Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reports On Silent Infections Suggest Officials Have Been 'Off The Mark By Huge, Huge Numbers' In Total Counts
The Associated Press: Reports Suggest Many Have Had Coronavirus With No Symptoms
A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared. While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life. In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California. (Marchione, 4/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Does Covid-19 Infection Equal Immunity?
As the ranks of Covid-19 survivors swell, scientists are racing to understand how well they resist reinfection—and just how long that hard-won immunity might last. So far, most medical researchers who have studied coronaviruses related to the pathogen that causes Covid-19—including SARS, MERS and the common cold—are confident that people who do recover gain some immunity to SARS-CoV-2, based on preliminary studies and case reports of the new virus. They don’t know yet whether that protection will last a few months, a few years or a lifetime. (Hotz, 4/19)
Stat: Everything We Know About Coronavirus Immunity, And Plenty We Still Don't
People who think they’ve been exposed to the novel coronavirus are clamoring for antibody tests — blood screens that can detect who has previously been infected and, the hope is, signal who is protected from another case of Covid-19. But as the tests roll out, some experts are trying to inject a bit of restraint into the excitement that the results of these tests could, for example, clear people to get back to work. Some antibody tests have not been validated, they warn. Even those that have been can still provide false results. (Joseph, 4/20)
ABC News: What Plasma Donations Could Mean For The Hardest-Hit COVID-19 Patients
The son of a retired New York state investigator hopes the experimental treatment of convalescent plasma will help his father, who has been in the hospital for more than two weeks battling the coronavirus. Danny Fernandez's son, Zachary Fernandez, and ex-wife, Yesenia Fernandez, put out a plea on Friday asking for coronavirus survivors to donate blood for an antibody test for the coronavirus. (Carrega, 4/18)
