Richard Burr, some other senators sold lots of stock as virus fears started
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak, Senate records show.
Several other senators sold big stock stakes around the same time, Senate records reveal.
The documents show that Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in 33 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels.
–CBS/AP
Almost half of coronavirus patients have digestive symptoms, study finds
Diarrhea and other digestive symptoms are the main complaint in nearly half of coronavirus patients, Chinese researchers report. Most patients with the coronavirus have respiratory symptoms, but these findings from the early stages of the outbreak show that digestive problems are prevalent in many patients with COVID-19.
“Clinicians must bear in mind that digestive symptoms, such as diarrhea, may be a presenting feature of COVID-19, and that the index of suspicion may need to be raised earlier in these cases rather than waiting for respiratory symptoms to emerge,” wrote the investigators from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Expert Group for COVID-19.
The researchers analyzed data from 204 COVID-19 patients, average age nearly 55, who were admitted to three hospitals in the Hubei province between Jan. 18 and Feb. 28, 2020. The average time from symptom onset to hospital admission was 8.1 days.
–Robert Preidt
“There is hope”: Two drugs could help patients fight back
One of the reasons health professionals are so worried about the coronavirus pandemic is that there is no specific medicine to treat or prevent the disease — if a patient gets sick, all doctors can do is provide supportive treatment to help them breathe. But in Thursday’s coronavirus task force briefing from the White House, President Trump touted two preexisting treatments that have been floated as potential ways to help patients fight back.
Both drugs are still in clinical trials for coronavirus. But CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus joined “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell to break down what we know about the medications.
Read the full interview with Dr. Agus here.
COVID-19 confirmed in staff at facilities housing migrants in U.S.
Officials confirmed Thursday that a staffer at a New York facility that cares for unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. custody tested positive for COVID-19. The government is consulting with the local health department about “the level of exposure for the children” in the facility.
The unidentified New York facility, overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), has stopped receiving unaccompanied minors and officials are notifying any staff that may have been exposed. Nationwide, the U.S. government has tested four unaccompanied children in ORR custody for the coronavirus. Two tests came back negative and the others are pending.
Separately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced that one of the agency’s medical staffers at a detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, tested positive for the virus. The staffer was recently under self-quarantine and is now receiving treatment, according to officials. Earlier in the day, an officer at a jail in Bergen County, New Jersey, used by ICE also tested positive for the virus.
ICE said there have not been any confirmed COVID-19 cases among its tens of thousands of immigrant detainees. But the agency is facing mounting pressure to release some detainees to avert a potentially deadly outbreak inside the world’s largest immigration detention system.
California governor announces statewide stay-at-home order
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a statewide order for residents to stay at home, taking effect Thursday evening. Essential services like grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open, but venues like bars, dine-in restaurants and gyms will be closed.
“This is a moment where we need to have straight talk and we need to tell people the truth,” Newsom said.
He added that the order will not be enforced by law enforcement, and that he is relying on the social contract to keep people indoors.
“I don’t believe the people of California need to be told through law enforcement,” he said.
