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https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-news-04-18-2020-11587197819?mod=hp_lead_pos3

The coronavirus pandemic in America’s hardest-hit state is starting to wane, its governor said, as more U.S. protesters rallied to lift social-distancing restrictions.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at news conference on Saturday that the number of people currently hospitalized in the state for Covid-19, is under 17,000 compared with about 18,000 at its peak

With more than 235,000 reported coronavirus cases, New York accounts for about one-third of all cases in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It has nearly three times as many as the No. 2 state, New Jersey, despite a population just over twice as large.

But the average person infected with Covid-19 in New York now infects 0.9 other people, compared with 1.4 at the height of the outbreak, according to Mr. Cuomo, indicating that the virus’s spread is now slowing.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8232131/Adherence-social-distancing-spurs-dip-projected-U-S-coronavirus-deaths.html?ito=push-notification&ci=13334&si=5694542

Coronavirus death toll estimate DROPS again: Top COVID-19 model shows predicted US fatalities have fallen by 12% from 68,841 to 60,308 – just a month after it projected that 84,000 would die

The University of Washington’s model projected on Friday that the US death toll will reach 60,308 by August 4
This marks a 12 percent decline from 68,841 deaths forecast earlier in the week
Better-than-expected social distancing practices and strict state shutdowns have helped slow the outbreak and improve the outlook for Americans
States with low death rates could relax some restrictions on May 4, experts said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-to-give-commencement-to-west-point-pence-delivering-speech-at-air-force-academy_3317096.html

President Donald Trump said he will give a commencement speech at West Point, a U.S. military academy in New York.

Trump told reporters in Washington Friday that cadets will be spread out to comply with social distancing guidelines amid the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year.

“I understand they’ll have distancing, they’ll have some big distance, so it will be very different than it ever looked. Do I like the look? No, I don’t,” he said.

Eventually, graduations will return to normal, with people “nice and tight,” he added.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/04/18/its_time_for_the_white_house_to_focus_on_drug_approvals_142941.html

In this COVID-19 era, it’s the scientists who will ultimately get us back to work. It is time for the Trump administration to acknowledge this and adjust its public communication strategy accordingly. It is hard to envision a scenario looking like the “normal” we all crave until we have therapeutics to protect us from the coronavirus’s effects as we await a vaccine to prevent us from catching it. Once we all know we can take a drug that will minimize symptoms and possibly prevent infection in the first place, we can interact safely in ways that even a ramped-up testing regime will not allow.

Daily White House briefings, and as a result the media and the American public, have been fixated up to now on the response to the pandemic from the administration and Congress. These updates primarily focus on three of the four main categories of activity: federal aid to businesses and displaced workers, needed supplies and equipment for our health care system, and the social distancing regimen complete with handwashing and homemade masks. The two medical faces of this crisis, Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, have concentrated on the last two and keep faithfully explaining what the administration is doing, or should be doing, to increase testing, equip frontline workers, and ultimately flatten the curve. 

We hear much less about the fourth category of activity, that is, the race to find a therapeutic solution to combat the virus while we await a vaccine. Therapeutics include anti-viral drugs that inhibit the coronavirus and antibody therapies that boost immunity to the virus, and possibly off-label use of existing drugs. 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/coronavirus-model-estimates-us-deaths-down

A key coronavirus model has lowered its estimate of total U.S. deaths in its latest projection of how many will die due to the contagious virus.

The revision will likely fuel criticism from skeptics that initial projections were overblown, and one that government leaders may use to say that efforts to combat the spread are working.

The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) lowered its projection of total deaths from 68,841 (with an estimate range of 30,188 to 175,965) to just over 60,308 (with an estimate range of 34,063 to 140,381) in an update published Friday.

The institute said that change was partially driven by both higher estimates in states like New York and New Jersey, and lower projections in states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Georgia and Florida.

“By incorporating the trend in cases alongside COVID-19 deaths in our model, many locations are now predicted to have longer peaks and are taking longer to move down the epidemic curve to zero deaths,” a statement from the institute said. “Subsequently, these places now have higher projections for cumulative COVID-19 deaths through the first wave.”