The coronavirus pandemic seems to quickening in pace worldwide this week, with over 800,000 new known infections reported in the last week. It has only been a week since the global toll surpassed 5 million after just two weeks. In the days following the World Health Organization's declaration of South America becoming the new epicenter of the pandemic, outbreaks in countries like Brazil, Mexico and Peru are climbing at an alarming rate.
Within the United States, the nation with over 1.7 million cases and 100,000 deaths, the pandemic has shifted. Previous major outbreaks in states like New York and New Jersey have declined to daily levels similar to those recorded in March. Yet, infections and deaths in several states throughout the southern part of the country are showing increases in confirmed cases, something that could bring the nation's stabilizing outbreak right back to previous levels in a matter of weeks.
The New York Times reported that the majority of the world's population remains vulnerable to infection, making herd immunity something that will take much longer than needed to end the pandemic.
"We don't have a good way to safely build [herd immunity] up, to be honest, not in the short term," said Dr. Micheal Mina, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Unless we're going to let the virus run rampant again--but I think society has decided that is not an approach available to us."
Total Global Cases: Over 5.8 Million
Total Deaths: Over 362,000
Total Recovered: Over 2.57 Million
Ease of Restrictions
New York City Major Bill de Blasio on Thursday outlined the first steps for reopening the city that was the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, marking a new milestone in recovery.
"We're now actually in a position to start talking about opening things up, step by step, phase by phase," De Blasio stated during his daily press briefing.
De Blasio stated that the city's first phase of reopening is expected to be announced by the second week of June, following New York State's phased guidelines: construction, manufacturing, wholesale suppliers and non-essential retail. The city estimates that 200,000 to 400,000 residents will be returning to work in the first phase.
Increased Testing
Quest Diagnostics
"COVID-19 molecular diagnostic testing has been constrained partly by limited supples of swabs and trained healthcare professional to do the specimen collection," CEO Steve Rusckowshi stated in a press release. "The self-collection kit enables an individual to self-collect at home, and the process is far less invasive and uncomfortable than many traditional methods."
CVS Health
CVS is also offering self-swab tests as some of the chain's drive-thru pharmacy windows. The company requires that people meet the risk of infection set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and register for a test in advance. The pharmaceutical-chain aims to provide up to 1.5 million tests per month, with third party labs processing the results.
Back in April, CVS and other U.S. retailers including Target
