloroquine,” he said. “It was talked up so much that people wanted it. And so it became hard to do the clinical trials in which they got a 50 percent chance of getting a placebo, because they didn’t want it. They’d heard the president say, ‘It’s a miracle drug,’ so they insisted on it.”
Hydroxychloroquine was later found to be dangerous, and an emergency authorization for the drug heralded by Mr. Trump was later rescinded.
Misrepresenting data. At a news conference Sunday announcing the emergency approval, President Trump and two of his top health officials misstated the effectiveness of the treatment. Public health officials and scientists have called for a correction.
Alarm bells ring off the U.S. mainland
Early in the pandemic, U.S. islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific averted the crisis that had swept over parts of the mainland thanks to fast action and easily sealed borders. But now, after relaxed restrictions and slow contact tracing, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico have emerged as the latest American hot spots.
After an early lockdown, the U.S. Virgin Islands began welcoming tourists again on June 1. But the situation has shifted rapidly: Cases spiked to 224 per 100,000 residents over the past week — the highest per-capita increase of any state or territory in the country. To tamp down the virus, the authorities are stopping tourism for a month, shuttering nonessential businesses and imposing stay-at-home orders.
Mounting cases in Puerto Rico, which issued the first U.S. lockdown in March, have prompted a curfew and a shutdown of the Senate, where several top officials have fallen ill. People who don’t wear masks can be confined, and a new stay-at-home order on Sundays was announced to limit socializing.
In Guam, where the infection rate has grown rapidly, the island’s harshest lockdown yet has faced growing criticism from residents, who can be fined $1,000 for violating it. Hawaii has also come under fire for its restrictions, which allow restaurants and gyms to remain open while hiking trails and parks have closed.
The Coronavirus Outbreak ›
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated August 24, 2020
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
- In the beginning, the coronavirus seemed like it was primarily a respiratory illness — many patients had fever and chills, were weak and tired, and coughed a lot, though some people don’t show many symptoms at all. Those who seemed sickest had pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome and received supplemental oxygen. By now, doctors have identified many more symptoms and syndromes. In April, the C.D.C. added to the list of early signs sore throat, fever, chills and muscle aches. Gastrointestinal upset, such as diarrhea and nausea, has also been observed. Another telltale sign of infection may be a sudden, profound diminution of one’s sense of smell and taste. Teenagers and young adults in some cases have developed painful red and purple lesions on their fingers and toes — nicknamed “Covid toe” — but few other serious symptoms.
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Why does standing six feet away from others help?
- The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It's a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it's windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you’re far enough apart.
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I have antibodies. Am I now immune?
- As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that’s perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it’s highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.
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I’m a small-business owner. Can I get relief?
- The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don’t know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.
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What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?
- Employers have to provide a safe workplace with policies that protect everyone equally. And if one of your co-workers tests positive for the coronavirus, the C.D.C. has said that employers should tell their employees -- without giving you the sick employee’s name -- that they may have been exposed to the virus.
Resurgences
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A surge in cases has pushed Spain’s per-capita caseload far above its European neighbors, and even above the United States’ in recent days. Officials say thousands of troops may be deployed to track local outbreaks.
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South Korea is closing schools in the Seoul metropolitan area and returning to online classes as it faces a fast-spreading outbreak.
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A sweeping lockdown of the Xinjiang region in China has continued even with its outbreak seemingly under control, prompting residents to lash out after more than a month of restrictions.
Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.
What else we’re following
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Colleges are increasingly coming down hard on students who violate virus safety rules, and they are pressuring fraternities and sororities to stop holding events that violate bans on partying.
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The rise of the flu and other seasonal respiratory infections this fall could further overwhelm U.S. testing efforts, making it easier for the coronavirus to spread unnoticed.
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Democrats are more reluctant to send their children to school than Republicans are, and are more worried about their families becoming infected, according to a new survey for The New York Times.
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Scientists found that a conference in Boston in late February triggered a gigantic spread of the virus, infecting of tens of thousands of people around the world.
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Some patients have developed long-term medical issues from Covid-19, putting stress on U.S. insurance coverage and an already strained health system, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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To lure people back to restaurants, the British government has been footing half the bill, up to 10 pounds ($13) per person, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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Working remotely from another state during the pandemic? You may be in for a hefty tax bill.
What you’re doing
My wife, two young daughters and I live in Queens, and the lockdown has coincided with an enormous crop of plums in a tree in our backyard this summer. With a lot of time at home, we donated more than 20 pounds of plums to local food pantries, invited friends and neighbors for socially distanced plum-picking, and made plum jam, plum cake, granita, syrup and plum-infused gin.
— Erik Bierbauer, Jackson Heights, Queens
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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