The Washington Post: WHO Warns Young People Are Emerging As Main Spreaders Of The Coronavirus 
The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that young people are becoming the primary drivers of the spread of the novel coronavirus in many countries — a worrisome trend experts fear may grow in the United States as many colleges and schools begin to reopen. Many nations in Asia, which had previously pushed infections to enviably low rates, have experienced surges in recent weeks at the same time that the age of those infected skewed younger. (Wan and Balingit, 8/18)

The Wall Street Journal: New U.S. Covid-19 Cases Jump As Fears Grow Over Campus Spread 
New coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed higher, but remained below 50,000 for the fourth day in a row, as some universities and schools move classes online to avoid campus outbreaks. The U.S. reported more than 44,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, up sharply from the previous day’s 35,112, but lower than recent peaks this month and in July, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Total cases in the U.S. approached 5.5 million, while the nation’s death toll neared 172,000. (Hall, 8/19)

CNN: US Coronavirus: Covid-19 Infections Among Students Have Already Caused Some Colleges To Halt In-Person Classes
Just days before classes are slated to resume, colleges across the country are finding it may be next to impossible to create a coronavirus-free environment on campus. Young people -- who US officials say helped drive a nationwide surge of new coronavirus cases over the summer -- are now returning to college campuses across the country. With them have come reports of hundreds of infections. (Maxouris, 8/19)

ABC News: Biden Discusses Healthcare Plan At Dem Convention 
Minutes after he received enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden discussed one of the top policy proposals: a revamp of the nation’s healthcare. In a town hall-style video chat with Americans who have dealt with serious health ailments, Biden vowed to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which he and President Barack Obama helped pass in 2010. (Pereira, 8/18)

The Wall Street Journal: DNC Nominates Joe Biden To Lead Nation Through Pandemic 
[Dr. Jill] Biden said in the night’s final speech that profound moments of grief in her husband’s life—a 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and a daughter and the 2015 death of his son Beau from cancer—had made him an empathetic leader fit to lead the nation through the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 171,000 Americans.“How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding—and with small acts of kindness. With bravery. With unwavering faith,” Ms. Biden said, adding later: “I know if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours: bring us together and make us whole.” (Jamerson and Day, 8/19)

The Hill: Clinton Tears Into Trump Over COVID-19 Response In Convention Speech 
Former President Clinton ripped President Trump’s response to the coronavirus on Tuesday, accusing the president of dithering and spreading misinformation in the early days of the outbreak that he said resulted in the U.S. being hit harder by the pandemic. Speaking from his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., on the second night of the virtual Democratic National Convention, Clinton said that instead of turning the Oval Office into a “command center” to address the pandemic, Trump turned the White House into a “storm center” that created additional “chaos.” (Easley and Chalfant, 8/18)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Democratic Convention, Night 1: Hitting Trump Team On Pandemic Preparedness
On the first night of the Democrats’ 2020 national convention, one thing was clear. This time would be different. No crowds, buttons, placards or party swag. The coronavirus pandemic was an ever-present theme. Still, there was a virtual National Anthem and everyday people offering their thoughts on the upcoming election and the state of the nation. A young woman whose father, a Donald Trump voter, died of COVID-19, was among them. A list of marquee speakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama spoke directly into the camera. (8/18)

Also —

Roll Call: Even With One-Party Rule, Biden Health Care Plan Is No Slam Dunk - Roll Call
Democrats won control of the House in 2018 by pounding the issue of health care, and there is no sign they plan to change course this year as they try to build that majority and capture the Senate and White House. The party adopted a platform Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention that lays out presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plan to allow people to enroll in government-run Medicare coverage at 60 years old, down from 65, while younger people could buy that coverage through a “Medicare-like public option.” (McIntire, 8/19)

The Wall Street Journal: USPS To Suspend Changes Until After Election 
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the U.S. Postal Service is suspending operational changes, such as removal of mail processing equipment and collection boxes, until after the November election, as the agency tries to reassure Americans that it can handle the anticipated surge in mail-in voting. Calling the timely delivery of the nation’s election mail a “sacred duty,” Mr. DeJoy said the agency won’t change retail hours at post offices across the country or close any mail-sorting facilities. (Andrews, Corse and Ziobro, 8/18)

CNN: Postal Union Leaders Doubt Recent Changes Will Be Fully Restored, Despite USPS Announcement 
Miriam Bell, general president of a local chapter of the American Postal Workers Union in North Carolina, said seven sorting machines at a Charlotte postal facility have been either separated out, dismantled or entirely removed in recent weeks. Asked if she expects them to return, Bell said, "We truthfully do not know," adding, "it is highly unlikely they will be put back in place." (Devine and Murphy, 8/19)

Politico: Pelosi Celebrates Walkback Of Postal Service Changes: ‘They Felt The Heat’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday credited public pressure for spurring Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's decision to roll back reforms at the U.S. Postal Service that prompted fears of election interference. The news that the Postal Service was suspending its “operational initiatives” broke moments before Pelosi’s interview with POLITICO Playbook authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman. (Cohen, 8/18)

In other news about voting —

CNN: Trump Campaign Sues New Jersey Over Mail-In Voting
President Donald Trump's reelection campaign sued New Jersey Tuesday over the state's decision to use a hybrid voting model for November's election in which all residents will be mailed a ballot, leaving it up to them to decide if they would like to vote by mail or in person. (Grise, 8/19)

Politico: Pro Sports Teams Offer Up Empty Arenas For Voting In The Fall 
The Election Super Centers Project has four NBA teams participating so far — the Indiana Pacers (Indianapolis), Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards — as well as the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, MLB’s Boston Red Sox and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils (Newark) and Washington Capitals (who share an arena and owner with the Wizards). The Golden State Warriors are also in discussions to join the program. (Montellaro, 8/18)

Politico: Trump Plots Broad Health Data Overhaul After Troubled Rollout Of Covid-19 Database
The Trump administration wants to overhaul how state and local health departments and providers report public health data to the government, a month after its separate, trouble-plagued rollout of a new coronavirus reporting system for hospitals. The new effort is billed as a necessary upgrade to an outdated system that still relies on faxes and paper records and has slowed efforts to track the spread of Covid-19. The project would be funded by money Congress gave the CDC in coronavirus relief bills; an HHS spokesperson declined to comment on any projected cost. (Tahir and Roubein, 8/19)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Reveals 10-Year Plan To Tackle Nation's Public Health
HHS on Tuesday set more than 350 measureable goals as part of its 10-year plan to tackle the nation's most pressing public health issues. The initiative—dubbed "Healthy People 2030"— addresses a wide range of health conditions, health behaviors, populations and social determinants of health. ... The effort will take on continuing problems like opioid use disorder and youth e-cigarette use. It also includes "resources for adapting Healthy People 2030 to emerging public health threats like COVID-19," the agency said. (Brady, 8/18)

In other administration news —

CBS News: Trump Says "We'll Look At" Oleandrin, A Toxic Plant Extract Touted By MyPillow CEO As COVID Treatment 
President Trump suggested he's open to looking at a botanical extract being touted by a major donor, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, as a treatment for COVID-19, even though it comes from a poisonous plant and there have been no medical studies to show if it's safe or effective in people. Asked on Monday by CBS News' Paula Reid whether he's urging the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the use of oleandrin, extracted from the Nerium oleander plant, to treat the virus, the president responded, "No, I haven't." He added, "I've heard of it, yes." (8/18)

The Hill: Anderson Cooper To MyPillow CEO: 'You Really Are Like A Snake Oil Salesman' 
CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday slammed MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ardent President Trump supporter, for pushing an unproven therapeutic treatment for coronavirus, sales of which could benefit him. “You really are a snake oil salesman. I mean, you could be in the Old West standing on a box telling people to drink your amazing elixir that there's no proof [of],” Cooper told Lindell in an interview. (Klar, 8/18)

The New York Times: Republicans Float A Scaled-Back Stimulus Bill 
Senate Republicans on Tuesday began circulating text of a narrow coronavirus relief package that would revive extra unemployment benefits at half the original rate, shield businesses from lawsuits related to the virus and provide funding for testing and schools. The draft measure appears to be an effort to break through the political stalemate over providing another round of economic stimulus to Americans during the pandemic. But it is unlikely to alter the debate in Washington, where Democrats have repeatedly rejected previous Republican offers as insufficient. The new bill would spend less money, in fewer areas, than those earlier offers. (Cochrane and Tankersley, 8/18)

Modern Healthcare: Senate GOP Narrows COVID-19 Relief Asks, Removes Provider Funding
Senate Republicans are considering a new, slimmer COVID-19 relief bill that includes no additional funds for healthcare provider grants. The proposal comes as negotiations between congressional Democrats and the White House collapsed in recent weeks. The new bill includes liability protections that healthcare providers wanted, but doesn't set aside the additional $100 billion in grants providers had asked for or relax Medicare loan terms, according to draft text of the proposal. (Cohrs, 8/18)

Reuters: Pelosi Emphasizes Need For COVID-19 Deal 'Now' 
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that Democrats in Congress are willing to cut their coronavirus relief bill in half to get an agreement on new legislation, which a senior aide said did not signal a change to her position. “We have to try to come to that agreement now,” Pelosi said in an online interview with Politico. “We’re willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now. We’ll take it up again in January. We’ll see them again in January. But for now, we can cut the bill in half.” (8/18)

CNN: First Covid-19 Vaccine Trial Moving At A Good Clip, But Officials Still "Very Concerned" 
The first coronavirus vaccine trial in the US is moving along at a good clip, but needs more minorities to enroll if it is to succeed, officials tell CNN. While Black people and Latinos account for more than 50% of Covid-19 cases nationwide, so far they make up only about 15% of participants in the nation's first large-scale clinical trial to test out a coronavirus vaccine, according to data obtained by CNN from a government official. That could potentially delay a vaccine from getting to the marketplace. (Cohen, 8/18)

Stat: Will Covid-19 Vaccines Be Safe For Children And Pregnant Women?
As potential Covid-19 vaccines speed their way through development, manufacturers and U.S. regulators have largely delayed testing in children and women who are pregnant, raising the possibility that experts will lack critical safety and efficacy data in those populations when there’s a pressing need to inoculate them. Vaccines are always tested first in healthy adults, a population that is most likely to provide a clear picture of whether a vaccine triggers protection. It’s also a population deemed to be at lowest risk should there be side effects from an experimental vaccine. (Branswell, 8/19)

In other treatment and research news —

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Lab-Created Antibodies To Be Tested In Coronavirus Patients By LSU Researchers 
While the world waits on a vaccine, LSU Health New Orleans researchers are enrolling patients in a trial for a coronavirus treatment that could show results as early as this fall. The Phase 3 trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health and involving at least six hospitals in the U.S., is evaluating a drug at University Medical Center that uses lab-produced antibodies to mimic the body's natural defenses and fight back against the infection. (Woodruff, 8/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Coronavirus Genome Shows Only One Strain Spreading In Baltimore-Washington Region, Needing One Vaccine 
New research from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory confirms that the coronavirus has not significantly changed since it began infecting people widely in the Baltimore-Washington area in March, boosting the view that one vaccine should help prevent it. Scientists looked at the genetic makeup of the virus, with samples taken from dozens of patients at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where early on more than a third of those infected were treated for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. (Cohn, 8/19)

Reuters: More Infectious Coronavirus Mutation May Be 'A Good Thing', Says Disease Expert
An increasingly common mutation of the novel coronavirus found in Europe, North America and parts of Asia may be more infectious but appears less deadly, according to a prominent infectious diseases doctor. (8/17)

Also —

The Hill: Fauci Says He Does Not See US Mandating COVID-19 Vaccination For General Public 
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said Tuesday he doesn’t see the U.S. mandating a COVID-19 vaccine. “I don't think you'll ever see a mandating of vaccine particularly for the general public,” Fauci said during a livestreamed interview with Healthline. (Hellmann, 8/18)

The Hill: WHO Warns Against 'Nationalism' In Coronavirus Fight 
The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning countries that hoarding supplies and an eventual coronavirus vaccine will prolong the epidemic at a steep cost to poor and developing nations. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his agency is developing plans to distribute the vaccine equitably across the globe, once the science shows that a potential candidate is both effective at generating an immune response and safe in humans. (Wilson, 8/18)

CIDRAP: WHO Urges Global Coordination Of Vaccine Rollout, Notes COVID In Caribbean
As the global COVID-19 total today neared 22 million cases, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned about "vaccine nationalism" and previewed a basic strategy for deploying vaccine, once available, that not only protects those at greatest risk, but also helps reduce the threat for all countries. In another development, the WHO's Americas regional office said Caribbean countries are now reporting case rises. The current pandemic total is at 21,974,393 cases, with 776,154 deaths according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 8/18)

In other global vaccine news —

Reuters: Australia Hails Vaccine Deal As Virus Surge Abates
A fresh outbreak of infections in Australia’s coronavirus hot zone of Victoria eased further on Wednesday, while the country agreed a deal to secure a potential COVID-19 vaccine that it plans to roll out cost-free to citizens. Australia has signed a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca to produce and distribute enough doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine for its population of 25 million, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said late on Tuesday. (Jose and Paul, 8/18)

Reuters: German Institute Says Coronavirus Vaccinations Could Start In Early 2021 
The head of Germany’s vaccines regulator said some groups of people living in Germany could be vaccinated early next year against the coronavirus that has killed almost 800,000 worldwide and wreaked havoc on the global economy. More than half a dozen drugmakers around the world are conducting advanced clinical trials, each with tens of thousands of participants, and several expect to know if their COVID-19 vaccines work and are safe by the end of this year. (8/19)

CNN: Getting Vaccinated For The Flu This Year Is Particularly Important, WHO Officials Say
Getting the flu vaccine this year is important, experts at the World Health Organization said during a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. It appears that the circulation of flu in the Southern Hemisphere -- which includes Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, South Africa and Zimbabwe -- is low. However, making assessments of what will happen in the Northern Hemisphere -- which includes North America, Europe and much of Asia -- needs to be done carefully. (Thomas and Hetter, 8/18)

The Hill: West Virginia Sues CVS, Walmart For Aiding Opioid Epidemic 
West Virginia's attorney general filed lawsuits Tuesday against Walmart and CVS, alleging the companies helped create the state's devastating opioid epidemic. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said in separate lawsuits that the companies should remediate what has become a public health and financial crisis. (Weixel, 8/18)

Also —

Stat: DOJ Alleges Teva Used Charities To Pay Kickbacks To Medicare Patients
Federal authorities alleged that Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) donated hundreds of millions of dollars to a pair of foundations, but the payments were actually kickbacks to Medicare patients and designed to cover their out-of-pocket costs for a pricey medicine. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, the Department of Justice accused the drug maker of paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the charities — the Chronic Disease Fund and The Assistance Fund — to ensure that, from 2006 through 2015, Medicare patients did not have to make a co-payment or deductible for the Copaxone multiple sclerosis drug. (Silverman, 8/18)

Reuters: Reliance Buys Majority Stake In Online Pharmacy Netmeds For $83 Million 
India’s Reliance Industries Ltd has bought a majority stake in online pharmacy Netmeds for 6.2 billion rupees ($83 million), facing up to Amazon.com in the competition for the country’s fast-expanding online drug market. The deal will give the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate a 60% stake in Netmeds, which sells both over-the-counter medication and more than 70,000 prescriptions drugs, Reliance said here late on Tuesday. (Ravikumar, 8/18)

Roll Call: Hospitals Eye Permanent Telehealth Expansion With FCC Funds
Hundreds of hospitals and health care centers from Washington state to Louisiana are expanding telehealth infrastructure thanks to $200 million that Congress appropriated for the Federal Communications Commission in emergency legislation. In some cases, hospitals are supplementing the federal funds from the $2 trillion coronavirus relief law enacted in March with their own money to expand health care delivery through remote devices, cameras and software with patients remaining at home during the pandemic. (Ratnam, 8/18)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Could Push Systems To Create Telehealth Leadership Roles
More healthcare providers are carving out telehealth leadership roles in their C-suites, a trend that will likely accelerate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governance experts said. There was around a 40% increase in the number of telehealth leadership roles among health system C-suites from early 2019 to early 2020, according to data from SullivanCotter, an executive compensation consulting firm. Telehealth use skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, facilitated by temporary regulatory waivers and reimbursement boosts. (Cohen and Kacik, 8/18)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: Job-Based Health Coverage Will Be More Expensive In 2021
Large employers expect the cost of providing health coverage to workers to increase next year, as employees seek care they put off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies anticipate that health benefit costs will grow 5.3% in 2021, an increase slightly higher than the 5% increases employers projected in each of the last five years, according to the latest annual survey big employers by the Business Group on Health. (Livingston, 8/18)

Burlington Free Press: Vermonters Spent An Extra $1 Billion On Health Care, Auditor Says
Health care costs in Vermont were up 167% from 2000 to 2018, according to the state auditor, more than double the increase for all other goods and services in Vermont during the same period. Doug Hoffer released a report Tuesday saying that if health care spending in Vermont had increased at the same rate as the U.S. average, Vermonters would have saved roughly $1 billion. (D'Ambrosio, 8/18)

Boston Globe: These Local Hospital Honchos Made More Than $1 Million In 2018 
Seventeen executives at Mass General Brigham earned more than $1 million in compensation in 2018, according to the company’s latest public filing, led by Dr. David Torchiana, who stepped down as chief executive the following year. In his last full year at the state’s largest network of doctors and hospitals, then known as Partners HealthCare, Torchiana received $2.3 million in salary, $700,000 in bonus and incentives, and nearly $960,000 in deferred compensation and other benefits. His total compensation was just under $4 million, down from $6.1 million in 2017. Despite the decline, he was the highest-paid executive among the state’s health networks and hospitals in 2018. (Edelman, 8/18)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: LCMC Health Deepens Connections To Neighborhoods With Mobile COVID Testing 
For the past five months, LCMC Health has focused more heavily on reaching people in their own neighborhoods through mobile COVID-19 testing. Since late April, LCMC Health, in partnership with the LSU Health Sciences Center and the City of New Orleans Health Department has administered more than 15,000 tests in local neighborhoods. (McElresh, 8/18)

Modern Healthcare: Beaumont Medical Staff Survey Results Highly Critical Of Management, Proposed Merger
Physicians at Michigan-based Beaumont Health overwhelmingly rejected corporate management and the proposed merger of the eight-hospital nonprofit system with a 28-hospital Chicago-based health system, according to results of an explosive medical staff survey that Crain's Detroit Business has obtained. About 1,555 physicians answered the six-question survey that criticized Beaumont's management, physician and employee relations, culture, staffing and the proposed merger, essentially giving a vote of no-confidence to Beaumont's top leaders. (Greene, 8/18)

NPR: Yep, Masks And Protective Gear Are Still Hard To Get — Especially For Small Buyers
Just like in March, when coronavirus cases spiked for the first time, some workers and employers across the country continue to face PPE shortages. Masks, gloves, gowns, thermometers and other equipment are scarce. Demand has remained high, and prices have, too. Now it's not just hospitals, states and federal officials vying for the same PPE. Smaller operations without a lot of buying power — from cash-strapped school districts to independent medical practices — are entering the market. (Rose, 8/19)

Kaiser Health News: As Georgia Reopened, Officials Knew Of Severe Shortage Of PPE For Health Workers 
As the coronavirus crisis deepened in April, Georgia officials circulated documents showing that to get through the next month, the state would need millions more masks, gowns and other supplies than it had on hand. The projections, obtained by KHN and other organizations in response to public records requests, provide one of the clearest pictures of the severe PPE deficits states confronted while thousands fell ill from rising COVID-19 cases, putting health workers at risk. (Pradhan and Knight, 8/19)

In related news about masks and face coverings —

CNN: MIT Researchers Created A Reusable Face Mask That Works Like An N95 Respirator 
Nurses and doctors have gone to creative extremes to reuse the same masks, gloves and scrubs they need to treat contagious coronavirus patients. But if a prototype mask created by researchers proves widely effective, it may be a safer alternative for health care workers. (Andrew, 8/19)

Los Angeles Times: How Many People Really Wear Masks? We Counted. It Wasn’t Pretty
We visited a trendy Venice shopping district, Main Street in Huntington Beach, and a leafy public park in north Long Beach. We monitored each location six times between July 23 and July 28, tracking a total of 3,026 passersby in two-hour shifts. While our results are limited to a small selection of locations in the populous and diverse region of Southern California, it is modeled on studies conducted by academics to offer a more scientific answer to the question of how residents are responding to the pandemic. Here's what we found. (Miller, 8/19)

The Guardian: Masks Blunt The Spread Of Coronavirus – But Not All Are Created Equal
So which masks are most effective at preventing the spread of droplets? It’s hard to precisely know right now. But [Martin] Fischer, of the Duke study, suggested this general rule: “If you have two masks and one of them is really easy to see through and easy to breathe through and another one [is] not, it’s probably a good bet that the thicker one will perform better.” (Renwick, 8/19)

AP: Montana Assisted Living Facility Told To Enforce Mask Rules
An assisted living facility in Montana has been ordered to comply with state and local requirements for employees to wear masks while at work to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Missoula City-County Health Department issued the order Friday to Ty Harding, owner of the Beehive Homes franchise in Missoula. (8/18)

NBC News: 8 Days Into Semester, Notre Dame Halts In-Person Classes As 146 Students Get Coronavirus
The University of Notre Dame suspended in-person classes on Tuesday, eight days after the school’s fall semester began and after 146 students and a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said. The two-week suspension, which is effective Wednesday for the school’s 12,000 students, came one day after the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill made a similar announcement and as Michigan State University on Tuesday ordered undergrads to stay home for the rest of the fall "effective immediately." (Stelloh, 8/18)

Politico: Notre Dame, Michigan State Suspend In-Person Instruction 
“The virus is a formidable foe," [University of Notre Dame President and Rev. John] Jenkins said. "For the past week, it has been winning.” All of the cases, except for one, are students infected with the coronavirus. Most of those students resided off campus, the university said, adding that the infections were linked to "off-campus gatherings where neither masks were worn nor physical distancing observed." (Perez Jr. and Quilantan, 8/18)

UNC grapples with its decision to halt in-person classes —

NBC News: 'They Put Us All In Danger': UNC-Chapel Hill Students Outraged After Quick Shift To Virtual Learning
As University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill students scrambled on Tuesday to move out of their dorm rooms, make decisions about their academic futures and demand tuition refunds, they had one message for administrators. We told you so. (Wong, 8/18)

CBS News: Doctor Says UNC Chapel Hill "Should Not Have Been Opened" After School Backtracks On In-Person Classes 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is abruptly ending in-person instruction for undergraduates after a cluster of coronavirus cases emerged. The outbreak is a worrying development for education officials and parents looking to send students back to other schools and universities around the country. (Elkind, 8/18)

NPR: UNC In-Person Class Cancellation A Lesson To Other Colleges, Faculty Chair Says 
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made it one week into the fall semester before scrapping plans for in-person instruction. It's an experience that other large campuses should learn from, Mimi Chapman, chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, told NPR's All Things Considered on Tuesday. (Treisman, 8/18)

Also —

The New York Times: ‘Frats Are Being Frats’: Greek Life Is Stoking The Virus On Some Campuses 
The concerns over Greek life come amid reports of virus outbreaks at fraternities and sororities across the country. Universities are struggling with how to prevent tightly packed sorority and fraternity houses from turning into coronavirus clusters. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, officials abruptly called off in-person classes on Monday after identifying four clusters in student housing facilities, including one at the Sigma Nu fraternity. (Harmon, Robles, Blinder and Fuller, 8/18)

Dallas Morning News: As Pandemic Wears On, Parents Should Watch For Symptoms Of Anxiety Among Children, Doctors Say
Anxiety over the uncertainties of going back to school or participating in sports or other extracurricular activities is hitting young people in the gut. Children’s Health in Dallas is currently seeing an increase in patients with stomach issues, including chronic diarrhea and constipation, caused by high levels of anxiety. (Tarrant, 8/18)

The New York Times: ‘I’m Only One Human Being’: Parents Brace For A Go-It-Alone School Year 
Parents across America are facing the pandemic school year feeling overwhelmed, anxious and abandoned. With few good options for support, the vast majority have resigned themselves to going it alone, a new survey for The New York Times has found. Just one in seven parents said their children would be returning to school full time this fall, and for most children, remote school requires hands-on help from an adult at home. (Cain Miller, 8/19)

CBS News: Learning "Pods" Highlight Wealth Disparity In Education Amid Pandemic 
Nearly 12 million grade-schoolers will be learning remotely this fall, and that number is expected to keep growing. It's a major source of stress for America's working parents. Some who can afford it are turning to an option called learning pods. (Evans, 8/18)

In school news from New York, Vermont, Kentucky and Florida —

Politico: Health Adviser To De Blasio Warns Schools Will Become 'Hotbeds' For Coronavirus
A long-time public health adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Tuesday that sending kids back to school in the fall could accelerate a second wave of the coronavirus, as City Hall tries to manage the herculean task of partially reopening schools come September. New York City, once the national epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, has maintained low Covid-19 transmission rates since June. But public health experts are girding for a resurgence when temperatures drop this fall and more people stay indoors. (Eisenberg, 8/18)

Burlington Free Press: Vermont Proposes Child Care 'Hubs' To Help Families Through Remote Learning Schedule
With three weeks to go until schools reopen, the state is addressing one of the major issues families are trying to resolve for the school year: child care on remote learning days. Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French said Tuesday that 46 of the state's 60 school districts have announced plans for a hybrid learning model where students would attend school for two or four days and have remote learning for the remaining days of the week. He also said three districts have announced plans to go fully remote. (Barton, 8/18)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky Schools Will Have A Day To Notify Families Of COVID-19 Cases
Kentucky schools will be given 24 hours to communicate any positive COVID-19 cases to families before those numbers are reported publicly, Kentucky's chief public health official said Tuesday. Dr. Steven Stack said schools will be expected to work with their local health departments to identify cases, but it will be up to the schools themselves — not the health departments — to contact all those potentially affected. (McLaren, 8/18)

The Washington Post: Florida Education Chief Tells Districts: Don’t Rush To Close Schools When Covid-19 Cases Appear
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his administration are doubling (or tripling?) down on opening schools during the coronavirus pandemic and keeping them open even when cases of the disease are diagnosed. On a phone call with school district superintendents late last week, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran urged them to be “surgical” when dealing with covid-19 cases, as opposed to “sweeping” — and told them not to close a school without calling state officials first to discuss it. (Strauss, 8/18)

Also —

CNN: What Happened When Children Went To School During The 1918 Pandemic
This isn't the first time leaders have struggled with deciding whether to keep schools open in a pandemic. During the influenza pandemic in 1918, even though the world was a very different place, the discussion was just as heated. That pandemic killed an estimated 5 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans, before it was all over. While the vast majority of cities closed their schools, three opted to keep them open -- New York, Chicago and New Haven, according to historians. (Waldrop, 8/19)

Politico: Report: 'Superspreaders' Of Bogus Health News Racked Up Billions Of Views On Facebook
Groups and pages that spread misleading health news attracted an estimated 3.8 billion views on Facebook in the past year, an activist group said in a report Wednesday — adding that those networks pushing bogus claims drew far more traffic than authoritative sources on topics like Covid-19. The report, published by the nonprofit activist group Avaaz, drew immediate scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers about the tech giant’s efforts to combat phony coronavirus news. (Lima, 8/19)

The Hill: Health Misinformation Has Been Viewed Nearly 4 Billion Times On Facebook Over Last Year: Study
The reach of the top spreaders of health misinformation far eclipsed that of leading health organizations on the platform, according to the report, which also raises concerns about Facebook’s efforts to reign in misleading content. Researchers found that only 16 percent of the health misinformation they uncovered had a warning label placed on it. (Mills Rodrigo, 8/19)

In other COVID-related public health news —

The Wall Street Journal: What Derailed America’s Covid Testing: Three Lost Weeks 
Alex Azar’s face reddened when he heard the news: The only federally authorized tests to detect whether Americans were infected with the new coronavirus were flawed, and officials couldn’t identify what was causing the problem. The Health and Human Services secretary listened on a speaker phone with advisers on Feb. 18, according to an attendee, as a senior Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official told him the agency hadn’t yet found a fix to the problem in the CDC-designed test. (Armour, Abbott, Burton and McKay, 8/18)

WBUR: How The Pandemic Is Making The Gender Pay Gap Worse 
In typical recessions, consumers cut back spending on expensive items like cars, refrigerators, computers and houses, which ravages manufacturing, construction and other industries that disproportionately employ men. Men's unemployment numbers shoot up. Meanwhile, female-dominated professions in areas such as education, health care and in-person services tended to be more recession-proof. And, in what's known as "the second-earner effect," many women actually enter the labor force or increase their work hours during recessions as a way to help their families while the primary male breadwinner struggles. This helps tamp down the female unemployment rate. (Rosalsky, 8/18)

The New York Times: How Children’s Sleep Habits Have Changed In The Pandemic 
So how are you sleeping these days? Some children — and adolescents — may actually be getting more sleep, or better sleep, while others are struggling with disrupted routines, anxiety and electronics, sometimes all at the same time. And even for those who have settled into new schedules that leave them reasonably well rested, back-to-school season may mean a possibly problematic reset. (Klass, 8/17)

In news about the elderly —

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut’s Covid-19 Plan Left Out Nursing Homes, Report Finds
Connecticut health officials failed to develop a plan to protect nursing homes in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and were also hampered by an outdated outbreak-monitoring system, according to an independent, state-funded report. The Connecticut Department of Public Health produced an emergency-response plan focused exclusively on hospitals that didn’t meaningfully address long-term-care facilities, according to an interim-report released Tuesday by Mathematica Policy Research, a research firm. That plan also incorrectly assumed that there would be sufficient personal-protection equipment, such as masks and gowns, available and that only noninfected staff would work in health-care facilities. (De Avila, 8/18)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘These Are Very Challenging Times’: Ellicott City Residents Join Program To Get Telehealth Access To Seniors 
Ellicott City resident Isuru Herath had been home from Cornell University for two months when he began searching for a way to fill his time. Like many college students, the 18-year-old was adjusting to life away from campus. For Herath, that meant looking for ways to volunteer. (Faguy, 8/19)

Los Angeles Times: Domestic Violence Rose During Lockdown — And Injuries Are Dramatically More Severe, Study Finds
A new study found that, as the tightest restrictions on nonessential activities began to lift in Massachusetts, physicians at a large hospital in Boston saw a near-doubling of the proportion of domestic abuse cases that resulted in physical injury in comparison with previous years. The injuries were also dramatically more severe, prompting concerns that victims had delayed seeking care even as the violence against them escalated. Experts on intimate partner violence have feared that such abuse would increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that fewer victims appeared to be coming forward for fear of being infected in a clinic, shelter or hospital emergency department. (Healy, 8/18)

ABC News: Gun Suicide Rates Were Rising Even Before The Pandemic: CDC 
Even before the pandemic, suicide rates in the United States were rising, according to a new government report. While suicide rates in both urban and rural areas rose steadily between 2000 and 2018, the pace of increase quickened in rural areas after 2007, rising 3% every year compared to the 1% increase seen each year between 2000 and 2007, the National Center for Health Statistics report found. (Schumaker, 8/19)

ABC News: Like The Virus, Coronavirus Pandemic Mental Stress Hits Latinos More: Study
Experts are sounding the alarm that beyond the physical and mortal toll the coronavirus has taken on Americans, its impact on mental health can be severe as well, especially for Latinos as that population remains disproportionately affected by the virus. A survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week revealed that 41% of respondents reported symptoms of some mental disorder, including trauma-related symptoms, depression and anxiety. (Romero, 8/18)

NPR: Staying Strong During Lockdown Means Reaching Out — And Working Your Mind, Too
It can be tempting, as the pandemic wears on, to shut down — to escape into TV binging, social media and other inadequate ways of blocking out the stress and fears of illness or economic disaster. Dr. Maryland Pao, the clinical director of the National Institutes of Mental Health Intramural Research Program and a psychiatrist who regularly sees children with life-threatening illnesses, says she's seen striking similarities between the ways her young patients deal with their diagnoses, and how lots of people are responding as we roll past month 5 of the pandemic. (Fulton, 8/18)

AP: Teens Struggle To Balance School, Family, Work Amid COVID-19
With her baby brother in her arms, Kara Apuzzo tried to follow along in an online class as he squirmed or slept. Other times, the 18-year-old rushed to get ready for work at a front-line job at Target as her virtual high school lessons were still wrapping up. Last school year was further complicated by computer issues that kept her from logging in and online tools that bedeviled even her teachers. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Apuzzo, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, knew she wanted to go to college right after high school. Now, she’s not so sure. (Whitehurst, 8/18)

ABC News: Teletherapy Meets Teens Where They Live: On-Screen 
Due to the coronavirus, many teens have been missing their proms, graduation ceremonies, daily routines and their friends. These missed events and social interactions are only adding to the additional stress many adolescents are facing amid the pandemic, health experts say. (Bhatt, 8/19)

And LGBTQ individuals are facing more challenges —

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Pandemic Is Worsening Transgender Mental Health To Alarming Levels 
The surgery was supposed to be a turning point.Brenda Emery spent a year preparing for the vaginoplasty. To save up for it, she took jobs in food service straight out of college and moved in with her mother. She talked at length to therapists and medical experts to make sure the procedure to modify her lower body was what she really wanted as a transgender woman. ... Then came the novel coronavirus, halting all non-emergency surgeries. (Fowers and Wan, 8/18)

Stat: LGBTQ Youth Say Cost, Parent Consent Pose Barriers To Mental Health Care
The Covid-19 pandemic stands to exacerbate the existing mental health crisis among LGBTQ youth, who are at far higher risk of suicide than their peers. But it might also yield lessons in how to surmount the barriers to counseling they so often encounter. (Isselbacher, 8/18)

CIDRAP: Study: COVID-19 Inflammatory Syndrome In Kids Not Kawasaki Disease
The multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 appears to be an abnormal immune response to the novel coronavirus, similar to but distinct from Kawasaki disease, according to a research letter published today in Nature Medicine. Led by researchers at King's College London, the study evaluated the clinical characteristics and immune profiles of 25 UK children hospitalized for MIS-C from Apr 27 to May 25. (8/18)

The Washington Post: Researchers Are Training Dogs To Sniff Out People Infected With The Coronavirus 
The black Labrador circled a giant horizontal metal wheel, sniffing the cans at the end of each spoke before stopping abruptly in front of one. Head up and ears pricked, Blaze froze, staring intently ahead. “That’s amazing! Just amazing!” exclaimed Cynthia Otto, director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Blaze is one of nine dogs enrolled in a University of Pennsylvania study into whether dogs can detect a distinct smell in people infected with the novel coronavirus. (Stead Sellers, 8/18)

CIDRAP: Reading Levels Of US, Global COVID-19 Websites Too High For Many
A review of 18 US and international public health and governmental websites with COVID-19 information for the public—including those of the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—has found that all exceeded the recommended reading level and used sentence structures and technical terminology that would hinder understanding. The review, published today in JAMA Network Open, used five common readability formulas and health readability guidelines to evaluate the websites of three public health agencies and 15 official governmental sites of countries with English-language guidelines and at least 5,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Apr 5. (8/18)

In research on health and racism —

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Race Difference In COVID-19 Hospital Deaths 
After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and underlying conditions, black COVID-19 patients were no more likely than white patients to die of any cause in hospitals, a retrospective study published today in JAMA Network Open has found. Researchers at Ascension Health in St. Louis analyzed data from 11,210 adults with COVID-19 in 92 hospitals in 12 states from Feb 19 to May 31. (Van Beusekom, 8/18)

Boston Globe: ‘Why Should We Trust You?’ Black Americans, Hardest Hit By COVID-19, Are The Most Skeptical Of Potential Vaccines 
Black Americans are dying from COVID-19 at nearly 2 ½ times the rate of white people nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project, and despite representing roughly 13 percent of the population, they’ve accounted for 22 percent of coronavirus deaths in cases in which race and ethnicity are known. And yet, in a sign of deep-seated and well-earned distrust in the US medical establishment, surveys have shown consistently that Black Americans are less willing than other racial and ethnic groups to accept a coronavirus vaccine. (Pan, 8/18)

Also —

The Washington Post: Trump Fetal Tissue Ethics Board Urges Rejection Of Most Research Proposals 
A new advisory board, created to review the ethics of proposed fetal tissue research grants, is urging the Trump administration to block government funding for nearly all of the applications — essentially seeking to ban support for most such scientific work. The recommendation that the National Institutes of Health withhold funds from all but one of a slate of 14 research proposals means that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who has the final say, would need to buck the will of a board he convened — and of social conservatives crucial to President Trump’s political base — for the projects to get federal support. (Goldstein, 8/18)

AP: South Dakota Tallies 460,000 Vehicles During Sturgis Rally
This year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew more than 460,000 vehicles during the 10-day event, according to a count South Dakota transportation officials released Tuesday. ... The South Dakota Department of Health issued a warning on Tuesday that one person who spent several hours at a bar on Main Street in Sturgis has tested positive for COVID-19 and may have spread it to others. With people traveling to the rally from all over the country, the mass gathering has raised concerns it could become an epicenter of infections that are hard to track, but spread quickly as rallygoers travel home. (8/18)

CBS News: Large Coronavirus Outbreak Linked To Wedding Reception In Maine 
More than two dozen Maine residents have tested positive for the coronavirus after a wedding reception in Millinocket — the state's first outbreak linked to a social gathering, officials said Monday. Millinocket Regional Hospital has confirmed that there are now 28 positive cases linked to the event and that number is expected to go up as testing continues, CBS affiliate WABI-TV reports. (8/18)

In related developments —

AP: NJ Theaters Will Remain Closed, Federal Judge Says
Movie theaters in New Jersey will remain closed, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The decision upholds Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order that kept theaters closed even as other public places were allowed to reopen. Several national movie theater chains challenged the order in court in July. (8/18)

CNN: Navy Pier To Shut Down Temporarily After Labor Day Due To Covid-19 Pandemic 
Chicago's Navy Pier, a popular tourist attraction, will temporarily close starting September 8 due to the pandemic. Pier officials made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that the closure is "an effort to limit the financial burden and impact of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the organization." (Asmelash, 8/18)

Albuquerque Journal: Donated Beds Will Benefit Formerly Homeless 
Families with kids that are transitioning out of homelessness will have one less thing to worry about purchasing because of a donation of 100 new beds. About a dozen volunteers at HopeWorks early Tuesday unloaded a trailer truck that contained a mixture of twin-, full- and queen-size beds, including box springs and metal frames. (Nathanson, 8/18)

AP: Mosquitoes Carrying West Nile Virus Found In E. Washington
State health officials say mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus are being reported in Eastern Washington’s Benton and Yakima counties. The Washington Department of Health said Tuesday that seven positive samples have been reported in Washington so far this year. No human cases have yet been reported. (8/19)

NPR: There's A Better Way To 'Dub' Movie Audio For Visually Impaired Fans
Most people never have to explain why they enjoy going to the movies. But, Denise Decker sometimes needs to do that. The retired federal worker, who lives in Washington, D.C., says some sighted people don't understand how someone who is blind can appreciate watching film. "Those of us who are vision impaired enjoy going to the movies probably as much as anyone else does and we probably go as much as some sighted people do," she says. (Strother, 8/19)

Also —

The Washington Post: ‘Monsters Were Real’: Victims Confront The Golden State Killer For First Time 
Roughly four decades after Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, carried out a string of 13 murders and nearly 50 rapes across a wide swath of California, his victims described the impact of one of the nation’s worst serial predators. Tuesday marked the first of three days of testimony from dozens of victims, some of whom recalled in detail the searing experience of waking in their own beds to find the man who would later become known as the Golden State Killer standing over them. DeAngelo is expected to be sentenced Friday to life without parole. (Jouvenal, 8/18)

AP: Drug Treatment Firm Co-Founder Sentenced For Fraud Scheme
A New Jersey man who co-founded a Pennsylvania-based drug rehabilitation firm that made millions through a wide-ranging fraud scheme has been sentenced to three years in federal prison and must pay more than $9 million in restitution. Jason Gerner, 46, of Shamong, will also forfeit $444,983 and must serve three years of probation once he’s freed from prison under the sentence imposed Monday. He had pleaded guilty in August 2019 to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. (8/18)

Stateline: These States Aren't Waiting For The Feds To Create COVID-19 Worker Safety Rules
In the absence of federal action, some left-leaning states are creating safety rules to protect workers from catching the coronavirus while on the job. Rules went into effect in Virginia last month, and regulators in California and Oregon are now debating a similar move. Unions and labor advocates have implored states to create coronavirus-specific safety standards. They say employers must be forced to provide protective equipment, create socially distanced break rooms, tell sick workers to stay home and take other steps to reduce infection risk.  (Quinton, 8/19)

The Baltimore Sun: Here Are The Baltimore Bars And Restaurants That Have Been Penalized By The City For Coronavirus-Related Violations So Far 
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several Baltimore City businesses have been fined or shut down due to overcrowding concerns or allegations that they served customers indoors before that was allowed. At city liquor licence board hearings, restaurant owners and commissioners alike have repeatedly cited “confusion” about the city and state regulations. The liquor board has not fined any one establishment more than $200. (Condon, 8/18)

In news from California —

Los Angeles Times: Slowing COVID-19 Has California Weighing Next Reopening Steps 
California health officials are beginning to mull what the next phase of reopening may look like, offering a glimmer of hope for places like Los Angeles County. For more than a month, the bulk of the state’s 58 counties have been on a watchlist of municipalities with worrisome COVID-19 statistics. Health officials weigh key metrics to gauge the virus’ spread in the community and the county’s ability to respond to it. Counties that don’t meet the state’s criteria are restricted from fulling opening all parts of the economy. (Serna, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: More Than 30 Fires Burning In California Amid Heat Wave 
Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency in order to help California respond to the fires burning across the state amid an extreme heat wave that brought more warnings about power outages on Tuesday. More than 30 wildfires are burning across California, including nearly a dozen that started in the last two days, according to officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and a Times analysis. (Shalby, Miller and Lin II, 8/18)

AP: Millions Of Women Lose Contraceptives, Abortions In COVID-19
Millions of women and girls globally have lost access to contraceptives and abortion services because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now the first widespread measure of the toll says India with its abrupt, months-long lockdown has been hit especially hard. Several months into the pandemic, many women now have second-trimester pregnancies because they could not find care in time. (Ghosal and Anna, 8/19)

Reuters: Britain To Bring In Mass Testing To Curb Spread Of COVID-19 
Britain plans to bring in regular, population-wide testing for COVID-19 so it can suppress the spread of the virus and limit restrictions that have crippled one of the worst hit countries in the world. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was trialing a range of new, faster tests that can give instant results and hoped to roll them out towards the end of the year. (Young and Holton, 8/19)

AP: UK Scraps Public Health Body Amid Criticized Virus Response
The British government announced Tuesday it is scrapping a public health agency that has taken blame for the country’s uneven response to the coronavirus.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the work of Public Health England will become part of a new body, the National Institute for Health Protection, which will guard against infectious diseases and biosecurity threats. (8/18)

AP: Germany's Merkel Against Relaxing Of Virus Rules
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken out against further relaxing coronavirus restrictions in the country, citing the recent rise in the number of new cases.Merkel says Germany is “in the middle of the pandemic” and called on Germans to respect social distancing and hygiene rules. Speaking after a meeting with the governor and ministers of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, Merkel expressed support for uniform rules for some aspects of the pandemic. (8/18)

AP: Polish Health Minister, Key Official In Virus Fight, Resigns
Poland’s health minister, a doctor who has been a leading figure in the government’s fight against the coronavirus, resigned Tuesday following questions about the procurement of questionable medical equipment. Dr. Lukasz Szumowski, a cardiologist, announced at a news conference in Warsaw that he was stepping down to return to practicing medicine but would remain in his role as a member of parliament. (8/18)

Reuters: Indonesia Capital Displays Dummy Coffin As COVID-19 Warning 
Authorities in Indonesia’s capital are experimenting with some shock tactics to fight COVID-19, by displaying an empty coffin at a busy intersection as a reminder of the dangers of the highly contagious virus. The words “COVID-19 victim” are painted red on the casket on display in one district of Jakarta, which is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Indonesia. (Purnomo and Ardiansyah, 8/19)

AP: France Mandating Masks At All Workplaces As Virus Reawakens
France is now mandating masks in all workplaces, from the Paris business district to factories in the provinces, as it tries to contain growing virus infections but avoid shutting down the economy. Tuesday’s announcement by the Labor Ministry makes France one of relatively few countries in the world that’s universally requiring workers to wear masks on the job, though they’re routinely worn in many Asian countries and increasingly required in public places beyond. (Charlton, 8/18)

Reuters: Japan PM Abe Returns To Office After Health Exam, Says Ready To Work
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to his office on Wednesday, telling reporters he was ready to work two days after undergoing a medical check-up at a Tokyo hospital. “I underwent a medical examination to make sure my health was in good shape, and now I’m ready to get back to work and do my best,” Abe told reporters on entering the prime minister’s office. (8/19)

In updates from New Zealand —

Reuters: New Zealand Court Rules Part Of Early Coronavirus Lockdown Was Illegal 
A New Zealand court on Wednesday found the first nine days of a hard lockdown put in place by the government earlier this year requiring people to isolate at home was justified, but unlawful. The ruling comes after Wellington lawyer Andrew Borrowdale challenged the legality of steps taken in the early stages of the five-week lockdown, including calls by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and other officials between March 26 and April 3 telling New Zealanders to stay at home. (Menon, 8/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Mystery: How Did The Coronavirus Return To New Zealand? 
New Zealand authorities traced the first reappearance of coronavirus in the country after three long months to a man in his 50s who worked at a cold-storage warehouse in Auckland. What they haven’t been able to figure out is how he became infected and how the virus returned to the country after such an extended absence. (Pannett and Wright, 8/19)

AP: Lawmakers: Postal Changes Delay Mail-Order Medicine For Vets
Policy changes that slow delivery at the U.S. Postal Service are taking a toll on military veterans, who are reporting much longer wait times to receive mail-order prescription drugs, according to Democratic senators. In a letter Friday, the 31 senators take aim at new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a GOP fundraiser who took the post in June and has since imposed several operational changes that have led to mail backlogs across the United States. His cost-cutting measures have come as President Donald Trump rails against increases in mail-in voting and says he may hold up postal funding to impede the balloting in November. (Yen, 8/14)

In other news —

American Medical Association: What Your Patients Must Know About Rx Shopping Online
With millions of newly unemployed Americans facing the prospect of losing access to the prescription drugs they need, physicians are being urged to raise awareness with their patients about the dangers of shopping online for cheap medicines. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) notes that 95% of websites that sell prescription-only medicine are doing so outside the law, without licenses to dispense medication in the U.S. They are dispensing medications that “are foreign, unapproved, substandard, and counterfeit,” the NABP’s Executive Director/Secretary Lemrey “Al” Carter, PharmD, MS, RPh, wrote in a recent letter to the AMA. (O'Reilly, 8/18)

Vox: 2020 Election Voters Want Covid-19 Vaccine And Treatments To Be Free 
America’s long-running debate over prescription drug prices feels more urgent than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most people are rooting for the US drug industry — self-styled, and not without reason, as the most innovative in the world — to develop a vaccine or a cure for the disease that has taken more than 160,000 American lives. But the hope is tempered by an unavoidable fear in the country with the world’s highest medical prices: Will it be affordable? (Scott, 8/12)

Health Affairs: Democrats Will Adopt Their Health Care Platform Next Week -- Here’s What It Says 
After four years in the veritable wilderness of the Trump Administration and Republican-controlled Senate, Democrats have some pent up policymaking zeal to express. If Joe Biden succeeds in winning the presidency and the party takes control of the upper chamber, which polls suggest is within reach, they will have a wide avenue to institute these aspirations. (Wynne, 8/14)

Stat: Trump's Facebook Ad Blitz Casts Biden As Pharma's Choice 
President Trump’s reelection campaign is appealing to swing voters by attacking “Big Pharma” in a new digital advertising blitz. In Facebook and Instagram ads launched on Sunday, Trump touts a plan to lower prescription drug prices and casts his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, as the drug industry’s preferred candidate in November’s election. (Facher, 8/18)

Austin American-Statesman: Trump's Plan To Fix Drug Prices Would Create New Problems For Patients 
In a flurry of executive orders last month aimed at lowering prescription drug costs, President Donald Trump issued what he called a “favored nations” rule, which would link the amount Americans will pay for certain pharmaceutical therapies to prices in other countries. But at the same time, he promised to abandon the plan if anyone came to him with something better. Well, I’m a senior citizen who could be directly affected by this pricing scheme, and I say someone should send a new idea to the Oval Office — because this one isn’t right for older Americans or anyone with a serious health condition. (Miriam Nisenbaum, 8/16)

Fredericksburg.com: Trump’s RX Pricing Order Will Have Unintended Consequences
President Trump has signed an executive order that aims to tackle U.S. prescription drug spending, but won’t implement it until the public—including private sector drug makers—can comment. The order pegs the prices of certain drugs covered by Medicare to the lower prices paid in other developed countries, whose governments impose strict price controls.The order might save the federal government some money—at least temporarily—but at great expense to patients and long-term scientific progress. (George Landrith, 8/15)

The Daily Sentinel: Drug Price Executive Order Could Risk Colorado's Health And Economy 
On July 24, the president signed three executive orders regarding prescription medicine pricing and a fourth is pending. The one order left unsigned for the moment regards so-called International Reference Pricing which would set federal government controls on certain prescription medicines based on an average of prices from select foreign countries. The concept of international reference pricing is grotesquely flawed and could seriously jeopardize the health and economy of Colorado. (Brad McCloud and Jennifer Churchfield, 8/14)

Also —

Lancasteronline.com: Pharmacy Benefit Managers Are Crucial 
As the business manager of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 23, I spend a fair amount of time working with our union members to make sure they can access the health benefits they’ve earned. I hear from them frequently about their concerns on the rising costs of health care, especially their worries about rising drug prices. For over 50 years, we have fought to protect the dignity and well-being of our workers. Local 23 represents workers in 18 counties — from the Pennsylvania-New Jersey state line to State College — and we have always made sure that the well-being of our workers comes first, no matter the circumstance. (Bill McGee, 8/15)

The Oklahoman: Health Care Middlemen Driving Up Prescription Drug Prices
Oklahomans are concerned about the cost of prescription drugs. They should be. Total spending reached an eye-popping $335 billion in 2018, an all-time high. Now, as the pandemic leaves millions without jobs or health care, it’s more important than ever to tackle the problem. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) were created to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of insurance programs, including Medicare, and pass the savings on to consumers. Over time, the largest PBMs merged with the largest pharmacy chains and insurance companies, creating near-monopolies that use strongarm tactics to crowd out smaller competitors and restrict consumer choices. (Debra Billingsley and Douglas Hoey, 8/18)

The Washington Post: The Virus Isn't Going Away. That's Why Campuses Need To Reopen.
Communities across the country are watching closely, in these late-summer weeks, as universities decide whether to welcome students back to campus — or to reverse their reopening decisions based on the current state of the covid-19 pandemic. At Northeastern University, we announced in May our intention to reopen, after consulting with epidemiologists, biologists and network scientists on our faculty. Their work convinced us that bringing students back to the university would be crucial — not because the covid-19 virus isn’t a serious, highly transmissible threat, but because it is. The pandemic, we realized, is going to be endemic: an ongoing threat to manage, not a brief blip in history, cleanly wiped out by a miracle vaccine. The science will take time. But the world cannot. (Joseph E. Aoun, 8/18)

NBC News: Students Heading Back To College Face A Return To COVID-19 Risk Factors. Here's What To Do.
With no national consensus on how to approach teaching classes at colleges and universities, some schools started remotely as early as last week, while others sent tens of thousands of students back to in-person classes. What immediately followed were images of students across the country filling house parties, clubs, bars and sidewalks without social distancing or masking. (Suzan Song, 8/19)

Bloomberg: School Reopening Is A Disaster In The Making
It’s pretty easy to imagine what a responsible plan to reopen schools might look like. Districts would find out what all the people involved — the educators, the parents, the students — considered prudent. They would attempt in-person teaching only where the pandemic was more or less under control. They would take consistent safety measures, closely track infections and pull back if things didn’t go well. I know a lot of educators. These are professionals, utterly dedicated to their students. Judging from our conversations — and given the lack of good data, there’s not much else to go on — the U.S. is in no way going about this responsibly, and the consequences will be disastrous. (Cathy O'Neil, 8/18)

The New York Times: Learning To Live With The Coronavirus
As some parts of America gingerly begin to open up after months of near total lockdown, people have questions. Will it be safe to take a train? A plane? Visit the hair salon? An indoor restaurant? There are many knowable parameters in the equation: your health; the prevalence of cases where you live; the safety precautions being taken any place you want to visit. But the final answer may depend on your individual risk tolerance for exposure to infectious disease. Most Americans alive today have never before had to make that self-assessment. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 8/19)

The New York Times: The N.F.L. Is Playing With The Coronavirus 
Along with millions of other football fans across America and the globe, tens of thousands of Kansas Citians like me feverishly want the National Football League to have a full season this year, despite Covid-19. But as the league’s teams began training camp this week in preparation for the start of the season after Labor Day, I spent several days asking myself, other fans and league health officials if the risks are worth it. “We thought about this very long and very hard,” Dr. Allen Sills, the N.F.L.’s chief medical officer and a high-ranking member of the White House coronavirus task force, told me. “What can we do to mitigate risk around our sport and around our clubs?” (Aaron Randle, 8/19)

The Hill: Is It Safe For Children To Come Home Once The School Day Is Over? 
As schools in many parts of the U.S. reopen this week, the debate continues to swirl about whether it is safe to send our kids back for in-person education in our K-12 schools. While the danger of COVID-19 to children remains an unsettled issue, an equally important question risks being overlooked: Is it safe for children to come home once the school day is over? (Dennis Clements, 8/18)

Detroit Free Press: U-M Faculty, Staff Don't Want Face-To-Face Instruction
University of Michigan faculty and staff members don't want to risk having students sitting in classrooms — even socially distanced. They don't think it's safe to have students living together, especially crammed into student apartments across Ann Arbor. They worry about Friday night parties and students bringing in COVID-19  from wherever across the country they've been living for the past several months. University of Michigan football players want to slam into each other. They want to drip sweat while untangling from the pile that forms on an off-tackle dash by a running back. They want to  celebrate with each other after a 75-yard touchdown catch by a fleet-footed wide receiver. (David Jesse, 8/19)

The Washington Post: What I Want To Hear From Joe Biden On His Plans For Handling The Pandemic
As the Democratic National Convention goes on this week, I want to hear more about vice president Joe Biden’s plans for covid-19. But I don’t want to know what he would do if he were president today; I want to know what he would do in January if things are as bad as they look like they could be. The situation is bleak in the United States now, but it could be exponentially worse come the fall and winter. “Twindemics” of influenza and covid-19 could result in the deadliest winter in living memory. (Leana S. Wen, 8/18)

The Washington Post: The DNC’s Second Night Was About Normal, Decent People. 
A segment on health care featured ordinary people talking about their experiences with life-threatening illness. They spoke movingly of the fear of losing health-care coverage that Trump has tried to take away. Ady Barkan, the ALS patient and health-care advocate, closed this portion. It was heartbreaking to witness his physical deterioration interspersed with scenes holding his young son. This was a powerful reminder that health care is about real people. (Jennifer Rubin, 8/19)

The New York Times: Democratic Convention: Best And Worst Moments Of Night 2 
Wajahat Ali:  It’s easy to forget Republicans remain committed to dismantling Obamacare. The Democrats put a human face on health care. Americans with disabilities shared their stories with Biden. He listened and cared. He showed us what’s at stake if Trump gets another term: the health of a nation. (8/19)

The Wall Street Journal: The White House Prepared For A Pandemic
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Democrats’ broadside against the Trump administration’s Covid-19 response. “Our current federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent,” he told virtual conventioneers Monday in a recorded speech. “It couldn’t fight off the virus. In fact, it didn’t even see it coming.” In reality, the administration was well aware of the threat of a pandemic before the novel coronavirus emerged. We helped develop a September 2019 White House report, “Managing the Impact of Pandemic Influenza Through Vaccine Innovation,” which prompted immediate presidential action that has accelerated the development of a Covid vaccine. (Joel M. Zinberg and Tomas J. Philipson, 8/18)

Bloomberg: A Resilient Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain Starts Now
We’ve already seen the costs of supply-chain failures during the Covid-19 pandemic: Delays in the production of simple nasal swabs slowed testing by months even as the pandemic exploded in the U.S. The world is now eagerly awaiting a vaccine, and will need billions of doses as quickly as possible. If the vaccine supply chain fails, the economic and human cost of Covid-19 will be prolonged. The multilinked vaccine production chain will take months to set up, which means starting now. Some parts are already seeing investment — glass manufacturers, for example, are ramping up production of vials. But the supply of less obvious inputs needed earlier in the chain is uncertain. (Scott Duke Kominers and Alex Tabarrok, 8/18)

The Washington Post: We Must Learn The Lessons Of The Pandemic. A Bipartisan Commission Can Help With That.
The United States must draw critical lessons from the flawed response to the coronavirus pandemic. A broad investigation by a bipartisan commission could help guide the next generation when calamity strikes. Ideally, a commission would investigate for a year or so and report only after the presidential election. The 9/11 Commission provides a useful model of what is possible.A number of proposals, roughly similar, have been introduced on Capitol Hill — so far by Democrats. Republicans should not absent themselves. The best way to ensure that a commission does not become one-sided is for Republicans to contribute. (8/18)

CNN: In The Shadow Of Covid-19, Silent Killers Re-Emerge
Deadly infectious diseases are threatening to regain a foothold in many countries, fueled by Covid-19 and the unprecedented effort to contain this ongoing global pandemic. Vaccinations are down across the Asia Pacific and in most areas of the world. Diseases such as polio, measles and tuberculosis are at very real risk of re-emerging on a large scale, causing widespread death, illness and disability. (Nick Prince, 8/18)

The Wall Street Journal: If You Like Lockdowns, You’ll Love The Carbon-Free Future 
The climate-change movement is taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic, equating it with the “existential crisis” of man-made global warming. While praising the current display of unilateral government action as a model for addressing climate change, many environmentalists and liberal politicians have also called for a surge in government spending on renewable energy projects. The 2020 Democratic Party platform champions “decarbonization” as the best way to “build back better” from the coronavirus. Green activists and their Democratic standard-bearers should be more focused on the potential that the coronavirus crisis could undermine support for their cause. (Paul Tice, 8/18)

Arizona Republic: Yuma Is The Perfect Place To Highlight Trump's Non-Existent COVID-19 Strategy
America still awaits a national strategy for how to deal with COVID-19, but we won’t be getting it today. Today, President Donald Trump is stumping in Yuma where a thousand or so of his mostly supporters, many of them unmasked,were lined up in 108-degree heat this morning, waiting to pack into the airport's Joe Foss Hanger to hear him speak. Trump is barnstorming the battleground states all week to counter the Democratic National Convention. Yuma is where he plans to highlight his efforts to battle illegal immigration, not even realizing that he’s also putting a white-hot spotlight on his efforts to battle COVID-19. Yuma is one of the state’s – and the nation’s – hotspots for the novel coronavirus. With a startling 5,178 confirmed cases for every 100,000 people, this southwestern Arizona county has the nation’s highest concentration of COVID-19. (Laurie Roberts, 8/18)

Houston Chronicle: Testing Is Crucial To Stop COVID-19. So Are Enough Tests. 
Love your family? Get tested. Hoping Minute Maid will open up to fans to see the Astros play? Get tested. Want to send your kids back to school safely? Get tested. Haven’t been tested in 30 days? Get tested. The words, slightly paraphrased, are from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner who, on Monday, reiterated the same message he’s been repeating since the early days of the novel coronavirus pandemic..“ Quite frankly, if you haven’t gotten tested,” Turner said at a press briefing, “you’re being irresponsible by not going and getting tested.” Can we get an Amen? (8/19)