Deaths from COVID-19 are often due to the immune system overreacting to the coronavirus. New drugs to suppress that reaction are showing promise, say researchers. Westend61/Getty Images hide caption
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President Trump's team of medical specialists overseeing his care at Walter Reed National Military Medical center. He will still have access to round-the-clock care from the White House medical staff. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Blood plasma — the yellowish, cell-free portion that remains after red and white blood cells have been filtered out by a machine and returned to the plasma donor — is rich with antibodies. Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients might prove useful in preventing infection as well as in treatment, scientists say. Lindsey Wasson/Reuters hide caption
Harvested Antibodies Now Being Tested As A Prevention Tool Against COVID-19
It wasn't easy in early March to get a test in the U.S. confirming you had the coronavirus — scarce availability of tests meant patients had to meet strict criteria linked to a narrow set of symptoms and particular travel history. Ted S. Warren/AP hide caption
A COVID-19 patient is attached to a ventilator in April in the emergency room at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers, N.Y. A steroid treatment is showing promise in reducing mortality for patients on ventilators. John Minchillo/AP hide caption
A researcher at the German Center for Immunity Therapy holds a bag containing blood plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient at the University Hospital Erlangen on April 27, 2020 in Erlangen, Germany. This plasma could be used to treat people with COVID-19. Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images hide caption
Five Coronavirus Treatments In Development
A pharmacy tech pours out pills of hydroxychloroquine May 20 at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah. After a study found COVID-19 patients using the drug were dying at higher rates, the World Health Organization announced it would suspend its clinical trial. George Frey/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
President Trump's speculations about coronavirus treatment during Thursday's briefing have been roundly rejected by doctors, epidemiologists and manufacturers alike. Trump later said he was being "sarcastic." Alex Brandon/AP hide caption
Nurses and health care workers mourn and remember their colleagues who died during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus during a demonstration outside Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
After the Food and Drug Administration granted Gilead Sciences orphan drug status for its experimental drug remdesivir on Tuesday, Gilead asked that the agency rescind that status Wednesday. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption