Anti-Bodies...

No evidence exists that people who have recovered from the coronavirus are protected from reinfection, even if they have antibodies, the World Health Organization said Saturday.

The warning from the U.N.’s health arm runs counter to what many survivors thought could be their ticket to freedom from COVID-19 lockdowns.

Preliminary antibody testing this week suggests one in every five New Yorkers have had the virus, according to a sample of 3,000.

The state’s health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, said he hopes testing can help get people out of their homes.

Negative...

The bizarre movement in the market was exaggerated by a quirk in the way oil prices are set.

Traders pay varying prices depending on the grade of crude, where it comes from, and the date on which it is meant to be delivered. Normally these differences are small, and they go unnoticed outside of the energy market. But on Monday they were exacerbated by sharp swings in the price.

Benchmark US oil prices crashed into negative territory for the first time in history as the evaporation of demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic has left the world awash with oil and not enough storage capacity meaning producers are paying buyers to take it off their hands.

West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, lost more than 250 per cent to trade as low as -$40.32 a barrel in a day of chaos in oil markets. Traders capitulated in the face of limited access to storage capacity across the US, including the country’s main delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma.

Immunity...

There is “currently no evidence” that people who recover from coronavirus are protected from a second infection, the World Health Organization wrote in a scientific briefing.

Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection,” the WHO wrote.

“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.”

The information was sure to be troubling as the world continued grappling with the outbreak, which as of early Sunday had sickened more than 2.9 million people and killed more than 203,000 across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Studies have shown that recovering coronavirus patients appear to have antibodies to the virus, indicating past infection, but some of those patients also show low levels of neutralizing antibodies in their blood, suggesting that cellular immunity – in the form of T-cells that eliminate infected cells – is also needed for recovery along with antibodies, the WHO said, according to the report.

Lock Down...

Dozens of protesters, some of whom were armed, gathered Thursday inside Michigan's Capitol building to voice their opposition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order, with tensions high as lawmakers were poised to debate an extension of the declaration.

Holding American flags and handmade signs, the demonstrators in Lansing first congregated shoulder-to-shoulder outside before demanding to be let inside the building. Some chanted "Let us in," The Detroit News reported.

Similar gatherings have sprouted up across the country with participants denouncing stay-at-home orders in their respective states. Many activists have framed their discontent as a civil-rights issue.

The orders have mandated that people stay home and that businesses temporarily close, resulting in massive job losses and employee furloughs.

A rally on April 15 called "Operation Gridlock" drew thousands outside Michigan's Capitol, in addition to another gathering outside Whitmer's home.

Irrelevant...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are planning to introduce a bill to stop mergers of large companies during the coronavirus pandemic, the lawmakers said on Tuesday.

The "Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act" would ban large mergers until the Federal Trade Commission "determines that small businesses, workers, and consumers are no longer under severe financial distress," the lawmakers said in a statement. 

FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips said M&A activity overall has "dramatically" decreased due to the coronavirus, and shutting down mergers entirely "doesn't make a lot of sense." Speaking on CNBC on Tuesday, he said there has been "absolutely no ramp down in enforcement," and that the agency is carefully monitoring mergers in the healthcare industry.

Casual Friday...

Vote...

Pressure...

Heart attacks are often caused by high blood pressure, which nearly one in every three Americans has.

But a study by the CDC now suggests high blood pressure could also be linked to the coronavirus.

The CDC study examined 14 states in the month of March, finding nearly half of all coronavirus patients with underlying conditions suffered from hypertension.

That number skyrocketed up to 72% for patients 65 and older -- the age group where the virus is most likely to be fatal.

It would make sense since that older patients are succumbing to this disease, a very high percentage of them are going to have hypertension as well.

While concerns have been raised about high blood pressure and the medications used to treat it , there just isn't enough information or data to draw any conclusions.

Shrugged...

His stubborn refusal to take the coronavirus seriously may have caused thousands of deaths.

Aymerica’s COVID-19 devastation is disproportionately a story of New York State’s devastation, and New York State’s devastation is overwhelmingly a story of New York City’s devastation.

There’s a case to be made that New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is the single individual in the United States who is most to blame for the catastrophic loss of human life.

I refer you to a grueling investigation by Charles Duhigg in the New Yorker that painstakingly compares the responses to the outbreak in Seattle and New York City. Seattle, paying heed to warnings from scientists, acted quickly to stem the outbreak; de Blasio, despite having several weeks after Seattle announced its first case to prepare for the deluge, shrugged at the virus and even advised people to go out and mingle. As of April 26 Seattle appears to be in good shape: King County, Washington has had 5,739 cases and 400 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University dashboard.

Yet on March 2, de Blasio urged New Yorkers in a tweet to go out on the town. On March 10, de Blasio said on MSNBC, “If you’re under 50 and you’re healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu. And transmission is not that easy.” 

On March 11, the day Seattle closed its schools, de Blasio said in a press conference, “If you are not sick, if you are not in the vulnerable category, you should be going about your life.” De Blasio didn’t acknowledge until April 3 that asymptomatic transmission was taking place, claiming he had learned this in the last two days. It had been 63 days since Anthony Fauci declared that asymptomatic transmission was certainly happening. Just a thought.

Briefings...