Trump complains about Fauci’s high approval rating, wonders why his isn’t as high

President Trump lamented Anthony S. Fauci’s popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic and complained that he should be given equally high marks.

“We’ve done pretty much what he and others, Dr. Birx and others who are terrific, recommended,” Trump said, referring to Fauci. “And he’s got this high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect, and the administration, with respect to the virus?”

...

Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches.

She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by “reptilians” and other aliens. (...)

Immanuel gave her viral speech on the steps of the Supreme Court at the “White Coat Summit,” a gathering of a handful of doctors who call themselves America’s Frontline Doctors and dispute the medical consensus on the novel coronavirus. The event was organized by the right-wing group Tea Party Patriots, which is backed by wealthy Republican donors.

1) There is a lot of talk about decaying antibodies. I would like to walk you through a few findings about antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 that we put on medRxiv on Friday. Ill do this slowly over the day (while being in nonstop conference calls). But I feel this needs to get out there.

— Florian Krammer (@florian_krammer) July 21, 2020

Most people in the United States are still highly susceptible to the coronavirus, CDC study finds

The true number of infections is probably far greater than reported cases, and few people had antibodies to the virus as of this spring

The agency also reported the number of actual coronavirus infections is probably far higher — by two to 13 times — than reported cases. The higher estimate is based on the study on antibodies, which indicates who has had the virus in the past. Currently, the cumulative number of reported cases in the United States stands at 3.8 million.

The new data appeared Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine and on the CDC website. The information about antibodies was derived from blood samples drawn from 10 geographic regions, including New York, Utah, Washington state and South Florida. The samples were collected in discrete periods in two rounds — one in early spring and the other several weeks later, ending in early June. For two sites, only the earlier results were available.

The blood samples were collected during routine screenings such as cholesterol tests. Such serological surveys are being conducted throughout the country as public health experts, government officials and academics try to determine the virus’s course, how many people have been infected and how many have produced antibodies in response.

In New York City, almost 24 percent of the population had antibodies as of early May — the highest proportion by far of any of the locations but still far below the 60 to 70 percent threshold for herd immunity, the point at which enough people are immune to the virus, either through exposure or because they have been vaccinated. Herd immunity makes it far less likely the virus will be transmitted from person to person.

In the other areas, the percentages of people with antibodies were in the single digits in late May and early June. That included Missouri, at 2.8 percent; Philadelphia, at 3.6 percent; and Connecticut, at 5.2 percent.

With vaccines still months or years off, some people have suggested allowing large numbers of people to become infected to speed the process of herd immunity. Many call that idea dangerous.

“The study rebukes the idea that current population-wide levels of acquired immunity (so-called herd immunity) will pose any substantial impediment to the continued propagation” of the virus, at least for now, wrote Tyler S. Brown and Rochelle Walensky, infectious-disease specialists at Massachusetts General Hospital, in an accompanying editorial. “These data should also quickly dispel myths that dangerous practices like ‘COVID parties’ are either a sound or safe way to promote herd immunity.”