Coronavirus Watch: Outbreaks at meatpacking plants continue to soar

Coronavirus outbreaks at U.S. meatpacking plants continue to soar as the industry ramps up production, scales back plant closures and tries to return to normal in the weeks after President Donald Trump declared it an essential operation.

The number of coronavirus cases tied to meatpacking plants has topped 20,400 infections across 216 plants in 33 states, according to tracking data from Paste BN and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. 

At least 74 people have died. 

It's Sunday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 2 p.m. ET:

• Can COVID-19 be prevented before it starts? Pharmaceutical companies and doctors are hustling to develop a vaccine, but less attention has been paid to possible treatments that would prevent infection before or after someone is exposed to the virus. Read more on those potential treatments here.
• On a summer day in this tourist town, one could almost imagine the coronavirus pandemic didn’t happen. A video of a bustling pool party in Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks went viral in recent weeks, and business appears to be just about normal in the tourist-heavy area. 
• More than 1.9 million people have tested positive for the virus in the U.S., and more than 110,000 have died. Worldwide, more than 6.9 million people have tested positive for the virus, and 401,000 have died. See the numbers in your area here.

Do you have questions about the coronavirus? Submit them through this form. Paula from Lake Ozark, Missouri, asks: Are the antibody tests specific for COVID-19 or do they show antibodies for any coronavirus?    

Antibodies are disease specific, so the antibodies your body develops from a SARS virus infection, for example, are different from the antibodies from a COVID-19 infection.

Antibody tests aim to detect antibodies from an infection of a specific virus. In this case, that's the COVID-19 virus. But sometimes the tests can mistake the antibodies from other viruses, such as coronaviruses that cause the common cold, for those resulting from a COVID-19 infection. That's part of why researchers are encouraging the public to approach the tests with caution.

Moreover, researchers don't yet know if having antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19 can protect someone from getting infected again or, if they do, how long this protection might last.

As always, thank you for subscribing! We appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network with this important information.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck; Jay Cannon, Paste BN Network and wires editor, @JayTCannon