First Edition: March 24, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Senators Who Led Pharma-Friendly Patent Reform Also Prime Targets For Pharma Cash
Early last year, as lawmakers vowed to curb rising drug prices, Sen. Thom Tillis was named chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on intellectual property rights, a committee that had not met since 2007. As the new gatekeeper for laws and oversight of the nation’s patent system, the North Carolina Republican signaled he was determined to make it easier for American businesses to benefit from it — a welcome message to the drugmakers who already leverage patents to block competitors and keep prices high. (Huetteman, 3/24)

Kaiser Health News: Does Everyone Over 60 Need To Take The Same Coronavirus Precautions?
She knew it wasn’t a good idea and her daughter would disapprove. Nonetheless, Barbara Figge Fox, 79, recently went to four stores in Princeton, New Jersey, to shop for canned goods, paper towels, fresh fruit, yogurt, and other items. “I was in panic mode,” said Fox, who admitted she’s been feeling both agonizing fear and irrational impulsivity because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Graham, 3/24)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: The Hard-Knock Health Law Turns 10 Amid Pandemic
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Kaiser Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner talks to NPR’s Ari Shapiro about how the ACA has changed health care in America over the past decade and also how the coronavirus pandemic ultimately may change the still embattled law. Kaiser Family Foundation Executive Vice President Larry Levitt also marked the anniversary of the law, discussing with Noel King, on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” how the law led to 20 million Americans gaining health insurance. (Rovner, 3/23)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: The Reverberations Of Gun Violence In Baltimore
When a good friend in Baltimore said he was offering a final haircut to a client who had been killed by gun violence, Chaseedaw Giles knew she had to write the story. Her article appeared in The New York Times, and Giles, the social media manager for KHN, later spoke with WBAL News Radio. “There was no one in the barbershop who hadn’t either been shot themselves, including the barber who had been shot before, or known someone that had been shot. And it was just kind of this sense of acceptance that, you know, this is what life is like in West Baltimore,” Giles told WBAL radio host Bryan Nehman. (3/24)

Reuters: Mnuchin Hopes Deal Is 'Very Close' On $2-Trillion Coronavirus Aid Package In U.S. Senate
The U.S. Treasury secretary and the Senate Democratic leader voiced confidence late on Monday for a deal to be reached soon on a far-reaching coronavirus economic stimulus package that had been stalled in the U.S. Senate as lawmakers haggled over it. (Cowan and Morgan, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Negotiators Close On Nearly $2 Trillion Virus Aid Package
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said they had spoken by phone with President Donald Trump during the long night of negotiations. While the two sides have resolved many issues in the sweeping package, some remain. At midnight Monday, they emerged separately to say talks would continue into the night. “We look forward to having a deal tomorrow,” Mnuchin told reporters after exiting Schumer’s office. “The president is giving us direction,” Mnuhcin said. “The president would like to have a deal and he’s hopeful we can conclude this.” (Mascaro, Taylor and Lemire, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Democrats Block $2 Trillion Coronavirus Rescue Bill, Senate Floor Erupts In Partisan Anger
After a day of partisan rancor and posturing on Capitol Hill, the outlook grew markedly more positive later in the afternoon, when offers and counteroffers were exchanged. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) convened Democrats on a conference call and told them he was hopeful about striking a deal by the end of the day, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal details. Schumer was very upbeat, according to another Democrat, who listened into the call and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it. Some senators encouraged Schumer to announce a deal in principle Monday evening, but several issues remained unresolved. (Werner, Kane, Bade and DeBonis, 3/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Fails To Advance Coronavirus Rescue Package For Second Day
In the Senate negotiations, Democrats want to place more controls on nearly $500 billion for helping distressed businesses, comprising loans made directly by the Treasury Department and backstopping losses in lending facilities launched or expanded by the Federal Reserve. Of the total, about $75 billion would go directly to distressed industries such as air carriers. Democrats worry that the pool of money could become a tool by the administration to reward favored companies in secret, since the Treasury secretary could delay disclosing financial aid for six months. Among stricter conditions Democrats want on the aid are those to encourage companies to retain workers. (Hughes and Duehren, 3/23)

Politico: Mnuchin, Schumer Say Coronavirus Rescue Package Deal Very Close
According to three sources, Mnuchin had agreed to a key Democratic demand for "strict oversight" over a $500 billion "Exchange Stabilization Fund" designed to lend money to corporations and municipalities. Senate Democrats had attacked the entity as a "slush fund" under the initial Senate GOP proposal, which had no congressional regulation and allowed Mnuchin to withhold information on who received loans for six months. Schumer also said Mnuchin had agreed to a "Marshall Plan" for hospitals to help respond to the growing coronavirus crisis. Senate Republicans had offered $75 billion for hospitals, but Schumer and Pelosi sought hundreds of billions in additional funding. (Bresnahan, Levine and Ferris, 3/23)

Politico: How The House Democrats' Stimulus Plan Compares To The Senate's
Democrats are following through on their threat to go rogue with their own stimulus plan, unveiling a more than 1,400-page bill Monday night, packed with policy differences compared to the proposal Senate Republicans laid out. After the GOP’s latest measure tanked twice during test votes in the Senate, House Democrats wrote a competing proposal to save the country from economic destruction at the hands of the coronavirus. The House measure would boost emergency funds for agencies, mandate "green" rules for airlines, eliminate a payroll tax suspension, kick in additional help for hospitals, schools and food banks, and more. (Emma and Scholtes, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Cases In Congress Bring New Urgency To Remote Voting
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s husband is in the hospital with Covid-19, adding the Minnesota Democrat to the growing list of lawmakers touched by the coronavirus pandemic, as calls mounted for Congress to consider unprecedented legislation that would enable remote voting during a national emergency. John Bessler, a professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, became sick while the senator was in Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar’s office said in a statement. He quarantined himself, and as his symptoms progressed, he was admitted to a hospital in Virginia. (Andrews, Wise and Tau, 3/23)

The New York Times: Whatever It Takes: How The Fed Aims To Rescue The Economy
The Federal Reserve on Monday pledged to do, in essence, whatever it takes to keep the economy from collapsing under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic. The Fed’s announcement had lots of bureaucratic jargon and an alphabet soup of acronyms. But at its core, the central bank was making a simple promise, summed up in the first sentence of its news release: The Fed is “committed to using its full range of tools to support households, businesses and the U.S. economy overall.” Here’s a guide to understanding the Fed’s actions. (Casselman, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Fed Makes Strongest Bid Yet To Protect Firms And Governments
With lending in Treasury and mortgage markets threatening to shut down, the Fed announced an aggressive set of programs Monday to try to smooth out those markets. To do so, it committed to buy as much government-backed debt as it deems necessary. And for the first time ever, the Fed said it plans to buy corporate debt, too.Its intervention is intended to ensure that households, companies, banks and governments can get the loans they need at a time when their own revenue is fast drying up as the economy stalls. (Rugaber, 3/24)

Politico: Fears Mount Of A Coronavirus-Induced Depression
Forecasts of doom for the American economy are quickly turning from gray to pitch black. As Congress haggles over a multitrillion-dollar coronavirus rescue package, analysts are warning the U.S. could be facing a prolonged depression rather than the kind of short recession and swift bounce back that President Donald Trump and his top aides expect. And they’re raising questions about whether current government efforts to cushion the economy from the damage will be anywhere near enough. (White, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Global Stocks Rise Following Turbulent Start To Week
U.S. stock-index futures and global equities rose after the Federal Reserve stepped up its assistance to the American economy, saying it would back lending to businesses and buy essentially unlimited amounts of government debt. S&P 500 futures gained 4.9%, suggesting U.S. shares could rise later in the day. (Chiu, 3/24)

Politico: The Unthinkable: Is It Time To Shut Down The Stock Market?
Wall Street is facing a grim question as stock prices plunge on most days with no end in sight: Is it time to shut the market down for a while? The debate over whether to pause market trading has intensified over the last two weeks, as much of the economy has ground to a halt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (Warmbrodt, 3/24)

The New York Times: Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objections
As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses. Consensus continues to grow among government leaders and health officials that the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home. Britain, after initially resisting such measures, essentially locked down its economy on Monday, as did the governors of Virginia, Michigan and Oregon. More than 100 million Americans will soon be subject to stay-at-home orders. (Tankersley, Haberman and Rabin, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Trump Says He Intends To Reopen Country In Weeks, Not Months
“We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem,” Trump told reporters at a briefing, echoing a midnight Sunday tweet. “We have to open our country because that causes problems that, in my opinion, could be far bigger problems.” Health experts have made clear that unless Americans continue to dramatically limit social interaction — staying home from work and isolating themselves — the number of infections will overwhelm the health care system, as it has in parts of Italy, leading to many more deaths. While the worst outbreaks are concentrated in certain parts of the country, such as New York, experts warn that the highly infectious disease is certain to spread. (Colvin, Boak and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: As Economic Toll Mounts, Nation Ponders Trade-Offs
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday acknowledged the trade-offs and defended his administration’s decision to close all nonessential businesses and ban unnecessary gatherings of any size. “I’m very proud of the measures being taken to address the public health crisis. …But, I’m also very aware that it is unsustainable to run this state and run this country with the economy closed down,” he said at a news conference in Albany. The stakes have rarely been higher for the nation: The risk of death to millions, and the cost of millions of jobs and potential bankruptcies if businesses and households can’t earn cash flow to pay their bills. (Hisenrath and Armour, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Vows To Lift Restrictions To Reopen Businesses, Defying The Advice Of Coronavirus Experts
The consensus among experts — including infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci and other senior officials on Trump’s coronavirus task force — is that restaurants, bars, schools, offices and other gathering places should remain closed for many more weeks to mitigate the outbreak, the worst effects of which are yet to be felt in the United States. But Trump has been chafing against that notion and impatient to get American life back to normal. (Rucker, Stein, Dawsey and Parker, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Will Texas And Florida Be 'The Next Italy' In Coronavirus Outbreak?
Gavin Newsom was the first governor to order his citizens to stay at home, shutting down California’s economy, the world’s eighth-largest, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The next day, Friday, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, followed suit. But not so in Texas and Florida, the nation’s second and third most populous states, where a small-government philosophy — less taxes, fewer regulation and a weaker safety net — has long held sway. About one-fifth of Texas’ 29 million people lacks health insurance, and nearly one-quarter of Florida’s 21 million residents are elderly. (Hennessy-Fiske and Kaleem, 3/23)

The New York Times: See Which States And Cities Have Told Residents To Stay At Home
In a matter of days, millions of Americans have been asked to do what might have been unthinkable only a week or two ago: Don’t go to work, don’t go to school, don’t leave the house at all, unless you have to. The directives to keep people at home to stunt the spread of the coronavirus began in California, and have quickly been adopted across the country. By Monday, more than a dozen states had called on their residents to stay at home as much as possible, with some cities and counties joining in. (Mervosh and Lu, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Across The U.S., Residents Heed Lockdown Orders
State by state, America is locking down its residents, as more officials urge people to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus by limiting their interactions with the world outside of their homes. Jeff Binder and his wife decided that starting Monday no visitors would be allowed into their house in Webster Groves, Mo., with even limits on extended family. That came as St. Louis County, where they live, joined the growing list of municipalities flat-out ordering residents to stay home. “The world is shrinking for sure,” said Mr. Binder, who is 51 years old and the managing director of a real-estate brokerage firm for senior housing. But he calls the lockdown a necessary step: “Whatever it takes to get us to the other side.” (Levitz and Maher, 3/24)

The New York Times: Trump Has Given Unusual Leeway To Fauci, But Aides Say He’s Losing His Patience
President Trump has praised Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as a “major television star.” He has tried to demonstrate that the administration is giving him free rein to speak. And he has deferred to Dr. Fauci’s opinion several times at the coronavirus task force’s televised briefings. But Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has grown bolder in correcting the president’s falsehoods and overly rosy statements about the spread of the coronavirus in the past two weeks — and he has become a hero to the president’s critics because of it. And now, Mr. Trump’s patience has started to wear thin. (Haberman, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Fauci Says He Can't Stop Trump From Talking At Briefings
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he can’t jump in front of the microphone to stop President Donald Trump from speaking at daily White House briefings on the coronavirus outbreak. The nation’s top infectious disease expert told Science magazine in an interview that Trump listens “even though we disagree on some things.” “He goes his own way. He has his own style,” Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in the telephone interview with the magazine Sunday. “But on substantive issues, he does listen to what I say.” (Superville, 3/24)

The New York Times: As Federal Government Mobilizes, Local Officials Say Response Remains Too Slow
Federal emergency response teams toured a convention center in New York City on Monday, a sign that a much-needed temporary hospital is on the way. California has received hundreds of thousands of masks for those on the front lines of the outbreak. And President Trump said desperately needed protective equipment was on its way to Washington State. In spots around the nation, the gears of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak have begun turning. But as the Federal Emergency Management Agency grapples with a crisis whose breadth poses challenges it has never confronted before, state and local leaders lament the time already lost and say the delivery of essential supplies remains far too slow to address their quickly expanding list of needs. (Kanno-Youngs and Lipton, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Strategic Stockpile Of Medical Supplies Is Outmatched By Coronavirus
Hospitals and states overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic say the nation’s safety net of medical-equipment supplies, the Strategic National Stockpile, is falling far short of need and are calling for federal officials to invoke national-defense powers to spur more manufacturing. State officials in Washington and Massachusetts say they have received a fraction of what they sought from the national stockpile, an emergency federal reserve of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and protective gear such as protective masks and gowns. State officials also are calling for a change in the way the stockpile is administered. The stockpile’s formula for doling out supplies is based on population, which is limiting response in areas with escalating cases. (Evans and Siconolfi, 3/23)

Reuters: U.S. States, Cities Desperate For Coronavirus Help, Military Prepares
Several more U.S. governors on Monday joined the procession of states ordering millions of Americans to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, while President Trump signaled he’s considering a move in the opposite direction. (Kelly and Chiacu, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: Newsom Says California Needs 50,000 Hospital Beds
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new action on Monday to encourage social-distancing measures, including closing parking lots at state parks, and warned that California will need more than twice as many hospital beds for coronavirus patients than previously anticipated. The governor said he was closing parking lots in an effort to prevent people from congregating at California’s outdoor recreational areas and unintentionally spreading the virus. His announcement came four days after he ordered all residents to remain in their homes, making California the first state in the nation to place such restrictions on the movement of its residents. (Luna, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Doctors Plead For Supplies, While Nations Seek To Slow Virus
Doctors and nurses pleaded for supplies such as masks and ventilators that are critical in their battle to treat a surging number of coronavirus patients, while governments on Tuesday continued to roll out measures that have put more than one-fifth of the world’s population under some form of lockdown. High in the Himalayan mountains, Nepal became the latest country to compel its citizens to stay at home, joining large parts of Europe, Southeast Asia and the entire West Coast of the United States. (Geller and Blake, 3/24)

Bloomberg: Is There A Coronavirus Vaccine? Moderna May Release This Fall
Moderna Inc. said its experimental vaccine for Covid-19 could be available to a select few as soon as this fall, ahead of expectations for a commercial release in a year. Stephane Bancel, the biotech’s chief executive, told Goldman Sachs on Friday that mRNA-1273 could be made available to a few, potentially health-care workers, under emergency use authorization, according to a company statement. The vaccine was developed in partnership with Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Human testing started earlier this month. A potential vaccine is not expected to be commercially available for at least a year. Moderna is also scaling up manufacturing capacity so it can produce millions of doses each month, the company said. (Flanagan, 3/23)

Reuters: Singapore Scientists Study Genes To Fast-Track Coronavirus Vaccine
Scientists in Singapore say they have developed a way to track genetic changes that speeds testing of vaccines against a coronavirus that has killed more than 16,000 people worldwide. The scientists, at the city-state’s Duke-NUS Medical School, say their technique needs just days to evaluate potential vaccines provided by Arcturus Therapeutics, an American biotech firm the school has partnered with for the trials. (Aravindan, 3/24)

Politico: Trump Touts New York Coronavirus Trials As Progress Against Pandemic
President Donald Trump is hanging big hopes for defeating the coronavirus on a drug trial starting soon in New York, touting the potential benefits of an experimental combination that is only in the early stages of research. That therapy “probably is looking very, very good,” and the trial could start as early as Tuesday, Trump said at a Monday night press briefing on the coronavirus. Two clinical trials are set to begin in the state as early as this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday morning ahead of the president's briefing. (Owermohle and Young, 3/23)

Stat: When Might Experimental Drugs To Treat Covid-19 Be Ready? A Forecast
There is a desperate need for new medicines to treat Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has shut down much of the world. A vaccine to prevent infection entirely would be even better. Drug companies and medical researchers are making heroic efforts to deliver new medicines. (Herper, 3/24)

The Associated Press: Malaria Drugs' Promise For Coronavirus Spurs Hope, Shortages
Excitement about treating the new coronavirus with malaria drugs is raising hopes, including with President Donald Trump. But the evidence that they may help is thin, and a run on the drugs is complicating access for people who need them for rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Chloroquine and a similar drug, hydroxychloroquine, showed encouraging signs in small, early tests against the coronavirus. But the drugs have major side effects, one reason scientists don’t want to give them without evidence of their value, even in this emergency. (Marchione, 3/23)

The New York Times: How An Upscale Connecticut Party Became A Coronavirus 'Super Spreader'
About 50 guests gathered on March 5 at a home in the stately suburb of Westport, Conn., to toast the hostess on her 40th birthday and greet old friends, including one visiting from South Africa. They shared reminiscences, a lavish buffet and, unknown to anyone, the coronavirus. Then they scattered. The Westport soirée — Party Zero in southwestern Connecticut and beyond — is a story of how, in the Gilded Age of money, social connectedness and air travel, a pandemic has spread at lightning speed. The partygoers — more than half of whom are now infected — left that evening for Johannesburg, New York City and other parts of Connecticut and the United States, all seeding infections on the way. (Williamson and Hussey, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Faces Challenges As U.S. Epicenter For Coronavirus
In days, New York City has gone from sounding determined to ride out the novel coronavirus and keep schools open to confronting daunting challenges as the epicenter of the nation’s crisis. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who only days ago had encouraged people to visit restaurants and kept his own gym appointments, was by the weekend instructing residents to stay home and sounding the alarm. (Chapman and Vielkind, 3/23)

The New York Times: Density Is New York City’s Big ‘Enemy’ In The Coronavirus Fight
New York has tried to slow the spread of the coronavirus by closing its schools, shutting down its nonessential businesses and urging its residents to stay home almost around the clock. But it faces a distinct obstacle in trying to stem new cases: its cheek-by-jowl density. New York is far more crowded than any other major city in the United States. It has 28,000 residents per square mile, while San Francisco, the next most jammed city, has 17,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. (Rosenthal, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: San Francisco Warns Of Coronavirus Surge: 'The Worst Is Yet To Come'
San Francisco officials warned that a surge in coronavirus is expected to come within a week or two, and voiced dismay over images of the public crowding beaches and parks across California. “The worst is yet to come,” San Francisco Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said at a news conference Monday. “Every community where the virus has taken hold has seen a surge in the number of coronavirus patients who need to be hospitalized. We expect that to happen in San Francisco soon, in a week or two, or perhaps even less.” (Ryan, Lin and Greene, 3/23)

ProPublica: The Coronavirus Testing Paradox
There’s a seeming paradox in experts’ advice on testing people for COVID-19. A growing number of epidemiologists are calling for a nationwide regimen of tests to identify hot spots and allow public health workers to isolate the close contacts of anyone who’s infected. Yet New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., has ordered doctors not to test anyone who is “mild to moderately ill” with COVID-like symptoms, a position also taken by Los Angeles. As New York’s Health Department succinctly put it: “Outpatient testing must not be encouraged, promoted or advertised.” (Engelberg, 3/23)

The Washington Post: State Coronavirus Testing Numbers Vary
Epidemiologists and other leading scientists seeking to decipher test result patterns and slow the advance of the coronavirus are stumbling over the huge disparities among the ways states administer or report information. Some states are keeping negative tests secret while others aren’t. Some track state lab results, while ignoring test results from private companies. Some restrict the availability of tests, while others test widely. (Mufson, Tran and Dennis, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Testing Blunders Crippled US Response As Coronavirus Spread
A series of missteps at the nation’s top public health agency caused a critical shortage of reliable laboratory tests for the coronavirus, hobbling the federal response as the pandemic spread across the country like wildfire, an Associated Press review found. President Donald Trump assured Americans early this month that the COVID-19 test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “perfect” and that “anyone who wants a test can get a test.” But more than two months after the first U.S. case of the new disease was confirmed, many people still cannot get tested. (Biesecker, Stobbe and Perrone, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Tests: Medical Board Looking Into 'Concierge Doctors'
The Medical Board of California is looking into physicians selling COVID-19 tests while sick people around the country can’t get tested because of a nationwide shortage, a board spokesman said Monday morning. The inquiry comes after The Times reported that “concierge” doctors who cater to rich people and celebrities have been selling testing to patients and their families, in some cases even if they have no symptoms or any other reason to be tested. (Elmahrek, Kaufman and Poston, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: One Nursing Home, 35 Coronavirus Deaths: Inside The Kirkland Disaster
It seemed a curious day for the Life Care Center to throw a Mardi Gras party. For one thing, Feb. 26 was actually Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras. More crucially, the nursing home was under orders to be in scrub-down mode due to a raft of respiratory problems among its residents. That same day, managers had ordered staff members to close the two dining rooms immediately, wipe down all common spaces and halt group activities. (Koh, Kamp and Frosch, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. To Pause Routine Nursing-Home Inspections
Federal regulators said they plan to temporarily halt routine inspections of nursing homes to focus on the most dangerous situations, as coronavirus cases mount in the facilities across the U.S. and serious infractions were found at the hardest-hit location. Under the changes, regular inspections of nursing homes, home health and hospice companies, among others, will be paused for at least three weeks. During that time, inspectors will emphasize controlling infections, and focus on facilities at risk from the new coronavirus and those with potential issues posing the most peril to residents. (Wilde Mathews and Kamp, 3/23)

The Washington Post: What Research On Coronavirus Structure Can Tell Us About How To Kill It
Like any virus, the novel coronavirus is a germ that tries to burrow into a cell and turn it into a virus-replicating factory. If it succeeds, it can produce an infection — in this case, a respiratory disease. The type of cells a virus targets and how it enters them depend on how the virus is built. This virus gets its family name from a telltale series of spikes — tens or even hundreds of them — that circle its bloblike core like a crown, or corona. Virologists know from studying its close cousins, viruses that cause SARS and MERS, that the spikes interact with receptors on cells like keys in locks, enabling the virus to enter. (Berkowitz, Steckelberg and Muyskens, 3/23)

The Washington Post: The Science Of Why Coronavirus Is So Hard To Stop
Viruses have spent billions of years perfecting the art of surviving without living — a frighteningly effective strategy that makes them a potent threat in today’s world. That’s especially true of the deadly new coronavirus that has brought global society to a screeching halt. It’s little more than a packet of genetic material surrounded by a spiky protein shell one-thousandth the width of an eyelash, and leads such a zombielike existence that it’s barely considered a living organism. (Kaplan, Wan and Achenbach, 3/23)

The New York Times: 20-Somethings Now Realizing That They Can Get Coronavirus, Too
While the common misperception has been that only the old and frail can contract the coronavirus, early testing data in the city has shown that young New Yorkers have also been vulnerable. People ranging in ages from 18 to 44 have accounted for 46 percent of positive tests, according to city data as of Monday. “Part of it is because we are testing more people as tests become more available and also because folks in this age group were out and about and weren’t necessarily engaging in social distancing like other age groups,” said Dr. Danielle Ompad, associate professor of epidemiology at N.Y.U.’s School of Global Public Health. (de Freytas-Tamura, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Adds Peril To The Already At-Risk: ‘If I Get This Stuff, It’s Going To Kill Me.’
Isolated in her third-floor apartment, Maria Sweezy knew her coronavirus situation was more precarious than most, but what she saw on her phone Sunday morning left her unsettled and fighting panic. A woman she had befriended at a camp for children with Type I diabetes was dead — along with her baby. Everyone suspected the coronavirus, which can have more adverse symptoms for diabetics. Messages streamed into Sweezy’s phone from people she had met as a camp resident and counselor, some sharing pictures of their friend — including one that included Sweezy, as a dark-haired teenager, grinning. (Wootson, 3/23)

The New York Times: Joe Biden, Struggling For Visibility, Faults Trump's Response To Coronavirus
With President Trump providing daily televised briefings and governors like Andrew M. Cuomo emerging as national leaders during the coronavirus pandemic, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is still grappling with how to position himself as a prominent voice on a crisis that is pushing traditional politics to the background. Mr. Biden has been confined over the last week to an unusually small role for the likely — though not yet completely certain — nominee of a major political party. His public comments have been sparing and, for the most part, restrained. He is now ramping up a public schedule, beginning with an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday, and his aides said he would offer remarks on camera in some fashion each day. (Kaplan and Burns, 3/23)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Cases Add Up, California Frantically Counts Tests, Beds And Masks
Wildfires, earthquakes, mudslides. California knows disaster. Yet if dire predictions hold, the state’s experience and vast resources do not seem adequate to hold back the tsunami of coronavirus cases that experts fear are on the way. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said that California would be short about 17,000 hospital beds, raising his previous estimate of a 10,000-bed shortfall. The state was also short 1 billion protective gloves and hundreds of millions of masks, he said. (Fuller, Arango and Becker, 3/23)

The New York Times: The U.S. Needs China’s Masks, As Acrimony Grows
American front-line medical personnel are running desperately short of masks and protective equipment as they battle the coronavirus outbreak. China, already the world’s largest producer of such gear by far, has ramped up factory output and is now signaling that it wants to help. Reaching deals won’t be easy. Increasingly acrimonious relations between Washington and Beijing are complicating efforts to get Chinese-made masks to American clinics and hospitals. A breakdown over the last few days in the global business of moving goods by air around the world will make it costly and difficult as well. (Bradsher and Swanson, 3/23)

The New York Times: Eleven States Now Letting Uninsured Sign Up For Obamacare 
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have opened enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to allow laid-off workers to get subsidized health insurance, and the Trump administration, which has been gunning to repeal the law, is considering opening the federal exchange to new customers. The new enrollment periods will ease insurance sign-ups for people who have recently lost health coverage along with their jobs. And they will provide an opportunity for people who didn’t buy insurance for the year to reconsider that choice. (Sanger-Katz and Abelson, 3/23)

The New York Times: Texas And Ohio Include Abortion As Medical Procedures That Must Be Delayed
Texas and Ohio have included abortions among the nonessential surgeries and medical procedures that they are requiring to be delayed, setting off a new front in the fight over abortion rights in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Both states said they were trying to preserve extremely precious protective equipment for health care workers and to make space for a potential flood of coronavirus patients. But abortion rights activists said that abortions should be counted as essential and that people could not wait for the procedure until the pandemic was over. (Tavernise, 3/23)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Surveillance Escalates, Personal Privacy Plummets
In South Korea, government agencies are harnessing surveillance-camera footage, smartphone location data and credit card purchase records to help trace the recent movements of coronavirus patients and establish virus transmission chains. In Lombardy, Italy, the authorities are analyzing location data transmitted by citizens’ mobile phones to determine how many people are obeying a government lockdown order and the typical distances they move every day. About 40 percent are moving around “too much,” an official recently said. (Singer and Sang-Hun, 3/23)

The New York Times: Man Fatally Poisons Himself While Self-Medicating For Coronavirus, Doctor Says
An Arizona man died and his wife was hospitalized after officials said they treated themselves on Sunday with a deadly home remedy for the new coronavirus — a popular fish tank additive that has the same active ingredient as an anti-malaria drug. The drug, known as chloroquine phosphate or chloroquine, has been bandied about by President Trump during White House briefings on the coronavirus pandemic as a potential “game changer” in the treatment of Covid-19. (Vigdor, 3/24)

The New York Times: Dip In Italy’s Cases Does Not Come Fast Enough For Swamped Hospitals
The patient had won national swimming championships in his youth but now had a lot going against him. As he waited for a kidney transplant, doctors in the northern Italian town of Brescia discovered he had heart disease and had contracted the coronavirus. But what ultimately killed him this month was the decision to give his ventilator to a younger coronavirus patient who had a better shot at survival. “He died the next day,” said Dr. Marco Metra, the chief of cardiology at the University and City Hospitals in Brescia. “If a patient has a low likelihood to benefit from the hospital, we have to not accept them. You send them home.” He added, “This is also what I am seeing every day.” (Horowitz and Kirkpatrick, 3/23)

The New York Times: How South Korea Flattened The Coronavirus Curve
No matter how you look at the numbers, one country stands out from the rest: South Korea. In late February and early March, the number of new coronavirus infections in the country exploded from a few dozen, to a few hundred, to several thousand. At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed. But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day. (Fisher and Sang-Hun, 3/23)