Updates
White House Adviser Stephen Miller Tests Positive For The Coronavirus-NPR
White House adviser Stephen Miller has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House press office told NPR, days after President Trump and several others at the White House have also tested positive for the virus. NPR, … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
How To Tell Which Countries Are Coping Best With Covid-BBC News
As the Covid crisis has unfolded, infection rates have fluctuated and restrictions have proliferated. But it has always felt that there was one idea to cling to: that by working out which countries were doing well - and which were not - there was something to be learned. BBC News, … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
CDC Says Coronavirus Is Airborne, But Weakens Language From Earlier Warning-Politico
The CDC on Monday confirmed that the coronavirus is airborne and may be able to infect people who are more than six feet apart, especially indoors with poor ventilation. Politico, … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
White House Nixes Updated FDA Guidelines On Vaccine Approval-The Associated Press
The White House has blocked new Food and Drug Administration guidelines on bringing potential vaccines for COVID-19 to market that would almost certainly have prevented their introduction before the Nov. 3 election. At issue was the FDA’s planned instruction that vaccine developers follow patients enrolled in their trials for at least two months to rule out safety issues before seeking emergency approval from the agency. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
COVID-19 Vaccine May Be Ready By Year-End: WHO's Tedros-Reuters
A vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by year-end, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, without elaborating. Nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility that aims to distribute 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Reuters, … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
'Maybe I'm Immune': Trump Returns To White House, Removes Mask Despite Infection-NPR
President Trump, who spent the weekend in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, made a theatrical return to the White House on Monday evening, disembarking Marine One and walking the staircase to the South Portico entrance, where he turned to face the cameras, removed his mask and gave his signature two thumbs up. NPR, … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Regal Cinemas Suspending Operations At All U.S. Locations-The Wall Street Journal
The second-largest cinema chain in the U.S. is closing all of its locations nationwide after reopening in August, escalating the pandemic-driven crisis facing the entertainment industry. Cineworld Group PLC’s Regal Entertainment Group’s decision to suspend operations at its more than 500 locations this coming Thursday follows a cascade of postponements for big-budget Hollywood films, most recently the James Bond title “No Time to Die.” The Wall Street Journal, … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Paris On Maximum Virus Alert, Closing Bars, Not Restaurants-The Associated Press
French authorities placed the Paris region on maximum virus alert on Monday, banning festive gatherings and requiring all bars to close but allowing restaurants to remain open, as numbers of infections increased rapidly. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
U.S. Coronavirus Relief Bill Complicated By Top Republicans Testing Positive-Reuters
The renewed effort in the U.S. Congress to reach a fresh deal to pump coronavirus relief funds into the pandemic-hit economy has been further complicated by the news that President Donald Trump and three Senate Republicans have tested positive. Reuters, … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Proposals And Pressure Mount For More Action On COVID-19 Financing-Devex
Dozens of heads of state, top United Nations officials, and the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund gathered virtually last week in the largest convening of its kind about the economic response to COVID-19. They discussed a number of proposals from an ongoing U.N. process and pushed the Group of 20 and other multilateral bodies to take further action. Devex, … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Doctors Upbeat On Trump's Condition But Provide Contradictory Information-NPR
In a Sunday media briefing, Trump's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said his patient "has continued to improve." Conley explained that the president experienced a high fever and falling oxygen levels at the White House Friday morning. "I recommended [to] the president we try some supplemental oxygen, see how he'd respond." NPR, … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
Pence Has Tested Negative For Coronavirus, Spokesman Says-Politico
Vice President Mike Pence has tested negative for Covid-19, his spokesman said Friday, hours after President Donald Trump revealed he had contracted the coronavirus. Politico, … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
Why Some People Are Still Getting Sick—But Not With COVID-Scientific American
On September 18 Orianna Carvalho woke up at 3 A.M. with a sore throat and the sniffles. At first she thought her symptoms were caused by allergies. But as the minutes ticked by, she began to worry they were caused by COVID-19. The following morning, Carvalho got tested at the University of Rhode Island, where she is a first-year doctoral student. Over the next few hours she developed a fever, and the catastrophizing began in earnest. When Carvalho finally learned that the cause of her misery … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
US Hiring Slows For 3rd Month But Jobless Rate Falls To 7.9%-The Associated Press
America’s employers added 661,000 jobs in September, the third straight month of slower hiring and evidence from the final jobs report before the presidential election that the economic recovery has weakened. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
U.S. House Passes Democratic COVID-19 Aid Plan After Bipartisan Deal Proves Elusive-Reuters
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a $2.2 trillion Democratic plan to provide more economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, as a bipartisan deal continued to elude House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House. Reuters, … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
President Trump And First Lady Test Positive For The Coronavirus-NPR
The country was thrown on edge overnight as President Trump announced that he and the first lady have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that throws the final stretch of the presidential campaign — already radically upended by the global pandemic — even further into unknown territory. NPR, … Continue Reading
October 01, 2020
World Leaders Pledge $1B For ACT-Accelerator-Devex
A handful of global leaders pledged roughly $1 billion on Wednesday at a high-level event for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, with the bulk of it going to vaccines. Several pharmaceutical companies also made commitments ensuring broad distribution of COVID-19 tools. Devex, … Continue Reading
October 01, 2020
Unemployment Marches Higher In Europe As Pandemic Grinds On-The Associated Press
Unemployment rose for a fifth straight month in Europe in August and is expected to grow further amid concern that extensive government support programs won’t be able keep many businesses hit by coronavirus restrictions afloat forever. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
October 01, 2020
Neanderthal Genes Linked To Severe COVID-19; Mosquitoes Cannot Transmit The Coronavirus-Reuters
A group of genes passed down from extinct human cousins is linked with a higher risk for severe COVID-19, researchers say. When they compared the genetic profiles of about 3,200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and nearly 900,000 people from the general population, they found that a cluster of genes on chromosome 3 inherited from Neanderthals who lived more than 50,000 years ago is linked with 60% higher odds of needing hospitalization. Reuters, … Continue Reading
October 01, 2020
Diabetes, Disparities, And Covid-19: Three Intertwined ‘Epidemics’ Raise Risk Of Severe Illness And Death-STAT
There are no easy answers to the coronavirus pandemic, but for people with diabetes, it’s dismayingly difficult to untangle the thicket of biological and socioeconomic factors that make them more likely to suffer severe illness and die should they catch the virus that causes Covid-19. That leaves prevention — controlling blood sugar through diet, exercise, monitoring, and medication — as the leading tactic to protect people, until a successful vaccine proven to work in people with diabetes. … Continue Reading