Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

In a sign of how no place is completely safe from the novel coronavirus, three members of the White House coronavirus task force have started partial or full self-quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, are in quarantine, aides confirmed Saturday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, confirmed a CNN report that he had begun a “modified quarantine” after what he called a “low risk” contact.

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Fauci will stay at home and telework, The Associated Press reported. He will go to the White House if called and take every precaution, his institute said.

Redfield will be “teleworking for the next two weeks" after it was determined he had a “low risk exposure" to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement. The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms.

Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. Hahn tested negative for the virus.

President Donald Trump publicly identified Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller as the person who had tested positive for the coronavirus. Earlier last week, a member of the military serving as one of Trump’s valets also tested positive for COVID-19. Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president.

Trump, who has not been seen in public wearing a mask, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House complex. In a meeting with the nation’s top military leaders Saturday evening, the president did not wear a mask, at least while reporters were in the room. The generals around Trump also did not wear a mask, but participants did sit a few feet away from each other, AP reported.

More than 4 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide and nearly 282,000 people have been killed by the new coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., there has been more than 79,000 deaths and 1.33 million confirmed cases.

Latest Developments

United States:

-Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News the U.S. jobless numbers “are probably going to get worse before they get better,” but the bigger risk to the country is keeping businesses' closed. If re-openings are not allowed, Mnuchin said, the economy could be permanently damaged. He said the real unemployment rate — including people who are underemployed as well as those entirely without work — could soon approach 25%. In April, the unemployment rate rose to 14.7%, the highest level since the Great Depression.

-Kevin Hassett, a White House economic adviser, said on CNN he thinks the United States unemployment rate will "probably" be "close to 20%" in the May jobs report. Hassett and Mnuchin both expect the economy to start growing again in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

-In a recording obtained by Yahoo News, former President Barack Obama harshly criticized the current administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. In a chat with former members of his administration, Obama said, "What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life. ... It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government."

-A computer model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington is projecting yet another slight increase in COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. as more people leave their homes. The updated projections on Sunday were 137,184 cumulative COVID-19 deaths through the beginning of August. On May 4, the institute forecast 134,475 deaths. "What's driving the change is, simply put, the rise in mobility, and that's the key driver," Christopher Murray, IHME director, said on CBS News' "Face the Nation." "We're seeing in some states, you know, a 20-percentage-point increase in just 10 days in mobility. And that will translate into more human contact, more transmission." The top five states with increased mobility are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Georgia, Murray said. "We're seeing just explosive increases in mobility in a number of states that we expect will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now," he said.

Worldwide:

-After more than six weeks of lockdown, England will begin to ease coronavirus restrictions on Monday. United Kingdom Prime Minister said "anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work." He said people returning to work should avoid mass transit.

-Germany is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases. Officials said the number of people each confirmed coronavirus patient infects rose above 1 again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below 1 for outbreaks to decline.

-Despite the rising infections, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer allowed people living outside the country to cross the border for Mother's Day visits. The visitors also were not required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

-China reported 11 new infections in the northeastern province of Jilin, which prompted authorities to raise the threat level in one of its counties, Shulan, to high risk. Overall, the country reported 14 new cases Sunday, its first double-digit rise in 10 days.

-The mayor of Incheon, South Korea, a city to the west of Seoul, has ordered clubs, discos and other nightlife establishments to close for two weeks amid concerns of a second wave of coronavirus cases in the country. Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province have already taken similar steps after new cases associated to nightclubs in Seoul’s Itaewon entertainment district were detected in recent days. South Korea reported 34 new virus cases on Sunday, the first day that its daily tally was over 30 in about a month. Officials said that 24 out the 34 cases were linked to Itaewon nightclubs.

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.