Autopsies recently carried out in California show that one person died of the disease on February 6—three weeks before the nation recorded its first fatality.
Assembling the first COVID-19 test kits in the same room as coronavirus material, along with other practices that didn’t follow protocol, made the tests unusable, officials say.
Current methods to detect infections of the novel coronavirus rely on identifying particular genetic sequences, but new assays are being developed to meet the growing demand for rapid answers.
Administration officials have given contradictory statements about how COVID-19 will affect the US, and it is not clear who is leading the infectious disease response effort, critics say.
Scientists debate why the number of whooping cough cases is up, and whether the effectiveness of a vaccine introduced within the last two decades is to blame.