The Tuesday morning, April 14, Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard says worldwide, there are now 1,970,225 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 124,544 deaths.  The United States stands at a reported 592,743 cases, with 24,737 deaths.    Throughout the country, nearly 3 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted.  Every state has cases of COVID-19.

The number of cases thought to be recovered worldwide stands at more than 200,000, but there is no confirmed way of reporting those recovering so the number isn’t actually known.   The World Health Organization is also investigating cases in South Korea where it appears patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19 recovered but now are testing positive again.  Because this is a novel (new) coronavirus, there is a steep learning curve on how the virus behaves.

In New York State,  Governor Andrew Cuomo said the death toll jumped up again overnight to 778, from 671 the previous day.  In the past few days, Gov. Cuomo has said hospital admissions appear to be stabilizing, which may be the start of the slowing of the spread in the state hardest hit by COVID-19.

In good news, companies around the world are feverishly working to develop vaccines to help prevent COVID-19.  That includes a collaboration announced Monday between GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, two biopharmaceutical companies with decades of experience in creating vaccines.  The two companies hope to get into clinical trials later this year, far more quickly than the normal vaccine track.

And Governors are now collaborating regionally on ways to begin reopening their states.  Governor Gavin Newsom announced California, Oregon, and Washington are working together.  Governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island are also working together.  The approach of both means bringing together top experts to determine how and when to reopen, what benchmarks to use, and what cautions to acknowledge in case COVID-19 starts ramping up.