By Avi Selk  Email

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The latest

Children of any age may be susceptible to the coronavirus and able to spread it, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, as the United States debates whether to reopen classrooms in a few weeks. The study details an outbreak at a summer camp in Georgia last month, where at least 260 children — half of whom were 12 or younger — and staff contracted the virus in less than a week.

Top public health experts issued dire warnings to the nation this week as the American death toll surged, infections hovered near record highs and millions struggled to pay their bills. “If the nation does not change its course — and soon — deaths in the United States could be well into the multiple hundreds of thousands,” the Association of American Medical Colleges said in a statement. The coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, Deborah Birx, called for “governors and mayors of every locality” to order residents to wear masks — something President Trump and many Americans still resist.

Other architects of the federal government's coronavirus response delivered bleak news to a House subcommittee Friday. Testing czar Brett Giroir testified that three-quarters of test results across the country come back within five days, with no prospect of substantially reducing the lag time any time soon. Later in the same hearing, infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci acknowledged that such long delays “in many respects obviates the whole purpose of doing it.” 

Fauci, however, said he remained “cautiously optimistic” that a safe and effective vaccine will be ready this year. The U.S. government has spent billions to support the development of several vaccine projects, and announced the largest one yet this morning: a $2.1 billion deal with the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and its British partner, GSK.

An estimated 20 to 30 million Americans are losing $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits Friday after Congress failed to approve a new stimulus package. Democrats and Republicans blamed each other and promised to keep working toward a replacement program, though they remained far from a broad agreement by week's end. Meanwhile, many unemployed Americans will immediately lose approximately half of their income — in some cases significantly more. The Post interviewed laid-off workers from across the socioeconomic spectrum about the pain they expect to face.

The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing days-long backlogs after its new director banned overtime pay, shut down sorting machines early and upended schedules. Postal officials said the problems won't affect the delivery of mail-in ballots for November's election, but several Democrats suggested Trump is sabotaging the agency in an effort to suppress voting.

Other important news

Governors who imposed strict quarantine orders, such as Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer (D), have seen their approval ratings soar while those with lax policies, such as Florida's Ron DeSantis (R), have become less popular, according to a Post analysis.

A Florida couple was arrested for allegedly walking their dog and going shopping despite a positive covid-19 test — the latest of a handful of Americans jailed for potentially spreading the virus.

A new study concluded that college students would need to be tested for covid-19 every two days, with rapid turnaround times and isolation dorms for those infected, if campuses are to reopen safely.

Your next jury duty stint could look radically different as U.S. courtrooms get pandemic-proofing makeovers.

Live updates and more

Track deaths and confirmed cases in the U.S. and across the world. 

Where states reopened and cases spiked.

Post reporters are publishing live dispatches nearly 24 hours a day.

Read the latest about what's happening in the D.C. area. 

Submit a question and we may answer it in a future story or newsletter.

Your questions, answered

“What's happening with the plasma survivors are donating?” — Pamela, no location given

President Trump brought this topic into the spotlight Thursday when he urged people who have recovered from covid-19 to donate their blood and the potentially life-saving antibodies it may contain. But hospitals have been harvesting survivors' plasma since March, using it in a variety of promising treatments and experiments. 

“People who recover from a coronavirus infection typically have virus-blocking antibodies circulating in their blood in the weeks after they recover,” Post science reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson wrote this week. “Those antibodies can be harvested in plasma donations and transfused to the next people who get sick, helping boost their immune systems.”

So far, about 50,000 people have received transfusions of convalescent plasma under a program sponsored by the federal government. Many of the patients were severely sick, and preliminary data suggests the treatment was safe and effective. But it hasn't yet been rigorously studied, and Johnson notes that the technique has had mixed results when used on other diseases, such as measles and Ebola.

Still, antibody treatments are an enticing tool in the fight against covid-19, and tests are underway to see whether survivors' plasma could be used in outpatient procedures, or even as a way to prevent people from catching the disease.

Which brings us to a related question from a reader considering donating:

“I tested positive for covid-19 and have fully recovered. Is it true that by donating blood plasma, my antibody levels will be lowered, thereby resulting in diminished personal protection against a second covid infection?” —Charles, no location given

No. Medical experts around the world agree that there's no risk in donating your antibodies. The relatively tiny amount extracted shouldn't make any difference to your immune system.

“The amount of antibodies removed from body are but a fraction of what a person has and the body continues to make additional supply,” Shmuel Shoham, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Johnson.

Keep in mind, however, that just because you've recovered from covid-19 doesn't necessarily mean you're protected from the disease. Some people produce more antibodies than others, and scientists are still studying how long any immunity lasts.

Today’s top reads

Find more stories, analysis and op-eds about the outbreak on our coronavirus page, including:

• Perspective: Sports leagues are trying to salvage a year. They should be trying to save a future.
• With coronavirus cases rising, Britain imposes new restrictions and slows reopening
• ‘Teach me to be brave’: Protecting my kids from covid-19’s physical and emotional toll
   

Sinclair yanked a pandemic conspiracy theory program. But it has stayed in line with Trump on coronavirus. By Paul Farhi ●  Read more »

Pandemic underscores how public parks shape public health Analysis ●  By Christopher Ingraham ●  Read more »