AP: US Tops 5 Million Confirmed Virus Cases, To Europe's Alarm
With confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe. Perhaps nowhere outside the U.S. is America’s bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe’s epidemic. Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world’s highest official death tolls at over 35,000. (Winfield and Pane, 8/9)

Politico: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Pass 5 Million 
Some federal health officials have attributed the surge to states rolling back their social distancing measures and lockdowns too soon, even though some that followed CDC guidelines are also reporting significant rebounds. (Ehley, 8/9)

The Wall Street Journal: New Coronavirus Infections In Some Parts Of The U.S. Trend Down 
The U.S. reported its lowest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly a week, as new infections in some parts of the country trended down. Fewer than 47,000 new cases were reported in the U.S., while the total number of confirmed cases exceeded five million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The nation’s death toll neared 163,000. (Hall, 8/10)

CNN: US Coronavirus: More Than 97,000 Children Tested Positive For Covid-19 In The Last Two Weeks Of July, Report Says 
More than 97,000 children in the US tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report says. The report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, said in those two weeks, there was a 40% increase in child cases across the states and cities that were studied. The age range for children differed by state, with some defining children as only those up to age 14 and one state -- Alabama -- pushing the limit to 24. (Maxouris, 8/10)

The Washington Post: Study: Coronavirus Cases In Children Rise Sharply In The Second Half Of July, With More Than 97,000 Infections 
The jump in pediatric cases comes as children are entering close quarters for the first time in months as some schools open their doors to students again. For months, teachers, parents and politicians have argued over whether the risks that the novel coronavirus pose to children outweigh the benefits of in-person learning. (Janes, 8/9)

In other developments related to children —

The Wall Street Journal: Latest Research Points To Children Carrying, Transmitting Coronavirus 
Children might be more vulnerable to Covid-19 than once believed, with new research suggesting that they are able to contract and spread the virus, especially if they don’t take precautions such as wearing a mask. Several studies and reports published in recent weeks found coronavirus infections among children of all ages at places ranging from schools to camps to homes. Other research suggested that kids, especially older ones, can be a driving force behind transmission. And some researchers found children carry high levels of Covid-19’s genetic material in their upper respiratory tract, which doesn’t mean they are transmitting the virus but that they potentially could. (McCabe, 8/9)

CNN: Children Are Still Suffering Fatigue And Chest Pains Months After Suspected Covid 
Fourteen-year-old Indiana Evans is a promising dancer from Hertfordshire, southern England, who was doing 16 hours of practice a week on top of school before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Indiana fell ill with a cough in early March, said her mother, Jane Evans. Although she didn't have any other coronavirus symptoms, her parents kept her home for two weeks in line with government guidance. She was never ill enough to be hospitalized, her mother told CNN. Nonetheless, the teenager -- who planned to audition for prestigious dance schools -- can now barely manage a trip to the supermarket. (Smith-Spark, 8/10)

The Hill: Hispanic And Black Children Facing Higher Rates Of COVID-19 Hospitalization: CDC 
A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that Hispanic and Black children have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic at a disproportionate rate, underscoring how minority communities across the country have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19. The report released Friday uses pediatric data collected from 14 states, including California, Georgia, New York and Ohio, between March 1 and July 25. The agency notes that children are still at a lower risk for serious complications from COVID-19 such as hospitalization but concluded that Black and Hispanic children are more likely to have such symptoms than their white peers. (Johnson, 8/8)

The Seattle Times: Eleven Kids In Washington Have Been Diagnosed With Rare Coronavirus Syndrome
Since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a total of 11 children in Washington state have been hospitalized with a rare but serious syndrome that appears to be triggered by infection with the virus, state health officials said Friday. The state’s first four cases were reported in May, and seven other children have been stricken since then, said Dr. Marisa D’Angeli, an epidemiologist at the Washington Department of Health. The pattern of cases roughly tracks the resurgence of infections across the state this summer. (Johnson, 8/8)

AP: Trump End Run Around Congress Raises Questions On His Claims
President Donald Trump’s end run around Congress on coronavirus relief is raising questions about whether it would give Americans the economic lifeline he claims and appears certain to face legal challenges. Democrats called it a pre-election ploy that would burden cash-strapped states. ... After negotiations with lawmakers on the next package of pandemic economic assistance hit a wall, Trump used what he said were the inherent powers of the presidency to forge ahead on tax and spending policy that Congress says it is granted by the Constitution. (LeMire, 8/10)

The New York Times: Trump’s Orders On Coronavirus Relief Create Confusion 
In a series of television appearances on Sunday, [administration officials] insisted that Americans would receive the aid promised by Mr. Trump, including a $400 weekly supplement to unemployment checks. But that funding will be contingent on agreement from state officials, who are already struggling amid budget shortfalls caused by the economic crisis, and the siphoning of aid from a federal fund for disaster relief in the middle of what is expected to be an active hurricane season. (Cochrane, Rappeport and Broadwater, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Aides Struggle To Defend His Pandemic Relief Orders As U.S. Cases Reach 5 Million 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) denounced the orders unveiled by Trump on Saturday at his New Jersey golf resort as “meager, weak and unconstitutional.” In multiple interviews on Sunday’s news talk shows, she did not say whether Democrats would go to court to try to overturn the measures but urged a return to negotiations on the $3-trillion-plus relief package passed by the House in May. (King, 8/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Stimulus Orders Set Off Squabble
But with the November election approaching, any move to block the payments could backfire, Mr. Mnuchin suggested on the same program, adding that the White House was within its rights to move unilaterally. (Chaney and Andrews, 8/9)

CNN: Trump's Executive Actions: Breaking Down The Coronavirus Pandemic Aid 
With stimulus talks stalled, President Donald Trump announced he would go around Congress to deliver aid to Americans affected by the pandemic. But a close read of the actual text of executive actions he signed Saturday suggests that even if they are deemed constitutional, they will not quickly deliver the aid Trump promised. They may not deliver much at all. Here's a breakdown of the actions, the many strings attached and questions about what they actually accomplish. (Holmes, Wolf, Luhby, Lobosco and Bohn, 8/9)

Politico: Trump’s Eviction Ban Would Leave Most Tenants In Peril
President Donald Trump’s vow to protect millions of Americans from the threat of eviction has one serious shortcoming: It would do nothing to help the vast majority of the country’s tenants. Lawmakers have been unable to agree on extending a federal moratorium on evictions as part of their negotiations over the next economic relief package. But the ban itself shields barely a quarter of the nation’s 44 million rental units — only residents of buildings that have federally guaranteed mortgages. (O'Donnell, 8/9)

Reuters: Pelosi, Mnuchin Open Door To Narrower COVID-19 Aid Through 2020
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said they were open to restarting COVID-19 aid talks, after weeks of failed negotiations prompted President Donald Trump to take executive actions that Democrats argued would do little to ease Americans’ financial distress. Discussions over a fifth bill to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic fell apart on Friday, a week after a critical boost in unemployment assistance and eviction protections expired, exposing people to a wave of economic pain as infections continue to rise across the country. (Heavey, 8/9)

The Hill: Pelosi: 'Of Course There's Room For Compromise' On $600-Per-Week Unemployment Benefit 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that “of course there’s room for compromise” on the now-expired $600-per-week unemployment benefit Democrats have advocated keeping. CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Pelosi on why Democrats have not agreed to a compromise between the previous $600 a week and the Republicans' proposal of $200 per week in extra benefits. “Would you do $400 extra?” Bash asked before Pelosi cut in and said, “I’m not negotiating that right here. It depends on what else is in the bill.” (Coleman, 8/9)

The Hill: Schumer: Idea That $600 Unemployment Benefit Keeps Workers Away From Jobs 'Belittles The American People' 
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that the idea that the now-expired $600-per-week enhanced unemployment benefit disincentivizes workers from returning to jobs "belittles the American people." "Americans want to work, but with 10, 11 percent unemployment, you can't find a job, and people shouldn't be given a pay cut," he said on ABC's "This Week." (Zilbermints, 8/9)

In related news —

Modern Healthcare: 9 Healthcare Policies At Stake If Congress' COVID-19 Package Stalls
Negotiations between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats on another comprehensive COVID-19 package have devolved into a stalemate, which could jeopardize policies favored by the healthcare industry. ... Nine healthcare policies in particular could fizzle without a deal. (Cohrs, 8/7)

The Hill: Democrats Try To Force Trump To Boost Medical Supplies Production 
A group of Democrats is pushing to include provisions in a coronavirus relief package that would force President Trump to hit the gas on the Defense Production Act (DPA) and ramp up production of key medical supplies. The measure from Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and backed by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) requires the Trump administration to use the powers of the DPA to ramp up production of testing supplies, protective equipment for health workers and any other supplies needed to fight COVID-19. (Sullivan, 8/7)

The Hill: Businesses And States Launch Own Relief Funds As Congressional Talks Stall 
As negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over a new round of coronavirus relief drag on with little hope of a quick resolution in sight, some businesses are stepping in to help out-of-work employees pay the bills. Dozens of businesses that have been sidelined by lockdown orders have created funds to support their employees in recent weeks, after gridlock on Capitol Hill left an added unemployment benefit expire at the end of July. (Wilson, 8/9)

Politico: Coronavirus Relief Favors White Households, Leaving Many People Of Color At Risk Of Being Evicted
Federal housing aid during the coronavirus pandemic disproportionately benefits white households over minorities, with Black households most at risk, a POLITICO analysis has found. The federal assistance favors homeowners over renters, and because white households are more likely to own homes — a long-standing trend with roots in racist housing policy — they have more access to aid. Black households are more likely to rent than any other group, so they will be hardest hit with evictions likely to proceed in states without moratoriums, including Texas and Georgia. (Miller Thomas, 8/7)

The Hill: Trump Teases Order Requiring Insurers To Cover Preexisting Conditions 
President Trump on Friday teased an executive order to require health insurers to cover all preexisting conditions, something already established under the Affordable Care Act, which his administration is suing to dismantle. "Over the next two weeks I’ll be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all preexisting conditions for all companies," Trump said during a news conference at his Bedminster property in New Jersey. "That’s a big thing. I’ve always been very strongly in favor. We have to cover preexisting conditions." (Samuels, 8/7)

USA Today: Trump Weighing Executive Order To Force Insurers To Cover Pre-Existing Conditions, Something Obamacare Does
Trump's statement comes as he seeks to overturn Obamacare, which continues to gain ground throughout the country as voters in more states approve its centerpiece Medicaid expansion. In June, the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to repeal the act, as millions have lost their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court will make a ruling in the fall. (Lalljee, 8/8)

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s False Push On Preexisting Conditions
President Donald Trump is teasing the possibility of executive action to require health insurance companies to cover preexisting medical conditions, something that he says “has never been done before.” It’s been done before. People with such medical problems have health insurance protections because of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Yen, 8/8)

In other news from the federal government —

The New York Times: C.D.C. Closes Some Offices Over Bacteria Discovery 
The nation’s foremost public health agency is learning that it is not immune to the complex effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told employees that some office space it leases in the Atlanta area would be closed again after property managers of the buildings discovered Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in water sources at the sites. No employees were sickened. The announcement was reported on Friday by CNN. (Horberry, 8/8)

WBUR: 'We're Risking Our Lives': Front-Line Federal Workers Sue For Hazard Pay
Some 6,000 federal employees are expected to have contracted COVID-19 on the job as of this week, and as many as 60 have died, according to a Department of Labor report issued last month. Heidi Burakiewicz, a Washington, D.C., attorney who brought the suit in collaboration with the American Federation of Government Employees, says such federal workers "are risking their health and safety to go to work. They have the types of jobs that are necessary to keep the country up and running and safe." (Naylor, 8/7)

CNN: Top US Health Official Meets With Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen In Highest-Level Summit For Decades
Alex Azar, the United States Health and Human Services secretary, met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen Monday, the highest-level meeting between Washington and the self-ruled island in decades. The visit has been condemned by Beijing, which regards Taiwan as Chinese territory, and comes amid an all-time low in US-China relations. Azar arrived in Taiwan Sunday, where he and his team were given coronavirus tests and were seen wearing face masks. (Hancocks and Griffiths, 8/10)

The New York Times: U.S. Official, Alex Azar, Praises Taiwan During Highest-Level Visit In Decades 
To the Trump administration, Mr. Azar’s visit is a chance to take a jab at China, which has sought to spin the coronavirus crisis as a testament to the strength of its authoritarian system. It is a way for Washington to show that it backs Taiwan in the face of increasing efforts by China to keep the island off the international stage. (Qin, 8/9)

Reuters: China Sends Fighter Jets As US Health Chief Visits Taiwan
Chinese air force jets briefly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday and were tracked by Taiwanese missiles, Taiwan’s government said, as U.S. health chief Alex Azar visited the island to offer President Donald Trump’s support. Azar arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, the highest-level U.S. official to visit in four decades. China, which claims the island as its own, condemned the visit which comes after a period of sharply deteriorating relations between China and the United States. (Lee and Blanchard, 8/9)

Stat: Racial Bias Found In Formula For Distributing Covid-19 Hospital Aid 
The federal government has systematically shortchanged communities with large Black populations in the distribution of billions of dollars in Covid-19 relief aid meant to help hospitals struggling to manage the effects of the pandemic, according to a study published Friday. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the funding inequities resulted from a formula that allocated large chunks of a $175 billion relief package based on hospital revenue, instead of numbers of Covid-19 cases or other health data. (Ross, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare, Industry Forge New Supply Chains In The Fight Against COVID-19
On a Thursday morning early in the pandemic, Providence Senior Vice President and Chief Value Officer Jennifer Bayersdorfer and her team met with officials at Kaas Tailored to craft a way to work with the Mukilteo, Wash.-based upholstery manufacturer on personal protective equipment. By noon, Kaas had a basic face shield prototype on the production line. The Seattle area was one of the first in the U.S. to be hit by the novel coronavirus, and Providence’s supply of PPE in hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients was at “critically low levels.” The medical supply chain relies heavily on China, where the virus originated, and was unable to keep pace with skyrocketing global demand. (Christ, 8/8)

Crain's Chicago Business: Some Nurses At Rush In Chicago Look To Unionize
Nurses at Rush University Medical Center are working to unionize as the COVID-19 crisis raises new safety and health concerns. Unions representing front-line medical staffers at other institutions have advocated on behalf of their members during the pandemic, calling attention to shortages of personal protective equipment and staffing ratios they say endanger both workers and patients. In some cases, they've won paid sick leave and higher wages. (Goldberg, 8/7)

In earnings news —

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurers Strike Gold With COVID-19
The largest U.S. health insurers posted enormous profits in the second quarter as hospitals and physician practices postponed elective services and patients put off routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurers paid billions of dollars less in medical claims for care unrelated to the novel coronavirus, producing savings that vastly outweighed any costs for coronavirus testing, hospitalizations and treatment. As a result, the seven biggest publicly traded insurers reported combined profits of $17 billion in the three months ended June 30, an increase of roughly 79% over the same quarter in 2019. (Livingston, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: Mass General Brigham Reports 12% Loss Margin Amid Patient Care Drought
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a steep operating loss at Mass General Brigham, formerly Partners HealthCare, in the recently ended quarter. The Boston-based health system reported a $373 million operating loss on $3.1 billion in revenue in the quarter ended June 30—a 12% loss margin—compared with a $156 million operating gain on $3.6 billion in revenue in the prior-year period, a 4.4% operating margin. (Bannow, 8/7)

Also —

The New York Times: Need To Take The MCAT? You'll Still Have To Do It In Person 
Students applying to graduate schools can take the GRE, the LSAT and other tests at home this year because of the risks of gathering in an exam room for hours during the pandemic. But applicants sitting for the longest and arguably most grueling graduate entrance exam, the Medical College Admission Test, do not have that option. Even as the nation is overwhelmed by a tide of Covid-19 cases, the Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the test, is requiring would-be doctors to sit for the $320 exam in small groups at testing centers running back-to-back sessions in order to make up for time lost in the spring, when exams were canceled. (Caryn Rabin, 8/7)

AP: Doctors, Hospitals Launch Voter Registration Efforts
An emergency room doctor in Boston is assembling thousands of voter registration kits for distribution at hospitals and doctor’s offices. Later this month, students at Harvard and Yale’s medical schools are planning a contest to see which of the Ivy League rivals can register the most voters. (Marcelo, 8/9)

Kaiser Health News: Pandemic Hampers Reopening Of Joint Replacement Gold Mine 
Dr. Ira Weintraub, a recently retired orthopedic surgeon who now works at a medical billing consultancy, saw a hip replacement bill for over $400,000 earlier this year. “The patient stayed in the hospital 17 days, which is only 17 times normal. The bill got paid,” mused Weintraub, chief medical officer of Portland, Oregon-based WellRithms, which helps self-funded employers and workers’ compensation insurers make sense of large, complex medical bills and ensure they pay the fair amount. (Wolfson, 8/10)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Financial Self-Defense School Is Now In Session 
When you need medical care, it can be a lot like entering a casino — playing for your financial life with the deck stacked against you. But in this episode, reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen offers insight and tips no dealer will divulge. She got a health care executive to talk honestly — maybe more honestly than he realized — about how his company and others are playing the game when they send patients huge bills. (Weissmann, 8/10)

The 19th: The Fight To End Intersex Surgeries At A Top Hospital Took A Deep Toll On Activists 
Since the 1960s, medical convention has been that intersex variations should be “corrected,” often through a combination of painful surgeries and hormone therapy starting from infancy or before a child can consent. But on July 28, the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago became the first hospital in the United States to suspend the operations. The news comes after a three-year campaign against the hospital led by Wall and Pidgeon Pagonis, co-founders of the Intersex Justice Project. (Sosin, 8/7)

AP: Epic Systems Makes Return To In-Person Work Voluntary
Epic Systems has told its employees they will not be required to return to in-person work on Monday at the health care records company based in Wisconsin. The company had planned to start a phased approach to bringing employees into work. Wisconsin Public Radio report s the company informed its employees they changed that plan after Public Health Madison and Dane County questioned whether they would comply with guidance on preventing coronavirus infections. (8/9)

Wired: Bill Gates On Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’
"I’m surprised at the US situation because the smartest people on epidemiology in the world, by a lot, are at the CDC," [Bill Gates said.] "I would have expected them to do better. You would expect the CDC to be the most visible, not the White House or even Anthony Fauci. But they haven’t been the face of the epidemic. They are trained to communicate and not try to panic people but get people to take things seriously. They have basically been muzzled since the beginning."

In other testing and tracing news —

Los Angeles Times: New COVID-19 Testing Site Set To Open Near Pedestrian Crossing In San Ysidro Along U.S.-Mexico Border 
Later this week, a COVID-19 testing site will open up just outside a pedestrian crossing in San Ysidro, where tens of thousands of people enter the United States from Mexico every day. The PedEast testing location is thought to be the closest to the U.S.-Mexico border in any state, and is the result, the county says, of a data-driven, community-led strategy that aims to slow the spread of COVID-19 in South Bay communities. (Winkley and Solis, 8/9)

NPR: Survey Of Contact Tracing Workforce Shows Little Growth, Despite Surging Cases
The United States needs as many as 100,000 contact tracers to fight the pandemic, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress in June. We need billions of dollars to fund them, public health leaders pleaded in April. But in August, with coronavirus cases increasing in more than half of states, America has neither the staff nor the resources to be able to trace the contacts of every new case — a key step in the COVID-19 public health response. (Simmons-Duffin, 8/7)

Politico: Shortages Threaten Trump’s Plan For Rapid Coronavirus Tests
The Trump administration is gambling that a new generation of fast, cheap coronavirus tests can bring the U.S. outbreak under control. The challenge now is getting enough of these tests to pursue that strategy. The rapid antigen tests, which hunt for proteins on the virus’ surface, give results in less than 30 minutes. They are less accurate than lab tests now in widespread use, which detect the virus’s genetic material and take hours to analyze. But a growing number of public health experts say trading off accuracy for speed is a gamble worth taking, as testing labs struggle to clear days-long backlogs. (Lim and Roubein, 8/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why The Time To Get Back COVID-19 Test Results In Bay Area Ranges From 2 Weeks To 2 Days 
Delays in coronavirus test results from some Bay Area sites worsened this week, taking up to 19 days in the worst cases and frustrating officials trying to contain the summer’s surge in cases. The local lags in processing results, more frequently at commercial than public health labs, stem from increased demand, limited lab capacity and supply shortages across the country. Testing nationally continues to struggle as well. (Moench, 8/7)

Houston Chronicle: La Porte Clinic Ordered To Stop All COVID-19-Related Medical Care Following AG Lawsuit 
A district judge has ordered a Houston-area clinic to stop providing COVID-19-related testing and medical care and to secure a nearby dumpster where test results were allegedly being improperly disposed. (Hennes, 8/7)

AP: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Again Tests Negative For Coronavirus
The fourth COVID-19 test result for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine came back negative Saturday after he received conflicting positive and negative results two days before, ahead of a scheduled meeting with President Trump. The governor and first lady, Fran DeWine, were tested at Ohio State University “out of an abundance of caution” following a rollercoaster day Thursday that began with DeWine receiving a positive test result followed by two negatives. The governor announced the negative results on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, thanking “everyone who sent along good wishes.” (Amiri, 8/8)

Los Angeles Times: Hermosa Beach Hires Private Officers To Enforce Mask Order 
Hermosa Beach is tapping personnel from a private consulting firm to help its Police Department enforce an ordinance requiring face coverings in many public areas, city officials said. Four health ordinance enforcement officers from Willdan Group began assisting the Hermosa Beach Police Department on Saturday, Police Chief Paul LeBaron said. Officials plan to see how it goes over the weekend to determine how many of them will be needed moving forward and for how long. (Wigglesworth, 8/8)

AP: Local Control Dispute Brewing Over Iowa Mask Mandates
The refusal of Gov. Kim Reynolds to require Iowans to wear masks in public has prompted at least three cities and a county to adopt their own local ordinances, setting up what could be a legal battle over whether local officials have the authority to impose mask rules in the absence of a governor’s mandate. Local government control also has become an issue in Iowa as a few school boards have said they may refuse to abide by Reynolds’ demands to send students back to classrooms if they feel it’s unsafe due to coronavirus spread. (Pitt, 8/9)

The New York Times: Georgia Businessman Charged With Hoarding Face Masks And Price Gouging 
A Georgia businessman has been charged with hoarding 200,000 face masks that he bought from a foreign country and selling them for twice as much as he paid on his baby clothing website, according to the Department of Justice. The man, Milton Ayimadu, 22, allegedly bought the masks from an unnamed foreign country for $2.50 each. He sold the masks for $5.00 each through his website, babypuupu.com, which also sells baby clothing and accessories, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia. (Fazio, 8/7)

AP: Health Officials In Colorado Conduct Mask Wearing Recon
They really are watching you. From their cars and trucks, parked in the lots of King Soopers, Whole Foods and the corner store, they are staring out their vehicle windows as you shop. But these guys — volunteers from the public health department — are only interested in what’s on your face. Mask or no mask. (Brown, 8/9)

The Hill: Woman Claiming To Be From 'Freedom To Breathe Agency' Gets Into Viral Exchange With Store Employee Over Mask Policy 
California woman claiming to be from a group called the “Freedom to Breathe Agency” was seen in a viral video warning a grocery store employee in Orange County that she could face legal consequences after reportedly being told masks were required in the store. The worker and store supervisor, Liz Chavez, told BuzzFeed News the confrontation occurred shortly after she approached the woman, who was seen along with another woman in the video donning “FTBA” badges and hats, about the business’s mask policy on Thursday. (Folley, 8/9)

In other mask news —

AP: Israeli Jeweler Makes $1.5m Gold Coronavirus Mask
An Israeli jewelry company is working on what it says will be the world’s most expensive coronavirus mask, a gold, diamond-encrusted face covering with a price tag of $1.5 million. The 18-karat white gold mask will be decorated with 3,600 white and black diamonds and fitted with top-rated N99 filters at the request of the buyer, said designer Isaac Levy. (Scharf, 8/9)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee-Area Psychotherapists Explain Why Some People Refuse Masks
Mask wearing. Chances are you have an opinion when it comes to wearing one to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But where does that opinion come from? Is it ideological? Political? Philosophical? Whether it’s some, all or none of the above, there’s a good chance that at least part of one's stance on mask-wearing is rooted in psychology. (Dohr, 8/7)

CNN: Face Mask Study: Researchers Determined Which Masks Are The Least Effective 
Schools are reopening, amusement parks are welcoming back visitors, and outdoor dining is the new way to eat out. But despite the signs that life is returning back to normal, the coronavirus pandemic has gone nowhere. That's why a group of researchers at Duke University created a simple technique to analyze the effectiveness of various types of masks which have become a critical component in stopping the spread of the virus. (Elassar, 8/8)

Los Angeles Times: Strict Mask Rules? Empty Middle Seats? We Compare Airlines’ COVID-19 Policies
Devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, some U.S. airlines are hoping to put potential passengers at ease by imposing tougher rules for mask wearing, including threats of banning fliers who refuse to cover their faces. All of the nation’s largest carriers require that passengers wear masks or other face coverings during the flight and while boarding and exiting the planes, with an exemption for small children and allowances for briefly removing the masks to eat, drink or take medication. (Martin, 8/8)

And masks are now required outside at a famous French resort —

AP: France's Saint-Tropez Resort Makes Masks Mandatory Outdoors
The glamorous French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez began requiring face masks outdoors Saturday, threatening to sober the mood in a place renowned for high-end, free-wheeling summer beach parties. More French cities and towns, especially in tourist areas, are imposing mask requirements as the country’s coronavirus infections creep up again. More than 2,000 new infections were reported on Friday — the country’s biggest single-day rise since May. (8/8)

NPR: COVID-19 May Never Go Away — With Or Without A Vaccine
Humans have never been particularly good at eradicating entire viruses, and COVID-19 might not be any different. More than 19 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus globally, and at least 722,000 have died. In the U.S., nearly 5 million people have tested positive and more than 160,000 have died. While scientists are racing to find a cure for the virus, there's a chance COVID-19 will never fully go away — with or without a vaccine. But that doesn't mean everyone will have to self-isolate forever. (Garcia-Navarro and Silva, 8/9)

The Hill: Gates Foundation Invests In $3 COVID-19 Vaccine For Poorer Countries 
A coronavirus vaccine will be available to poorer countries for less than $3 a dose under a new partnership between the Gates Foundation and the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker. The collaboration is meant to ensure up to 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be available for distribution quickly to low- and middle-income countries. The arrangement also provides an option to secure additional doses if needed. (Weixel, 8/7)

CNN: Moderna's Clinical Trial Numbers Show There's 'No Way' Trump Can Have A Vaccine By Election Day
Contrary to his predictions, President Trump won't have a coronavirus vaccine ready by Election Day, vaccine experts tell CNN after reviewing data from Moderna, the first company to begin its Phase 3 clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States. "There's no way. There's just no way," said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist at Baylor College of Medicine and a CNN medical analyst. (Coheh, 8/10)

Politico: European Health Commissioner: Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready As Soon As This Year 
A vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready as soon as the end of this year or the beginning of next year, according to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. “Although making predictions is risky at this point, we have good indications that the first vaccine will be available toward the end of this year or beginning of next year,” Kyriakides told German business newspaper Handelsblatt in an interview published Sunday. (Anderson, 8/9)

The New York Times: This Company Boasted To Trump About Its Covid-19 Vaccine. Experts Are Skeptical. 
Now, with a new pandemic raging, Inovio is working on a new vaccine: for the novel coronavirus. A flurry of positive news releases about its funding and preliminary results have sent Inovio’s shares up by as much as 963 percent — and helped the company attract money from the government and investors. At the same time, Inovio insiders have sold stock. But some scientists and financial analysts question the viability of Inovio’s technology. (Gelles and Murphy, 8/10)

Also —

The Hill: Trump Vaccine Official: 'I Would Resign Instantly' If Pressured Politically 
The chief scientist of the Trump administration’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine said in a new interview that he would “resign instantly” if he was forced to inappropriately accelerate a vaccine for political reasons. “The data will dictate, the facts will dictate,” Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientist for the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, said in an appearance on a podcast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday. (Sullivan, 8/7)

Stat: Pharma Is Showering Congress With Cash, Even Amid Coronavirus
The world’s biggest drug makers and their trade groups have cut checks to 356 lawmakers ahead of this year’s election — more than two-thirds of the sitting members of Congress, according to a new STAT analysis. It’s a barrage of contributions that accounts for roughly $11 million in campaign giving, distributed via roughly 4,500 checks from the political action committees affiliated with the companies. (Bartley and Facher, 8/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Is Elevating New Type Of Executive: Chief Medical Officer
Most companies don’t have a chief medical officer, but more are exploring their options as they seek health expertise. Traditionally, companies with CMOs tended to be health-care or pharmaceutical companies or big hospital systems, where medical chiefs manage teams of doctors and researchers and help with product development. Aslan Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Selecta Biosciences Inc., for instance, named new CMOs this month. (Thomas, 8/10)

Reuters: Pfizer To Make Gilead's COVID-19 Treatment Remdesivir 
Pfizer Inc said on Friday it signed a multiyear agreement to make COVID-19 treatment remdesivir for developer Gilead Sciences Inc, which is under pressure to increase tight supplies of the antiviral drug. Gilead is aiming to make enough of the drug by the end of the year to treat more than 2 million COVID-19 patients, and agreed to send nearly all of its remdesivir supply to the United States through September. (8/7)

Kaiser Health News: Business Is Booming For Dialysis Giant Fresenius. It Took A $137M Bailout Anyway. 
As the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed most nonemergency medical practices this spring, the dialysis business, vital to the survival of patients with kidney disease, rolled ahead and in some cases grew. Yet when the Trump administration sent billions in federal relief funds to medical organizations, at least $259 million went to dialysis providers, a KHN analysis of federal records found. Of that, kidney care behemoth Fresenius Medical Care accepted more than half, at least $137 million, despite acknowledging it had ample financial resources, the analysis showed. (Rau and Pradhan, 8/10)

Stat: AbbVie Settles Suit Over Using 'Nurse Ambassadors' To Boost Humira Sales
After two years of wrangling, AbbVie (ABBV) agreed to pay $24 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the California insurance commissioner, who accused the drug maker of paying kickbacks to doctors and using a stealthy network of nurses to illegally boost prescriptions of its best-selling Humira treatment. Over a five-year period, the drug maker offered physicians a familiar menu of tempting items, from cash, meals, and drinks, to gifts and trips, along with patient referrals, in hopes they would write more prescriptions for the rheumatoid arthritis medicine, according to the lawsuit. Humira is a franchise product for AbbVie and last year generated $14.8 billion in sales in the U.S. alone. (Silverman, 8/7)

In updates from the FDA —

NPR: FDA Approves Spravato For Suicidal Patients With Major Depression
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a variant of the anesthetic and party drug ketamine for suicidal patients with major depression. The drug is a nasal spray called Spravato and it contains esketamine, a chemical cousin of ketamine. (Hamilton, 8/7)

Stat: FDA Approves First Oral Treatment For A Rare Muscle-Destroying Disease
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first oral therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, a rare and often devastating disease, adding a new option for patients who now rely on costly injected treatments. The drug, from partners Genentech and PTC Therapeutics, is approved for adults and children with SMA, regardless of the severity of their disease. The once-a-day treatment will compete with a one-time gene therapy from Novartis and a drug from Biogen that is injected into the spine every four months. (Garde, 8/7)

Stat: FDA To Keep Biologics Labs Shuttered Longer Than Other Government Labs
The FDA is keeping its biologics labs shuttered far longer than other government research labs, according to internal FDA documents obtained by STAT. FDA officials told staff last month that it will keep the labs, which research ways to improve the safety of existing vaccines and gene therapies, closed until there are fewer than 10 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the counties surrounding the agency’s White Oak, Md., campus. Currently, just 16 states meet that metric. (Florko, 8/10)

Stat: FDA Grants Priority Review For Biogen's Alzheimer's Drug
The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review a marketing application submitted by Biogen for aducanumab, its treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the company announced Friday. The aducanumab application was granted priority review, which means the FDA will render an approval decision no later than March 7, 2021. According to Biogen, the FDA “plans to act early” if possible on the application, and that an advisory committee will be scheduled so that outside experts can review the aducanumab data. A date for that meeting has not yet been set. (Feuerstein, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: VA Resumes Rollout Of $16 Billion Cerner EHR Project
The Veterans Affairs Department has restarted the rollout of its multibillion-dollar electronic health record project after pausing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The VA had planned to bring its first site—Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash.—live on a new Cerner Corp. EHR in March, but pushed back the deployment just a few weeks before the scheduled go-live date, saying it needed more time to build the system. Then, in April, the VA paused the EHR rollout on account of COVID-19. (Cohen, 8/7)

The Washington Post: After Hydroxychloroquine Use At Pennsylvania VA Home, Congresswoman Urges VA To Stick To Science 
A U.S. congresswoman from Pennsylvania, riled by the experimental use of hydroxychloroquine in a nursing home for veterans in her home district, is among several lawmakers calling on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to adhere to science when providing recommendations on future coronavirus treatments or vaccines. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) sent a letter late last month to the Veterans Health Administration, demanding more information about the use of anti-malarial drugs including hydroxychloroquine at veterans homes and whether VA was actively involved in the unproven treatment. She cited the beleaguered Southeastern Veterans’ Center in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which treated about 30 veterans and their spouses with hydroxychloroquine in April. (Mikhail, Rosenzweig-Ziff and Jacobs, 8/8)

The Washington Post: Asymptomatic People With Coronavirus May Hold The Key To Ending The Pandemic 
When researcher Monica Gandhi began digging deeper into outbreaks of the novel coronavirus, she was struck by the extraordinarily high number of infected people who had no symptoms. A Boston homeless shelter had 147 infected residents, but 88 percent had no symptoms even though they shared their living space. A Tyson Foods poultry plant in Springdale, Ark., had 481 infections, and 95 percent were asymptomatic. Prisons in Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia counted 3,277 infected people, but 96 percent were asymptomatic. (Eunjung Cha, 8/8)

The New York Times: Why The Coronavirus Is More Likely To ‘Superspread’ Than The Flu 
For a spiky sphere just 120 nanometers wide, the coronavirus can be a remarkably cosmopolitan traveler. Spewed from the nose or mouth, it can rocket across a room and splatter onto surfaces; it can waft into poorly ventilated spaces and linger in the air for hours. At its most intrepid, the virus can spread from a single individual to dozens of others, perhaps even a hundred or more at once, proliferating through packed crowds in what is called a superspreading event. (Wu, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: As COVID-19 Cases Surge, Patients Are Dying At A Lower Rate 
When the number of people being sent to the hospital with COVID-19 began to creep up in Los Angeles County early this summer, officials warned that a major increase in deaths was inevitable. A record-breaking number of cases could result in a record-breaking number of deaths, they predicted. But nearly two months later, that has not materialized. The coronavirus continues to kill hundreds of people every week in L.A. County, but the death toll has remained lower than expected. (Karlamangla, 8/9)

Stat: America's Window Of Opportunity To Beat Back Covid-19 Is Closing
The good news: The United States has a window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 before things get much, much worse. The bad news: That window is rapidly closing. And the country seems unwilling or unable to seize the moment. (Branswell, 8/10)

The New York Times: The Unique U.S. Failure To Control The Virus 
Nearly every country has struggled to contain the coronavirus and made mistakes along the way. China committed the first major failure, silencing doctors who tried to raise alarms about the virus and allowing it to escape from Wuhan. Much of Europe went next, failing to avoid enormous outbreaks. Today, many countries — Japan, Canada, France, Australia and more — are coping with new increases in cases after reopening parts of society. (Leonhardt, 8/6)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Heightens Housing Insecurity For Black And Hispanic Populations 
Priscilla Williams has been luckier than many. Her job as public housing program coordinator pays a decent salary and can be done from home. But the coronavirus pandemic has still strained her finances—so much so that Ms. Williams, a 39-year-old Black woman, has exhausted her savings and is now about 2½ months behind on the rent for her two-bedroom apartment in Boston. “People don’t understand how you can’t make your ends meet when you have a job,” she said. “I’m above accessing benefits, but I’m not wealthy enough to sustain my family on my own right now.” (Guilford and Melgar, 8/9)

The Hill: Cuomo Says New York Schools Can Reopen In-Person This Fall 
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Friday that schools can reopen this fall, citing low infection rates that he said will allow students and teachers to return to classrooms safely. "It is just great news," Cuomo told reporters. "We are probably in the best situation in the country right now." When and how schools reopen will be left up to individual school districts. However, Cuomo warned that if the seven-day rolling average of tests coming back positive exceeds 9 percent in a particular region, schools in that area must close. (Hellmann, 8/7)

Politico: Connecticut Governor: ‘I Do Not Want A Lost Year’ Of Learning 
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Sunday he worries that putting a pause on reopening schools could lead to a “lost year of education,” while images of tightly packed hallways at a K-12 school raise new fears that overcrowding could facilitate coronavirus transmission. “I do not want a lost year. When everybody says, ‘Let’s not go back to school until it is perfectly safe, until we have a vaccine, until 100 percent of the people are vaccinated,’ I worry that could be a lost year of education,” Lamont said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Cammarata, 8/9)

Dallas Morning News: School’s About To Start, But Texas Isn’t Tracking Coronavirus In The Classroom
With some Dallas-area school districts just days away from opening their doors for in-person classes, state officials are still trying to decide whether to collect data on the number of coronavirus cases at Texas public schools. The Texas Education Agency -- the governing body for the state’s primary and secondary public schools -- and the Texas Department of State Health Services both said this week that they are in discussions to decide whether to collect COVID-19 case data from schools and provide that to the public. (Smith, 8/7)

Politico: Shadow Schools? Class Is In Session — At The YMCA And Roller Rink
A roller rink. The YMCA. Houses of worship. All are creating makeshift classrooms this fall as school campuses remain closed around the country because of the pandemic. For working parents, it brings much-needed relief to the exhausting months since coronavirus began. But it also raises public health questions: If it’s not safe to open schools this fall, why would learning hubs be any different? (Murphy, 8/7)

AP: Amid Pandemic, Future Of Many Catholic Schools Is In Doubt
As the new academic year arrives, school systems across the United States are struggling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Roman Catholic educators have an extra challenge — trying to forestall a relentless wave of closures of their schools that has no end in sight. Already this year, financial and enrollment problems aggravated by the pandemic have forced the permanent closure of more than 140 Catholic schools nationwide, according to officials who oversee Catholic education in the country. (Crary, 8/9)

Boston Globe: School Districts Aim To Aid At-Risk Students With Remote Learning Increasingly Likely This Fall 
With the number of coronavirus cases climbing, and teachers unions rallying around a remote start to the school year, some Massachusetts school districts are holding out hope for a “hybrid” approach to reopening next month that would allow at least the most academically vulnerable students to return part-time to classrooms. Directed by state education officials to prioritize in-person instruction for these students — children with disabilities, those still learning English, and others disproportionately affected by the school shutdown in the spring — many districts have drafted plans that carve out classroom time for those groups, and for their youngest learners, first. (Russell, Martin and Vazques Toness, 8/9)

And after a photo of one Georgia school went viral —

AP: The Latest: School From Crowd Photo Shifts To Online Classes
A Georgia high school plans to start the week with all classes shifting online after nine students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus when the school year opened last week with most students attending in-person. North Paulding High School made headlines soon after students returned to school Aug. 3 when photos posted on social media showed hallways crowded with students, and many of them not wearing masks. The school’s principal notified parents Saturday that six students and three staff members had tested positive for the virus, though it’s unknown if any were infected at school. (8/9)

The Washington Post: Nine At North Paulding High School In Georgia Test Positive For Coronavirus 
A cluster of coronavirus cases has emerged at a Georgia high school that drew national attention last week after students posted pictures and videos of their peers walking without masks in tightly packed hallways, according to a letter sent to parents over the weekend. Six students and three staff members at North Paulding High School have reported testing positive for the virus, Principal Gabe Carmona wrote in the letter, which was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He said the infected people were in school “for at least some time” last week. (Hawkins, 8/9)

CNN: Teen Who Shared Photo Of Packed High School Hallway Says She's Receiving Threats 
A teen who shared a photo of a crowded hallway at her Georgia high school last week says she has been receiving threats after the image went viral. North Paulding High School sophomore Hannah Watters told CNN she and her family and friends have been receiving screenshots of group chats with threatening language against her. (Silverman, 8/10)

In higher-education news —

Sacramento Bee: Flu Vaccine Required By California’s UC University System 
A new item on back-to-school to-do lists: get your flu shot. The University of California announced Friday that all students, staff and faculty will be required to get a flu shot prior to Nov. 1. Those with approved medical exemptions will not face this new requirement. The school system’s administration consulted with the UC Health leadership in an effort to combat strains on the healthcare system due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Burke, 8/8)

AP: No Parties, No Trips: Colleges Set COVID-19 Rules For Fall
As they struggle to salvage some semblance of a campus experience this fall, U.S. colleges are requiring promises from students to help contain the coronavirus — no keg parties, no long road trips and no outside guests on campus. No kidding. Administrators warn that failure to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid mass gatherings could bring serious consequences, including getting booted from school. (Hill, 8/9)

CNN: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Was Opposed By 60% Of Residents. Here's Why The City Approved It. 
Before deciding on whether to hold the 80th annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, the local city council turned to its residents to get their take. "There was a significant amount of discussion that the council had with residents, businesses and state health officials as well as local health officials," Daniel Ainslie, the city manager, told CNN Sunday... A little more than 60% of people in the city voted against holding the event this week. But the city council approved it anyway. (Maxouris, 8/10)

CNN: Chicago Officials Put Up A Fence After The Mayor Scolded Residents Gathered At Montrose Beach 
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn't hold back when she spotted large crowds gathered at Montrose Beach. "It's called a pandemic, people. This reckless behavior on Montrose Beach is what will cause us to shut down the parks and lakefront," the mayor posted on Twitter Saturday. "Don't make us take steps backwards." In the photo accompanying her post, dozens can be seen crowding in their bathing suits on the grass, ditching both face masks and social distancing guidelines. (Maxouris, 8/10)

Detroit Free Press: More Michigan Teens Testing Positive For COVID-19 After Proms, Parties
A rite of passage. A ritual, of sorts. Something to look forward to for so many young people. Prom. Graduation. Summer. But the coronavirus stripped the class of 2020 and other young people of a regular experience of those events, some of which have been anticipated for years. It was a massive blow, especially after being in their homes for months with family because of stay-at-home or safer-at-home orders imposed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that were lifted at the beginning of June. (Hall and Kan, 8/9)

The New York Times: Lifestyles Of The Rich And Reckless: Posh Pandemic Parties 
A little more than two months ago, in the aftermath of Memorial Day weekend, New Yorkers of a certain caste indulged rounds of condescension directed at a set of anonymous partygoers in the Ozarks. The catalyst was the viral image of a pool party where people were grouped a shot glass width apart, none of them wearing masks. Wasn’t this the problem, ultimately? The rubes and the deniers, with so little regard for science, who were unwilling to sacrifice, for the collective good, the pleasures of a Miller Lite consumed at a floating cocktail table. (Bellafante, 8/7)

The New York Times: Rave Under The Kosciuszko Bridge: Are Illicit Parties Endangering N.Y.C.? 
On a humid Saturday night, under a segment of the Kosciuszko Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Queens, hundreds of people at an illicit gathering danced and swayed to the thumps of hip-hop and electronic music. Some wore masks. Many did not. Many were attending their first party in months, since the pandemic had forced many venues to close. (Zaveri, 8/8)

Also —

NPR: Many Churchgoers Believe It's Safe To Resume In-Person Worship 
Five months after the coronavirus forced houses of worship across the country to close their doors, a new survey finds that two-thirds of regular churchgoers feel it's now safe to resume in-person worship. The Pew Research Survey nonetheless found that an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults also believe that houses of worship should be subject to the same restrictions on public gatherings that apply to other organizations or businesses in their local area. Although Republicans are somewhat more likely than Democrats to favor special treatment for houses of worship, they still oppose such exemptions by a 2-to-1 margin. (Gjelten, 8/8)

The Wall Street Journal: How To Reduce Coronavirus Risk On The Beach 
Worried about catching the new coronavirus at the beach this summer? Don’t be, scientists say—though it might be best to bring a cooler and skip the crowded beachfront bar. With summer vacations in full swing after months of lockdown, public-health authorities from California and Florida to Spain and the South of France are reporting a pickup in cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Photos of crowded beaches triggered envy for some, worry for others, starting soon after states such as Florida lifted Phase 1 beach restrictions in May.California and Florida each have reported around 50,000 new cases in the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Douglas, 8/9)

PBS NewsHour: Opioid Deaths Are Surging In The Pandemic. Here’s How Treatment Is Adapting 
Chicago is one of many American cities that has battled the nation’s opioid epidemic in recent years. Cook County saw the number of confirmed opioid deaths rise about 10 percent in 2019 from the year before. But now, in the shadow of COVID-19, officials are expecting this year’s opioid-related deaths to double 2019’s total. For essential workers like Thoren, the pandemic means adapting to new realities and adopting new methods to provide treatment for drugs and alcohol. (Rohrich, 8/7)

CNN: New Mexico Man Dies From State's Second Reported Case Of Plague This Year
A New Mexico man has died of septicemic plague, marking the second plague case in the state this year. The Rio Arriba County man was in his 20s and was hospitalized before he died, the New Mexico Department of Health Friday said in a news release. (Holcombe and Spells, 8/8)

AP: Heat Wave Returns Before Electricity For Some After Storm
Another heat wave was rolling into the New York tristate region Sunday as over 300,000 residents and businesses waited for electricity to return after last week’s tropical storm. The race to restore fuel for desperately needed air conditioners, refrigerators and electronic devices as another work week approached was in full swing under sunny skies as thousands of power company workers tried to restore energy before temperatures lurch toward 90 degrees on Monday. (Neumeister, 8/9)

CNN: Police Charged A California Woman With Murder After She Gave Birth To A Stillborn Baby. Now The State's Attorney General Is Condemning It 
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed an amicus brief on Friday in support of ending the prosecution against a woman who was arrested and charged with murder after delivering a stillborn baby with toxic levels of methamphetamine in its system. Chelsea Cheyenne Becker, 26, delivered a stillborn child on September 10, 2019, that medical professionals believed may have been exposed to drugs while she was pregnant. The death was ruled a homicide after an autopsy by the Kings County Coroner's Office found methamphetamine in the baby's system, police said. (Elassar, 8/9)

Kaiser Health News: As Crisis Grows, Farms Try To Balance Health Of Field Workers And Food Supply 
It’s a busy time for the tomato-producing farms in this part of the state. Farms have staffed up with hundreds of workers, most of whom are Latino. Some live locally. Others are migrant workers who travel from farm to farm, chasing the summer growing seasons. Still others come from Mexico or Central America on temporary agricultural visas to work at certain farms. But, this year, the season is taking place under a cloud of coronavirus worries that, for these agricultural workers, hit close to home. (Knight, 8/10)

The Washington Post: For Blind Parents, 3-D Images From Pregnancy Ultrasound Allow Them To Feel Their Infant's Face 
One of the most powerful experiences for parents-to-be is seeing the image of their baby via ultrasound. But for blind parents, that moment was impossible. Now, however, sophisticated technology allows them to “see” their little ones before they are born by creating a 3-D image to be formed in the likeness of their baby’s face. (Bruno, 8/9)

In obituaries —

The New York Times: Diana Russell, Who Studied Violence Against Women, Dies At 81 
Diana E.H. Russell, a leading feminist activist and scholar who popularized the term “femicide” to refer to the misogynist killing of women, and to distinguish these killings from other forms of homicide, died on July 28 at a medical facility in Oakland, Calif. She was 81. The cause was respiratory failure, said Esther D. Rothblum, a feminist scholar and friend. (Seelye, 8/6)

CNN: College Sports' 'Power Five' Leaders Are Discussing Postponing Football Season Amid Coronavirus Concerns, Reports Say 
Leaders from college sports' "Power Five" conferences discussed postponing the football season and other fall sports over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports from multiple sports news outlets including ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, who all cited several sources. No decision has been reached yet, and the discussions are expected to continue over the next few days. (Dotson and Silverman, 8/10)

The Wall Street Journal: The Mid-American Becomes First Top-Tier Conference To Cancel Football In Fall 
The Mid-American Conference won’t play sports including football this fall because of health concerns posed by the coronavirus pandemic, becoming the first league in the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision to punt on sports. The cancellation carries major implications for college football, a sport that serves as the financial engine of most athletic departments. The fall schedule grows more uncertain by the day as cancellations and questions about safety pile up. (Higgins, 8/8)

AP: After MAC Surrenders To Pandemic, Will Other Leagues Follow?
In many ways, the Mid-American Conference has little in common with Power Five leagues that first come to mind when fans think of major college football. There are no 75,000-seat stadiums in the MAC. Million-dollar per year coaches are rare. In a typical season, NFL scouts might find one or two potential first-round draft picks playing at the 12 MAC schools that dot the Midwest. The MAC’s biggest games — #MACtion, if you will — are often played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Its television deal with ESPN pays per year only a few million more than the $9 million Clemson pays coach Dabo Swinney. (Russo, 8/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: No Georgia Athletes Have Opted Out As SEC Releases COVID Protocols
Georgia’s Ron Courson has been on the front lines of the battle to bring sports back despite an unrelenting global pandemic, and he believes it can be done. But he said it can happen only through rigorous testing, vigilant monitoring and the full cooperation of the athletes themselves. The Bulldogs’ longtime director of sports medicine, who sits on the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force, detailed for reporters Friday what UGA has been doing and will do as plans continue to conduct football and other sports fall. Courson’s briefing came in the wake of the SEC’s unveiling Friday of minimum medical protocols that must be met for competitions to be conducted. (Towers, 8/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Alabama Isn’t Giving Up On Playing Football This Fall 
Alabama’s blockbuster opening game has been canceled, the football team has weathered a mini-outbreak of Covid-19 and the Crimson Tide’s celebrity coach is urging Alabamians to wear masks as the coronavirus pandemic surges all around him. But Alabama, like most of college football, is still in game-on mode for fall. The reason: it thinks its campus is the safest place for athletes at the moment, not the riskiest. (Higgins, 8/8)

AP: Players Unite In Push To Save College Season, Create Union
Michigan defensive back Hunter Reynolds saw the tweets from Trevor Lawrence and other college football players, pushing for the opportunity to play this season, despite the pandemic. Reynolds, one of the organizers behind a players’ rights movement in the Big Ten, didn’t like the way some on social media seemed to be pitting Lawrence’s message against the efforts of #BigTenUnited and #WeAreUnited. (Russo, 8/10)

The New York Times: Players To UConn Coach: ‘There’s No Way That We Can Play’
Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall’s moment of clarity came when he was recently walking up the hill to his team’s practice field. In the month since they had been back on campus, his players had assiduously adhered to safety protocols, which included daily screenings, and after more than 200 tests, none were positive for the coronavirus. They were also in a state that has kept a relative lid on the virus — Connecticut’s cases per capita is less than one tenth of that in hot spots like Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Texas. (Witz, 8/9)

In professional sports —

AP: Referees Group Has Agreement With NFL On Virus Protections
The NFL Referees Association has reached an agreement with the NFL for health protections along with a program allowing game and replay officials to opt out of the season. The association announced Sunday that the NFLRA’s board of directors unanimously endorsed the plan. Members will review the details Monday in a video conference call. (8/9)

CNN: MLB Postpones Cardinals' Series Against Pirates After More Test Positive For Covid-19 
Major League Baseball has postponed scheduled games between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates after additional members of the Cardinals' team and staff tested positive for Covid-19. The Cardinals organization told CNN Sunday that John Mozeliak, the team's president of baseball operations, confirmed one additional Cardinals player has tested positive. (Dotson, Marin and Silverman, 8/10)

Los Angeles Times: California's Public Health Director Resigns Amid Questions About Coronavirus Test Data 
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s director of the California Department of Public Health resigned on Sunday, an abrupt departure of a key advisor in the state’s coronavirus battle just days after the discovery of a computer system failure that resulted in the undercounting of COVID-19 cases. Dr. Sonia Angell, who held the position for less than a year, announced her resignation in an email sent to department staff that was released by the California Health and Human Services Agency. (Myers, 8/9)

Politico: California Sorts Through Coronavirus Data As Glitch Stymies Policy Decisions
California's top health official said Friday the state has identified why its infectious disease reporting system failed and is working through a backlog of 250,000 to 300,000 records — a glitch that has stymied decision-making at the state's highest levels. “Bottom line, our data system failed,” said Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, offering an apology to residents for the blunder. (Colliver, 8/7)

Also —

Los Angeles Times: Amid COVID-19, California Releases Violent Crime Prisoners 
Terebea Williams was 22 when she shot her boyfriend, drove 750 miles with him bleeding in the trunk of his own car and then dragged him into a Northern California motel, tied him to a chair and left him to die. Convicted of murder, carjacking and kidnapping, Williams went on to earn a college degree during her 19 years in prison, where she also mentored younger inmates and was lauded by administrators for her “exceptional conduct” while incarcerated. (Winton, Chabria and Christensen, 8/9)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Reports More Than 1,700 New Coronavirus Cases 
Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 1,789 new cases of the coronavirus and 10 related deaths but said the numbers still did not include a pending backlog of lab reports that could cause a spike in new cases. Young residents continue to account for an outsize share of the new cases, officials said. Of the infections recorded Sunday, 35% were among residents 30 to 49, and 69% were among residents under 50, the Department of Public Health said in a news release. (Wigglesworth, 8/9)

AP: Jury Trials Move To Auditorium Amid COVID-19 Restrictions
Jury trials in southwest Mississippi are set to return later this month for the first time since March. Adams County Circuit Court Judge Debra Blackwell said they will be moved to the Natchez City Auditorium starting the third week of August. (8/9)

In news from Michigan —

Detroit Free Press: Gov. Whitmer Extends Coronavirus Emergency Through Sept. 4
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday extended Michigan's state of emergency through Sept. 4, amid continued high daily case numbers, ongoing pushback from Republican lawmakers and an accelerated petition drive to sharply curtail her emergency powers. (Egan, 8/7)

Detroit Free Press: Food Stamp Benefits Extended Through August For Michigan Families
Families eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps, will continue receiving additional benefits through August, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday. The additional benefits that had been set to end in July will impact about 350,000 Michigan families who are receiving the increased monthly benefits. Eligible participants should expect the additional benefits to be on their Bridge Cards by Aug. 30, according to a news release. (Rahman, 8/7)

In nursing home news —

Billings Gazette: 2 New Care Home Deaths Reported In Yellowstone County; Canyon Creek Has 16th Death 
A 16th resident at Canyon Creek Memory Care has died after an outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility that has infected both the staff and those under their care. The senior care facility has tallied dozens of positive cases since early July, and its residents make up more than half of all the deaths in Yellowstone County due to complications from contracting the novel coronavirus. (Hamby, 8/8)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Said Nursing Homes Can Allow Limited Visits. Then Came The Questions.
Late Thursday afternoon, a state agency announced a change that many advocates and family members of nursing home residents had hoped for: Visitors would again be allowed at some nursing homes and assisted living facilities. (Foxhall, 8/7)

The New York Times: When Covid-19 Hit, Many Elderly Were Left To Die 
Shirley Doyen was exhausted. The Christalain nursing home, which she ran with her brother in an affluent neighborhood in Brussels, was buckling from Covid-19. Eight residents had died in three weeks. Some staff members had only gowns and goggles from Halloween doctor costumes for protection. Nor was help coming. Ms. Doyen had begged hospitals to collect her infected residents. They refused. Sometimes she was told to administer morphine and let death come. Once she was told to pray. Then, in the early morning of April 10, it all got worse. (Stevis-Gridneff, Apuzzo and Pronczuk, 8/8)

AP: Texas Reports 4,879 New Coronavirus Cases, 116 More Deaths
Texas has 4,879 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and another 116 deaths due the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, state health officials reported Sunday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said there are now 486,362 confirmed cases in the state and 8,459 fatalities. The true number of coronavirus cases in Texas is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. (8/9)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Reports 540 Coronavirus Cases And Five Deaths, Continuing Downward Trend
Dallas County continued a downward trend of coronavirus cases this week, reporting 540 new cases Saturday. It has been two weeks since the county reported over 1,000 cases in a single day. The county’s daily average of new cases fell to 463 this week. Last week’s average was 654 cases, down from 827 the week before. (Jones, 8/8)

AP: New Mexico Reports 205 More COVID-19 Cases, 4 More Deaths
Health officials in New Mexico on Sunday reported 205 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases with four additional deaths. The latest numbers increase New Mexico’s case total to 22,315 and the death toll to at least 685. (8/9)

AP: Arizona Reports 816 New Coronavirus Cases And 13 More Deaths
Arizona health officials on Sunday reported 816 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases with 13 more deaths amid slowing of the state’s coronavirus outbreak. The Arizona Department of Health Services’ latest figures increased the state’s total confirmed COVID-19 cases to 186,923 and the reported death toll to 4,150. (8/9)

AP: Nevada Reports 811 New Coronavirus Cases And 8 More Deaths
Health officials in Nevada on Sunday reported 811 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide and eight additional deaths. That brings the state’s total to 56,230 cases and at least 957 known deaths since the pandemic began. (8/9)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports 36 More COVID-19 Cases, 2 More Deaths
Navajo Nation health officials have reported 36 more cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths. That brings the total number of people infected to 9,293 and the known death toll to 470 as of Saturday night. (8/9)

AP: North Dakota Tallies 91 New COVID-19 Cases
North Dakota health officials reported 91 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, pushing the state to record a new high in active cases. The Department of Health tallied 1,129 people with active cases of the coronavirus a day after it reported the most cases in a single day, with 181 on Saturday. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by 11, an increase of 9%. (8/9)

AP: South Dakota Reports 129 New Cases Of COVID-19
South Dakota reported 129 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and no new deaths, according to the Department of Health. The number of active cases remained above 1,000 for the second consecutive day, with 1,125 people who have active infections statewide. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by about 24, an increase of 38%. (8/9)

AP: Oklahoma Reports 486 More Coronavirus Cases, No New Deaths
Oklahoma has 486 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases but no additional deaths due the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, state health officials reported Sunday. The Oklahoma State Department of Health said there are now 43,566 reported cases in the state and the death toll stands at 603. The true number of coronavirus cases in Oklahoma is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. The health department said 36,052 people have recovered from the virus and there were 6,911 active cases Sunday. (8/9)

AP: Minnesota Records 9 COVID-19 Deaths, 806 Cases
Minnesota on Sunday recorded nine deaths from COVID-19, along with 806 new cases, according to the Department of Health. Four of the deaths reported were from residents of long-term care and assisted living facilities. The state has tallied 1,657 deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. (8/9)

AP: Wisconsin Reports 621 Cases Of COVID-19, Two Deaths
Wisconsin on Sunday tallied 621 new cases of COVID-19, along with two more deaths, according to the Department of Health Services. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has decreased by 65, a decrease of about 7%. But the state set a single-day record on Saturday with 1,165 reported cases. (8/9)

AP: Indiana Tops 1,000 COVID-19 Cases For 4th Consecutive Day
Indiana public health officials on Sunday reported a fourth consecutive day of 1,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and one new death. The Indiana State Department said state has had 74,328 cases and 2,835 deaths since the start of the pandemic. More than 841,000 tests have been administered in Indiana. (8/9)

AP: Arkansas Reports 572 New Coronavirus Cases, Nine More Deaths
Arkansas has 572 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine additional deaths due the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, state health officials reported Sunday. The Arkansas Department of Health said there are now 49,383 confirmed cases of the virus in the state and a death toll of 544, up from 48,811 cases and 535 deaths reported Saturday. The true number of coronavirus cases in Oklahoma is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. (8/9)

Reuters: New Zealand Records 100 Days Without Domestic Virus Case But Warns Against Complacency
New Zealand marked 100 days without a domestic transmission of the coronavirus on Sunday, but warned against complacency as countries like Vietnam and Australia which once had the virus under control now battle a resurgence in infections. New Zealand’s successful fight against COVID-19 has made the Pacific island nation of 5 million one of the safest places in the world right now. (8/9)

Reuters: Australia Says COVID-19 Outbreak Shows Signs Of Peaking
Australia recorded its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 deaths on Monday although a slowdown in new cases gave hope that a second wave of new infections in the state of Victoria may have peaked. Nineteen people had died from the virus, all in Victoria, in the past 24 hours, a national daily record. However only 337 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19 across the country, the lowest one-day rise since July 29, officials said. (Packham, 8/9)

AP: Asia Today: Sources Of Many Cases In Victoria Untraceable
The premier of Australia’s Victoria state says more than 2,700 active cases have no known source and remain the primary concern of health authorities. Victoria on Sunday saw a welcome drop in its new COVID-19 cases with 394 but a record 17 deaths, including two people in their 50s. It took the hard-hit state’s toll to 210 and the Australian total of deaths to 295. (8/9)

Reuters: UK Prime Minister Says Schools Must Open In September 
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said reopening schools in September was a social, economic and moral imperative and insisted schools would be able to operate safely despite the coronavirus pandemic. His comments follow a study earlier this month which warned that Britain risks a second wave of COVID-19 in the winter twice as large as the initial outbreak if schools open without an improved test-and-trace system. (8/9)

Reuters: UK COVID-19 Daily Death Count Could Be Scrapped: Telegraph 
The UK’s official COVID-19 daily death count could be scrapped following an investigation into Public Health England’s method of counting the toll, The Telegraph newspaper reported. The conclusions of the investigation, which was ordered by Health Secretary Matt Hancock after it emerged officials were “exaggerating” virus deaths, are expected this week, the newspaper said. (8/9)

AP: Big Jump In Italy's Daily New Cases Driven By Travel
The number of daily new coronavirus infections in Italy jumped 38% higher Friday, with 552 confirmed cases registered compared to the previous day. Italy hadn’t seen a such a high daily new caseload since late May. Barely two weeks ago, Italy had been registering roughly 200 new cases a day. (D'Emilio, 8/7)

AP: Spanish Police Hit The Discos To Enforce Virus Health Rules
Facing a new surge of coronavirus infections, one Spanish town is deploying special police units to nightclubs to enforce health regulations to stop the virus from spreading. The small beach town of Fuengirola near Málaga on Spain’s southern coast has sent police to its nightclubs — which are a magnet for young people seeking summer fun — to keep them from becoming virus breeding grounds. (Rodrigo, 8/8)

AP: Brazil Makes Grim Milestone -- 100,000 Deaths From COVID-19
Brazil surpassed a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday night, and five months after the first reported case the country has not shown signs of crushing the disease. The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 1,000 daily deaths from the pandemic since late May and reported 905 for the latest 24-hour period. (De Sousa, 8/8)

Reuters: Red Cross Trains Thousands Of North Koreans To Help Cope With Coronavirus, Floods 
The Red Cross has trained 43,000 North Korean volunteers to help communities, including the locked-down city of Kaesong, fight the novel coronavirus and provide flood assistance, an official with the relief organisation said on Monday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an emergency last month and imposed a lockdown on Kaesong, near the inter-Korean border, after a man who defected to the South in 2017 returned to the city showing coronavirus symptoms. (Shin, 8/9)

In other global news —

AP: Italy Approves Outpatient Use For Abortion Pill
Women in Italy can now use the abortion pill on an outpatient basis rather than be hospitalized to terminate a pregnancy. Italy’s health minister, Roberto Speranza, announced the change in guidelines in a tweet Saturday. He said it was based on scientific evidence and was “an important step forward” in line with Italy’s 1978 law legalizing abortion. (8/8)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Isn’t Going Anywhere. So Schools Must Reopen.
In one ear, the trembling voice of a teacher says she’s terrified to return to the classroom. In the other, an exhausted mother of two young children tells me she’s praying her kids can go back to school. In the New York Times, teacher Rebecca Martinson writes that she won’t risk her life to teach other people’s kids. In the Atlantic, nurse Kristen McConnell, who is married to a teacher, argues that teachers are essential workers just like she is — and they should step up to the plate. These are all real people, who are doing their best to cope with the deeply altered world in which we now live. (Kathleen Parker, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: The Wrong Way To Reopen Schools 
Despite all the fears about reopening schools, we actually know a fair amount from watching other countries about how to do it safely. Success looks a lot like Uruguay and Denmark. It does not look like Israel. And it bears no resemblance at all to what’s shown in a photo from North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., in which teenagers are packed into a hallway, few of them wearing masks. Even before classes there began, members of the school’s football team had already been diagnosed with COVID-19. On Sunday, the school announced that nine infections had been reported in the first week of classes, and it was temporarily moving to online-only instruction. Other schools in Georgia and Mississippi are also reporting cases of infected students. In Corinth, Miss., which opened its schools two weeks ago, a single case of an infected student became six cases within days, and the quarantine of 116. (8/10)

The Washington Post: Students’ Safety Is The Biggest Loser In The Tug Of War Over Opening Montgomery County Private Schools
Whether, and how, to open schools that abruptly shut down in March following the outbreak of covid-19 is fraught with gut-wrenching issues. Children need to get back to their teachers and classmates. But can it be done safely? Much is still unknown about this virus. It makes the situation worse when public health issues become clouded with suspicions about politics. This is the unfortunate case in the back and forth between Montgomery County and state officials over whether private schools can — or, more importantly, should — provide in-class instruction while public schools offer only distance learning. The dueling directives of the past week are bound to leave parents, teachers and students confused. (8/9)

Des Moines Register: Georgia Camp Outbreak Is Wake-Up Call About COVID-19 Spread Among Kids
A publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about novel coronavirus infections among attendees at an overnight camp in Georgia made some headlines when it was published July 31. But during this infectious disease outbreak, when we're hanging on every word about vaccines and Googling the names of prescription drugs we can't spell, it's easy for one study to get lost amid the firehose of news. Fortunately, Dr. Tom Benzoni, an Iowa physician, regularly brings specific studies to the attention of a Register editorial writer. And these results deserve to be underlined.The doctor's note accompanying the link to the Georgia report: “Here’s a real world experiment.”  (8/8)

The Hill: In The COVID-19 Economy, We Are Running Out Of Time To Prioritize Child Care 
In March, working families across the country started to scramble. Our homes were transformed into makeshift classrooms, summer camps and daycare centers as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools and child care facilities. For working mothers with young children, balancing a career and responsibilities at home during the coronavirus crisis has meant bearing an astronomically outsized share of the burden — a burden that for many exhausted and isolated mothers is not sustainable; a burden which, if we do not act, could result in a significant portion of women being pushed out of the labor force, erasing the progress we have made. (Liz Shuler, 8/9)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: COVID-19 Does Not Exempt The Young
There is a tendency for young people to feel invincible. They are often the strongest and healthiest among us. The thoughts of being impacted by illness or injury feel foreign to them and the kinds of things that only happen to older and unluckier people. Unfortunately, this is leading to a devastating trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States is experiencing another surge of COVID-19 cases and Georgia is not immune. The disease is now spreading fastest among a younger population than it did earlier in the pandemic. (Neha Shah, 8/8)

CNN: Michelle Obama And Melinda Gates: We Can't Ignore Adolescent Girls In Covid-19 Fight
Around the world, life is often more difficult for adolescent girls. During a pandemic, it can be downright dangerous. We know from past crises, like the 2014 Ebola outbreak, that adolescent girls in low and middle-income countries are particularly at risk of being overlooked and left behind. (Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates, 8/7)

Stat: 3D Printing Communities Rise To Meet Covid-19 Challenges 
As Covid-19 raced across the globe, health care systems faced shortages in personal protective equipment. This essential gear became more costly, and there was greater reliance on imports for it. 3D printing suddenly and urgently became a critical tool for managing the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other medical equipment. (Frederic Vacher, 8/10)

The Advocate: Louisiana Spotlight: Nursing Homes Vulnerable From Staff's Infections 
As Louisiana tries to protect vulnerable nursing home residents from coronavirus outbreaks, the facilities still have a significant source of risk for new infections. Hundreds of employees coming and going each day have refused to take a virus test.Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration ordered nursing homes to regularly test residents and workers for the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus or face financial penalties. But while nursing homes have to provide the testing, residents and staff can refuse to participate. (Melinda Deslatte, 8/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Don’t Let Covid And The Flu Team Up To Pound America 
Covid is likely to persist once its pandemic phase has passed and circulate each winter alongside the flu. Even after more of us contract coronavirus infection and develop immunity to it or even after an effective vaccine arrives, some people will still get very sick. America tolerates a heavy toll from the flu on health and productivity. But if Covid becomes a twin risk, the heath-care system will struggle to fight both at once. Limiting Covid’s impact requires us to think differently about confronting respiratory pathogens in the winter. (Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, 8/9)

Bloomberg: Covid-19: Trump's Executive Actions Are Just An Economic Band-Aid
Financial markets will resume trading on Monday in the midst of a raging debate about President Donald Trump’s executive actions, which he said would extend relief to households and companies struggling from the Covid-19 shock. The measures are likely to do little beyond some possible immediate respite for the most vulnerable. As important as that is, the debate’s content and consequences range well beyond economics and encompass legal and political aspects. They may also risk the U.S.’s standing as the world looks to recover from both health and economic emergencies. (Mohamed A. El-Erian, 8/10)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: On Pandemic Management, Even Republicans Are Abandoning Trump
President Donald Trump appears to have badly underestimated the extent to which the pandemic has elevated Americans’ fears and frustrations across the political spectrum. His leadership, or more accurately the lack of it, is topmost on the minds of Republicans, Democrats and independents heading into the Nov. 3 election, according to a new national survey. Voters are upset. They want a plan to address the dangers to Americans’ health and economic security. And they don’t feel that current policies are working, according to the results of a new NPR/Ipsos poll. (8/8)

CNN: Trump Declares War On Social Security, Medicare  
Is Donald Trump trying to lose this election? Seriously, is he self-destructing because somewhere, deep inside his tortured soul he knows he is an unworthy, incompetent, poseur? Naaah. But his executive action suspending collection of payroll taxes hands the Democrats the kind of issue that can sink a candidacy. It is nothing less than a declaration of war on Social Security and Medicare. (Paul Begala, 8/9)

Fox News: Another Coronavirus Lockdown Would Hurt These Patients And Providers
Last week, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci urged states with rising COVID-19 rates to consider a new round of lockdown restrictions. "You may need to pause, you may need to drop back a little bit," Fauci said. "I don't think you necessarily have to revert to go all the way back to reclosing." As they try to get the coronavirus' spread under control, states must resist the urge to impose blanket stay-at-home orders. Such draconian measures can cause people to postpone important medical care unrelated to COVID-19. The health costs of this foregone care are substantial – and could end up outweighing the benefits of another shutdown. (8/9)

CNN: Covid's Next Casualty -- American Restaurants  
Restaurants help establish the unique character of our communities. But "restaurants are dying," says legendary chef Marcus Samuelsson. "Four out of five of our favorite independent restaurants may not survive this shutdown." "That's no joke. That's the real deal," attests Donnie Madia, co-owner of Chicago's beloved Blackbird, which was forced to shut its doors forever. "It was heartbreaking to make this decision." (John Avlon, 8/7)

Boston Globe: Yes, Racism Is A Public Health Crisis 
When Mayor Marty Walsh announced recently that racism is a public health crisis, I thought, no kidding. Racism’s toll on my physical and mental health is real. Each day, every day, it’s a fight to make my way in the world. There are two stories I can tell about myself, and both of them are true. In the first, I am a well-educated Black woman who grew up in material comfort in Europe, became a mother to amazing children, and made my way in the professional world at a high level. In the second story, I am a survivor of domestic violence who gave up my children, my job, my home, and dreams of pursuing a doctorate in my field. In order to save my life, I had to lose it all. The line running through all of it, the scar across my internal landscape, is racism. (Yvonne X., as told to Kelly Horan, 8/10)

The New York Times: The Trauma Of Caring For Coronavirus Patients 
Once a global epicenter of the pandemic, New York City has — for now — brought things under control. But where does this reprieve leave front-line medical workers? In the video above, we get a rare and intimate look at three — a hospitalist, a physician assistant and a palliative care physician — who worked at one of the hardest-hit hospitals in the Bronx. They’re confronting an unanswerable question: Did they do enough? The deaths may have subsided, but medical workers are still dealing with the devastation. (Sahan Hapangama, Louis Gelabert and Sarah Norris, 8/10)

Los Angeles Times: Older People Spread More Fake News, A Deadly COVID-19 Habit
On Wednesday, Facebook took down a video posted on President Trump’s official page in which he falsely claimed that children were “almost immune” to the coronavirus. The video, which violated Facebook’s policies specifically on health misinformation around the coronavirus, had been viewed nearly half a million times before it was removed. Twitter, likewise, blocked a tweet with the same video that was posted by the Trump campaign’s account.Well before the coronavirus outbreak, fake news spread rapidly on social media platforms. The consequences of misinformation are even more deadly in a pandemic. Some false information comes from legitimate sources, making it harder to separate fact from fiction. And it’s particularly dangerous for older users of social media, who are also at the greatest risk of dying from the virus. (Nadia Brashier and Daniel Schacter, 8/7)

The Hill: Congress: Pass The MAT Act To Save Lives 
I recently sent a letter to the physicians of Congress urging support of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (MAT), which supports expansion and removing barriers for medications that treat opioid addiction. As a practicing emergency physician, I have intubated and placed more people on life support who had an opioid overdose than those who had COVID-19. Tragically, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased drug and alcohol use and exacerbated the crisis of addiction in our country. (Roneet Lev, 8/9)

Dallas Morning News: With COVID-19 Spreading And Unemployment Up, Texas Must Expand Medicaid
On July 1, Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure to expand Medicaid to an estimated 200,000 uninsured residents. That makes Oklahoma the 37th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, building on successful ballot initiatives in Nebraska, Idaho and Utah in 2018, with coverage set to begin July 1, 2021. Texas, it’s our turn to expand Medicaid.Texas ranks 51st among U.S. states and Washington D.C., with the highest percentage and number of uninsured residents — 5 million — according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. (Hussain Lalani and Arthur Hong, 8/9)