POLITICO NIGHTLY: The search for a cure

• By Renuka Rayasam Presented by NOW AND LATER — The United States today topped 10,000 deaths from Covid-19. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care. New York City may soon have to conduct temporary burials in a potter's field to assist overwhelmed morgues and crematoriums. A cure can't come soon enough. Here's a look at some of the drugs — to test for, to treat and to prevent Covid-19 — that scientists are researching. Some are coming soon, and others are still some ways off. Short-term — Today, the CDC started rolling out antibody tests, a simple diagnostic that can help researchers figure out who has already recovered from the disease — and better track how it is spreading. Researchers believe that getting the virus creates at least short-term immunity from reinfection. With widespread use, such tests could identify people who can get back into the workforce and even figure out places where some level of herd immunity may exist. But even checking people's temperatures with a no-touch infrared sensor before they enter a grocery store could help keep the virus at bay, Mark Slifka, a vaccine researcher at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, tells us. Fever is the most common symptom of the virus, and Slifka points to recent CDC research showing that just 6 percent of transmissions occurred from people before they showed symptoms of the virus. While checking for fevers won't stop the virus spread, it could slow it by keeping some infected people who can't get Covid tests from being in public. Medium-term — Antiviral drugs like the experimental remdesivir, which has not been approved for any use, are in clinical trials to be used against Covid-19. By this summer, researchers will have a better idea whether some of these drugs can be used to effectively treat patients. The World Health Organization has launched a massive global trial of four therapies. Doctors are also trying out off-label uses of drugs like hydroxychloroquine , which have been approved by the FDA for other uses, on critically ill patients who have few options left. President Donald Trump has been touting hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment option — a claim that has led to open political dispute between White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The FDA is also looking at whether convalescent plasma, basically the blood of a recovered patient, can be used to treat critically ill patients. The strategy has been around for more than a century, and some researchers say it could be more effective at preventing the spread of the disease than treating it. Long-term — Researchers are also starting to test dozens of new chemical compounds to treat Covid-19. These would be brand new drugs made possible by gene sequencing and could take years of development before they are thoroughly vetted. Researchers are focusing on the "spike protein" that the virus uses to latch onto human cells. The virus shares similarities with SARS and other coronaviruses, giving researchers hope that the vaccine development timeline could be one or two years, much faster than the usual timeline for a vaccine. Two vaccines are already in early stage trials and the first results could come in just months. But that timeline isn't fixed in stone — and a vaccine could be years away if it comes at all. "It is premised on the fact that nothing goes wrong," said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, a nightly intelligence brief from our global newsroom on the effect of the coronavirus on politics and policy, the economy and global health. Your host enjoyed one bright spot amid the continued lockdowns: a socially distanced neighborhood concert from her guitar-playing husband. Reach out with requests for his next performance: rrayasam@politico.com and @renurayasam.   A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: the eradication of COVID-19. We are rapidly screening our vast global libraries to identify potential treatments and have numerous clinical trials underway. Explore our efforts.   First In Nightly DEMOGRAPHIC DILEMMA — In Florida, five counties have revealed that black and Latino Covid-19 patients are getting hospitalized and, in some places, dying at higher rates than white patients. In Michigan , African Americans make up 14 percent of the state's population but accounted for 33 percent of cases and 41 percent of deaths as of Monday. And when Louisiana's Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards announced today that the state would begin releasing preliminary data on race and coronavirus deaths, he said he had a "disturbing" note: "Slightly more than 70 percent of all the deaths in Louisiana are of African Americans." Louisiana is about one-third African American, according to the Census Bureau. The majority of states either aren't collecting or aren't releasing full racial and ethnic data on those tested and treated for coronavirus, write Laura Barrón-López, Holly Otterbein and Maya King . And without that data, more than a dozen health professionals and policymakers told POLITICO, it will be difficult to provide communities of color the resources to treat and recover from coronavirus — and to diagnose it in the first place. A team of doctors at the Universities of Virginia and Pittsburgh, partnering with the data tracking firm Rubix, used data from seven states and more than 103 hospital groups and patient advocacy networks to show that thousands of minority patients were not receiving testing for the coronavirus despite showing symptoms. Jeff Lancashire, a spokesperson for the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics said the CDC will release demographic data on Covid-19 deaths, "but not for a while."   HOW DOES THE ECONOMY RESTART? A Morning Money Virtual Interview: Join POLITICO chief economic correspondent and author of the Morning Money newsletter Ben White on Tuesday, April 7, at 9 a.m. EDT for an important interview with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow to discuss what the Trump administration is doing to prevent a recession from turning into a depression and why Kudlow believes it is possible that the U.S. could really snap back to growth in the second half of the year. They'll also discuss what life is like in the White House during this time of crisis. REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE HERE.     Palace Intrigue SECRETARY BIRX? — Even though the pandemic response is nowhere near done, there is already chatter in Washington about what Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator, might do next, according to our colleagues Daniel Lippman, Dan Diamond and Gabby Orr. "Trump loves her," one official told Diamond, with a second saying that "she could have her pick when this is done." One Trump administration official and one person close to the administration said she could be a top choice to head up Health and Human Services or the CDC. Another spot that she's been buzzed about for is the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, a former U.S. government official and another person close to USAID told Lippman and Orr. USAID's administrator, Mark Green, recently left the administration. "She's a logical candidate," one source told Orr, who added that others are pushing Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) and former Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.). Before she was detailed to the White House, Birx served as the U.S. government's leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS globally, a role she's held since 2014. "USAID needs someone like Birx who has credibility in Trumpworld, understands the need for U.S. leadership in the developing world and can get through confirmation," the former government official told Lippman. A U.S. government official said that if she did take over USAID, she would likely want to keep control of the global HIV/AIDS response. Birx didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, and neither did a White House spokesperson. SPRING'S NO. 1 NEW SHOW — Trump's interaction with the press has evolved from a group of reporters shouting at him before he boards Marine One to operating as his own press secretary during the almost nightly coronavirus task force briefings. Video reporter Mary Newman walks through the changing, yet still contentious, nature of the president's communication with the press, which former press secretary Sean Spicer calls "a true evolution from day one to where it is now." POLITICO Around the Nation GREEN SHOOTS — Some states hit early and hard by coronavirus are signaling that the pandemic is slowing: They are handing back ventilators to the national stockpile to help other states that are going see the virus surge. California, Washington state and Oregon are all lending supplies to New York, now battling the nation's worst outbreak. The West Coast states issued the country's earliest shelter-in-place orders. Even if efforts to "flatten the curve" don't lower the overall number of infections over time, they do keep hospitals from being overwhelmed with a rush of patients at once and help lower overall mortality rates. New Jersey, which is still in the thick of a virus surge, is starting to see its rate of virus deaths decline as more people stay at home and hospitals receive additional supplies.     The Global Fight EASTER RISING — Austria is the first European country to outline its plan for reopening its economy, our Ryan Heath writes. The idea is for small shops to reopen Easter Monday, April 13. At the end of April, a decision would be made about larger stores, restaurants, hotels and schools. Austria began its lockdown in mid-March. If its declining death numbers and testing progress are any guide, U.S. states and metropolitan areas that acted early may be able to make similar moves in the next two weeks. But there are also warning signs for the U.S. in and around Europe, where other nations are ramping up restrictions: Israel is going under complete lockdown until Passover. North Macedonia is under curfew after 4 p.m. each day. The government of Sweden, where restaurants are still open, has proposed toughening its current loose restrictions. Ask The Audience Nightly usually poses a question about the effect of coronavirus on politics and policy to experts across the political landscape. Today, we're asking you: What's one way coronavirus has changed the way you think about politics? Send us your thoughts, and we will highlight answers later this week, as we continue to uncover how the pandemic is changing America.   DON'T MISS POLITICO DISPATCH : Go behind the scenes at POLITICO and hear expert reporters unpack the most important news and updates, all in 10 minutes or less in POLITICO Dispatch, recently added to the "Covid-19 Essential Listening" section on Apple Podcasts. Learn how journalists break news, work sources and pull back the curtain to deliver critical reporting during this once in a century pandemic. Fast. Short. Daily. Subscribe to POLITICO Dispatch and start listening today.     Nightly Number 18.5 percent — The percentage chance Americans say there is that they will lose their job in the next year, according to a survey released today by the New York Federal Reserve. That's the highest level since the Fed branch began the monthly survey in June 2013 and up from 13.8 percent in February. (h/t financial services reporter Victoria Guida) Parting Images A person crossing an empty street in Baltimore. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO AMERICA FROM THE GLASS — In cities across the country, streets are empty save for a few lonely figures wandering in acts of courage, defiance or foolhardiness. America looks different without people. It looks different from behind the wheel of a car, the only risk-free means of transportation these days. Photographer M. Scott Mahaskey, who has embedded in war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, trained his camera on a different kind of danger zone, his home territory of Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.   A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: the eradication of COVID-19. The investments we've made have prepared us to act swiftly: · Rapidly screening our vast global libraries to identify potential treatments and have numerous clinical trials underway · Dedicating our top scientists and using our investments in new technologies to speed the development of safe and effective vaccines · Sharing learnings from clinical trials in real time with governments and other companies to advance the development of additional therapies · Expanding our unique manufacturing capabilities and sharing available capacity to ramp up production once a successful medicine or vaccine is developed Explore our efforts.   Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam   Follow us

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