Atlanta Journal Constitution: White House Warns Of ‘Widespread And Expanding’ COVID-19 Spread In Georgia
President Trump’s coronavirus task force warns that Georgia continues to see “widespread and expanding community viral spread” and that the state’s current policies aren’t enough to curtail COVID-19. The task force “strongly recommends” Georgia adopt a statewide mandate that citizens wear masks, joining a chorus of public health officials, Democrats and others who have warned that Gov. Brian Kemp’s refusal to order face coverings has plunged the state into deeper crisis and will prolong recovery. (Trubey and Bluestein, 8/14)

USA Today: Late To Shut Down, First To Reopen, Georgia Reports Its Highest Daily Death Toll
It wasn’t easy for Jenny Hunter to send her kids back to school this fall, but she knew it was the better of two impossible choices for her family. "I’m well aware of the clinical risks for children," Hunter, a nurse and mother of two in Cherokee County, just outside Atlanta, told USA TODAY on Wednesday afternoon. "I'm not a teacher, and neither is my husband. I felt the benefit versus the risk was better to get them in person for their education."Minutes after hanging up, Hunter received a text from her son: His high school would be temporarily closing for two weeks after 14 students tested positive for the coronavirus. (Hauck, 8/13)

The Hill: Georgia Governor Drops Lawsuit Over Atlanta's Mask Mandate 
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has dropped a lawsuit over Atlanta’s mask mandate, his office announced Thursday afternoon.In a statement, Kemp said that he has failed to reach an agreement with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and will instead file an executive order on Saturday. (Moreno, 8/13)

Also —

The New York Times: California Becomes First State To Report 600,000 Coronavirus Cases 
California on Thursday became the first state to surpass 600,000 reported coronavirus cases since the virus arrived at the beginning of the year, a New York Times database shows. With more than 10,800 fatalities, the state now ranks third in the country for the worst death toll, behind New York and New Jersey, which were overwhelmed with cases in the spring but have since managed to contain the virus’s spread. (8/13)

CNN: New York City Deaths During The Coronavirus Surge Recall The Peak Of The 1918 Flu Pandemic 
A new study finds that deaths in New York City in the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic were comparable to deaths in the city at the peak of what's considered the deadliest pandemic to date -- the flu pandemic of 1918. The relative increase in deaths during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic was actually substantially greater than during the peak of the 1918 pandemic, according to the study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open. (Christensen, 8/14)

NPR: Joe Biden: For The Next 3 Months, All Americans Should Wear A Mask When Outside
Joe Biden is calling for everyone in the United States to wear a mask, well into the fall. "Every single American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months, at a minimum," Biden said Thursday afternoon in remarks in Wilmington, Del. "Every governor should mandate mandatory mask-wearing. The estimates by the experts are it will save over 40,000 lives."His comments came after a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic with his new running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and public health experts. More than 165,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19. (Khalid, 8/13)

Politico: Biden, Harris Call For All States To Mandate Masks After First Joint Covid-19 Briefing 
“Wearing a mask will give the life of a clerk in your local store or your letter carrier, your child's teacher, it will increase their prospects of not contracting the virus,” Biden said. “Even though it's uncomfortable, and we're not used to it, wearing a mask is going to get our kids back to school sooner and safer. Every American wearing a mask outdoors is going to get our businesses back and to full strength.” (Miranda Ollstein, 8/13)

Politico: Trump Assails, Misrepresents Biden On Mask Mandate In Partisan White House Briefing 
President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a partisan attack on Joe Biden at a White House press briefing, inaccurately suggesting the presumptive Democratic nominee wanted a national mandate on mask wearing while assailing Biden as "regressive," "anti-scientific" and "defeatist." Speaking to reporters from the lectern in the James S. Brady briefing room, Trump claimed Biden advocated a national mask mandate to fight the virus — an act that Trump said ignored the different needs of individual states and trampled on governors' authority. Earlier Thursday, Biden and recently announced running mate Kamala Harris called on governors to issue mask mandates amid a national effort to curb the pandemic. (Choi, 8/13)

In other news from the Biden campaign —

PBS NewsHour: More Americans Trust Biden Than Trump To Handle The Pandemic
If the 2020 presidential election were held today, 53 percent of registered voters would cast their ballot for former Vice President Joe Biden, putting him 11 percentage points ahead of President Donald Trump, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll. The poll, taken days before the Democratic National Convention, shows Biden with his widest lead yet. In February, before Biden had taken the lead in the Democratic primaries, 50 percent of U.S. voters said they would support Biden in a match-up between him and Trump, while 44 percent backed Trump. (Santhanam, 8/14)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Kamala Harris On Health 
California Sen. Kamala Harris, the newly named running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, doesn’t have a lot of background in health policy. But that’s unlikely to prevent Republicans from using her on-again, off-again support for “Medicare for All” against her in the fall campaign. Meanwhile, with talks between Congress and the Trump administration over the next round of COVID-19 relief at a standstill, President Donald Trump is trying to fill the void with executive orders. What’s unclear is whether the president has the authority to do some of what he is proposing — or whether it will work to help people in dire economic and health straits. (Rovner, 8/13)

Modern Healthcare: Kamala Harris Has A History Of Healthcare Merger Crackdowns
Newly tapped Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris' history of cracking down on hospital mergers as California's attorney general indicate a Biden administration could set a new precedent for the healthcare industry. Democrats' draft party platform for 2020 calls for tighter federal regulation of healthcare mergers. Harris wouldn't have direct control over federal antitrust enforcement if she were elected vice president, but she could have sway over who presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would choose as attorney general, said Joel Goldstein, a professor at St. Louis University School of Law and a leading expert on the vice presidency. (Cohrs and Bannow, 8/13)

Politico: Trump Requests Mail-In Ballot For Florida Primary 
The day before publicly opposing funding to accommodate an expected surge in Americans voting by mail in this year’s presidential election, President Donald Trump requested a mail-in ballot to vote in Florida’s upcoming primary. The elections website for Palm Beach County, Fla., where Trump is registered to vote, shows that mail-in ballots were requested for the president and first lady Melania Trump on Wednesday. The news was first reported by USA Today. (Semones, 8/13)

AP: Trump Admits He's Blocking Postal Cash To Stop Mail-In Votes
President Donald Trump frankly acknowledged Thursday that he’s starving the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him the election. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump explicitly noted two funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill. Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won’t have the resources to handle a flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic. (Riechmann and Izaguirre, 8/14)

The New York Times: Trump Makes Clear His Opposition To More Money For USPS To Support Mail Voting 
President Trump stirred new questions on Thursday about whether he would seek to hold up new money to the Postal Service to impede mail-in voting this fall in the middle of the pandemic. Repeating the unfounded claim that the election could be riddled with fraud if mail ballots were widely used, he made clear that he opposed Democratic demands for additional funding for both the post office and election security measures because of his opposition to mail-in voting. (Cochrane and Fuchs, 8/13)

In related news —

The Hill: Fauci Defends Voting By Mail If 'You Don't Want To Take The Chance' In Person 
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Thursday invoked mail-in voting as an alternative for people who didn’t want to “take the chance” of contracting the coronavirus. Fauci, in an exclusive conversation with National Geographic as part of its event, “Stopping Pandemics,” said he believed in-person voting could be safely done with proper precautions. (Budryk, 8/13)

Politico: Supreme Court Blocks GOP Bid To Restore Rhode Island Ballot Rules Waived Because Of Virus 
The Supreme Court has rebuffed an effort by Republicans to block Rhode Island officials’ agreement to waive mail-in ballot security measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. The high court on Thursday turned down an emergency application from the Republican National Committee and the Rhode Island state GOP seeking to preserve a requirement in state law that absentee ballot envelopes bear the signature of two witnesses or be certified by a notary public. (Gerstein, 8/13)

Politico: As A Grim Fall Approaches, Trump Team Feels Increasingly Confident 
A pandemic summer marked by testing delays, supply shortages and continued spread of the coronavirus has set the stage for a disheartening start to the fall across much of the U.S., with the shuttering of schools and cancellation of college football seasons that officials had once hoped would herald a return to normalcy more than six months into the crisis. But inside the White House, Trump’s top political aides are increasingly assured about their response — feeling like they’re finally getting a handle on how to fight the disease. (Cook and Cancryn, 8/13)

New York Post: Trump Plans To Deliver RNC Speech On White House Lawn
President Trump on Thursday confirmed to the The Post he intends to give his Republican National Convention speech from the White House lawn, defying critics who said the location was inappropriate. During an exclusive Oval Office interview, the president said he would visit the battlefield at Gettysburg at a “later date” and described his vision of a socially-distanced speech in front of supporters at the executive mansion in Washington, DC later this month. (Bowden and Nelson, 8/13)

And more election news —

AP: Dodger Stadium Vote Center Planned For Presidential Election
Dodger Stadium will serve as a vote center for the presidential election in November, making the Dodgers the first Major League Baseball team to make their venue available for voting. Any registered voter in Los Angeles County can visit the stadium over a five-day period. Parking will be free. (8/14)

Stat: Disability Advocacy Gains New Traction In Presidential Races
For decades, the disability advocacy community has fought for a permanent — and prominent — place in the mainstream political discussion. The 2020 presidential race has seen a sea change. Advocates gained new traction during the campaign, pushing the full slate of Democratic candidates to discuss and define their stances on disability policies like never before. (Isselbacher, 8/14)

AP: Preliminary Results Show Record Turnout For Vermont Primary
Preliminary results from Vermont’s election Tuesday show a historic turnout for a primary in the state, Secretary of State Jim Condos said Wednesday. Condos said well over 155,000 Vermonters voted on or before the primary. The turnout figures will remain unofficial until all town and city clerks submit their official election results. (8/14)

Politico: Negotiators 'Miles Apart' On Covid Funding, With Little Hope For Deal Until September
White House officials and top Democrats concede that a coronavirus relief deal is still out of reach after six days without in-person meetings — leaving little hope that relief for millions of Americans will arrive by month’s end. As of Thursday, Washington’s top negotiators have no plans to meet in the coming days, putting an indefinite halt to sputtering talks to assemble the next economic rescue package amid a pandemic that has infected over 5 million Americans. Democrats are now insisting they won’t sit down with White House officials until the GOP agrees to spend at least $2 trillion, double the size of the GOP’s initial proposal, while Republican officials remain unwilling to raise the overall price tag. (Levine and Ferris, 8/13)

USA Today: Trump, Pelosi, McConnell Blame One Another As New Coronavirus Aid Package Remains Out Of Reach
A bipartisan deal for a new coronavirus stimulus package appeared hopelessly out of reach on Thursday, with congressional Democrats blaming Republicans, Republicans blaming Democrats and President Donald Trump suggesting the talks are doomed. The only thing everyone seemed to agree on is that the discussions are at an impasse. (Collins, Hayes and Wu, 8/13)

The Hill: Pelosi: COVID Talks Will Resume When GOP Offers $2T 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the high-stakes talks between the White House and Democrats on coronavirus relief will resume only when Republicans come to the table with at least $2 trillion. "When they're ready to do that, we'll sit down," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. (Lillis, 8/13)

Roll Call: Senate Breaks For August Recess With No Coronavirus Deal In Sight
The Senate has given up on its August legislative session without any agreement on a new COVID-19 relief bill as jet fumes — leaving town in Senate parlance — have overtaken any hope for a bipartisan deal. “If the speaker of the House and the minority leader of the Senate decide to finally let another rescue package move forward for workers and for families, it would take bipartisan consent to meet for legislative business sooner than scheduled,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday. (Lesniewski, 8/13)

In related news —

AP: US Jobless Claims Fall Below 1 Million But Remain High
The number of Americans applying for unemployment dropped below 1 million last week for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the U.S. five months ago, but layoffs are still running extraordinarily high. The figures show that the crisis continues to throw people out of work just as the expiration of an extra $600 a week in federal jobless benefits has deepened the hardship for many — and posed another threat to the U.S. economy. (Rugaber, 8/13)

The Wall Street Journal: When Will The Latest Coronavirus Unemployment Benefits Start? What We Know
President Trump signed an executive action on Aug. 8 for a federally funded $300 a week in enhanced unemployment benefits for workers laid off during the coronavirus pandemic. The payments would replace the $600 payments that expired last month. Mr. Trump called on states to provide another $100 a week, but administration officials said the state-funded benefit was optional. Here is what we know about how unemployment benefits will work under Mr. Trump’s latest executive actions. (Chaney, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: WSJ Survey: Benefits Of Extra Unemployment Aid Outweigh Work Disincentive 
An overwhelming majority of economists surveyed this month by The Wall Street Journal said the economic benefits of additional jobless benefits to help laid-off workers outweighed concern that the extra payments could deter people from going back to work. About 82% of economists in the Journal’s survey said they agreed more with the idea that the extra cash boosted the economy than the idea that it held back the labor market’s recovery. Many of them said the benefits should be extended to support the recovery. (Harrison and DeBarros, 8/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccines Won’t Come With Copays, U.S. Health Official Says
New details emerged Thursday about how hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccines will be distributed in the U.S. and who will bear the cost. The U.S. government will pay for the vaccines and their distribution, and is working with commercial health insurers to offer the shots free of charge and without a copay, according to Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “What we’re hoping is that every American will not only get a free vaccine distributed to many different outlets, but also will not have to pay for the administration of that vaccine,” Mr. Mango said on a call with reporters. (Hopkins, 8/13)

CNBC: The U.S. Has Already Invested Billions On Potential Coronavirus Vaccines. Here's Where The Deals Stand
So far, the deals with a handful of pharmaceutical giants have topped roughly $10.79 billion as part of Operation Warp Speed, a program led by several departments within the federal government to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus. The operation aims to provide at least 300 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by January 2021. In most of the agreements, HHS says the vaccines will be given to the American people for free if part of a vaccine campaign but healthcare professionals could charge for the cost of administering the vaccines. (Higgins-Dunn, 8/14)

USA Today: Experts Worry That A COVID-19 Vaccine Won't Help If Not Enough People Are Willing To Get One
Only about one-third of Americans say they'd be very likely to get a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, according to a poll released last month – virtually unchanged since the spring. More people said they would get it if the vaccine were free, and others said they would sign on if there was a second wave of infections – a sign that while many Americans are hesitant about a vaccine, their opinions aren't set in stone. But convincing them that getting a vaccine is a good idea will take effort and money. And so far, no  federal dollars have been set aside for vaccine education. (Weintraub, 8/13)

Politico: The Next Unprecedented Vaccine Hurdle: Making Hundreds Of Millions Of Doses 
The U.S. government has now signed six deals with vaccine-makers to produce coronavirus shots, even before it’s clear any are effective — and with a risk the companies won’t be able to ramp up production in time to deliver hundreds of millions of doses. Some of the experimental vaccines use technology that has never before reached the market, so there is no precedent for producing hundreds of millions of doses. Other potential bottlenecks include a global sand shortage that could throttle the production of glass vials, and limited supplies of chemicals called adjuvants that are sometimes used to boost a vaccine’s ability to provoke an immune response. (Brennan, 8/12)

The Washington Post: These Are The Top Coronavirus Vaccines To Watch
The worldwide effort to create a vaccine for the novel coronavirus kicked off in January, soon after scientists in China posted online the genome of a virus causing a mysterious pneumonia. Vaccine development usually takes years and unfolds step by step. Experimental vaccine candidates are created in the laboratory and tested in animals before moving into progressively larger human clinical trials. These steps are now overlapping in the race to find a vaccine for a global disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. (8/13)

CNN: Inside The Multibillion Dollar Race For A Vaccine
Four years. That’s the fastest a vaccine has ever been developed -- and most take 10 to 15. But scientists are now racing to do it in under one. Dozens of research teams around the world are working to develop a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, using a mix of established techniques and new technologies. (Mackintosh, Mezzofiore and Polglase, 8/14)

Stat: Covid-19 Clinical Trials Are Failing To Enroll Diverse Populations
It’s been well-established that Covid-19, at least in the United States, has disproportionately affected people of color. And yet clinical trials of treatments and vaccines for Covid-19 have so far failed to enroll diverse populations that actually reflect society. (Feuerstein, Garde and Robbins, 8/14)

Vox: These Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates Could Change The Way We Make Vaccines — If They Work
As urgency mounts for a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine, a key question for scientists is whether this pandemic will be the watershed moment for two new technologies that have never before seen widespread use in humans. If proven effective, these approaches could dramatically speed up the development of other new vaccines and drastically lower costs, heralding a new era in the fight against infectious disease. (Ifran, 8/13)

And vaccine developments from overseas —

Reuters: China Sinopharm's Potential COVID-19 Vaccine Triggers Antibodies In Clinical Trials: Journal
A coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) appeared to be safe and triggered antibody-based immune responses in early and mid-stage trials, researchers said. The candidate has already moved into a late-stage trial, one of a handful of candidates being tested on several thousand people to see if they are effective enough to win regulatory approval. (8/14)

AP: Indonesia Takes Part In Late-Stage China Vaccine Trial
More people in Indonesia rolled up their sleeves Friday to test a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by a Chinese company. The Indonesian government announced the partnership between state-owned enterprise Bio Farma and the Chinese company Sinovac BioTech in early July. As part of the deal, Indonesia recruited 1,620 volunteers for the trial. The first 20 were injected with the candidate vaccine in Bandung, West Java province, on Tuesday, and more followed suit. (Tarigan and Milko, 8/14)

Reuters: UK Buys More Potential COVID-19 Vaccines From J&J And Novavax 
Britain will buy potential COVID-19 vaccines from U.S. drugmakers Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Novavax Inc (NVAX.O), the companies said on Friday, bringing the total number of deals by the UK government to six as the race for shots heats up. Johnson & Johnson said its Janssen Pharmaceutica unit will supply the UK government with its candidate known as Ad26.COV2.S with an initial sale of 30 million doses on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use. (Smout and Mason, 8/14)

More response to Russia's vaccine —

CNN: Russia Offers To Help US With Covid-19 Vaccine; US Says No 
Russian officials in Moscow tell CNN they have offered "unprecedented cooperation" with Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the US multi-agency body set up to accelerate access to effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. But the officials told CNN that the "US is not currently open" to the Russian medical advances. (Chance, Ullah and Salama, 8/13)

PBS NewsHour: Fauci Says Despite Upcoming Election, Science Will Not Be Politicized 
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, urged caution on Thursday as countries race to develop an effective vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “Just to say you have a vaccine doesn’t mean that you should be administering the vaccine,” Fauci said of Russia’s recent decision to approve a vaccine, which was met with skepticism by the scientific community. (Woodruff and Vinopal, 8/13)

Newsweek: Sweden's Coronavirus Herd Immunity 'Nowhere In Sight,' Researchers Say
Sweden, which has made headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic for not locking down like other countries, is nowhere near achieving herd immunity, according to researchers. ... Evidence suggests that being infected with the COVID-19-causing coronavirus can trigger the production of antibodies, although it's unclear whether this protects against reinfections, the authors noted. While it was hoped that 40 percent of the population of Sweden's capital Stockholm would be carrying antibodies against the virus by May 2020, the figure was in fact around 15 percent. (Gander, 8/12)

Stat: Large Study Suggests Blood Plasma Can Help Treat Covid-19, With Caveats
Infusing hospitalized Covid-19 patients with blood plasma from people who recovered from the disease appeared to show a benefit in a nationwide study, but the study’s lack of a placebo group left several experts struggling to interpret the data. The study, which enrolled more than 35,000 patients, found that quickly administering so-called convalescent plasma had a marked effect on mortality for patients with severe cases of Covid-19. Those who received transfusions within three days of diagnosis had a seven-day death rate of 8.7%, while patients who got plasma after four or more days had a mortality rate of 11.9%. The difference met the standard for statistical significance. (Garde and Herper, 8/13)

The New York Times: You Probably Won’t Catch The Coronavirus From Frozen Food 
Amid a flurry of concern over reports that frozen chicken wings imported to China from Brazil had tested positive for the coronavirus, experts said on Thursday that the likelihood of catching the virus from food — especially frozen, packaged food — is exceedingly low. “This means somebody probably handled those chicken wings who might have had the virus,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. “But it doesn’t mean, ‘Oh my god, nobody buy any chicken wings because they’re contaminated.’” (Wu, 8/13)

Also —

The Hill: Coronavirus Cases May Have Been Spreading In Wuhan And Seattle Weeks Before First Detected: Researchers 
Thousands of cases of the novel coronavirus may have circulated undetected in both Wuhan, China, and Seattle early in the pandemic, according to research from the University of Texas-Austin published in The Lancet. The research suggests that by the time lockdowns were imposed in both cities, the early epicenters of their respective countries, the virus may have been spreading for weeks. (Budryk, 8/13)

Indianapolis Star: Fishers Health Department: Epidemiologist Resigns, Cites Meddling
The epidemiologist for the newly-formed Fishers Health Department has resigned, alleging Mayor Scott Fadness meddled in the agency and could be pushing schools to open classrooms too soon. "This is a level of interference I had never seen before in a public health agency,” said Eileen White, the department’s only epidemiologist who had previously worked for the Indiana and Minnesota health departments. “I have never seen a health department set up as a business before.” (Tuohy, 8/13)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: For Health Care ‘Heroes,’ Death Toll Keeps Rising
An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Georgia officials have undercounted deaths among health care workers by as much as 30%. At the same time, few medical facilities acknowledge the workers’ deaths in public, much less that they could have been infected on the job. (Judd, 8/14)

Kaiser Health News and The Guardian: ‘Is This When I Drop Dead?’ Two Doctors Report From The COVID Front Lines
Health workers across the country looked on in horror when New York became the global epicenter of the coronavirus. Now, as physicians in cities such as Houston, Phoenix and Miami face their own COVID-19 crises, they are looking to New York, where the caseload has since abated, for guidance. The Guardian sat in on a conversation with two emergency room physicians — one in New York and the other in Houston — about what happened when COVID-19 arrived at their hospitals. (Renwick, 8/14)

Kaiser Health News and The Guardian: Lost On The Frontline: Explore The Interactive Database
Hundreds of U.S. health care workers have died fighting COVID-19. We count them and investigate why.

KQED: Doctors And Nurses Are Not Doing Okay 
The unflappable health care heroes of the current crisis are beginning to crack under the strain. Doctors, nurses and other professionals are not only fighting an intractable virus day after day, they're also coping with isolation, shifting official guidelines and limited ways to recharge. A study published in June by researchers from UCSF and other universities showed emergency medicine physicians reporting a median 60% increase in emotional exhaustion and burnout over prepandemic levels. (McClurg, 8/13)

GMA: Dentists Push Back After New Warning From WHO To Delay Routine Dental Checkups In Areas Where COVID Is Spreading 
Dentists are fighting tooth and nail to get back to business amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization released its new recommendation that people should put off "routine" check-ups in areas where the virus is spreading until more is known about coronavirus transmission risk during dental procedures. (McCarthy, 8/13)

Boston Globe: Michael Apkon, Tufts Medical CEO, Steps Down After Less Than Two Years On The Job
Dr. Michael Apkon is stepping down as chief executive of Tufts Medical Center after less than two years on the job. Apkon, 60, who took the position after serving as the CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, plans to work with “elected leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators to improve health care policy and accelerate change in the industry,” Tufts Medical said in a statement Thursday. He will depart next month. (Edelman, 8/13)

And in a survey of doctors, many say their practice doesn't overprescribe antibiotics —

Stat: Most Doctors Say They're Not Part Of The Problem Of Antibiotic Resistance
Amid growing concerns over antibiotic resistance, a new survey finds the vast majority of doctors acknowledge a problem exists and believe inappropriate prescribing most often occurs in physician offices. But at the same time, many doctors do not believe their own practices are to blame, a lack of recognition that contributes to a worsening public health crisis. (Silverman, 8/13)

CIDRAP: Survey Highlights Stewardship Barriers In Primary Care 
A new survey of US primary care physicians shows that a vast majority recognize that antibiotic resistance and inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics are problems in the nation's outpatient settings. The issue is that far fewer see it as their problem. In the survey of 1,500 primary care physicians, conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the American Medical Association (AMA) from August 2018 through October 2018, 93% agreed that antibiotic resistance is a problem in the United States, and 91% agreed that inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is a problem in outpatient healthcare. (Dall, 8/13)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Hospitals' Broad Experience Helps In COVID-19 Fight
Margaret Mary Health, a 25-bed hospital in Batesville, Indiana, was hit by COVID-19 in mid-March, before even the larger cities nearby like Cincinnati got a major influx of patients. "It's a new disease, and all of a sudden it's just flooding us," said Tim Putnam, president and CEO of Margaret Mary Health. "People are struggling to breathe."The hospital that normally has 15 patients at a time had as many as 28 patients at one point and went from being 80% outpatient to 80% inpatient, Putnam said. They had to purchase seven more ventilators to double their capacity to intubate patients. (Christ, 8/13)

Modern Healthcare: Behavioral Health Patients Spur 57% Of Commercial Healthcare Spending
Employers and other commercial payers spend little on behavioral health treatment, even though people with behavioral health conditions tend to have higher healthcare costs than those who don't, according to a new study. Researchers from the consulting firm Milliman analyzed commercial insurance claims for 21 million people. They found that the 27% of people who had a behavioral health condition in addition to other medical problems accounted for 57% of total annual healthcare costs across the entire study population. (Livington, 8/13)

Star-Tribune: County Commission Votes To Sell Wyoming Medical Center To Banner Health 
The $200 million deal to sell Wyoming Medical Center’s assets to Banner Health was approved Thursday by the Natrona County Commission, clearing the way for the facility to become a part of Banner’s growing system. The commission’s five members all voted unanimously, after the county’s separate hospital board also gave its approval. The deal will see $120 million go to the county’s coffers, plus roughly $40 million dispatched to the hospital’s reinforced foundation. Banner will also absorb $50 million in debt left over from WMC construction and the purchase of Mountain View Regional two years ago. (Nimmo, 8/13)

Stat: Teladoc Rival MDLive Is Preparing To Go Public Next Year
On the heels of Teladoc’s landscape-shifting deal to buy Livongo, telemedicine rival MDLive is setting its sights on a public offering early next year, the company’s chief executive officer told STAT. The offering, which is still in the early stages, would take place some time in January or February of next year, according to CEO Charles Jones. (Brodwin, 8/13)

In updates about COVID data reporting —

CNN: US Government Health Advisers Say Hospitals Are 'Scrambling' After Trump Administration's 'Abrupt' Change To Covid-19 Data Reporting Requirements 
In a letter, public health advisers to the US government said they are "extremely concerned" and "troubled" by the Trump administration's decision to change how hospitals report Covid-19 data. The letter, dated July 31, described hospitals as "scrambling" to determine how to meet new daily Covid-19 reporting requirements to the US Department of Health and Human Services, and said retiring the older system jeopardized data integrity. (Christensen, 8/14)

Kaiser Health News: COVID Data Failures Create Pressure For Public Health System Overhaul
After terrorists slammed a plane into the Pentagon on 9/11, ambulances rushed scores of the injured to community hospitals, but only three of the patients were taken to specialized trauma wards. The reason: The hospitals and ambulances had no real-time information-sharing system. Nineteen years later, there is still no national data network that enables the health system to respond effectively to disasters and disease outbreaks. Many doctors and nurses must fill out paper forms on COVID-19 cases and available beds and fax them to public health agencies, causing critical delays in care and hampering the effort to track and block the spread of the coronavirus. (Meyer, 8/14)

Bangor Daily News: What The CDC Data Doesn’t Tell Us When It Comes To Coronavirus And Race
Coronavirus has infected Black Mainers at more than 10 times the rate of their white counterparts — a racial disparity that’s more pronounced here than anywhere in the U.S. But now state officials are researching ways to disaggregate health data among racial subpopulations, acknowledging various health outcomes between persons of color which had previously been grouped together for data purposes. (Schroeder, 8/14)

Politico: CDC: One Quarter Of Young Adults Contemplated Suicide During Pandemic 
One in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 say they've considered suicide in the past month because of the pandemic, according to new CDC data that paints a bleak picture of the nation's mental health during the crisis. The data also flags a surge of anxiety and substance abuse, with more than 40 percent of those surveyed saying they experienced a mental or behavioral health condition connected to the Covid-19 emergency. The CDC study analyzed 5,412 survey respondents between June 24 and 30. (Ehley, 8/13)

The Hill: Coronavirus Pandemic Leading To Depression And Drinking, CDC Says 
Americans are struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic after months of harsh lockdowns, widespread disease and economic suffering that has fallen disproportionately on the young, minorities and those who are most vulnerable to financial shocks. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds the number of Americans reporting adverse mental health or behavioral changes — like drinking or drug use — on a perilous rise in recent months. (Wilson, 8/13)

Denver Post: Colorado To Test Wastewater For Signs Of COVID-19 Outbreaks Before Symptoms Start
The state health department, two universities and 16 wastewater utilities are partnering to search for signs of new COVID-19 cases before infected people even have symptoms — by looking for the disease in poop. Sampling wastewater provides an “early warning” system at the population level, John Putnam, environmental programs director at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said on a press call Wednesday morning. Most people start shedding the virus in their feces about two days after infection – before they’ve developed symptoms and sought testing, he said. While the testing isn’t precise enough to say that someone’s infected in a particular household or neighborhood, it gives a signal of whether cases are increasing or decreasing. (Wingerter, 8/12)

The New York Times: On Native American Land, Contact Tracing Is Saving Lives 
The coronavirus is raging through the White Mountain Apache tribe. Spread across a large reservation in eastern Arizona, the Apaches have been infected at more than 10 times the rate of people in the state as a whole. Yet their death rate from Covid-19 is far lower, just 1.3 percent, as compared with 2.1 percent in Arizona. Epidemiologists have a hopeful theory about what led to this startling result: Intensive contact tracing on the reservation likely enabled teams that included doctors to find and treat gravely ill people before it was too late to save them. (Kolata, 8/13)

Politico: Testing Mess Leaves Texas In The Dark As Cases Spike 
Covid-19 testing is a mess in Texas. More than one-in-five Texans who are tested for coronavirus are positive, the worst statewide rate in the country. But the number of people getting tests has plummeted in the last two weeks, which could understate how widespread the virus really is as schools reopen and hospitalizations and deaths remain near record highs. (Goldberg, 8/13)

Sacramento Bee: Still No COVID-19 Rapid Testing In Some CA Nursing Homes
The Trump administration in July pledged to send rapid coronavirus testing machines to to nursing homes in hot spots around the country, but they have not yet arrived at some outbreak-challenged sites in the San Joaquin Valley. Nursing homes in the region are eligible for the machines because the federal government considers the Central Valley to be a hot spot for the novel coronavirus that has about 160,000 Americans this year. (Irby, 8/13)

In other testing and tracing news —

The Hill: Top Trump Official 'Really Tired Of Hearing' Criticism Over COVID-19 Testing 
The Trump administration official in charge of the country's COVID-19 testing strategy said Thursday that the U.S. is doing enough testing and dismissed critics who say otherwise. “It is just a false narrative — and I’m really tired of hearing it by people not involved in the system — that we need millions of tests every day,” said Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, on a call with reporters. “If that were true, we would not be reversing the outbreaks we have,” he added. (Hellmann, 8/13)

NPR: Should You Get Tested For Coronavirus Before You Travel To Visit Family?
Like everything with this pandemic, the answer is complicated. The infectious disease experts I spoke to told me there are two reasons why testing might not be very helpful. The first has to do with the length of time it takes to get your test results back these days — up to a week or more in some places for PCR tests. By the time you get your results back, you could have unknowingly been exposed to the virus, making the original test irrelevant. (Davis, 8/13)

AP: UK Begins Testing A New App To Fight COVID-19 Spread
Britain started testing a new smartphone app Thursday to help people find out whether they’ve been close to someone infected with COVID-19 after security concerns torpedoed an earlier effort to use technology to track the disease. The Department of Health and Social Care said that trials of the app began on the Isle of Wight, with testing in the London borough of Newham scheduled to begin soon. The app, which was developed in conjunction with privacy experts and companies such as Google and Apple, is similar to technology being used in Germany and Ireland. (8/13)

The New York Times: Prison Inmate Hanged Himself With Coronavirus Mask, Officials Say 
A prison inmate in Connecticut this week hanged himself in his cell with a cloth mask that had been issued to him as part of an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, correction officials and the state’s chief medical examiner said. The inmate, Daniel Ocasio, died on Wednesday after he was found at 5:07 a.m. with a ligature around his neck while he was sitting on a bunk at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Uncasville, Conn., the state’s Department of Correction said. (Vigdor, 8/13)

The Advocate: 3 Arrested In Attack Of Chili's Hostess Who Was Enforcing Coronavirus Dining Rules
Three people have been arrested in connection to the assault of a teenage Chili's hostess who was trying to enforce the restaurant's seating restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus, according to Baton Rouge police. Tammy Dabney, 48, was booked on a count of aggravated second degree battery, while both 27-year-old Rodneka Dabney and 46-year-old Erica Dabney were booked on counts of disturbing the peace and simple battery. (Umholtz, 8/14)

CNN: What Happens When Airplane Passengers Refuse To Wear Masks 
Stephanie Scherrer was settling in for her two-hour Southwest Airlines flight from Denver, Colorado to her home in Los Angeles, California. Her face covering was on, her hand sanitizer was ready, she'd wiped down the seats and her two kids were also masked up. It was July 15. Scherrer, a high school counselor, had thought long and hard about whether she felt safe flying during the Covid-19 pandemic, researching driving routes and poring over airline policies. But she was reassured by Southwest's compulsory mask rule, plus its pledge to keep the middle seats open. (Street, 8/13)

And the CDC issues more guidance on mask-wearing —

The Washington Post: Face Masks With Valves Or Vents Do Not Prevent Spread Of The Coronavirus, CDC Says
In guidance updated late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against wearing masks with exhalation valves or vents, a type of face covering made for hot and dusty construction work that has become a popular pandemic accessory because of its seemingly high-tech design. (Thebault and Fritz, 8/13)

ABC News: Matthew McConaughey Grills Dr. Anthony Fauci In Instagram Interview On COVID-19 
Matthew McConaughey interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci for 40 minutes on Instagram Thursday with the fast-talking, Oscar-winning actor getting a chance to grill the nation's top infectious disease expert on COVID-19. McConaughey rapidly fired questions at the 79-year-old doctor on everything from how concerned people should be about getting the virus from touching a door knob (not as much as sharing close physical space with someone who is infected, Fauci says) to whether Advil makes symptoms worse (it doesn't). (Flaherty, 8/13)

CNN: Any Attempt To Get Coronavirus Herd Immunity Would Lead To Massive Death Tolls, Fauci Warns
If the United States allowed coronavirus infections to run rampant to achieve possible herd immunity, the death toll would be massive especially among vulnerable people, the nation's top infectious doctor said... "If everyone contracted it, even with the relatively high percentage of people without symptoms ... a lot of people are going to die," Fauci said. (Karimi, 8/14)

In other news —

The Hill: FDA Warns About Second Toxic Chemical In Some Hand Sanitizers 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added to its list of potentially deadly hand sanitizers and is warning about a second toxic chemical found in some products. In an announcement on Thursday, the FDA said it has seen a spike in the number of hand sanitizer products labeled to contain ethanol but have tested positive for methanol, which can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested. (Moreno, 8/13)

Detroit Free Press: No Shortfall In U.S. Supply Of Ventilators As GM, Ventec End Contract
Five months ago, as the coronavirus pandemic surged across the nation, the urgency to build more critical care ventilators swelled to meet a shortage of the life saving machines. So General Motors and Ventec Life Systems teamed up to produce ventilators. In just two weeks, the companies will deliver the full 30,000 ventilators they owe the U.S. government, helping to bring the U.S. stockpile closer to an inventory level that positions the nation to withstand any near-term pandemic spikes. (LaReau, 8/14)

More updates on gatherings —

AP: Twin Beams Of Light Won't Shine During 9/11 Tribute In NYC
Twin beams of light representing the World Trade Center towers won’t be beamed into the sky during this year’s memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, organizers of the annual ceremony said Thursday. Michael Frazier, a spokesman for National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said organizers were concerned about the health risks to workers who would set up the display. (8/14)

The Marshall Project and Vice: ‘Con Air’ Is Spreading COVID-19 All Over The Federal Prison System
The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for moving people into, out of, and among far-flung federal prisons, handling most long-distance transfers and newly sentenced prisoners. It doesn’t put people in quarantine or give them virus tests before transporting them around the country. As a result, federal prisoners in Marshals custody are being shipped around the U.S. by plane, van, and bus with no way to know if they are carrying the virus, and exposing other prisoners, staff, and possibly the public along the way. (Hamilton and Blakinger, 8/13)

CNN: UK's First Socially Distanced Concert Shows What The Future Of Live Music Might Look Like 
When the coronavirus pandemic emerged, the music and hospitality industry took a beating. Concerts and events were canceled all over the world as countries imposed lockdown restrictions and stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the virus. But as some nations start to ease restrictions, event organizers are figuring out how to restart the music industry and keep fans safe. (Woodyatt, 8/13)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Is Mardi Gras 2021 Still Possible? Meetings In New Orleans And Jefferson Parish Offer No Clue 
Will there be a New Orleans Carnival in 2021? Those who hoped a meeting Thursday of the Mayor's Mardi Gras Advisory Council would answer that question were disappointed. The meeting held at Mardi Gras World was mostly a routine discussion of parading practices, conducted as if next year's big party might ... or might not occur. "I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful," Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told the council, which includes city officials and the captains of the city's 30-plus parading organizations. (MacCash, 8/13)

AP: Distrust Of Authority Fuels Virus Misinformation For Latinos
When Claudia Guzman suspected she had caught the coronavirus, her friends and family were full of advice: Don’t quarantine. Don’t get tested. A homemade tea will help cure you. “They were saying, ‘Don’t go to the hospital,’ because supposedly, if you are admitted into the hospital, they administer the virus into your body,” said Guzman, who was born in Chicago to parents from Mexico and now lives in Memphis, Tennessee. (Klepper, Sainz and Garcia Cano, 8/13)

WBUR: COVID-19 Death Rate For Black Americans Twice That For Whites, New Report Says 
Black Americans are becoming infected with the coronavirus at a rate three times that of whites and they are twice as likely to die from COVID-19, according to a new report from the National Urban League, based partly on data from Johns Hopkins University. A key focus of Thursday's report is the impact of the pandemic and how the disease has followed the contours of the larger society in falling especially hard on Blacks, Latinos and Indigenous people. (Neuman, 8/13)

The Wall Street Journal: A Deadly Coronavirus Was Inevitable. Why Was No One Ready? 
Hunkered around conference tables at the World Health Organization’s Geneva headquarters, a group of scientists debated which of the world’s most frightening epidemic diseases deserved the greatest attention. Ebola, a ferocious killer that drains its victims of bodily fluids, made the list. So did Nipah, which makes the brain swell before most of its victims die. So, too, did severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which burrows into the lungs, leaving the sick gasping for air. At the end of the two-day gathering in February 2018, the group topped the list off with the most terrifying entry of all: Disease X. (McKay and Dvorak, 8/13)

The New York Times: One I.C.U., Five Patients: A Different View Of The Virus’s Toll 
A hospital is an invaluable vantage point from which to understand an epidemic. It provides a glimpse of the severity of an illness in a geographic area, a sense of whether cases are going up or down, insights on which segments of the population are most affected and clues to how well the health care infrastructure is holding up.S oon after coronavirus cases began emerging in the United States, my editor, Rebecca Corbett, suggested reporting from within a hospital, to bring to bear my training as a physician and my prior work as a reporter on infectious disease outbreaks. (Fink, 8/14)

Kaiser Health News: Back To Life: COVID Lung Transplant Survivor Tells Her Story 
Mayra Ramirez remembers the nightmares.During six weeks on life support at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ramirez said, she had terrifying nightmares that she couldn’t distinguish from reality. “Most of them involve me drowning,” she said. “I attribute that to me not being able to breathe, and struggling to breathe.” (Herman, 8/14)

COVID-19 continues to take an economic toll —

ABC News: ‘When Are We Going Home?’ Families Share Their Struggle To Stay Afloat Without Federal Aid 
Latrish Oseko says her 4-year-old daughter Ka’laya asks a lot of questions, but one of them is particularly hard to answer: “When are we going home?” Right now, Oseko, her boyfriend and Ka’laya are living in a motel room in Newark, Delaware. Their new situation is a result of the economic crisis and chaos stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. (Kim, Walker and Yang, 8/13)

The New York Times: Despite The Law, New Jersey Gym Owners Are Desperate To Reopen 
In an act of defiance, Joe Logue, a retired Marine, affixed a military gas mask and headphones before beginning his chest-and-arm workout at a New Jersey gym that had gone rogue. It is illegal for health clubs to be open for anything other than private training sessions in New Jersey, one of only seven states where gyms have been deemed to be so high risk for spreading the coronavirus that they remain either fully or partially closed. (Tully and Armstrong, 8/13)

WBUR: Remote Work Has Cushioned The Pandemic's Blow, But WBUR Poll Reveals Inequalities 
When the whole work from home thing started, Kass Burrowes had concerns. He works in marketing; his wife works in health care. Could they do those jobs in the same house, without driving each other nuts? (Ma, 8/14)

Idaho Statesman: GOP Legislators Look To Strip School Closure Authority From Idaho’s Health Districts
Legislators warned of abuses of power and concerns about totalitarianism Monday as a legislative working group pushed to take away health districts’ ability to close schools. The Education Working Group requested the Legislature take up the issue of school closure authority when Gov. Brad Little convenes an extraordinary session of the Legislature the week of Aug. 24. (Corbin, 8/10)

Billings Gazette: Wyoming Governor Announces COVID-19 Testing Program For Teachers 
Wyoming is instituting a COVID-19 testing option for teachers as they prepare to return to the physical classroom this fall, Gov. Mark Gordon announced in a press conference Wednesday. The program will function similarly to the state’s testing plan for long-term care facilities. When that plan was implemented in May, State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist described it as a “proactive” testing program meant to find cases before sparking another outbreak. (Hughes, 8/13)

Billings Gazette: More Billings Kids Signed Up For Online-Only School, But Still Below District Expectations  
District administrators have said that the course scheduling process requires a year-long commitment. The 2,000 students is fewer than the 5,000-plus that district officials thought would sign up for remote learning based on an earlier survey, and that has administrators eyeing schedule changes. Middle and high schools are looking at the possibility of switching to an exaggerated block schedule in order to reduce movement between classrooms and mixing of students. (Hoffman, 8/13)

AP: Tulsa Commits $5.6M Of Virus Relief To Get Students Online
Tulsa will spend $5.6 million of the $30 million in federal coronavirus relief funds it received to provide internet services for public school students, Mayor G.T. Bynum said Thursday. “Through the use of CARES dollars, we will be providing better opportunity and internet access for more than 22,000 Tulsa families, providing a clear path for our children to receive the help they need with their education during this critical time,” Bynum said in a statement. (8/13)

AP: Schools Mull Outdoor Classes Amid Virus, Ventilation Worries
It has been seven years since the central air conditioning system worked at the New York City middle school where Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor teaches. As a new school year approaches amid the coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues are threatening not to return unless it’s repaired. Her classroom has a window air conditioning unit, but she fears the stagnant air will increase the chances that an infected student could spread the virus. (Spencer, 8/13)

NPR: Online Classes, Homeschooling, Pods: Options For Your Child This Year 
There are no easy answers, and this is not one-size-fits-all. So we came up with a list of questions to help you think through your options. (Kamenetz, 8/13)

In school news from California —

AP: Fresno County School That Opened Classrooms Ordered To Close
A private school in California was ordered to close Thursday after it reopened classrooms in violation of a state health order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Fresno County issued a health order against Immanuel Schools in Reedley, ordering it to close its classrooms until the county is removed from a state monitoring list for two weeks. Violating the order could lead to fines of up to $1,000 per violation per day. (8/14)

The Hill: California Slams 'Inaccurate And Outdated Beliefs' Of Parents Suing To Reopen Schools 
California in a legal brief is slamming the “inaccurate and outdated beliefs” of parents who are suing the state to force schools to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. The state fired back after more than a dozen parents filed a lawsuit last month requesting a temporary restraining order on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) order for schools in counties on the state’s watch list to conduct virtual learning. (Coleman, 8/13)

Reuters: Texas, California Governors Take Heat In Battle Over School Reopenings
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday sought to reassure parents he is doing all he can to keep students safe as most schools in the state prepare to reopen next week. But a top adviser to Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden’s campaign in Texas blasted Abbott, a Republican, for what he called a lack of planning and funding for safely reopening schools, with the statewide coronavirus positivity rate hitting a record 24.5% this week. (Brooks and Brice, 8/13)

In higher-education news —

AP: Boston University Faculty Protest Reopening Plan
Members of Boston University’s faculty are raising concerns about the school’s plan to reopen the campus this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic. Faculty held a drive-by rally Thursday calling on the school to provide employees the option to work from home and provide free personal protective equipment to all faculty, staff and students. They are also demanding free COVID-19 testing for residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the university. (8/14)

The Hill: NCAA Head Doctor Calls State Of Pandemic 'Exceptionally Disappointing' 
The NCAA's chief medical officer is expressing his disappointment with the situation that college athletics finds itself in due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Brian Hainline told reporters during a virtual media briefing hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) that deciding whether to hold college sports seasons this fall has been hampered by the resurgence of COVID-19 across the country, saying that the NCAA had hoped that testing capacity and positivity rates around the country would be lower. (Johnson, 8/13)

The New York Times: N.C.A.A. Doctors Say Football Is A Bad Idea. But They Aren’t Deciding. 
The juxtaposition of Big 12, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conference leaders explaining why they were forging ahead with plans to play football this fall while speaking on one of the pandemic’s deadliest days in the United States since May was too much for Dr. Carlos del Rio, an executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine. “I mean, I feel like the Titanic,” del Rio said on Thursday, the day after those conferences said they would not abandon playing football and other sports in the fall, as the Big Ten and Pac-12 had done earlier in the week. “We have hit the iceberg and we’re trying to make decisions of what time should we have the band play.” (Witz, 8/13)

The Washington Post: NCAA Pulls Plug On All Division I Fall Championships Except For Top-Tier Football
The NCAA officially canceled Division I fall championship events because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. NCAA President Mark Emmert’s announcement Thursday was essentially a formality given the number of conferences that have already postponed fall sports and the board of governors’ requirement that at least 50 percent of schools participate in a season for a championship to be held. The decision includes all fall sports apart from the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision, which the NCAA does not govern. (Giambalvo, 8/13)

USA Today: Coronavirus: Joe Montana Says He Would Opt Out If Eligible To Play
At least one all-time great said that, knowing what he knows now, he almost certainly would have opted out if he were eligible to play college football. “For me, I think I would’ve gone after the safety of my health first, in the end,” Joe Montana told USA TODAY Sports. “Because we’re not talking about the flu or a cold. This thing is killing people everywhere and not by one or two here and there. We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds a day, thousands.” (Reyes, 8/12)

In basketball and golf news —

USA Today: How Eliminated NBA Teams Are Handling Leaving Safety Of The Disney Campus Bubble
As they gathered in the locker room, Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton had an important message to share with his players. Though they finished with a 136-122 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, the Kings’ season officially ended. But this did not mark the time for self reflection. Nor did it mark the time to share any insight on how to improve next season.Instead, Walton talked to his players about leaving the NBA Disney campus in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak. (Medina, 8/13)

AP: Levy Tests Positive For Coronavirus At Celtic Classic
Alexander Levy became the first golfer to test positive for the coronavirus at a European Tour event and was one of two French players withdrawn on the opening day of the Celtic Classic on Thursday. Levy came into contact last weekend with a friend in France who has since tested positive for the coronavirus, the tour said in a statement. (8/14)

Also —

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: More Data Needed To Understand Myocarditis In Athletes, Per Emory Doctor
Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, is one form of associated cardiac injury that can be linked to COVID-19. The rare heart condition usually occurs because of a viral infection, and according to ESPN, it has been found “in at least five Big Ten Conference athletes and among several other athletes in other conferences,” and has become a major concern in the debate on whether it’s safe for college athletics to take place in the fall. (Spencer, 8/13)

CNN: Higher Newborn Body Fat Is Associated With Obesity 
Childhood obesity has become increasingly common in the United States over the past three decades, despite public health initiatives. That means that around 13.7 million children and adolescents are well above the normal or healthy weight for their ages and heights due to their behaviors or genetics. The body fat percentage children had as newborns might have something to do with these statistics, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Pediatrics. (Rogers, 8/13)

KTVQ: In Montana, Doctors Aren't Required To Tell Women They Have Dense Breast Tissue - A Known Risk For Cancer
Research shows that women with dense breast tissue are at a higher risk for breast cancer. But in Montana, they may not know that risk because their healthcare providers aren't required to tell them. Montana continues to be one of a handful of states that doesn’t require healthcare providers, doctors and hospitals to notify women of the cancer risk associated with breast density. (Lutz, 8/13)

ABC News: How Swapping Plant-Based Products For Meat May Improve Cardiovascular Health: New Study 
As more consumers turn to plant-based meat alternatives, a new study that swapped Beyond Meat for beef, pork and chicken found that the non-animal protein products lowered some cardiovascular risk factors. The small study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition conducted by Stanford Medicine found that when participants swapped their protein from animal to plant-based meat participants saw a drop in LDL cholesterol, reduced TMAO levels and in some cases, lost an average of two pounds. (McCarthy, 8/13)

KQED: Raising Chickens At Home Helps Combat Food Insecurity Faced By Farmworkers 
Across the country, farmworkers are among those at the highest risk for COVID-19 and face an increased threat of employment reduction or loss. In California, 20% of agricultural workers who are still working have had their hours reduced, according to a study by the California Institute for Rural Studies. On top of that, due to unemployment and lack of access, food insecurity is impacting communities across the United States and is expected to continue into the rest of the year, according to Feeding America. (Sarah and Morga, 8/13)

Heat and fire are ravaging the West —

The Washington Post: California Wildfire Rages As Heat Wave Bakes West 
Exceptionally hot temperatures are baking parts of the West, bringing hazardous conditions to many and contributing to wildfires. The sizzling heat is worsening what’s already been the hottest summer on record for some, while fostering explosive wildfire growth in California. The unbearable temperatures come amid a Southwest monsoon that never got started, leaving much of Arizona and New Mexico especially parched. (Cappucci, 8/13)

USA Today: 'Hard To Predict' Lake Fire In Southern California Grows To 11,000 Acres With 5% Containment
A Southern California wildfire that has threatened more than 5,000 structures in rural Los Angeles County continued to rage Thursday, with Angeles National Forest officials describing its movements as "hard to predict." The Lake Fire, burning between Lake Hughes and Lake Castaic, about 65 miles north of Los Angeles, had grown to about 11,000 acres and was 5% contained as of 7 p.m. PDT. The blaze has destroyed three structures and forced evacuations near Lake Hughes. (Aspegren, 8/13)

Also —

Dallas Morning News: ‘I Am Alone’: Opioid Relapses On The Rise As COVID-19 Interrupts Drug Addiction Recovery In Dallas
North Texas addiction treatment centers are working hard to keep facilities open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal: to give some of the highest-risk patients access to medications that treat opioid addiction. The opioid epidemic hasn’t been supplanted by the pandemic. Rather, the pandemic has worsened an already existing crisis. In the Dallas area, the pandemic is resulting in an increased number of people in recovery who are relapsing, local clinicians say. At the same time, the pandemic is making it harder for clinics to provide patients with the support they need. (Mantica, 8/13)

NBC News: An Old, Dangerous Drug Has Made A Comeback With A New Generation Of Users
After a rash of overdoses across the United States in the late ’90s, Congress scheduled GHB as a controlled substance in 2000. Exposures to GHB reported to poison control centers fell almost immediately. But 20 years on, a new generation of recreational users — a disproportionate number of them gay and lesbian, according to researchers — has rediscovered the drug. (Richardson, 8/13)

Stat: Many Psoriasis Patients Are Paying Higher Prices Than Ever For Drugs
Over the past decade, wholesale prices for self-administered psoriasis medicines rose substantially, underscoring the ongoing financial burden for many patients, according to a new analysis. Since 2009, the annual mean increase in price ranged from 4% to 12% for nine different psoriasis medicines, although some of the drugs were launched more recently. For instance, the largest rise in wholesale price was for Cimzia, which exceeded $94,000 last year, compared with just under $40,000 when the drug became available 11 years ago. (Silverman, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Surges Back Into Nursing Homes In Coronavirus Hot Spots 
The novel coronavirus is surging back into U.S. nursing homes, where it killed tens of thousands at the start of the pandemic and now once again threatens some of the people most vulnerable to covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. The development is a discouraging result of widespread community transmission of the virus in many parts of the country and in hot spots where it is even less controlled. With staff — and in some cases patients and visitors — entering and leaving facilities, the community-acquired infection almost inevitably finds its way inside. (Bernstein, 8/13)

Dallas Morning News: How Visits To Texas Nursing Homes, Assisted-Living Facilities Will Work Under New Coronavirus Guidelines
Since the Health and Human Services Commission announced plans Aug. 6 to allow limited visitation at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, guidelines for nursing homes have gone into effect. Other types of facilities will have both indoor and outdoor visitation. More specific rules will be posted for assisted-living and intermediate-care facilities, Kelli Weldon, a spokeswoman for the commission, said in an email. (Smith, Jones and Marfin, 8/13)

Boston Globe: Congressional Delegation Demands Baker Release Child-Care Data 
The 11-member Massachusetts congressional delegation wrote to Governor Charlie Baker on Thursday urging him to release data on cases of coronavirus at child-care centers after the Globe reported that the administration has been denying public records requests. In a letter written by Representative Katherine Clark, the Massachusetts representatives expressed “concern regarding the lack of transparency as it pertains to COVID-19 data in child care settings.” (Ebbert, 8/13)

WBUR: How Vermont And New Hampshire Are Keeping Coronavirus At Bay 
As Massachusetts fights to control upticks in the coronavirus, a few other New England states, like Vermont, are reporting steady COVID-19 positive case numbers. Some states, such as New Hampshire, are even reporting declines in their positive cases as they continue cautiously re-opening their economies. (Becker and Thompson, 8/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Mayor Orders Report On COVID’s Impact On Minorities
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for a report on disparities of COVID-19′s impact among racial and ethic minorities within the city. In an administrative order issued Thursday, Bottoms directed her Chief Operating Officer, Joshua Williams, and Chief Health Officer, Dr. Angelica Geter Fugerson, to convene an advisory council of community members to prepare the report and make recommendations to address the COVID risk factors in minority communities. (Deere, 8/13)

In updates from the West and Hawaii —

KTVQ: Wyoming Governor Extends Health Orders, Eases Gathering Limits
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced Wednesday that updated public health orders will ease restrictions on the size of permitted outdoor gatherings beginning Aug. 16. Public Health Order No. 2 has been updated to allow outdoor gatherings of no more than 50% of venue capacity, with a maximum of 1,000 people as long as social distancing and increased sanitization measures are in place, according to a press release. (8/12)

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma County Jail May Get $42 Million To Combat Virus
Oklahoma County officials voted Thursday to give $42 million to the trust overseeing the overcrowded jail to fight COVID-19. The votes on how to spend CARES Act funding came after jail trustee Sue Ann Arnall told the Budget Board "we're at a crisis situation right now." "We're close to 2,000 inmates," she said. "We're stacking them up. It's extremely dangerous. We are so subject to lawsuits right now with this large number of people in the jail. (Clay, 8/14)

East Idaho News: Spike In COVID-19 Cases Prompts New Restrictions In Multiple Eastern Idaho Counties 
New restrictions are in place in several eastern Idaho counties due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Eastern Idaho Public Health announced during a special meeting Monday evening that Jefferson and Fremont counties would be moving from the minimal risk level to the moderate risk level for the first time, as part of the district’s COVID-19 Regional Response Plan. Health officials also decided Teton County, which has been in the moderate risk level since July 16, will remain there. Last week, it had been announced that Teton might move back down to the minimal level, however, a weekend spike changed that. (Johnson, 8/10)

USA Today: Hawaii Could Delay New Tourist Protocols Due To Surging COVID-19 Cases
Hoping to vacation in Hawaii in September? You might have to rethink those plans. Given the state's rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts, officials are "looking at'' delaying the start of a much-anticipated program that would allow out-of-state visitors to vacation there without quarantining for 14 days by presenting a negative COVID-19 test, Hawaii Gov. David Ige said during a news conference late Thursday. (Gilbertson, 8/13)

AP: Hawaii Marks Record 355 COVID-19 Cases, Including 86 At Jail
The state Department of Public Safety said Thursday overcrowded conditions prompted staff to to place new inmates at Hawaii’s biggest jail with the facility’s general population before the end of their 14 days of quarantine. The disclosure by Nolan Espinda, the department’s director, came as the state reported a record 355 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hawaii, including 86 cases at the jail. (McAvoy, 8/14)

CIDRAP: Global Trend Shows Hint Of Plateau, NZ Suspicion Shifts To Quarantine Breach In Flare-Up Source 
Yesterday, New Zealand officials said they are weighing freight contamination as one potential trigger for a newly identified cluster, its first locally acquired cases in 102 days. However, today Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said he suspected the virus came from a breach of quarantine, and he said he hoped there will be more information shortly. The WHO has said there is no evidence that people can contract the virus from food or food packaging. And at today's briefing, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said the WHO is aware of the investigation development. She said China has been testing packaging, with samples numbering a few hundred thousand, and so far they have found less than 10 positives. (Schnirring, 8/13)

The New York Times: New Zealand Beat The Coronavirus Once. Can It Do It Again? 
As the week began, New Zealanders were celebrating 100 days without community spread of the coronavirus, drinking at pubs, packing stadiums and hugging friends. Two days later, that suddenly changed: Four new cases, all related, emerged in Auckland. On Thursday, officials said the cluster had grown to 17, as they struggled to map out how the virus had returned to an isolated island nation championed for its pandemic response. (Cave and Solomon, 8/13)

AP: North Korea Lifts Lockdown In City, Rejects Flood, Virus Aid
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lifted a lockdown in a major city near the border with South Korea where thousands had been quarantined for weeks over coronavirus worries, state media said Friday. But Kim, during a key ruling party meeting on Thursday, also insisted the North will keep its borders shut and rejected any outside help as the country carries out an aggressive anti-virus campaign and rebuilds thousands of houses, roads and bridges damaged by heavy rain and floods in recent weeks. (Tong-Hyung, 8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: South Korea’s Coronavirus Response Under Pressure As Doctors Plan Strike
South Korea’s largest physicians group plans to strike on Friday, protesting a government proposal to increase the number of doctors after the country suffered staffing shortages when coronavirus cases surged earlier this year. About a quarter of South Korea’s 33,000 hospitals and clinics will close their doors Friday. The one-day walkout is being organized by the Korean Medical Association, a trade group that represents 130,000 doctors. The association has called for the government to retract a variety of overhauls it unveiled last month. (Yoon, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Britain Says It Overcounted Coronavirus Death Toll By 5,377 
England's coronavirus death toll is being revised downward by more than 5,000 fatalities after experts belatedly concluded they were probably overcounting deaths. This recently discovered “statistical anomaly” means that on Wednesday Britain’s official tally of deaths due to covid-19 was trimmed from 46,706 to 41,329 — a reduction of more than 10 percent. (Booth and Adam, 8/13)

Reuters: Belgian Hospitals Stock Up On Drugs, Kits For Possible Second COVID Wave 
Belgian hospitals are stockpiling drugs and protective kits and putting in place contingency plans amid a continuing spike in new COVID-19 infections that has forced the capital Brussels to make face masks compulsory in public spaces. With nearly 10,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus so far, Belgium with a population of 11 million has one of the world’s highest death rates from COVID-19 per head. (Rossignol and Levaux, 8/14)

AP: Africa Begins Continent-Wide Study Of COVID-19 Antibodies
An Africa-wide study of antibodies to the coronavirus has begun, while evidence from a smaller study indicates that many more people have been infected than official numbers show, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Experts are eager to know the real number of COVID-19 cases in Africa, as confirmed cases and deaths have been relatively low on the continent of 1.3 billion people. Poor data collection, however, has complicated efforts. (Anna, 8/13)

In other news —

AP: 75 Years Later, Japan War Orphans Tell Of Pain, Recovery
For years, orphans in Japan were punished just for surviving the war. They were bullied. They were called trash and left to fend for themselves on the street. Police rounded them up and threw them in jail. They were sent to orphanages or sold for labor. They were abandoned by their government, abused and discriminated against. Now, 75 years after the end of the Pacific War, some have broken decades of silence to describe for a fast-forgetting world their sagas of recovery, survival, suffering — and their calls for justice. (Yamaguchi, 8/14)

The New York Times: When Things Aren’t OK With A Child’s Mental Health 
Last week, to write about the risks of summer — the recurring safety issues of children being out in the sun, or near the water, I talked to safety-minded pediatric emergency room doctors about what was worrying them, as they thought about the children they might be seeing during their shifts over the coming weeks, and I specified that I wasn’t asking about Covid-19 infection — I was asking about other dangers to children, in this summer shadowed by that virus. But among their concerns about drownings and fractures, the emergency room doctors kept bringing up mental health as a worry. At a time when we are all definitely not safe and not OK, we have to find and help the children who are hurting most. (Klass, 8/10)

The New York Times: What Happens To Viral Particles On The Subway
Many New Yorkers are avoiding the subway, fearful of jostling with strangers in crowded cars. Masks and social distancing are essential, but good air flow is also key to reducing the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. (Grondahl, Goldbaum and White, 8/10)

The New York Times: Quarantine Envy Got You Down? You’re Not Alone 
When the coronavirus hit France, Leila Slimani, a popular French-Moroccan novelist, and her family left Paris for their country home. Once there, Ms. Slimani began writing a quarantine diary for the newspaper Le Monde. The response, especially from people in teeny Parisian apartments, was so scathing, she apparently abandoned the series. When the billionaire David Geffen posted photos of his mega-yacht on Instagram while he quarantined in the Grenadines, the backlash led him to turn his account private. (Wartik, 8/10)

The New York Times: Why I’m Obsessed With Patients’ Medical Bills 
My reporting obsession with medical bills started with a bandage. A very, very expensive bandage. Four years ago, before I worked for The New York Times, a reader emailed me a surprising story. He had taken his 1-year-old daughter to the emergency room because after her nails were clipped a bit too short, her finger started spurting blood. The little girl was fine, and received a disposable bandage that fell off on the car ride home. (Kliff, 8/7)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Inequality: In Brazil, Poor Die Of Covid-19 At Greater Rate Than Wealthy 
Two men were going to the hospital, unsure of whether they’d return. It was April, when Brazil’s worst fears about the novel coronavirus were beginning to be realized. The disease had started to kill all over the country. Now it had come for them, too. Tiago Lemos knew his lungs were shot. Rodrigo Guedes could no longer stand. The coronavirus has played a game of Roulette across the world: Who lives? Who dies? In most countries, a familiar set of variables — age, sex, preexisting conditions — has helped make at least some sense of the confounding disease. But in Brazil, one of the most unequal countries in the world, another crucial deciding factor has been class. The poor are dying at a much higher rate than the wealthy. (McCoy and Traiano, 8/10)

AP: Extreme Poverty Rises And A Generation Sees Future Slip Away
As a domestic worker, Amsale Hailemariam knew from the inside out the luxury villas that had grown up around her simple shelter of raw metal and plastic sheeting. And in them, she saw how her country, Ethiopia, had transformed. The single mother told herself, “Oh God, a day will come when my life will be changed, too.” The key lay in her daughter, just months from a career in public health, who studied how to battle the illnesses of want and hunger. Then a virus mentioned in none of her textbooks arrived, and dreams faded for families, and entire countries, like theirs. Decades of progress in one of modern history’s greatest achievements, the fight against extreme poverty, are in danger of slipping away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world could see its first increase in extreme poverty in 22 years, further sharpening social inequities. (Meseret and Anna, 8/10)

Also —

Politico: 55 Things You Need To Know About Kamala Harris 
What do voters need to know about the woman who sits on the cusp of breaking one of the highest glass ceilings in American life? Here, culled from books, extensive media coverage and the archives of POLITICO, is a quick primer on the life of Kamala Devi Harris, the trailblazing prosecutor-turned-senator who in just a few months’ time could be a heartbeat away from the presidency. (Kim and Stanton, 8/11)

The New York Times: AIDS Quilts For An Artist And His Partner, Sewn During A New Pandemic 
Since the fall of 2019, six women, some from the art world, others retired social workers, had labored on two AIDS quilts devoted to the memories of the artist David Wojnarowicz and his partner, Tom Rauffenbart. The women converged from all over New York City on the neighborhood of Washington Heights, at the home of Anita Vitale, who had met Mr. Rauffenbart, a fellow social worker, in the 1980s. Then, in mid-March, in what you might call a sad cosmic coincidence, their work was interrupted by the arrival on the scene of another pandemic. (Boucher, 8/10)

MarketWatch: ‘I Just Wished At One Point There Could Be A Fire’—Some Insight Into The Emotional Turmoil Of Downsizing
Ever since I wrote the viral 2017 Next Avenue post, “Sorry, Nobody Wants Your Parents’ Stuff,” I’ve been a little obsessed with Americans’ love/hate relationship with their possessions and downsizing. So, I was fascinated to read University of Kansas sociology and gerontology professor David J. Ekerdt’s new book, “Downsizing: Confronting Our Possessions in Later Life,” and to have a chance to interview him about it. Ekerdt has actually conducted exhaustive interviews with Americans over 50 about their experiences shedding their stuff. (Eisenberg, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Former Washington Wide Receiver Josh Morgan Donates Kidney To Brother During Pandemic 
Lawanda Morgan received some of the best news of her life but wasn’t able to fully enjoy it. The same discovery that illuminated a path that could save one son’s life meant putting another son in harm’s way. Lawanda had watched Daniel Morgan suffer for years from a kidney disease that originally was misdiagnosed as high blood pressure, requiring dialysis three times per week, four hours at a time. A dialysis technician mentioned a program that led Morgan to the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute. That eventually led to Daniel and his brother Josh, a former NFL wide receiver who played two seasons with Washington after starring at Virginia Tech, ending up on a pair of operating tables in March. (Copeland, 8/11)

Baltimore Sun: Looking Out For The Common Good
Look around the world and it’s those nations where people accepted not just personal responsibility but a broader societal responsibility that have done best during the pandemic. The United States surely flattened the curve, if belatedly, but relaxed that approach too soon and now leads the planet in confirmed cases and deaths. More than 162,000 Americans have died and the number could rise to 300,000 by year’s end — unless people take additional precautionary steps. Just having everyone wear a mask consistently could save 70,000 lives, according to computer modeling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. Slip on a mask and prevent tens of thousands of funerals between now and Christmas? Why is that even any debate about that? (8/14)

Boston Globe: Response To COVID-19 Reflects The Nation’s Upside-Down Health Care System
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the United States to be a country heedless of its own founding axioms: “A stitch in time saves nine.” “Haste makes waste.” And especially, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin penned this timeless wisdom in 1735 as a warning to his fellow Philadelphians about the dangers of fire. Now the COVID-19 conflagration is roaring through the population, and we are experiencing the folly of ignoring this advice — as of Thursday, more than 166,000 Americans are confirmed dead of the virus. Many Americans continue to shrug off prevention (masks, social distancing, hygiene) to instead focus their hopes on a cure, whether that be a vaccine, new treatments, or the distant promise of herd immunity. (Renée Loth, 8/14)

Des Moines Register: To Save Lives, Act As If Everyone Has COVID
One type of diagnostic test determined Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was positive for the novel coronavirus. The same day, another type of test determined he was negative. Ultimately he was able to secure at least four tests over a few days. Not many Americans have such easy access to initial testing, let alone quick follow-up testing to confirm or dispute results. And while a variety of factors can affect the accuracy of tests, all of DeWine's were allowed by federal regulators. The positive-then-negative results are a troubling reminder that, more than five months into an infectious disease pandemic, the country still doesn’t have a handle on something as basic as definitive tests. That raises serious questions. (8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: The Treatment That Could Crush Covid
More than 500 clinical trials are under way world-wide in the race to find an effective treatment for Covid-19. Everybody wants it; nobody has it—yet. But one of the most promising therapies for Covid-19 patients uses “medicinal signaling cells,” or MSCs, which are found on blood vessels throughout the body.In preliminary studies, these cells cut the death rate significantly, particularly in the sickest patients. With a powerful 1-2-3 punch, these cells eliminate the virus, calm the immune overreaction known as a cytokine storm, and repair damaged lung tissue—a combination offered by no other drug. This type of regenerative medicine could be as revolutionary as Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. (Kevin Kimberlin, 8/13)

Bloomberg: Covid Spread Is Forcing Scientists To Rethink Herd Immunity
There are some weird things going on in the coronavirus data. It’s curious that cases dropped so fast, and have stayed pretty low, in the spring hot zones — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And why did cases remain so low in Idaho and Hawaii until recently? The mainstream narrative is that it’s all about good behavior when cases go down — mask wearing and giving up our social lives for the greater good. And conversely, bad behavior must be what makes them go up. We talk about certain regions having the virus “under control,” as if falling cases are purely a matter of will-power. A sort of moral reasoning is filling in for evidence. (Faye Flam, 8/13)

Stat: What Covid-19-Related Smell Loss Reveals About How The Mind Works 
A few months ago, a friend called me from New York in the middle of the day. “I just came out of the shower and thought of you,” she said. That exceeded our usual level of familiarity. “I cannot smell anything,” she continued. “I noticed I couldn’t sense my shower gel, so I ran into the kitchen and began to open and sniff all my spice jars. Nothing. This is spooky.” (Ann-Sophie Barwich, 8/14)

Los Angeles Times: Why Is Science Letting Us Down When We Need It Most?
Science is suffering from a replication crisis. Too many landmark studies can’t be repeated in independent labs, a process crucial to separating flukes and errors from solid results. The consequences are hard to overstate: Public policy, medical treatments and the way we see the world may have been built on the shakiest of foundations. In June, the latest chapter in the replication saga featured a highly influential study on memory. In 2010, in a blockbuster article in the journal Nature, New York University researchers found that it was possible — without the use of drugs, brain stimulation or anything invasive — to “rewrite” a person’s memory so they’re less afraid when shown a reminder of something that had scared them in the past. (Stuart Ritchie, 8/14)

The Hill: 'Health Vs Economy' Is COVID-19 Dejà Vu All Over Again With Tobacco 
Over a hundred years ago, a new strain of human-manufactured “virus” was introduced: the cigarette. It took 50 years to establish that mass-produced and mass-marketed cigarettes were killing people. The public health response was sluggish, hobbled by the well-funded and ruthless efforts of the tobacco industry. But eventually, effective approaches were developed and over the past 50 years have been gradually implemented, with smoking rates cut by more than half. (Tim McAfee and Chris Bostic, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Congress Has Taken A Break From Dealing With Covid-19. The Rest Of Us Don’t Have That Luxury. 
Congress, I get it. You’re tired. You wanted to go on recess. You’re talking about coming back in September to finish your negotiations when you have to pass a spending bill. Well, we’re all tired — nurses and doctors and other health-care workers. Public health officials. The nation’s slowly growing contact-tracing team, now 50,000 strong. School principals and superintendents who are making the hardest decisions of their lives. Kids who haven’t been to a birthday party in five months and face more school online. Epidemiologists and lab leaders who have been innovating their hearts out. Mayors and parents and small business owners and on and on and on. None of us gets to take a break from the stuff that’s wearing us out. I hope you’ve noticed. (Danielle Allen, 8/13)

Los Angeles Times: 6 Steps To Take So Americans Can Vote Safely During Coronavirus 
With only three months to go before the November election and the coronavirus pandemic still a threat to public health, Congress and the states must do much more to help Americans exercise their right to vote without placing themselves in danger. Several states have responded to the pandemic by making it easier to vote by mail, but that option needs be made even more available. States also need adequate personnel and equipment to ensure that votes cast by mail are fully counted and that voters whose ballots are rejected have the opportunity to appeal, while still providing sanitized polling stations and in-person voting for those who need that option. Finally, a public education campaign is necessary to counter President Trump’s cynical suggestion that a delay in completing the vote tallies and declaring a winner is evidence of fraud. (8/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Crazy Debate About College Football Embodies Broken Coronavirus Response
Whether to proceed with college and professional sports in the pandemic should be a fairly straightforward question. The risks of our activities have to be judged against their necessity, and given that no single season of a spectator sport is strictly necessary, any game that poses a significant danger of infecting and killing more people should be canceled. (8/14)

The Advocate: Huge Dangers If Campus Safety Plans Don't Work Out
As America was consummating its love affair with the automobile a century ago, Robert Hutchins became president of the University of Chicago. There he learned: “The three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.” Only the last may be attenuated by the coronavirus pandemic. If more classes are online, it is not at all clear that there will be the traffic jams of old around campuses. But while the burdens of allocating parking may diminish, campus leaders will find new layers of complexity overseeing sports and socializing. (8/14)

The New York Times: Remote Learning Is Hard. Losing Family Members Is Worse.
Last month, I learned that my uncle died of Covid-19. Not long after, his mother passed away from the virus, too. Since my parents are essential workers, I’m starting my senior year of high school worrying whether they’re next. I live in one of San Diego’s most infected ZIP codes. And I’m a Latino in a county where Hispanics — 43 percent of Covid-19 victims yet only 34 percent of the population — bear the brunt of the pandemic. (Isaac Lozano, 8/13)

The New York Times: We Will Pay For Our Summer Vacations With Winter Lockdowns 
This spring, when Western Europe became an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, countries imposed strict lockdowns: In France, a person needed a permit to go shopping; Spain required children to stay indoors the entire day; in Scotland and Wales, people could go outside for a walk only once a day and had to stay within a five-mile radius. Thanks to this, European countries were able to not only flatten the Covid-19 curve but to also keep levels of infection very low. But as the weeks went by, the pressure to reopen society grew. People wanted their prepandemic lives back. They wanted dynamic economies to protect their jobs; they wanted their children educated in schools; they wanted nights out at the pub and visits to their friends. And they really wanted summer vacations. (Devi Sridhar, 8/14)

The Washington Post: Kamala Harris And Marjorie Taylor Greene Embody The Divergent Roads Confronting America
It doesn’t get much starker than that. This is, as Biden has been saying, no mere election; it is a “battle for the soul of the nation.” We have spent so much time this painful summer, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, lamenting and exploring America’s imperfections. That is as it should be. It is necessary work, too long postponed. The legacy of that neglect is reflected in the ferocity of the protests. Unequal treatment, unequal schools, unequal wealth and now, as brought tragically home by the pandemic, unequal health. All of this is undeniable. It must be acknowledged, and it must be addressed. (Ruth Marcus, 8/13)

Sacramento Bee: A Scandal: Sacramento County Gives COVID Money To Sheriff
I’ve been a working journalist for more than 30 years and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a bigger clown show than the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting this week.It was nothing less than governmental malpractice. The County of Sacramento received $181 million in federal dollars to combat the coronavirus pandemic. And where did $104 million of it go? For salaries and benefits in the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. And when Nav Gill, the county CEO, was asked to justify it, he said he did it as a money “swap” that kept the county budget whole while also addressing COVID-19. (Marcos Breton, 8/12)

Dallas Morning News: Colleyville Has Taken The Brunt Of COVID Response Criticism. What Can We Learn From It?
The simple truth is this: The virus poses a real but manageable threat; therefore a secondary threat to our economy, our health, and our ability to function as a society stems from a lack of public adherence to simple steps to reduce the spread. There shouldn’t be a hesitancy to wear masks and take other smart steps during a pandemic. Doing so allows us to return to a sense of normalcy, while discarding this advice increases the chances that more stringent steps will be taken to curb new flare-ups. Let’s do the work now to get back to normal. (8/14)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Eric Holcomb, Let Hoosiers Vote In A Safe, Open Election Amid Pandemic
Where’s the Hoosier hospitality and common sense? In March, Gov. Eric Holcomb made a profound statement as the coronavirus continued to descend on Indiana: "As citizens we all have a right to elect our leaders in a free and open and, of course, a safe environment." Moments later he announced with political leaders an agreement between the parties to allow “no-excuse” absentee voting to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. More than 500,000 Hoosiers of all political stripes utilized this opportunity to cast their vote by mail in the June primary election. Now, new daily cases are four to five times higher than when Holcomb made his pronouncement. But today, Holcomb’s tune has changed. He’s refusing to expand vote by mail to every Hoosier, even as the virus spreads and nearly 3,000 Hoosiers have lost their lives. (Adam Dickey, 8/14)