First Edition: May 5, 2020

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: Lost On The Frontline
An EMT "so focused" on his job. A pediatric nurse who always put herself last. An Air Force veteran who went above and beyond for patients. These are some of the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who die of COVID-19. (5/5)

Kaiser Health News: Palliative Care Helped Family Face ‘The Awful, Awful Truth’
Seattle mourned the news: Elizabeth and Robert Mar died of COVID-19 within a day of each other. They would have celebrated 50 years of marriage in August. But their deaths at the end of March were not the same. Liz, a vivacious matriarch at 72, died after two weeks sedated on a ventilator. Her analytical engineer husband, Robert, 78, chose no aggressive measures. He was able to communicate with their adult children until nearly the end. (Stone, 5/5)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Viral Post Alleging Obama-Era Device Tax Caused Current PPE Shortage Is Way Off
A social media post, which in April was shared widely on Facebook and made appearances on a conservative online discussion forum, asserts that former President Barack Obama signed legislation that caused companies to manufacture medical devices overseas, including items essential for the current coronavirus pandemic. Alongside a photo of Obama, the text of the Facebook post says: “Let me be clear. I signed the medical appliance tax bill that forced companies to outsource manufacturing of masks, gowns, gloves and ventilaors [sic] to China, Europe and Russia to avoid the tax.” (Knight, 5/5)

Reuters: Researchers Double U.S. COVID-19 Death Forecast, Citing Eased Restrictions
A newly revised coronavirus mortality model predicts nearly 135,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 by early August, almost double previous projections, as social-distancing measures for quelling the pandemic are increasingly relaxed, researchers said on Monday. (Caspani and Layne, 5/4)

The New York Times: As Trump Pushes To Reopen, Government Sees Coronavirus Toll Nearly Doubling
As President Trump presses states to reopen their economies, his administration is privately projecting a steady rise in coronavirus infections and deaths over the next several weeks, reaching about 3,000 daily deaths on June 1 — nearly double the current level. The projections, based on data collected by various agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and laid out in an internal document obtained Monday by The New York Times, forecast about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of May, up from about 30,000 cases now. There are currently about 1,750 deaths per day, the data shows. (Stolberg and Sullivan, 5/4)

Politico: Models Shift To Predict Dramatically More U.S. Deaths As States Relax Social Distancing
Dr. Christopher Murray, the director of IHME, told reporters on a call Monday the primary reason for the increase is many states’ “premature relaxation of social distancing.” For the first time, Murray explained, the model is factoring in data from four different cell phone providers showing a major uptick in Americans’ going out in public. This rise of mobility in the last week or 10 days is likely leading to an increase in transmission, he said. (Ollstein and Oprysko, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Officials Warn Of New Virus Surge As States Reopen
“Growing contacts among people will promote transmission of the coronavirus,” the institute said. Factors such as warming temperatures won’t offset the rising mobility, “thereby fueling a significant increase in projected deaths,” it said. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease official, cautioned to CNN on Monday that relaxing the social distancing helping to contain the spread could bring a rebound in cases, considering the virus’s “phenomenal capabilities of spreading like wildfire.” (Lyons, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Government Report Predicts Coronavirus Cases Will Surge To 200,000 A Day By June 1 
The work contained a wide range of possibilities and modeling was not complete, according to Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who created the model. He said he didn’t know how the update was turned into a slide deck by government officials and shared with news organizations. The data was first reported by the New York Times. (Wan, Bernstein, McGinley and Dawsey, 5/4)

NPR: White House Rejects Government Report Projecting Rising Coronavirus Death Toll
The Trump administration on Monday pushed back against an internal government report, obtained by The New York Times, that predicts the daily coronavirus death toll could nearly double in the United States by early June. The Times story cites an internal CDC update, acquired from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that predicts the number of deaths per day from COVID-19 will reach about 3,000 by June 1. (Wise, 5/4)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In The U.S.: An Unrelenting Crush Of Cases And Deaths
In New York City, the daily onslaught of death from the coronavirus has dropped to half of what it was. In Chicago, a makeshift hospital in a lakefront convention center is closing, deemed no longer needed. And in New Orleans, new cases have dwindled to a handful each day. Yet across America, those signs of progress obscure a darker reality. The country is still in the firm grip of a pandemic with little hope of release. For every indication of improvement in controlling the virus, new outbreaks have emerged elsewhere, leaving the nation stuck in a steady, unrelenting march of deaths and infections. (Bosman, Smith and Harmon, 5/5)

The Wall Street Journal: The Search Is On For America’s Earliest Coronavirus Deaths
The first known death caused by the new coronavirus in Chicago occurred in mid-March. But the medical examiner’s office in Cook County, which includes the city, now plans on poring over records of much earlier cases in search of evidence that people may have died from Covid-19 as far back as November. Across the U.S., health investigators have launched efforts to find previously unidentified deaths from Covid-19, in some cases looking far back enough to potentially rewrite the timeline of when the coronavirus first came to the country and began killing Americans. (Frosch, Rana and Kamp, 5/4)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Vaccine Research Gets $8 Billion In Pledges From World Leaders
Prime ministers, a king, a prince and Madonna all chipped in to an $8 billion pot to fund a coronavirus vaccine. President Trump skipped the chance to contribute, with officials in his administration noting that the United States is pouring billions of dollars into its own research efforts. A fund-raising conference on Monday organized by the European Union brought pledges from countries around the world — from Japan to Canada, Australia to Norway — to fund laboratories that have promising leads in developing and producing a vaccine. (Stevis-Gridneff and Jakes, 5/4)

Reuters: World Leaders Pledge $8 Billion To Fight COVID-19 But U.S. Steers Clear
“In the space of just few hours we have collectively pledged 7.4 billion euros ($8.1 billion) for vaccine, diagnostics and treatment” against COVID-19, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said after chairing the online event. “This will help kick-start unprecedented global cooperation,” she added. It was however unclear what was new funding, as commitments made earlier this year may also be included, EU officials said. (Emmott and Guarascio, 5/4)

The New York Times: A Coronavirus Vaccine Project Takes A Page From Gene Therapy
Their work employs a method already used in gene therapy for two inherited diseases, including a form of blindness: It uses a harmless virus as a vector, or carrier, to bring DNA into the patient’s cells. In this case, the DNA should instruct the cells to make a coronavirus protein that would stimulate the immune system to fight off future infections. So far, the team has studied its vaccine candidates only in mice. Tests for safety and potency in monkeys should begin within a month or so at another academic center, the researchers said. But two of seven promising versions are already being manufactured for studies in humans. (Grady, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Declines To Join Global Vaccine Summit 
World leaders came together in a virtual summit Monday to pledge billions of dollars to quickly develop vaccines and drugs to fight the coronavirus. Missing from the roster was the Trump administration, which declined to participate but highlighted from Washington what one official called its “whole-of-America” efforts in the United States and its generosity to global health efforts. (Booth, Johnson and Morello, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: To Boost Research And Prevent Competition For Coronavirus Response, Europe Seeks Global Teamwork
The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the country “welcomes efforts by other countries to mobilize resources” against the coronavirus and commended the pledging conference. A senior State Department official at a briefing Monday declined to explain the U.S. decision to stay out of the conference. Organizers want to ensure that scientific breakthroughs on tests, treatments and vaccines are shared and deployed everywhere across developed and developing countries. (Norman, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Key FEMA Leader To Depart Amid Coronavirus Effort
A senior leader at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is leaving amid the coronavirus crisis, according to current and former employees. Josh Dozor, who is deputy assistant administrator for FEMA’s response group, told colleagues he plans to leave in the coming weeks for personal reasons, according to these people. Mr. Dozor was involved in early discussions with the Department of Health and Human Services in coordinating the government’s response to the new coronavirus before FEMA became the lead agency in mid-March, some of the people said. (Levy, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Coronavirus Task Force Team Restricted From Congressional Hearings
The Trump administration has issued new guidance that bars members of the White House’s coronavirus task force from appearing at congressional hearings this month, according to an administration official and document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The task force includes such figures as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease official, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator. Dr. Fauci is still expected to testify this month in the Senate, however. (Restuccia, 5/4)

The Hill: Pelosi Slams White House For Blocking Coronavirus Task Force Members From Testifying: 'They Might Be Afraid Of The Truth' 
The Trump administration on Monday issued new guidance instructing coronavirus task force members not to accept invitations to participate in congressional hearings this month unless approved by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The move came after the White House late last week blocked Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from testifying before a House committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday. (Marcos, 5/4)

Politico: ‘Viewers Will Get Tired Of Another Season’: Trump And Governors Shrug Off White House Guidance
President Donald Trump and many governors are heralding a reopening of the American economy — even though a majority of states ending their coronavirus shutdowns this week have not met the White House’s most basic thresholds for testing, tracing and a prolonged drop in new cases. The White House has tried to distance itself from governors’ actions by insisting its reopening guidelines are merely suggestions, not the rule of law. But Trump is latching himself on to the message that America is ready to reopen, traveling on Tuesday to Arizona — one of the states not yet meeting all of the administration’s criteria — to visit a Honeywell plant and promote the reopening of huge swaths of the nation. (Cook, Goldberg and Cancryn, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Trump Cheers On Governors As They Ignore Coronavirus Guidlines From White House In Race To Reopen
States across the country are moving swiftly to reopen their economies despite failing to achieve benchmarks laid out by the White House for when social distancing restrictions could be eased to ensure the public’s safety during the coronavirus pandemic. These governors’ biggest cheerleader is President Trump. (Olorunnipa, Witte and Bernstein, 5/4)

Politico: Trump Pushes To Reopen Country, But His Own Workforce Isn’t Rushing Back
President Donald Trump wants America to go back to work, but his administration is struggling to bring back many of its own employees. With Covid-19 infections still rising in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and other major cities with big government operations, it could be months before federal workers are back in the office at normal, pre-coronavirus levels. (Lippman and McCaskill, 5/4)

Politico: How A 96-Hour Project Helped Trump's Team Reverse Its Testing Debacle
Fifty-two days ago, the president vowed to a worried nation: Coronavirus testing is finally coming, and you won’t even have to leave your car. “The goal is for individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed,” President Donald Trump said in an address in the Rose Garden on March 13, previewing a network of drive-thru tests in places like Walmart parking lots. “We have many, many locations behind us, by the way,” Trump added. “Stores in virtually every location.” (Diamond, 5/5)

The Associated Press: As Trump Resumes Travel, Staff Takes Risks To Prepare Trip
For much of the last two months, President Donald Trump has rarely left the grounds of the White House as he’s dealt with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and sought to minimize his own exposure to the disease. But that changes Tuesday, when Trump is scheduled to travel to Arizona to visit a Honeywell facility that makes N95 masks in what the president suggests will mark the return to more regular travel. (Madhani and Superville, 5/5)

NPR: President Trump Will Visit N95 Mask Facility In Phoenix
Arizona remains under a modified stay-at-home order until May 15, though Republican Gov. Doug Ducey allowed some retail establishments to begin to open voluntarily Monday. The state hasn't yet notched the two consecutive weeks of reduced COVID-19 cases called for as a first step in the White House guidelines for reopening. In fact, the number of confirmed cases in the state is on the rise. And Trump's trip itself will be anything but normal. Those traveling with the president or coming in close proximity to him in Arizona are being tested for the coronavirus. Social distancing measures are expected. (Keith and Gonyea, 5/5)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Fact-Checking Trump’s Knocks At Obama In His Fox Town Hall
President Trump’s virtual town hall on Fox News sounded like an oral reading of our Trump database of false or misleading claims (or our upcoming book, “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth,” being published June 2 by Scribner). There were so many old chestnuts, from his false claims about NATO spending to his tale that the United States has spent $8 trillion on Middle East wars to his a historical bragging that he had built the greatest economy in the history of the world. (Kessler, 5/5)

The Hill: Trump's New Vaccine Timeline Met With Deep Skepticism 
Public health experts are pushing back on President Trump's claim that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available by the end of the year. The Trump administration is racing to get a vaccine to the market quickly with "Operation Warp Speed" and has started to whittle down candidates. The project’s goal is to have 300 million vaccine doses available by January, an accelerated version of the administration’s previous projections of needing 12-18 months to get a vaccine ready for the public. (Weixel, 5/4)

The Associated Press: Trump's Anti-China Rhetoric Aimed At Boosting US Leverage
The Trump administration is making ever louder pronouncements casting blame on China for the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to sidestep domestic criticism of the president’s own response, tarnish China’s global reputation and give the U.S. leverage on trade and other aspects of U.S.-China competition. President Donald Trump has vowed to penalize China for what U.S. officials have increasingly described as a pattern of deceit that denied the world precious time to prepare for the pandemic. (Riechmann and Miller, 5/5)

The Hill: Trump Steps Up Effort To Blame China For Coronavirus
The Trump administration is escalating an effort to blame China for the novel coronavirus pandemic as global pressure grows on Beijing to cooperate with an investigation into the origins of the outbreak. President Trump, who has endured consistent scrutiny for his own lagged response to the virus domestically, has accused China of covering up the outbreak and suggested that the virus wouldn’t have spread globally if Beijing had been more transparent to begin with. (Chalfant and Elis, 5/4)

Reuters: WHO Says Pompeo Remarks On Virus Origin 'Speculative', Seeks Data
The World Health Organization said on Monday that comments by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo citing “evidence” that the new coronavirus had emerged from a Chinese laboratory were “speculative”, and called for a science-based inquiry. (Nebehay and Farge, 5/4)

The Hill: Fauci Dismisses 'Circular Argument' Coronavirus Originated In Chinese Lab 
Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, shot down theories the virus that has caused a global pandemic was man-made or released accidentally from a Chinese lab. In a wide-ranging interview with National Geographic, Fauci said available research indicated the virus evolved naturally. (Bowden, 5/4)

Reuters: Exclusive: Internal Chinese Report Warns Beijing Faces Tiananmen-Like Global Backlash Over Virus
An internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into confrontation, people familiar with the paper told Reuters. The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the sources said. (5/4)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Orders Companies To Submit Antibody Test Data
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday that companies selling coronavirus antibody tests must submit data proving accuracy within the next 10 days or face removal from the market. The antibody tests are an effort to detect whether a person had been infected with the coronavirus, but results have been widely varied. Since mid-March, the agency has permitted dozens of manufacturers to sell the tests without providing evidence that they are accurate. (Kaplan, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Sets Standards For Coronavirus Antibody Tests In Crackdown On Fraud
At least 160 antibody tests for Covid-19 entered the U.S. market without previous FDA scrutiny on March 16, because the agency felt then that it was most important to get them to the public quickly. Accurate antibody testing is a potentially important tool for public-health officials assessing how extensively the coronavirus has swept through a region or state. (Burton, 5/4)

Reuters: U.S. Targets Fraud In Coronavirus Antibody Test Market With Tighter Rules
“Flexibility never meant we would allow fraud. We unfortunately see unscrupulous actors marketing fraudulent test kits and using the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of Americans’ anxiety,” the FDA said in a statement. Blood tests for antibodies are used to determine who has been previously been infected with the virus. As the new coronavirus can be easily spread by people with no symptoms, widespread antibody testing is seen as a critical piece in the effort to get Americans back to work safely, as the presence of antibodies to the virus many indicate possible immunity to future infection. (Humer, 5/4)

The Washington Post: FDA To Require Antibody Tests To Undergo Agency Review
The action was the latest about-face in the administration’s coronavirus effort as it seeks to fix a flawed testing response that has been criticized as either too restrictive or too lenient. Earlier this year, the FDA was hammered for moving too slowly in allowing academic medical centers and others to develop diagnostic tests for the virus that might have made them more widely available. Then, critics say, it swung too far in the other direction in allowing the antibody tests to go unvetted. (McGinley, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Country Continues Fitful Moves Toward Normalcy--For Now
At least nine states — including Florida, Colorado, Missouri and Arkansas — took some steps toward reopening, though they did so gingerly. Florida, for example, opened more of its beaches, along with restaurants and retail stores in much of the state, but at a reduced capacity, with patrons spaced six feet apart. Arkansas reopened gyms but required those coming to first be screened for symptoms of the virus. Health officials have warned that the coronavirus crisis is far from over and that a rushed resumption of business and social activity could spark a new wave of infections and death. The United States on Monday added more than 21,000 cases and more than 840 deaths to its daily toll. In total, more than 1.1 million Americans have now been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, and more than 68,000 have died of it. (Zapotosky, Iati and Wagner, 5/4)

Politico: States Were Supposed To Team Up On Reopening. It Hasn’t Gone As Planned.
When seven northeastern states announced they would reopen their virus-shuttered economies in lockstep when the time was right, it was seen as a very-public flexing of local government muscle when Washington was trying to push responsibility onto individual states. But it turns out that the politics of reopening still very much recognize state lines. (Gronewold, 5/5)

The Associated Press: Malls, Movies And More: A Look At Reopenings By State In US
The reopening of the economy and loosening of coronavirus-prompted restrictions remain uneven and varied throughout the U.S. as governors watch case numbers and weigh caution against desires to ramp up business. Texas, Oklahoma, and Montana are among states newly allowing restaurants to reopen. Malls, movie theaters and other venues are reopening in several states. Some states have outlined phased reopenings: North Carolina’s governor said he hopes to start such a process after this week if virus trends allow. (5/5)

The New York Times: Hope And Worry Mingle As Countries Relax Coronavirus Lockdowns
Wearing a Plexiglas visor, large white mask and blue rubber gloves, Catia Gabrielli looked ready for whatever could come her way on Monday as Italy tentatively loosened some of its strictest lockdown provisions against the coronavirus. “I see a lot more movement,” Ms. Gabrielli, a bookstore owner, said in the historic center of Rome as she worried about the people around her, out taking walks without masks. “It’s a lot of people.” (Horowitz, 5/4)

The New York Times: Cuomo’s N.Y. Reopening Plan: 10 Regions, 4 Phases, Many Caveats
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday presented a soft blueprint for how New York State’s economy might begin to restart, a set of criteria that will determine which regions allow what sectors to reopen and when. In remarks at an event in Monroe County, where the coronavirus has killed more than 100 people, Mr. Cuomo reiterated that the entire state would remain locked down until May 15, when his stay-at-home order is scheduled to expire. New York City and its suburbs, which are still besieged by the virus, may be the last places to start returning to some semblance of normal, he suggested. (McKinley, 5/4)

Reuters: Masked And Standing Apart, The World Tiptoes Out Of Lockdown
Italy, among the world’s hardest-hit countries, allowed about 4.5 million people to return to work after nearly two months at home. Construction work can resume and relatives can reunite. “I woke up at 5:30 a.m., I was so excited,” said Maria Antonietta Galluzzo, a grandmother taking her three-year-old grandson for a walk in Rome’s Villa Borghese park, the first time they had seen each other in eight weeks. (Balmer and Heavey, 5/4)

Reuters: New York Governor Outlines Reopening Plan With Construction, Manufacturing First
Cuomo said he understood the feelings of protesters pushing for a faster reopening but also warned that moving too quickly could rekindle the virus, noting that the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was deadlier in its second wave. “You can do it for a short period of time, but you can’t do it forever,” Cuomo said, referring to lockdown orders which have been in place since the middle of March. “But reopening is more difficult than the closedown.” (Layne and Caspani, 5/4)

Reuters: California Sees 'Ray Of Sunshine,' Takes First Steps Toward Reopening
California on Monday announced the state’s first tentative steps to reopen from a lockdown designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, giving a green light for retail stores to open this week, though with restrictions. (Whitcomb, 5/4)

The Washington Post: Northam Says He’ll Probably Ease Some Restrictions In Virginia On May 15
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam extended the state's business shutdown through May 14 on Monday but said he expects to begin rolling back restrictions after that, marking the Washington region's first shift toward the next phase of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Northam (D) said conditions are in place to allow the state to consider reopening dine-in restaurants and some other establishments under social distancing requirements. (Schneider, Vozzella and Nirappil, 5/4)

Reuters: Coronavirus Health Fears Outweigh Concern For Economy: Global Survey
A substantial majority of people around the world want their governments to prioritise saving lives over moves to restart economies being hammered by measures aimed at halting the spread of the new coronavirus, a global survey found. (John, 5/5)

The Wall Street Journal: As Summer Camps Weigh Opening, Parents Scramble For Options
Nicole Ives had a plan for this summer—six weeks of various day camps for her daughter, Amelia, paid for in January with dates tracked in a Google spreadsheet. Many summer camps and recreational programs are still deciding how—and whether—to reopen safely. While some have said they won’t open, others are making changes to accommodate stricter health protocols. The vast majority of camps say they are in limbo as they figure out head counts, refunds and budgets—and if they can offer a genuine summer-camp experience. Parents are considering alternatives, just in case. They also are rethinking finances, summer schedules and if they are ready for their children to swim and share bunks with others. (Chaker, 5/4)

Stat: With Remdesivir, Gilead Finds Itself At Strategic Crossroads, With Its Reputation (And Far More) At Stake
Never in modern times have such high hopes for millions of lives rested on one single company. As the world struggles to fight off Covid-19, Gilead Sciences has been thrust in the spotlight with remdesivir, the antiviral drug that on Friday the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to treat coronavirus patients... But the 33-year-old biopharma company has a well-documented history of charging high prices for lifesaving therapies. And its next steps — notably how much it decides to charge for remdesivir — could determine whether Gilead, and even the drug industry itself, is lauded as the hero of the coronavirus pandemic or condemned anew as price gougers. (Florko and Garde, 5/5)

Stat: Were Researchers Wrong To Move The Goalposts On Remdesivir? In The End, It May Not Have Mattered
Last Wednesday, Gilead announced that its drug, remdesivir, sped the time it took patients to recover from Covid-19. Full data from the study were released by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in a statement at 1 p.m. By 3:35 p.m., Walid Gellad, director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh, had noticed a problem. Was there any explanation, he asked in a tweet, for why the study’s main goal had been changed just weeks before? (Herper, 5/5)

Stat: Cellular ‘Backpacks’ Keep Immune Cells In Attack Mode Against Tumors
In a study recently published in Science Advances, Samir Mitragotri’s team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute engineered a new way to make one of the body’s own immune cells overcome a tumor’s defenses — the primary goal of immunotherapy. The immune cells are macrophages, quick-change artists that can flip from attack mode (good for battling attackers like cancer) to healing mode (good for promoting growth), depending on chemical cues in the microenvironment around them. (Cooney, 5/5)

Stat: The Response To Covid-19 Is Critical. It's Also Making Clinical Trials Harder
In March, a team of Chinese scientists studying whether the antiviral remdesivir was effective against Covid-19 ran into a problem. “Stringent public health measures used in Wuhan led to marked reductions in new patient presentations,” the researchers wrote. Without enough patients enrolled, the study ended early. Last month, another Chinese team reported that a trial of the drug hydroxychloroquine had bumped into similar issues. “The recruitment of eligible patients was unexpectedly difficult,” the scientists wrote, explaining they had failed to reach their enrollment goal. (Joseph, 5/5)

The New York Times: Avigan May Cause Birth Defects. Japan’s Pushing It For Coronavirus.
As President Trump was extolling the promise of a malaria drug in the desperate hunt for coronavirus treatments, one of his top global allies was selling the world on his own “trump card,” a pale yellow pill that he said could be crucial to fighting the pandemic. This supposed beacon of hope is an antiviral medicine known as Avigan, and its most vocal proponent is Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Mr. Abe has pushed the homegrown drug in news conferences and in meetings with world leaders, including a call with Mr. Trump and the other heads of the Group of 7. (Dooley, 5/4)

Stat: Without Showing Data, CytoDyn Touts Covid Drug — While CEO Sells Stock
While Nader Pourhassan, the chief executive of drug maker CytoDyn, filed his intention to sell nearly $17 million of his company’s shares last Thursday, he was simultaneously pitching the same CytoDyn stock to outside investors, claiming its lead drug is saving the lives of patients with Covid-19. Pourhassan’s plan to sell more than 4.8 million shares, disclosed in an SEC filing on Friday, amounts to more than half of his ownership stake in CytoDyn. The timing of the sale is troubling and should concern, even anger, any investor who’s bought CytoDyn stock based on Pourhassan’s coronavirus marketing pitch. (Feuerstein, 5/4)

The Associated Press: Senate Reopens Despite Risks As House Preps More Virus Aid
The Senate reopened Monday in a Capitol largely shuttered by the coronavirus, but prospects for quick action on a new aid package are uncertain with a deepening debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation. The 100 senators are convening for the first time since March, while the House is staying away due to the health risks, as the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. The Washington area remains a virus hot spot under stay-home rules. (Mascaro, 5/5)

The Washington Post: Lawmaking In The Time Of Coronavirus: The Senate Returns To Work, Warily
In eerily quiet hallways, with masks and disinfectant wipes aplenty, the Senate started to forge its new normal Monday — assembling en masse in Washington for the first time in five weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic. The adaptations made by what is perhaps Washington’s most hidebound institution were unmistakable, if uneven. (DeBonis, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Most Senators Embrace Masks As Lawmakers Return To Work
Masked senators returned to work with a new set of rules. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, red signs advised people to keep their distance in the Capitol, which remains closed to the crowds of tourists that typically throng its halls. Yellow circles scattered throughout the complex marked spots on the floor for reporters, typically bunched elbow to elbow, to stand and maintain the 6 feet of distance federal guidelines advise. (Wise and Duehren, 5/4)

The Hill: Parties Divided Over Health Risks To Reopening Capitol 
House leaders are at odds over how the chamber can safely come back into session as the two parties engage in a fight over the optics of working through the coronavirus crisis while the Senate returns to Washington this week. The battle pits Republicans on one side, pressing Congress to move quickly to resume its work on Capitol Hill, not least as a political statement to workers around the country as more and more states — encouraged by President Trump — move to reopen their economies. (Marcos and Lillis, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Liability Shield Is Next Coronavirus Aid Battle In Congress
Senate Republicans’ effort to shield companies from liability during the coronavirus pandemic sets the stage for a showdown with Democrats, as allies of businesses and labor fight over the terms under which the economy will emerge from its partial shutdown. Senate lawmakers returned to Washington on Monday to tackle confirmations of judges and officials and to start working out the next round of relief for households and businesses, on top of almost $3 trillion approved so far. (Hughes and Gershman, 5/4)

The New York Times: Lawmakers Ask I.R.S. To Help Companies That Keep Paying Health Benefits
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including the chairmen of the tax-writing committees in the House and the Senate, asked the Internal Revenue Service on Monday to allow companies that continue paying the cost of health benefits for furloughed workers to remain eligible for a new tax credit. At issue is a tax credit for retaining employees, which essentially reimburses companies for as much as half the wages they continue to pay workers who are furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Tankersley, 5/4)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Exposes A G.O.P. Divide: Is The Market Always Supreme?
Questions over whether the government should play a more active role in protecting Americans from global shocks like the coronavirus pandemic have exposed a widening divide in the Republican Party over whether the small-government, free-market brand of conservatism at the heart of its agenda — and a top priority of its biggest donors — is out of step with the times. The debate traces some of the same ideological fault lines that run through the party over President Trump’s economic and trade policies, which excite many of the voters who are drawn to his nationalist appeals but alarm the party’s more traditional, pro-business wing. (Peters, 5/5)