Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

With several governors saying much more testing for COVID-19 is needed before America can relax social distancing restrictions, Vice President Mike Pence was asked several times Sunday what the president meant by tweets saying “LIBERATE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia.

On "Fox News Sunday," Pence responded to the first question about the tweets with a long list of work done by the White House coronavirus task force.

Anchor Chris Wallace eventually cut Pence off and asked again, “What does the president mean? Because you’ve got guidelines calling for social distancing and staying at home. Even your new guidelines to reopen the country are very phased and gradual. What does the president mean when he says ‘liberate’ these states?”

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Again, Pence sidestepped the question: “The American people know that no one in America wants to reopen this country more than President Donald Trump, and on Thursday the president directed us to lay out guidelines for when and how states could responsibly do that. And in the president’s tweets and public statements I can assure you he’s going to continue to encourage governors to find ways to safely and responsibly let America go back to work.”

On testing, Pence said “We believe the testing that we have today ... across the country, once we activate all of the labs that can do coronavirus testing, is sufficient for any state in America to move into Phase One."

He said 150,000 tests are being performed each day and the number can be doubled if governors activate all labs in their states that can do testing. During a briefing Saturday, Trump repeatedly blamed governors for not making full use of coronavirus testing capacity in their states.

"They don't want to use all of the capacity that we've created. We have tremendous capacity. They know that. The governors know that. The Democrat governors know that. They're the ones that are complaining."

“That’s just delusional to be making statements like that,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said on CNN Sunday.

“We’ve been fighting for testing, it’s not a straightforward test. We don’t even have enough swabs believe it or not,” Northam, a Democrat, said.

“For the national level to say that we have what we need and really to have no guidance to the state levels, it’s just irresponsible because we’re just not there yet,” he added.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland told CNN, to “say we aren’t doing our job, is just absolutely false."

“I don’t think it’s helpful to encourage demonstrations and encourage people to go against the president’s own policy,” Hogan said.

The president's Phase One guidelines for reopening the country call for 14 days of declining COVID-19 cases before a state begins to reopen.

“As tough as this moment is,” said Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, “it would be devastating to have a second wave.”

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House, said she thinks testing levels are adequate.

“We believe it’s been enough in a whole series of the outbreak areas — when you see how Detroit has been able to test, Louisiana, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey,” Birx said on ABC New's "This Week."

Birx said on CBS' "Face the Nation," “We need to predict community by community the testing that is needed. Each will have a different testing need, and that’s what we’re calculating now.”

Harvard researchers have estimated that to reopen the country by mid-May, 500,000 to 700,000 tests would be needed each day to identify most people who are infected and isolate them from people who are healthy, the New York Times reported.

The U.S. had more than 746,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, as of Sunday morning, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University. More than 40,500 people have died in the U.S., and over 67,000 patients have recovered.

Worldwide, the total number of infections was almost 2.4 million, and more than 165,000 people have died. More than 611,000 patients have recovered.

Latest Developments

United States:

-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he thinks Congress will come to an agreement today on a new emergency funding bill that would give money to small businesses and disaster loan programs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also said they were nearing agreement with the White House. "I'm hopeful that we can reach an agreement that the senate can pass this tomorrow, and that the House can take it up on Tuesday. Wednesday we would be back up and running," Mnuchin told CNN. "I think we're very close to a deal today. I'm hopeful that we can get that done." The bill would include $300 billion to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program, $50 billion for the Small Business Administration’s disaster relief fund, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing, according to the New York Times.

-New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said hospitalizations in the state are on the decline. "We are past the high point and all indications at this point is that we are on the descent," Cuomo said.

Worldwide:

-The United Kingdom's Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said children will not be able to return to schools until the government has achieved its five point plan to ensure it is safe to adjust any of the current coronavirus measures. “We will work with the [education] sector to consider how best to reopen schools, nurseries and colleges when the time is right,” Williamson said. “Our first priority has always been protecting the well being of children and young people, but particularly vulnerable young people."

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.