Yahoo Finance Coronavirus latest: Thursday, June 4
On Thursday, the FDA granted Roche ‘emergency use’ clearance for a coronavirus test which helps to identify patients who are at high risk of dangerous immune responses. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.
Video Transcript
MYLES UDLAND: --in the weeks ahead. And on-- along these lines, we got some interesting news today out of-- right out of New York City, news that restaurants will be reopening until the month of July. And it continues to give us a framework for what recovery looks like in some of the hardest hit areas of the country. For a bit more on where things stand with the coronavirus and also, I think, some troubling trends in terms of case counts going up and hospitalizations on the rise, I want to bring in Anjalee Khemlani now for the latest on all that. Anjalee?
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Thank you, Myles. Yep, as you mentioned, there are some concerning sort of emerging spots around the country, which really, a lot of health experts have been keeping an eye on. And they span, you know, around the country. They're not really, you know, relegated to just the coast or to the southern area. So really a mix of what is going on and what we're looking for for the future.
Meanwhile, there are some different little pieces of news today all related to the health sphere. First of all, Roche got its FDA authorization for a new kind of test which in about 18 minutes can identify severe patients who are hospitalized that may need to be on a ventilator. And so that, as we know, with the concerns over the ventilator problem earlier this year, that may be a new move to kind of help that.
Meanwhile, the Health and Human Services Department just released new guidelines that more positive COVID tests are going to be collecting even more information. We know that, you know, the inequities and health care have been highlighted throughout the outbreak but also in light of all the protests in the past week. So we're hearing a lot more about that. And the federal government has been taking action. And so now, we're going to be seeing more information and more data about where these cases are popping up, including zip codes, information about race and ethnicity and gender as well.
And so that is going to also help direct the federal government on where their resources are supposed to be going. So you know, some interesting developments there. As we know, we've heard from so many health experts that this is going to be with us for a while, so keeping an eye on that.
MYLES UDLAND: And Anjalee if I could really quickly just about the severe test. So does this-- I mean, because I remember, like, the oximeter reading was essentially the way the doctors were looking at, oh, who has the most severe case of COVID. What does this test tell us? I guess this also indicates that there's a broader understanding now of this disease and what severe cases really are relative to more mild cases.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Right. So one of the underlying sort of common threads with some of those severe patients was severe inflammation. And so when you're hearing about that, that can be detected through a blood test. And that is what Roche has been able to detect. And so looking at those indications is helpful.
And yeah, we are definitely learning a lot more about what the common threads are. At what point does a person, you know, end up at higher risk of being on a ventilator? And so I think we're going to be seeing, you know, in the coming months a lot of the stuff that doctors were looking at in the past few months coming out in studies.
MYLES UDLAND: And all of this important to know as we reopen the economy. If more people get sick but we know what to do with them, there is certainly a plan in place, which we had no idea what we were doing back in March and the earlier parts of April. All right, Anjalee Khemlani with the latest on the coronavirus. Always great to get your thoughts.
