First Edition: Aug. 24, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Inside The Race To Build A Better $500 Emergency Ventilator 
As the coronavirus crisis lit up this spring, headlines about how the U.S. could innovate its way out of a pending ventilator shortage landed almost as hard and fast as the pandemic itself. The New Yorker featured “The MacGyvers Taking on the Ventilator Shortage,” an effort initiated not by a doctor or engineer but a blockchain activist. The University of Minnesota created a cheap ventilator called the Coventor; MIT had the MIT Emergency Ventilator; Rice University, the ApolloBVM. NASA created the VITAL, and a fitness monitor company got in the game with Fitbit Flow. The price tags varied from $150 for the Coventor to $10,000 for the Fitbit Flow — all significantly less than premium commercially available hospital ventilators, which can run $50,000 apiece. (Schulte, 8/24)

Kaiser Health News and AP: Florida’s Cautionary Tale: How Gutting And Muzzling Public Health Fueled COVID Fire
On a sweltering July morning, Rose Wilson struggled to breathe as she sat in her bed, the light from her computer illuminating her face and the oxygen tubes in her nose. Wilson, a retiree who worked as a public health department nurse supervisor in Duval County for 35 years, had just been diagnosed with COVID-19-induced pneumonia. She had a telemedicine appointment with her doctor. (Ungar, Dearen and Recht, 8/24)

Kaiser Health News: Trump Is Sending Fast, Cheap COVID Tests To Nursing Homes — But There’s A Hitch
The Trump administration’s latest effort to use COVID-19 rapid tests — touted by one senior official as a “turning point” in arresting the coronavirus’s spread within nursing homes — is running into roadblocks likely to limit how widely they’ll be used. Federal officials are distributing point-of-care antigen tests — which are cheaper and faster than tests that must be run by a lab — to 14,000 nursing homes to increase routine screening of residents and staff. The initial distribution targets nursing homes in hot spots and those with at least three COVID-19 cases, senior Trump administration officials said in July, hailing it as a tool that could root out asymptomatic carriers who might still infect others. (Pradhan, 8/24)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: How To Fight Bogus Medical Bills Like A Bulldog 
After Izzy Benasso had knee surgery, she and her dad received a letter from a surgical assistant giving notice that he “had been present” at the procedure. The surgical assistant was out-of-network and seemed to be laying the groundwork to get the Benassos to pay his fee. Steve Benasso wrote a letter right back, basically telling the guy to buzz off: He had no intention of paying the surgical assistant. Because the bill was a surprise, Benasso suggested that the surgical assistant try to get the money from the insurance company, or negotiate for some part of the knee surgeon’s payment. (Weissmann, 8/24)

Kaiser Health News: One College’s Pop-Up COVID Test: Stop And ‘Smell The Roses’ (Or The Coffee)
If all goes according to plan, Penn State University students who opt for an on-campus experience this fall will start in-person classes on Aug. 24 under the banner of a “Mask Up or Pack Up” campaign. By returning to campus, students are agreeing to wear masks, adhere to social distancing practices and submit to random testing for COVID-19. But “Mask Up or Pack Up” also offers a less traditional, more proactive approach to virus containment: the smell test. (Bauer, 8/24)

The Hill: Coronavirus Deaths Top 800,000 Globally 
More than 800,000 people globally have died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, a grim milestone underscoring the physical toll the pandemic has taken on nations around the world. The U.S. has reported the most deaths tied to COVID-19 of any country at more than 175,000, with more than 32,000 of those in New York, nearly 16,000 in New Jersey and almost 12,000 in California. Other states with high death tolls include Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania. (Byrnes, 8/22)

The Hill: About 70,000 Lives Could Be Saved In Near Future If People Wear Masks: Researchers 
The U.S. could save nearly 70,000 lives by December if the country implements universal mask mandates, according to a projection by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Researchers from the institute also found that an estimated 134,000 people could die in the U.S. from COVID-19 by December if the country takes no further safety measures. That number, they said, could worsen if mandates are relaxed. (Moreno, 8/22)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Allows Expanded Use Of Convalescent Plasma To Treat Coronavirus Patients
The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday gave emergency approval for expanded use of antibody-rich blood plasma to help hospitalized coronavirus patients, allowing President Trump, who has been pressuring the agency to move faster to address the pandemic, to claim progress on the eve of the Republican convention. Mr. Trump cited the approval, which had been held up by concerns among top government scientists about the data behind it, as welcome news in fighting a disease that has led to 176,000 deaths in the United States and left the nation lagging far behind most others in the effectiveness of its response. (LaFraniere, Fink, Thomas and Haberman, 8/23)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Authorizes Convalescent Plasma For Covid-19 Use 
The FDA said more clinical studies are necessary for definitive proof of the therapy’s effectiveness. (Burton and Dockser Marcus, 8/23)

Stat: FDA, Under Pressure, Authorizes Blood Plasma As Covid-19 Treatment
The Food and Drug Administration announced Sunday that it has authorized the use of blood plasma from patients who have recovered from Covid-19 as a treatment for the disease. The decision to issue an emergency use authorization, which President Trump’s press secretary heralded ahead of time as a “major therapeutic breakthrough,” likely falls far short of that description — and could generate intense controversy inside the administration and the broader scientific community. (Florko, 8/23)

NPR: FDA Authorizes Convalescent Plasma As Emergency Treatment For COVID-19 
Joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn for what he called a "truly historic" announcement, President Trump described the treatment as safe and effective. Convalescent plasma, Hahn explained, is the liquid portion of the blood that contains the antibodies an individual develops in response to an infection and can be given to patients currently fighting that virus. He said this treatment has long been a part of the infectious disease arsenal. (Treisman, 8/23)

Stat: Is Convalescent Plasma Safe And Effective? 
The Mayo Clinic study showed that patients who received transfusions within three days of their Covid-19 diagnosis had a seven-day death rate of 8.7%, while patients who received plasma treatment after four or more days had a mortality rate of 11.9% (Facher, 8/23)

Politico: Trump Wants FDA To ‘Feel The Heat,’ Chief Of Staff Says 
The president’s claim that the FDA is delaying clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine for political reasons is his way of making some at the agency “feel the heat” and push forward, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday morning that the “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration “is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics.” (Bice, 8/23)

Fox News: Trump Accuses 'Deep State' FDA Of Thwarting Efforts For Coronavirus Treatments Until After Election
President Trump on Saturday accused the “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration of making it hard for drug companies to test coronavirus treatments -- and suggested the agency is trying to delay them until after Election Day. “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,” he tweeted. “Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” (Shaw, 8/23)

The Washington Post: The Tweet Represents A New Target In The President’s Ongoing Attacks On Administration Scientists 
President Trump on Saturday baselessly accused the Food and Drug Administration of impeding enrollment in clinical trials for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics for political reasons, as he broadened and escalated his attacks on administration scientists. “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,” he said on Twitter. “Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” He tagged FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in the tweet. (McGinley, Johnson and Dawsey, 8/22)

Axios: Trump Echoes Peter Navarro's "Deep State" Rhetoric About The FDA
Senior health officials in the Trump administration were taken aback last Monday when the president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, accused them of being part of the "Deep State" during a meeting that was supposed to be about COVID-19 and the Strategic National Stockpile. Why it matters: Five days after Navarro's private comments toward the FDA, the president echoed Navarro's sentiments with a pair of Saturday morning tweets and tagged Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration. (Swan, 8/23)

The Hill: Pelosi Hammers Trump For 'Very Dangerous' Attack On FDA 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bashed President Trump on Saturday after he urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the approval of coronavirus treatments, warning that the president was undermining public safety to help his reelection."The FDA has a responsibility to approve drugs, judging on their safety and their efficacy, not by a declaration from the White House about speed and politicizing the FDA," Pelosi said during a rare Saturday press briefing in the Capitol. (Lillis, 8/22)

The Hill: Democrats Tear Into Trump's 'Deep State' Tweet: His 'Lies And Recklessness' Have 'Killed People'
Democrats came after President Trump on Saturday after he called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the "deep state," with one critic saying the president's "lies and recklessness" have "killed people." "Since the start of the pandemic I have repeatedly called on the FDA to follow science and data alone in approving covid treatments and ... reject trump's dangerous 'miracle' cures," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) tweeted on Saturday in response to Trump. (Deese, 8/22)

Stat: Drug Firms Rebut Trump Tweet That FDA Delaying Covid-19 Vaccines 
In a tweet Saturday morning, President Donald Trump accused the Food and Drug Administration of delaying the development of coronavirus vaccines and drugs. “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,” the president wrote.  “Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” (Herper and Florko, 8/22)

AP: AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Baseless Claim Of 'Deep State' At FDA
President Donald Trump is leveling unfounded attacks on his Food and Drug Administration and distorting the science on effective treatments for COVID-19. Heading this week into the Republican National Convention, he asserted that the agency is slow-walking vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus in a bid to undermine his November reelection effort. There’s no evidence of that, and one of his former FDA commissioners on Sunday rejected the accusation as groundless. (Yen and Woodward, 8/23)

CNN: Twitter Hits Trump For 'Misleading Health Claims' That Could Dissuade People From Voting 
Twitter on Sunday slapped a label on a tweet from President Donald Trump for "making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting." Trump claimed in posts on Twitter and Facebook early Sunday morning that mail drop boxes for voting "are not Covid sanitized," as well as a "voter security disaster." (O'Sulllivan, Thomas and Zaslav, 8/23)

The New York Times: Trump Aides, Meeting With Lawmakers, Reportedly Said A Vaccine Would Be Approved Before The Election
Trump administration officials met with congressional leaders last month and told them they would probably give emergency approval to a coronavirus vaccine before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States, perhaps as early as late September, according to two people briefed on the discussion. The move would be highly unusual and would most likely prompt concerns about whether the administration is cutting corners on approvals for political purposes. (8/23)

Politico: House Passes USPS Rescue In Bid To Thwart Trump Attacks On Mail-In Voting 
The legislation also would block operational changes deployed by Trump’s postmaster general that have caused widespread mail delays and fueled an uproar across the country. The bill passed 257-150, with 26 Republicans breaking with Trump and GOP leaders to join every Democrat in backing the bill. "We will pass the bill and it will be in a bipartisan way, and then we will send it to the Senate," Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Saturday before the vote. "They’ll be hearing from their constituents because this hits home." (Caygle and Ferris, 8/22)

NPR: House Approves Bill That Blocks Changes At Postal Service Until After The Election
The House passed legislation on Saturday to infuse $25 billion into the Postal Service and block operational changes that Democrats fear could hobble mail-in voting in this November's election. In a rare Saturday session, the House passed the measure by a vote of 257 to 150, with 26 Republicans siding with Democrats to approve the bill. (Slotkin, 8/22)

Reuters: U.S. Postal Service Says House Bill Would Hamper Improvements
The U.S. Postal Service said on Sunday that a bill passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives would hamper its ability to “improve service to the American people” and assured it could handle mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 presidential election. The House voted on Saturday to provide the cash-strapped Postal Service with $25 billion and block policy changes that have stirred concerns that it would botch the handling of an unprecedented surge in pandemic-driven mail-in balloting. (8/23)

Politico: Trump Just Wants Safer Polling Places, Meadows Says 
President Donald Trump is pushing for law enforcement at polling places for safety reasons, not voter suppression, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday. There won't be "thousands of sheriffs" at the polls on Nov. 3, Meadows said on "Fox News Sunday," but "if the judges at those polling places need any kind of security, we're going to make sure we have the resources to do that." (Parthasarathy, 8/23)

Reuters: Republicans, Democrats Trade Blame For Stalled U.S. Coronavirus Aid Legislation 
Top Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for stalled talks on coronavirus aid legislation on Sunday, a day after the House of Representatives approved $25 billion in new funds for the U.S. Postal Service, a bill that Republicans declared dead. The Democratic-led House passed the bill on Saturday in a special session called by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to prevent dwindling Postal Service funding and planned service cuts from interfering with delivery of mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election. (Lawder and Hesson, 8/23)

USA Today: Coronavirus Death Toll 'Acceptable,' 57% Of Republicans Say In Poll
Americans view the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the effectiveness of the government's response through a very partisan lens, a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday found. More than 176,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19. According to the poll, a 57% majority of registered Republican voters consider that number "acceptable" when "evaluating the U.S. efforts against the coronavirus pandemic," compared with 31% of voters overall. Ninety percent of Democrats and 67% of independents said the death toll was "unacceptable." Republicans were also more likely to believe the official death toll is inflated. (Cummings, 8/23)

AP: Biden Says He'd Shut Down Economy If Scientists Recommended
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would follow public health advisers’ advice if they called for a national shutdown should he take office and the coronavirus had not abated. “I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives. We cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,” Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday night on ABC News. (Barrow, 8/24)

Reuters: In Interview, Biden Says He Will Stick To His Stay-At-Home Strategy 
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said in an interview that aired on Sunday that he had no plans to begin a more aggressive campaign schedule with little more than two months to go before the Nov. 3 election. Asked if he could win a presidential election from his Delaware home, Biden answered: “We will.” Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, gave their first interview together to ABC News. “We’re going to follow the science, what the scientists tell us,” Biden said. (Oliphant, 8/23)

Politico: ‘Watch Me’: Biden Hits Back At Trump Over Attacks On Age
Joe Biden has two words for President Donald Trump on his fitness for office: “Watch me.” The Democratic presidential nominee issued the direct call to Trump when asked by ABC’s David Muir to respond to Trump’s recent blistering attacks on Biden's mental acuity during a joint interview with his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, that aired Sunday night. (Semones, 8/23)

NPR: Convention Gives Trump A Chance To Explain How He'll Make America Great Again, Again
The last three American presidents all won reelection, and they all knew voters would reward them, not for their accomplishments, but for their future plans. ... At this week's Republican National Convention, President Trump will get a chance to not only remind voters why he thinks Joe Biden would be a disaster in the White House, but also lay out his own vision for the future. So far, he hasn't been very specific about what it is. (Liasson, 8/23)

The Hill: Trump Seeks Health Care Victory On Prescription Drugs 
President Trump is searching for a health care victory ahead of the 2020 election, and has turned to executive action to try to achieve it. The administration is looking to fend off attacks from Democrats, who see the president as particularly vulnerable on health care. Trump's coronavirus response has put him on the defensive. (Weixel, 8/22)

NPR: Hundreds Of GOP Delegates Journey To Charlotte Semi-Bubble For Scaled-Down Convention
Delegates arriving in Charlotte for the scaled down, in-person portion of the Republican National Convention aren't being greeted by the Charlotte mayor or even business leaders. Instead, they are ushered into a purple tent outside the downtown Westin hotel. That's where they are given a coronavirus test — even though they already had to take a self-swab COVID test at home before getting on a plane. (Harrison, 8/23)

Politico: Trump Cites School Choice, China As Second-Term Priorities 
President Donald Trump said school choice and being tougher with China would be top priorities in his second term if he were reelected. In an interview with Steve Hilton that aired Sunday night on Fox News’ “The Next Revolution,” Trump immediately volunteered “I‘d love to see school choice” when Hilton broached the subject of what he’d like to do in his second term. “Education is going to be a big factor for me,” Trump told Hilton. (Cohen, 8/23)

The New York Times: Billions In Hospital Virus Aid Rested On Compliance With Private Vendor 
The Trump administration tied billions of dollars in badly needed coronavirus medical funding this spring to hospitals’ cooperation with a private vendor collecting data for a new Covid-19 database that bypassed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highly unusual demand, aimed at hospitals in coronavirus hot spots using funds passed by Congress with no preconditions, alarmed some hospital administrators and even some federal health officials. (Gay Stolberg, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Federal Judge Halts Betsy DeVos’s Controversial Rule Sending Federal Coronavirus Aid To Private Schools 
A federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from enforcing a controversial rule that directs states to give private schools a bigger share of federal coronavirus aid than Congress had intended. In a lawsuit filed by the state, U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein on Friday issued a preliminary injunction and castigated the Education Department over the July 1 regulation about the distribution of federal funds. The money, about $13.5 billion, was included for K-12 schools in Congress’s March $2 trillion-aid package — known as the Cares Act — to mitigate economic damage from the pandemic. (Strauss, 8/23)

USA Today: COVID-19 Quarantine: CDC Drops 14-Day Recommendation For Travelers
Travelers returning from a trip outside the country or their state no longer face recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to self-quarantine for 14 days upon return. The CDC updated its travel requirements online Friday, advising travelers to "follow state, territorial, tribal and local recommendations or requirements after travel." Previous guidelines recommended a 14-day quarantine for those returning from international destinations or areas with a high concentration of coronavirus cases. (Yasharoff, 8/23)

The Hill: Economist Moore Predicts 'Exuberance' In Financial Markets If Coronavirus Cases Decline, Schools Reopen 
Economist Stephen Moore said a potential decline in coronavirus cases and the reopening of schools could lead to an “exuberance” in financial markets. “If that happens, you're going to see a lot of exuberance, not just in the financial markets, but in the real economy as we can start to get schools re-open,” Moore told radio host John Catsimatidis on his show broadcast on WABC 770 AM Sunday. (Moreno, 8/23)

Stat: PhRMA Scrambles To Respond To Trump’s Drug Pricing Ultimatum
Drug makers and their lobbyists are struggling to agree on a strategy that would convince President Trump to back off a highly controversial drug pricing policy that he vowed to enact on Monday. This week, the group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America convened three calls with member companies to discuss how to respond to an ultimatum that Trump laid out in July. (Florko and Facher, 8/21)

The Hill: Infectious Disease Society Says Hydroxychloroquine Should Not Be Used To Treat Coronavirus Patients 
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) on Friday revised its coronavirus treatment guidelines, recommending that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine not be used for COVID-19 patients. The IDSA initially only recommended against the use of the drug in conjunction with the antibiotic azithromycin. The updated guideline marking a tougher stance on the drug praised by President Trump. (Seipel, 8/21)

Stat: For Its Covid-19 Vaccine, Pfizer Turns To A Scientist Who Has Gotten Results
Pfizer and that upstart rival, Moderna, were the first companies to launch large clinical trials to prove their vaccines’ efficacy, and on the same day: July 27. They have been in a neck-and-neck competition ever since. But Pfizer is counting on one scientist to give it an edge: Kathrin Jansen. (Herper, 8/24)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Gives Incentive To Lose Weight
Stephen O’Rahilly, a prominent expert on obesity and other metabolic disorders — who struggles with his own weight — lost about 20 pounds in the six months before becoming ill with covid-19. He believes this probably protected him from serious disease, and maybe even saved his life.“My experience with the virus wasn’t so terrible,” says O’Rahilly, co-director of the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge in Britain, who said modest diet changes and exercise helped him shed the weight and probably enabled him to escape the worst effects of covid-19. (Cimons, 8/23)

AP: Miami ICU Nurse: I Have Never In My Life Seen So Many Deaths
Their final breaths are tormented. Rublas Ruiz has seen too many of them -- the last gasps of 17 men and women who died of the coronavirus. A 41-year-old ICU nurse in Miami’s Kendall Regional Medical Center, Ruiz has witnessed the desperate, pleading, wide-eyed, barely there gasps. “The fear in their eyes when they can’t get enough air. They are so scared,” he says, quietly. “Their eyes are big, desperate to get the oxygen and that makes me so sad.” (Kennedy, 8/22)

AP: Experts Flag Risks In India's Use Of Rapid Tests For Virus
In June, India began using cheaper, faster but less accurate tests to scale up testing for the coronavirus — a strategy that the United States is now considering. These rapid tests boosted India’s testing levels nearly five-fold within two months. But government numbers suggest some parts of the country might have become over reliant on the faster tests, which can miss infections. Experts warn that safely using them requires frequent retesting, something that isn’t always happening. (Ghosal and Perrone, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Scientists Often Use Their Own Blood To Study Mosquitoes And The Diseases They Spread 
Turn off the lights. Put your arms or legs on top of a cage holding hundreds of mosquitoes. Listen to news or call your mom while the critters chow down on your blood. This was researcher Sam Rund’s routine when he used a colony of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, a species known for infecting humans with malaria, for research on disease transmission. A staff scientist at the University of Notre Dame, Rund studies how factors such as circadian rhythms and light affect the feeding habits of different mosquito species, which is important for understanding how they spread pathogens to humans. (Landau, 8/23)

The Hill: CDC Director Says Teachers Don't Need 'Critical' Label 
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that teachers don't need to be formally recognized as "critical workers," a designation that would potentially exempt them from COVID-19 quarantine requirements. "I think they didn’t need to be formally recognized as critical infrastructure workers, because in fact, I think we all know they are," Robert Redfield said during a call with reporters. (Weixel, 8/21)

CIDRAP: CDC's Redfield Addresses School Reopening, Citing Promising Study
After reopening 666 childcare centers this summer, Rhode Island reported limited transmission of COVID-19 among children and staff, offering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more evidence on how to safely reopen schools for in-person learning this fall. A report on the measures Rhode Island childcare centers took to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus is published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, gave a telebriefing today on the findings. (Soucheray, 8/21)

The Hill: CDC Report Says Some Child Care Centers May Be Safely Reopened 
It may be relatively safe to reopen child care centers in states where COVID-19 is contained and precautions are taken, according to a new report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report identified 52 cases of COVID-19 over a two-month period in 29 out of 666 child care programs in Rhode Island that were allowed to open. The programs had a capacity for nearly 19,000 children, but it’s not clear how many were enrolled between June 1 and July 31, when the analysis took place. (Hellmann, 8/21)

The Hill: As COVID-19 Surges On Campuses, In-Person Learning Becomes Less Of A Reality 
Colleges and universities are already shifting from in-person instruction to online classes after hundreds of students on campuses across the country tested positive for COVID-19, throwing cold water on hopes for the fall semester. In the past week, big-name schools such as Notre Dame, Michigan State and University of North Carolina have moved classes online after briefly resuming in-person instruction, and other universities are likely to do the same in the coming weeks as the explosion of cases continues. (Hellmann, 8/23)

AP: Virginia Commonwealth University Reports 58 COVID-19 Cases
Virginia Commonwealth University is reporting 58 active cases of coronavirus among students and 12 employee cases .The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that’s an increase from earlier this week when VCU reported 25 cases and 11 employees cases. (8/23)

AP: ECU And UNC Charlotte Move Classes Online
East Carolina University and University of North Carolina at Charlotte are moving courses online in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the universities announced Sunday. Separately, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Sunday it has identified a cluster of COVID-19 cases at Avery residence hall. A cluster is defined by the state health department as five or more cases in a single residential hall or dwelling. (8/23)

AP: Some Arkansas Universities To Report Their COVID-19 Cases
Some of Arkansas’ public universities have said they will make public information about coronavirus cases on their campuses. While the Arkansas Department of Health has daily reports on COVID-19 virus cases at long-term-care facilities and correctional institutions, no such report exists for Arkansas’ residential colleges, though all colleges are required to report cases to the department. (8/23)

AP: Report: Data Shows Oklahoma Face Mask Mandates Are Working
Face mask mandates adopted in some Oklahoma communities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 seem to be working, according to a newspaper report. Data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health shows cities with mask mandates nearly cut in half their average number of new COVID-19 infections after three weeks, The Oklahoman reported Sunday. (8/23)

The Washington Post: Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill Who Claims He Killed Bin Laden Says Delta Banned Him For Maskless Selfie 
Robert O’Neill, the former Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden, said Thursday that he had been banned from flying with Delta Air Lines because he removed his face mask on a flight.On Wednesday, O’Neill tweeted a maskless selfie that appeared to show him aboard a Delta plane and that has since been deleted (though not before being archived by multiple news outlets). The following day, he wrote that he had been banned “for posting a picture” and later commented, “Thank God it wasn’t @Delta flying us in when we killed bin Laden … we weren’t wearing masks …” (Noori Farzan, 8/21)

AP: Protest Erupts After Wisconsin Police Shoot Man From Behind
Officers deployed tear gas early Monday in an effort to disperse hundreds of people who took to the streets following a police shooting in Kenosha that also drew a harsh rebuke from the governor after a video posted on social media appeared to show officers shoot at a Black man’s back seven times as he leaned into a vehicle. A person was hospitalized in serious condition following a shooting by officers about 5 p.m. Sunday as officers were responding to a “domestic incident,” the Kenosha Police Department said in a news release. Police did not provide details about what led to the shooting, but said the person was transported to a hospital in Milwaukee for treatment. (8/24)

AP: Ketamine That's Injected During Arrests Draws New Scrutiny
Police stopped Elijah McClain on the street in suburban Denver last year after deeming the young Black man suspicious. He was thrown into a chokehold, threatened with a dog and stun gun, then subjected to another law enforcement tool before he died: a drug called ketamine. Paramedics inject it into people like McClain as a sedative, often at the behest of police who believe suspects are out of control. Officially, ketamine is used in emergencies when there’s a safety concern for medical staff or the patient. But it’s increasingly found in arrests and has become another flashpoint in the debate over law enforcement policies and brutality against people of color. (Nieberg, 8/22)

The New York Times: What To Know About Stuttering
The basic numbers are known: About one in 10 children will exhibit some evidence of a stutter — it usually starts between ages 2 and 7 — and 90 percent of them will grow out of it before adulthood. Around 1 percent of the population carries the speech problem for much of their lives. For reasons not understood, boys are twice as likely to stutter, and nearly four times as likely to continue doing so into adulthood. And it is often anxiety that triggers bursts of verbal stumbling — which, in turn, create a flood of self-conscious stress. (Carey, 8/21)

The Washington Post: Sidewalk Dining May Block People With Disabilities 
When New York began allowing outdoor activities in June, Emily Ladau, 29, ventured out in her Long Island town of West Babylon after long months of staying inside because of the novel coronavirus. But her moment in the sun was marred — as a wheelchair user, she found that restaurants spilling over onto the sidewalk blocked her path. “Throughout the whole main street,” of nearby Bay Shore, she says, “I couldn’t be on the sidewalk at all.” (Mailman, 8/23)

AP: Paralympic Documentary: 'None Of The Bodies Look The Same'
Matt Stutzman was born without arms — just stumps at the shoulders. Ellie Cole’s right leg was amputated when she was 3, lost to cancer. Bebe Vio had parts of all four limbs amputated after she contacted meningitis as an adolescent. Doctors were able to save her life but not her arms and legs.If your mood is being dragged down by the pandemic, you’ll be uplifted by these three Paralympic athletes — and many others like them — who are profiled in the Nexflix documentary “Rising Phoenix,” which will be released in 190 countries on Wednesday. “In the Paralympic sport, everybody has a story,” Xavi Gonzalez, the former CEO of the International Paralympic Committee, says in the film. “It comes from them breaking barriers to be able to achieve what they want to achieve; move on and live life even if all of us may think that you cannot.” (Wade, 8/24)