The New York Times: Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials
The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearances with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach. But on a day that the White House sought to display a more disciplined strategy to the administration’s communications about the virus, Mr. Trump used an evening event honoring African-American History Month to rail against the news media, claiming it is overstating the threat, and to congratulate himself for keeping the number of cases low. (Shear and Haberman, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Pence Seizes Control Of Coronavirus Response Amid Criticism Of His Qualifications
Vice President Pence tried to project a sense of steady control over the government’s response to the coronavirus Thursday, even as he faced fresh questions about his qualifications for the role and criticism over his handling of an HIV outbreak while he was governor of Indiana. Pence appointed a doctor, Ambassador Debbie Birx, to serve as White House response coordinator for the virus, enforced tight control of the government’s public communications and added new members to a task force aimed at containing the spread of the outbreak. (Olorunnipa, Dawsey and Abutaleb, 2/27)

Politico: After Fumbled Messaging, Trump Gets A Coronavirus Czar By Another Name
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Pence said “we are ready for anything” to fight coronavirus. “I promise you, this president, this administration, is going to work with leaders in both parties. We'll work with leaders across this nation, at the state and local level. And this president will always put the health and safety of America first.” Birx's appointment marked the latest swerve by the White House in assigning responsibility to tackle the burgeoning public health crisis. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Trump said “we have it totally under control” and maintained “it’s going to be just fine.” The virus has since exploded globally from China to nearly 50 countries, with more worries emerging inside the U.S. (Cancryn, Forgey and Diamond, 2/27)

The Hill: Pence Taps Career Health Official To Coordinate White House Coronavirus Response 
"She has deep experience in coordinating across agencies," Pence's office said in announcing Birx's new role. "She has worked from the research bench to the clinic, but understands the primary focus must always be to reach the individuals most in need. She will bring her infectious disease, immunologic, vaccine research and interagency coordinating capacity to this position. (Samuels, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Wants Signoff On Coronavirus Messaging
The administration has struggled to provide a consistent message on the coronavirus threat as it tries to improve coordination between federal agencies and states amid growing public concern. On Wednesday, President Trump put Mr. Pence in charge of federal coronavirus-response efforts, and on Thursday, Mr. Pence named Debbie Birx, who currently coordinates America’s global efforts to curb HIV and AIDS, as White House coronavirus-response coordinator. On Thursday, the president praised his administration’s response, saying that the U.S. effort had been “incredible.” He argued imposing travel restrictions was the right thing to do, and suggested it was a miracle only 15 cases had been diagnosed in the U.S. (Restuccia and Armour, 2/27)

The New York Times: What Has Mike Pence Done In Health?
When President Trump announced Wednesday that Vice President Pence would take charge of the nation’s coronavirus response, he repeatedly touted the “great health care” in Indiana during Mr. Pence’s time as governor there, adding, “He’s got a certain talent for this.” So what does Mr. Pence’s record on health care look like? He has no training or expertise in health policy. Paradoxically, the two health initiatives that he got the most attention for in Indiana are actions that many in the Republican Party have strongly opposed. (Goodnough, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Pence's Handling Of 2015 HIV Outbreak Gets New Scrutiny
President Donald Trump's choice of Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the nation's response to the new coronavirus threat is bringing renewed scrutiny to the former governor's handling of an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana when he was governor. Pence reluctantly agreed to authorize a needle exchange program in Scott County in March 2015 after the epidemic centered there saw the number of people infected with HIV skyrocket, with nearly 200 people eventually testing positive for the virus that year. (Callahan and Davies, 2/27)

ABC News: As He Leads Coronavirus Response, Pence Criticized For Handling Of HIV Outbreak While Indiana's Governor 
President Donald Trump's announcement that Vice President Mike Pence has the experience to lead the administration's coronavirus response has raised questions around Pence's handling of a major health crisis when he was governor of Indiana. "He’s got a certain talent for this," Trump said at Wednesday's White House briefing as he sought to reassure the public on how the White House is dealing with the virus, which has infected at least 60 Americans so far. (Cathey, 2/27)

In related news from KHN: Five Years Later, HIV-Hit Town Rebounds. But The Nation Is Slow To Heed Lessons.

The Hill: Pence Talks Coronavirus With Cuomo, Newsom, Other Governors 
Vice President Pence on Thursday spoke to Republican and Democratic governors across the country to update them on the White House's efforts to address the coronavirus. Pence, who a day earlier was tapped to oversee the federal government's response to the disease, spoke with Govs. Larry Hogan (R-Md.), Greg Abbott (R-Texas), Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), according to an administration official. (Samuels, 2/27)

Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. Mulls Using Sweeping Powers To Ramp Up Production Of Coronavirus Protective Gear
President Donald Trump's administration is considering invoking special powers through a law called the Defense Production Act to rapidly expand domestic manufacturing of protective masks and clothing to combat the coronavirus in the United States, two U.S. officials told Reuters. The use of the law, passed by Congress in 1950 at the outset of the Korean War, would mark an escalation of the administration's response to the outbreak. The virus first surfaced in China and has since spread to other countries including the United States. (Hesson and Alper, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Lawmakers Press Health Officials On Coronavirus Preparations
Fearful that more Americans may have coronavirus than is known, senior Trump administration officials told Congress on Thursday they are speeding distribution of testing kits to better assess the risk of a widespread outbreak in the United States. But the assurances from Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, did not quell lawmakers’ criticism that the White House hasn’t adequately prepared for a potential public health crisis. (Levey and Haberkorn, 2/27)

ProPublica: Key Missteps At The CDC Have Set Back Its Ability To Detect The Potential Spread Of Coronavirus
As the highly infectious coronavirus jumped from China to country after country in January and February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lost valuable weeks that could have been used to track its possible spread in the United States because it insisted upon devising its own test. The federal agency shunned the World Health Organization test guidelines used by other countries and set out to create a more complicated test of its own that could identify a range of similar viruses. But when it was sent to labs across the country in the first week of February, it didn’t work as expected. The CDC test correctly identified COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. But in all but a handful of state labs, it falsely flagged the presence of the other viruses in harmless samples. (Chen, Allen, Churchill and Arnsdorf, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Trump Says He Can Bring In Coronavirus Experts Quickly. The Experts Say It Is Not That Simple.
The White House official charged with leading the U.S. response to deadly pandemics left nearly two years ago as his global health security team was disbanded. Federal funding for preventing and mitigating the spread of infectious disease has been repeatedly threatened since President Trump’s election. Despite the mounting threat of a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Trump said he has no regrets about those actions and that expertise and resources can be quickly ramped up to meet the current needs. (Reinhard, Brown and Satija, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking President Trump’s Coronavirus News Conference
After several mixed — and sometimes inaccurate — messages on the coronavirus, President Trump attempted to reassure Americans with a lengthy news conference Wednesday evening. Here’s a fact check of 13 of the most noteworthy statements the president made. (Kessler and Kelly, 2/28)

The Hill: Ex-Obama Health Adviser Calls Trump Comments On Coronavirus Response 'Incoherent' 
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former health policy adviser in the Obama administration, said late Wednesday that he found President Trump's remarks during a news conference on his administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak a "little incoherent." Speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball," Emanuel, now a special adviser to the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that Trump's comments indicated how little the president knew about public health. (Wise, 2/27)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Diagnosis In California Highlights Testing Flaws
Already in deep distress, the patient was rushed last week to a hospital in Northern California, severely ill and unable to breathe on her own. Doctors at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, near Sacramento, provided the woman with critical care but also considered an unlikely diagnosis: infection with the coronavirus. Hospital administrators said they immediately requested diagnostic testing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the procedure was not carried out because the case did not qualify under strict federal criteria: She had not traveled to China and had not been in contact with anyone known to be infected. (Rabin, Fink and Sheikh, 2/27)

Stat: A Single Coronavirus Case Exposes A Bigger Problem: The Scope Of Undetected U.S. Spread Is Unknown
Before Thursday, a perfect storm of problems in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s development of test kits — and the agency’s reluctance to expand its recommendation of who should be tested given the limited availability of kits — meant very little testing has been done in the country. As of Wednesday, the CDC said that 445 people had been tested — a fraction of the number of tests that other countries have run. (Branswell, 2/27)

Kaiser Health News: New California Coronavirus Case Reveals Problems With U.S. Testing Protocols
Multiple experts interviewed said the case underscores the need for more widespread community testing of the new coronavirus, which has sickened tens of thousands of people in more than 45 nations around the globe. It also highlights how the CDC’s narrow testing protocols, combined with the agency’s continued delays in getting functional coronavirus test kits to state and local public health agencies, have hindered the public health system’s ability to respond to the outbreak. (Barry-Jester and Bluth, 2/27)

NPR: Coronavirus: Diagnosis Of Patient In California Was Delayed For Days
The new patient, who lives in Solano County and has not been identified, was transferred to UC Davis Medical in Sacramento County from another hospital this month. Staff at UC Davis then suspected the patient might be infected with the coronavirus that has caused more than 2,800 deaths. "Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19," the hospital said. "We requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, since neither Sacramento County nor CDPH [California Department of Public Health] is doing testing for coronavirus at this time. Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered. UC Davis Health does not control the testing process." (Chappell, 2/27)

CNN: California Patient With Unknown Origin Of Coronavirus Is In Serious Condition, Official Says
The patient, who is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center, could be the first instance of "community spread" of the virus, the CDC said Wednesday. "That suggests that the virus is out there in the community, and that means pretty much that everybody's at risk," Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease specialist at the center, told CNN affiliate KCRA. "We don't know who might be carrying it. We don't know who we can get it from." (Maxouris, 2/28)

San Jose Mercury News: Coronavirus: Testing Is Far Behind And Not Catching Up
“This case marks a turning point,” said Dr. Sonia Y. Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health at the Thursday briefing. “We are expanding surveillance activity, increasing lab capacity and planning for increased demand on medical systems.” (Krieger and Sciacca, 2/27)

The Washington Post: California Undertakes Extensive Effort To Trace Contacts Of Woman With Coronavirus
California has launched a far-reaching effort to find anyone who might have come in contact with a new coronavirus patient infected despite having no known link to others with the illness, as federal officials tried Thursday to fix the faulty testing process that has hamstrung their ability to track how widely the disease is spreading. (Fowler, Bernstein and McGinley, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Testing Is Under Scrutiny After Delays And Questions Over Its Effectiveness
The kits have come under growing scrutiny. The CDC distributed the test kits to partner laboratories across the country, but many of those campuses ran into problems with one of the ingredients, leading to inconclusive test results. Most public health officials needed to send specimens to the CDC’s central laboratories in Atlanta for testing, a process that can take up to 48 hours, creating a bottleneck. “We’ve only had a handful of labs that can test with it. The rest have been on pause,” said Scott Becker, the executive director of the Assn. of Public Health Laboratories. “When you’re waiting 48 hours to get a response from the CDC, you’re burning through equipment caring for a patient, just waiting to see the results.” (Baumgaertner, Wigglesworth and Shalby, 2/28)

NPR: CDC Has Fixed Issue Delaying Coronavirus Testing In U.S., Health Officials Say
Federal health officials say they have resolved a problem that has hindered wide testing for the new coronavirus in the United States, a crucial practice for fighting the spread of the dangerous new infection. A problem with one ingredient in test kits that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributed to labs around the country had created a frustrating bottleneck in testing, requiring most testing to occur at the CDC in Atlanta. (Stein, 2/27)

CIDRAP: Feds To Allow State Public Health Labs To Test For COVID-19
As many as 40 state public health labs could begin testing for the COVID-19 virus using parts of the test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as early as this week, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). "As of now: @CDCgov & @US_FDA developed a new protocol using 2 of 3 components of original test kit. Many public health labs are able to use the original kit w/out problem component to begin testing as soon as this week," APHL said on its Twitter feed. (Soucheray, 2/27)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In California: What You Need To Know
California officials said this week that they had bolstered efforts to confront the growing threat of the coronavirus, declaring that they were prepared and pursuing aggressive measures to thwart its spread. Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the state had pushed for improved and expanded testing, urging federal officials to alter a testing protocol that he considered “inadequate” to address the situation California faces. He also said officials were actively monitoring people who might have come into contact with the pathogen. (Rojas, 2/27)

Reuters: California Monitoring 8,400 People For Possible Coronavirus
California is monitoring more than 8,400 people who arrived on commercial flights for coronavirus symptoms from "points of concern," but the state lacks test kits and has been held back by federal testing rules, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday. California has only 200 test kits, but has appealed for testing protocols to be expanded to include Americans who may catch the virus as it spreads through U.S. communities, Newsom told a news briefing in Sacramento, the state capital. (Hay and Russ, 2/27)

The Hill: California Monitoring 8,400 People For Coronavirus 
"We are not overreacting nor are we underreacting to the understandable anxiety many people have," Newsom said. (Sullivan, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Testing Widened As California Case Makes Containment More Urgent
“We have just a few hundred testing kits in the state of California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday at a news conference. “That’s simply inadequate to do justice to the kind of testing that is required to address this issue head on. . . . Testing protocols have been a point of frustration for many of us.” (Johnson and McGinley, 2/27)

KQED: California Seeks Origin Of First Possible Community Transmission Of COVID-19
The state, she said, is ramping up disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, planning for greater demands on the medical system and modeling the disease to forecast future community needs. (Venton, 2/27)

The New York Times: ‘It’s Scary’: Residents Near Mystery Coronavirus Case Worry And Wonder
In the parking lot of a big-box store, Rick Lodwick tossed a jumbo pack of sanitizing wipes into the back of his car. “I’m middling alarmed,” Mr. Lodwick, an engineer, said as he listed the provisions he bought on Thursday after learning that a woman from his county, Solano, was believed to be the first person in the United States to test positive for the coronavirus without having a known connection to others with the illness. (Fuller and Bogel-Burroughs, 2/28)

Los Angeles Times: Students At UC Davis And Other Colleges Under Self-Quarantine After Potential Coronavirus Exposure
Three UC Davis students are under 14-day isolation as one awaits test results related to the new strain of coronavirus after showing mild symptoms, officials said Thursday. The students are roommates at Kearney Hall, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May confirmed in a statement Thursday. (Shalby, 2/27)

San Jose Mercury News: Coronavirus: How Bay Area Schools, Arenas And BART Prepare
With anxiety mounting over the potential spread of coronavirus, officials in charge of some of the Bay Area’s busiest public gathering places — its mass transit agencies, arenas, schools, colleges and airports — say they are in close contact with public health leaders about how to confine the growing threat. But while some are taking early precautionary steps, they so far have avoided following the more severe measures that have disrupted lives in countries where the illness has spread more rapidly. (Savidge, 2/27)

KQED: UC Davis Isolates Three Students
UC Davis has isolated three students who were roommates living in Kearney Hall, according to university and county medical officials. A university press release issued Thursday said officials made the move "out of an abundance of caution." Two of the individuals are not showing symptoms, said Dr. Ron Chapman, Yolo County Health Officer, at a press conference the same day. Following CDC guidelines, he said, they are therefore not being tested. One student shows mild symptoms and is being tested for COVID-19. This student is not on campus, but is isolated at home. (2/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Live Updates: Up To 100 Health Workers Exposed To Solano County Patient
Officials in Solano County declared a local emergency after a resident tested positive for the new coronavirus without any clues as to how she could have been infected. The declaration will help the county rally resources to start identifying and screening individuals who may have come into contact with the patient, officials said. “We are taking this situation seriously and are taking steps necessary to protect the health and safety of Solano County residents,” Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County’s health officer, said in a statement. The county will be holding a press conference at 4:30 p.m. in Fairfield. (Allday, Pender and Serrano, 2/27)

Roll Call: Congress Zeroing In On $6B To $8B Coronavirus Aid Package 
Amid growing concerns about both the economic and health impacts of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, appropriators are rushing to draft an emergency spending package that could provide upward of $6 billion in aid. House and Senate appropriators are discussing a package in the range of $6 billion to $8 billion with the aim of getting it on the House floor as early as the middle of next week, several people familiar with the deliberations said. (Krawzak, 2/27)

The Hill: Congress Eyes $6 Billion To $8 Billion To Combat Coronavirus 
Congress has approximately 10 working days before it is set to leave for a weeklong recess, giving lawmakers a tight timeframe if they are going to finalize a deal, get it passed by both chambers and get it to President Trump's desk before leaving town. (Carney, 2/27)

ABC News: Congressional Efforts To Strike Coronavirus Funding Agreement Plagued By Partisanship 
“This is not a time for naming calling or playing politics,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at her weekly news conference in the Capitol on Thursday. “The first step the Congress must take is to ensure the government has the resources needed to combat this deadly virus and keep Americans safe.” (Parkinson, 2/27)

The Hill: Lawmakers Race To Pass Emergency Coronavirus Funding 
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) are negotiating an emergency spending package. Shelby told reporters the spending package will provide a "much higher" figure than the $2.5 billion requested by the Trump administration, predicting the final deal will be more than $4 billion. "We want to make sure if this stuff really spreads that we're doing our job," Shelby said.  (Carney, 2/27)

Roll Call: Capitol Hill Offices Instructed To Update Pandemic Plans, Office Of The Attending Physician Sets Record Straight On Coronavirus 
A barrage of questions for the Office of the Attending Physician on Capitol Hill about the coronavirus prompted an email to all Senate employees that include two videos of Attending Physician Brian Monahan detailing the origins of the COVID-19 virus and best practices for staying healthy. Monahan reiterated that the COVID-19 virus is not man-made and that there is no virus activity in the Washington area at this time. (Tully-McManus, 2/27)

Politico: Coronavirus Threat Gives Strapped State Health Agencies A New Crisis
The fumbled response to the first coronavirus case potentially contracted within a U.S. community, in California, shows how health professionals on the front lines can be quickly overmatched by the stealthy disease. And the prospect of more widespread outbreaks could put major stress on state and local health departments that are underfunded and already grappling with a bad flu season, vaping-related illnesses and the ravages of the opioid epidemic. (Roubein, Ehley and Goldberg, 2/27)

The Associated Press: States Ramp Up Virus Preparations, Try To Reassure Public
As worries about the new coronavirus grow in the U.S., state officials are ramping up efforts to prepare for a possible outbreak while simultaneously trying to assure the public that they are well-positioned to handle it. Governors and legislators in several states have proposed pumping millions of dollars into programs to combat the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness. State health officials are checking on stockpiles of supplies such as face masks and respirators and arranging potential isolation sites for sick patients. (Lieb, 2/27)

The Associated Press: US Schools Start Planning For Possible Spread Of Coronavirus
Schools across the United States are canceling trips abroad, preparing online lessons and even rethinking “perfect attendance” awards as they brace for the possibility that the new coronavirus could begin spreading in their communities. Districts have been rushing to update emergency plans this week after federal officials warned that the virus, which started in China, is almost certain to begin spreading in the U.S. Many are preparing for possible school closures that could stretch weeks or longer, even as they work to tamp down panic among students, parents and teachers. (Binkley, 2/28)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Is Coming. Should New Yorkers Panic Or Shrug?
This past week saw New Yorkers fully absorbing, with varying degrees of fright or indifference, that the coronavirus was destined to arrive in the nation’s biggest city, with eight million potential victims. Would the past serve as any guide to how it might be handled? Last spring, health officials from New York and New Jersey conducted an exercise in disease preparedness that involved 70 people and a pretend Ebola patient who was transported 41 miles to Bellevue Hospital on the east side of Manhattan. (Bellafante, 2/28)

Georgia Health News: State Challenges In Tackling COVID-19 Include Testing, Funding
Georgia faces a couple of immediate challenges in its preparation for a potential coronavirus outbreak here. One is true for many states: The process for testing patients for the disease is, at best, very slow. The Georgia Public Health Lab recently received a diagnostic test kit from the CDC for COVID-19 (the name for the new coronavirus), but like those sent to other states, its components were flawed. (Miller, 2/27)

North Carolina Health News: Is NC Ready For Coronavirus? 
Seventeen years ago, North Carolina officials had a SARS case on their hands. What they learned then changed the way they approach infectious diseases. (Hoban, 2/28)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Tests Two New Patients For Possible Cases Of Coronavirus; Gov. Hogan Says He’ll Request $10M For Preparedness 
Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that two more Marylanders are being tested for the coronavirus that has sickened more than 80,000 people globally.Officials expect results in the next two or three days from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where the samples were sent. The state lab does not yet have the ability to test more quickly here, but officials say they might gain kits and approvals as early as next week. (Cohn, 2/27)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Study Abroad Students In South Korea Told To Return Because Of COVID-19 Spread. 
The University of Maryland has suspended its foreign study abroad programs in South Korea and told students to return home, following recent changes in the CDC guidance on COVID-19. The spring program was set to begin for eight students on March 15. Six students are in South Korea and two are still in the U.S. Study abroad programs in China had already been cancelled. (Bowie and Oxenden, 2/27)

NBC News: 'Fear Versus Dreams': Coronavirus Spread Sparks Fears For American Travelers
Summer Mutz's dream of visiting Europe was finally arriving this weekend — a trip to Rome, Vienna and Paris with a friend. But with the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe and the number of cases in Italy surging, what once seemed like a wonderful milestone was now a source of fear and anxiety. "I literally could not stop thinking about it all night," said Mutz, 23, of New Jersey. (Silva and Arkin, 2/27)

WBUR: Coronavirus In Mass.: Public Health Experts Say Don't Panic But Do Prepare
Health officials said this week that a novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States is a question of "not if but when," and we should all prepare. But how? Boston-area experts on public health preparedness answered in a chorus that can be summed up as: Don't panic, but do practice the usual methods to avoid illness and do get ready for possible disruption of daily life. (Goldberg, 2/27)

The New York Times: U.S. Health Workers Responding To Coronavirus Lacked Training And Protective Gear, Whistle-Blower Says
Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper medical training or protective gear, then scattered into the general population, according to a government whistle-blower who lawmakers say faced retaliation for reporting concerns. The team was “improperly deployed” to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere, according to a portion of a narrative account shared with Congress and obtained by The New York Times ahead of a formal complaint to the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent government agency that handles federal whistle-blower complaints. (Cochrane, Weiland and Sanger-Katz, 2/27)

The Washington Post: U.S. Workers Without Protective Gear Assisted Coronavirus Evacuees, HHS Whistleblower Says
The whistleblower is seeking federal protection, alleging she was unfairly and improperly reassigned after raising concerns about the safety of these workers to HHS officials, including those within the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. She was told Feb. 19 that if she does not accept the new position in 15 days, which is March 5, she would be terminated. (Sun and Abutaleb, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Whistleblower Says Federal Employees Flown From Coronavirus Sites Didn’t Follow Safety Protocols
Employees didn’t receive prior safety training relevant to the California assignment, the whistleblower alleges, according to the person familiar with the complaint. The employee who filed the complaint said she declined to go to one of the quarantine sites and was then reassigned for raising concerns about employee safety, according to the person familiar with the complaint. (Armour and Andrews, 2/27)

Politico: Whistleblower Says HHS Didn't Give Quarantine Staff Protective Gear, Training
An HHS spokesperson said whistleblower complaints are taken very seriously, and that the department is “providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act. We are evaluating the complaint and have nothing further to add at this time.” Two people with knowledge of the situation told POLITICO the whistleblower’s claims were accurate. (Cancryn and Diamond, 2/27)

CBS News: Coronavirus Whistleblower Says U.S. Health Workers Who Had Contact With Quarantined Americans Lacked Training And Gear 
The workers exhibited no symptoms indicated they were infected, and they weren't tested, according to the complaint, which cited the whistleblower's lawyer. The whistleblower, a decorated employee who works at HHS in the Administration for Children and Families, claims she was reassigned unfairly after she brought up her concerns about the safety of the workers. After she made the report, the Post reported, she was told that if she didn't accept her new position within 15 days, she would be terminated. (2/27)

The New York Times: China Spins Coronavirus Crisis, Hailing Itself As A Global Leader
The Chinese government silenced whistle-blowers, withheld crucial information and played down the threat posed by the new coronavirus, allowing an epidemic that has killed thousands to take hold across the country. Now the ruling Communist Party, facing a storm of anger from the Chinese public over its missteps, is trying to rehabilitate its image by rebranding itself as the unequivocal leader in the global fight against the virus. The state-run news media has hailed China’s response to the outbreak as a model for the world, accusing countries like the United States and South Korea of acting sluggishly to contain the spread. (Hernandez, 2/28)

The New York Times: China’s Ban On Wildlife Trade A Big Step, But Has Loopholes, Conservationists Say
China this week announced a permanent ban on wildlife trade and consumption that international conservationists greeted as a major step, but one with troublesome loopholes for trade in wild animals for medicinal uses. A wild animal market in Wuhan may have been where the outbreak of Covid-19 began, and pangolins, in particular, have been proposed as a possible host of the virus before it jumped to people. (Gorman, 2/27)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus Quarantine Raises Mental-Health Concerns For China
The bad news is that quarantine and isolation are usually accompanied by unwelcome side effects, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. The medical professionals treating patients and managing quarantines often face mental-health burdens of their own. For China, containing and treating the virus must come first. But to successfully recover, mental-health care must be a part of the response. Long-term psychological effects could be among the outbreak’s most durable legacies, with consequences for the next epidemic. (Minter, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Outbreak Gives Rise To More Complex Forms Of Remote Work
The coronavirus outbreak has spurred a rise in the use of virtual-meeting and work platforms that go beyond simple videoconferences, companies in China say. As the ability to travel and meet face-to-face is curtailed, people are using remote platforms to hold meetings, conduct training, and follow updates from co-workers, including their self-reported health status, according to interviews with workers in China. (Rosenbush, 2/28)

The New York Times: South Korean Leader Said Coronavirus Would ‘Disappear.’ It Was A Costly Error.
There were 28 cases of the coronavirus in South Korea on Feb. 13. Four days had passed without a new confirmed infection. President Moon Jae-in predicted that the outbreak would “disappear before long,” while the prime minister assured people that it was OK not to wear surgical masks outdoors. As it turns out, the virus had been rapidly spreading at the time through a large, ​secretive ​church in Daegu, where it has since mushroomed into the largest epidemic of the coronavirus outside China, with 2,022 cases, including 13 deaths. (Sang-Hun, 2/27)

Reuters: South Korea Launches 'Drive-Thru' Coronavirus Testing Facilities As Demand Soars
From inside his car, a driver is checked for any fever or breathing difficulties by medical staff in protective clothing and goggles who lean in through the window at a new drive-thru coronavirus clinic in South Korea. He drove off after the brief test showed he was clear. (Shin, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: South Korea Spends Billions To Blunt Coronavirus’s Economic Impact
South Korea injected more than $13 billion in emergency funds to stoke economic activity sapped by the fast-spreading coronavirus, as China reported its lowest daily rise in new cases since it locked down the city where the epidemic started. (Yoon and Wong, 2/28)

ABC News: South Korea Takes New Measures To Have Enough Face Masks Domestically Amid Coronavirus 
The South Korean government has implemented draconian measures to secure and distribute face masks to the public amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Manufacturers of face masks must immediately cut down mask exports to less than 10% of their total production, and more than half of production must be supplied to government designated sellers, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday. (Lee, 2/27)

The New York Times: Japan Shocks Parents By Moving To Close All Schools Over Coronavirus
After weeks of criticism that Japan was bungling its reaction to the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the drastic step on Thursday of asking all the country’s schools to close for about a month. With the number of cases steadily rising and Japan suddenly confronting talk that the Tokyo Olympics may have to be canceled, Mr. Abe is eager to show that he is moving aggressively to control the virus. (Rich, Dooley and Inoue, 2/27)

The New York Times: Italy, Mired In Politics Over Virus, Asks How Much Testing Is Too Much
On the sixth floor of a skyscraper, two dozen epidemiologists and public health experts form the nerve center of the effort to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Italy that has alarmed Europe and put the wealthy Lombardy region at the center of global concern. They work the phones, pore over digital maps and study computer screens. They update databases with confirmed cases. They track those whom infected people might have had contact with. They coordinate with hospitals and laboratories to verify test results, sometimes for people with no symptoms. (Horowitz, 2/27)

The New York Times: At A Locked Down Spanish Resort, Many Questions, Little Information
Among the hundreds of guests who remained stranded in a hotel in the Canary Islands on Thursday, after four guests were found to have the coronavirus early this week, an overriding question loomed: “What’s going on?” Romane Guilloux, 20, a guest from France, asked about the lockdown imposed on patrons of the hotel, the H10 Costa Adeje Palace, a four-star resort in the south of Tenerife, the largest of the islands. (Peltier, 2/27)

The Associated Press: First Virus-Free Guests Abandon Blocked Spanish Island Hotel
Some guests have started to leave a locked-down hotel in Spain’s Tenerife island after undergoing screening for a new virus that is infecting hundreds worldwide. Reporters at the scene saw several families and couples being screened for their temperatures on Thursday morning by what appeared to be medical personnel wearing protective outfits. (Mateu and Parra, 2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Spreads To Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigeria’s health authorities on Friday reported the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa, adding to fears about the spread of the deadly virus on a continent already beset by some of the world’s weakest health-care systems. An Italian citizen who arrived in Nigeria from Milan, located in a region that is grappling with the biggest outbreak of the virus outside Asia, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, two days after arriving in the commercial capital, Lagos, the health ministry said. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said the individual has been quarantined in a specialized unit. (Bariyo and Parkinson, 2/28)

The Associated Press: Parents Of 'Terrified' Africans Stranded In China Want Help
She wakes every day long before dawn to chat with her three stranded daughters on the other side of the world in China's locked-down city of Wuhan, anxious to see they have started a new day virus-free. “If I don’t get a reply it worries me, but if I get a reply from any of them I say, ‘’Thank you, Jesus,'" Margaret Ntale said. (Muhumuza and Onen, 2/28)

Los Angeles Times: Were You On This Bus With A Coronavirus Patient? South Korea Is On The Hunt For Infections
In the weeks before she was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, South Korea’s Patient No. 31 busily went about her daily life. The 61-year-old resident of Daegu traveled to Seoul’s bustling Gangnam district to visit her company headquarters. She commuted to her work selling mobile gift certificates, ate her fill at a hotel buffet and went to a traditional medicine clinic after getting into a minor car accident. (Kim, 2/27)

Reuters: Airlines At Center Of Storm As Coronavirus Spreads
European airlines stepped up their warnings over the coronavirus outbreak on Friday, with British Airways-owner IAG and Finnair flagging a hit to profits and easyJet reporting a big drop in demand into and out of a virus-affected region in Italy. All three airlines also joined rivals in announcing cost cuts to help weather a storm of unknown severity and duration. (Young and Davey, 2/28)

Reuters: United Kingdom Has 19 Confirmed Cases Of The New Coronavirus
The United Kingdom now has 19 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus after Wales identified its first case and two new cases were found in England, health authorities said on Friday. "The total number of UK cases is 19," the health ministry said. Britain reported its first confirmed coronavirus case on Jan. 31. (2/28)

The New York Times: He Drove Her To The Hospital. She Gave Him The Coronavirus.
The Chinese woman hailed the cab and said she wanted to go to the hospital. The Thai taxi driver got stuck in traffic because that’s what often happens in Bangkok. To pass the time, the woman took out her phone and, leaning forward, pointed out some tourist sites she might want to visit. Then she sneezed, the spray showering the cabby’s face. (Beech, 2/28)

The New York Times: Iran Vice President Is One Of 7 Officials To Contract Coronavirus
A senior figure in Iran’s government, who sits just a few seats away from President Hassan Rouhani at cabinet meetings, has fallen ill with coronavirus, making her Iran’s seventh official to test positive, including one prominent cleric who has died. Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, Mr. Rouhani’s deputy for women’s affairs and the highest-ranking woman in the government, has a confirmed coronavirus infection and is quarantined at home, her deputy said Thursday. (Fassihi and Gladstone, 2/27)

Reuters: Lithuania Confirms First Coronavirus Infection
Lithuania reported its first coronavirus infection on Friday, in a woman who returned this week from a visit to Italy's northern city of Verona, the government said, as the disease spreads rapidly worldwide. Italy is the European nation worst hit by the virus, with its death toll at 17, while the numbers of those testing positive for the illness increased by more than 200, to 350. (2/28)

Reuters: First Dutch Coronavirus Infection Confirmed: Health Authorities
A patient in the Netherlands has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus Covid-19, Dutch health authorities said on Thursday, the first confirmed case in the country. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health said in a statement the patient in the southern Dutch city of Tilburg had recently traveled in northern Italy and is now being treated in isolation. Seventeen people have died in Italy and 650 have been infected, in Europe's biggest coronavirus outbreak. (2/27)

ABC News: Canceled Flights, Quarantined Cruises And $30B Losses: How Coronavirus Has Upended The Travel Industry 
The novel coronavirus outbreak has already upended an entire industry, resulting in canceled flights, resorts on lockdown, and a deadly cruise ship quarantine. With the world bracing for a pandemic, experts say the travel sector should prepare for even more uncertainty ahead.The outbreak is expected to cost the airline industry alone nearly $30 billion. (Thorbecke, 2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Tracking The Coronavirus
Since China reported the emergence of a pneumonia-like illness in late December, the new coronavirus has spread quickly across the country, reaching nearly every province. Within weeks it began to appear elsewhere in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Chinese authorities identified a fish and livestock market in Wuhan as the likely source of the virus. (Wu, Wang and Moriarty, 2/27)

ABC News: Growth Of New Coronavirus Fuels Questions Over Definition Of Pandemic 
As the coronavirus continues its spread around the globe, a single word is coming from the mouths of experts at an alarmingly growing rate: pandemic. But what exactly is a pandemic and does this qualify? (Baldwin, 2/28)

The New York Times: Most Coronavirus Cases Are Mild. That’s Good And Bad News.
As a dangerous new coronavirus has ravaged China and spread throughout the rest of the world, the outbreak’s toll has sown fear and anxiety. Nearly 3,000 deaths. More than 82,000 cases. Six continents infected. But government officials and medical experts, in their warnings about the epidemic, have also sounded a note of reassurance: Though the virus can be deadly, the vast majority of those infected so far have only mild symptoms and make full recoveries. It is an important factor to understand, medical experts said, both to avoid an unnecessary global panic and to get a clear picture of the likelihood of transmission. (Wang, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Coronavirus Spreads So Fast: Symptoms Are Mild And People Are Global
The novel coronavirus has quickly hopscotched from a food market in China around the world, to small towns in northern Italy and a major pilgrimage site in Iran. It spread through a megachurch in South Korea and sickened hundreds on a cruise ship docked in Japan. Countries that a few weeks ago never expected to have to combat the new infectious disease are realizing they likely can’t keep it out in today’s connected world. Popping up in disparate places, sometimes with no clear epidemiological links to the original outbreak in China, the virus is now all but impossible to stop, public-health officials and infectious-disease experts say. (McKay and Stancati, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Scientists Warn That Warmer Weather May Not Slow The Coronavirus
Hoping that we make it to warmer weather before the coronavirus possibly arrives in the United States in force? Don’t bother, scientists say. Unlike with the seasonal flu, the change of seasons may not matter much to the coronavirus. While it is possible that this virus, like many other respiratory viruses, will not survive as readily in warm temperatures, it will be encountering a “completely susceptible” U.S. population, said Maciej F. Boni, an associate professor of biology at Penn State University. (Avril, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: How To Prepare For The Coronavirus
Face masks? Zinc? Gloves? Americans are grasping for ways to brace for what public health experts say is inevitable: an outbreak of the new coronavirus. Public health experts advise staying calm and following the same precautions recommended for preventing flu or any other respiratory virus. Stick with the basics: Wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, and stay at home from work or school when you’re sick. (Reddy, 2/27)

Reuters: Recovered Coronavirus Patients Found Not To Be Infectious-Official
Recovered coronavirus patients who were discharged from hospitalization but later tested positive again have been found not to be infectious, an official at China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday. (2/28)

Reuters: Explainer: Coronavirus Reappears In Discharged Patients, Raising Questions In Containment Fight
A growing number of discharged coronavirus patients in China and elsewhere are testing positive after recovering, sometimes weeks after being allowed to leave the hospital, which could make the epidemic harder to eradicate. On Wednesday, the Osaka prefectural government in Japan said a woman working as a tour-bus guide had tested positive for the coronavirus for a second time. This followed reports in China that discharged patients throughout the country were testing positive after their release from the hospital. (Stanway and Kelland, 2/28)

CBS News: Coronavirus: Face Masks Won't Prevent Illness But Washing Your Hands Will, Experts Say 
As fears over the coronavirus outbreak spread, thousands of Americans are clamoring to buy face masks in an effort to protect themselves, sending prices soaring and leading manufacturers like 3M to ramp up production. However, experts say stocking up on face masks is actually misguided — and there's a much simpler thing you could be doing right now to protect yourself. (Capatides, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: What We Know About The Coronavirus, From Symptoms To Who Is At Risk
Named for the crown-like spikes on their surfaces, they infect mostly bats, pigs and small mammals. But they mutate easily and can jump from animals to humans, and from one human to another. In recent years, they have become a growing player in infectious-disease outbreaks world-wide. Seven strains are known to infect humans, including this new virus, causing illnesses in the respiratory tract. Four of those strains cause common colds. Two others, by contrast, rank among the deadliest of human infections: severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. (McKay, 2/27)

NBC News: Where Did The New Coronavirus Come From? Past Outbreaks Provide Hints.
As scientists and public health officials around the world scramble to contain the deadly coronavirus outbreak, some researchers are also racing to solve the enduring mystery of where the newly identified virus came from. The coronavirus, which first sickened people in China in December, is thought to have passed from animals to humans, like many similar pathogens, but nothing has been confirmed yet by any peer-reviewed scientific research, global public health agency or academic expert. Beyond that, little is known about its origin. (Chow, 2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus: How We Got Here And What It Means For You
In the nearly two months since the novel coronavirus was identified, it has spread to every continent except Antarctica. There have been more than 82,100 cases in 45 countries, with at least 2,800 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. (2/27)

NPR: Antibody Test For COVID-19 Virus Would Help Solve Clinical Mysteries
As the coronavirus spreads more widely around the globe, scientists are starting to use a powerful new tool: a blood test that identifies people who have previously been exposed to the virus. This kind of test is still under development in the United States but it has been rolled out for use in Singapore and China. (Harris, 2/28)

The Washington Post: CDC’s Facial Hair Guide For Health Workers Resurfaces More Than Two Years Later
Mutton chops, chin curtains and the ever-popular beard have to be shaved off the fighters against coronavirus in the United Kingdom, the Press Association reported. Leaders of the University Hospital Southampton National Health Service Foundation Trust sent an organization-wide email about shaving beards so masks can properly fit on their faces, according to the PA. (Beachum, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Key Terms Of Coronavirus Outbreak, Explained
With health officials trying to prevent and prepare for the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, there is much panic and confusion and many questions. Here are some key terms and facts to know. (Wan, 2/27)

NBC News: Coronavirus Epidemic: U.S. Retailers Could See Some Empty Shelves By Mid-April
Coronavirus has the potential to become a global pandemic, temporarily emptying retail store shelves in the coming months and depressing some consumer-facing businesses, experts say, with government officials advising families to take measured steps to stock up on certain essentials. A pandemic is the rapid spread of an infectious disease to a large amount of people in a short period of time across international boundaries. (Popken, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Makers Of Wipes And Hand Sanitizers Step Up Production As Coronavirus Spreads
Companies that make household cleaning products such as Purell hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes are boosting production as they brace for a surge in demand because of the spread of coronavirus. U.S. health officials have recommended disinfecting frequently touched surfaces with household-cleaning sprays and wipes to help stop the virus’s spread. They also recommend alcohol-based hand sanitizers if soap and water are unavailable. (Terlep, 2/27)

Reuters: Amazon Bars One Million Products For False Coronavirus Claims
Amazon.com Inc has barred more than 1 million products from sale in recent weeks that had inaccurately claimed to cure or defend against the coronavirus, the company told Reuters on Thursday. Amazon also removed tens of thousands of deals from merchants merchant offers that it said attempted to price-gouge customers. (2/27)

Kaiser Health News: Growing Concerns Of Coronavirus Should Spur Plans – Not Panic – In The Workplace
Chances are, if you work for a large company, you received an email like one sent to Volkswagen employees Monday: Coronavirus concerns mean some limits on business travel, everyone should remember to “wash your hands frequently” and stay home if sick. As the viral disease, dubbed COVID-19, continues to spread, some employers are canceling conferences and limiting travel, checking supplies and dusting off their emergency preparedness plans, just as they have for previous outbreaks or for natural disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes. (Appleby, 2/28)

The New York Times: Warren, Bloomberg And Rivals Agree: Trump Is ‘Not Ready’ For Coronavirus
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called Wednesday for the federal government to redirect money from the construction of President Trump’s border wall and put it toward the containment of the fast-spreading coronavirus. “I’m going to be introducing a plan tomorrow to take every dime that the president is now taking to spend on his racist wall at the southern border and divert it to the coronavirus,” Ms. Warren said on a CNN town hall program from Charleston, S.C., joining her opponents in the Democratic presidential primary in excoriating the Trump administration’s response to the threat. (Ruiz, 2/27)

The Associated Press: White House Hopefuls Target Trump On Coronavirus Response
Democratic White House hopefuls are seizing on President Donald Trump’s delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak, calling it the latest evidence of his incompetence and warning that the crisis may only deepen as a result. But some experts and Democrats warn that the candidates risk exacerbating a public health crisis if they go too far in politicizing the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness. (Jeffe, 2/27)

The Hill: Sanders Rips Pence: His Last Response To An Epidemic Was To 'Pray' It Away 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday slammed President Trump’s appointment of Vice President Pence as point man on the coronavirus outbreak, noting the HIV outbreak that occurred during Pence’s tenure as governor of Indiana as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s refusal to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable to all. “Trump's plan for the coronavirus so far: Cut winter heating assistance for the poor. Have VP Pence, who wanted to 'pray away' HIV epidemic, oversee the response. Let ex-pharma lobbyist Alex Azar refuse to guarantee affordable vaccines to all. Disgusting,” Sanders tweeted Wednesday. (Budryk, 2/27)

CNN: The US Has Its First Novel Coronavirus-Related Drug Shortage 
The United States has its first novel coronavirus-related drug shortage, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The maker of an unnamed drug that has recently been added to the FDA Drug Shortages list told the agency that the shortage is due to the novel coronavirus.On Tuesday, the FDA warned that these types of shortages could happen, and said it was monitoring the situation closely. The agency identified 20 drugs that either solely sourced their active pharmaceutical ingredients, or produced finished drug products, from or in China. (Christensen, 2/28)

ABC News: FDA Reports 1st Drug Shortage Due To Novel Coronavirus Outbreak 
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the agency has been "closely monitoring" the medical product supply chain "with the expectation" that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus would "likely" have an impact. "A manufacturer has alerted us to a shortage of a human drug that was recently added to the drug shortages list," Hahn said in a statement Thursday night. "The manufacturer just notified us that this shortage is related to a site affected by coronavirus. The shortage is due to an issue with manufacturing of an active pharmaceutical ingredient used in the drug." (Windsor, 2/28)

Meanwhile —

Roll Call: Vaccine Prices A Flashpoint In Coronavirus Funding Talks 
A push by Democratic leaders to ensure the availability of low-cost vaccines could complicate negotiations on an emergency funding bill to combat the deadly disease caused by a coronavirus. There is no vaccine yet to combat the COVID-19 disease that has spread around the globe from China. But lawmakers are eager to ensure that any future vaccine doesn’t become subject to price gouging that would deny people access to it. (Lerman and Siddons, 2/27)

Bloomberg: Biotechs Hunting For Virus Treatment Extend $26 Billion Boom
Health-care firms searching for treatments and accurate tests for the coronavirus are extending a surge that has added more than $26 billion to their market value this week. Gilead Sciences Inc., the largest company to see its share price jump in response to its plans to combat the virus, has added $9.7 billion to its value this week alone. Moderna Inc., a drug developer with an eye on a potential vaccine, extended a 90% rally to a record, adding more than $6 billion to its value this week. (Lipschultz, 2/27)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Fears Drive Stocks Down For 6th Day And Into Correction
The global stock market slid for the sixth straight day on Thursday, as the S&P 500 index plunged to its worst loss in almost nine years and investors worldwide grew increasingly fearful that the coronavirus outbreak could cause a recession as it squeezes corporate profits. The S&P 500, which just last Wednesday reached a record high, slid 4.4 percent, its worst day since August 2011. The index is down 12 percent since that peak, entering what is known as a correction — a drop of at least 10 percent that signals a more significant sell-off than a few days of pessimistic trading. (Phillips, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Global Stocks Follow Wall Street’s Steep Decline
The U.S. benchmark notched its largest single-day percentage drop since August 2011 on Thursday. The index entered a correction from its highest-ever closing level in just six trading days, plunging 12% from its Feb. 19 peak. On Friday, investors braced themselves for a deeper selloff ahead of the weekend pause with many worried about reports of new coronavirus cases in the coming days. “We’re drinking from a fireman’s hose this morning,” said Patrick Spencer, managing director at U.S. investment firm Baird. “It wasn’t a good close last night and certainly panic ensued.” (Ping and Chilkoti, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Financial Markets Plunge; Japanese Island Declares State Of Emergency
Fears that a coronavirus pandemic could tip the world economy into recession sent global stocks into a tailspin Friday, with markets on track for their worst week since the financial crisis. European indexes fell sharply, led by losses in the travel and resources sectors, continuing the slump in Asia earlier in the day. U.S. futures pointed to further losses on Wall Street at the open Friday. (Taylor, 2/28)

ProPublica: VA Secretary Under Investigation After Complaint He Looked For Dirt On A House Staffer Who Said She’d Been Assaulted
The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating allegations that Secretary Robert Wilkie sought damaging information to discredit a congressional staffer who said she was sexually assaulted in a VA hospital. The allegations, first reported by ProPublica, were raised in an anonymous complaint to the committee that the staffer works for. A former senior official and another person familiar with the matter, who both spoke to ProPublica on the condition of anonymity, described meetings between Wilkie and his senior staff in which he discussed information he had collected about the staffer’s past and suggested using it to discredit her. (Arnsdorf, 2/27)

The New York Times: DeVos Orders U.S.C. To Address ‘Systemic Failures’ Over Arrested Gynecologist
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Thursday an agreement with the University of Southern California that requires the school to overhaul its processes for responding to sexual assaults after the department found “systemic failures” in its response to abuse allegations against a former gynecologist, George Tyndall. The agreement requires the university to review the actions of current and former employees involved in the Tyndall matter to determine whether they should be disciplined, and to make reasonable efforts to contact and offer remedies to nine patients who may have been harmed over Mr. Tyndall’s 31-year medical career, and possibly to others. (Green, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Regulators Slam USC Handling Of Sex Abuse Cases As 'Reprehensible'
“What we have found at USC is shocking and reprehensible,” Kenneth L. Marcus, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “No student should ever have to face the disgusting behavior that USC students had to deal with.” In finding that USC violated the civil rights of students, the department levied a long list of sanctions stemming from USC’s handling of complaints about Dr. George Tyndall, the sole full-time gynecologist at the student health clinic for 27 years. Tyndall, as The Times revealed nearly two years ago, was the subject of multiple complaints from patients and colleagues over the decades, including reports that he photographed women’s genitals, performed improper pelvic and breast exams and made suggestive comments during medical exams. (Hamilton and Ryan, 2/27)

NBC News: USC Mishandled Gynecologist's Sexual Abuse Reports For Decades, Feds Say
The findings further detail that the university’s top brass knew about serious allegations against Tyndall while it was already under investigation by the department over student allegations that USC mishandled sexual assault cases in late 2017 but failed to disclose them to federal agents. “We are certainly very disappointed by the responsiveness of the University of Southern California in this case,” said Kenneth Marcus, assistant secretary of civil rights for the department. (Kingkade, 2/27)

The Hill: Bill Banning Menthol In Cigarettes Divides Democrats, With Some Seeing Racial Bias 
A bill that would ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes is dividing House Democrats, with some arguing it unfairly targets African Americans and could lead police to target communities of color. The measure, which the House will vote on Friday, is opposed by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus. House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a prominent CBC member, also has concerns with the bill, he told reporters Thursday. (Hellmann and Lillis, 2/27)

Roll Call: Menthol Ban Causes Discrimination Concerns
The bill was written in response to the dramatic rise in youth e-cigarette use, but in addition to placing new restrictions on sales of e-cigarette flavors and advertising for those products, it would also ban flavors in tobacco products like cigars, as well as menthol cigarettes. Some members say the bill’s ban on menthol products would unduly punish black smokers. Nine in ten black smokers prefer menthol-flavored products, according to the Truth Initiative, an anti-smoking advocacy group that supports a menthol ban. (Siddons, McPherson and Kopp, 2/27)

A look back —

The Washington Post: What The U.S. Government Used To Believe About Smoking.
Juul Labs, Inc. this week revealed a novel approach to keeping its e-cigarettes away from underage consumers — the company’s new vaping equipment won’t unlock for anyone under age 21. The federal government and 39 states are currently investigating e-cigarette marketing practices, reflecting growing concern about the dangers of vaping and nicotine addiction, particularly among young people. But a century ago, the U.S. government was actively pushing tobacco, not protecting citizens from addiction. (Andreas, 2/28)

Stateline: Medical Groups Slam Trump Medicaid Rule
More than 4,200 organizations or individuals have commented on the proposed Medicaid rule. Many warn of hospital or nursing home closures and of the impacts of diminished Medicaid funding, including possible reductions in enrollment or services and an exodus of medical professionals willing to participate in it.By one estimate, the rule could reduce Medicaid spending by 6% to 8%, or $37 billion to $49 billion a year. (Ollove, 2/28)

In other Medicaid news —

Modern Healthcare: States Testing Value-Based Payments In Medicaid Managed Care
States and Medicaid managed care organizations are experimenting with value-based payment models, but their policy choices come with difficult tradeoffs. Federal law gives states plenty of flexibility to encourage value-based payments in Medicaid managed care, but rolling out those payment reforms requires a lot of effort from states, according to new research presented by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's staff at a meeting on Thursday. (Brady, 2/27)

Texas Tribune: Texas Medicaid Expansion Would Help Homeless, Advocates Say
When Susan Peake moved to Austin from Denver in 2018, she traded one kind of safety net for another. In Colorado, she’d received state-funded health insurance coverage, which she credits with saving her from financial ruin after she suffered a heart attack requiring double-bypass surgery. In Texas, though she did not qualify for free health insurance, she had a room at her sister’s house, where she hoped to save some money while she recovered. But after a disagreement with her brother-in-law, things spiraled out of control for Peake, 52. She moved out of her sister’s house, she said, and began staying on friends’ couches. Before long, she was camping in parks and sleeping on bus stop benches. (Walters, 2/27)

ProPublica: When The Billionaire Family Behind The Opioid Crisis Needed PR Help, They Turned To Mike Bloomberg
Long celebrated as civic-minded philanthropists, the Sacklers were becoming pariahs. The billionaire family whose company created and pushed the addictive painkiller OxyContin had managed to escape connection with the opioid crisis for years, but now two magazine pieces were portraying them as pain profiteers. Museums that had sought their donations were being asked about giving the money back. Mortimer D.A. Sackler — son of a co-founder of the company, Purdue Pharma, and a member of its board — was openly furious. (Dreier, 2/28)

The Associated Press: US Supervised Injection Site Put On Hold Amid Opposition
Plans to open what could be the nation's first medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia were put on hold Thursday night amid strenuous opposition from a federal prosecutor and residents of the neighborhood where it would have been located. Mayor Jim Kenney said that Safehouse agreed to push back its opening date so it can meet with members of the community and hear their concerns. Meanwhile, the owner of the medical complex in south Philadelphia where Safehouse planned to operate its first injection site abruptly pulled out, leaving the project in limbo. (2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: First Sanctioned Supervised Drug Site In U.S. Hits Another Snag
“Now that the landlord has decided to not go forward with the lease, we need to do a little regrouping and assess our options,” she said. Just a day earlier, a favorable court ruling led Safehouse to announce plans to open its first location next week. The nonprofit has been battling in court with the local U.S. attorney’s office, but a federal judge sided with Safehouse’s argument that its operation wouldn’t violate the law. The U.S. attorney has launched an appeal. (Kamp, 2/27)

Bloomberg: Abortion Clinics Are The Most Challenging Small Business In America
Less than four years after Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was decided, her day-to-day work is at least as challenging as it was before. The abortion tax has gone up, with new barriers that hurt clinics’ bottom lines. Protests have increased in number, and providers are struggling to offer a medical procedure that’s been legal in the U.S. since 1973 and whose legality 7 in 10 adults support, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study. Clinic owners across the country describe a business environment that’s curtailing their ability to operate. (Koons and Greenfield, 2/27)

In other news —

The Associated Press: Virginia Lawmakers Pass Bills Easing Abortion Restrictions
Abortion restrictions that were enacted when Republicans controlled Virginia’s General Assembly are being undone in legislation approved by the Democrats who are now in charge. The House on Thursday gave final passage to a bill that would roll back provisions including a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion and a requirement that women seeking an abortion undergo an ultrasound and counseling. (2/27)

Kaiser Health News: High Court Revisits Abortion Law Akin To One Struck Down In 2016
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court is set to hear an abortion case that may sound familiar. That’s because the state restriction in question is almost identical to one the court overturned in 2016. At the heart of the current case, June Medical Services LLC et al. v. Russo, is a Louisiana law passed in 2014 that requires doctors who perform abortions in the state to have “admitting privileges” at a hospital no more than 30 miles from the clinic where the abortion is performed. (Rovner, 2/28)

Stat: They Have 'Alzheimer's Brains' But No Symptoms. Why?
For years they were flukes of the Alzheimer’s world: elderly people who died at an advanced age and, according to postmortem examinations, with brains chock-full of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the protein fragments whose presence in the brain is the hallmark of the disease. Yet these brains were off-script. Although Alzheimer’s orthodoxy says these sticky protein clumps between and inside nerve cells destroy synapses and kill neurons, causing memory loss and cognitive decline, these individuals thought and remembered as well as their amyloid- and tau-free peers. (Begley, 2/27)

Stat: Anti-Vaccine Activists Co-Opt A Populist Slogan To Oppose Immunization Law
The advertisements plastered across city bus stops and flooding television airwaves across Maine make a simple plea to voters: “Reject Big Pharma” by voting yes on a state-wide initiative. But the referendum that Maine voters will decide on Tuesday, known as Question 1, has little to do with drug prices. Instead, approval would overturn a 2019 law that requires all schoolchildren to receive vaccinations unless granted an exemption by a doctor. The advertisements, meanwhile, are funded in large part not by drug pricing activists but by a nationwide network of anti-vaccine groups. (Facher, 2/28)

PBS NewsHour: Are Today’s Military Helmets Better At Preventing Brain Injury? Not Always, Study Says
Your great-grandfather’s World War I helmet that’s stuffed in the back of the closet could be just as effective at preventing brain injury from some blasts as a modern-day military helmet, a recently published study from Duke University researchers suggests. The study is narrow in scope, looking only at effects from overhead explosions — a fact the researchers are first to admit. But it still raises questions about why today’s military helmet designs are not markedly better at protecting against certain kinds of shockwaves than those used more than 100 years ago. (Aronson and Frazee, 2/27)

Stat: Rejected From Five Clinical Trials, A Cancer Patient Waits For One To Say Yes
It’s hard enough for any cancer patient to get into clinical trials. It’s even harder for a patient with a rare cancer like Todd Mercer. Mercer, a 52-year-old defense industry professional, lives in Michigan with his wife and their two teenagers. At age 50, Mercer got a colonoscopy, as is recommended for people his age, and received a clean bill of health. Six weeks later, his appendix burst. (Robbins, Garde and Feuerstein, 2/28)

ABC News: For Bernie Sanders, Radical Views Once Extended To Theories On What Causes Cancer 
For nearly 20 years as an up and coming politician, Bernie Sanders supported ideas on what causes cancer outside of the mainstream, such as sexual inactivity as a cause of breast cancer. "The manner in which you bring up your daughter with regard to sexual attitudes may very well determine whether or not she will develop breast cancer, among other things," Sanders wrote in an essay headlined "Cancer, Disease and Society" in 1969. "How much guilt, nervousness have you imbued in your daughter with regard to sex?" (Rubin, 2/27)

CBS News: Jimmy John's Linked To New E. Coli Outbreak, A Day After FDA Warning 
Federal health officials are warning consumers who have eaten sprouts on sandwiches from restaurant chain Jimmy John's to be on the lookout for E. coli symptoms, with a new outbreak striking more than a dozen people in five states. "We are advising consumers who may have recently eaten sprouts at Jimmy John's to monitor for symptoms of an E. coli infection, and consumers should contact their health care provider if they have experienced common foodborne illness symptoms," Frank Yiannas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement. (Gibson, 2/27)

CNN: How To Tell If Your Kid Is Suffering From A Mental Disorder 
Children's lives may not be as hard as adults' lives, but sometimes their moodiness and sadness are more than just a phase. Around one in six US youth ages 6 to 17 has a mental, behavioral or developmental disorder such as anxiety, depression or attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder, according to a 2019 report in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The number of youth struggling with mental disorders such as depression and anxiety has increased by 52% between 2005 and 2017. (Rogers, 2/27)

Reuters: Walking May Be Best Treatment For Pain From Clogged Leg Arteries
Discomfort in the calf and upper legs during walking is a hallmark of narrowed blood vessels due to heart disease, but walking more - not less - can help ease the pain, experts say. This type of pain comes from intermittent claudication, when too little blood reaches the muscles, and it is usually a sign that blood vessels in the legs are clogged by atherosclerosis, a condition known as peripheral artery disease. (2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Risks Of Loneliness Among Seniors Aren’t Being Adequately Addressed, Report Warns
The U.S. health system is falling short in addressing the serious public health threat of loneliness and social isolation among America’s seniors, according to a new report by an influential advisory group. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said Thursday that nearly one-quarter of Americans aged 65 and older who live in community settings have few relationships or infrequent social contact. It concluded that four decades of research have produced robust evidence that social isolation is associated with a significantly increased risk for early death from all causes. (Adamy, 2/27)

CNN: A Woman Took 550 Times The Usual Dose Of LSD, With Surprisingly Positive Consequences 
Drug overdoses can be life-threatening, but for two women who accidentally took massive hits of LSD, the experience was life changing -- and in a good way. A 46-year-old woman snorted a staggering 550 times the normal recreational dose of LSD and not only survived, but found that the foot pain she had suffered from since her 20s was dramatically reduced. Separately, a 15-year-old girl with bipolar disorder overdosed on 10 times the normal dose of the drug, which she said resulted in a massive improvement in her mental health. (Hunt, 2/27)

NPR: Brain Uses Left Side For Lyrics And Right For Melody
A song fuses words and music. Yet the human brain can instantly separate a song's lyrics from its melody. And now scientists think they know how this happens. A team led by researchers at McGill University reported in Science Thursday that song sounds are processed simultaneously by two separate brain areas – one in the left hemisphere and one in the right. (Hamilton, 2/27)

Stat: AI Has Arrived In Medical Imaging. Now The FDA Needs To Monitor It
This is the moment of truth for the FDA’s regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. That was the unmistakable theme of a two-day meeting here this week that focused on how the agency will keep tabs on the safety and effectiveness of new medical imaging devices that use AI to automate tasks performed by radiologists. Following a string of approvals, these products are now beginning to filter into hospitals and clinics around the country, posing a test of the agency’s review processes and ability to trace the impact of AI on doctors and patients in real-world settings. (Ross, 2/28)

ABC News: Social Media Exposure May Exacerbate Eating Disorder 
Katherine Ormerod remembers when she first signed up for Instagram.Even more than that, she remembers how it made her feel."I was asked by my boss to set up a social media account -- it became part of my professional life -- but soon I realized it was having detrimental impact on my body," Ormerod told ABC News. "I never had big problems with anorexia, but I just never felt good about my body because of social media." (David and Safai, 2/27)

WBUR: AG Healey Reaches $1 Million Settlement With 7 Companies To Increase Behavioral Health Access
State Attorney General Maura Healey announced Thursday that her office reached settlement agreements with all seven companies — including five health insurers — to change their practices and pay a total of $1 million. She said the changes should affect about one million Massachusetts residents. Healey's office said the companies limited access to mental health and substance use treatment in several ways, including: not covering behavioral health the same as physical health; offering lower reimbursement rates for behavioral health; requiring prior authorizations for some behavioral health services; and not properly managing and updating behavioral health provider directories. (Becker, 2/27)

The Baltimore Sun: As Maryland Hospitals Continue To Sue Patients, State Lawmakers Call For ‘Guardrails’ 
Maryland hospitals sued their patients over unpaid bills more than 145,700 times in the 10 years that ended in 2018, leading to wage garnishments, liens and bankruptcies, according to a new report from a coalition of consumer groups and unions. Such lawsuits aren’t new, but medical debt is getting more attention in the state and around the nation, especially as election-year presidential candidates debate how to help Americans struggling to pay for health care. (Cohn, 2/28)

Bloomberg: J&J Ordered By Jury To Pay $9 Million In Talc-Cancer Case
Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Florida jury to pay $9 million to an 82-year-old woman who blamed asbestos-tainted talc for her cancer, the latest court loss for the company in U.S. litigation over its iconic baby powder. Jurors in Miami concluded on Thursday that asbestos in baby powder used by Blanca Mure-Cabrera over her lifetime contributed to the development of her mesothelioma, said David Jagolinzer, one of her lawyers. That type of cancer has been specifically linked to asbestos exposure. (Feeley, 2/27)

The Baltimore Sun: Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Sentenced To 3 Years For ‘Healthy Holly’ Children’s Book Fraud Scheme 
Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades and was elevated by voters to lead the city after the upheaval of 2015, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for a fraud scheme involving a children’s book series. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow described Pugh’s crimes as “astounding” and said she took advantage of a career spent doing good works to mislead organizations who purchased her “Healthy Holly” books. (Broadwater, Fenton and Rector, 2/27)

Modern Healthcare: AseraCare To Pay $1 Million To Settle False Claims Act Case
Hospice provider AseraCare on Thursday said it settled a closely watched False Claims Act case with the federal government for $1 million. The lawsuit hinged on whether a physician's medical judgment can be deemed false based only on another physician's conflicting opinion. The settlement will not require a corporate integrity agreement, the Plano, Texas-based company said in a statement. (Meyer, 2/27)

The Washington Post: District Seeks To Ban ‘Ghost Gun’ Kits As Seizures Of Homemade Weapons Soar
The number of untraceable “ghost guns” built from kits and seized by police has begun to surge in the District and some other areas nationwide, raising concerns that firearm traffickers have found a new way to bypass background checks and pour more weapons into cities struggling with violence. D.C. police said such guns were used in three killings in the city in recent years. District officers last year took 116 ghost guns off the streets, compared with just three in 2017. (Hermann and Jackman, 2/27)

Kaiser Health News: Colorado Forges Ahead On A New Model For Health Care While Nation Waits
With the nation’s capital mired in gridlock and the Affordable Care Act facing a dire legal challenge, the prospects of lowering health care costs for Americans this year seem unlikely.Just don’t tell that to Coloradans. Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate and a Democratic governor eager to push aggressive health care measures have turned Colorado into one of the foremost health policy laboratories in the country. (Hawryluk, 2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Property Manager Sued Over Lead-Paint Compliance By New York State
A property manager overseeing more than 6,000 apartment units in 134 buildings in New York City has been noncompliant with lead-paint regulations, state Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday. In a lawsuit, Ms. James accused Chestnut Holdings of failing to identify which apartments house children under 6 years old, as city law requires. The property manager, which mostly operates apartments in low- and middle-income communities in the Bronx, didn’t conduct annual investigations of those apartments for hazards that can cause lead poisoning, such as peeling paint, the lawsuit alleges. (Blint-Welsh, 2/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Corruption Investigation Yields 14 New Subpoenas Served As Nuru Probe Widens
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued a flurry of subpoenas Thursday in a widening public corruption investigation started after former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru’s arrest on fraud charges last month. Herrera’s office issued 14 subpoenas to firms with ties to either Walter Wong, a San Francisco building permit consultant, or Zhang Li, a billionaire real estate developer from China. (Fracassa, 2/27)

Philadelphia Inquirer: FTC Sues To Block Jefferson University’s Acquisition Of Einstein Health
The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday said it will sue to block Thomas Jefferson University’s acquisition of Einstein Healthcare Network, a deal that has been pending since September 2018, alleging that the combination would reduce competition and raise prices in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. (Brubaker, 2/27)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan To Pay $80M To Settle Prison Sex Abuse Claims
The Michigan Department of Corrections will pay $80 million to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of males under 18 years of age in Michigan prisons, the parties announced Thursday. The settlement would end a class-action suit first brought in 2013 on behalf of more than 1,300 young male prisoners. (Egan and Gray, 2/27)

NBC News: University Of Michigan Wrestler Says He Was Booted Off Team For Reporting Abusive Doctor
The whistleblower whose allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a University of Michigan doctor sparked a police investigation and continue to roil the school said Thursday that he's been seeking justice since 1975. The former wrestler, Tad Deluca, said that was the year he was punished for reporting in a nine-page letter what he says the late Dr. Robert Anderson did to him repeatedly under the guise of medical examinations. (Siemaszko, 2/27)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Milwaukee Development To House Diversion Program For Sex Workers
A Milwaukee central city development is adding a new building that could house a diversion program to help women who work in the street sex trade. The Benedict Center wants to operate its Sisters Program at the building being developed at 1609 W. North Ave., according to new plans filed with the city Board of Zoning Appeals. (Daykin, 2/27)

Chicago Tribune: Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Commissioners Gain More Control Over Health Board 
With newly obtained authority, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has appointed a member of her staff to join the independent board that oversees the county health and hospital system, she said Thursday. In addition, the Cook County commissioners will now have the power to advise on and approve of the next CEO who takes over the financially struggling health system. Going forward, Cook County Health administrators will be mandated to meet with county officials monthly to discuss the system’s finances. (Bowean, 2/27)

The New York Times: Piled Bodies, Overflowing Morgues: Inside America’s Autopsy Crisis
Say you are found on your bathroom floor, on the grassy knoll of someone else’s front yard, in the berth of your tractor-trailer, in your own bed, at the foot of a bridge, under a car wheel, in the car, caught in the bend of a river, collapsed in the bar, alone in the remains of a scorched kitchen. Your death is sudden and unexpected, a death that no one plans for but that approximately half a million of us will experience this year in America. No death is special, but this kind of death requires special care, procedurally, from a number of people you will never meet. The procedural aspects of your death, which you will never see, begin with a phone call. One afternoon in the summer of 2018 in Cleveland, a man returned home to find his wife slumped over her computer keyboard. She was in her 50s and had been in poor health, but nothing seemed urgent or life-threatening. It looked as if she died while shopping online. Her husband called 911. (Kisner, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Many Miners Die, And It Never Shows Up In Safety Data 
Surat Lal died with seven colleagues in an explosion at a small quarry in India, but like thousands of other casualties at mines in the developing world, his death wasn’t counted as a mining fatality. Around 90% of the world’s miners, according to the World Bank, work in small-scale operations or illegally by trespassing on land controlled by others, including bigger mining companies. Those miners—who dig up materials used in cars and smartphones, among other products—are frequently operating in emerging economies like India, in dangerous conditions with no safety regulations, poor equipment and a culture of risk-taking. (MacDonald and Pokharel, 2/27)

Undark: Pollution Is In Your Blood. Is That A Form Of Battery?
"None of us would have signed up for this,” said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, kicking off a round of gallows humor among her neighbors. “None of us would have said, ‘Hey, I’ll do the experiment.’”It was a warm summer evening in the town of Belmont, Michigan, and Wynn-Stelt — along with neighbors Jennifer Carney and Tobyn McNaughton — was in Carney’s backyard discussing how things got upended here in 2017. That’s when they all learned that the groundwater running below their homes is contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — collectively called PFASs (pronounced PEE-fasses). Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t fully degrade in the environment, these industrial compounds have been found in air, water, and soil around the globe, and in the bodies of most people. They have been associated with a laundry list of health problems, including cancer, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, and disrupted immune development. And yet, despite a recent surge in the number of studies devoted to PFASs, their health effects are not yet fully understood. (Talpos, 2/24)

Los Angeles Times: Stop Playing Politics And Protect Us From Coronavirus
For the good of the country, Congress and the White House need to rise above their usual partisan sniping and name-calling and show a little unified leadership as the United States readies itself for the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19. We know it will be hard, given the level of bitter polarization in Washington, but Democrats and Republicans owe it to the American people to swallow their differences. That’s what rational, responsible governments do in cases of war, natural disaster and, yes, a mass outbreak of infectious disease. (2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: The Coronavirus Isn’t Partisan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer opened a joint statement Thursday on federal coronavirus policy with this line: “Lives are at stake—this is not the time for name-calling or playing politics.” As the saying goes, interesting if true. The evidence so far of bipartisan cooperation in response to the virus isn’t promising. Actually, it’s depressing. In the 48 hours before the Pelosi-Schumer call for an end to name-calling, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked Vice President Mike Pence, named by President Trump to lead the government’s response, as a science denier. (2/27)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Put Public Health Over Politics With Coronavirus Outbreak
Experts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now say it’s not a question of whether the coronavirus (COVID-19) is coming to the United States, it’s a question of when. And we need to be ready. Unfortunately, President Trump gutted the United States’ pandemic response capability by cutting the CDC budget by 9% and eliminating key positions that manage our coordinated global response to pandemic outbreaks. (Kate Schroder, 2/27)

Fox News: Desperate Democrats Hope Coronavirus Will Undermine Trump
Could the coronavirus be the magic bullet to kill off the Trump presidency? Desperate Democrats certainly hope so; they imagine the spreading disease will knock confidence and our robust economy for a loop, undermining President Trump’s best argument for reelection. Who can be surprised? The Democratic primary season has launched Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the aging socialist from Vermont, to a position where he is likely to lead the party in a chorus of "The Internationale" while leaping off a cliff in November. Toppling the economy could save them from political oblivion. (Liz Peek, 2/27)

Fox News: Pence Is Right Choice To Lead Coronavirus Response – Democrats Wrong To Launch Political Attack
The Democrats just can’t seem to help themselves. Even in the midst of a bona fide public health crisis involving the coronavirus, all they’re doing is second-guessing President Trump and trying to stoke hysteria in order to score political points.The entire country should have found it reassuring when the president appointed Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday to coordinate the Trump administration's coronavirus response efforts. (Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, 2/27)

USA Today: Conspiracy Theories Are Spreading Faster Than The Coronavirus On Fox
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday that Americans should prepare for a “significant disruption” to everyday life as the spread of COVID-19 (known colloquially as the coronavirus) into the United States becomes “not so much a question of if,” according to one official, “but rather more a question of exactly when.” Despite steady warnings from health organizations worldwide, right-wing media are clogging the airwaves with conspiracy theories and inaccurate reporting. Outlets like Fox News are broadcasting sensationalistic, poorly sourced talking points, obfuscating the realities of the outbreak and the United States' own readiness to deal with it, leaving Americans more vulnerable and less informed. ...Though it was repeatedly debunked, the claim is now ubiquitous in right-wing media: The Daily Wire, The Federalist, Steve Bannon and Rush Limbaugh have all uncritically pushed the conspiracy theory that the virus may have leaked from a Chinese research lab. (Nikki McCann Ramírez, 2/27)

The New York Times: When A Pandemic Meets A Personality Cult 
So, here’s the response of the Trump team and its allies to the coronavirus, at least so far: It’s actually good for America. Also, it’s a hoax perpetrated by the news media and the Democrats. Besides, it’s no big deal, and people should buy stocks. Anyway, we’ll get it all under control under the leadership of a man who doesn’t believe in science. From the day Donald Trump was elected, some of us worried how his administration would deal with a crisis not of its own making. Remarkably, we’ve gone three years without finding out: Until now, every serious problem facing the Trump administration, from trade wars to confrontation with Iran, has been self-created. But the coronavirus is looking as if it might be the test we’ve been fearing. And the results aren’t looking good. (Paul Krugman, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Isn’t Easing Coronavirus Forebodings
In a public-health crisis the role of government is key. The question will be—the question is—are the president and his administration up to it? Our scientists and health professionals are. (I think people see Tony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health as the de facto president on this.) Is Donald Trump? Or has he finally met a problem he can’t talk his way out of? I have written in the past questioning whether he can lead and reassure the nation in a time of crisis. We are about to find out. (Peggy Noonan, 2/27)

The Washington Post: President Trump’s Coronavirus Response Highlights A Flawed Drug Pricing System
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar testified Wednesday that he couldn’t promise a coronavirus vaccine would be made available to Americans who couldn’t afford the medicine. Azar’s remarks outraged Democrats, including presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) who demanded he, “should stop putting profits ahead of people’s lives.” But Azar’s comments reflected less his priorities than our broader system, which dictates that, even in the face of a public health threat, the cost of drugs could well be prohibitive for many who need them because of runaway pricing. (Robin Feldman, 2/27)

Stat: Quarantine For Coronavirus? Let's Make That Unnecessary 
Do you trust the government to protect you and your family from the novel coronavirus called Covid-19? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say more cases are inevitable in the United States, although they can’t predict how many and when they will appear. President Trump says the risk is low and “We’re very, very ready for this.” But what does it mean to be ready? (Wendy K. Mariner, 2/28)

The New York Times: How Bad Will The Coronavirus Outbreak Get?
“If things don’t change, a lot of us might die.” That’s what Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The Times, told “The Daily” on Thursday morning about the coronavirus sweeping across the world. When I last wrote about the new pathogen, officially known as 2019-nCoV, it had killed 106 people in China, and whether we were on the precipice of a global health emergency was still an open question. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 2/27)

Stat: Women In Medicine: Unite (Or At Least Stop Repressing Each Other) 
The #MeToo and #NeedHerScience movements have inspired women to take a stand against sexism in health care. What I see missing from the movements are women in medicine confronting their own discrimination toward other women. (Bonnie Y. Chien, 2/28)

The Hill: Trump Should Dust Off Last Year's Drug Reform Plan 
Voters generally approve of Donald Trump’s economic policies — but give him low marks on health care, according to recent polls. The president, unsurprisingly, is grumbling. He recently chewed out Alex Azar, ordering his Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to make faster progress on reducing drug prices. (Merrill Matthews, 2/27)

WBUR: Forced Family Separation Isn't Just Traumatic. It's Torture
The United Nations Convention against Torture, which the United States has ratified, defines torture as an act which causes severe physical or mental suffering, done intentionally, for the purpose of coercion or punishment, by a state official or with state consent. Clearly, the U.S. family separation policy meets those criteria. (Katie Peeler, 2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: How A Boy’s Blood Stopped An Outbreak
It isn’t every day that a school physician’s work gets published in a medical journal. But it happened in 1934, and the story contains a lesson for the coronavirus epidemic. A Pottstown, Pa., boy identified as C.Y. was exposed to measles. The boy was quarantined in the Hill School’s infirmary; he developed a severe case of measles but recovered. Yet he infected two other students, who exposed others. (Arturo Casadevall, 2/27)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Keep Lawmakers Out Of Family Medical Decisions
HB 513 named, "Protect Vulnerable Children Act," will not in fact protect vulnerable children. This bill would prevent transgender youth under 18 from receiving health care that would help them physically transition to the gender they identify with and would criminalize the medical professionals who treat them. This bill will take away our rights as parents to make medical decisions regarding our child. HB 513 gives Ohio elected politicians equal footing to trained medical professionals, who have graduated medical school and received in-depth specialty training. (Jessica Cicchinelli, 2/27)

Des Moines Register: Abortion Amendment: Iowa's Real Crisis Is Maternal Health
The Iowa Legislature held a public hearing this week on House Joint Resolution 2004, which, if passed, would move the state closer to a constitutional amendment that strips Iowans of the right to abortion and any funding for it. To pass such a bill would lead us closer to taking away Iowans’ right to make reproductive health care decisions based in the reality of our circumstances and take us closer to deeper state interference in women’s lives and the lives of our families. (Renee Ann Cramer, 2/28)