Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

At least one COVID-19 vaccine is on track to begin large-scale testing in the U.S. this summer and a handful of others are close behind, a top government health official said.

"The big challenge now is to go big and everybody is about ready for that. And we want to be sure that happens in a coordinated way,” National Institute of Health physician Francis Collins told the Associated Press.

Collins said several vaccines "look pretty promising" and one or two will be ready for testing by July.

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President Donald Trump said in a press conference Friday that he hopes to have a vaccine on the market by the end of the year.

Collins, in an interview with the AP Thursday, said an end-of-the-year goal is a “very bold plan ... a stretch goal if there ever was one."

Meanwhile, nearly every state in the U.S. will be at least partially reopened by next week as the struggle continues over how to restart the economy while at the same time protect against the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

At least 87,000 people have died in the U.S. from COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.4 million nationwide have been sickened by the disease. Worldwide, there have been more than 4.5 million confirmed infections, and more than 307,000 people have died.

Latest Developments

United States:

-New York City plans to provide 74,000 free air conditioners to low-income older adults who are forced to spend more time inside this summer due to the pandemic. The project will cost $55 million.

-A week after plans were scrapped to disband the White House coronavirus task force, Vice President Mike Pence announced that five new members would be added to the group, including two doctors involved in vaccine development, as well as top officials from the Health Resources and Services Administration, labor department and agriculture department.

-More COVID-19 testing sites in Florida were closed Friday due to potential bad weather. Miami-Dade County announced it was closing several testing sites until Monday due to the possibility of weather from a low pressure system churning offshore. The state had already announced several similar closures of drive-thru and walk-up testing sites for the same reason.

-Every state except Connecticut and Massachusetts has announced plans to ease restrictions and reopen at least some businesses and other activities that had been closed, CNN reported. Each state, and in some cases separate cities and counties, have formulated their own plans so the easing of restrictions varies widely.

-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials must monitor cases closely as parts of New York start to reopen, and be ready to put restrictions back into place if COVID-19 numbers begin to spike. New York has so far been the hardest hit state in the U.S., with more than 343,000 known cases of COVID-19 and at least 27,641 deaths. The state is slowly easing restrictions as deaths and hospitalizations drop.

-New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware are working together on beach reopenings. Cuomo said all four states have agreed to open beaches for Memorial Day, with capacity at 50%.

-The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued new coronavirus testing guidance to the White House after some reports suggested a test commonly used to check President Donald Trump and other officials for COVID-19 may be inaccurate and give false negatives, according to the AP. FDA Commissioner Steve Hahn advised that a second test "might be worth it" if a person suspected of having COVID-19 tests negative using the rapid test developed by Abbott Laboratories. The test, one of many approved under emergency authorization from the FDA, is coming under increasing scrutiny. Company officials say any problems with the test are because it isn't being administered properly.

-McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas installed vending machines where flyers can buy things like face masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.

-In Pennsylvania, where restrictions are being eased county by county, Gov. Tom Wolf was set to announce that 12 more counties would enter the first phase of reopening, according to the AP. Pennsylvania has reported more than 63,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 4,200 deaths.

-The Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy left the port of Los Angeles Friday, where it had been docked for more than a month to serve as an auxiliary hospital for non-coronavirus patients.

-U.S. retail sales dropped more than 16% from March to April as lockdowns and restrictions closed businesses and kept shoppers at home. At the same time, the number of people laid off from their jobs soared to a record 11.4 million in March. “It’s like a hurricane came and leveled the entire economy, and now we’re trying to get it back up and running,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist for the consultancy Maria Fiorini Ramirez, told the AP.

Worldwide:

-Schools will be back in session in British Columbia on June 1, with many changes. Classes will be part-time and optional, and younger students will likely attend school two or three days a week. Older kids might only go once a week.

-China hit the one-month mark with no new deaths from COVID-19 reported. The country, where the disease was first discovered and the pandemic started, has reported a total of 84,031 infections and 4,637 deaths. Health experts believe the numbers in China and many countries are underreported and may be much higher.

-Officials in Ireland announced they would move to their first phase of reopening on Monday.

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.