Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Researchers are learning more about the risks cancer patients face if they become sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has swept the world. 

Patients whose cancer was getting worse or spreading were more than five times more likely to die in the space of a month if they caught Covid-19, researchers told a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology this week.

Even if their cancer wasn't spreading, coronavirus infection nearly doubled risk of dying, according to the early data, published in the medical journal The Lancet on Thursday.

The researchers from across North America and Europe looked at data on 928 Covid-19 cases from between March and April. 

Overall, 121 patients total — or 13% — died during the study period and within 30 days of being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The new study comes with limitations. More research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a larger group of patients, and there are questions about whether Covid-19 impacts patients with certain types of cancer differently.

"This is early and evolving data, and more time and analysis will be needed to confirm and expand on these findings," Warner said in a statement. 

Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry appeared Thursday on CNBC, where he said a decision to resume the National Basketball League's season could happen next week. 

Lasry, co-founder of Avenue Capital, said on CNBC's "Halftime" that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will present multiple options to resume the NBA season at the league's board of governors meeting on Friday. Lasry said that the board could then take the weekend to consider the options and meet again early next week to vote on the proposals. 

“I think at the end of the day, we’ll be in Orlando at Disney. The question is going to be will we have all 30 teams there or will we have 24; whatever the number will end up being. But hopefully, by the middle of July, we start playing again," Lasry said. 

Michigan has 56,014 Covid-19 cases and 5,372 deaths related to the virus in the state, according to Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. 

Khaldun said that the cases are continuing to decline, and that Michigan is able to perform about 14,400 Covid-19 tests per day. If the positive trends continue, she said, then they will be able to continue to reopen.

Khaldun also said that by the end of this week, the state will have trained 500 contact tracers. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer listed some of the expenditures from the last 10 weeks, including $251 million spent on personal protective equipment, $25 million on hospitals and $22.8 million on direct care workers. She also said that approximately $8.5 billion dollars was paid in unemployment. 

Need for federal funds: Whitmer called on the federal government for more financial support to get through the current budget crisis.

While the state is well-managed, she said, Michigan needs additional funds to pay for essential services like schools and public safety. 

According to Chris Cole, the state's budget director, the state has lost approximately $6.2 billion in revenue for this fiscal year.

Cole said that this crisis is "as bad, if not worse than the Great Recession, and the only way we can made it through that recession was with direct support from the federal government."  

Whitmer announced that she has taken a 10% pay cut for the rest of the calendar year in an effort to help the state budget. Her cabinet has taken a 5% pay cut, she said. 

The latest Basketball Hall of Fame class, which includes the late Kobe Bryant, may still be enshrined in 2020 despite the original ceremony date being postponed.

Basketball Hall of Fame President John Doleva announced on Thursday that the enshrinement scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 28 was postponed but left the door open for a possible October event.

Doleva says that the Hall of Fame will make a final decision on the 2020 enshrinement the week of June 15.

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, dragged down by losses in the energy and consumer sectors.

The S&P 500, the broadest measure of the US stock market, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both snapped three-day winning streaks.

Investors also had to reckon with more dire economic data released Thursday. Another 2.1 million people filed for first-time jobless claims last week, and first-quarter GDP was revised down to an annualized -5%, from -4.8% before.

Here's where the markets closed:

The Florida Board of Governors approved the State University System of Florida blueprint for reopening campuses in the fall during a virtual board meeting on Thursday.

The blueprint is comprised of five categories: a healthy campus environment, a healthy community environment, Covid-19 virus testing, contact tracing and surveillance and academic program delivery.

This blueprint will be used as a framework for the 12 universities within the state university system of Florida as they make their individual plans, which will be presented during the next board meeting on June 23. 

The decision about reopening for the fall and what that looks like will be left to each individual university. The entire system includes more than 350,000 students.

“The blueprint is to provide system guidance with clear expectations for each university, but also then to develop an individualized university plan to reopen its campus. So you know, this blueprint is the first stage," Kitson added.

Chancellor Marshall Criser, who presented the blueprint at the meeting, echoed the need for flexibility from each university.

He continued: "We want to have plans that will ultimately ensure that we are able to continue to pursue our academic mission, and at the same time, understand how we can best create a healthy environment for our students, our faculty, and our staff."

It’s too early for vaccine makers to consider challenge trials that would intentionally expose volunteers to the novel coronavirus, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said Thursday, but the company would consider it if the number of new cases fell too low to complete clinical trials of its vaccine.

“It's still going in the UK because the UK got started later. Still going in the US. But very soon the disease intensity will become low and it will become difficult so we have to move very quickly," Soriot added.

Soriot said that if case numbers fall to a “very low level,” AstraZeneca might consider challenge studies, which intentionally expose volunteers with the virus to test for safety and efficacy, but he said it’s too early to consider now. 

Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels echoed Soriot’s concerns, suggesting the need to complete its phase three Covid-19 vaccine studies in the Southern Hemisphere. 

“Hopefully that can be done in the North. If not, we'll have to go to the South, as Pascal was saying, the disease is now moving to other parts of the world,” Stoffels said. “It's clear that in the South, it's still going up very fast — South Africa, Brazil and maybe other countries will follow. So, this is not going to be over with and that's why it has to be global.”

There are at least 1,711,313 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 101,129 people have died in the country from coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally. 

Johns Hopkins reported on Thursday 11,380 new cases and 687 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

Assisted living and intermediate care facilities for individuals with developmental disabilities in Ohio can allow outdoor visitation beginning June 8, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday.

DeWine clarified that this directive does not apply to nursing homes.

Eligible facilities will be required to follow minimum health guidelines like screening visitors for symptoms, wearing face coverings, and enforcing social distancing.

DeWine explained that the decision to allow outdoor visitors is based on the impact that a “prolonged loss of connection” can have on individuals.