Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

Cases of coronavirus worldwide and in the U.S. continued to surge Saturday, especially in New York, the current epicenter of the nation's outbreak.

More than 11,000 people in New York are infected with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The numbers pushed the total cases in the U.S. over 25,000 on Saturday evening.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo cited the extraordinary number and rapid rise of cases in a press conference Saturday, where he said the state is rushing to stock up on critical medical equipment and increase its number of hospital beds by turning to military field hospitals and other options.

“Everything that can be done is being done," Cuomo told reporters.

More aggressive testing is one reason for the daily jump in cases in New York, Cuomo said. The total went up by at least 1,600 since Friday night.

"New York State is doing more #Coronavirus tests per capita than China and South Korea," Cuomo wrote on Twitter Saturday. "We are doing more tests than any other state. So we know the numbers will go up. But that’s a good thing — we are identifying positive cases."

Cuomo said the state was researching several potential sites for mobile hospitals to be set up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was shipping 1 million N95 masks to New York City, where the majority of the state's patients are located.

(MORE: U.S. Faces Severe Blood Shortage as Coronavirus Scares Donors Away, Forces Cancellation of Blood Drives)

More than 25,000 people in the U.S. had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Saturday evening, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins. At least 307 people have died in 31 states and Washington D.C. At least 60 people have died in New York, but Washington leads with More than 90 people that have died.

Some 300,000 people around the globe have been infected and more than 12,900 have died.

Latest Developments

United States

-More than 195,000 people in the U.S. have been tested for COVID-19, Vice President Mike Pence said at a Saturday news briefing. Pence said he and his wife will be tested after one of his staffers was infected.

-Pence said the U.S. has ordered "hundreds of millions" of N95 masks that will be made available to healthcare workers.

-The National Guard has been activated in at least 27 states, according to The New York Times. Their duties vary by location, but some are taking passengers' temperatures in airports while others are delivering food or assisting at testing sites.

-The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first rapid test for COVID-19. The new test provides results in 45 minutes, The Associated Press reported.

-More than 103 Americans remained stranded aboard the Silver Shadow cruise ship Saturday in Brazil after a passenger fell ill and tested positive for COVID-19, the Times reported.

-Both USA Track and Field and USA Swimming are calling for the postponement of the Olympic Games scheduled for this summer in Tokyo.

-At least seven additional Transportation Security Administration workers at separate airports have tested positive, the TSA said in posts to its website on Friday and Saturday.

-People in at least five states are now under orders to stay home except for essential outings as officials across the nation take unprecedented steps to try and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Connecticut and New Jersey are the latest states to tell their residents to mostly remain inside, the New York Times reported. California, New York and Ilinios had already issued similar orders. Those three states alone have 70 million residents. Overall, the restrictions affect one in five Americans, according to the Times.

-Minnesota reported its first death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

-United Airlines is reducing international flights by 95%, including suspension of all flights to Canada, Central and South America and any trans-Atlantic flights that haven't already been dropped, the company said in an announcement.

-New York City area airports were halted Saturday afternoon as an air traffic controller and a trainee tested positive, but was later reopened under contingency plans.

-Oregon is also expected to mandate that all its residents stay at home, The Associated Press reported.

-The U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are restricted to nonessential travel.

-The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 900 points and was down 17%, the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.

-Auto maker BMW became the latest to suspend productions at some of its plants. The company is shutting down its huge factory in South Carolina from April 3 to April 19.

-Arizona's first death was a Maricopa County man in his 50s with underlying health conditions.

-In Tennessee, a 73-year-old man in Nashville with underlying health conditions was the state's first death.

Worldwide:

-More than 300,000 cases have been reported globally.

-Italy, the U.S. and Spain, in that order, had the highest number cases outside of mainland China as of Saturday evening, according to Johns Hopkins. Cases in Italy once again made a record single-day jump on Saturday, according to The Associated Press, with 6,557 cases and 793 dead.

-Australia's famed Bondi Beach was shut down Saturday because visitors were gathering in large crowds, The Guardian reported.

-The German state of Bavaria ordered its residents to stay home, the first region in Germany to do so.

-Columbia and Bolivia became the first South American countries to announce a lockdown.

-Africa now has more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the AP reported. Cases have been reported in at least 40 of Africa’s 54 countries.

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