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New York’s vast virus exposure

QuickTake Tonight
Bloomberg

Greetings, QuickTake readers! In this edition: House passes $500 billion relief bill, half of Europe's virus deaths were in nursing homes, a wearable for cows that may protect the environment.

1 in 5 exposed to Covid-19 in NYC

Far more New Yorkers have been infected by coronavirus than have been diagnosed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. An antibody study found 13.9% of people randomly tested in the state showed signs of the virus. That's about 2.7 million residents, 10 times more than the official count.

The pandemic was more intense in New York City, the hardest-hit area in the U.S., where 21.2% of people, or one of every five residents, tested positive for a blood marker showing they'd been infected at some point.

"They were infected three, four, five, six weeks ago, but they had the virus, they developed the antibodies and they are now recovered," Cuomo said. New York has recorded at least 263,460 virus cases and 15,740 deaths.

Experts say testing positive for antibodies doesn't necessarily prove immunity, but knowing how many people have them could help determine whether the outbreak has slowed enough to begin restarting the economy.

$ignificant figures

$484 billion. The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed and sent to Trump a virus aid package on the same day government figures showed 4.4 million Americans filed jobless claims last week.

£20 million. The British government invested about $25 million in human trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine at Oxford University, which "aims to have about a million doses by September."

27%. Earth's population of land-dwelling insects has shrunk by more than a quarter over the past 30 years, with the most dramatic declines seen in North America, especially the Midwestern U.S.

Highly quotable

"Unimaginable tragedy." The WHO says up to half of Europe's more than 108,000 virus deaths were in "notoriously neglected" nursing homes and warned the pandemic was far from over.

"I'll miss you dearly, my brother." Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother died of COVID-19 on Tuesday in Oklahoma, she tweeted, saying, "there was no family to say 'I love you' one more time."

"One of the really dumb ideas of all time." Andrew Cuomo panned Mitch McConnell's comments in favor of allowing states to declare bankruptcy, saying, "you will see a collapse of this national economy."

This is not normal

Drying out. Persistent drought is reducing soil moisture across swathes of Europe, stressing crop production and threatening food output—and the dry spells may become more frequent in the future.

The future is now

Cow wearables. A U.K. startup is developing a methane-capturing mask that has nothing to do with coronavirus, but it may be able to reduce emissions from cattle by up to 60%.

What's good

Eager to help. After lockdown orders forced food banks to close across San Fransisco, volunteers started organizing pop-up pantries to help the growing number of those hit hard by the pandemic.

Now that you're caught up... Tell your friends to sign up to receive our newsletter five days a week. Follow QuickTake on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

BTW: Banksy's "Girl with a Pierced Eardrum" in the U.K. has been updated for the coronavirus era. See the mural.

Thanks for reading!
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Andrew Mach

     

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