Coronavirus pandemic in the US

A member of the US Navy who serves as one of President Trump's personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus, CNN has learned Thursday, raising concerns about the President's possible exposure to the virus.

The valets are members of an elite military unit dedicated to the White House and often work very close to the President and his family.

Trump was upset when he was informed yesterday that the valet had tested positive, a source told CNN, and he was subsequently tested again by the White House physician.

In a statement, the White House confirmed that one of the President's valets had tested positive.

A White House source said the valet, a man who has not been identified, exhibited "symptoms" yesterday morning, and said the news that someone close to Trump had tested positive for coronavirus was "hitting the fan" in the West Wing.

Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and the senior staffers who regularly interact with them are still being tested weekly for coronavirus, two people familiar told CNN.

The number of people that were admitted into the hospital for Covid-19 as of Tuesday are down, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

At least 79 people were admitted to hospitals. That number is down from 109 reported Monday, the mayor said.

At least 567 people were admitted into ICUs for Covid-19 treatment across the city and that number is down from the 599 reported on Monday.

Outreach workers and police engaged 361 homeless individuals in New York City last night into this morning, the second day the Metropolitan Transportation Authority closed its subways stations to disinfect trains during overnight hours.

At least 218 people accepted social services: 196 went to shelters and 22 went to hospitals, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference.

No one expected airlines to report good news for the first quarter. But Spirit's and JetBlue's losses were even worse than analysts predicted.

Spirit followed other airlines in announcing it will offer 12 million shares at an as-yet-undetermined price, and $150 million in debt to raise cash to weather the crisis. It also has reached an agreement to increase a credit line by $30 million by May 18.

That news, combined with Spirit's adjusted loss of $58.9 million, sent Spirit shares down 14% in early trading Thursday.

JetBlue lost an adjusted $116 million excluding special items, compared to a $51 million profit a year earlier. Shares of JetBlue were little changed in early trading.

140,000 New Yorkers will undergo antibody tests beginning next week, as New York City is launching its own antibody survey in partnership with BioReference to understand the spread of the coronavirus, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday morning.

Up to 5,000 people will be tested per day, he said, and test results are expected within 48 hours. Up to 70,000 people will be tested within the first two weeks.

Tests will be focused on people in the general area of test sites, de Blasio said, adding initial testing sites will be located in the Morrisania neighborhood in the Bronx, East New York, Upper Manhattan, Concord, and Long Island City.

Earlier this week, the city announced a separate 140,000 antibody tests for health care workers and first responders.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he’d like to hear from CDC experts about reopening the US economy, and he said he bases decisions about his states on scientific recommendations.  

“What do you got to hide? I think it would be very helpful for us,” Lamont said in response to the Trump administration’s decision to not implement the Centers for Disease Control’s 17-page draft recommendation for reopening America.

“Let us hear from the experts. I think we'll be able to make much better decisions accordingly. Don't politicize this,” he added.  

With Connecticut set to begin reopening on May 20, Lamont said the state is “making baby steps as we slowly reopen our economy.”

He outlined what businesses will be able to open at that time:

Lamont also said the state will look at opening summer camps at an appropriate time, and those would also have an educational component. “I’ve got to continue to ramp up the education, so [by] September 1, kids are ready to go back to school,” he said. 

Ultimately, the reopening will be shaped by the residents of Connecticut themselves, and Lamont says he trusts them to do the right thing. 

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US stocks kicked off higher today, as investors chose to focus on the gradual reopening of the US economy.

As in previous weeks, the market shrugged off the bleak weekly jobless claims data, which showed that more than 1 in 5 Americans has now filed for first-time unemployment benefits since mid-March.

Here's how the markets opened:

Moderna — the company that announced earlier today the FDA cleared its vaccine for the novel coronavirus for a second trail phase — said a 600-participant phase 2 study is expected to begin shortly.

During an investor call this morning, Moderna said it added people older than 55 to the phase 2 study. It said the first batches of the vaccine are expected to be manufactured in July, with the goal to enable manufacturing of up to 1 billion doses per year.

What the phases mean: The first phase of vaccine trials examines safety. The second phase expands the number of participants. In the third phase, the vaccine is given to many more people and tested for efficacy and safety. 

According to the World Health Organization, there are 100 vaccines in preclinical evaluation globally, and eight vaccines in clinical trials. One other vaccine was already in phase 2, and several others are doing simultaneous phase 1 and phase 2 trials. 

Moderna’s vaccine, which was developed by the company and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, used a genetic platform called mRNA. According to the National Institutes of Health, the vaccine directs the body’s cells to express a virus protein that researchers hope will elicit an immune response. Moderna has never brought a product to market, or gotten any of its vaccine candidates approved for use by the FDA.

Science journalist Laurie Garrett has been warning about a pandemic like Covid-19 for decades and predicts the coronavirus pandemic could possibly last for three years. 

Garrett said we should look at places like South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have been able to stem the pandemic.  

“These places have figured out this virus will come in waves. It's not going to be a giant tsunami that just sweeps over America all uniform all at once, then retreats, then all comes back all at once across America again. It's going to be more like little brush fires popping up here, there, and everywhere,” she said. 

Garrett also slammed US coronavirus policies and the Trump administration’s decision to not implement the Centers for Disease Control’s 17-page draft recommendation for reopening America. "The CDC ought to be in leadership," she said.

“It’s just madness. We're acting as if you can wish away an epidemic. You can't just say, ‘I want the economy going and the virus will cooperate.’ It doesn't work that way,” Garrett said. 

She said that the pandemic has changed the world’s perception of the US. 

The idea of testing everyone is not realistic and possibly not necessary, Garrett said, but it needs to be targeted to be effective. 

“We're going to have to do testing that's really smart, that's targeted, that follows basic principles of science,” she said. “…We're not doing any smart testing. There's only a handful of places in the country where testing is following the kind of scientific principles that means that what the results of what the testing are are valid.” 

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