The Hill: 21 States Now In Federal 'Red Zone' For Serious Coronavirus Outbreaks: Study 
Twenty-one U.S. states are currently in the “red zone” for coronavirus outbreaks under federal criteria, reporting more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, according to a new federal report. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin, according to The New York Times. (Budryk, 7/28)

The New York Times: Read The Latest Federal Report On States’ Response To The Virus
The federal government prepares regular reports on the response to the coronavirus. The following report, dated July 26, was distributed to states by the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force. (7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Near 150,000, As Hospitalizations Rise
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic approached 150,000, as fatalities and hospitalizations rose in parts of the country, while new cases in some areas showed signs of leveling off. ... Several states are facing increased coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths. The Florida Department of Health reported 186 new coronavirus-related deaths among residents, its highest recorded increase over a 24-hour period. State reporting on coronavirus deaths varies, and it is possible that deaths reported on a particular day may not have occurred over the previous 24 hours. (Hall, 7/29)

Reuters: Six U.S. States See Record COVID-19 Deaths, Latinos Hit Hard In California 
A half-dozen U.S. states in the South and West reported one-day records for coronavirus deaths on Tuesday and cases in Texas passed the 400,000 mark as California health officials said Latinos made up more than half its cases. Arkansas, California, Florida, Montana, Oregon and Texas each reported record spikes in fatalities. In the United States more than 1,300 lives were lost nation wide on Tuesday, the biggest one-day increase since May, according to a Reuters tally. (Bernstein and Shumaker, 7/28)

The Hill: World Health Organization: Coronavirus Pandemic Is 'One Big Wave' 
The World Health Organization on Tuesday said the coronavirus pandemic has taken the form of “one big wave” rather than the more common seasonal ebbs and surges experienced by most viruses. “People are still thinking about seasons. What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and ... this one is behaving differently,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said in a virtual briefing in Geneva, according to Reuters. “It’s going to be one big wave. It’s going to go up and down a bit,” she added. “The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet.” (Budryk, 7/28)

In related news —

CNN: Rising Covid-19 Cases Are Fueled By Gatherings But Some Americans Won't Stop 
With the coronavirus running rampant within American communities, health officials have made clear it's not yet time to ease up on precautions. Instead, governors and experts from coast to coast have urged Americans to keep face masks in indoor public spaces, maintain their distance from others and avoid crowded spaces... Despite the grim numbers and stern warnings, some Americans have chosen to return to pre-pandemic habits, ditching guidelines and attending parties. (Maxouris, 7/29)

Reuters: Trump On Fauci's High Approval Ratings: 'Nobody Likes Me' 
President Donald Trump groused on Tuesday about medical expert Anthony Fauci’s high approval ratings and joked that “nobody likes me” as he struggles to improve his standing with voters for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Holland, 7/28)

CNN: President Trump Ponders Pandemic Approval Rating Of Fauci And Birx
Trump said Dr. Fauci's broad respect should transfer to the Trump administration — for whom Fauci works. "Because remember: he's working for this administration. He's working with us. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration. And for the most part we've done what he and others — and Dr. Birx and others — have recommended." (Liptak, 7/28)

CNN: Fact Check: Trump Falsely Says 'Large Portions' Of The US Are 'Corona-Free,' Repeats Claim That Protests Are Leading To Rising Cases
As is often the case with these briefings, however, Trump's scripted message eventually devolved into a series of false and misleading claims about the state of the pandemic. At one point, Trump claimed that "large portions" of the US are "corona free" (not true). He also claimed that protests in Seattle and Portland were leading to spiking cases there (also not true). (Lybrand, Subramaniam, McDermott and Steck, 7/28)

In related news —

The Hill: Poll: 77 Percent Of Voters Trust CDC Over White House On Reporting Coronavirus Data 
A majority of voters trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than the White House when it comes to accurately reporting coronavirus data, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds. Seventy-seven percent of registered voters in the July 17-20 survey said they trust the CDC more to accurately report data on COVID-19. By contrast, 23 percent said they trust the White House more. (7/28)

Politico: ‘I Happen To Think It Works’: Trump Doubles Down On Hydroxychloroquine 
President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his promotion of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 despite no evidence of the malaria drug’s efficacy in doing so. “Many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine coupled with the zinc and perhaps the azithromycin,” Trump asserted at a White House briefing, though there is no evidence from at least five rigorous clinical trials that hydroxychloroquine has any impact in preventing the virus or treating mildly to severely ill cases. (Forgey and Oprysko, 7/28)

AP: Trump Defends Disproved COVID-19 Treatment
The president, in a marked shift from the more measured approach he’s taken toward the virus in recent days, took to Twitter to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and to amplify criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. In a White House briefing, Trump defended his decision to promote a viral video of a group of doctors promoting the use of the drug Monday, even though his own administration withdrew emergency authorization for its use against the coronavirus. (Superville and Seitz, 7/28)

The Hill: Trump Doubles Down On Hydroxychloroquine, Praises Doctor In Viral Video 
Trump has long been enamored with hydroxychloroquine, a drug that's been used to prevent malaria for more than 60 years. He's pushed it as a "game changer" for months, leading to accusations that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) caved to pressure in approving an emergency authorization early in the pandemic. The agency withdrew that authorization last month amid mounting evidence from multiple clinical trials showing hydroxychloroquine is not effective at treating COVID-19 and can cause serious adverse events, including heart rhythm irregularities. (Weixel and Chalfant, 7/28)

Read more about Dr. Stella Immanuel —

PolitiFact: Don’t Fall For This Video: Hydroxychloroquine Is Not A COVID-19 Cure
In the video, members of a new group called America’s Frontline Doctors touch on several unproven conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic. One of the most inaccurate claims comes from Dr. Stella Immanuel, a Houston-based primary care physician and minister with a track record of making bizarre medical claims, such as believing in alien DNA. "This virus has a cure. It is called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax," Immanuel said. "I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don’t need a mask. There is a cure." ... No. Immanuel’s statement is wrong on several points. (Funke, 7/28)

The Daily Beast: Stella Immanuel, Trump’s New COVID-19 Doctor, Believes In Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, And Hydroxychloroquine
A Houston doctor who praises hydroxychloroquine and says that face masks aren’t necessary to stop transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus has become a star on the right-wing internet, garnering tens of millions of views on Facebook on Monday alone. Donald Trump Jr. declared the video of Stella Immanuel a “must watch,” while Donald Trump himself retweeted the video. Before Trump and his supporters embrace Immanuel’s medical expertise, though, they should consider other medical claims Immanuel has made—including those about alien DNA and the physical effects of having sex with witches and demons in your dreams. (Sommer, 7/28)

AP: US Officials: Russia Behind Spread Of Virus Disinformation
Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to reach American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. (Tucker, 7/29)

The New York Times: Russian Intelligence Agencies Push Disinformation On Coronavirus Pandemic
Russian military intelligence, known as the G.R.U., has used its ties with a Russian government information center, InfoRos, and other websites to push out English-language disinformation and propaganda about the pandemic, such as amplifying false Chinese arguments that the virus was created by the United States military and articles that said Russia’s medical assistance could bring a new détente with Washington. (Barnes and Sanger, 7/28)

In other news out of Russia —

The Hill: Russia Aiming To Approve COVID-19 Vaccine Within Weeks: Report 
Russia is aiming to approve a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks, although the country hasn’t released data on its vaccine tests yet, CNN reported Tuesday. Russian officials told the outlet they are hoping to gain approval for a vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute on Aug. 10 or earlier. Once approved for public use, front-line health care workers will receive the vaccine first, the officials said. (Coleman, 7/28)

AP: Twitter Gives Trump Jr. A Tweet Timeout For Pandemic Misinfo
Twitter has temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s son from tweeting on its site after he shared a video riddled with unsupported claims about the coronavirus Monday. Many Republicans reacted with outrage, filling social media with cries of “censorship,” after Donald Trump Jr.’s account was put on a timeout for sharing the video, which was viewed millions of times online in a matter of hours, reaching the president himself, before Facebook, Twitter and YouTube banned it. These social media platforms have zero-tolerance policies on posts that peddle potentially harmful untruths about the coronavirus. (Seitz, 7/28)

The New York Times: Misleading Coronavirus Video, Pushed By The Trumps, Spreads Online 
In a video posted Monday online, a group of people calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” and wearing white medical coats spoke against the backdrop of the Supreme Court in Washington, sharing misleading claims about the virus, including that hydroxychloroquine was an effective coronavirus treatment and that masks did not slow the spread of the virus. The video did not appear to be anything special. But within six hours, President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. had tweeted versions of it, and the right-wing news site Breitbart had shared it. It went viral, shared largely through Facebook groups dedicated to anti-vaccination movements and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, racking up tens of millions of views. Multiple versions of the video were uploaded to YouTube, and links were shared through Twitter. (Frenkel and Alba, 7/28)

And Donald Trump Jr. responds —

Fox News: Trump Jr. Bashes Twitter Over Suspension: 'This Never Happens To ... The Left. It Only Hurts Conservatives' 
Donald Trump Jr. joined "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tuesday to respond to the 12-hour suspension of his Twitter account after he posted a video featuring doctors endorsing the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus. "I've been saying this for a long time," the president's eldest son told host Tucker Carlson. "I wrote my first book about justice and censorship coming from the big tech giants from California — as homogenous a group as you could possibly imagine. If they are censoring my account, they are censoring others and they've been trying to do this for a while." (Creitz, 7/28)

Politico: ‘It’s A Mess’: Republican Senators Deride Key Proposals In GOP Virus Package
Senate Republicans complained on Tuesday about key provisions in the GOP-authored coronavirus relief bill one day after its unveiling, as Democrats panned the proposal as a non-starter. The jockeying on Capitol Hill underscores how far apart both parties remain — and the treacherous path Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell faces as he confronts internal GOP divisions and kicks off negotiations with Democrats. (Desiderio, Levine and Cagyle, 7/28)

The Hill: GOP Under Mounting Pressure To Strike Virus Deal Quickly
Republican lawmakers faced with slipping poll numbers and economic indicators acknowledge they are under pressure to reach a quick deal with Democrats on a new coronavirus package.  Armed with more leverage, Democrats will likely not agree to any deal unless it is closer to the $3.4 trillion bill the House passed in May. Republican officials don’t see any advantages to drawing the battle out. (Bolton, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Trump Calls New Senate GOP Coronavirus Bill ‘Semi-Irrelevant’
President Trump brushed off the new $1 trillion Senate GOP coronavirus legislation as “sort of semi-irrelevant” Tuesday, dismissing its significance just a day after Senate Republican leaders overcame contentious internal divisions to roll it out. At the Capitol, meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) disavowed a key Trump administration priority in the bill — funding for a new FBI headquarters — while the second-ranking GOP senator suggested that Congress might be unable to make a deal in time to avert the expiration of emergency unemployment benefits on Friday. (Werner, Min Kim and Stein, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Senate GOP Won’t Extend Pandemic Food Stamps But Doubles ‘Three-Martini Lunch’ Deduction
Republicans’ Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (the Heals Act) does not expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, nor does it extend the Pandemic EBT program, a debit-card benefit for households with children who have temporarily lost access to free or reduced-price school meals. The Pandemic EBT program expired at the end of June. ... Although the Senate GOP proposal offers no new funds for SNAP and Pandemic EBT, it does double the tax deduction for business meals, known as the “three-martini-lunch deduction,” increasing the reimbursement from 50 percent to 100 percent of meals. (Reiley, 7/28)

Other response to the bill —

CNBC: Most Swing-State Voters Support Extending $600 Weekly Unemployment Benefit, CNBC/Change Research Poll Finds
As Congress debates how to shape the next phase of coronavirus relief, most voters in six swing states want lawmakers to continue the aid that buoyed Americans through the early stages of the economic crisis, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll. (Pramuk, 7/29)

The Hill: Lobbyists See Wins, Losses In GOP Coronavirus Bill 
Business groups are taking stock of what’s in, and what’s out, of the GOP coronavirus relief bill as they turn their focus to lobbying Democrats in an effort to retain key provisions or add others back into a final measure. The hard-hit travel and retail industries praised the Senate GOP legislation, though others, like restaurant groups and child care providers, say the package that’s being negotiated now with Democratic leaders wouldn’t go far enough to help them survive the coronavirus recession. (Gangitano, 7/28)

The Hill: Biden Presses Science And Caution On Pandemic 
Former Vice President Joe Biden emphasized the importance of approaching the coronavirus pandemic with caution and touched on his running mate selection process during a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with reporters on Tuesday. The remarks, which were made in Wilmington, Del., followed Biden's address unveiling his plan to combat racial inequality in the economy. When asked whether professional sports should be allowed amid the pandemic, Biden said, "They should just follow the science." (Manchester, 7/28)

Politico: ‘This Is Health Care Moonshot Time’: Pandemic Pulls Biden, Dems Further Left
The coronavirus pandemic and the economic devastation it’s unleashed are pushing Joe Biden and the Democratic Party further to the left on health care. But it may not be far enough for some progressives. Biden keeps inching closer to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party without embracing “Medicare for All,” by proposing to lower the eligibility age of the entitlement program from 65 to 60 and potentially extend government coverage to an additional 23 million people. He’s also backing a robust government-run public health insurance option that would auto-enroll low-income people who lose their jobs and provide another choice for Americans covered under Obamacare or at their job. (Miranda Ollstein, 7/28)

Also —

Politico: Biden Says He Hasn’t Been Tested For Coronavirus
Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he hadn’t yet been tested for coronavirus. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, made the acknowledgment when a reporter asked whether he could meet potential running mates in person to vet them. He was speaking at an in-person campaign event in Wilmington, Del., where he also urged more testing and contact tracing to combat the spread of Covid-19. (Choi, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Centene's Medicaid Enrollment Is Growing Slower Than Expected Amid COVID-19
Health insurer Centene Corp. said Tuesday that its Medicaid enrollment isn't growing quite as fast as expected amid the COVID-19 crisis. Researchers widely anticipated that enrollment in the public insurance program for low-income people would swell during the pandemic as employers laid off workers, who they expected would look to Medicaid as a replacement for job-based health coverage. (Livingston, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Black And Dual-Eligible Medicare Beneficiaries Among Hardest Hit By COVID-19
Federal health officials say the most vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries are hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, with racial and ethnic minorities and dual-eligible patients experiencing the highest hospitalizations. A "snapshot" analysis of Medicare claims and encounter data between Jan. 1 and June 20 released by CMS on Tuesday shows Medicare beneficiaries made up more than 549,000 of the 2.2 million total coronavirus cases reported in the U.S. during that period, accounting for more than 160,000 hospitalizations. (Johnson, 7/28)

The New York Times: Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine Test In Monkeys Shows Promise 
Monkeys given the Moderna coronavirus vaccine and then deliberately infected were able to fight off the virus, quickly clearing it from their lungs, researchers reported on Tuesday. The findings do not guarantee that the vaccine will perform the same way in people, but the results are considered encouraging and a milestone in the struggle against the pandemic. If an experimental vaccine fails in monkeys, that is generally seen as a bad sign for its ability to work in humans. This type of study is considered valuable because infecting people on purpose, though sometimes done, is not standard practice. (Grady, 7/28)

Stat: How Will Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine Trial Shape The Company's Future?
Among the pharmaceutical companies closest to developing a Covid-19 vaccine, none has more riding on the outcome than Moderna, a decade-old firm with no approved products and a vast valuation to live up to. Every incremental headline on Moderna’s vaccine, now in Phase 3, has shifted billions of dollars of the company’s market value, and Wall Street analysts have been one-upping one another for months trying to game out just how lucrative the product might be. (Garde and Feuerstein, 7/29)

In related news on the COVID vaccine race —

Kaiser Health News: Public Health Experts Fear A Hasty FDA Signoff On Vaccine
The vaccine trial that Vice President Mike Pence kicked off in Miami on Monday gives the United States the tiniest chance of being ready to vaccinate millions of Americans just before Election Day. It’s a possibility that fills many public health experts with dread. Among their concerns: Early evidence that any vaccine works would lead to political pressure from the administration for emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration. That conflict between science and politics might cause some people to not trust the vaccine and refuse to take it, which would undermine the global campaign to stop the pandemic. Or it could lead to a product that is not fully protective. Confidence in routine childhood vaccinations, already shaken, could decline further. (Allen, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Kodak To Produce Pharmaceutical Ingredients With U.S. Government Loan
In a deal aimed at reducing U.S. reliance on China, the federal government announced Tuesday that it plans to give Eastman Kodak a $765 million loan to start producing the chemical ingredients needed to make pharmaceuticals. The company plans to establish a new division, Kodak Pharmaceuticals, that will focus on the building blocks used to produce generic drugs, according to a joint statement from Kodak and the lending agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC. (Whalen, 7/28)

Reuters: Roche Bid To Retool Arthritis Drug For COVID-19 Fails 
Roche’s attempt to retool its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra/RoActemra drug to treat patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19-related pneumonia has failed in a late-stage trial, the Swiss company said on Wednesday. Roche had launched the 330-patient trial in March as it joined other pharmaceutical companies seeking to re-purpose existing medicines to fight the pandemic. (Revill, 7/29)

Dallas Morning News: Plano Biopharma’s Kidney Drug Gets Special FDA Approval For COVID-19 Trials At NYU
Biopharmaceutical darling Reata is supplying its experimental kidney drug to New York University’s prestigious Grossman School of Medicine to study its effects on COVID-19 patients. The research team is led by cardiologist and NYU professor Dr. Sripal Bangalore, a new member of Plano-based Reata Pharmaceuticals’ advisory board who helped care for COVID patients in New York at the height of the pandemic. He’s also director of complex coronary intervention at NYU. (Walters, 7/28)

Stat: Cepheid Is Accused Of Overcharging And Undersupplying Its Covid-19 Test To Poor Countries 
As controversy rises over equal access to Covid-19 medical products, a manufacturer of rapid, point-of care tests is being urged to lower the price of its diagnostic and also increase sales to a World Health Organization diagnostics consortium designed to serve low-income countries. At issue is a test developed by Cepheid, which charges $19.80 for the test for 145 developing countries represented by the consortium. Doctors Without Borders argues the company could still make a profit if the price was lowered to $5. (Silverman, 7/28)

The New York Times: ‘Amazing, Isn’t It?’ Long-Sought Blood Test For Alzheimer’s In Reach 
A newly developed blood test for Alzheimer’s has diagnosed the disease as accurately as methods that are far more expensive or invasive, scientists reported on Tuesday, a significant step toward a longtime goal for patients, doctors and dementia researchers. The test has the potential to make diagnosis simpler, more affordable and widely available. The test determined whether people with dementia had Alzheimer’s instead of another condition. (Belluck, 7/28)

USA Today: Studies Show A New Blood Test Can Accurately Diagnose Alzheimer's
Researchers at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Tuesday presented the results of multiple studies of whether a blood test could distinguish Alzheimer's disease from other forms of dementia. In one study published in JAMA, researchers said the blood test could could identify Alzheimer's disease and even detected signs of disease 20 years before cognitive problems were expected in a group of people who carry a rare genetic mutation. (Alltucker, 7/28)

The New York Times: The Coronavirus Could Dodge Some Treatments, Study Suggests 
In a laboratory in New York City, researchers coaxed a key piece of the coronavirus — its infamous outer “spike” — to mutate so that it became invisible to disease-fighting antibodies, according to a new study that has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The provocative finding should not set off alarm bells, experts said. The altered spikes were not attached to the real coronavirus, which mutates at a much slower pace than most laboratory viruses. But the study does underscore the need for treatments and vaccines that attack the virus in different ways, so that if the pathogen manages to evade one approach, another will be waiting in the wings. (Wu, 7/28)

The Hill: Coronavirus Relatives May Pose Threat To Humans: Study 
The coronavirus circulating across the globe may have close relatives that have not yet been discovered, a hint that the current pandemic will not be the last one to threaten humans. New research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Microbiology finds the current strain, known in the scientific literature as SARS-CoV-2, diverged genetically from other known viruses that circulated in bats between 40 and 70 years ago. (Wilson, 7/28)

NPR: Antibodies From Recovered COVID-19 Patients Being Tested As Way To Prevent Infection 
If you're bitten or scratched by an animal with rabies, your doctor can give you a shot to prevent the virus from taking hold in you and causing an infection. The same concept is now being put to the test for the coronavirus. Most people who get sick with COVID-19 produce antibodies in their blood that seem protect them from re-infection. A study is now underway to see whether an infusion of those antibodies can protect someone who has been exposed to the virus and is at high risk of infection. (Harris, 7/29)

In tech news —

The Wall Street Journal: Could You Have Covid-19? Soon Your Smartwatch Or Smart Ring Might Tell You 
A drip of snot… Could be Covid? A slight chill… Probably Covid. A single cough… Yep, Covid! I’m no hypochondriac, but I spend a lot of time wondering if once-typical bodily ailments are signs of the coronavirus sweeping the planet. Or at least I did, before I turned my body into a symptom-tracking Covid-19 computer. For the past three weeks I’ve worn an Oura ring, Fitbit, Garmin fitness band and Apple Watch, along with two high-tech skin patches, all packed with sensors. They’ve sent hundreds of temperature readings, blood oxygen levels, heart beats—even cough counts—to my phone. All to find out if I have Covid-19. (I don’t. Confirmed with a real fun nasal-swab test.) (Stern, 7/28)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Pediatrics Research Group Wants To Fund COVID-19 Medical Tech For Kids 
A group of Houston physicians and scientists want to fund medical devices that could save children’s lives if they come down with COVID-19. The Southwest National Pediatric Device Consortium is trying to entice scientists to develop technologies that would help in the fight against COVID-19. Through grant funding, up to $25,000 per applicant, the group will provide cash for researchers trying to create medical devices that would help what Executive Director Dr. Chester Koh said is a vulnerable population. (Wu, 7/28)

In other news —

Stat: Celebs Tried Soon-Shiong's Cancer Therapy. Can It Work In A Clinical Trial?
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s pancreatic cancer went into remission. “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, diagnosed last year with the same disease, has said his “numbers are going in the right direction.” Both celebrities attribute their improvement to the same experimental immunotherapy treatment being developed by the physician and billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. (Robbins and Feuerstein, 7/29)

CIDRAP: Global Use Of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics Rising, Data Show
Global consumption of antibiotics that have a greater potential for driving antibiotic resistance nearly doubled from 2000 to 2015, according to a new analysis in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study, led by researchers from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), looked at global antibiotic consumption patterns using antibiotic sales data and the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) antibiotic classification framework, introduced in 2017 to provide an indirect indication of the appropriateness of antibiotic use at national and global levels. (Dall, 7/28)

CNN: Brett Kavanaugh Tried To Sidestep Abortion And Trump Financial Docs Cases 
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh urged his colleagues in a series of private memos this spring to consider avoiding decisions in major disputes over abortion and Democratic subpoenas for President Donald Trump's financial records, according to multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the court. In the abortion controversy, Kavanaugh wanted the justices to sidestep any ruling on the merits of a Louisiana law that could have closed abortion clinics in the state, CNN has learned. The case marked the first time in four years the justices were taking up the heated subject. Kavanaugh's plan would have ensured the law — a credentialing mandate for doctors who perform abortions — would not go into immediate effect but also ensured that the justices would not have to put their own views on the line. (Biskupic, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: VA Hospital Faulted In Suicide Of Patient Who Sought Care 
An internal report released Tuesday faulted the Department of Veterans Affairs for the suicide last year of a veteran who had sought treatment through the VA’s medical center in Washington. The patient visited the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center’s emergency room early last year complaining of withdrawal symptoms and expressing “suicidal ideation,” according to the report by the VA Office of Inspector General. Following a disagreement over the patient’s admittance, one VA physician, according to the report, said that “[the patient] can go shoot [themselves]. I do not care.” (Forrest, 7/28)

Politico: Teachers Union Threatens 'Safety Strikes' Before Biden Speech 
The American Federation of Teachers called Tuesday for “safety strikes” as a last resort if school reopening plans don't meet demands for keeping educators healthy and safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. Union President Randi Weingarten delivered that battle cry during an address to union members, adding fresh tension to fraught schoolhouse debates as President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden take sides on opposite ends of the fight. (Perez Jr., 7/28)

The Hill: Teachers Union Authorizes Strikes If Schools Reopen Without Certain Safety Measures 
The safeguards, according to the union, should include comprehensive contact tracing in areas where classes resume, mandatory masking and updated ventilation systems in facilities, The New York Times reported. “We will fight on all fronts for the safety of our students and their educators,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said at the union’s annual convention, held online this year due to the pandemic. (Budryk, 7/28)

AP: Mike Pence To Visit Raleigh In Push For Schools To Reopen
Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Raleigh on Wednesday morning in a push to encourage more K-12 schools to reopen with entirely in-person instruction. According to an announcement from his office, Pence will join a roundtable discussion highlighting how a private school has worked to safely resume classes. Thales Academy allowed 300 students to return to campus on July 20. (Anderson, 7/29)

AP: Utah Teachers Want Online Only Classes At Start Of School
Utah’s largest teachers union called Tuesday for schools to delay reopening and start the school year with online classes, citing safety concerns for students and teachers. The Utah Education Association called for state leaders to temporarily resume distance learning until COVID-19 cases further decline. The union said school districts should seek input from educators and local health authorities before moving forward with any reopening plans. (Eppolito, 7/28)

AP: Texas AG Says Schools Trump Health Officials On Class Start
Local health officials in Texas do not have the authority to close schools to prevent spread of the coronavirus, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday, pushing that decision solely into the hands of school officials. Paxton issued a “legal guidance” letter on schools amid fierce debate among local governments, health officials, parents and teachers on when schools should open in a state that has become one of the nation’s hot spots in the pandemic. (Vertuno, 7/28)

AP: Officials: Virus Outbreak Hits Iowa Boys Detention Center
Authorities in Iowa reported an outbreak of coronavirus at Iowa’s detention center and school for male juvenile offenders in Eldora. Twelve students and five staff members at Eldora Boys State Training School have tested positive for the virus, television station KCCI reported. The first case at the facility was reported last week. All students and staff at the center are now being tested, officials said. The school holds about 70 youth from across the state. (7/28)

Also —

Reuters: Lawmakers Probe White House Pressure Over Schools Reopening Amid Coronavirus
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday asked the U.S. education secretary and head of a top government health agency for their correspondence with the White House to determine if political pressure influenced new federal recommendations on whether schools should reopen in the fall. Public comments from Republican President Donald Trump and members of his administration made clear that reopening schools was a priority and interfered in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) messages to the public, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Andy Levin said in a letter. (7/28)

USA Today: 'The Virus Beat Us': Colleges Are Increasingly Going Online For Fall 2020 Semester As COVID-19 Cases Rise
Call it coronavirus déjà vu. After planning ways to reopen campuses this fall, colleges are increasingly changing their minds, dramatically increasing online offerings or canceling in-person classes outright.  This sudden shift will be familiar to students whose spring plans were interrupted by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Now, COVID-19 cases in much of the country are much higher than in the spring, and rising in many places. (Quintana, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Back-To-College Plans Devolve Into A Jumble Of Fast-Changing Rules 
With fall semester just a few weeks away, the Covid-19 pandemic has stumped the brightest minds at universities across the U.S. There is no consensus about how college campuses are going to open, and what they will look like if they do. There are as many plans as there are institutions, and their guidebooks are being written in pencil, leaving families and students in limbo. At stake are the health and well-being of more than 20 million students, faculty and staff—as well as billions of dollars in revenue from tuition, dormitories, dining halls and sports competitions. (Belkin and Korn, 7/28)

CNN: Reopening Of Schools Will Provide Insight Into Coronavirus' Spread As Optimism Grows For A Vaccine By The End Of The Year 
Students returning to school in the fall will likely teach the nation even more about the unknowns of Covid-19, the United States' top infectious disease doctor said. With schools closed since March and April -- as coronavirus cases soared to more than 4.3 million and deaths climbed to 149,258, according to data from Johns Hopkins University -- a knowledge gap has persisted around how young children experience and spread the virus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. (Holcombe, 7/29)

The Atlantic: Outdoor Classes Might Be The Best Way To Reopen Schools 
This month, Berkeley public schools, like many school districts across the country, announced they will not start the year with full-time, in-person school. Soon after, J Li, a business-innovation strategist who lives in the area, noticed moms in the local Facebook groups turn, like starlings at dusk, to one topic in particular: homeschool pods. Reluctant to face more months supervising Zoom classes, wealthy parents are grouping together in families of three or four and hiring someone to privately teach their children, at a cost of thousands of dollars a month. (Khazan, 7/28)

CNN: Minnesota Republican County Official Resigns After Posting Image Comparing Mask Wearing To Nazi Germany 
A Minnesota Republican Party county official has resigned after posting an image on Facebook comparing mask mandates to Jews being forced to wear Stars of David in Nazi Germany, the state party said on Tuesday. Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan confirmed the official's resignation in a statement on Tuesday. Earlier, she had repeated a lower ranking official's assertion that the Wabasha County Republican Party's Facebook page had been hacked -- an assertion that she retracted on Tuesday evening. (Kelly, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Labor Unions Petition Transportation Department For A Mandatory Mask Rule
Labor unions representing transportation workers formally asked the U.S. Department of Transportation this week to issue an emergency rule ordering passengers to wear masks on planes, buses and trains or be denied a ride. Larry Willis, the president of the Transportation Trades Department, a coalition of 33 unions, wrote in the petition that the government needed to go beyond issuing guidance and set clear rules for the use of masks to protect workers and passengers from the novel coronavirus. (Duncan, 7/28)

AP: Wyoming Governor: There Will Be No Mask Order
Wyoming will not issue a statewide mask order despite record-high reported cases of the coronavirus, Gov. Mark Gordon said Tuesday. Gordon made the remarks soon after he extended by two more weeks public health orders that prohibit most gatherings of over 250 people. The orders are now set to expire Aug. 16. (Gruver, 7/28)

In other news about mask-wearing —

AP: States Resist Mask Rules As Midwest Virus Uptick Stirs Alarm
The baseball season descended deeper into crisis Tuesday, states like Mississippi and South Carolina cast about for more hospital beds, and governors in some of the hardest-hit places staunchly resisted calls to require masks, despite confirmed cases of the coronavirus soaring. ... States like Florida, Arizona and Texas are in dire condition, and the virus also has been spreading farther north in recent days, causing alarm among public health officials who fear states are not doing enough to avoid catastrophic outbreaks like those in the Sun Belt. (Forliti, Willingham and HOllingsworth, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: How Face Masks Work And Which Types Offer The Best Covid-19 Protection 
Face masks are a simple way to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus through talking, coughing or sneezing, scientists and public-health specialists say. But they need to be worn properly. While some types of masks are more effective than others, public-health officials say any face covering—even a bandanna—is better than nothing. Here’s how different types of masks stack up, and how they are meant to be used. (Hufford and Williams, 7/28)

The Washington Post: At The Heart Of Dismal U.S. Coronavirus Response, A Fraught Relationship With Masks 
“Some countries took out their masks as soon as this happened,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease specialist from the University of California at San Francisco, “and their rates of death are very low.” In a coronavirus response that has been full of missteps and unforced errors, delayed acceptance of universal masking, Gandhi said, may be the single biggest mistake the United States has made. (Witte, Eunjung Cha and Dawsey, 7/28)

Kaiser Health News: Where Mask-Wearing Isn’t Gospel: Colorado Churches Grapple With Reopening 
The lights dimmed. Guitars thrummed. And a nine-piece band kicked off what amounted to a rock concert inside an amphitheater of a church. “Shout for joy to the Lord,” one musician called out, quoting Scripture. Any such shout could release the coronavirus to congregants. With some 500 people singing along, though, any concern about a deadly virus circulating was hard to find other than the spaced-out chairs in the 6,000-person hall. Although Colorado’s governor had issued a statewide order days earlier mandating masks, hardly anyone at this service at New Life Church obeyed. (Rodgers, 7/29)

AP: Yankees-Phillies Series Postponed Amid Virus Worries
The remainder of the Phillies’ home-and-home series against the New York Yankees was postponed amid coronavirus concerns Tuesday in the wake of an outbreak involving another team. The Phillies were supposed to host the Yankees on Monday and Tuesday and play them in New York on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead, the Yankees are planning to head to Baltimore to start a series against the Orioles on Wednesday. (Maaddi, 7/28)

The Hill: Marlins Outbreak Casts Harsh Light On US Coronavirus Response 
Major League Baseball's 2020 season has been upended just days after it began as nearly 20 members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the suspension of the team’s play and casting a harsh spotlight on the U.S. struggle to contain the pandemic. The league announced Tuesday that Miami will not play again until next Tuesday at the earliest, putting the team's season on pause after it played just three games. (Samuels, 7/28)

The Hill: Fauci Says Baseball Season Could Be 'In Danger' As Players Test Positive For Coronavirus 
Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, cautioned Tuesday that an outbreak of coronavirus among Miami Marlins players and staff could threaten the abbreviated MLB season just days after it began. "This could put it in danger. I don’t believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis," Fauci said on "Good Morning America." (Samuels, 7/28)

In football news —

CNN: A Doctor And Former Football Player Warns It's Not Safe For The NFL To Start The Season 
A former football player turned doctor said he remains concerned about the safety of organized sports as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage in the US. Dr. Myron Rolle, a third year neurosurgeon resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and former NFL safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, told CNN's Anderson Cooper during Anderson Cooper 360 Tuesday night that more time is needed before for players, teams or fans to return to stadiums. (Silverman, 7/29)

Houston Chronicle: Alcohol-Based Sanitizers With Methanol Can Lead To Blindness Or Death, Among Other Things, FDA Says 
Methanol exposure, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, can lead to nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. It's even worse when ingested, especially for young children and adolescents and adults who drink it as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute. (Gowdy, 7/28)

The Atlantic: Hygiene Theater Is a Huge Waste of Time
As a covid-19 summer surge sweeps the country, deep cleans are all the rage. National restaurants such as Applebee’s are deputizing sanitation czars to oversee the constant scrubbing of window ledges, menus, and high chairs. The gym chain Planet Fitness is boasting in ads that “there’s no surface we won’t sanitize, no machine we won’t scrub.” New York City is shutting down its subway system every night, for the first time in its 116-year history, to blast the seats, walls, and poles with a variety of antiseptic weaponry, including electrostatic disinfectant sprays. And in Wauchula, Florida, the local government gave one resident permission to spray the town with hydrogen peroxide as he saw fit. “I think every city in the damn United States needs to be doing it," he said. (Thompson, 7/27)

The Hill: Almost Half In New Poll Say They Have Formed Social 'Bubbles' Amid Pandemic 
Nearly half of Americans said they have formed social “bubbles” of people they feel safe interacting with during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new polling from Axios. Forty-seven percent of respondents said they had established such an informal group of people they trust to take precautions to avoid spreading the virus, compared to 53 percent who have not, the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index found. Women — at 51 percent — were more likely to say they had formed a bubble. Comparatively, 42 percent of men said they have. (Budryk, 7/28)

AP: Early In Pandemic, Frantic Doctors Traded Tips Across Oceans
Amid the chaos of the pandemic’s early days, doctors who faced the first coronavirus onslaught reached across oceans and language barriers in an unprecedented effort to advise colleagues trying to save lives in the dark. With no playbook to follow and no time to wait for research, YouTube videos describing autopsy findings and X-rays swapped on Twitter and WhatsApp spontaneously filled the gap. When Stephen Donelson arrived at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in mid-March, Dr. Kristina Goff was among those who turned to what she called “the stories out of other places that were hit before.” (Neergaard and Winfield, 7/29)

Boston Globe: Can You Get COVID-19 Twice? A Veteran At The Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Who Had Seemingly Recovered From Virus Tests Positive 
State officials have temporarily cut off visitation at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home after a resident who seemed to have recovered from the novel coronavirus tested positive again, signaling a possible reemergence of COVID-19 at a facility that had endured one of the nation’s most notorious outbreaks. The resident began showing symptoms Monday and was transferred to a local hospital, where he tested positive, a state official said Tuesday. (Freyer and Stout, 7/28)

CIDRAP: Survey: More US Workers Out Sick Amid Pandemic Than Any Other Time On Record
More than 2 million American workers called in sick in a single week in mid-April, causing the highest absence rate on record and leading to suspicions that COVID-19 cases were substantially undercounted, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Hunter College who analyzed the US Census Bureau's monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) found that 2,017,105 workers called in sick, more than double the number from the same time the year before. Absenteeism due to illness began rising in March, when the US epidemic began, and surged to 1.5% in April, nearly triple the percentage during that period in 2019. (7/28)

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: When Is A Coronavirus Test Not A Coronavirus Test? 
Desperate to continue the tradition of a family beach week, I hatched a plan that would allow some mask- and sanitizer-enhanced semblance of normality. We hadn’t seen my two 20-something children in months. They’d spent the lockdown in Brooklyn; one of them most likely had the disease in late March, before testing was widely available. My mother had died of COVID-19 in May. So a few weeks ago, I rented a cute house on the Delaware shore. It had a screened-in front porch and a little cottage out back, in case someone needed to quarantine. (Rosenthal, 7/29)

Also —

People: Herman Cain Still Hospitalized With COVID-19
Herman Cain is still hospitalized with the novel coronavirus disease, more than three weeks after his initial diagnosis. The 74-year-old former Republican presidential hopeful remains in an Atlanta-area hospital after he was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month, according to his team. Cain’s staff shared in a series of tweets on Monday that he was undergoing oxygen treatment for his lungs but his organs and other systems were "strong." (7/28)

Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.“Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified 878 such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic. We have published profiles for 164 workers whose deaths have been confirmed by our reporters. (7/29)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Can Transfer Patients' Medical Debt To RIP Medical Debt, Regulators Say
RIP Medical Debt can take on and forgive patients' medical debt directly from providers, a decision that experts welcomed as more Americans are saddled with debt amid the COVID-19 pandemic. HHS' Office of Inspector General recently said it will not penalize health systems and large physician groups that donate or sell unpaid bills to the national not-for-profit RIP Medical Debt instead of following the traditional debt collection agency referral process. The OIG ruled that the arrangement would not violate federal anti-kickback laws that prohibit providers from unlawfully drawing patients to their organization. (Kacik, 7/28)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Struggling Rural Georgia Hospital Calls It Quits
After years of financial struggle, Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center in Randolph County, has announced it will close in 90 days. Remaining will be the county’s family medicine clinic, which will provide services such as physical therapy and radiology, and the Joe-Anne Burgin Nursing Home. (Berard, 7/28)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Extends Expiring Health Coverage For Hilton Employees 
More than 400 hospitality workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel will receive health care coverage through the end of September, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Tuesday, a day after the employees’ union released a report that found the city’s convention agency had ample funds to extend the expiring benefits. Health insurance for the hotel employees was set to lapse at the end of July, according to a Turner spokeswoman. Many have failed to accumulate the hours needed to qualify for health benefits since being furloughed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Scherer, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: UHS Reports 6.3% Increase In Profit During Second Quarter 2020
For-profit health system Universal Health Services reported higher net income in the second quarter of 2020, despite dwindling patient volumes during the quarter. King of Prussia, Pa.-based UHS grew profit 6.3% to $256.5 million, beating analysts' projections in a quarter that was expected to be rough for hospitals as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down elective procedures and routine care appointments. The results came a week after HCA Healthcare reported a 38% jump in profit. (Livingston, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: UH To Consolidate Cardiac, Labor And Delivery Services
University Hospitals is consolidating several practices on the west side of Cleveland, including closing its UH St. John cardiac surgery program and transitioning birthing services from UH Elyria Medical Center to UH St. John Medical Center. The system is expected to continue deliveries at UH Elyria through Oct. 31. Cardiac surgeries are expected to end at UH St. John by Oct. 1. (Coutré, 7/28)

Detroit Free Press: Data Of About 6,000 Beaumont Health Patients At Risk After Email Breach
About 6,000 Beaumont Health patients had information possibly exposed during a data breach of employee email accounts. A small number of employees fell victim to a phishing scam and six email accounts were impacted, Beaumont privacy officer Kelly Partin said in an email to the Detroit Free Press. (Moran, 7/28)

CNN: It Denied Membership To 2 Black Doctors For Years. Now The American Academy Of Pediatrics Is Apologizing 
Eighty years after repeatedly rejecting the membership of two Black doctors, the American Academy of Pediatrics is officially apologizing for its racist behavior against the two physicians, as well as against others over many decades. Doctors Alonzo deGrate Smith and Roland Boyd Scott first applied for membership in the AAP in 1939, nine years after the definitive authority on pediatric care was founded. For the next six years, both were repeatedly rejected. (Lin Erdman, 7/29)

WBUR: What The 'Wall Of Moms' Protests Say About Motherhood, Race In America 
Today, the power of moms as activists is being proven again by the Wall of Moms protesting police brutality in Portland, Ore. They've gained national attention as they link arms and chant at federal forces. Many "moms" activist groups are started and powered by women like Lightner, who lost children tragically. But it's also true that stereotypes about gender, as well as race, have long played a role in shaping that power — as well as determining who gets to wield it. (Kurtzleben, 7/28)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In South DeKalb, Black Neighborhoods Fight ‘Environmental Racism’
Stonecrest, a young city of over 50,000 in southeast DeKalb County, is nearly 94% Black. Ahead of its formation in 2017, proponents for the city heralded it as a place where new economic development could flourish in predominantly Black communities. But while Mayor Jason Lary said industrial development is key to the growth of the city, several residents say that goal is coming at the cost of residents’ well-being and health. (Capeluto, 7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Lonely Girls: How The Pandemic Has Deepened The Isolation Of Adolescents
A recent nationwide study found that 78% of fifth- through eighth-grade girls feel more lonely and isolated since the pandemic began. The same is true of older teens. The study, conducted in May by the Rox Institute for Research & Training, the research arm of Ruling Our eXperiences, a nonprofit focused on girls, also found that of the younger girls in that study—ages 10 to 14—a third are spending four or more hours a day on social media, primarily on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. (Jargon, 7/28)

The New York Times: How To Ask If Everything Is OK When It’s Clearly Not 
When you chat with a friend, Thomas Joiner, a psychology professor at Florida State University, said you should be on the lookout for noticeable changes in their demeanor, such as an irritable mood or a disheveled appearance. If your friend has recently experienced relationship issues, health problems or workplace stress, or has faced financial difficulties, they may be especially vulnerable to anguish right now. (Goldfarb, 7/28)

Stat: Mobile Mental Health Teams Warn Their Models Rely On Police Partnerships
In the wake of nationwide demonstrations against police brutality, there has also been a surge in interest in making sure mental health providers, not law enforcement, are the ones to respond to a psychiatric crisis. It’s a strategy that mental health organizations have been sharpening for decades. Dozens of cities across the country have what are known as mobile crisis units, which deploy trained professionals to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis with compassion and clinical expertise. (Isselbacher, 7/29)

AP: $250 One-Time Payments To Louisiana Workers Begin This Week
Payments start going out this week to Louisiana’s front-line workers who remained at grocery store checkouts, in health care facilities and on bus routes in the first months of the coronavirus outbreak, the revenue department said Tuesday. Louisiana is offering $250 one-time payments, financed with federal relief aid, to as many as 200,000 people who meet eligibility requirements set by state lawmakers. Approved applicants will receive payment through a check or direct deposit into a bank account. (7/28)

Detroit Free Press: Whitmer: Michigan Needs More Federal Aid For State Budget
Having used federal relief funding to help close a $2.2-billion hole in the state's 2020 budget, Michigan officials warned Tuesday they now face a $3-billion hole for the budget year that starts Oct. 1 and called for more financial aid from Washington. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state Budget Director Chris Kolb both criticized at a news conference a proposed relief plan unveiled Monday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as woefully short of what is needed. (Egan, 7/28)

AP: California Withholds Virus Money From 2 Defiant Cities
Gov. Gavin Newsom is using new powers to withhold money from two cities in California’s Central Valley that are defying his health orders by allowing all businesses to open during the pandemic. Newsom blocked nearly $65,000 from Atwater in Merced County and more than $35,000 from Coalinga in Fresno County, the first installments of $2.5 billion in federal funds that cities and counties across the state risk losing if they don’t toe the line on coronavirus safeguards. (Thompson, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Maryland To Stop Paying For Mandatory Coronavirus Testing For Nursing Home Staff
Maryland’s health department has warned nursing homes that the state will soon stop paying for the weekly coronavirus testing it requires for staff — prompting frustration from some in the industry, who say facilities cannot afford to foot the bill. State officials say nursing homes should be able to pay for the tests through funding they received from the federal Cares Act. But industry advocates say there is not enough money to cover those costs and other pressing pandemic-related needs, especially for small, independent facilities. (Tan and Chason, 7/28)

The Hill: Virginia Imposes New COVID-19 Restrictions In Eastern Part Of State 
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) will impose new restrictions on restaurants and bars, but only in an eastern section of the state that's experiencing a major surge of new coronavirus cases, he announced Tuesday. Northam said bars in the Hampton Roads area will be prohibited from serving alcohol after 10 p.m., and that restaurants will have to close by midnight and will be reduced to 50 percent capacity for indoor dining. "This will effectively shut down bars," he said during a press conference. (Weixel, 7/28)

In news from Texas —

Dallas Morning News: Texas Automatically Renews Food Stamps To Ease Coronavirus Worries
After a brief period of time in which the Trump administration sought to end automatic renewals of food stamp recipients, Texas has applied and again successfully won federal permission to extend benefits for another six months to those scheduled for renewals this month and next. The move waives a requirement to supply financial information and undergo an interview for 276,000 Texas households. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the 1.4 million families and individuals enrolled had to renew every six months. (Garrett, 7/28)

Kaiser Health News: In Texas, More People Are Losing Their Health Insurance As COVID Cases Climb 
Steve Alvarez started feeling sick around Father’s Day weekend this year. His symptoms started as mild, but developed into a fever, chills and shortness of breath he couldn’t shake. “Just when I started to get to feeling better and I would have a couple of good days,” Alvarez said. “I felt like I’d backtrack and I was just really run down. This thing lingered and lingered.” (Lopez, 7/28)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Finally Got COVID Data On Nursing Homes — And Houston Is Faring The Worst 
At one Houston-area nursing home, at least 117 residents had been infected with the new coronavirus. At another, at least 20 residents who tested positive died. At a third, 86 residents were simultaneously sick. These snapshots emerged from new data released Monday by the state of Texas showing how many residents and staff had been infected with the new coronavirus in individual nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The move to disclose the data marked a significant step toward increased transparency that advocates and relatives had long demanded. (Foxhall, Rubio and Tedesco, 7/28)

And updates on COVID-19 cases from the states —

Boston Globe: Mass. Reports 178 New Confirmed Coronavirus Cases, 14 New Deaths
The death toll from confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Massachusetts rose by 14 to 8,331, state officials reported Tuesday, and the number of cases climbed by 178, bringing the total to 108,740. Key metrics the state is eyeing for its phased reopening plan hovered well below the numbers reported during the springtime surge, but a recent uptick in coronavirus cases is still making some doctors uneasy. (Reiss, 7/28)

AP: Arkansas Reports New One-Day Record Spike In COVID-19 Deaths
Arkansas on Tuesday reported a new one-day record increase in deaths from the illness caused by the coronavirus, as the state’s virus cases surpassed 40,000. The Department of Health reported 20 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the state’s total fatalities to 428. The state’s health secretary said six of those deaths were late reports and didn’t occur within the last 24 hours. (DeMillo, 7/28)

AP: North Dakota Hits Grim COVID-19 Milestone; Task Force Forms
Gov. Doug Burgum on Tuesday announced a task force to investigate the spread of the coronavirus in the Bismarck metropolitan area, the state’s current COVID-19 hotspot. Burgum’s announcement of the Burleigh-Morton task force came during his weekly briefing at the state Capitol came and as North Dakota marked its 100th COVID-19 death and the number of active cases reached a new high. (MacPherson, 7/28)

The Hill: Georgia Reports More Than 4000 New Coronavirus Cases 
Georgia reported more than 4,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, according to state data. The state health department reported 4,293 new cases and 54 new deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 175,052 cases and 3,563 deaths statewide. (Klar, 7/28) 

AP: Dozens Of Inmates At Omaha Jail Test Positive For Virus
Dozens of inmates at the Douglas County Jail have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said. A news release from the county said 36 of 41 inmates in a single housing unit at the jail recently tested positive for the virus. The Douglas County Department of Corrections tested the inmates after learning last week that a contractor and two trustees at the jail had tested positive. Most of the inmates are not showing symptoms of illness, department director Mike Myers said. (7/28)

AP: COVID-19 Closes Popular Youth Summer Camp In Black Hills
The coronavirus has shut down a popular Christian youth summer camp in the Black Hills. The South Dakota Department of Health confirms several cases of COVID-19 linked to Camp Judson, west of Keystone, caused it to cancel camps. Health department spokesman Derrick Haskins said they will continue to investigate the outbreak and notify people who had close contact with those who tested positive. (7/28)

The Washington Post: Europe Fears Second Coronavirus Wave, As Covid-19 Cases Rise 
Several European countries that had their coronavirus outbreaks under control have begun to see a rise in cases that is feeding fears of a second wave. Governments are urging their citizens to be more vigilant amid the lure of summer gatherings and vacations, while health officials warn that lax public attitudes are putting the continent on a dangerous trajectory. A spike in infections has led Belgium to ramp up restrictions on social contact, while Spain has closed gyms and nightclubs in Barcelona. (Morris, Birnbaum and Weber-Steinhaus, 7/28)

The Hill: More Than Half Of Spanish Coronavirus Patients Suffering From Neurological Problems: Research 
More than half of patients in Spain suffering from the coronavirus have reported neurological symptoms including the loss of taste or sense of smell, according to a new study. The study, published in early June in the scientific journal Neurology, found that 57 percent of COVID-19 patients in two Spanish hospitals reported at least one neurological symptom, ranging from milder symptoms such as headaches and dizziness to more severe symptoms including psychosis, insomnia and anxiety. (Bowden, 7/28)

Reuters: Heathrow Tells UK: Do Passenger Testing Or Lose 'Quarantine Roulette'
Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest airport, called on Britain to urgently introduce a passenger testing regime, warning that without one it would lose a game of global “quarantine roulette” after coronavirus stalled aviation. “The UK needs a passenger testing regime and fast,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said. “Without it, Britain is just playing a game of quarantine roulette.” “Our European competitors are racing ahead with passenger testing, if the UK doesn’t act soon global Britain will be nothing more than a campaign slogan,” Holland-Kaye said. (Young and Sandle, 7/29)

Reuters: Britain Secures 60 Million Doses Of Sanofi/GSK COVID-19 Vaccine 
Britain has signed a deal for up to 60 million doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Sanofi (SASY.PA) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), it said on Wednesday, its fourth such arrangement as the race to tame the pandemic heats up. No vaccine has yet been approved for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus that has killed more than 659,000 people and unleashed economic havoc worldwide. (Smout and Blamont, 7/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Italy Deploys Troops To Stop Migrants Breaking Coronavirus Quarantine 
The Italian government will send soldiers to Sicily to stop recently arrived migrants leaving holding centers after a raft of breakouts in recent days, including some by people who had been quarantined to contain the spread of the coronavirus.The government has said none of the escapees had tested positive for the virus and that most had been caught soon after breaking out of the facilities. (Legorano and Sylvers, 7/28)

AP: Hard Hit Australian State Sees New Cases Drop
Australia’s hard-hit Victoria state has recorded its lowest daily tally of COVID-19 cases in nine days while the state premier is expressing hope that it is the start of a downward trend. Victoria on Wednesday reported 295 new cases and nine deaths, seven of which were in aged care homes which are bearing the brunt of the pandemic. The state reported 384 new infections on Tuesday, down from a record 532 cases on Monday. (7/29)

Reuters: Pfizer Rethinking U.S. Expansion If Drug Pricing Orders Implemented 
Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Albert Bourla said the drugmaker could rethink plans to expand in the United States if the country implements an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week that would tie the prices Medicare patients pay for drugs to those paid by other countries. “These new executive orders could force us to rethink those plans, consider job reductions and add to the economic and health anxiety already widely felt in our country,” Bourla said on the company’s earnings conference call. (7/28)

Forbes: Trump’s Executive Orders On Drug Pricing Contain Caveats And Limitations
On Friday, July 24th, President Trump issued four executive orders on prescription drug pricing. The executive orders are designed to, in the President’s words “completely restructure the prescription drug market.” Putting the President’s hyperbole aside, there are caveats and limitations attached to all four executive orders. And, the orders contain few if any substantively new policy changes. In fact, most of the policy changes contained in the orders were included in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs, released in May 2018. (Cohen, 7/25)

Reuters: Explainer: Trump's Plan To Cut Drug Prices 
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed four executive orders designed to reduce drug costs for consumers, in a bid to highlight his commitment to cutting prescription prices ahead of the November presidential election. The orders, which range from relaxing drug importation rules to cutting Medicare payments to drugmakers, are far reaching but experts say they are unlikely to take effect in the near term and in some cases lack specifics. The executive orders have for the most part been proposed by the Trump administration in various forms in the past, but stalled amid industry pushback. (O'Donnell, 7/27)

In other prescription drug news —

Reuters: After Early Hype, Japan's Homegrown COVID-19 Drug Hope Avigan Faces Rocky Future 
Fujifilm Holdings Corp’s Avigan, once hyped as a potential COVID-19 treatment by Japan’s prime minister, is facing uncertain prospects in the country, dampened by disappointing clinical studies and slow progress in regulatory review. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously touted Avigan’s potential as Japan’s contribution to a global race for coronavirus treatments, aiming for domestic approval in May and offering to give it away to other countries. He mentioned the drug in at least 10 official speeches from February. But Abe has lately gone mum on the drug and regulatory deadlines have lapsed. (Swift, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: Trump's Disturbing Rationale For His Drug Price Reform 
If the Trump administration succeeds in lowering the prices of some popular prescription drugs this year, you can apparently thank the Supreme Court and its decision to restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This was the bizarre and disturbing position that President Trump advanced Monday when chatting briefly with reporters on the White House lawn. The president signed four executive orders last week that aim to slash the premium prices that Americans pay for insulin and other medications, a laudable goal that has met with stiff resistance from elements of the pharmaceutical industry. Although all of these proposals have been in the works for years, they have foundered in the face of industry objections and, more notably, serious implementation challenges. (Jon Healey, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Drug Price Panic 
President Trump’s decline in the polls is getting more expensive by the day. The next virus spending bill will cost trillions, and late Friday the President made a pitch for seniors with haphazard executive orders to lower drug prices. His prescription is akin to what Democrats are offering: more government control. “I’m unrigging the system that is many decades old. We’re doing something that should have been done a long time ago,” the President said at a press conference. “Previous administrations did nothing—absolutely nothing—as drug lobbyists, special interests, and foreign countries freely ripped off our citizens.” Did Bernie Sanders ghost write his remarks? (7/26)

Mother Jones: How Big Is Trump’s Big Prescription Drug Plan? 
I have not been able to find a rigorous analysis of how much these proposals are likely to affect the overall cost of prescription drugs. At a guess, though, the first two are minuscule and cancel each other out. The Canadian reimportation rule will save consumers some money, but not much overall. So that leaves the “favored nation” rule, which at least has the potential to drive down the cost of certain expensive drugs. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing what impact it will have until Trump issues an actual order instead of simply using it as a threat to hold over the heads of the pharma industry—which he’s been doing for the past couple of years with no results. Given the opposition of both pharma and most of the Republican Party, this is a pig in a poke until we see a final order. (Kevin Drum, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: Here's How Trump Should Lower Prescription Drug Prices 
More than a third of Americans say healthcare is the single most important issue going into November’s election. According to Gallup, 35% of U.S. adults say healthcare is extremely important to winning their vote — and that’s based on a survey taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic causing about 150,000 deaths and turning everyone’s life upside-down. Yet Democrats and Republicans continue to struggle, as has been the case for decades, for solutions to this country’s shamefully, pathetically, inexcusably dysfunctional healthcare system, which prioritizes corporate profits ahead of patients’ well-being. (David Lazarus, 7/28)

Also —

Politico: Four Ways Drug Companies Can Ease Racial Disparities
To protect all of us from Covid-19, we need new medicines—but especially new medicines that work for the people suffering most from this disease. By now we know the harsh truth, that minorities around the U.S. are three times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to become infected with the novel coronavirus—and twice as likely to die from it, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When adjusted for age differences, Hispanics and African Americans have been hospitalized due to Covid at rates four to five times higher than whites. (Tim Garnett and Joy Fitzgerald, 7/20)

Fox News: Controlling Coronavirus — This Plan Could Allow Us To Safely Reopen By Oct. 1 
The U.S. is experiencing a significant resurgence of COVID-19 this summer, especially in the South and possibly now the Midwest. We have a path to contain the virus, reset the nation and renew American optimism. The summer of 2020 saw a dramatic surge in COVID-19 across the Southern United States. By July, more than 20 percent of the new confirmed daily global COVID-19 cases occurred across the southern states from Florida to California. The deaths are also increasing, so that in some states COVID-19 has become a leading cause of daily deaths – a situation similar to what we saw in New York and New Jersey last spring. (Peter Hotez and Anne Rimoin, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Here’s What It Could Look Like If Schools Reopened Today
The novel coronavirus is spreading uncontrolled in more than 20 states. Let’s say that the prevalence of the virus in a community is 1 in 100. A school with 1,000 students could have 10 people walk in on day one who are unknowingly infecting others. Many who favor on-time reopening cite a recent large study from South Korea that found that children younger than 10 are half as likely to spread the coronavirus as adults. But half of a lot of transmission is still a lot. And the same study found that kids older than 10 transmit the virus at the same rate as adults. If one person spreads it to two or three others who then spread it to contacts at school and at home, there will almost certainly be outbreaks within a matter of weeks. (Leana S. Wen, 7/28)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: It’s Not Just Anti-Vaxxers Who Worry About Vaccines
With any luck, one of the handful of promising Covid-19 vaccines currently going through human trials will meet with regulatory approval, maybe even in time for winter. One thing worrying public health officials, though, is what happens if a significant number of people don’t want to be vaccinated. Vaccines are responsible for saving millions of lives every year, and yet there has always been a small but hardcore contingent of anti-vaxxers that rejects the science or buys into conspiracy theories about immunizations. Unfortunately, their ranks are growing during the current crisis. National health authorities, along with the World Health Organization, are engaged in a furious game of whack-a-mole as they try to knock down the conspiracy theories and correct misinformation. (Therese Raphael, 7/29)

The New York Times: Remdesivir Could Be In Short Supply. Here’s A Fix. 
Remdesivir is no Covid-19 miracle cure. We do not even know yet if it saves lives, but clinical trials do show that it can shorten hospital stays, and right now it’s the only drug known to interfere with coronavirus activity in the body. Doctors everywhere rightly want to give it to severely ill patients. Yet as coronavirus cases surge, we’re facing critical supply and distribution problems. Hospitals in hot spots like Florida and Texas report having little or no remdesivir on hand while the drug sits on shelves elsewhere. And without government action to ensure an adequate supply, we will most likely face worse shortages by September. (Amy Kapczynski, Paul Biddinger and Rochelle Walensky, 7/28)

Stat: Telehealth Makes Me Aspire To Be The Kind Of Physician I Used To Be 
In my nearly quarter-century as a primary care pediatrician, I have always aspired to be present and complete. I do my best to keep my eyes on the patient, to listen to every concern, to examine each child from head to toe, and to communicate as clearly as possible. Covid-19 has forced me to practice a different kind of medicine — the kind where you keep your distance and do exactly what is “essential,” but no more. These changes have been necessary, for now, but there is much we have yet to learn about their long-term implications. (Dorothy Novick, 7/29)

Des Moines Register: Patricia Quinlisk Explains Why She Favors An Iowa Mask Mandate
This morning, I got up early, as I often do on Sunday morning, so that I could go and do my grocery shopping during the special hour reserved for those at high risk of serious disease and death from COVID-19. Unfortunately, being 65, I am old enough to be at high risk.When I got there, with my mask securely in place, I walked in past the signs strongly encouraging everyone to wear a mask, and offering a mask to anyone who didn’t have one. As I shopped, I noticed that all the employees were wearing masks. (Thanks, grocery store!) Then, as I shopped, two groups of young people entered; none were wearing masks. A few minutes later, several bicyclists arrived; they were not wearing masks either. Nor did I see any of them — at any point — put on masks while they shopped. By the time I left the store, which was before the special hour was over, more than half of the customers were not wearing masks around us high-risk folks. (Patricia Quinlisk, 7/28)

Stat: Quality Issues May Be A Stumbling Block For Contact Tracing Apps 
The world is in a rush to find ways to fight Covid-19. This urgency makes sense for a pandemic that has killed more than a half-million people since it began in late December. But if the quality of these solutions is subpar, then users may turn away not only from these faulty solutions but may lose confidence in broader efforts and scientific development to combat Covid-19, putting public health at significant risk. (Elissa M. Redmiles, 7/28)

CNN: How Covid-19 Death Rates Can Be Dangerously Misleading
An interesting moment in Fox News reporter Chris Wallace's memorable interview of President Donald was a confusing back and forth about Covid-19 related deaths. The President claimed that the US had the "number one low mortality rate" in the world -- whereas Wallace insisted the US had little to crow about. Though it is clear that Trump is completely wrong, comparing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mortality of each affected country turns out be a very tricky business. Because no one metric is perfect, especially when used to compare impact across countries, there is a large corner of epidemiology dedicated to how to most accurately tabulate death. (Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, 7/28)

Stat: Pandemics Wreak Devastation — But Spark Biomedical Innovation 
There are no “silver linings” in the dark cloud of Covid-19. Yet if history repeats itself, substantial biomedical innovation will emerge from this pandemic, as necessity fosters innovation. (Valdas Jurkauskas, 7/29)

Bloomberg: The Case Mitch McConnell Needs To Make On Covid Spending
Mitch McConnell is in a tough spot. Many of his fellow Senate Republicans are balking at the additional spending and debt required by the HEALS Act, the pandemic relief bill that is the successor to last spring’s CARES Act. He could appeal to some Democrats for support, but that would require more spending, further eroding GOP support and possibly triggering a showdown with the White House. And all of this is before negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. So what’s a Senate majority leader to do? The only way to bridge this divide may be to bolster the bill with pro-growth proposals that can win over Senate Republicans without any spending cuts that will make it impossible to reach a deal with House Democrats. (Karl W. Smith, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: Mitch McConnell's Coronavirus Relief Bill Wasn't Worth The Wait 
At the moment, Congress has two tasks more important than any others: Providing the resources and leadership needed to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, and helping the country climb out of the deep recession that the pandemic triggered. Sadly, the long-awaited coronavirus relief package that Senate Republicans released this week falls far short on both fronts. The need for a fourth major congressional effort became clear not long after states abandoned their stay-at-home orders, leading infection rates to skyrocket. The one thing lawmakers should have been able to agree on immediately is a major increase in funding for testing and contact tracing so that states could better identify where and how the disease was spreading. But in addition to being many days late, Senate Republicans are coming to the table many dollars short on this front. Its proposal includes $16 billion for testing, compared to the $75 billion recommended by a number of healthcare analysts and public health experts. (7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: The World’s Covid Resurgence
Amid the post-lockdown flare-ups, it’s worth revisiting Sweden, which has been widely criticized for never closing businesses and primary schools. Cases have been falling over the past month after a modest uptick in June due to more testing. Only 27 patients have died in the last week, fewer per capita than New York. America’s liberals cite Sweden’s relatively high death rate (56 per 100,000 compared to 45.1 in France and 35.8 in the Netherlands). But two-thirds of deaths have been among those over age 80, and 97% never received intensive-care treatment. Blame Sweden’s socialized health system, which rationed treatment for the elderly even though ICUs were never overwhelmed. The lesson is that the virus won’t disappear anytime soon. Governments may have to impose some business and social restrictions to protect hospitals and the vulnerable. But lockdowns aren’t a miracle cure, and their collateral damage is too severe to sustain. (7/28)

The New York Times: If Our Masks Could Speak 
When people ask me about my mood these days, I tell them that I feel like I’m a reporter for The Pompeii Daily News in A.D. 79, and I’m sitting in the foothills of Mount Vesuvius and someone just walked up and asked, “Hey, do you feel a rumbling?” Do I ever. The summer of 2020 could be remembered as one of those truly important dates in American history. Everywhere you turn you see parents who don’t know where or if their kids will go to school this fall, renters who don’t know when or if they will be evicted, unemployed who don’t know what if any safety net Congress will put under them, businesses that don’t know how or if they can hold on another day — and none of us who know whether we’ll be able to vote in November. That is a lot of hot, molten anxiety building up beneath our economy, society, schools and city streets — just waiting to blow the top off our country — because we have so failed at managing the coronavirus. (Thomas L. Friedman, 7/28)

CNN: Donald Trump Undermines His Pandemic Response With More Misinformation And Self-Obsession 
President Donald Trump's return as the face of the Covid-19 response has deteriorated into a misinformation masterclass that explains why America is in such a mess. In an extraordinary performance Tuesday, as the daily death toll again soared toward 1,000 and the number of Americans dead approached a tragic milestone of 150,000, Trump again foreswore the most basic requirements of national leadership in a crisis. (Stephen Collinson, 7/29)

The Washington Post: GOP Governors Are Handling Covid-19 Better Than Democrats, But You’d Never Know It From The News 
Against the backdrop of countless news stories about the covid-19 pandemic, much of the coverage from elite media centers in New York and Washington can be boiled down to this theme: Republicans generally and President Trump specifically have done a horrible job managing the novel coronavirus while Democrats have fought valiantly to turn the tide where they hold power. Headlines on this newspaper’s website this past weekend focused on Florida — “Coronavirus ravaged Florida, as Ron DeSantis sidelined scientists and followed Trump” — and imperiled Republicans in the Senate — “As pandemic limits scrutiny, GOP fears lesser-known Democratic candidates will steamroll to Senator majority.” (Florida became the state with the second-highest number of cases over the weekend, surpassing New York.) The awful metrics of covid-19 deaths tell a different story, according to data kept current by Johns Hopkins University. (Hugh Hewitt, 7/28)

Houston Chronicle: Welcome Back To Texas, Mr. President. We Need To Talk.
You can’t take Texas for granted this time. We know you don’t put much stock in independent polls, Mr. President, but a consensus is growing that Texans are losing confidence that you are the person to lead the nation out of the canyon that you and your administration have helped dig. A Morning Consult poll released Monday night shows presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading 47-45 in Texas less than 100 days from the Nov. 3 election. An average of five recent polls shows the race as a dead heat in a reliably Republican state that you won by just 9 points in 2016. The signs are pointing to a level of disenchantment in the state that can’t be addressed by a photo-op on an oil rig. The hashtag #TrumpKillsTexas began trending on Tuesday just ahead of the presidential visit. (7/29)

Chicago Tribune: The Wisconsin Edict: A COVID-19 Warning Wrapped In A Proclamation
(Mayor Lori) Lightfoot’s reasoning for a self-quarantine rule is that Chicago needs to do all it can to keep control of the outbreak, but that becomes harder when outbreaks in other states are worsening due to lax social distancing. Wisconsin is reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases and the state has no mask-wearing requirement. The federal government has placed Wisconsin on its “red zone” list of states where the virus is spreading aggressively.“ The primary goal is education,” Chicago Public Health Department Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady told reporters Tuesday about the Wisconsin rule. Chicago officials want to make people aware of the risks and urge them to take extra steps to stay healthy and keep others safe. Exactly. The pandemic — deadly as it can be, especially to people with health issues — won’t go gently into that good night. It needs to be wrestled to the ground and pinned there until a vaccine can be developed and widely disseminated. (7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: How To Hold Beijing Accountable For The Coronavirus
If the virus jumped to humans through a series of human-animal encounters in the wild or in wet markets, as Beijing has claimed, we would likely have seen evidence of people being infected elsewhere in China before the Wuhan outbreak. We have not. The alternative explanation, a lab escape, is far more plausible. We know the Wuhan Institute of Virology was using controversial “gain of function” techniques to make viruses more virulent for research purposes. A confidential 2018 State Department cable released this month highlighting the lab’s alarming safety record should heighten our concern. Suggesting that an outbreak of a deadly bat coronavirus coincidentally occurred near the only level 4 virology institute in all of China—which happened to be studying the closest known relative of that exact virus—strains credulity. (Jamie Metzl, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Americans Are Suffering. Trump Offers Them A Doctor Who Warns Of Sex With Demons. 
According to the Mayo Clinic, endometriosis is “an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of [the] uterus — the endometrium — grows outside [the] uterus.” Not so, says Stella Immanuel, a Houston pediatrician and spiritual leader of Fire Power Ministries, a pronouncedly non-orthodox church. Endometriosis and other potentially dangerous gynecological conditions are the residue of sexual intercourse with demons, Immanuel teaches. (David Von Drehle, 7/28)

CNN: Americans Are Dying Of Covid-19 And Trump Is Pouting About Fauci
President Donald Trump's aides almost got him to become a serious leader in this age of pandemic. After they showed him evidence that voters in "our states" (Republican ones, that is) were falling ill and dying -- and that this wasn't good for him politically -- Trump resumed pandemic press briefings and even let himself be photographed wearing a face mask. Alas, the New Trump was not to be. (Michael D'Antonio, 7/28)

Fox News: Trump On Coronavirus Testing And Mail-In Voting Exposes His 'For Thee, Not Me' Attitude
As the confirmed death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. approaches 150,000, President Trump continues to mismanage the federal response. The president gets tested for COVID-19 frequently — unlike the rest of us — and everyone who works closely with him is tested. But he has only been seen in public once wearing a mask (in a hospital). Trump has been seen ignoring social distancing rules, criticized his own health experts for not allowing faster reopening of businesses, spoken at large gatherings of thousands of people in Oklahoma and South Dakota, shared uninformed and downright dangerous ideas (using household disinfectants on people), and seems determined to open schools no matter what. (Jessica Tarlov, 7/28)

CNN: DACA Recipient: My Face Shield, Mask And Hospital Scrubs Cannot Protect Me
For the last four months, I have been fighting two battles. One against a well-known threat to New York City and the world, Covid-19, and the other against a less visible threat to immigrants nationwide, the systematic attempts by the Trump administration to dismantle Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) -- the program that protects Dreamers, undocumented immigrants like me who came to the United States as children, from deportation. (JC Alejaldre, 7/28)