First Edition: Aug. 17, 2020

Kaiser Health News: With COVID Vaccine Trial, Rural Oregon Clinic Steps Onto World Stage
From the outside, it appears to be just another suburban allergy clinic, a tidy, tan brick-and-cinder-block building set back from a busy highway and across the road from an auto parts store. But inside the offices of the Clinical Research Institute of Southern Oregon, Dr. Edward Kerwin and his staff are part of the race to save the world. (Aleccia, 8/17)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Pennie’-Pinching States Take Over Obamacare Exchanges From Feds 
Pennsylvania is rolling out its new “Pennie” this fall: a state-run insurance exchange that officials say will save residents collectively millions of dollars on next year’s health plan premiums. Since the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces opened for enrollment in fall 2013, Pennsylvania, like most states, has used the federal www.healthcare.gov website for people buying coverage on their own. (Galewitz, 8/17)

Kaiser Health News: PPE Shortage Could Last Years Without Strategic Plan, Experts Warn 
Shortages of personal protective equipment and medical supplies could persist for years without strategic government intervention, officials from health care and manufacturing industries have predicted. Officials said logistical challenges continue seven months after the coronavirus reached the United States, as the flu season approaches and as some state emergency management agencies prepare for a fall surge in COVID-19 cases. (Glenza, 8/17)

Kaiser Health News: Trust, Fear And Solidarity Will Determine The Success Of A COVID Vaccine 
Thousands of letters stuffed with money flooded Jonas Salk’s mailbox the week after his polio vaccine was declared safe and effective in 1955. Everybody wanted his vaccine. Desperate parents clogged doctors’ phone lines in search of the precious elixir; drug companies and doctors diverted doses to the rich and famous.Some of the first batches of the vaccine were disastrously botched, causing 200 cases of permanent paralysis. That barely dented public desire for the preventive. Marlon Brando even asked to play Salk in a movie. (Allen, 8/17)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 170,000
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic passed 170,000, while the number of new cases declined, reaching the lowest daily level since June 29. The U.S. reported just over 42,000 new cases for Sunday, a sharp drop from Friday’s total of more than 64,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The nation’s total number of cases surpassed 5.4 million, about a quarter of the world-wide figure. (Hall, 8/17)

CNN: More Than 1,000 People In The US Have Died Of Coronavirus Nearly Every Day This Month 
The Covid-19 death toll in the United States has soared to more than 170,000, just 18 days after the nation marked 150,000 lives lost. As cases have increased in the US, the lull between grim milestones has grown shorter. It took 54 days for the number of people killed by the virus to go from one to 50,000, and then 34 days to cross 100,000 mark on May 27. Now, more than 5.4 million people have been infected and 170,052 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Holcombe, 8/17)

Stat: FDA Clears Saliva Test For Covid-19, Opening Door To Wider Testing 
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorized emergency use of a new and inexpensive saliva test for Covid-19 that could greatly expand testing capacity. The new test, which is called SalivaDirect and was developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, allows saliva samples to be collected in any sterile container. It is a much less invasive process than the nasal swabs currently used to test for the virus that causes Covid-19, but one that has so far yielded highly sensitive and similar results. (Silverman and Joseph, 8/15)

Yale News: Yale’s Rapid COVID-19 Saliva Test Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization 
A saliva-based laboratory diagnostic test developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health to determine whether someone is infected with the novel coronavirus has been granted an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The method, called SalivaDirect, is being further validated as a test for asymptomatic individuals through a program that tests players and staff from the National Basketball Association (NBA). SalivaDirect is simpler, less expensive, and less invasive than the traditional method for such testing, known as nasopharyngeal (NP) swabbing. Results so far have found that SalivaDirect is highly sensitive and yields similar outcomes as NP swabbing. (Greenwood, 8/15)

The Wall Street Journal: The FDA Authorizes A Cheap, Fast Saliva Test—And The NBA Is Involved
Chantal Vogels studies bugs. A medical entomologist at the Yale School of Public Health, her expertise is mosquitoes, ticks and the nasty viruses they spread. “Human research is new to me,” she said. But she went from studying the very small to the very tall as part of a Yale team trying to solve the biggest problem in the United States through an improbable population of research subjects: NBA players. (Cohen and Radnofsky, 8/15)

Politico: Pelosi Calls Back House Over Postal Service Upheaval 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders will summon the House back in session this coming week to confront President Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service, she announced Sunday night. The House is expected to vote as early as Saturday, Aug. 22, on a proposal to block the Trump administration’s plan for overhauling the Postal Service. This is weeks earlier than Pelosi and the House Democratic leaders had originally planned to return to Washington. But the revised House schedule comes amid a national uproar over a crisis within the Postal Service ahead of a national election that will see an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots. (Bresnahan, Ferris and Caygle, 8/16)

The New York Times: Pelosi To Recall House For Postal Service Vote As Democrats Press For DeJoy To Testify
The announcement came after the White House chief of staff on Sunday signaled openness to providing emergency funding to help the agency handle a surge in mail-in ballots, and as Democratic state attorneys general said that they were exploring legal action against cutbacks and changes at the Postal Service. The moves underscored rising concern across the country over the integrity of the November election and how the Postal Service will handle as many as 80 million ballots cast by Americans worried about venturing to polling stations because of the coronavirus. President Trump has repeatedly derided mail voting as vulnerable to fraud, without evidence, and the issue had become a prominent sticking point in negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief. (Cochrane and Edmondson, 8/16)

AP: Pelosi To Call House Back Into Session To Vote On USPS Bill
“In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central,” [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi wrote Sunday in a letter to colleagues, who had been expected to be out of session until September. “Lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy are under threat from the president.”The decision to recall the House, made after a weekend of high-level leadership discussions, carries a political punch. Voting in the House will highlight the issue after the weeklong convention nominating Joe Biden as the party’s presidential pick and pressure the Republican-held Senate to respond. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent senators home for a summer recess. (Mascaro and Daly, 8/17)

The Hill: Clyburn: Trump 'Signing A Death Warrant For A Lot Of People' With Mail-In Voting Opposition 
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) in an interview on Saturday criticized President Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting, saying the president is “signing a death warrant for a lot of people.” "We ought not be crippling the Post Office and for the president to admit that he is doing this in order to gum up the works when it comes to the elections, he is actually signing a death warrant for a lot of people that he ought not be doing this," Clyburn said on CNN. (Balluck, 8/16)

Politico: Esper Eyes $2.2 Billion Cut To Military Health Care 
Pentagon officials working on Defense Secretary Mark Esper's cost-cutting review of the department have proposed slashing military health care by $2.2 billion, a reduction that some defense officials say could effectively gut the Pentagon’s health care system during a nationwide pandemic. The proposed cut to the military health system over the next five years is part of a sweeping effort Esper initiated last year to eliminate inefficiencies within the Pentagon’s coffers. But two senior defense officials say the effort has been rushed and driven by an arbitrary cost-savings goal, and argue that the cuts to the system will imperil the health care of millions of military personnel and their families as the nation grapples with Covid-19. (Seligman and Diamond, 8/16)

CNN: CDC's Chief Of Staff, Deputy Chief Of Staff Depart Agency 
The pair had been criticized by Trump administration officials for not being loyal enough. McGowan started working in Health and Human Services under then-Secretary Tom Price. He first served as director of external affairs for HHS before moving to the CDC. CNN has reached out to HHS for comment about the departures. McGowan was the first ever CDC chief of staff who was a political appointee, the official said. (Valencia, 8/15)

USA Today: Two Top CDC Officials Step Down; Birx Urges Americans To Wear Masks Indoors And Outdoors
Two top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were moving on and angry Democrats were calling out the U.S. Postal Service leadership Sunday as the U.S. COVID-19 death toll that inched toward 170,000. Kyle McGowan, the chief of staff, and Amanda Campbell, the deputy chief of staff, had worked side-by-side with CDC Director Robert Redfield, including the last eight tumultuous months as the virus overwhelmed the nation. (Bacon, 8/16)

Politico: HHS Chief Information Officer Abruptly Resigns 
HHS' chief information officer, José Arrieta, resigned unexpectedly Friday. Arrieta told senior leaders that he would stay on for up to a month to help with the transition, said two individuals with knowledge of his plans. He departs just four months after the department stood up the public data sharing hub HHS Protect, and a little over a year since he took over as chief information officer. (Ravindranath and Diamond, 8/14)

The New York Times: TeleTracking Technologies, Firm Running Coronavirus Database, Refuses To Answer Senators' Questions 
The health care technology firm that is helping to manage the Trump administration’s new coronavirus database has refused to answer questions from Senate Democrats about its $10.2 million contract, citing a nondisclosure agreement it signed with the Department of Health and Human Services. In a letter dated Aug. 3 and obtained Friday by The New York Times, a lawyer for the Pittsburgh-based TeleTracking Technologies cited the nondisclosure agreement in declining to say how it collects and shares data. The lawyer refused to share the company’s proposal to the government, its communications with administration officials and other information related to the awarding of the contract. (Gay Stolberg, 8/14)

AP: Trump Makes Call For New White House Doctor's Virus Advice
President Donald Trump has found a new doctor for his coronavirus task force — and this time there’s no daylight between them. Trump last week announced that Dr. Scott Atlas, a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, has joined the White House as a pandemic adviser. Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution, has no expertise in public health or infectious diseases. (Colvin, 8/16)

AP: Trump's Top Coronavirus Adviser: Wear Masks, Social Distance
Trump’s top coronavirus adviser used a visit to Kansas to urge people to wear masks regardless of where they live. “What’s really important for every Kansan to understand is that this epidemic that we have been seeing this summer is both urban and rural,” Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force said Saturday. “So we are really asking all communities, whether you are urban or rural communities, to really wear a mask inside, outside, every day.” (8/15)

The Hill: CDC Backtracks Guidance On Three-Month Window Of Immunity 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backtracked guidance it issued earlier this month, maintaining that people are not immune to reinfection to the coronavirus after recovering from the disease. “On August 3, 2020, CDC updated its isolation guidance based on the latest science about COVID-19 showing that people can continue to test positive for up to 3 months after diagnosis and not be infectious to others. Contrary to media reporting today, this science does not imply a person is immune to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the 3 months following infection,” the CDC said in a press release. (Axelrod, 8/14)

The Washington Post: Democrats Plan An Unconventional Convention, Starting Monday 
With the balloon drop scrapped and the cheering crowds banished, Democratic convention planners faced the grim prospect this summer of throwing Joe Biden a party in a pandemic without any apparent celebration. “At a regular convention, audience reaction is a huge part of the speeches,” Andrew Binns, the event’s chief operating officer, explained. “We needed a way to do that technologically and virtually.” (Scherer, 8/16)

The New York Times: Milwaukee’s Lost Mega-Event: ‘It’s The Ghost Convention Now’ 
In a year of canceled plans, with vacations, graduations and sports seasons upended by the coronavirus crisis, the stretch of downtown Milwaukee where Democrats were supposed to hold their nominating convention this week was quiet and sparsely populated — another reminder of a summer lost. Instead of thousands of Democrats preparing to gather at the newly built Fiserv Forum, there was just one street blocked off this weekend near the smaller Wisconsin Center, which will host the last few parts of the Democratic National Convention — including speeches by Wisconsin politicians — that will still take place in this city. There was no signage near the venue marking the occasion. Hotels were closed, restaurants were empty and the bars of America’s most beer-loving city were eerily barren. (Herndon and Epstein, 8/16)

The Hill: Trump 'Failure' On COVID-19 Will Be Central Message Of Biden Convention 
The coronavirus pandemic will loom large over this week’s Democratic convention — and will be the key part of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s messaging. Biden’s path to the White House is tied to the pandemic in that he argues President Trump’s complete mishandling of the crisis is the final reason voters should end his presidency at one term. (Parnes, 8/16)

AP: US Reps Eye Mental Health Telemedicine For Rural Veterans
A Maine congressman is working across the aisle with a Republican from Indiana on a proposal that would create mental health telemedicine services for veterans in rural parts of the country. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, is working on the proposal with Rep. Jim Banks. Their bill would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to create programs at three VA facilities that use computerized cognitive behavioral therapy to treat veterans who suffer from conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. (8/16)

The Washington Post: Infections Are Rising In Children, CDC Says 
The number and rate of coronavirus cases in children have risen since the pandemic took hold in the spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in recently updated guidance, underscoring the risk for young people and their families as the school year begins. According to the CDC, the infection rate in children 17 and under increased “steadily” from March to July. While the virus is far more prevalent and severe among adults, the true incidence of infection in American children remains unknown because of a lack of widespread testing, the agency said. (Hawkins and Iati, 8/16)

The New York Times: Older Children And The Coronavirus: A New Wrinkle In The Debate 
A study by researchers in South Korea last month suggested that children between the ages of 10 and 19 spread the coronavirus more frequently than adults — a widely reported finding that influenced the debate about the risks of reopening schools. But additional data from the research team now calls that conclusion into question; it’s not clear who was infecting whom. The incident underscores the need to consider the preponderance of evidence, rather than any single study, when making decisions about children’s health or education, scientists said. (Mandavilli, 8/14)

The New York Times: Scientists See Signs Of Lasting Immunity To Covid-19, Even After Mild Infections
Scientists who have been monitoring immune responses to the coronavirus for months are now starting to see encouraging signs of strong, lasting immunity, even in people that developed only mild symptoms of Covid-19, a flurry of new studies has found. Disease-fighting antibodies, as well as immune cells called B cells and T cells capable of recognizing the virus, appear to persist months after infections have resolved — an encouraging echo of the body’s robust immune response to other viruses. (Wu, 8/16)

The Hill: One In Three Americans Say They Won't Get Coronavirus Vaccine: Poll 
More than 1 in 3 Americans surveyed in a NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll released Friday say they will not get a coronavirus vaccine once it is available. Thirty-five percent of respondents said they would not take the vaccine, 60 percent said they would and 5 percent said they were unsure. Those with college degrees are 19 points more likely to take a vaccine than those without, 72 percent to 53 percent. Democrats were also more likely to be willing to take the vaccine than Republicans, 71 percent to 48 percent. (Moreno, 8/14)

Barron's: When Will A Covid-19 Vaccine Be Available For Everyone In The World? Analyst Says By The End Of 2021
The U.S. now has a half-dozen purchasing agreements with vaccine makers. And there are enough committed doses to immunize 75% of the population in 2021—even assuming 40% of the them fall through, according to Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal. “Even if (say) two vaccines fail/underperform in trials or manufacturing issues cause only 60% of the promised dose to be delivered, HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] would have enough to vaccinate [about] 85% of the U.S. population on the existing commitment alone,” Gal wrote in a note on Friday. (Smith, 8/16)

The New York Times: Fearing A ‘Twindemic,’ Health Experts Push Urgently For Flu Shots 
As public health officials look to fall and winter, the specter of a new surge of Covid-19 gives them chills. But there is a scenario they dread even more: a severe flu season, resulting in a “twindemic.” Even a mild flu season could stagger hospitals already coping with Covid-19 cases. And though officials don’t know yet what degree of severity to anticipate this year, they are worried large numbers of people could forgo flu shots, increasing the risk of widespread outbreaks. (Hoffman, 8/16)

The Washington Post: Wartime Doctors Battling Covid-19 Rush To Treat The Ill — But Without Knowing What Really Works 
For most of April, Marylu Seidel felt like she was starring in a science fiction movie. Her husband of 34 years, Jeff, was sedated in an intensive care unit more than an hour’s drive away in Madison, Wis., and her only window into his world was a daily phone call with his nurses. His doctors, first at a local community hospital and then at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, tried everything to help Jeff defeat the coronavirus — a ventilator, an antibiotic, an antimalarial drug, blood thinners, a blood plasma transfusion. Today, Jeff is alive, one of millions of people who have recovered after being diagnosed with covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. But if you ask his grateful family or even his doctors what kept him alive, the answer is unsettling. (Johnson, 8/16)

Stat: Seven Months Later, What We Know — And Don't Know — About Covid-19
The “before times” seem like a decade ago, don’t they? ... In reality, though, it’s only been about seven months since the world learned a new and dangerous coronavirus was in our midst. In the time since Chinese scientists confirmed the rapidly spreading disease in Wuhan was caused by a new coronavirus and posted its genetic sequence on line, an extraordinary amount has been learned about the virus, SARS-CoV-2, the disease it causes, Covid-19, and how they affect us. (Joseph, Branswell and Cooney, 8/17)

The New York Times: Clinical Trials Of Coronavirus Drugs Are Taking Longer Than Expected
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc in the United States and treatments are needed more than ever, clinical trials for some of the most promising experimental drugs are taking longer than expected. Researchers at a dozen clinical trial sites said that testing delays, staffing shortages, space constraints and reluctant patients were complicating their efforts to test monoclonal antibodies, man-made drugs that mimic the molecular soldiers made by the human immune system. (Thomas, 8/14)

NPR: What We Know About How Air Conditioners Spread COVID-19 
In the dog days of August, air conditioning is everywhere. Is that a problem when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus? The answer to that question rests on the way the virus is transmitted — a topic that is still being researched. (Craig, 8/15)

The Washington Post: Pregnant Latina Women With Covid-19: Staggering Numbers Show Virus’s Spread 
Each time she holds her newborn twins, the mother sees the inch-wide wound on her right arm marking the place where doctors lodged tubes into her body to keep her alive. More than two months have passed since Ana returned from the D.C. hospital to meet her new daughters for the first time, since she woke up from a deep sedation to learn that she had been intubated for the first three weeks of the infants’ lives, battling complications from covid-19. (Schmidt and Tan, 8/16)

CIDRAP: Review Of 11,000 COVID-19 Pregnancies Shows Generally Good Outcomes
A study reviewing 11,308 published cases of COVID-19 in pregnancy showed that outcomes were generally favorable, though 21% of cases that included such information showed severe or critical outcomes. The study was published yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.Overall, mortality rates were reassuring, and neonatal disease was rare: Only 41 possible cases of neonatal infection were reported in the literature, the authors said. Ninety-eight percent of women (10,437 of 10,597) survived to delivery or hospital discharge, and 33 maternal deaths were noted. (8/14)

The Hill: FDA Creates First-Ever Medical Supply Shortage List Including Masks, Swabs And Ventilators 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday that it has created its first list of medical supplies that are facing a shortage just hours after President Trump touted the administration's production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other devices. In an effort to prevent stockpiling or hoarding of supplies, the list does not reveal the product manufacturers, but lists that ventilators, respirators, masks, surgical gowns, gloves and sterile swabs are on short supply. (Seipel, 8/14)

Politico: Health Providers' Scramble For Staff And Supplies Reveals Sharp Disparities 
Doctors, nurses and caregivers at smaller and poorer hospitals and medical facilities across the country are still struggling to obtain the protective gear, personnel and resources they need to fight the coronavirus despite President Donald Trump's repeated assertions that the problems are solved. Health care workers at all types of facilities scrambled for scarce masks, gloves and other life-protecting gear at the beginning of the pandemic. The White House was letting states wage bidding wars against one another, rather than establish a central national manufacturing, supply and distribution chain. (Doherty, 8/14)

The Hill: Las Vegas Hospital Workers Call For Probe Into Conditions During Pandemic 
Hospital workers in Las Vegas are calling on Nevada health officials to investigate claims of unsafe working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic. The workers, who are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), say that HCA Healthcare hospitals they work in are understaffed to serve the volume of patients and that they lack sufficient personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and face shields. (Johnson, 8/15)

CIDRAP: ICD-10 Codes For Common COVID-19 Symptoms Inaccurate, Study Finds
Standard, symptom-specific international disease codes lack sensitivity and have poor negative predictive value (NPV) for characteristic COVID-19 symptoms, which could skew conclusions derived from them, a cohort study published today in JAMA Network Open shows. Researchers compared the performance of International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes for fever, cough, and shortness of breath with the electronic medical records (EMRs) of 2,201 patients tested for COVID-19 infection at University of Utah Health from Mar 10 to Apr 6. ICD-10 codes are often used for data aggregation and analysis. (8/14)

Reuters: Sanofi Snags Another U.S. Biotech Asset With $3.7 Billion Deal For Principia Biopharma 
Sanofi SA is to buy U.S.-based Principia Biopharma Inc for around $3.7 billion, the companies announced on Monday, marking the French healthcare company’s latest acquisition in the biotech sector. The deal will strengthen Sanofi’s research capabilities in areas such as autoimmune and allergic diseases, the companies said, and will see the French company buy the outstanding shares of Principia for $100 per share in cash. (Kar-Gupta, 8/17)

Stat: Sanofi, Aiming To Speed MS Treatment, To Acquire Principia Biopharma
Sanofi said Monday that it is acquiring Principia Biopharma for $3.68 billion, giving the French drug giant full control over the multiple sclerosis treatment the companies share. The deal values Principia at $100 per share, a 10% premium over the company’s closing price Friday, but represents a 35% premium to the price of Principia stock on July 15. (Herper, 8/17)

Stat: J&J Invests In Thirty Madison, Renewing Pharma’s Interest In Health Tech
Late last year, several high-profile partnerships between big pharma companies and health tech startups fell apart — raising questions about whether culture clash and financial pressures would doom such alliances. But in the months since, pharma’s interest in businesses trying to rethink how people get their medications has proved resilient. The latest sign of that came on Friday: Johnson & Johnson’s innovation arm will make an investment in Thirty Madison, the company offering telemedicine visits and online prescriptions for drugs for hair loss, migraines, and acid reflux. (Robbins, 8/14)

Stat: CureVac Becomes Latest Vaccine Manufacturer To See Its Value Soar
The developer of a vaccine for Covid-19 saw its share price nearly triple within hours of an initial public offering Friday, the latest example of how the coronavirus crisis has dramatically increased investor demand for biotech stocks. CureVac, headquartered in Germany, raised about $213 million by pricing shares at $16 each. The company’s share price immediately rose to $44, boosting its valuation to roughly $8 billion. CureVac now trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol “CVAC.” (Garde, 8/14)

NPR: What Contact Tracing Data Is Telling Us About How COVID-19 Spreads
When everyone who tests positive for coronavirus in your community gets a call from a public health worker asking them about their contacts and those contacts are then asked to quarantine, the process creates a powerful way to keep the virus from spreading. But contact tracing can do more than that: At scale, the data gathered in those calls also offers vital information about where transmission is happening in a community. That data can drive policy and even guide individuals in assessing what's more or less safe to go out and do. (Simmons-Duffin, 8/14)

AP: 'Are You Doing OK?': On The Ground With NYC Contact Tracers
Joseph Ortiz headed for the home of a stranger who tested positive for COVID-19, unsure how his unexpected visit would go. The person hadn’t answered phone calls from New York City’s contact tracing program, a massive effort to keep the coronavirus from spreading by getting newly diagnosed people to identify others they might have infected before those people spread it further. (Peltz, 8/17)

The New York Times: ‘We’re Clearly Not Doing Enough’: Drop In Testing Hampers Coronavirus Response 
For months, public health experts and federal officials have said that significantly expanding the number of coronavirus tests administered in the United States is essential to reining in the pandemic. By some estimates, several million people might need to be tested each day, including many people who don’t feel sick. But the country remains far short of that benchmark and, for the first time, the number of known tests conducted each day has fallen. (Mervosh, Bogel-Burroughs and Gay Stolberg, 8/15)

The Hill: CDC: Children And Teens Are Eating More Fast Food 
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that children and teenagers are eating more fast food than in previous years. The report showed that young people received 13.8 percent of their daily calories from fast food between 2015 and 2018, up from 12.4 percent from 2011 to 2012. The data noted adolescents between the ages of 12 to 19 consumed a higher percentage of fast food calories compared to children ages 2 to 11. (Deese, 8/14)

The Washington Post: Child's Migraine Can Be Hard To Figure Out 
Of all the memories that linger from my childhood, the most vivid are those that correlate with a migraine headache. Vomiting in the school bathroom. Lectured by a well-intentioned but ignorant principal to suck it up and play through the pain. Resting my aching head on the cold tile floor of my second-grade classroom as I wait for my mother to pick me up from school. Leaving a friend’s slumber party early, in tears. You’d think that after 40 years of migraines I’d be an expert in diagnosing the illness in others. But when my own son began complaining of headaches a couple of years ago at age 5, I didn’t know how to address it. All he could tell me was that his head hurt. He wasn’t sobbing or vomiting, as I did as a child, so I wasn’t sure of the best plan of action. Was he in the throes of a migraine attack? (Ebejer, 8/16)

NPR: Less Than A Week After Starting Classes, UNC-Chapel Hill Reports 4 COVID-19 Clusters 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced on Sunday that it identified another cluster of coronavirus cases on campus, the fourth reported in three days. State health officials define "clusters" as five or more cases in a single residential hall or dwelling. The latest cluster is located at Hinton James Residence Hall, the university said in an alert. According to the university's website, the living space typically houses over 900 students, many of whom are in their first year. (Treisman, 8/16)

The Washington Post: U-Md. Students Stage Protest, Continue To Fight Lease Agreements At Campus Apartments 
Gavin Kohn, 21, signed his lease to live in the Courtyards, an apartment on the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park, in February. The novel coronavirus, at that point, had arrived in the United States, but the then-junior didn’t know it would upend the school year. But as the virus raged on, it became clear his senior year was also in jeopardy. The university scaled back on-campus housing, announced plans to conduct 80 percent of undergraduate courses online and imposed coronavirus testing requirements. Kohn, and about 500 other students who had planned to live in the Courtyards and its sister property, South Campus Commons, started to feel wary about living in groups. But, bound by their leases, they may be forced to do it, anyway. (Lumpkin, 8/16)

AP: Quarantine Requirements May Delay Return To In-Person School
Shannon Silver had planned to take her family on a trip from her home in Connecticut to visit relatives in Ohio just before the start of the school year for her two children. But she and her husband reversed course when people traveling from Ohio were added to a list of those who must quarantine for 14 days upon entering Connecticut. That requirement might have meant her 10-year-old son would miss the first day of sixth grade at St. Matthew School in Bristol. (Eaton-Robb and Catlalini, 8/17)

NPR: To Keep Campuses Safe, Some Colleges To Test Students For Coronavirus Twice A Week
As students return to the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this month, they will be tested for COVID-19. And, then they'll be tested, again. "We are requiring testing two times per week for access to campus facilities. This is for students, faculty, and staff," explains Rebecca Lee Smith, an associate professor of epidemiology. (Aubrey, 8/15)

The New York Times: Can Los Angeles Schools Test 700,000 Students And 75,000 Employees? That’s The Plan
Amid public alarm over the inadequacy of coronavirus testing across the nation, Los Angeles schools on Monday will begin a sweeping program to test hundreds of thousands of students and teachers as the nation’s second-largest school district goes back to school — online. The program, which will be rolled out over the next few months by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will administer tests to nearly 700,000 students and 75,000 employees as the district awaits permission from public health authorities to resume in-person instruction, said Austin Beutner, the district’s superintendent. (Hubler, 8/16)

CIDRAP: Survey: Many Parents Won't Send Kids To School This Fall
Nearly a third of 730 parents surveyed in early June about their back-to-school plans for their school-aged children amid the COVID-19 pandemic said they probably or definitely will choose distance learning over in-person instruction, according to a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics. While 31% of participants in the national convenience sample indicated they would keep their child home, 49% said they probably or definitely will opt for in-person school. Parents choosing remote learning tended to have lower incomes (38% with annual incomes less than $50,000 vs 21% with incomes of $100,000 to $150,000), be unemployed (40%, vs 26% employed), and had a flexible job schedule (33%, vs 19% with inflexible jobs). (Van Beusekom, 8/14)

The New York Times: Why Parents, With ‘No Good Choice’ This School Year, Are Blaming One Another
It’s the newest front in America’s parenting wars. Parents, forced to figure out how to care for and educate their children in a pandemic, are being judged and criticized on message boards and in backyard meet-ups and virtual P.T.A. meetings. If parents send their children to schools that reopen, are they endangering them and their teachers? If they keep them home, are they pulling support from schools and depriving their children? If they keep working while schools are closed, are they neglecting their children in a time of need? If they hire someone to help with remote school, are they widening achievement gaps and contributing to inequality? (Cain Miller, 8/13)

AP: Homes With Grandparents Weigh Virus Risk As School Starts
Zita Robinson, who’s 77 and diabetic, has been careful around her granddaughter since the coronavirus pandemic took hold. A door connects Robinson’s apartment in Phoenix to the main house where 8-year-old Traris “Trary” Robinson-Newman and her mother live, but it mostly stays shut. Their only physical contact is if Trary walks in with her back toward Grandma. Then Robinson will kiss her own hand and lightly touch Trary’s back — “like I’m sending her a kiss with my hand.” (Tang, 8/15)

AP: States Wrestle With Playing High School Football Amid COVID
As heat waves rose from the crackling grass next to a cotton field that stretched far into the distance, Rick Porter watched his young football players struggle through a preseason practice. Under every helmet was a masked player, breathing deep amid the dust and stifling heat topping 100 degrees fahrenheit (38 degrees celsius). August in Texas can be cruel and the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a new set of obstacles in the way. (Vertuno, 8/16)

The Washington Post: Why A Little Bit Of Exercise Can Help Academically For Kids With ADHD 
Because your child’s classroom this fall probably will be the dining room, it would be a good idea to send them outside before they start their school day. They’ll be primed to learn. In 2009, researchers found that as little as 20 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise at 60 percent of maximum heart rate improves academic performance in children — immediately. (Opipari, 8/15)