'Tragic Case': Woman Dies After Getting Virus Via Lung Transplant

ANN ARBOR, MI — A Michigan woman has died after contracting the coronavirus through a lung transplant. It's the first known case of COVID-19 in the United States in which the virus was transmitted through an organ transplant, NBC News and others have reported.

The woman died last fall, two months after receiving a double-lung transplant from someone who turned out to have the virus without symptoms and after initially testing negative.

It's a "tragic case," said Dr. Daniel Kaul, director of the University of Michigan Medicine's transplant infectious disease service who documented the unprecedented case in the American Journal of Transplantation.

The apparently isolated lung transplant coronavirus case involved a woman who died after a car accident, and the virus was transmitted to the other woman, who had suffered from chronic lung disease.

“All the screening that we normally do and are able to do, we did,” Kaul said.

Read more from NBC News

The Latest

Heading into the weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote Friday on a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief measure that will provide direct aid to Americans, emergency jobless benefits, and billions of dollars for vaccines, schools, state and local governments, and the ailing restaurant industry.

A near-party-line vote seems certain on the measure, according to an Associated Press report.

Republicans oppose the sweeping measure, saying it’s too expensive, not targeted enough at the people and businesses that most need it, and a grab bag of gifts for Democratic allies. Not one has publicly said they will support the legislation.

If passed, the relief bill will provide millions of people with $1,400 direct payments.

One component of the measure likely to die in the Senate is a proposed hike in the federal minimum wage. Currently, the proposal would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, more than doubling the current $7.25 floor that's been in effect since 2019.

• House To Vote Friday On $1.9 Trillion Virus Relief Package

Meanwhile, more than 150 senior executives from some of America's largest companies have lined up behind the $1.9 trillion relief package, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

Among those signed onto the letter are David Solomon, chairman and chief executive officer at Goldman Sachs; Stephen Schwartzman, the chairman and CEO of Blackstone; Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google; John Zimmer, the co-founder and president of Lyft; Brian Roberts, the chairman and CEO of Comcast; and John Stankey, the CEO of AT&T.

Some states are refusing to wait for lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

Maryland and California recently moved forward with help for the poor, the jobless, small businesses and those needing child care, the Associated Press reported. New Mexico and Pennsylvania are funneling grants directly to cash-starved businesses. North Carolina's governor wants additional state aid for such things as bonus pay for teachers and boosting rural internet speeds.

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Meanwhile, coronavirus vaccinations are gradually rebounding a week after a devastating winter storm ravaged much of Texas and the American South.

The United States has averaged about 1.45 million doses a day for the seven-day period that ended on Wednesday, according to a New York Times report citing federal data. That's a slight increase from 1.4 million doses a day through Tuesday, but still much fewer than the 1.7 million doses a day the country was averaging before the storm.

California has become the first state to reach 50,000 coronavirus-related deaths. The state reached nearly 51,400 virus deaths by midday Friday, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University. It passed New York a few weeks ago in recording the most deaths among states. New York remains second with more than 47,200 deaths, and Texas is third with more than 43,000.

Despite virus-related deaths down more than 27 percent over the past week, Washington Post data shows, the country topped 500,000 deaths earlier this week.

The latest death milestones come as a third coronavirus vaccine candidate has taken a major step toward possible emergency-use authorization. An analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released Wednesday found the Johnson & Johnson vaccine provides strong protection against severe disease and death caused by COVID-19.

The one-shot coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson was found to have a 72 percent overall efficacy rate in the United States, according to a New York Times report. The vaccine also showed 86 percent efficacy against severe forms of COVID-19 in the United States, and 82 percent against severe disease in South Africa.

The FDA is scheduled to meet Friday to decide whether to give emergency-use authorization to the vaccine. Authorization could come as soon as Saturday, the Times reported.

Once emergency use authorization is granted, Johnson & Johnson said it's ready to deliver doses to more than 20 million Americans by the end of March.

As of Friday, more than 68 million doses of the vaccines have been administered across the United States, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The coronavirus pandemic's creation of an alternate normality includes a rare positive consequence, a report from The Associated Press shows this week. The flu has virtually disappeared.

Flu reports are coming in at the lowest levels in decades, the AP reported this week.

Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus — mask-wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling — were a big factor in preventing a "twindemic" of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.

One pediatric flu death has been reported so far this season, compared with 92 reported at the same point in last year's flu season., CDC numbers show.

There haven't been any cases at some of the nation's most prominent hospitals — such as the Maine Medical Center in Portland, the northeasternmost state's largest hospital.

"I have seen zero documented flu cases this winter," Dr. Nate Mick, head of the emergency department, told the AP.

Newest Numbers

As of Friday morning, the United States had reported more than 28.4 million cases and more than 508,300 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 3,156 deaths and 76,146 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Friday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new cases have fallen 6.5 percent, new deaths rose 4.9 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 12.9 percent.

More than 91.6 million vaccine doses have been distributed and more than 68.2 million administered in the United States as of Friday, according to the CDC. More than 46 million people have received one dose, and nearly 21.5 million have received two.

Currently, 52,669 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

As of Friday, 23 states and U.S. territories remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or The Washington Post.

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