US - SouthEast

An experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson protected monkeys from infection in a new study. It is the second vaccine candidate to show promising results in monkeys this week.

The company recently began a clinical trial in Europe and the United States to test its vaccine in people. It is one of more than 30 human trials for coronavirus vaccines underway across the world. But until these trials are complete — which will probably take several months — the monkey data offers the best clues to whether the vaccines will work.

As schools, universities and businesses struggle to reopen without the coronavirus testing they need to curb outbreaks, the Trump administration’s testing czar testified to Congress Friday that it was currently impossible to get all tests back within three days.

The testing czar, Adm. Brett P. Giroir, told lawmakers that getting all coronavirus tests back between 48 and 72 hours, which many health officials have said is critical, “is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today, given the demand and the supply.”

The coronavirus pandemic’s toll on the nation’s economy became emphatically clearer Thursday as the government detailed the most devastating three-month collapse on record, which wiped away nearly five years of growth.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced, fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year as consumers cut back spending, businesses pared investments and global trade dried up, the Commerce Department said.