The coronavirus pandemic is “not even close to being over,” according to the head of the World Health Organization, and the worst is still to come, in what was a grim assessment of the state of affairs some six months after the first cases were reported in China.
“Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world — and our lives — would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a news briefing on Monday. “The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity.”
Tedros said WHO is sending a team to Wuhan, China next week to work on the virus’s origins. He stressed that everyone, including those not feeling any symptoms, should continue to socially distance, wash their hands frequently — and wear face masks when appropriate. Tedros said contact tracing is still the most effective tool in containing the spread and expressed frustration at those countries where it has not been working well.
Contact tracing has been notably poor in the U.S., with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, saying Friday that the process of tracking down people who may have been exposed to those infected was “not going well.”
That sentiment was echoed Tuesday by the Harvard Global Health Institute in a report that said most U.S. states are still far behind where they need to be on testing, even as COVID-19 outbreaks grow more severe. A full 35 states are showing increasing rates of infection over a 14-day period, according to a New York Times tracker, and seven states are experiencing a surge in hospitalizations, namely Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
See:Why do so many Americans refuse to wear face masks? Politics is part of it — but only part
“While testing has doubled in the nation since our last estimates in May (from around 250,000 to more than 500,000 daily tests), many states opened up before suppressing the virus and are now seeing rapid increases in new cases,” said the HGHI. “States can and must work together to ramp up their testing, tracing, and supported isolation strategies (TTSI), combine them with mask wearing, distancing and other measures, and bring case counts down. This can save both lives and billions of dollars.”
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Fauci and other members of the White House Task Force created to manage the crisis will testify to a Senate Committee later Tuesday on how to get Americans safely back to work and school.
Meanwhile, some state officials are reversing some of the reopening moves of recent weeks, with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey closing bars, gyms, cinemas, water parks and tubing rentals for at least a month and limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she will sign an executive order mandating the wearing of face masks in public, in an effort to rein in the spread in her state. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said indoor dining will no longer resume on Thursday in time for the July 4 holiday weekend, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to follow suit.
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Latest tallies
There are now 10.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide and at least 509,706 people have died, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of people who have recovered reached 5.3 million.
The U.S. continues to lead the world, with a case tally of 2.68 million and death toll of 129,545.
Brazil is next with 1.37 million cases and 58,314 deaths, the data show.
Russia is third measured by cases at 649,929, followed by India with 566,840 and the U.K. with 313,470. The U.K. has 43,660 fatalities, the highest in Europe and third highest in the world. China, where the illness was first reported late last year, has 84,780 cases and 4,641 fatalities.
The European Union published a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter the trading block during the summer tourism season and the U.S. did not make the cut, as expected, given it has not contained the spread of COVID-19, the Guardian reported. Travellers from China will be allowed entry, if Beijing offers a reciprocal arrangement. Travellers from Russia, Brazil and India are also banned.
What’s the latest medical news?
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. INO,
However, the company did not disclose data about the participants’ antibody response, though it said 94% of 36 trial participants showed “overall immunological response rates based on preliminary data assessing humoral (binding and neutralizing) and T cell immune responses.” The stock, which has skyrocketed this year amid high hopes for vaccine development, promptly fell.
Three trial participants tested positive for COVID-19 and one left the study for non-clinical reasons. There were some adverse events, though none were serious, that primarily consisted of redness on the skin where the experimental vaccine was administered.
Inovio has added older participants to the early-stage trial; the original 40 are between the ages of 18 and 50 years old. It also plans to start a Phase 2/3 study this summer.
Inovio is one of a handful of companies in the U.S. studying whether their experimental vaccines can prevent infection with the coronavirus.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to release an outline of its conditions for approving COVID-19 vaccines later Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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The FDA said no vaccine will be approved unless it clearly demonstrated proof of safety and effectiveness through a clinical study, and will have to be at least 50% more effective than placebo, the WSJ reported.
Vaccine makers will be required to keep monitoring safety after approval and recommend that people who received the vaccine be followed for a year after treatment. The FDA assured that it will not reduce standards or cut corners in its review to approve a vaccine, the report said.
What’s the economy saying?
A measure of business conditions in the Chicago region rebounded slightly to 36.6 in June, after falling to a 38-year low in May, according to a report on CNBC. Economists surveyed by Econoday had expected a stronger rebound to 44.5 from 32.3 in May.
Any reading below 50 indicates worsening conditions. The Chicago PMI is the last of the regional manufacturing indices before the national ISM data for June is released on Wednesday.
Separately, the Conference Board said consumer confidence rose to a three-month high in June, as a reopening economy buoyed the spirits of Americans, but a recent spike in coronavirus cases could dampen any optimism unless it’s brought under control soon.
The index of consumer confidence rose to 98.1 this month from a revised 85.9 in May, the Conference Board said Tuesday, as MarketWatch’s Jeffry Bartash reported. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a reading of 90.8 in June.
The level of confidence is remains well below pre-crisis levels, however, after steep declines in March and April. The index had stood near a 20-year high at 132.6 in February before the pandemic shut down large swaths of the economy.
“Consumer confidence partially rebounded in June but remains well below pre-pandemic levels,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the board. “Faced with an uncertain and uneven path to recovery, and a potential COVID-19 resurgence, it’s too soon to say that consumers have turned the corner and are ready to begin spending at pre-pandemic levels.”
See: How COVID-19 could spread on college campuses. Will students be safe?
What are companies saying?
Memory-chip maker Micron Technology Inc. MU,
“We continue to see healthy demand trend in cloud in the second half of the year,” Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts on a conference call. “Cloud is still actually in early innings, and long-term trends for cloud are strong.” In the second quarter, the company said that the work-from-home economy, e-commerce and videogame streaming all drove a strong surge in demand for more cloud-computing capabilities.
Micron’s comments echo those that other chip giants, such as Intel Corp. INTC,
There was less cheery news for auto makers on Tuesday, when Moody’s Investors Service said it has downgraded $ 130 billion worth of debt owed as a result of the coronavirus-induced economic downturn, which the credit rating agency expects will hurt auto demand through 2022.
However, the companies that were downgraded were “weakly positioned” and had challenges before the coronavirus outbreak. And overall, Moody’s said the auto industry is “much better prepared” for the current downturn than it was for the 2008 to 2009 recession, and has much better liquidity.
Among U.S. auto makers, Moody’s rates General Motors Co.’s GM,
Elsewhere, companies continue to raise capital to boost their liquidity positions and to offer updates on reopening plans and recent performance milestones.
Here’s the latest news on companies and COVID-19:
• Acuity Brands Inc. AYI,
• Aon PLC AON,
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK,
• Cinemark Holdings Inc. CNK,
• Conagra Brands Inc. CAG,
• Forterra Inc. FRTA,
.• GrowGeneration Corp. GRWG,
• Jabil Inc. JBL,
• Papa John’s International Inc.’s PZZA,
• Xilinx Inc. XLNX,