Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

Citing an extraordinary projection that more than 25 million Californians could be infected with the novel coronavirus in the next two months, Gov. Gavin Newsom requested a hospital ship from President Donald Trump to help with the massive expected rise in cases.

"We project that roughly 56% of our population – 25.5 million people – will be infected with the virus over an 8 week period," the California governor said in the letter. Newsom also requested $1 billion in federal funding to help fight the virus.

The number of COVID-19 cases continued to soar in the U.S. and other countries as more people are tested. The number of deaths in Italy, which has reached 3,405, has surpassed the number of deaths in China, 3,249, based on figures from Johns Hopkins.

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More than 13,000 people in the U.S. had tested positive as of Thursday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus dashboard. At least 200 people have died in 25 states.

Some 242,000 people around the globe have been infected, and more than 9,800 have died.

And it's not just older Americans being sickened by the coronavirus. Nearly 40% of the 508 coronavirus patients known to have been hospitalized in the U.S. were between 20 and 54, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Nearly half of the 121 patients admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the report said.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, told the New York Times. “It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.”

Latest Developments

United States:

-Los Angeles County has been placed under a "safer at home" order, meaning the county's 10 million residents cannot gather in groups of more than 10 and must stay inside unless going out for essential shopping.

-Trump will cancel the G7 summit, scheduled to be held at Camp David in June, and will instead hold a videoconference with the fellow world leaders, Reuters White House Correspondent Jeff Mason reported Thursday.

-The State Department has issued its most serious warning, a level 4 travel advisory, for all international travel. The advisory instructs all Americans not to travel abroad. It also tells Americans currently out of the country to return home or prepare to remain abroad for an indefinite period.

-Tens of thousands of National Guard soldiers and airmen could eventually be deployed to help states with the coronavirus pandemic, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said Thursday. About 2,050 National Guard members in 27 states have been activated to support COVID-19 response efforts, Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel said. The number could double by the weekend. “It’s like we have 54 separate hurricanes in every state and the District of Columbia,” Lengyel said, using a number that includes U.S. territories.

-After leaving decisions to local officials for days, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday declared a public health disaster and ordered schools to be closed statewide until at least April 3. He also ordered a ban on dine-in eating and gathering in groups of more than 10. It was the first public health disaster declared in Texas since 1901.

-Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday that all elective surgeries and non-urgent procedures will be postponed so doctors can have important equipment available for coronavirus patients.

-American Airlines will operate its first cargo-only flights in 36 years over the weekend. The airline said the flights between the U.S. and Europe will still be packed – with crucial medical supplies and other items.

-The parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls announced it is closing all of its stores worldwide for at least two weeks, according to a news release. TJX Companies also said it was closing its distribution centers, its offices and the online stores tjmaxx.com, marshalls.com and sierra.com. TJX operates T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra and Homesense stores.

-Oklahoma health officials announced Thursday that the state's first coronavirus death is a man in his 50s from Tulsa County.

-Miami-Dade County's Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered all beaches, parks and "non-essential" commercial and retail businesses in Florida's largest county closed because of the coronavirus outbreak. Pinellas County officials also announced all beaches will be closed at the end of Friday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Sarasota and Manatee counties will close their beaches at 6 a.m. Friday.

-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all businesses to keep at least 75% of their work forces home. He also said 8,000 coronavirus tests were conducted overnight, resulting in a jump of 2,000 more people with COVID-19.

-Cuomo also announced mortgage payments for New York homeowners with financial hardships would be waived for 90 days.

-At 7 a.m. Friday, all city-controlled beaches in Gulf Shores, Alabama, will close until at least April 6, Mayor Robert Craft said Thursday. Baldwin County and state officials are set to meet later Thursday to determine whether all Alabama beaches will be closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, WALA reported.

-At least 12 Transportation Security Administration officers have tested positive for coronavirus, CNN reported. The latest two are baggage screening officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to the TSA.

-Trump signed a relief package to provide sick leave, unemployment benefits and free coronavirus testing after it was passed by the Senate 90-8 on Wednesday.

-Lawmakers continued working on an even more sweeping $1 trillion economic stabilization package that would include checks for Americans.

-Two members of Congress said they have tested positive for the coronavirus. Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart was the first confirmed case Wednesday. His announcement was followed by one by Rep. Ben McAdams, a Utah Democrat, that he also had tested positive.

-Federal Aviation Administration chief Stephen Dickson will self-quarantine for the next week after he “had a brief interaction” on March 11 with Diaz-Balart, who has since tested positive. The two met before a hearing at the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, CNN reported.

-All Georgia legislators and their staffers are being asked to self-quarantine for 14 days after Sen. Brandon Beach tested positive for COVID-19, the Georgia House said in a statement.

-Another 2 million Californians were asked to shelter in place when officials in Sacramento and Yolo counties also asked residents to stay in their homes. Earlier this week, seven counties in the San Francisco Bay Area told 7 million people to shelter in place. Altogether 16 California counties have issued shelter-in-place directives or orders.

-Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, said they will shut all of their factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The closing of Detroit's Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers.

-About 281,000 people applied for unemployment last week, up 70,000 from the week before, the U.S. Labor Department announced. Economists say more than a million people are expected to lose their jobs by the end of March because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Washington Post.

-Two U.S. Navy hospital ships are preparing to deploy to New York and a location to be determined on the U.S. West Coast. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said The Comfort will be moored in New York Harbor and has about 1,000 rooms on it. Military officials said it could be weeks before the ship would arrive.

-The White House is invoking the Defense Production Act. The act allows the federal government to "expedite and expand the supply of resources from the U.S. industrial base," according to FEMA's website.

-More than 42 million public school students have been affected by school closures, according to Education Week. As of Thursday, 39 states had decided to close public schools. Combined with district closures in other states, at least 92,000 U.S. schools are closed, are scheduled to close, or were closed and later reopened.

Worldwide:

-Argentina will be under a national quarantine starting Thursday night at midnight, according to local media. Police will patrol the streets to ensure everyone is obeying the quarantine order.

-The worldwide battle to contain COVID-19 marked a turning point Thursday when China reported no new locally transmitted cases. The news comes three months after the first infections from the novel coronavirus were detected in Wuhan in China's Hubei Province.

-Canadians officials said the border with the U.S. will be closed to all non-essential travel in both directions on Friday night. Essential cross-border workers like health-care professionals, airline crews and truck drivers will be permitted to cross. “People not should not be traveling between Canada and the U.S. and the U.S. and Canada to be tourists or for recreational purposes,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said. “If you have an important essential reasons to cross the border you can continue to do that.”

-Italy, with a population of 60 million, on Thursday recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China — a country with a population over 20 times larger, according to The Associated Press. Health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy’s high toll, key among them its large population of elderly people. Italy has the world’s second-oldest population, and the vast majority of its dead — 87% — were over 70.

-Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that schools in the United Kingdom would close beginning Friday.

-France may extend a two-week lockdown to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Genevieve Chene, who heads France’s public health agency, said between two and four weeks are needed for the outbreak to be adequately contained. “It is likely that it is indeed necessary to extend (the containment measures) in order for the braking to be sufficient,” Chene said.

-Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Contewill said lockdown measures in place since March 9 to slow the spread of the coronavirus will have to be extended. About 40,000 people have been charged for violating the terms of the lockdown, which prohits travel within the country for any non-urgent reason.

-Prince Albert II, the leader of the tiny nation of Monaco, has tested positive for COVID-19. In a statement Thursday, the Prince's Palace said the 62-year-old monarch is being treated by doctors from the Princess Grace Hospital, named after his U.S. actress mother Grace Kelly.

-Michel Barnier, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, has tested positive for COVID-19. The diagnosed is expected to hold up already delayed trade talks between the EU and the United Kingdom.

-New Zealand and Australia are closing their borders to all non-residents and non-citizens. New Zealand’s ban takes effect at midnight Thursday; Australia’s at 9 p.m. Friday.

-More than 1,000 people who had been stranded aboard the Braemar cruise ship since late February are on their way home. The ship had been denied entry to ports in the Dominican Republic, Barbados and the Bahamas after some people got sick. Cuba allowed the ship to dock on Wednesday. Five people tested positive for the coronavirus.

-Officials in Tyrol, a province in western Austria, have ordered 279 communities to isolate themselves and go into quarantine as an extension of federal lockdown measures. Gov. Guenther Platter announced Wednesday evening in a statement shared on Facebook that members of the public would only be allowed to leave their villages or towns if necessary to cover basic needs, provide services of general interest or travel to work.

-Indian government officials say no international passenger flights will be allowed to land in India for a week beginning March 22.

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