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“There’s no guarantee that those antibodies you have actually are what we call neutralizing antibodies, meaning they’re protective and will help you fight against a future infection,” says Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Amy Paller, chair of the department of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said one possible explanation is that these patients had such a mild disease and that viral replication was limited, making the virus undetectable.

Jacqueline Gollan, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, has coined a name for this phenomenon based on her 15 years of research into depression, anxiety and decision-making: “caution fatigue.” Gollan likens social-distancing motivation to a battery.

Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, chief of cardiology in the department of medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has studied racial health inequities for most of his career. As a black man and a native of the Baton Rouge area who grew up during segregation, he also understands them on a personal level. “These disparities are real, they are deep and they are exacting a terrible price,” says Dr. Yancy, who wrote an article pulling together research about the connection between black Americans and Covid-19, published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association on April 15.

“There is a new mental calculation: Is this test administered at the hospital worth the potential risk of being exposed to COVID-19?” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, an assistant professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. “Our ER, as well as many others, are seeing far fewer patients because people are scared to come in.”

Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Tina Tan, from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told CNN that the NHS England alert was information the United States needed to know. “I think it’s really important that an alert like that goes out, not to alarm anybody but to have people be aware of the fact that this can happen. There have been an increased number of cases like this reported in Italy as well as Spain. Here in the U.S., I think we’re just starting to see it,” Tan said.

Karla Satchell, a microbiologist studying cholera and cancers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said she was particularly concerned for three of the graduate students working in her lab. One of them was set to get his doctorate this summer but can’t complete experiments he needs for his thesis.

“The bigger issue is that you have to change in the shared locker rooms, and people are often touching the mouth, nose and face and then maybe touching the lockers,” Dr. Michael Ison, an infectious disease physician at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, told TODAY. “If you do, wash your hands carefully before and after swimming in the pool.”

There surely is, experts say, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. As May 10 approaches, here are a few things to keep in mind.” My kids are always asking me what they should do for Mother’s Day,” said Dr. Norrina Bai Allen, associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. She specializes in cardiovascular epidemiology.

Dr. Babafemi Taiwo, chief of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine, which also participated in the study, called the results “really exciting.” “For the first time we have a large, well-conducted trial” showing a treatment helps, he said. “This is not a miracle drug … but it’s definitely better than anything we have.”