The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard shows a continued spread of COVID-19 throughout the world and in the United States, but still, there are signs of hope.  In New York, the state with the highest number of cases…242,786…Governor Andrew Cuomo said a positive sign is that hospitalizations are down.  That’s a hopeful sign for the future, although he said the deaths in New York State, reported as of April 18 at midnight, stand at 13,869  by the New York State Department of Health, will continue to grow as the disease works its way through the population.  Cuomo has said that once the FDA has confirmed an effective antibody test for COVID-19, he plans for large swaths of the population to get tested to see if they have some degree of immunity to COVID-19.

For a detailed look at the FDA’s thinking about antibody testing, click here.

Worldwide, as of Sunday, April 19, at 10:38 a.m. HST,  the number of cases is more than 2,394,278 , with 164,716 deaths confirmed as related to COVID-19.   The United States has 755,533 confirmed cases, with 40,461 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths.

Hawaii County has 61 confirmed cases as of noon on Saturday April 18, with 29 of them  linked to the McDonald’s at Kona Commons and at Walmart.  Statewide the count stands at 574.  The State Department of Health provides an update daily at noon.