USA Today - 03.04.2020

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NEWS E2 USA TODAY ❚ FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020 ❚ 3A


CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC


The FDA has authorized the first test
for coronavirus that measures antibod-
ies in the blood. Such tests could iden-
tify people who have recovered from
COVID-19, key for knowing who's im-
mune and developing a vaccine.
Cellex Inc. of Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina, received an
emergency use authorization for its
test Thursday from the Food and Drug
Administration. It uses blood drawn
from a vein to measure antibodies to
the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes CO-
VID-19.
It is the first of an expected flood of
such tests as companies race to devel-
op them. Antibody tests are already be-
ing used in several countries, including
China, South Korea and Singapore.
“Antibody positivity likely means a


person has recovered and can't be rein-
fected. This test will be extremely valu-
able, especially for healthcare work-
ers,” said Alan Wu, a professor of lab-
oratory medicine at the University of
California, San Francisco and chief of
the clinical chemistry and toxicology
laboratories at Zuckerberg San Francis-
co General Hospital.
The Cellex test and other blood-
based tests are different from nasal
swab tests that identify patients with
active SARS-CoV-2 virus in their mu-
cous membranes. Those tests show a
patient has an active case of COVID-19.
Blood tests can determine someone
had – and recovered from – COVID-19.
Such tests also will be crucial for
vaccine production. To prove a vaccine
works, you must show antibody pro-
duction in someone who hasn’t been
exposed to COVID-19. Only an antibody
test can do that.

FDA authorizes 1st


blood test for virus


Elizabeth Weise
USA TODAY


cations represent the nation’s most ac-
curate gauge of layoffs and furloughs.
Last week’s total is about tenfold the
695,000 weekly unemployment insur-
ance claims in October 1982, which was
the previous record before the dismal
numbers of the past two weeks.
“The labor market is in a historic free
fall,” says Nick Bunker, director of eco-
nomic research for the hiring lab at In-
deed, the online job search giant.
Accommodation and food services
continued to lead the industries pum-
meled by layoffs, followed by health
care and manufacturing, Labor said.
More sectors are starting to be affected
as a growing number of states cite retail
and wholesale trade and construction.
Nichole Martens, 27, was laid off
from a server job at the Mercury Cafe in
Denver less than a week after residents
were ordered to stay home to contain
the spread of the virus. She filed a job-
less claim, but Colorado’s unemploy-
ment website says the enhanced bene-
fits included in the $2.2 trillion federal
relief bill aren’t yet available.
Martens, who lives in a three-bed-
room townhouse with two roommates,
needed $1,100 to pay for rent, utilities, a
phone bill and auto insurance.
“It’s frustrating because I’ve now
been out of a job for three weeks,” she
says. “I actually had to pull money from
a 401(k) I had from five years ago.”
About 879,000 workers filed claims
in California, a massive total that was
largely expected after Gov. Gavin New-
som said about 1 million workers
sought benefits in two weeks. Only
186,000 filed the week before.
There were 406,000 claims in Penn-
sylvania, 366,000 in New York, 311,
in Michigan, 276,000 in Texas and
227,000 in Florida.
The historic numbers could mark
just the initial wave of a punishing
couple of months.
Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist
of Oxford Economics, expects a total
22 million job losses by May, pushing
the historically low 3.5% unemploy-
ment rate to 12%, before the outbreak

Economy


Continued from Page 1A

eases and the economy and labor mar-
ket begin to revive. The Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis predicts as many as
47 million layoffs and a mind-boggling
32% jobless rate, higher than the 25%
rate during the Great Depression.
In contrast to other recessions, the
job cuts are the result of a calculated
halt to economic activity. Thirty-six
states issued stay-at-home orders af-
fecting 86% of Americans and shutting
down restaurants, stores, hair salons,
movie theaters and other nonessential
businesses to stem the spread of the vi-
rus. More states could follow, intensify-
ing layoffs in parts of the country now
feeling more subdued effects.
Several factors probably fueled mas-
sive jobless claims last week, analysts
say. Major corporations such as Marri-
ott, GE and ZipRecruiter announced
layoffs or furloughs that probably
translated into a surge of claims.
Many states reported a flood of ap-
plications for benefits that jammed
phone and online systems the previous
week, pushing many of the claims into
last week, Morgan Stanley said.
The $2.2 trillion stimulus bill, which
Congress passed late last week, ex-
panded eligibility for unemployment
benefits to contractors and the self-em-
ployed. Many of those gig workers
could have applied in anticipation of
the bill passing, Bank of America says.
The abrupt closures of service busi-
nesses may mean a disproportionate
share of layoffs took place the past cou-
ple of weeks. Nomura economist Lewis
Alexander expects jobless claims to
slow in coming weeks, partly because
the stimulus forgives small-business
loans for firms that hold on to their
workers. Daco expects claims to ratchet
even higher the next couple of weeks
before easing as the outbreak ebbs and
many businesses reopen by summer.
Friday’s jobs report for March is like-
ly to reflect only a fraction of the job
losses because the survey was taken
the week ending March 14, before the
bulk of the layoffs.
In a sign of the economy’s drastic
reversal, the Labor Department had
tallied a booming 273,000 job gains in
February.
Contributing: Jazmin Goodwin and
Charisse Jones

In a week of stunning images, this
one stood out: The massive Navy
hospital ship USNS Comfort
sailing into New York Harbor,
flanked by police boats, gliding
by the Statue of Liberty.


It was there to take on non-corona-
virus cases, to relieve overrun New
York City hospitals.
In Central Park, an emergency field
hospital rose, 14 white tents staffed by a
team of 72 doctors, nurses and other
health care workers from Samaritan’s
Purse, an evangelical Christian disaster
relief organization. Makeshift hospitals
were also underway in the Javits Con-
vention Center in Manhattan and the
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
in Queens.
Retired nurses, doctors and thera-
pists returned to work. Medical schools
graduated students early, so they could
go to work.
The top of the Empire State Building
flashed red, a 1,400-foot-high heart-
beat in the sky, to thank all those on the
front lines.
Around the city, every night at 7,
people stood outside to clap for medical
workers.


Around the country, people put
teddy bears in windows for kids
to find on walks. Teachers drove
through neighborhoods to wave
at students, to tell them it’s OK,
we’re still here.


When a doctor was pulled over for
speeding in Minnesota, the police offi-
cer gave her five masks instead of a
ticket.
When a 5-year-old’s birthday party
was canceled in Eatontown, New Jer-
sey, fire trucks paraded down his street
to help him celebrate.
When a flower store in Naples, Flori-
da, had a wave of canceled orders, the
owner loaded up buckets of fresh flow-
ers and drove around the city, giving
them away.
An 87-year-old Warwick, Rhode Is-
land, woman called police Friday be-
cause she had no food in the house and
the community center couldn’t help her
until Monday. An officer asked for her
list and went shopping.
In Milan, Michigan, neighbors step
out side each night at 7 and just smile
and wave to each other.
In Indianapolis, they sing.


In every city, in every
neighborhood, on every block,
people are offering to help, to do
what they can.


We are, too.


The USA TODAY Network has more
than 5,000 journalists across the coun-
try covering this crisis for their commu-
nities. All the coverage is free outside


paywalls at more than 250 news sites.
USA TODAY is not behind a digital
paywall. In addition, we offer a free,
daily coronavirus newsletter. (Sign up
at newsletters.usatoday.com.)
We are part of the communities we
cover and are eager to support our
neighbors. So our company created a
website, supportlocal.usatoday.com,
that connects hundreds of small busi-
nesses and the people who want to
support them by buying gift certifi-
cates.
We know you’re worried about your
job, your mortgage, your bills. The
hardships hit home this week when our
company, Gannett, announced cost-
cutting measures, including furloughs
for journalists.
We get it. We’ve assembled an ex-
pert group of reporters to answer your
questions about unemployment, the
stimulus and your rights. Our Money
team will answer questions on your
benefits and bills. Our Washington
team will help you with the federal
stimulus plan. Consider us your per-
sonal finance strike team. You can ask
questions at money.usatoday.com.
We’ll answer them there as well.
We also know this is hard. Really
hard.
You, your friends or family may be
sick (we have sick co-workers, too).
The kids are home, and you’re trying to
watch or teach them while you work
(us, too). You’re eating too much and
not getting enough exercise. (Ditto.)
It helps to know that you’re not
alone. We’ve started a newsletter,
“Staying Apart. Together,” to share tips
(including one on sleep), diversions
(such as 10 great livestream concerts)
and how-tos – things to make living
easier during this unprecedented time.
We even created a guided meditation,
inviting you to pause, relax your mind
and breathe.
As the stress builds, as the times get
tougher, we’re here to help.
It’s our mission. It’s what we do.
Photojournalist Lola Gomez at the
Austin American-Statesman, part of
the USA TODAY Network, was hospi-
talized this week with COVID-19. She
reported the news in a video from her
hospital bed.
“I wanted to share my story as a jour-
nalist and a regular human being that
nobody is exempt from this,” she texted
Thursday. “If (people) don’t believe in
news, they should believe in people
that are telling their own stories of be-
ing sick with COVID-19 and in doctors
and nurses telling their stories about
how they are struggling to treat pa-
tients.”
She made the same plea in her video:
“Try to be informed the right way,” she
said. “News reporters, photographers
videographers ... are working – I mean
even more than 40 hours per week – to
get you the news as soon as they have
it. So take care of yourself.”

Thank you for reading, and thank
you for supporting USA TODAY. To re-
ceive this column as a newsletter, visit
newsletters.usatoday.com and sub-
scribe to The Backstory.

When the news becomes too


much, see that there is help


THE BACKSTORY


Nicole Carroll
Editor-in-chief
USA TODAY

Own the Gold of the Rockefellers,


Carnegies and Tiffanys


W


hat’s the first image that comes into
your mind when you think of
wealth and prosperity? For many of
us, it’s tall, shining stacks of gold. For
families like the Rockefellers, Carnegies
and Tiffanys, that gold took the form
of $5 U.S. Gold Liberties, struck by
the U.S. Mint in 90% pure
American gold.
These coins circulated widely
in the late 19th and early
20th centuries until President
Franklin Roosevelt made
private gold ownership illegal
in 1933, resulting in the melting of
millions of Gold Liberties. It’s estimated
that less than 10% of all vintage U.S. gold
coins survive.
We recently secured a number of these
beautiful vintage U.S. gold coins, and now
we’d like to pass them on to you. How does
that sound, Mr. Rockefeller?
Timeless American Treasure
Struck between 1866 and 1908, these particu-
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Best of all, your coin will come sealed in a
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The Perfect Time to Buy
Another great reason to secure these vintage
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These are the coins to buy, and the time to
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Don’t Miss Out—Secure Your
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GovMint.com® is a retail distributor of coin and currency issues and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. The
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consummate any sale, within its discretion, including due to pricing errors. Prices, facts, figures and populations deemed
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your acceptance of GovMint.com’s Terms and Conditions (www.govmint.com/terms-conditions or call 1-800-721-0320); to
decline, return your purchase pursuant to GovMint.com’s Return Policy. © 2020 GovMint.com. All rights reserved.
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Your coin will arrive graded by
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