General News

Some good news out of New York as the number of coronavirus patients in I.C.U.s has started to fall. Experts say this is due to the success of stay-at-home orders, school closures and social distancing. However, new projections also suggest lifting those restrictions after just 30 days will lead to a dramatic infection spike this summer and death tolls that would compare to doing nothing. And some grim news from the BBC, which tells us New York is apparently ramping up mass burials amid the outbreak. 

The federal government is reportedly considering issuing Americans certificates of immunity from the coronavirus, as the Trump administration works to better identify those who have been infected and restart the U.S. economy in the coming weeks. In related news, CNN reports antibody tests for the novel coronavirus could be available within a week. 

Research News 

Medical News Today looks at how SARS and MERS compare with COVID-19. A story in Scientific American investigates whether the presence of antibodies, serves as protection from the disease, which is critically important if we hope to identify who is immune. Also, a new study shows pangolins may have passed the new coronavirus from bats to humans. 

By analyzing the genomes found in patients, scientists now say that America was hit with COVID-19 from two continents. The majority of cases in New York came from Europe. But a different strain spread from China to the West Coast.   

In Other News 

The Philadelphia Enquirer examines what it’s like to deal with coronavirus and caring for a loved one with dementia at the same time.