FDA approves new COVID antigen test
Regulators have approved a new type of coronavirus test that administration officials have promoted as a key to opening up the country. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday announced emergency authorization for antigen tests developed by Quidel Corp. of San Diego. The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said. The antigen test is the third type of test the FDA has cleared.
70% of inmates in one U.S. prison have virus
The number of inmates infected with the coronavirus at a federal prison in Lompoc, Calif., shot up to 792 this past week, making it the largest federal penitentiary outbreak in the nation, surpassing a facility on Terminal Island in San Pedro, where 644 inmates have contracted the virus. Nearly 70% of the inmates at Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc have tested positive, increasing by more than 300 in recent days. FCI Lompoc along with Terminal Island now account for about 47% of all the federal inmates who have tested positive nationwide. Both prisons have done widespread testing of hundreds of inmates even without symptoms.
Protests swell at California capitol
Dozens of demonstrators in militia clothing protested at the State Capitol in Sacramento, one of at least three groups protesting Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order. Another group calling itself the 2nd Regiment of the California State Militia held a silent vigil on the sidewalk. More than 75 state troopers stood guard behind steel barricades. Many demonstrators, ignoring social distancing guidelines, said Newsom's shutdown of the economy and a ban on protests on the Capitol grounds were unconstitutional. A third group conducted a prayer meeting across the street.
Seoul shuts down bars and clubs, again
South Korea's capital shut down nightclubs, hostess bars and discos after dozens of infections were linked to people who went out last weekend as South Korea relaxed its social-distancing guidelines. Many of the infections were connected to a 29-year-old man who visited three nightclubs before testing positive. Mayor Park Won-soon said health workers were trying to contact some 1,940 people who had been at the three clubs and other places nearby. The mayor said gains made against the virus are now threatened "because of a few careless people."
Two more N.Y. kids die of rare ailment
Two more New York children have died from a "toxic shock-like" ailment that doctors now think is tied to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. The toddlers, who were being treated for symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease, a mysterious and rare ailment, tested positive for COVID-19. "This is the last thing that we need at this time with all that's going on, with all the anxiety we have," he said, but offered no other details about the new deaths. A 5-year-old boy died in New York City Thursday from the ailment. In what amounts to a shocking new front in the coronavirus fight, 73 toddlers and young children in New York are now being treated for the mystery illness, which can inflict a potentially deadly inflammation of blood vessels.
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