Viewpoints: Lessons On Super Fast Vaccine Development; Yes, Mr. President, This Virus Will Get Much Worse

The Washington Post: The Fast One Or The Accurate One? How We Can Get More Out Of Our Covid-19 Test Options.
A friend of mine went to get tested for covid-19 recently and was asked, “Do you want the faster one or the more accurate one?” The faster test would give her a result within 24 hours. It had a very low false positive rate but a 20 percent false negative rate, meaning that if the result was positive, she almost certainly had covid-19, but if it came back negative, she still had a 20 percent chance of having the disease. The more accurate test had a very low false and false negative rate, but because of the testing backlog, she wouldn’t get the result for 10 days.As I thought through the decision with her, I saw the question she was asked as the key to our national testing strategy. (Leana S. Wen, 8/6)

USA Today: Compulsory Vaccination For Everyone Is The Only Way To Defeat COVID-19
To win the war against the novel coronavirus that has now killed over 158,000 people in this country, the only answer is compulsory vaccination — for all of us.And while the measures that will be necessary to defeat the coronavirus will seem draconian, even anti-American to some, we believe that there is no alternative. Simply put, getting vaccinated is going to be our patriotic duty. (Dr. Michael Lederman, Maxwell J. Mehlman and Dr. Stuart Youngner, 8/6)

The Washington Post: What If The Coronavirus Vaccine Doesn’t Arrive Soon?
Vaccine optimism is understandable in these days of anxiety about the virus. Almost every day, there are upbeat reports about a vaccine starting a new phase of clinical trials, and the worldwide research effort spans technologies old and new. Surely a safe and effective vaccine must arrive before too long — as promised, in “warp speed,” such as later this year or early next?A dose of realism would be prudent. Vaccines are truly remarkable medicine and have proved effective in stopping diseases such as measles and polio. But they are not simple to discover, manufacture or distribute. Many research efforts fail. The first clinical trial for an HIV vaccine was in 1987, and there still isn’t one, despite much hard work. (8/5)

CNN: Trump's Dreams Of A Vaccine As His October Surprise Aren't Rooted In Reality 
President Donald Trump is desperately hoping to turn a Covid-19 vaccine, for which the entire world is longing, into his October Surprise. He predicts a vaccine breakthrough multiple times a day, assures Americans he has the military on standby to rush it out and promises 100 million, 250 million, even 500 million individual doses will be very quickly available. He hails a "tremendous" vaccine that is "very close" and will be ready "very, very early, before the end of the year, far ahead of schedule." (Stephen Collinson, 8/7)

Boston Globe: As Bad As The Spread Of The Coronavirus Is, There’s Reason To Believe It Will Get Worse
President Trump was right. On July 21, in the first televised briefing on the coronavirus pandemic held by the White House since April, he projected that America “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.” Unlike some of his prior assessments of the situation, this one is right on the mark. As bad as the situation is right now, it will probably get worse. But whether it will get better is by no means for certain. More than 80 percent of the states are reporting increased numbers of COVID-19. Those numbers are now reaching all-time highs — exceeding those reported pre-shutdown. Some states are seeing more cases than hard-hit New York overall. Deaths and hospitalizations, which initially appeared to be lower than those reported in the spring, are starting to rise, as public health experts cautioned these lagging indicators would. As bad as the spread of the coronavirus is, there is reason to believe it will get worse. (Jennifer Nuzzo, 8/6)

The Wall Street Journal: America Is A Coalition Of The Worried 
People who haven’t worried in years are worried, and it’s not about regular things, it’s about big and essential things. It’s a whole other order of anxiety. That’s all this is about. How anxious everyone is, and how deep down they know they’re going to be anxious for a long time.We’re in the middle (perhaps—nobody knows) of a world-wide pandemic, a historic occurrence that for everyone alive has been without precedent. We are in the middle (perhaps—nobody knows) of a severe economic contraction that looks likely to produce a long recession. We’ve experienced a national economic shutdown, again without precedent. The virus continues, and everyone fears it will turn worse in the fall when it starts to collide with the flu. (Peggy Noonan, 8/6)

Des Moines Register: COVID-19 In Iowa: When Governor Ignores Media, She Ignores All Iowans
It’s time for Gov. Kim Reynolds to hold a real news conference. This would not look like her half-hour COVID-19 briefings. Those tend to feature a business owner or political supporter who talks about how great things are going amid a pandemic. The final minutes are dedicated to allowing questions from a few reporters.Iowans need a real meeting with the governor — one in which she and her staff are publicly called on to provide comprehensive answers to questions about the novel coronavirus and the state’s response to it. (8/7)

Houston Chronicle: For Trans, Non-Binary Folk, Health Care Anxieties Can Make COVID-19 Worse 
When I tested positive for the coronavirus, I went straight to Google and read articles and personal essays about the varying degrees of symptoms individuals had. The takeaway was that this virus affects everyone’s body differently. For three week’s this virus physically debilitated me, but the greatest impact was how it affected my mental health. (Eric Edward Schell, 8/7)

The Washington Post: Trump Doesn’t Seem To Understand That Opening Schools Would Make A Bad Situation Worse 
Is it possible that President Trump could do a worse job handling the covid-19 pandemic, causing even more needless illness and death? I fear we’re about to find out. “OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!” he tweeted again this week, for the umpteenth time. That’s the equivalent of chugging blindly down the Niagara River, approaching the lip of the falls — and giving the order to proceed full speed ahead. Aided and abetted by Republican governors, Trump is pushing hard for in-person classroom instruction this fall in all of the nation’s schools, some of which have already started the new year. He has threatened to withhold federal funding from public school districts that don’t fully open; and while the official White House position acknowledges that “flexibility” is needed, Trump continues to bully local officials to “open 100 percent.” (Eugene Robinson, 8/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: SEC Officials Succumb To The Heartbreak Of Coronavirus-Callousness Syndrome
Epidemiologists should be concerned about an apparent new side effect of the pandemic: Coronarvirus-callousness syndrome. It appears to cause wealthy and politically influential, mainly white people to lose all sense of perspective on whether human lives are more important than the pursuit of dollars. The latest victims of this terrible disease are the football coaches and officials of the Southeastern Conference.Coronavirus-callousness syndrome is a devastating affliction in which the uncontrolled swelling of the patient’s bank account leads to a sudden, steep hemorrhaging of empathy and compassion. (8/6)

Seattle Times: We Don’t Know Enough About COVID-19 To Send Our Kids Back To School
The kids will be fine. That’s what many elected leaders and some school officials are telling us. Sure, they acknowledge, teachers and staff members in schools across the nation will have to accept some degree of risk when schools reopen for in-person learning. But kids only very rarely get sick from COVID-19, they say, and so it’s in the best interest of the children to get them back into the classroom. Yet we have absolutely no idea what the long-term consequences of COVID-19 will be for children who become infected. This should give us pause. (Leroy Hood and Matthew D. LaPlante, 8/5)

Las Vegas Review Journal: Reopen CCSD Schools. Day Camps By Clark County Show It Can Be Done Safely. 
If you want proof that it’s safe for children to return to school, consider the day camps Clark County is now offering parents. Earlier this week, the county, which is separate from the Clark County School District, unveiled its “School Daze” program. It’s for children between 5 and 12 years old and runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It includes learning time, crafts and sports. Bringing kids together to learn and play sounds like a familiar concept. Oh wait. It’s usually called school. If it’s safe for children to go to day camps, why isn’t it safe for them to return to school? Answer: It’s safe for them to return to school. (Victor Joecks, 8/6)

Arizona Republic: Gov. Doug Ducey Should Require Schools To Meet Reopening Benchmarks
The recommendations made by Department of Health Services Director Cara Christ and state schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman should NOT be voluntary. They should be requirements. ...According to state data no county yet meets all the criteria. (EJ Montini, 8/6)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana School Reopenings Turn Children Into Guinea Pigs
Guinea pigs. It’s the term parents, teachers and epidemiologists are using to describe the thousands of Indiana students who have returned to the classroom during the novel coronavirus pandemic. There’s immeasurable uncertainty and anxiety, but worse is the lack of transparency, accountability and flow of information from state officials. Bringing students safely back into the classroom during a pandemic is a complex undertaking. Indiana is rushing back to in-person schooling with no clear path forward and with no state oversight. (Suzette Hackney, 8/7)