 Welcome to the Coronavirus Weekly Brief. We're your hosts on David Sturman and I'm Melissa Sallig-Furk with New America. Here are the headlines you need to know. The World Health Organization reported a record daily increase in cases on Sunday, with the global total number of cases rising by 183,020 people in just 24 hours. There have been more than 2,280,000 coronavirus cases in the United States and 119,977 people have died, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University. At least 622,133 people have recovered and the United States has conducted more than 27 million tests. Worldwide, there have been more than 8,970,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. With 468,567 deaths, more than 4,443,000 people have recovered from the virus. Emerging treatments for COVID-19 deal with both viral infection and immune response. Breaking through the noise of poor quality clinical studies are the first clear signs of a treatment paradigm for COVID-19, writes BioCentury, in a summary of 25 control trials for COVID-19. The two major therapeutic approaches are, quote, attacking the virus and modulating the immune system, unquote. And the timing of each approach is important. The recent findings on the anti-inflammatory steroid, dexamethasone, along with findings on antivirals, primarily remdesivir, quote, support the prevailing hypothesis that antivirals are most effective early in disease. When viral replication is the primary driver and that immunosuppressants are most effective later on, when an over-aggressive immune response takes over, often being the cause of death, unquote. Among the antiviral studied, remdesivir has accumulated the strongest positive results and fewest negative results in clinical trials. Although remdesivir's effects are modest, it shortened recovery time and moderately ill COVID-19 patients by a few days. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine stand out with the clearest negative results, and there is mixed data on other antivirals from small studies, often with weak controls. Severe COVID-19 seems to be an immune disease as much as a viral infection, and immune modulation has emerged as a leading approach to COVID-19 in several clinical trials, writes BioCentury. A robust immune response is necessary to clear the virus from the body, and if the immune response is too strong, excess inflammation can become destructive, driving the lung damage that leads to the acute respiratory distress of severe COVID-19. On Saturday, President Trump held his first rally since the pandemic began. The rally's attendance was smaller than anticipated, and his remarks featured musings over the coronavirus pandemic. During the rally, he claimed that increased testing causes the nation to look bad, and told the crowd that he told his aides to decrease the amount of testing. Trump stated, quote, testing is a double-edged sword. When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, so I said to my people, slow the testing down. Administration officials sought to walk back to claim, which at least on its face appeared to be a statement that the administration delayed critical public health measures. One White House official told CNN later in the day that Trump was, quote, obviously kidding, unquote, and White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on Sunday said the comment was made in jest. Navarro said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, quote, come on now, that was tongue in cheek, unquote. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf similarly claimed, what you heard from the president was frustration, frustration in the sense of that we are testing. I believe we've tested over 25 million Americans, we've tested more than any other country in this world, unquote. The statement drew strong criticism from Democrats, with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, for example, commenting that any slowdown would mean, quote, more Americans will lose their lives. And saying, quote, the president is ethically unfit and intellectually unprepared to lead. The rally itself faced sharp criticism as a potential catalyst for virus spread. And the Trump campaign distributed masks, but few attendees opted to wear them. Six members of Trump's reelection campaign involved in planning the rally tested positive for coronavirus. But we're not at the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma. President Trump also employed derogatory language to link the coronavirus to China, stating, quote, it's a disease without question, has more names than any disease in history. I can name Kung Flu. I can name 19 different versions of names. Coronavirus was detected in Italian sewage as early as December 2019. Scientists in Italy have found traces of the novel coronavirus and wastewater collected from Milan and Turin in December 2019, suggesting that COVID-19 was already circulating in Northern Italy before China reported the first case, reports Reuters. The Italian National Institute of Health looked at 40 sewage samples collected in Northern Italy between October 2019 and February 2020 and found that samples taken in Milan and Turin on December 18 showed the presence of the novel coronavirus, quote, this research may help us understand the beginning of virus circulation in Italy, unquote, says Giuseppina La Rosa, an expert environmental wastewater at the Italian National Institute of Health who co-led the research. The Netherlands, France, Australia, and others have found signs that the virus can be detected in sewage and have tested wastewater to track the disease. Following an investigation, the US Navy announced on Friday that it would uphold the firing of Captain Brett Crozier, the head of the USS Theodore Roosevelt nuclear aircraft carrier, who was relieved of command after sending a letter regarding a coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship and the letter leaked. The investigation faulted Captain Crozier for his handling of the outbreak. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday stated that Crozier, as well as the strike group's commanding officer, quote, did not do enough soon enough to fulfill their primary obligations and that they did not effectively carry out our guidelines, unquote. Gilday also stated the email and letters sent by Captain Crozier were unnecessary, adding actions were already underway. Those wheels were well in motion. The decision does not sit well with some. Brett Odom, a former Navy officer and friend of Crozier's, commented, I think it's very clear that once you've got more than two starts, you're untouchable on the Navy. To me, it's just unbelievable that the Navy would go from reinstatement to this. They're trying to have it both ways. Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would conduct a separate investigation of the process, saying the department's civilian leadership portrayed Captain Crozier's decision making aboard the Roosevelt as the critical weakness in the Navy's response. But the truth is that civilian leadership was also deploying. The Navy's decision reverses the finding of a preliminary investigation that held that Crozier should be reinstated. Could MMR boosters be the next preventative measure to prevent severe COVID-19 symptoms? Researchers in the United States are starting to investigate whether or not measles, mumps, and rubella MMR vaccines could help prevent severe COVID-19 symptoms. According to CNN, researchers are, quote, proposing giving a booster dose to see if it ramps up immunity in general, unquote. The MMR is a live vaccine because it uses a weakened version of viruses to encourage the immune system to respond even more aggressively than simply creating antibodies. Researchers from Louisiana State University and Tulane University stated in a letter to a journal called MBIO that, quote, there is mounting evidence that live attenuated vaccines provide non-specific protection against lethal infections unrelated to the target pathogen of the vaccine by inducing trained, non-specific innate immune cells for improved host responses against subsequent infections, unquote, adding, quote. A clinical trial with MMR in high-risk populations may provide a low-risk, high-reward, preventive measure in saving lives during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, unquote. This is not a complete therapy for COVID-19 and may just prevent against the worst cases, which have already killed nearly 120,000 Americans, note the researchers. Existing live vaccines for polioentuberculosis, which contained weakened versions of the viruses, have been shown to also help protect against a wide range of other viruses and may help protect against the coronavirus, a group of distinguished scientists argued in science. To see our daily brief, go to the address in our show notes and follow us on Twitter at New America ISP. And tune in next Monday for our next episode.