The coronavirus outbreak in the United States surpassed 2 million confirmed cases on Wednesday, with infections and hospitalizations rising in many states as governments move to ease social restrictions in favor of salvaging the pandemic-torn economy. According to data compiled by The New York Times, cases are rising 20 states as the western hemisphere enters the summer months. The top five states with rising case numbers are California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona.
As the nation with the highest case count begins to restart its economy, health experts still are concerned that the amount of large gatherings that are forming around the country will lead to more infections.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House health advisor, stated on Wednesday that the protests across the nation could lead to more outbreaks as many people are close together without masks.
"Masks can help, but it's masks plus physical separation, and when you get congregation like we saw with the demonstrations, like we have said--myself and other health officials--that's taking a risk," Fauci stated on ABC's "Good Morning America." "Unfortunately, what we're seeing now is just an example of the kinds of things we were concerned about," meaning the public ignoring social distancing so soon after the pandemic related shutdowns were lifted.
Total Global Cases: Over 7.4 Million
Total Deaths: Over 416,000
Total Recovered: Over 3.7 Million
W.H.O. Comments on Asymptomatic Spread
World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented on Wednesday on the agency's recent remarks on asymptomatic spread: "Communicating complex science in real-time about a new virus is not always easy, but we believe it's part of our duty to the world and we can always do better."
On Monday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency's head of emerging diseases and zoonosis, stated that asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus is "very rare." The comment led Kerkhove to clarify that her previous statement was a misunderstanding and the answer hasn't been defined yet scientifically.
Dr. Fauci weighed in on the manner during his same Wednesday interview with "Good Morning America," stating that the W.H.O. was not correct in their assessment on asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus.
"In fact, the evidence we have given the percentage of people, which is about 25% [to] 45%, of the totality of infected people likely are without symptoms. And we know form epidemiological studies that they can transmit to someone who is uninfected even when they are without symptoms."
Vaccine Hopefuls Heat Up
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced on Wednesday that the pharmaceutical has moved up the start date for human trials of its potential coronavirus vaccine from September to July. According to Reuters, the acceleration of its preclinical testing should allow the company to take part in the clinical trials program planned by the United States government, which aims to have a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
The company's Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels told Reuters that the drugmaker has been working closely with the U.S. on its vaccine timeline.
"Based on the strength of the preclinical data we have seen so far and interactions with the regulatory authorities, we have been able to further accelerate the clinical development," Stoffels said in a statement.