Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

A substantial number of Americans — not just older adults and people with underlying medical conditions — are at increased risk of severe illness from the new coronavirus, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, issued the new warnings during a news conference — the agency's first briefing since March.

"As we move forward and each of us weigh our risk for infection and make decisions about going about our lives, it’s important for all of us to try the best we can to continue to take steps we know are effective to prevent COVID-19," Redfield said.

Risk increases steadily as people age, the CDC now says, and it’s not just those over 65 who are at increased risk for severe illness.

The CDC also updated the list of underlying medical conditions that increase the risk of severe illness to include chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, a weakened immune system because of an organ transplant, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Conditions that might increase a person’s risk of severe illness include asthma, high blood pressure, liver disease, neurologic conditions such as dementia, stroke and Type 1 diabetes.

Pregnant women also were significantly more likely to be hospitalized, admitted to the intensive care unit and receive mechanical ventilation than nonpregnant women, the CDC said.

"This pandemic is not over," Redfield told reporters. "The most powerful tool that we have, the most powerful weapon, is social distancing."

At least 30 states have seen increases in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 over the previous week. California, Texas and Florida, the country's three most populated states, have set records this week for the number of new coronavirus cases. Overall, the U.S. reported 38,173 new infections Wednesday, the highest single-day level yet.

With 2.4 million known cases of COVID-19 and more than 122,480 deaths, the U.S. is by far the hardest-hit country in the world, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University. More than 9.5 million people worldwide are known to have been infected with the new coronavirus, and at least 484,880 have died.

Latest Developments

United States:

-Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state won't move to the next phase of reopening while cases continue to spike. “We are where we are,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Tampa. He said he "never anticipated" moving forward at this point. “I didn’t say we’re going to go on to the next phase, you know, we’ve done a step-by-step approach and it was an approach that’s been reflective of the unique situation of each area.” Limited restrictions remain in place under the current Phase 2, including limiting indoor capacity to bars and restaurants at 50%. Florida has confirmed more than 114,000 cases of COVID-19, the sixth-highest in the nation. At least 3,327 people have died in the state.

-Health officials in South Florida's Miami-Dade County say 27% of coronavirus tests are coming back positive, according to CNN. “The last thing you want to see is, instead of flattening the curve, we're going in the totally opposite direction,” Dr. Lilian Abbo, the chief of infection prevention at Jackson Health System in Miami, told the network.

-Two Dignity Health hospitals in the Phoenix area are suspending elective surgeries amid the surge in COVID-19 cases in Arizona. Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott is also restricting elective procedures, The Associated Press reported. Arizona has reported more than 63,000 cases and about 1,500 deaths.

-Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave pro sports the green light to resume, without spectators.

-Officials in Travis County, Texas, issued on order Thursday banning gatherings of more than 100 people through July 10, KEYE-TV reported. The order also prohibits socializing in groups larger than 10 people.

-Experts predict a baby bust in the U.S. after the coronavirus pandemic. "Basically, the bottom line is this: when there's a storm warning, there's some data that suggests that the rate of pregnancies increase, but actually when destruction happens, like a tsunami, then actually your births go down," Dr. Rahul Gupta, chief medical and health officer at the March of Dimes in New York, told CNN. "So there's a difference in what the impact on society is of any natural calamity or a pandemic - and the forecast suggests that this is much more serious than a tropical storm. It's a tsunami."

-New Hampshire on Thursday had 893 active cases of COVID-19, its lowest number in more than two months.

-The CDC warned Thursday that the new coronavirus has moved into younger populations across much of the U.S. “It is obvious that we are seeing right now infections that are targeting younger individuals,” Redfield said during the news conference. Younger people may not be taking the risk of pandemic spread as seriously as they should, Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC's deputy director for infectious diseases, said. “We may need to get out the message that young people are not somehow naturally immune to this virus, although they may be at lower risk of severe infection,” Butler said.

-Redfield also said the actual number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. is probably 10 times higher than 2.4 million confirmed cases. Twenty million infections means that about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have been infected, according to the AP. "It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible," Redfield said.

-Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, told CNN cases are rising in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio at alarming rates. "The big metro areas seem to be rising very quickly and some of the models are on the verge of being apocalyptic," Hotez said.

-Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday suspended elective surgeries in Harris County, which surrounds Houston, and in Bexar, home to San Antonio; Travis, where Austin is, and in Dallas counties.

-A new report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office said the Trump administration sent more than 1 million stimulus payments totaling nearly $1.4 billion to dead people.

-The GAO report, which examined the government's response to COVID-19, also found the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported incomplete and inconsistent data from state and jurisdictional health departments that made it more difficult to track and know the number of infections, mitigate their effects, and make informed decisions on reopening communities.

-Florida reported 5,004 new coronavirus cases overnight on Thursday, the second straight day of more than 5,000 new cases.

-Churchill Downs announced the 2020 Kentucky Derby, rescheduled for Sept. 5, will have fans in the stands "under strict guidelines" that include limited capacity and asking fans to wear masks and wash or sanitize their hands frequently, the Courier-Journal reported.

-Another 1.48 million people filed unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department reported. It was the 12th straight drop and a sign that layoffs are slowing.

-The country's coronavirus testing capacity has begun to strain, the New York Times reported. More than a dozen public laboratories say they are now “challenged” to meet the demand. Experts have estimated that at least 500,000 coronavirus tests daily are what the country needs to safely reopen. “I’m continuously frustrated that this is still a problem,” Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious diseases at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told the newspaper. “We should be at a place where getting a test isn’t as challenging as it used to be.”

-Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were at President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week were ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days after two of their colleagues tested positive for the coronavirus, the Washington Post reported. At least six advance staffers who helped organize the trip had tested positive for the virus, including two Secret Service employees. Another two advance staffers tested positive after Trump returned to Washington on Sunday.

Worldwide:

-Mexico’s Finance Minister Arturo Herrera announced on Thusday that he had tested positive for COVID-19. "I have very minor symptoms. From this moment I will be in quarantine, and I will continue to work from home," Herrera said on Twitter.

-The Eiffel Tower partially reopened. Visitors are allowed to climb steps to the second level. Elevators are still off-limits and the top observation deck will stay closed until at least July 15. Visitors older than 11 must wear a mask.

-Many of the European countries that eased restrictions are seeing a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the World Health Organization said. Thirty countries in Europe have recorded increases in cumulative cases in the past two weeks, WHO Europe chief Henri Kluge said at a press conference in Copenhagen. Kluge added that accelerated transmission in 11 countries "has led to very significant resurgence that if left unchecked will push health systems to the brink once again in Europe."

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.

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