The coronavirus pandemic has started to show resurgence in parts of the world that were perviously stable, showing a glimpse to what is to come for many nations of the world as they begin to reopen their economies and borders again. In Beijing, flights to and from China's capital were cancelled and schools were closed as officials try to contain the new growing outbreak. In the United States, at least 20 states new cases rates are increasing as the country enters a disjointed balance between states reopening too quickly while others opt for a phased reopening. Current outbreaks in states like Texas, Arizona and Florida have made many question whether a second wave of infections is about to wash over the nation with over 2.2 million cases and 119,000 deaths.
Vice President Mike Pence wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal that "such panic is over blown," stating that the United States is not experiencing a second wave of infections. Pence pointed to the increases in cases coming from increases in testing, adding that, "every state, territory and major metropolitan area, with the exception of three, have positive test rates under 10%."
Yet, Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. top infectious disease expert and White House health advisor, stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the higher percentages of positive tests, "cannot be explained by increased testing." However, Fauci did agree with the Vice President that the United States is not experiencing a second wave, rather it is still the first wave.
On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated that he believes the federal government is making a "historic mistake" in its handling of the pandemic by allowing states to reopen too quickly. During his press conference on Wednesday, Cuomo toughed on fears that the virus can continue to spread throughout the country through travel from areas with high infection rates.
"If those states are going up, they could spread the virus to New York. They have a higher rate of infection than New York. What happens when those people get on planes and fly to New York?," Cuomo asked.
Total Global Cases: Over 8.39 Million
Total Deaths: Over 450,000
Total Recovered: Over 4.41 Million
Treatment Update
German biotech CureVac received approval to start human trial of its potential coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, with regulators allowing the company to start a phase one clinical trial with 168 healthy participants in Germany and Belgium. The biotech's Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas stated that first meaningful results of the trail could be available in September or October, reported by Reuters. CureVac also plans a larger phase two trial with 15,000-20,000 participants that could begin as early as September, hinging on the phase one trial results. The company hopes for the vaccine to be approved sometime in 2021.
The World Health Organization stated on Wednesday that it is dropping hydroxychloroquine from its global study of potential coronavirus treatments due to the anti-malaria drug showing no beneficial results. In addition, the global agency warned that the use of the steroid dexamethasone for the treatment of COVID-19 is still in early research and cautioned the use outside of severely ill patients due to the side effects of steroidal treatment.