First Edition: Aug. 13, 2020

Kaiser Health News and The Guardian: Dying Young: The Health Care Workers In Their 20s Killed By COVID-19 
Jasmine Obra believed that if it wasn’t for her brother Joshua, she wouldn’t exist. When 7-year-old Josh realized that his parents weren’t going to live forever, he asked for a sibling so he would never be alone. By spring 2020, at ages 29 and 21, Josh and Jasmine shared a condo in Anaheim, California, not far from Disneyland, which they both loved. (Gee, 8/13)

Kaiser Health News: Turning Anger Into Action: Minority Students Analyze COVID Data On Racial Disparities 
As the coronavirus swept into Detroit this spring, Wayne State University junior Skye Taylor noticed something striking. On social media, many of her fellow Black classmates who live or grew up in the city were “posting about death, like, ‘Oh, I lost this family member to COVID-19,’” said Taylor. The picture was different in Beverly Hills, a mostly white suburb 20 miles away. “People I went to high school with aren’t posting anything like that,” Taylor said. “They’re doing well, their family is doing OK. And even the ones whose family members have caught it, they’re still alive.” (Landhuis, 8/13)

Kaiser Health News: Back To The Future: Trump’s History Of Promising A Health Plan That Never Comes
Ever since he was a presidential candidate, President Donald Trump has been promising the American people a “terrific,” “phenomenal” and “fantastic” new health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. But, in the 3½ years since he set up shop in the Oval Office, he has yet to deliver. In his early days on the campaign trail, circa 2015, he said on CNN he would repeal Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific,” and on Sean Hannity’s radio show he said the replacement would be “something great.” (Knight, 8/13)

Kaiser Health News: Helping People Isolate Can Slow Spread Of COVID-19, Experts Say
It’s a familiar moment. The kids want their cereal and the coffee’s brewing, but you’re out of milk. No problem, you think — the corner store is just a couple of minutes away. But if you have COVID-19 or have been exposed to the coronavirus, you’re supposed to stay put. Even that quick errand could make you the reason someone else gets infected. But making the choice to keep others safe can be hard to do without support. (Bebinger, 8/13)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Will Telemedicine Outlast The Pandemic? 
Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, on Tuesday joined WDET’s “Detroit Today” host Stephen Henderson and Dr. George Kipa, the deputy chief medical officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, to talk about the future of telemedicine and whether Medicare and private insurers will continue to pay for those services. (Rovner, 8/12)

The Washington Post: U.S. Reports Highest Number Of Covid-19 Deaths In One Day Since Mid-May 
On Wednesday, the country reported its highest number of deaths in a single day since mid-May, at nearly 1,500. The country has now seen its seven-day average of newly reported deaths remain above 1,000 for 17 consecutive days. Georgia reported 105 deaths Wednesday, marking its second triple-digit day in a row. North Carolina reported an additional 45 deaths Wednesday, tying its highest daily number, from July 29. Texas reported 324 additional deaths from the disease. (Dennis and Dupree, 8/12)

The New York Times: U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Reflects Sun Belt Outbreaks 
Officials across the United States reported more than 1,470 deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day total yet in August, according to a New York Times database, and a reflection of the continued toll of the early-summer case surge in Sun Belt states. The deaths reported on Wednesday were concentrated largely in Sun Belt states that saw the most dramatic case spikes in June and July. Even as case numbers have started to drop in some of those places, deaths have remained persistently high. More than 300 deaths were announced Wednesday in Texas, and more than 200 in Florida. Arizona, California and Georgia all reported more than 100 each. (8/12)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Surge Moves To Midwest, As Young People Fuel US Case Rise
Many states initially spared from the COVID-19 pandemic is March, April, and May, are now reporting increasing transmission rates in non-metropolitan counties fueled by community spread. According to the Wall Street Journal, in Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois, the weekly change in COVID-19 cases has been higher in rural regions compared to metro areas, and outbreaks are linked to social events, rather than workplace exposure or congregate living situations. (Soucheray, 8/12)

CNN: The CDC Issues A Dire Warning For The Fall If Coronavirus Measures Are Not Followed
A top federal health official is issuing a dire warning: Follow recommended coronavirus measures or risk having the worst fall in US public health history. Coronavirus has infected more than 5 million people and killed over 166,000 nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. On Wednesday alone, there were 55,910 reported new cases and 1,499 deaths -- the highest number of fatalities since May. (Karimi and Almasy, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Relief Talks Stumble Again As Trump Asserts A Deal Is ‘Not Going To Happen’ 
A new attempt to restart economic relief negotiations between the White House and Democrats ended just minutes after it began on Wednesday, with President Trump appearing to cast doubt on the whole process by announcing a deal is “not going to happen.” Just a few days earlier, he had suggested the he was open to a new round of talks. In declaring the whole process over, Trump used a news conference to criticize Democrats’ proposals for funding election preparations and the Postal Service as part of a broader spending measure. (Werner and Stein, 8/12)

The Hill: Pelosi, Mnuchin Talk But Make No Progress On Ending Stalemate 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke by phone Wednesday but appeared to make no progress toward breaking the impasse on a fifth coronavirus relief package. The call — initiated by Mnuchin, according to a source familiar with the conversation — is the first time they've spoken since talks collapsed last Friday. (Carney, 8/12)

Politico: Standoff Over Covid Relief Could Drag Into September 
White House officials and top Democratic leaders signaled on Wednesday that they can’t agree on what they said to each other, much less forge a compromise, on a Covid-19 relief bill to help the battered U.S. economy or tens of millions of Americans facing financial hardship. The high-stakes stalemate now appears likely to drag on for weeks, or even into September, according to lawmakers and aides in both parties. (Levine and Bresnahan, 8/12)

The Hill: Pelosi Says COVID-19 Aid Can't Wait Until September: 'People Will Die' 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday she hopes negotiations over a coronavirus relief package don't drag on into next month, warning that kind of delay means "people will die." The talks between Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows collapsed last Friday after almost two weeks of near-daily meetings. The stalemate has left both sides still pointing fingers. (Marcos, 8/12)

The Hill: Top Fed Official Says Quick Reopenings Damaged Recovery From Coronavirus 
A top Federal Reserve official said Wednesday that the inability of the U.S. to control the coronavirus pandemic limited the benefit of trillions in fiscal stimulus approved by President Trump and Congress earlier this year. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a Wednesday interview with The Hill that the abrupt peel-back of restrictions imposed to slow the pandemic in the U.S. prevented record-breaking economic rescue efforts from fostering a quick recovery. (Lane, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Trump Says Postal Service Needs Money For Mail-In Voting, But He’ll Keep Blocking Funding 
President Trump says the U.S. Postal Service is incapable of facilitating mail-in voting because it cannot access the emergency funding he is blocking, and made clear that requests for additional aid were nonstarters in coronavirus relief negotiations. Trump, who has been railing against mail-in balloting for months, said the cash-strapped agency’s enlarged role in the November election would perpetuate “one of the greatest frauds in history.” Speaking Wednesday at his daily pandemic news briefing, Trump said he would not approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service, or $3.5 billion in supplemental funding for election resources, citing prohibitively high costs. (Bogage, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Trump, House Republicans Embrace Candidate Who Believe In QAnon And Has Made Racist Statements 
President Trump and Republican leaders’ embrace of a House candidate who has made racist statements and espoused the QAnon conspiracy theory is again highlighting the party’s willingness to tolerate extreme and bigoted positions. Trump on Wednesday tweeted that Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won her Georgia primary Tuesday evening, was a “future Republican Star,” who was “strong on everything and never gives up — a real WINNER!” The office of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — who ignored multiple pleas from his members to wade into the primary to stop Greene — has said that he will seat her on congressional committees. (Bade and Stanley-Becker, 8/12)

Stat: The Trump Administration Haphazardly Gave Away Millions Of Masks
Hundreds of millions of cloth face masks shipped to U.S. agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private companies by the Trump administration appear to have been allocated in a haphazard fashion, raising questions about inequitable distribution in the effort to beat back the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the $675 million program, businesses and other entities were provided with supplies of the free, reusable masks that in some cases far exceeded their needs, according to a STAT review of an administration document identifying more than 60,000 recipients. (Branswell, Sheridan, Ross and Joseph, 8/13)

Politico: DeVos' Sexual Misconduct Rule Will Take Effect Friday After Legal Blocks Fail 
A federal judge refused a multi-state effort to strike down Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new Title IX rule, clearing the path for the policy to take effect Friday. A circuit court judge in the District of Columbia released an order Wednesday denying a request to stop the new rule and to block it as legal action continues. Attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia have brought the lawsuit challenging DeVos' policy change, which mandates how colleges and K-12 schools must respond to reports of sexual misconduct. (Quilantan, 8/12)

Politico: What Kamala Harris Believes: Key Issues, Policy Positions And Votes
A former California attorney general and district attorney, Harris faced criticism over a prosecutorial record that doesn’t always match with the progressive positions she espouses today. On health care, her waffling on “Medicare for All” during the presidential primary revealed a candidate torn between appealing to progressives demanding structural change and moderates favoring incrementalism — and satisfying none in the process. Here are major policy fights that have shaped Harris’ political rise. (Cancryn and Marinucci, 8/11)

The New York Times: Health Experts Warn About Perils Of New Virus Data Collection System
Nearly three dozen current and former members of a federal health advisory committee, including nine appointed or reappointed by the health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, are warning that the Trump administration’s new coronavirus database is placing an undue burden on hospitals and will have “serious consequences on data integrity.” The advisers, all current or former members of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, issued their warning in a previously unpublished letter shared with The New York Times. (Gay Stolberg, 8/12)

The Hill: Nearly Three Dozen Health Experts Object To HHS Coronavirus Database 
The Trump administration's new coronavirus database is forcing hospitals and states to completely revamp their reporting systems and will have "serious consequences on data integrity," a group of more than 30 current and former government health officials warned. The officials are all current or former members of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee that provides guidance to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Weixel, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Data Reporting System Gets Off To Rocky Start 
Public release of hospital data about the coronavirus pandemic has slowed to a crawl, one month after the federal government ordered states to report it directly to the Department of Health and Human Services and bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key indicators, such as estimates of the portion of inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, are lagging by a week or more, making it harder for citizens and local officials to get a handle on how the pandemic is progressing and for agencies to allocate supplies of antiviral drugs and personal protective equipment, public-health experts say. (Whelan, 8/11)

The Hill: Russia Says Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Ready For Doctors In Two Weeks 
Russia said the first batch of its COVID-19 vaccine will be ready for some medics within two weeks, with Kremlin officials on Wednesday rejecting “groundless” concerns from global health experts about the drug’s speedy approval. “It seems our foreign colleagues are sensing the specific competitive advantages of the Russian drug and are trying to express opinions that in our opinion are completely groundless,” Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said, according to Reuters. (Gstalter, 8/12)

CIDRAP: China Reports Reinfection In Patient Who Was Sick Months Ago
China's state media today reported that a 68-year-old woman from Jingzhou in Hubei province was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with COVID-19, about 6 months after she had pneumonia and was diagnosed with the illness in February. (8/12)

Stat: Long After A Covid-19 Infection, Mental And Neurological Effects Smolder
Early on, patients with both mild and severe Covid-19 say they can’t breathe. Now, after recovering from the infection, some of them say they can’t think. Even people who were never sick enough to go to a hospital, much less lie in an ICU bed with a ventilator, report feeling something as ill-defined as “Covid fog” or as frightening as numbed limbs. They’re unable to carry on with their lives, exhausted by crossing the street, fumbling for words, or laid low by depression, anxiety, or PTSD. (Cooney, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: I Had COVID-19, And These Are The Things Nobody Tells You
My temperature hovered in the upper reaches of 102. It felt like my head was on fire. One night I sweated through five shirts. I shook so much from the chills I thought I chipped a tooth. My chest felt like LeBron James was sitting on it. My fatigue made it feel as if I was dressed in the chains of Jacob Marley’s ghost. I coughed so hard it felt like I broke a rib. ... But still, there are things about this insidious illness that nobody tells you. There are things that surprised me, things that stick with you long after the fever has spiked and the headaches have stopped. (Plaschke, 8/12)

USA Today: COVID Concerns: Doctors Worry As Kids Miss Scheduled Vaccinations
A recent survey serves as a small snapshot of a national problem that some fear may be exacerbated in the fall as children return to school for in-person instruction. The national survey, released Wednesday and conducted by Orlando Health, found the vast majority of parents believe vaccines are the best way to protect their children from infectious diseases, but two-thirds are still nervous to take their kids to their pediatrician’s office due to COVID-19. (Rodriguez, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Is It Hard To Get A Rapid Covid-19 Test? The Machines Are In Short Supply 
Doctors, nursing homes and federal officials are scrambling to get rapid-response Covid-19 antigen testing supplies from the two companies that secured emergency approval to produce them, as cases continue to rise in the U.S. Rapid-response antigen tests make up a small but growing area of Covid-19 testing in the U.S. and are seen as helpful in tamping down outbreaks because they offer faster results than many molecular tests that must be sent to labs for processing. The tests search for virus proteins while other tests look for the virus’s genetic material. (Krouse and Terlep, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Teenage Brothers Use 3D Printer To Make Worker Face Shields 
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Zubin and Tenzing Carvalho were on high alert. The two brothers from Hemet, ages 14 and 12, come from a family of healthcare workers, many of them in New Jersey and New York, two of the hardest hit states at the time. Some relatives got COVID-19 and recovered, but their great-uncle and great-aunt, who were older and had underlying health conditions, didn’t make it. So the brothers decided to do something. (Wong, 8/12)

Stat: We Need New Drugs To Prevent The Looming Superbug Crisis 
Imagine if scientists had seen Covid-19 coming years in advance yet did little to prepare. Unthinkable, right? Yet that’s exactly what’s happening with another infectious disease crisis — the one caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi. So-called superbugs already kill more than 700,000 people each year. And the World Health Organization warns that by 2050 the annual death toll could reach 10 million if we don’t use the time to get prepared. (Kevin Outterson and John Rex, 8/12)

The Washington Post: New, Targeted Treatments For Lung Cancer Are Reducing Lung Cancer Death Rates, Study Finds 
Death rates for the most common type of lung cancer have fallen significantly in the United States in recent years, an improvement resulting in large part from new targeted treatments, according to a study by the National Cancer Institute. The study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, said death rates for men with non-small-cell lung cancer declined 6.3 percent per year from 2013 to 2016. The number of cases — the incidence — also decreased but at a much slower rate. That meant, the researchers said, that a reduction in smoking, which reduces the risk of lung cancer, was not the only reason for the decline in death rates. People who developed cancer also were benefiting from better treatments. (McGinley, 8/12)

Stat: Lung Cancer Deaths Are Falling Faster Than New Cases 
For the most common type of lung cancer in Americans, deaths are falling faster than new cases, a new study reports, suggesting  — but not proving — that new therapies targeting genetic mutations are having an outsize effect on survival. Mortality rates for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for three-quarters of cancers originating in the lung, declined for men by 3.2% per year from 2006 to 2013. The drop accelerated to 6.3% per year from 2013 to 2016, when targeted therapies were introduced. (Cooney, 8/12)

The New York Times: Whether You Are A Night Owl Or Early Bird May Affect How Much You Move 
People who are evening types go to bed later and wake up later than morning types. They also tend to move around far less throughout the day, according to an interesting new study of how our innate body clocks may be linked to our physical activity habits. The study, one of the first to objectively track daily movements of a large sample of early birds and night owls, suggests that knowing our chronotype might be important for our health. (Reynolds, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Black Mothers In New York Are More Likely To Have Life-Threatening Complications In Childbirth 
Last September, Shamony Makeba Gibson was discharged after the birth of her second child and was in pain. It wasn’t just the caesarean section. She didn’t feel right, wasn’t managing daily activities, and in the evenings felt hot and had difficulty breathing. “It spiraled from there,” said her mother, Shawnee Benton-Gibson. Ms. Gibson, a Black mother who gave birth in a Brooklyn hospital, died of a pulmonary embolism on Oct. 6, 2019, less than two weeks after giving birth to her son Khari. She was 30 years old. (Grayce West, 8/12)

The New York Times: The Nation Wanted To Eat Out Again. Everyone Has Paid The Price. 
Across the United States this summer, restaurants and bars, reeling from mandatory lockdowns and steep financial declines, opened their doors to customers, thousands of whom had been craving deep bowls of farro, frothy margaritas and juicy burgers smothered in glistening onions. But the short-term gains have led to broader losses. Data from states and cities show that many community outbreaks of the coronavirus this summer have centered on restaurants and bars, often the largest settings to infect Americans. (Steinhauer, 8/12)

Boston Globe: 'We’re Going To Keep Going': A New Clinical Trials For ALS Gives Patients Hope
As a cardiologist, Dr. Marc Litt has plenty of arrows in his quiver for patients with heart disease: Medications that thin blood. Drug-coated stents that widen blocked arteries. Implants that replace damaged valves in minimally invasive surgery. But when the 63-year-old physician was diagnosed with ALS in March 2019 at Massachusetts General Hospital, he was dismayed to see how little medicine had to offer him. (Saltzman, 8/12)

Stat: 4 Questions For Neurology Startups As Investment Surges
As pharmaceutical companies stepped back from developing new drugs for neurological conditions, venture capitalists took a big step forward. Venture investors have poured more than $500 million into early-stage neurology startups this year, according to a recent health care venture capital report from Silicon Valley Bank — more than six times as much money that was invested in the same over the first six months of last year. (Sheridan, 8/12)

San Jose Mercury News: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes’ Twice-Delayed Trial To Start In March: Judge
After being delayed twice by the coronavirus pandemic, the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been scheduled to start in March. Holmes, a Stanford University dropout who founded her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup in 2003, is charged with a dozen felony counts of fraud, and has denied federal government allegations that she and her co-accused, former company president Sunny Balwani, misled doctors and patients and bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. (Baron, 8/11)

Stat: A Long-Awaited Report On Orphan Drugs In Europe Suggests Incentives To Pharma Need Change
After being kept under wraps for a year, an expansive review of European regulations designed to spur development of drugs for rare diseases and children found the number of medicines has increased. But at the same time, drug makers often did not address some of the most urgent needs. Instead, the pharmaceutical industry sometimes targeted more profitable therapeutic areas, raising questions about whether incentives offered to the pharmaceutical industry should be changed, according to the long-awaited report from the European Commission. As in the U.S., these incentives include market exclusivity for a period of time. (Silverman, 8/12)

Politico: New Jersey Schools Can Begin Year Remotely, But Only If They Prove They Can’t Reopen In-Person
New Jersey schools can begin the academic year remotely, Gov Phil Murphy announced Wednesday, but in order to access the online option, districts will have to prove to the state they cannot reopen safely for in-person learning. “There has to be a rationale associated with not opening at least in hybrid,” Murphy said at his regular coronavirus briefing. “There’s got to be a reason for it.” (Sitrin, 8/12)

The Seattle Times: With Many Details In Flux, Seattle School Board Approves A Fall Online Learning Plan, Possibility Of Outdoor Classes
It’s official: With a unanimous Wednesday vote from the Seattle School Board, the state’s largest school district will begin the academic year remotely, for the most part. (Bazzaz, 8/13)

The Hill: Rhode Island Pushes Back School Openings By Two Weeks 
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) said she will be delaying the reopening of schools by a couple of weeks as plans are made to accommodate for the coronavirus pandemic. Raimondo said Wednesday the plan may end up being a hybrid of remote and in-person learning. (Klar, 8/12)

CNN: More Than 2,000 Students, Teachers And Staff Quarantined In Several Schools 
For many US schools welcoming students back, a return to in-person learning was abruptly halted after new Covid-19 cases. More than 2,000 students, teachers and staff members across five states have been quarantined after at least 230 positive coronavirus cases were reported. It's a grim start to the school year many hoped could mark the beginning of a return to normalcy, but one experts have long warned would come at a cost. (Walker, 8/13)

AP: 'Impossible': School Boards Are At Heart Of Reopening Debate
Helena Miller listened to teachers, terrified to reenter classrooms, and parents, exhausted from trying to make virtual learning work at home. She heard from school officials who spent hundreds of hours on thousands of details — buses, classrooms, football, arts, special education. She spent countless nights, eyes wide open, her mind wrestling over the safety and education of the 17,000 children she swore to protect. She thought of her own kids, two in high school and one middle-schooler — the reasons she ran for Rock Hill’s school board six years ago. (Collins, 8/13)

The Hechinger Report: The Simple Intervention That Could Lift Kids Out Of ‘Covid Slide’
Tutoring is one of the oldest forms of education. A growing body of research shows that, when done right, it’s also one of the most effective means of lifting student achievement. And yet, while broad swaths of U.S. students participate in tutoring, it has historically been reserved for the moneyed elite and is often cost-prohibitive. ... [E]xperts say making tutors available to more kids – especially those least able to afford to hire one themselves – could be vital to combating learning losses that resulted when the coronavirus forced schools to shut down and transition to online-only instruction. (Wong, 8/10)

AP: Florida Sheriff Bans Masks For Deputies With Some Exceptions
A central Florida sheriff says his deputies won’t be allowed to wear face masks except under some conditions, and neither will visitors to the sheriff’s office.Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in an email to staff that he had weighed both sides of the issue amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “Now, I can already hear the whining and just so you know I did not make this decision easily and I have weighed it out for the past 2 weeks,” Woods said in the message earlier this week. (Lush and Schneider, 8/13)

USA Today: Illinois Coronavirus: Assaulting Worker Enforcing Face Masks Is Felony
Assaulting a worker who is enforcing face mask policies can now be prosecuted as aggravated battery in Illinois – a felony charge. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law Friday that expands the definition of aggravated battery to include attacks against a retail worker who is conveying public health guidance, such as requiring patrons to wear face coverings or promoting social distancing. (Hauck, 8/11)

The Hill: Video Shows Arizona Man Carried Out Of Store By Son Trying To Stop Anti-Mask Rant 
An Arizona man was seen being carried out of a store apparently by his son as he went on a rant against mask-wearing in footage that has racked up millions of views on social media. The footage, which was posted to Twitter on Monday and has since notched more than 6 million views, shows the man yelling at others in the store and calling them “idiots” for wearing masks, despite public health guidelines urging people to do so to curb the spread of COVID-19. (Folley, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Grocery Workers Say Morale Has Hit Bottom: 'They Don’t Even Treat Us Like Humans Anymore’ 
This spring, for the first time, Angel Manners found purpose and pride at the supermarket where she has worked the past decade. Customers praised her as a hero for putting herself at risk during the pandemic. Bosses boosted her hourly pay by $2. Suddenly, her job was essential. Nearly five months in, and it is all gone. “We’ve lost our hazard pay, and people are quitting every day,” said Manners, 43, who processes vendor deliveries at a Meijer store in northern Kentucky. “Those of us who are left are really stretched thin — working so much harder for $11.50 an hour.” (Bhattarai, 8/12)

Reuters: Pandemic Behaviour: Why Some People Don't Play By The Rules
Lockdowns and social distancing measures introduced around the world to try and curb the COVID-19 pandemic are reshaping lives, legislating activities that were once everyday freedoms and creating new social norms. But there are always some people who don’t play by the rules. Rule-breaking is not a new phenomenon, but behavioural scientists say it is being exacerbated in the coronavirus pandemic by cultural, demographic and psychological factors that can make the flouters seem more selfish and dangerous. (Kelland and Revell, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Washington’s NFL Team To Play Home Games Without Fans This Season 
NFL games at FedEx Field this season will be played without fans in the stands, the Washington Football Team announced Wednesday morning. Throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic, the team had been hoping to have some fans at its home games this fall, but after working with Maryland and Prince George's County officials to come up with a health and safety plan for the team’s games at the stadium, a decision was made to play in an empty stadium “out of an abundance of caution,” the team said in a statement. (Carpenter, 8/12)

AP: Virus-Proofing NFL Facilities Is A Tall, Masked Task
“There are so many steps along the way. You’ve got to fill out your questionnaire on our app when you wake up in the morning,” Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “Then when you come in, you sanitize your hands, do your temperature check, get your COVID tests, put on your lanyard, grab your tracker. So there’s just a lot of things that have now been added to your routine.” (Campbell, 8/13)

Los Angeles Times: Bubbles? May Madness? A Delayed College Basketball Season Could Require Both 
One day after learning that his season would be pushed back at least two months because of the relentless novel coronavirus pandemic, UCLA coach Mick Cronin suggested that the limited use of a bubble environment similar to the one that has protected NBA players could help Pac-12 Conference teams safely compete. Cronin proposed the possibility of using a bubble in Las Vegas for challenge games between conferences, the Pac-12 tournament or the NCAA tournament, noting that it was feasible because players were completing virtually all of their schoolwork online and wouldn’t have to be yanked out of classes. (Bolch and Kartje, 8/12)

The New York Times: ‘Fat Talks,’ An Investigation, And A Reckoning: How Collegiate Runners Forced Reform 
In early March, 36 Wesleyan University track and cross-country alumni signed a letter describing a culture of rampant body shaming and eating disorders within the program that they said a prominent coach had fostered. In pleading for major changes, the athletes said the coach, John Crooke, had held “fat talks” with runners, telling them to lose weight to run faster. He told them to keep food diaries and check in with him to review their logs, they said in interviews. Athletes were told to not discuss those meetings with other runners. (Minsberg, 8/12)

The Hill: Potatoes, Citrus Fruit Recalled Over Listeria Concerns 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week announced a voluntary recall of red potatoes and several varieties of citrus fruits sold by a North Carolina-based company over listeria concerns. An announcement on the FDA's website states that the items, sold by Freshouse II of Salisbury, N.C., including lemons, limes, oranges and red potatoes, could be contaminated with the listeria bacteria found during an inspection of the company's facility. (Bowden, 8/12)

AP: Actors And Disney World Reach Deal After Virus Testing Fight
Walt Disney World and the union for its actors and singers reached an agreement on Wednesday that will allow them to return to work, more than a month after they said they were locked out of the reopening of the theme park resort for publicly demanding coronavirus tests. Disney agreed to have a state-run drive-thru COVID-19 testing site for workers and the public at the Florida theme park resort. That decision encouraged Actor’s Equity Association to sign a memorandum of understanding allowing the actors, singers and stage managers to return to their jobs. (Schneider, 8/13)

NPR: A New Children's Album Celebrates Kids Who Identify As Transgender And Nonbinary
A lot of summer camps had to close this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Camp Aranu'tiq in New Hampshire, a camp for transgender and nonbinary children. Julie Be is a music therapist who has helped run the camp since it was founded in 2009 and also one half of the children's musical duo Ants on a Log, alongside Anya Rose. So the stuck-at-home campers would feel connected, Be and Rose put out an open call for songs that reflect the trans and nonbinary experience, use gender neutral pronouns or use humor to talk about gender. Together, they curated an album of children's music called Trans & Nonbinary Kids Mix. (8/13)

The Hill: California Megachurch Draws Thousands At In-Person Services Defying State Coronavirus Orders 
The pastor of a megachurch in Los Angeles defended the church’s decision to allow thousands in for services Sunday, defying California state orders amid the coronavirus outbreak. Grace Community Church held in-person services on Sunday, and Pastor John MacArthur told CNN that six or seven thousand people showed up. (Klar, 8/12)

AP: Bat At Grand Canyon National Park Tested Positive For Rabies
A bat collected along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park has tested positive for rabies, authorities said. Park officials said the bat was found Aug. 6 at the Whitmore Helipad and didn’t come in contact with any visitors. (8/13)

Politico: De Blasio: Threat Of 22,000 Layoffs Is 'Painfully Real'
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is moving forward with “painfully real” plans to lay off 22,000 public workers on Oct. 1 unless another source of cash comes through. De Blasio confirmed the layoff plans are progressing after POLITICO first reported Tuesday that agencies have been ordered to come up with a list of employees being considered for job cuts by the end of next week. (Durkin, 8/12)