Prognosis: Breakthrough

States are racing the clock to meet a Friday deadline from the Federal government to submit their plans to distribute a vaccine, once an effective one is ready. But Angelica Lavito reports that they’re putting together their strategies effectively blindfolded. State health officials have no clue which vaccine they will be distributing, nor when — or even if — a vaccine will be forthcoming.

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President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail today a little over a week after testing positive for the coronavirus. His campaign hopes to reverse polling trends that show him falling further behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden. But as the president prepares to address supporters amid record U.S. deaths from the pandemic, the virus stays with him, both literally and figuratively. Michelle Fay Cortez reports that Trump’s handling of his own infection, and the cluster of infections at the White House, is a microcosm of the country’s pandemic response.

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Obesity is a known risk factor for severe complications of Covid-19. But scientists are learning that the link between extra pounds and severe Covid-19 may be even stronger than they thought. This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are merely overweight, not just the obese, may be at high risk of serious disease from the infection. Emma Court reports that the warning means about two-thirds of Americans could face higher risks.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been working for months to hammer out clear standards for vaccines seeking fast-track approval. Yesterday, The agency made a series of moves that all but assured that a shot won’t be widely available by Election Day. Senior editor for Health Care Drew Armstrong explains what that means for a fast vaccine, and for Trump’s re-election.

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Dozens of companies are rushing to test and produce a Covid-19 vaccine as fast as possible. But a fringe group of DIY scientists made a bet that without regulatory hurdles, they could produce a vaccine themselves a whole lot faster. But as Kristen V. Brown reports, they learned that making a vaccine that works reliably--and can be proven safe--is incredibly difficult.

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President Donald Trump’s diagnosis of coronavirus has raised questions about everything from the Supreme Court nominating process to the possibility of future presidential debates. And of course, the unprecedented possibility of a candidate being removed from the ticket this late in an election year. Drew Armstrong and Michelle Fay Cortez discuss what we know, and still don’t, about what happens next.

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New York City was hit hardest in the early months of the pandemic in the U.S. But after a strict lockdown, the city has enjoyed months of some of the lowest case rates in the country. But as schools reopen and the weather gets cooler, cases have begun to rise. The rate of positive cases exceeded 3 percent for the first time in months, and the mayor is considering shutting select schools and businesses in the ZIP codes driving the increase. Drew Armstrong describes the citry's efforts to recover from the outbreak’s devastating toll, and to safely repair its wounded economy.

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The race for a COVID-19 vaccine entered a new phase recently. Four different vaccine candidates, developed by Moderna, Pfizer, BionTech and Johnson & Johnson, entered final-stage trials, with two others close behind. But we won’t know exactly how these four vaccines work for months. Robert Langreth explains what we can, and, more importantly, can’t know about a vaccine developed at breakneck speed.

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Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. is still hamstrung by testing efforts. There are not enough Covid-19 tests. But even when there are tests available, they aren’t always reliable. Kristen V. Brown reports on the free-for-all that U.S. coronavirus testing has become.

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Scientists in Hong Kong reported last month what many had long suspected could happen. Someone who had recovered from Covid-19 caught the coronavirus again. Since then, about a dozen cases of re-infection have been reported worldwide. These cases demonstrate that a natural infection doesn’t lead to lasting protection, and that the pandemic could persist in the human population. Bloomberg News senior editor Jason Gale talked to health experts about what this means for our ability to stop the virus and to produce an effective immunization.

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