Insider

San Francisco received national praise for its early, proactive response to the Spanish flu pandemic in the fall of 1918.But when the number of cases tapered off by November 1918, the city relaxed restrictions on the public too early, ultimately leaving San Francisco with one of the highest death rates in the US by the…

As countries around the world grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, the richest ZIP code in the US — a private island off the coast of Miami — has snapped up 1,800 antibody tests for its residents and staff.Business Insider talked to Fisher Island staff and residents, parsed through reports from news outlets, and viewed letters…

The World Health Organization warned that there is no evidence antibody tests can show if a person who was previously affected by the novel coronavirus is immune to reinfection.Antibodies can't guarantee long-term immunity from the virus for recovered patients or former asymptomatic carriers, officials said Friday.The concerns over the lack of immunity after infection come…

New tests can identify people who have been infected and recovered from COVID-19 by searching for coronavirus antibodies in the blood. Researchers from Stanford University recently tested 3,300 Californians in Santa Clara county for antibodies. Their results suggest that the number of people who have been infected in the county is between 50 and 85 times higher…

Ten nurses were suspended from a California hospital after refusing to work with coronavirus patients unless they were given more protective equipment, including N95 face masks.The nurses at Providence St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica started to make the demands after a colleague tested positive.They are barred from returning to work while the company…