Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:
Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)
- Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide 2,658,794 (up from 2,573,471 Yesterday)
- Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 185,440 (up from 178,558 Yesterday)
- Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 730,039 (up from 701, 838 Yesterday)
- The US has 849,144 Confirmed Cases and 47,784 Deaths, up from 819,175 cases and 45,343 deaths yesterday
- The US has now tested 4,326,648 people, with 20% of tests showing positive for SARS-CoV-2
- Projections by Chinese-US team indicate South Korea and New Zealand are among the best in the global crisis at balancing economics with disease controls.
- China has been effective in suppressing the epidemic quickly but the strategy comes at too high a cost, researchers say.
- Attempts by authorities around the world to "flatten the curve" could be the worst way to fight the pandemic coronavirus, according to new projections by an international team of researchers.
- The approach, which has been adopted by many countries in the hope that warmer weather and a future vaccine will help rein in the virus, could destroy economies while having little effect on cutting infections, the researchers led by Peking University Professor Liu Yu said.
- "The turning point will never come, the peak value of case numbers will remain the same as if there are no such measures," the team, which included scientists from Harvard University in the United States, said in a non-peer-reviewed paper released last week.
- "We strongly suggest they reconsider [the approach]."
- The policy resulted in a major disruption to economic activity and social life but was not effective in isolating infected people from the rest of the population. To some extent, it was worse than doing nothing, they said.
- "This choice still incurs 20-60 percent loss of economic output, but only achieves a 30-40 percent reduction in the number of cases, an extent which is insufficient to overturn the epidemic curve," the researchers said. "Our results show that this is usually the worst scenario in terms of cost-effectiveness."
- Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that the White House believes the coronavirus epidemic will be "largely in the past" by this summer.
- Pence gave the timeline in an interview with The Wall Street Journal podcast.
- "We truly do believe as we move forward, with responsibly beginning to reopen the economy in state after state around the country, that by early June, we could be at a place where this coronavirus epidemic is largely in the past," Pence said.
- "Americans are going to be able to enjoy a good summer," he said.
- President Trump last week unveiled a three-phase plan for states to get their economies rolling again.
- "We're closer to the end that most people know."
- Scientists at the University of Louisville have found a way to teach cells to not accept the viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2, a new paper suggests.
- A technology they developed could block the virus from infecting human cells.
- It's based on a piece of synthetic DNA (also known as an aptamer) that targets and binds with a human protein called nucleolin.
- Early research and experiments, led by researchers Paula Bates, John Trent, and Don Miller, indicate the aptamer may be effective at preventing the coronavirus from "hijacking" nucleolin to replicate inside the body at doses previously shown to be safe in patients.
- The Louisville team has applied the same aptamer in a variety of ways, and it has reportedly emerged as a potential therapeutic drug for multiple types of cancer.
- "Cells can be given instructions, and among those instructions can be to refuse to bind to Coronavirus." the lead scientist said. "We're close."
- Stats from New York's largest hospital system suggest that ventilator therapy is only about 10% effective on COVID-19 victims.
- Over 88% of patients put on a ventilator succumb to the disease.
- The US is currently manufacturing over 100,000 new ventilators for its strategic stockpile, a figure often quoted by President Trump.
- Doctors suggest that the use of ventilators in COVID-19 victims may be used to late and should be applied earlier to be most effective.
- After complaints from foreign buyers about substandard products, findings will be music to the ears of Chinese manufacturers, but study is not yet peer-reviewed.
- Researchers looked at test kits used to identify COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit at North Zealand Hospital in the Danish city of Hillerod.
- Chinese test kits were also found to be less than accurate in Germany and Australia, where governments have ceased using Chinese-made kits and switched to US or EU-based manufacturers.
- China had previously offered COVID-19 test kits to dozens of countries including the US.
- Trump had refused to allow US researchers to use Chinese-made kits, prompting many to criticise the speed at which the US launched widespread testing.
- The president said he told Gov. Brian Kemp "I disagree strongly" with his decision to reopen nail salons and tattoo parlors — but he won't stop him.
- President Donald Trump said Wednesday he "strongly disagrees" with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's decision to allow businesses like barbershops and nail salons to reopen, a day after he praised him during the White House briefing.
- "I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities," Trump said at his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday. "But at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right. I want him to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he's doing."
- Kemp tweeted after the president's remarks that he appreciated Trump's "bold leadership and insight during these difficult times," but he didn't back down.
- "Our next measured step is driven by data and guided by state public health officials. We will continue with this approach to protect the lives - and livelihoods - of all Georgians," Kemp wrote.
- Numerous researchers have warned that opening up economic activity too soon may result in a fresh outbreak of COVID-19.