Good news is popping up all over. Oxford University and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals are cautiously optimistic about the early stages of their vaccine development. Gilead Sciences said today that “patients taking its drug remdesivir had a speedier recovery than patients taking placebo in a large government-funded study, but didn’t release detailed data showing the magnitude of the benefit.” As laid out in the Morning Jolt, testing production, distribution, and processing are increasing pretty quickly, although we’re still well short of where we would like to be.
And one of the nightmare scenarios, involving the virus mutating and evolving faster into new strains than treatments can be developed, thankfully appears unlikely.
How many strains are there? One analysis from last month identified eight different strains. Researchers at Zhejiang University in China released a paper saying they had identified more than 30 mutations and concluding “Sars-CoV-2 has acquired mutations capable of substantially changing its pathogenicity” — meaning some strains were more likely to kill the infected than others. Nextstrain.org is attempting to track and visualize the spread of different strains around the globe.
Hence, governors in Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Florida, Ohio, Montana, Tennessee, Utah, and South Carolina have all announced substantive plans to allow some businesses to reopen this week, with varying restrictions remaining in place. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced perhaps the most ambitious plan, allowing retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and malls to open Friday, so long as they operate at 25 percent capacity. Abbott’s order will supersede all local orders, unlike Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s announcement on Monday that Missouri businesses can reopen next week but local governments can impose stricter rules if they so choose.
One of the many questions surrounding the national lockdown in reaction to the novel coronavirus is whether colleges and universities should be open for business as usual in the fall. In a refreshingly declarative op-ed for The New York Times, the president of Brown University, Christina Paxson, says "the reopening of college and university campuses in the fall should be a national priority."
She's absolutely right. In fact, it should be a national priority to open up as much of American society to younger people as soon as possible. Not only are they far more likely to survive COVID-19, they are the ones ultimately bearing much of the cost of the lockdown in terms of missed opportunities to learn and work.
The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t over in Germany, but the country has managed its first wave of infections effectively. As a surgeon, I’ve been asked why Germany has lower mortality rates among infected patients compared with many other nations, in Europe and elsewhere. Most people assume that Germany’s resilience stems from its health system’s ample supply of mechanical ventilators and hospital beds for intensive care. Germany’s success thus far, however, isn’t related to the quality of its health-care system—German hospitals haven’t been overwhelmed by demand at any point. The answer lies in a combination of good fortune and good planning.
Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp announced that some Georgia businesses can start reopening. I don’t always support Governor Kemp’s policies. And I disagree with the reopening of places like gyms and bowling alleys: It’s just too soon for those places from my perspective.
But as the owner of a 13-year-old nail salon here in northeast Georgia, I was relieved to hear that businesses like mine could reopen with precautions. To be clear, I’m still scared. But I have decided to open with limited, reservation-only hours, approving appointments only with clientele that my staff personally know and trust. Because the threat of Covid-19 is still real, I won’t be open to the general public for the foreseeable future. You can’t trust just anybody.
We’re re-opening our art gallery in downtown Napa not later than 11 a.m., Monday, May 4th. Appropriate and adequate social-distancing protocol will be in place and observed. City, county, and state officials are being notified, with encouragement to adjust any policies and plans accordingly.
As of next Monday, our gallery’s doors will have been closed, by county and state order, for six weeks and three days. Over that span, the county of Napa, population 137,744 at last count, has recorded two deaths attributable to the COVID-19 virus, both from over three weeks ago, with 60 confirmed cases in the county total, of which 26 have recovered, by the most recent county report.
As of last Monday, according to the Register, there were three COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county, including the one in intensive care.
China poses a threat to the world by hiding information about the origin of the coronavirus that it allowed to spread to other countries, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, speaking in a television interview Wednesday, ratcheted up the accusations between the U.S. and China over the virus. White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday that a new coronavirus vaccine could be tested as early as next week — with the potential for emergency use by fall, a report said Tuesday.
“This is a crisis right now, and a solution is desperately needed by all,” Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla told the Wall Street Journal.
Pfizer is working with German-based BioNtech to deliver the possible vaccine. Clinical trials on human volunteers in Germany have already started
