The Trump administration will pay Pfizer nearly $2 billion for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Wednesday.
As workers return to offices, children prepare to return to schools and those desperate for normalcy again visit malls and restaurants, the emerging science points to a menacing reality: If people who appear healthy can transmit the illness, it may be impossible to contain.
A single test that can give false reassurance sounds bad. But a $10 test for the coronavirus, if repeated daily, would discover real infections, say proponents of such tests as screening tools.
“This is the quickest way to ending the COVID pandemic” and returning to the “life that we all miss so much,” Gov. Tim Walz told reporters of his statewide order requiring Minnesotans to wear masks in restaurants, stores and other public indoor gathering spaces, starting Saturday.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created huge demand for free or reduced-cost food across the state as Minnesotans have lost jobs and children missed out on school lunches. Food shelves anticipate even more people will rely on them to get enough to eat.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 10 times the amount of people have the virus than have been documented. The number is still far below what experts say would be needed for widespread immunity.
Commissioner Steve Grove also says unemployment insurance remains available to parents who have to reduce their hours or stop working if schools don’t reopen in the fall.
“It puts us a lot closer,” says a Mayo Clinic vaccine researcher. But many health experts remain cautious in their optimism that a vaccine will be ready by the end of the year.
NPR's Noel King speaks with Matt Desmond, founder of Princeton's Eviction Lab, about the threat of a rising number of evictions nationwide as federal evictions relief draws to an end.
The coronavirus effect on the economy has left many struggling to keep up with rent and mortgage payments. MPR News reached out to housing assistance experts to get some advice on what to do if you can’t keep up when rent is due.
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