Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day fifty seven since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Our main story. Perhaps you've heard of antibody tests. These tools, different from COVID nineteen tests, which look for an active infection, can help determine whether you've had the virus and recovered. The federal government deemed them so important that it loosened regulations to get a bunch of them produced quickly, but that led to a flood of shady tests. Now the government
is trying to tighten up again. But first, here's what happened today. It's a report that's become familiar. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits topped three million for a seventh straight week. The consistently high numbers suggest there's
little relief in sight for the economy. Since the coronavirus began closing restaurants, factories, and offices from coast to coast in mid March, initial jobless claims totaled three point one seven million in the week ending May second, according to a Labor Department report released today that brought the seven week total to about thirty three point five million, and yet another move to make air travel safer. A new policy will require all US airport security screeners to start
wearing masks. The Transportation Security Administration will announce the rule as soon as today, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The move comes as a government and industry working group considers a broader requirement that everyone entering an airport, including all employees and passengers, must also cover their faces. More than five hundred t s A screeners have tested
positive for COVID nineteen, including six who died. According to the agency's website, The agency had left mask use voluntary for months. The coronavirus has caused people with other health conditions to delay their normal medical care. That has caused a surprise windfall for health insurers. In response, some of the US's biggest for profit insurers will give money back
to customers and cut some upfront costs. United Health Group, the nation's largest insurer, said it will rebate premiums to some commercial customers and way of cost sharing for Medicare members. It's part of a one point five billion dollar pandemic assistance program. Separately, Signal Core said it's pharmacy unit will cap the costs of some drugs for people who have
lost health insurance. Earlier this week, Humana Incorporated announced it would wave cost sharing for Medicare members to see primary care doctors for the rest of the year. France will roll back lockdown measures, joining countries including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in easing restrictions as the economic pain from the coronavirus intensifies. France is preparing to go back to work and reopen schools starting on Monday, in a gradual
process designed to avoid a second wave of infections. Even though more than one hundred and forty thousand people have died in Europe, the region's leaders are feeling pressure to return to normality. They are trying to walk a fine line between reactivating the economy and avoiding a renewed outbreak, and finally, one luxury brand as a winner. Amid the stock market carnage, Peloton Interactive shares hit another record high
after reported its third quarter results. The company's high end exercise bikes and video fitness subscriptions have soared in popularity as fit people with high disposable incomes are forced into their homes and Jim's are shut down, and now our main story. Antibody tests are suddenly everywhere. Those tests measure whether someone contracted the virus in the past. They help policymakers understand how the virus spreads and whether measures to
contain the virus are working. In some cases, it's been floated that they could help determine who has immunity to the virus and could therefore be allowed to return to work. Federal regulators relaxed guidelines to make it easier for companies to produce these tests, but this has allowed for a flood of unreliable and sometimes fraudulent tests to be offered to consumers. Now, Bloomberg reporter Kristen V. Brown reports the
government is trying to control the mess. When the first antibody tests were coming online in mid March, the US Food and Drug Administration did something pretty remarkable. The agency said manufacturers wouldn't have to jump through any of the usual regulatory hoops. The tests could just go straight to market without any authorization. Suddenly there were ads for antibody tests everywhere. We have identified helpers of tests who are
inappropriately marketing them. Many of them are marketing them for use at home. That was never permitted under a policy unless authorized by the FDA. Jeffrey Sharon is the director of the Center for Device is and Radiological Health at the f d A. It's his job to oversee things like performance and safety of tests. Some are marketing them as being authorized by the agency when they're not. We're making other claims. We've also have detained fraudulent test kits
that have been attempted to have been imported into the US. Unfortunately, there are people who take advantage of any circumstance and people who are taking vantage with the pandemic, and we are trying to be pic joint in going after those perfect trators. There have been reports of companies doing things like advertising that their test can tell you whether you're immune to COVID nineteen. For the record, scientists are still unclear on whether having the virus once makes you immune
to it in the future. Now the FDA is changing its policies to curb the release of these shady tests. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hans as tests will now need to get authorization from the agency for going to market. As I've said many times throughout this pandemic, every step this agency has taken in our approach to COVID nineteen has been a careful balancing of risks and benefits. We are striving to anticipate and meet the constantly evolving public health
needs of this unprecedented public health emergency. That's why the FDA issued enough state to our COVID nineteen policy on antibody tests. There is another reason why the FDA changed course. It's bigger than just fraudulent tests advertise on social media. Unreliable tests could be prevented policymakers from getting a good sense of how widespread the virus is. Major studies on
the topic have gotten blowback. For example, one Stanford University study used antibody tests to conclude that as many as four percent of local people had contracted the virus. Critics were skeptical that those tests were accurate it. Another study analyzed fourteen antibody tests and found only three produced consistently
reliable results. Anibody tests are just complicated to design. For example, if a test isn't fine tuned, it could accidentally pick up on antibodies from a different virus and mistake it for COVID nineteen. Eric Toble is the director of Scripts Research Translational Institute. He says this is a problem because policymakers need accurate information when deciding how to roll back restrictions.
We're trying to reopen, We're trying to get some semblance back to pre COVID world, and that has been the idea is, oh, well, I can screen people for the antibody and if they have it, we can just go back to work and back to life. Well, it turns out that could be a recipe for trouble because currently the false positive rates are you know, two three on these tests doesn't sound like much, but it could be
actually a real troubleing factor. Health officials also worried that testing for antibodies could give people a false sense of safety. We haven't yet determined whether people become immune to the virus after they've had it. The FDA cracked down on antibody tests after scientists and lawmakers spent weeks raising the alarm. The tests have become so infamous for their murky results that last week the White House even suggested that we should be using two of them at the same time
to check the results against each other. But Eric says even the f d recent actions won't be enough. A lot of the tests that have gotten through the FDA, or not even gone through the FDA are based on twenty or thirty people, which is, you know, just grossly inadequate. Right now, there just isn't enough data to assess the quality of most tests. The good news though, is that better tests are coming, and people like Eric are really
excited about some of them. In the meantime, if you see an ad for a test that promises to tell you whether you have coronavirus immunity, don't take the bait. That was Bloomberg's Kristen V. Brown and that's our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review
and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is hosted by Me Laura Carlson. The show was produced by Me Tophor Foreheads, Jordan Gospore, and Magnus Hendrickson. Today's main story was reported by Kristin V. Brown. Original music by Leo sidran Our editors are francesco Levy and Rick Shawn. Francesco Levy is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.