Wonderful World

Hopes rise with drug trial’s early results

Initial results showed the experimental drug Remdesivir could speed recovery in patients infected with the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday. In a federal trial, the time to recovery averaged 11 days among those who received the drug, and 15 days for those who got a placebo. The improvement “doesn’t seem like a knockout 100 percent,” Dr. Fauci said, but “it is a very important proof of concept, because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus.”

U.S. deaths have passed 60,000 and infections surpass 1,000,000, according to Johns Hopkins Univeristy. The nation’s top infectious-disease expert said results from an early trial involving Remdesivir were “very encouraging.”

Jobless Claims hit 30M, Carbon Emissions plunge 8%

Economists estimate the Labor Department will report Thursday that 3.5 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment insurance last week, down from the roughly 4.4 million claims the week before and the all-time high of 6.86 million applications filed in late March.

If the latest weekly total matches estimates, it will mean 30 million Americans have applied for unemployment in just six weeks, a breathtaking number that exceeds all the jobs created since the Great Recession.

Global greenhouse gas emissions are on track to fall nearly 8 percent this year, the largest drop ever recorded, the International Energy Agency reported today. But the group’s executive director warned, “The only way to sustainably reduce emissions is not through painful lockdowns, but by putting the right energy and climate policies in place.”

Federal Social Distancing Guidelines Expire Today

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the federal government’s coronavirus social distancing guidelines will be “fading out” when they expire Thursday, counting on states taking charge as they pivot to reopening. The administration says its cautionary guidance issued 45 days ago has been incorporated into recommendations given to the states on how they can begin gradually easing restrictions and reopening their economies.

Separately on Wednesday, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, told “Fox and Friends” that the administration is preparing the country to “get as close back to normal as possible as quickly as possible.”

“I think what you’ll see in May, as the states are reopening now, is May will be a transition month,” he said. “And I think you’ll see by June, a lot of the country should be back to normal and the hope is that … by July the country is really rocking again.”