Des Moines Register: White House Says Iowa Has The Highest Coronavirus Rate In Country, Should Close More Bars
White House coronavirus experts warned Iowa leaders Sunday, Aug. 30, that the state has the country's steepest coronavirus outbreak, and the state should close bars in 61 counties and test all returning college students for the virus. The recommended actions are significantly stronger than ones put in place by Gov. Kim Reynolds, who last week ordered bars closed in six counties. (Leys, 9/1)

AP: Virus Crisis Easing Across Sun Belt But Could Heat Up Again
The torrid coronavirus summer across the Sun Belt is easing after two disastrous months that brought more than 35,000 deaths. Whether the outbreak will heat up again after Labor Day and the resumption of school and football remains to be seen. Seven of the nine states along the nation’s Southern and Western rim are experiencing drops in three important gauges — new deaths, new cases and the percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus. Alabama is the only state in the region where all three numbers rising; Mississippi’s deaths are up, but positive rates and cases are dropping. (Sedensky, 9/1)

Also —

ABC News: What The CDC Death Report Really Says, According To Fauci 
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report is being twisted by conspiracy theorists to imply the COVID-19 death toll is not as serious as it sounds, health experts say. In response, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical authorities say unequivocally that at least 180,000 Americans have died because of this virus. And if anything, the figure is likely an undercount, say health experts. (Schumaker, 9/1)

The Washington Post: U.S. Says It Won’t Join WHO-Linked Effort To Develop, Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine 
The Trump administration said it will not join a global effort to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization is involved, a decision that could shape the course of the pandemic and the country’s role in health diplomacy. More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine development, secure doses for all countries and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of each population. (Rauhala and Abutaleb, 9/1)

AP: US Says It Won't Join Global Effort To Find COVID-19 Vaccine
That cooperative effort, linked with the WHO, would allow nations to take advantage of a portfolio of potential vaccines to ensure their citizens are quickly covered by whichever ones are deemed effective. The WHO says even governments making deals with individual vaccine makers would benefit from joining COVAX because it would provide backup vaccines in case the ones being made through bilateral deals with manufacturers aren’t successful. (Riechmann, 9/1)

CNN: US Won't Join Global Coronavirus Vaccine Initiative Led By WHO 
"The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a statement. "This President will spare no expense to ensure that any new vaccine maintains our own FDA's gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested, and saves lives." (LeBlanc, 9/1)

The Hill: US Won't Join Global Coronavirus Vaccine Initiative 
Almost every nation in the world is participating in initial talks on the joint COVAX project involving the WHO, the European Union, Germany, Japan and several major nongovernmental organizations. (Wilson, 9/1)

NBC News: Trump Raises Eyebrows With Tweet Declaring He Did Not Have 'A Series Of Mini-Strokes'
President Donald Trump posted a baffling tweet Tuesday declaring that he has not had a series of "mini-strokes" — and he had the White House physician release a statement backing up his claim. "It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Never happened to THIS candidate - FAKE NEWS," Trump tweeted. (Groegorian, 9/1)

CNN: Pence Was On Standby To 'Take Over' During Trump's Unannounced Walter Reed Visit, New Book Reports
Vice President Mike Pence was put on standby to temporarily assume the powers of the presidency during President Donald Trump's unannounced visit to Walter Reed hospital in November 2019, according to a copy of New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt's forthcoming book obtained by CNN. Trump had undergone a "quick exam and labs" as part of his annual physical out of anticipation of a "very busy 2020," the White House had said of the trip at the time. Schmidt writes, however, that he learned "in the hours leading up to Trump's trip to the hospital, word went out in the West Wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized." Schmidt does not specify the sourcing for this reporting beyond "I learned." (LeBlanc, 9/1)

CNBC: Trump Doctor Says President Has Not Had Stroke Or Heart Emergencies
President Donald Trump’s doctor, in an extraordinary official statement issued at the behest of the president Tuesday, said that Trump has not experienced or been evaluated for a stroke, mini-stroke or heart-related emergencies. (Mangan, 9/1)

The Hill: Pence Says He Doesn't 'Recall' Being Put On Standby During Trump Walter Reed Visit 
Vice President Pence said Tuesday that he doesn’t “recall” being told to be on “standby” when President Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed Medical Center last year. “I don’t recall being told to be on standby,” Pence told Fox News’s Bret Baier when pressed on an account included in a new book from New York Times correspondent Michael Schmidt. “I was informed that the president had a doctor’s appointment.” (Chalfant, 9/1)

The Washington Post: What We Know About Trump’s Trip To A Hospital In November 
Shortly before 3 p.m. on Nov. 16, President Trump arrived at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The White House pool reporter on duty described the president as leaving the White House a half-hour earlier, “wearing a long dark overcoat and carrying what looked like a tan rectangle-shaped folder or envelope under his arm.” Until the presidential motorcade arrived at the hospital, though, news of Trump’s departure wasn’t reportable. And with that, a mystery was born. (Bump, 9/1)

USA Today: Trump Administration Announces Nationwide Eviction Moratorium Through End Of The Year
Relying on a public health law intended to prevent the spread of an illness, the Trump administration said Tuesday it is implementing a national four-month moratorium on residential evictions. The moratorium, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was the latest measure by the administration to get a handle on the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic absent an agreement with Congress on a more far reaching package that would have the force of law. (Fritze and Wu, 9/1)

NPR: CDC Issues Sweeping Temporary Halt On Evictions Nationwide Amid Pandemic 
The new eviction ban is being enacted through the Centers for Disease Control. The goal is to stem the spread of the COVID outbreak, which the agency says in it's order, "presents a historic threat to public health." It's by far the most sweeping move yet by the administration to try to head off a looming wave of evictions of people who've lost their jobs or taken a major blow to their income due to the pandemic. Housing advocates and landlord groups both have been warning that millions of people could soon be put out of their homes through eviction if Congress does not do more to help renters and landlords and reinstate expanded unemployment benefits. (Arnold, 9/1)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Announces Eviction Moratorium, Aiming To Ensure Housing Crisis Doesn’t Further Spread Coronavirus 
The new moratorium seeks to cover families experiencing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic, aiming to help as many as 40 million Americans who are already struggling to pay their monthly housing costs in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who referenced that an action was imminent earlier in the day. The policy comes roughly a month after President Trump signed an executive order tasking the U.S. government, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with exploring ways to protect renters as talks broke down on Capitol Hill over a new round of coronavirus relief. Brian Morgenstern, a spokesman for the White House, said the goal has been to ensure that families “struggling to pay rent due to the coronavirus will not have to worry about being evicted and risk the further spreading of, or exposure to, the disease.” (Romm, 9/1)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Halts Evictions, Citing Covid-19 Risks 
To apply for the new moratorium, tenants will have to attest to a substantial loss of household income, the inability to pay full rent and best efforts to pay partial rent. Tenants must also stipulate that eviction would be likely to leave them homeless or force them to live with others at close quarters. Forms will be available on the C.D.C. website once the order is published in the Federal Register. (9/1)

AP: HHS Cancelling Ventilator Contracts, Says Stockpile Is Full
The Trump administration is canceling some of its remaining orders for ventilators, after rushing to sign nearly $3 billion in emergency contracts as the COVID-19 pandemic surged in the spring. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement Tuesday affirming that the national stockpile has now reached its maximum capacity for the life-saving breathing machines, with nearly 120,000 available for deployment to state and local health officials if need. Though the orders were billed as a cost-saving measure, Democrats said the cancellations show the White House vastly overspent in its quest to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge to make the United States the “King of Ventilators.” (Biesecker, 9/2)

Detroit Free Press: GM And Ford Deliver The Last Ventilators Amid Coronavirus
General Motors and Ford Motor Co. are exiting the ventilator business, turning their focus back to the car business. Both automakers have fulfilled the terms of the contracts they had with the federal government to make the life-saving machines. (LaReau, 9/1)

In other Trump administration news —

ABC News: Trump Admin. Considers Enlisting Celebs As Part Of $250M COVID-19 Public Health Ad Campaign 
The Department of Health and Human Services is considering launching a major new public health campaign on COVID-19 that could include spending some $250 million on communications and public relations experts and potentially rope in Hollywood actors, sports figures and music artists, according to an agency official. The push comes as President Donald Trump faces skepticism among voters that the federal government is doing enough to address the health crisis. (Dukakis and Flaherty, 9/1)

NPR: Trump Administration Seeking To Expand Collection Of Biometric Data From Immigrants 
The Trump administration is considering drastically expanding the government's collection of biometric information from immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Tuesday. The proposal would allow the government to demand more personal data, from more people, more often as part of the immigration application process. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services currently requires biometrics, or biological measurements, from anyone over the age of 14 who applies for certain immigration benefits. That information is limited to fingerprints, photographs and signatures, but would be expanded under the proposed policy change to include DNA, eye scans, voice prints and photographs for facial recognition. (Treisman, 9/1)

AP: White House Public Tours To Resume Sept. 12 With COVID Rules
Public tours of the White House, halted nearly six months ago due to the coronavirus outbreak, are set to resume later this month with new health and safety policies in place. Tours will resume Sept. 12, for two days a week instead of five, and for just a few hours a day, the first lady’s office announced Tuesday. The number of visitors will also be capped. (Superville, 9/1)

AP: Feds To Ship Fast COVID-19 Tests To Assisted Living Sites
A federal official said Tuesday the government plans to ship rapid coronavirus tests to assisted living facilities, moving to fill a testing gap for older adults who don’t need the constant attention of a nursing home. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said assisted living facilities will be followed by senior day care centers and home health agencies in getting the tests. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/2)

The Hill: Trump Officials To Begin Distributing New Rapid Test To States This Month 
The administration is touting the new devices, which received emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week, as a major advance in the country’s testing capabilities, following months of delays and setbacks that have plagued the country’s response to the pandemic. The federal government will purchase 150 million of the tests to deploy through the remainder of 2020, administration officials announced last week. On Tuesday, Giroir provided more details on their deployment. (Sullivan, 9/1)

CNBC: HHS Deploys Abbott's New Coronavirus Tests To States Hit By Wildfires, Hurricanes
The federal government is deploying extra coronavirus testing materials, including Abbott’s new rapid test kits, to areas of the country recently hit hard by natural disasters, Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said Tuesday. Hurricane Laura in Louisiana and the wildfires on the West Coast have prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. (Feuer, 9/1)

In other testing news —

NPR: Florida Cuts Ties With Large Coronavirus Testing Lab, Citing 75,000 Delayed Results 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is ordering state agencies to end their relationships with Quest Diagnostics after the large medical laboratory said it had mistakenly delayed reporting the results of nearly 75,000 coronavirus tests to the state. The delayed results dated as far back as April. Quest has apologized, saying a technical error was at fault. (Chappell, 9/1)

Los Angeles Times: California To Unveil New COVID-19 Reporting System 
A month after a state public health computer database failure caused the distortion of COVID-19 test results across California and disrupted the state’s response to the pandemic, the Newsom administration on Tuesday announced that a new reporting system will be online in October. The state signed a contract with software company OptumInsight Inc. for a database that will handle all COVID-19 testing results, replacing the troubled California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, or CalREDIE. (Willon, 9/1)

Houston Chronicle: ‘It’s Really A Relief’: COVID-19 Testing For The Workplace Soothes Worried Employers 
Why have employees wait in drive-thru lines when they could get COVID-19 testing through their companies, much as they get flu shots? (Wu, 9/2)

AP: The Latest: German Lab Head Cautions On Use For Tests
The head of an association representing German medical laboratories has criticized proposals to use veterinary and industrial labs to process coronavirus tests. Andreas Bobrowksi, chairman of the medical laboratories association BDL, says the capacity to conduct more tests is limited by the shortage of materials required to process them, which he says has been “covered up by rationing.” (9/1)

In other developments on tracing and tracking the virus —

The Washington Post: Apple And Google Give States New Options For Exposure Notification Software 
Apple and Google said Tuesday they’re expanding coronavirus warning software so that state health agencies can participate without having to create customized apps. The new option, called “exposure notifications express,” removes one of the key barriers to adoption that led to a slow start to the software, which can warn people when they come in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. So far, only six U.S. states have created apps that work with Apple and Google’s software. (Albergotti, 9/1)

AP: Apple, Google Build Virus-Tracing Tech Directly Into Phones
Apple and Google are trying to get more U.S. states to adopt their phone-based approach for tracing and curbing the spread of the coronavirus by building more of the necessary technology directly into phone software.That could make it much easier for people to get the tool on their phone even if their local public health agency hasn’t built its own compatible app. (O'Brien, 9/1)

NPR: FEMA Says It Will Stop Paying For Cloth Face Masks For Schools
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is changing the policy on the personal protective equipment that it will pay for. Federal officials announced the changes during a call Tuesday with state and tribal emergency managers, many of whom expressed concerns about the new policy. The changes mean that in most cases, FEMA will no longer reimburse states for the cost of cloth face coverings at nonemergency settings, including schools, public housing and courthouses. The policy goes into effect on Sept. 15. (Wamsley, 9/1)

The Hill: FEMA To End Funding For Cloth Face Masks For Schools 
FEMA's stance appears to be that masks are necessary to the basic operation of schools in the fall and should not therefore fall under the category of emergency equipment. A request for further comment from The Hill was not immediately returned. (Bowden, 9/1)

In other mask news —

The New York Times: Trump's New Adviser Has Questioned Mask Use
Dr. Scott W. Atlas has argued that the science of mask wearing is uncertain, that children cannot pass on the coronavirus and that the role of the government is not to stamp out the virus but to protect its most vulnerable citizens as Covid-19 takes its course. Ideas like these, both ideologically freighted and scientifically disputed, have propelled Dr. Atlas, a radiologist and senior fellow at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution, into President Trump’s White House, where he is pushing to reshape the administration’s response to the pandemic. (9/2)

The New York Times: Valved Face Masks And Face Shields Offer More Comfort But Less Protection 
Face shields and valved masks — two options many people find more comfortable than cloth face coverings — appear to be less effective at blocking viral particles than regular masks, a new study shows.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already stated that clear plastic face shields and masks equipped with vents or valves are not recommended, because of concerns that they don’t adequately block viral particles. But the new research, which uses lasers to illuminate the path of coughs, offers a striking visual demonstration of how large plumes of particles can escape from behind a face shield or vented mask. (Parker-Pope, 9/1)

Also —

CIDRAP: US Government Has Spent Trillions On COVID-19 Health, Economic Relief
In response to COVID-19, the US government sold $1.5 trillion in obligations such as bonds and spent $1.3 trillion on public health, homeland security, and economic relief by Jun 30, according to an update yesterday from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As of Jul 31, the government had allocated roughly $2.6 trillion for coronavirus relief efforts, of which about $2.2 trillion (85%) was earmarked for Business Loan Programs, Economic Stabilization and Assistance to Distressed Sectors programs, unemployment benefits, Economic Impact Payments, the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, and the Coronavirus Relief Fund. These six spending areas reported selling debt securities worth $1.4 trillion and spending the same amount. (9/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Mnuchin Urges Congress To Pass More Stimulus Funding
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to appropriate more money to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, saying at a hearing Tuesday that he was ready to sit down with Democratic leaders to resume negotiations at any time. House Democrats in May proposed an additional $3.5 trillion of relief, while Senate Republicans rolled out a $1 trillion bill in July. Without a new agreement, jobless workers have gone without a $600 federal supplement to weekly unemployment insurance since July 31, and a federal eviction moratorium expired on July 25, leaving millions of tenants at risk of losing their homes. (Kiernan, 9/1)

Reuters: Pelosi Says 'Serious Differences' Between Democrats, White House On Coronavirus Aid 
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday that “serious differences” remain between Democrats and the White House over coronavirus relief legislation.“ Sadly, this phone call made clear that Democrats and the White House continue to have serious differences understanding the gravity of the situation that America’s working families are facing,” Pelosi said in a statement. (9/1)

In related economic news —

The Hill: Half In New Poll Concerned Major Health Event Will Lead To Bankruptcy 
Half of all U.S. adults are concerned that a major health event among those in their household could lead to bankruptcy, according to a new poll. The survey, based on a study from West Health and Gallup, found that the percentage of adults who said they were “concerned” or “extremely concerned” about a major health event leading to bankruptcy has gone up from 45 percent in 2019 to 50 percent in 2020. (Pitofsky, 9/1)

In other news —

The Hill: Pelosi Faces Criticism Over California Hair Salon Visit 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faced criticism from Republicans on Thursday over her visit to a San Francisco hair salon on Monday. A spokesperson for the Speaker's office told The Hill on Tuesday that Pelosi complied with the business's requirements as they were presented to her, and contended that she followed local guidelines, stating that the salon had informed her that one customer was allowed inside the business at a time. (Bowden, 9/1)

USA Today: Nancy Pelosi Visited A Hair Salon Despite Coronavirus Closures
San Francisco's coronavirus guidelines allowed personal service providers including hair salons to reopen their businesses for outdoor services starting Tuesday, with clients seen one at a time. Haircuts are permitted, according to the guidance, but shampooing and hair coloring services are not. (Santucci, 9/1)

ABC News: DHS Withheld July Intelligence Bulletin Calling Out Russian Attack On Biden’s Mental Health 
In early July the Department of Homeland Security withheld publication of an intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement agencies of a Russian scheme to promote “allegations about the poor mental health” of former Vice President Joe Biden, according to internal emails and a draft of the document obtained by ABC News. The draft bulletin, titled “Russia Likely to Denigrate Health of US Candidates to Influence 2020 Election,” was submitted to the agency’s legislative and public affairs office for review on July 7. The analysis was not meant for public consumption, but it was set to be distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement partners two days later, on July 9, the emails show. (Margolin, Bruggeman, Steakin and Karl, 9/2)

CNN: DHS Withheld Intelligence Bulletin Calling Out Russian Attack On Biden's Mental Health, ABC News Reports 
Emails also show, according to the network, that DHS Chief of Staff John Gountanis stopped the bulletin from being sent out. "Please hold on sending this one out until you have a chance to speak to [acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf]," Gountanis wrote, ABC News reported. (Duster, 9/2)

Also —

The Washington Post: Postal Service Audit Finds Gaps In Election Mail Processing, Delivery 
How ready is the U.S. Postal Service to process and deliver election mail on time come November? Not ready enough, the agency’s watchdog says in a new report. In its audit of election mail processing, the agency’s Office of Inspector General listed several potential trouble spots, including ballots mailed without bar codes used for tracking; ballot mailpiece designs that impede processing; election and political mail sent too close to Election Day for the mail service to deliver it on time; postmark requirements for ballots; and outdated voter addresses. (Denham, 9/1)

Axios: USPS Watchdog Flags Possible Problems With Timely Process, Delivery Of Election Mail  
More Americans than ever are expected to mail in their ballots in November's election as the coronavirus pandemic persists and voters aim to avoid possible exposure. The audit also comes as Democratic lawmakers worry that recent operational changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy threaten the USPS's ability to handle the anticipated surge in mail-in ballots. (Ayesh, 9/1)

In other election news —

AP: Vegas Hotel That Held Trump Event Fined Over COVID-19 Rule
A Las Vegas hotel that hosted a faith-based Donald Trump rally and a beauty pageant, and is battling the governor’s office and city officials over coronavirus crowd limits, has been fined for failure to comply with COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, officials said. Ahern Hotel and Convention Center was assessed a $10,930 penalty, according to a state Occupational Safety and Health Administration report posted Monday. (9/1)

The Hill: Biden To Tear Into Trump Over Coronavirus, School Reopenings In Delaware Remarks 
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will tear into President Trump in remarks from Delaware on Wednesday, going after the White House’s handling of the coronavirus and its impact on school reopenings. Biden will be joined by his wife, Jill Biden, an educator herself, and several experts for a briefing on the issue of opening schools and will then give remarks “on how Trump’s failure to address COVID-19 is impacting students, educators, and children, and his plan to safely and effectively reopen schools,” according to his campaign. (Axelrod, 9/2)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Control Of U.S. Senate Could Hinge On Obamacare Positions 
KHN senior correspondent Markian Hawryluk joined KUNC’s Erin O’Toole on “Colorado Edition” to discuss his recent story about how the Affordable Care Act is affecting the close Colorado Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner and Democratic former Gov. John Hickenlooper. That race and five others involving vulnerable Republican incumbents who sought to repeal the health care law could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in 2021. Public sentiment about the health care law, also known as Obamacare, has shifted. What was a political liability in 2014 for candidates has become a selling point amid the loss of jobs and health insurance for millions of people during the coronavirus pandemic. (9/1)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Hasn't Started Garnishing Medicare Pay To Recoup $100 Billion In Loans
Hospitals that received COVID-19 relief loans from Medicare expected that CMS would cut off their fee-for-service reimbursement after four months, but as deadlines have passed the agency apparently hasn't started garnishing payments. State and national hospital associations, providers and consultants that work with providers said their reimbursements remain the same although CMS said it would begin recouping Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program funds. In March and April, hospitals received more than 80% of the $100.3 billion in relief loans from CMS. (Cohrs, 9/1)

In other health industry news —

Boston Globe: Union’s Billboards Depict The Plight Of Home Care Workers During The Pandemic
Throughout the pandemic, the 100,000 home care workers in Massachusetts have been a largely invisible workforce, assisting older adults and people with disabilities behind closed doors. The workers, the majority of them women of color, many making close to the minimum wage and living in low-income communities hit hard by COVID-19, have to don protective equipment to bathe and dress and assist clients. Some of them never received hazard pay and have struggled to get the masks and gloves they need to do their jobs. Few have been publicly recognized for the essential work they do. (Johnston, 9/1)

Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago River North Redevelopment Getting Skilled Nursing Facility
A local nursing home operator wants to redevelop the vacant former headquarters of the American Library Association in River North into a medical rehabilitation and recovery center, according to a proposal announced by 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly. Oak Brook-based Restorative Care Institute plans to open a 98-bed skilled nursing facility at 50 E. Huron St., where it is seeking approval to overhaul the five-story former ALA building with three new floors and a glass exterior, project plans show. Reilly said in a newsletter to downtown residents that the company hopes to open the location by August 2022. (Ecker, 9/1)

CIDRAP: 19-Month Pandemic-Related Surgical Backlog In Ontario
Ontario, Canada, has an 84-week backlog of nonurgent surgeries delayed because of COVID-19 that will take 717 surgeries, 719 operating room hours, 265 hospital ward beds, and 9 intensive care unit (ICU) beds per week to clear, according to a time series modeling study published today in CMAJ. Researchers at the government agency Ontario Health identified the 19-month logjam after analyzing administrative data on historical surgical volumes and operating room productivity by surgery type and region and lengths of general-ward and ICU stays from Jan 1, 2017, to Jun 13, 2020. They also developed a deterministic, Microsoft Excel–based tool to help other regions plan to address their surgical backlogs. (Van Beusekom, 9/1)

Stat: What Amwell And GoodRx’s IPO Filings Tell Us About Telehealth Finances
Last week, two virtual care providers filed paperwork to go public — offering an unprecedented window into the long-murky finances of telemedicine. The illuminating S-1 regulatory filings came from Boston-based telehealth provider Amwell and GoodRx, the Los Angeles-based prescription drug coupons company that last year acquired the telemedicine company HeyDoctor. (Robbins, 9/2)

Stat: Questions About Precision Medicine? Stanford's Lloyd Minor Has Answers
Precision medicine is seen by many as the next frontier in health care. Stanford Medicine, among other institutions, is trying to lead the way. It recently established a strategic vision on how to focus on “keeping people healthy and providing care that is tailored to individual variations.” And its dean, Lloyd Minor, is the author of a new book: “Discovering Precision Health: Predict, Prevent, and Cure to Advance Health and Well-Being.” (9/2)

Stat: U.S. Advisory Group Lays Out Proposal On How To Prioritize Covid-19 Vaccine
A new report that aims to prioritize groups to receive Covid-19 vaccine focuses on who is at risk, rather than using job categories or ethnic groups to determine who should be at the front of the line. It was widely expected that health care workers would be the first priority grouping, and some — though not all — are. There were also many voices arguing for people of color to be given priority access, because the pandemic has exacted a disproportionately heavy toll on Black and Latinx people, both in terms of overall numbers of infections and deaths. (Branswell, 9/1)

Kaiser Health News: Health Officials Worry Nation’s Not Ready For COVID-19 Vaccine  
Millions of Americans are counting on a COVID-19 vaccine to curb the global pandemic and return life to normal. While one or more options could be available toward the end of this year or early next, the path to delivering vaccines to 330 million people remains unclear for the local health officials expected to carry out the work. (Szabo, 9/2)

The Hill: Federal Panel Lays Out Initial Priorities For COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution 
Initial doses of a COVID-19 vaccine should go to front-line health workers, first responders and people at serious risk for infection, according to new draft guidelines released Tuesday by a federal advisory panel. The draft guidelines were developed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to help U.S. officials plan for an equitable allocation of an eventual vaccine. The final report will be released later this fall. (Weixel, 9/1)

Kaiser Health News: Fauci Says COVID Vaccine Trials Could End Early If Results Are Overwhelming 
A COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if ongoing clinical trials produce overwhelmingly positive results, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, in an interview Tuesday with KHN. Although two ongoing clinical trials of 30,000 volunteers are expected to conclude by the end of the year, Fauci said an independent board has the authority to end the trials weeks early if interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative. (Szabo, 9/1)

Another vaccine enters the third phase of trials —

CIDRAP: Third COVID Vaccine Candidate Starts Phase 3 Trial In US 
Today the United States has three COVID-19 vaccine candidates in phase 3 trials, as AstraZeneca launched the final stage of a trial of its vaccine candidate, which it plans to test in 30,000 healthy adults. The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford University, is already in a phase 3 trial in the United Kingdom. The first US volunteers were inoculated today at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, and AstraZeneca plans to add 50 participants each day after Sep 7. (Soucheray, 9/1)

AP: Third Virus Vaccine Reaches Major Hurdle: Final US Testing
A handful of the dozens of experimental COVID-19 vaccines in human testing have reached the last and biggest hurdle — looking for the needed proof that they really work as a U.S. advisory panel suggested Tuesday a way to ration the first limited doses once a vaccine wins approval. AstraZeneca announced Monday its vaccine candidate has entered the final testing stage in the U.S. The Cambridge, England-based company said the study will involve up to 30,000 adults from various racial, ethnic and geographic groups. (Neergaard and Johnson, 9/1)

In other vaccine updates —

Stat: Experts See Chance For Covid-19 Vaccine Approval This Fall — If Done Right
There is growing concern that the Food and Drug Administration, under political pressure, could approve a Covid-19 vaccine before it has robust safety and efficacy data. The consequences of such a decision could be significant, particularly if the vaccine is ultimately shown to be less effective than early data suggest. But an approval before the completion of large, Phase 3 trials does not have to be problematic. Experts aren’t ruling out the possibility that a vaccine could be cleared this fall if it is very effective. (Herper, 9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: In Race To Secure Covid-19 Vaccines, World’s Poorest Countries Lag Behind 
Developing nations are at risk of being left far short of the Covid-19 vaccine supplies they need as richer countries secure billions of doses even before the drugs pass final clinical trials, according to health experts. The U.S., the European Union, Japan and the U.K. have agreed to purchase at least 3.7 billion doses from Western drugmakers developing vaccines, according to announcements from the companies and countries in recent months. That tally includes options available for additional doses. China and India, two countries with large vaccine-making industries, are also expected to direct much of their production to their own vast populations. (Shah, 9/1)

AP: Large Antibody Study Offers Hope For Virus Vaccine Efforts
Antibodies that people make to fight the new coronavirus last for at least four months after diagnosis and do not fade quickly as some earlier reports suggested, scientists have found. Tuesday’s report, from tests on more than 30,000 people in Iceland, is the most extensive work yet on the immune system’s response to the virus over time, and is good news for efforts to develop vaccines. (Marchione, 9/1)

CNN: Convalescent Plasma Not Proven For Coronavirus, Panel Says 
A National Institutes of Health panel said there's no evidence backing the use of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients and that doctors should not treat it as a standard of care until more study has been done. "There are insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19," the panel of more than three dozen experts said in a statement posted on the NIH website Tuesday. (Fox, 9/1)

Forbes: Report: Trump-Backed Plasma Treatment Has 'Insufficient Data' Behind It, NIH Advisers Claim
The Trump administration has been accused of politicizing health departments, among other federal agencies, during the pandemic, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued new guidance in August that asymptomatic people exposed to the virus shouldn't be tested, recommendations that were strongly criticized and resulted in its director, Robert Redfield, backtracking in subsequent statements. (Perez, 9/1)

The Hill: NIH Panel: 'Insufficient Data' To Show Treatment Touted By Trump Works 
The NIH panel is not saying definitively that the treatment will not work, but it is saying that randomized clinical trials, the scientific gold standard, are needed to determine its effectiveness. The FDA issued its emergency authorization based on a less powerful kind of study, where some people with higher doses of the treatment had an improvement over some with lower doses, but without a control group of people who did not get the treatment at all for comparison. (Sullivan, 9/1)

The New York Times: Why The Coronavirus More Often Strikes Children Of Color
One of the notable features of the new coronavirus, evident early in the pandemic, was that it largely spared children. Some become severely ill, but deaths have been few, compared to adults. But people of color have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, and recent studies have renewed concern about the susceptibility of children in these communities. (Caryn Rabin, 9/1)

CNN: Coronavirus Symptoms Can Last Much Longer Than Initially Thought, Experts Say 
Months into the pandemic that has infected more than 6 million Americans, the public and experts alike are learning the impacts of Covid-19 can drag on longer than expected. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that most Americans who have tested positive for coronavirus can return to work or school 10 days after the onset of symptoms, unless the illness requires hospitalization. But new research suggest that the virus and its symptoms are often no where near finished by that benchmark. (Holcombe, 9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Key To Preventing Covid-19 Indoors: Ventilation 
Add this to the Covid-19 prevention toolbox: strong ventilation. After urging steps like handwashing, masking and social distancing, researchers say proper ventilation indoors should join the list of necessary measures. Health scientists and mechanical engineers have started issuing recommendations to schools and businesses that wish to reopen for how often indoor air needs to be replaced, as well as guidelines for the fans, filters and other equipment needed to meet the goals.“We didn’t focus on it enough initially,” said Abraar Karan, a doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who treated Covid-19 patients. “We told everyone to stay home. We weren’t thinking about people congregating in public spaces.” (McCabe, 9/1)

Stateline: Summertime Visitors Swarm State Parks And Budgets
Several states, including New Mexico, banned out-of-state residents at their parks. As COVID-19 cases ballooned in neighboring Arizona and Texas, New Mexico decided to close all campgrounds this summer and barred out-of-state visitors from state parks, said Susan Torres, a spokesperson for the state's Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. And Ute Lake State Park closed to visitors for two weeks in August after several employees tested positive for COVID-19. (Bolstad, 9/2)

Also —

Kaiser Health News: When The Pandemic Closes Your Gym, ‘Come For The Party, Stay For The Workout’  
Evaristo “Risto” Grant counted down from 10 as his clients held their plank positions and shook with the effort. Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” blared in the background. Grant paced around his clients on their yoga mats, shouting words of encouragement. It looked and sounded like any normal gym session. Except it wasn’t. Grant’s gym consisted of a few yoga mats and equipment underneath a strip of scaffolding in Carl Schurz Park, which borders the East River in Manhattan. People on their evening quarantine walks strolled by, many glancing with amusement at the signs Grant had taped to the scaffolding: “Get your sexy back … no more cookies!” and “Come for the party, stay for the workout!” (Lawrence, 9/2)

NPR: Making Gyms Safer: Why The Virus Is Less Likely To Spread There Than In A Bar
After shutting down in the spring, America's empty gyms are beckoning a cautious public back for a workout. To reassure wary customers, owners have put in place — and now advertise — a variety of coronavirus control measures. At the same time, the fitness industry is also trying to rehabilitate itself by pushing back against what it sees as a misleading narrative that gyms have no place during a pandemic. In the first months of the coronavirus outbreak, most public health leaders advised closing gyms, erring on the side of caution. As infections exploded across the country, states ordered gyms and fitness centers closed, along with restaurants, movie theaters and bars. State and local officials consistently branded gyms as high risk venues for infection, akin to bars and nightclubs. (Stone, 9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Delays School Reopening
Just days before New York City schools were supposed to reopen, the city said Tuesday it would delay the start of in-person learning by more than a week, after reaching a last-minute deal with the teachers union that averts the threat of a strike. The nation’s largest school district was one of the few big districts trying to open on-time with students back in the classroom. It plans to let some students take classes online from home every day, while others learn remotely part of the week and go into school some days, under what is called a hybrid model. (Honan and Brody, 9/1)

NPR: New York City Reaches Deal With Teachers Union, Will Reopen Schools On Sept. 21
The union, which represents most of the city's educators, had been on the brink of voting whether to authorize a strike over safety precautions related to the coronavirus. The new agreement is aimed at addressing health concerns for educators and their students. "Teachers who usually get two days of professional development at the beginning of the school year ... will now get nine," schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said at a joint news conference Tuesday morning with de Blasio and labor officials. (Chappell, 9/1)

Politico: How New York City’s Schools Plan Fell Short 
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s about face was all but inevitable. His unwavering determination to partially reopen the biggest school system in the U.S. had been met with weeks of skepticism over his administration’s ability to pull off such a feat amid a still-lethal threat from Covid-19. The teachers union threatened to strike, principals across New York City were furious, parents were exasperated and scrambling for clarity, and city and state elected officials lined up to demand the mayor delay his plans to reopen schools on Sept. 10, like most of the country’s big-city school districts had already done. For weeks, de Blasio refused to budge, dismissing the naysayers and projecting confidence in his decision. On Tuesday, he caved. (Toure and Niedzwiadek, 9/1)

In other education news —

Los Angeles Times: UC Must Immediately Drop Use Of The SAT And ACT, Judge Rules 
The University of California must immediately suspend all use of SAT and ACT test scores for admission and scholarship decisions under a preliminary injunction issued by an Alameda County Superior Court judge. “The barriers faced by students with disabilities have been greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 epidemic, which has disrupted test-taking locations, closed schools and limited access to school counselors,” the judge said. (Watanabe, 9/1)

Houston Chronicle: Pearland ISD Quiz Question Asking Students If COVID Is A 'Scam' Draws Criticism From Parents 
Pearland ISD has removed a controversial question from a recent online quiz given to junior high science students that asked if the COVID-19 pandemic was a "scam," according to an email sent out to parents and community members. (Hennes, 9/1)

AP: Virus Cases Prompt 3 Schools To Suspend In-Person Learning
The largest school district in Alaska to open for in-person classes has shifted to online learning only for three schools after five new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. The new infections emerged among three schools in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, Alaska Public Media reported. (9/2)

NPR: Kids With ADHD Need Extra Support From Parents When School's Online
COVID-19 forced Keriann Wilmot's son to trade his classroom for a computer. It was a tough transition for a 10-year-old with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "It was a different environment for him," Wilmot says. "He wasn't used to this kind of work from school coming in the format of an email in his Chromebook every single day." Her son would avoid math and writing and instead go straight to his favorite subjects: science and social studies. But even then, online assignments could be a problem. (Hamilton, 9/1)

Dallas Morning News: Daily Screenings, Face Masks And Quarantine Protocols: Richardson ISD Details Return To Classrooms
Richardson ISD has issued a detailed list of COVID-19 safety protocols for students returning to in-person instruction this month, asking parents to screen their children daily and outlining the classroom procedure that will be followed if a student tests positive for the virus. Online instruction for all students in Richardson ISD began on Aug. 19, with in-person classes picking back up on a staggered schedule: The youngest students return on Sept. 8, grades 7 and 8 on Sept. 14 and high school on Sept. 21. (Webster, 9/1)

The Washington Post: Students In England Fell Behind By Average Of Three Months During Coronavirus Lockdown, Study Finds 
Students in England fell behind by an average of three months during coronavirus-mandated school closures, a study released Tuesday found, giving weight to concerns over the urgency of a return to classrooms, in Britain and around the world. Of school faculty members who participated in the National Foundation for Educational Research study, 98 percent said their students had fallen behind since March, when schools switched to remote learning amid a nationwide shutdown. (Noori Farzan and Taylor, 9/1)

Also —

The New York Times: Federal Government Relaxes Rules On Feeding Low-Income Students 
The Agriculture Department, under pressure from Congress and officials in school districts across the country, said on Monday that it would allow schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to any child or teenager through the end of 2020, provided funding lasts. Advocates for the poor hailed the announcement as an important step to ensure that more needy children are fed during the coronavirus pandemic. It was a partial reversal by the department. (Taylor, 8/31)

NPR: Majority Of Hurricane Laura Deaths Linked To Improper Use Of Portable Generators
More deaths associated with Hurricane Laura were caused by the improper use of portable generators than the storm itself. And officials warn that the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning persists, as thousands of households in Louisiana remain without power. Eight of the 15 hurricane-related deaths confirmed by the Louisiana Department of Health are attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators, which can provide life-saving power in emergency situations but also pose a deadly threat if used incorrectly. (Treisman, 9/1)

In other public health news —

ABC News: Deadly Opioid 'ISO' Implicated In At Least 19 Overdoses In US After China Bans Fentanyl 
A deadly and potent opioid, nicknamed "ISO," first hit the illicit drug market in the United States last year, and since August 2019 has taken the lives of at least 19 Americans, alarming addiction experts and prompting the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to take action. Most of the deaths occurred in the Midwest, but ISO has also appeared in Canada and Europe. (Kagan, 9/1)

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Link Between Maternal Flu Vaccination And Autism
In the latest in a body of literature showing flu vaccines not tied to autism, a study today in the Annals of Internal Medicine found no link between maternal H1N1 flu vaccination during pregnancy—including in the third trimester—and the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. The study was conducted at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, where researchers looked at 39,726 infants with prenatal exposure to the vaccine (13,845 during the first trimester), and 29,293 unexposed infants born in 2009 and 2010. During a follow-up of more than 6 years, the researchers found that 394 (1.0%) vaccine-exposed and 330 (1.1%) vaccine-unexposed children had a diagnosis of ASD. (9/1)

AP: Study: Cancer Cases Likely In Those Exposed To Atomic Test
After years of study, the National Cancer Institute said Tuesday that some people probably got cancer from the radioactive fallout that wafted across New Mexico after the U.S. government detonated the first atomic bomb in 1945. However, the exact number is unknown. The institute disclosed its conclusions in a series of scientific papers on radiation doses and cancer risks resulting from the Trinity Test, which marked a key point in the once-secret Manhattan Project. The findings were published in the journal Health Physics. (Montoya Bryan, 9/2)

Stat: Scientists Find A Metabolite Leads To Healthier Aging In Middle-Aged Mice
The field of aging research is increasingly asking not just how people can live longer, but also how they can age healthier. The latest example, a new study on middle-aged mice, found that mice given a metabolite naturally found in the body were not only healthier as they grew older, but also were sick for a far shorter time before they died than mice in a control group. The research, led by scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, was published Tuesday in Cell Metabolism. (Gopalakrishna, 9/1)

CNN: Colon Cancer Survivor Says It's Time To Take The Disease Seriously 
In a year that has already brought so much tragedy and loss, Chadwick Boseman's death at age 43 seems unthinkably cruel and unfair. How could such a vibrant performer, such a vocal and visible Black role model, have been suffering through late-stage colon cancer? (Stewart, 9/2)

USA Today: What Is Lewy Body Dementia, The Disease Robin Williams' Widow Called 'The Terrorist' Inside His Brain?
Susan Schneider Williams, the widow of late comic and actor Robin Williams, once called Lewy body dementia "the terrorist inside my husband's brain." While it afflicts more than one million Americans, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, it is regularly overshadowed by Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's, often leading to misdiagnoses in patients with Lewy body dementia. (Bote and Deerwester, 9/1)

NPR: California Poised To Strengthen Mental Health Insurance Laws
There are already federal and state laws on the books requiring insurance companies to cover mental health treatments, just as it does medical treatments and procedures such as chemotherapy or a cesarean section. But many patient advocates say those laws haven't gone far enough because they permit insurance companies to pay for care only after the mental illness has reached a late-stage crisis, or let companies deny coverage outright. So states, including New York and Illinois, have been strengthening their regulation and enforcement. This week, California's legislature passed one of the nation's strictest mental health parity bills. It aims to increase mental health insurance coverage to include far more conditions — including, notably, addiction — as well as redefining the criteria for insurance denials. (Noguchi, 9/1)

WBUR: California Poised To Strengthen Mental Health Insurance Laws 
This week, California's legislature passed one of the nation's strictest mental health parity bills. It aims to increase mental health insurance coverage to include far more conditions — including, notably, addiction — as well as redefining the criteria for insurance denials. (Noguchi, 9/2)

In other health news from California —

Modern Healthcare: California PPE Bills Require Providers To Create Stockpiles For Workers
California's Legislature passed two bills Monday night that would require healthcare providers to create stockpiles of personal protective equipment for their workers. The bills, SB 275 and AB 2537, now go to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will need to sign or veto them by Sept. 30. (Christ, 9/1)

USA Today: 'Makes No Sense': California Faces Backlash Over Its New Tiered System For Reopening Businesses Amid COVID-19
As it became the first state to cross the sad milestone of 700,000 cases of COVID-19, California has embarked on a new tiered plan for reopening businesses that has some crying foul. Critics say the system doesn't take into account that some businesses can operate safely even in counties with relatively high numbers of COVID-cases. And it hits some businesses harder than others, even when it appears they perform similar services. (Woodyard, 9/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Smoke Could Linger Over Bay Area For Months, Even After Fires Are Contained 
The Bay Area’s air-quality woes are almost certain to continue through the weekend, as a ridge of high pressure brings a heat wave and low winds. But the ongoing wildfires mean that smoke could be here for months, even as the fires are contained — and it’s just the beginning of wildfire season. A Spare the Air Alert, which bans wood burning, has been extended through Thursday in the Bay Area, adding to a string of alerts issued every day since Aug. 14. It is the longest stretch ever, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. (Echeverria, 9/2)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmaker Nurses Infant Between Debates After Being Denied Remote Voting
California lawmakers expressed outrage Tuesday that a Bay Area lawmaker was forced to soothe her fussy newborn on the floor of the state Assembly after the new mom’s request to vote remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic was denied. Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) gave birth to her daughter on July 26 and was on maternity leave as the Legislature was wrapping up its work for the year before Monday’s constitutional deadline. But with critical votes pending on the final day, Wicks requested permission on Friday to vote remotely due to the risk posed by COVID-19 if she returned. (Gutierrez, 9/1)

The Washington Post: Maryland To Enter Next Phase Of Coronavirus Recovery Friday, Opening Theaters And Concert Venues
Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday announced that Maryland is ready to reopen movie theaters, begin holding concerts and expand the size of religious gatherings as he granted permission for a modified third phase of coronavirus recovery to begin at 5 p.m. Friday.Citing improving infection rates, the declining use of intensive care beds and expanded testing availability, Hogan said it is safe to lift more of the social restrictions that have been in place since March. (Tan, Cox, Schneider and Hedgpeth, 9/1)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Governor Weighs More Changes To State’s Coronavirus Rules
Gov. Brian Kemp hasn’t made many major changes to Georgia’s coronavirus restrictions for much of the summer. Now he’s monitoring the return of students to schools and college campuses to decide whether to relax more regulations. “We still have areas that we’re concerned about,” he said. “We still have college kids that haven’t been on campus three or four weeks yet. We still have schools that are opening after Labor Day. So we want to be very cautious, watching another two weeks, and then we’ll see where we go from there.” (Bluestein, 9/1)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana's Second Coronavirus Wave Has Waned. Jeff Asher Wonders: Will There Be A Third?
Louisiana appears to be on the other side of the state’s second wave of COVID-19, with the shape of this wave becoming clear over the last few weeks. Cases peaked in mid-July, though a reporting backlog obscured this fact until late July. The number of people in the hospital with COVID peaked on July 27, and the number of people who died during this wave peaked somewhere around Aug. 10-12. There is good evidence that more people were infected in Louisiana’s second wave than in the first. There were far more cases reported during the state’s July peak compared to the one that happened in March. Of course, testing was far more abundant during the July peak, so while cases aren’t the best metric for estimating infections, modeling data backs up the assertion that more people were infected in June/July than were infected in March/April. (Asher, 9/1)

In news from Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas —

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Lawmakers Debate: Who's At Fault If You Catch COVID-19?
If a customer eats at a Michigan sandwich shop and tests positive for COVID-19 a few days later, could that customer sue the restaurant and win? What about students who contract the coronavirus on college campuses, or employees who catch the virus while working at a manufacturing plant? How sick would someone need to be to sue? (Boucher, 9/1)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Nursing Homes Task Force Releases Its Recommendations
A state nursing homes task force proposed new ways to help reduce the effects of isolation on residents in its report released Tuesday, recommending outdoor visits, small group activities with no contact, limited communal dining and increased virtual visitation. (Anderson, 9/1)

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Still Opposes Mask Mandate
Despite acknowledging evidence that face masks reduce transmission of COVID-19, Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday refused to require masks be worn statewide.At a news conference at Oklahoma State University, Stitt and state health officials said Oklahomans wearing masks is reducing the spread of COVID-19 in high-transmission areas.Nevertheless, Stitt doubled down on his belief that decisions on mask mandates should be left to local leaders. (Martinez-Keel and Forman, 9/2)

Houston Chronicle: 12 Detainees Say Conroe Detention Facility Staff Ignored Health Concerns After Fire 
A dozen women at an immigrant detention center in Conroe have complained staff mishandled a fire evacuation in July and ignored or dismissed health complications they say they suffered in the days that followed. (Gonzalez, 9/1)

In news from Ohio —

USA Today: US Children Could Be 'More Vulnerable' Than Ever To Sex Trafficking, Advocates Say. Here's What's Being Done To Locate Endangered Kids
Days after the U.S. Marshals Service announced the rescue of 39 endangered children in Georgia, similar operations are ongoing in two other states as authorities target missing kids who may be victims of sex trafficking. In Ohio, "Operation Safety Net" has led to the discovery of 25 children between the ages of 13 and 18 in less than three weeks, the Marshals Service says. The operation is likely to continue into October, U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott said. (Shannon and McDonnell, 9/1)

AP: UN Says New Polio Outbreak In Sudan Caused By Oral Vaccine
The World Health Organization says a new polio outbreak in Sudan is linked to an ongoing vaccine-sparked epidemic in Chad — a week after the U.N. health agency declared the African continent free of the wild polio virus. In a statement this week, WHO said two children in Sudan — one from South Darfur state and the other from Gedarif state, close to the border with Ethiopia and Eritrea — were paralyzed in March and April. Both had been recently vaccinated against polio. WHO said initial outbreak investigations show the cases are linked to an ongoing vaccine-derived outbreak in Chad that was first detected last year and is now spreading in Chad and Cameroon. (Cheng, 9/2)

CNN: Canada: 30 Covid-19 Cases Have Been Linked To A Karaoke Bar
A Canadian karaoke bar could face fines after 30 cases of Covid-19 were linked to the establishment. The confirmed cases are all connected to Bar Le Kirouac in Quebec City, the Regional Public Health Department of Quebec's capital region (CIUSSS) announced Tuesday. "We are in the process of figuring out with public security whether this is a criminal matter," Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said during a press conference Tuesday, noting that Quebec is considering fines in the case. (Newton, Riess and Silverman, 9/2)

ABC News: Australia's Outbound Travel Ban Is One Of The Strictest Coronavirus Public Health Responses In The World 
Australia is one of the only democracies in the world that has banned its citizens from leaving the country as a public health measure during the coronavirus pandemic. An Australian citizen or permanent resident is not permitted to travel outbound unless they apply online to Border Force and meet a set of strict exemption criteria. (8/31)

The Guardian: 'Hot, Sweaty … Just Very Unpleasant': Parisians Adjust To Covid Mask Law 
It had not – really not – been a pleasant experience. Queuing for their banh mi and bibimbap, sushi or Thai salad outside the fast-food takeaways of the Rue Saint-Lazare, young office workers in central Paris spoke with one voice.“I thought I wasn’t going to last an hour, it was so uncomfortable,” said Egé, gesturing at her blue surgical mask. “Hot, sweaty, the smell of your own breath … Just very unpleasant. But you get used to it. In any case, we have no choice.” The new French law requiring almost all employees to wear face masks in the workplace was reportedly so difficult to draft that it was finally published just before 9 pm on Monday night, less than 12 hours before it came into force. (9/1)

Reuters: Trump Says He Will Meet With Drugmakers This Week Over Pricing 
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he planned to meet with pharmaceutical companies this week regarding his so-called most-favored-nation executive order aimed at lowering drug prices paid by the U.S. federal government. The president signed the executive order this summer which, among other things, would require Medicare to tie the prices it pays for drugs to those paid by other countries. Its implementation, however, has been delayed as the administration seeks to work out a solution with the industry. (9/1)

Poynter: President Trump Claims He Signed An Executive Order On Drug Prices. But It Doesn’t Seem To Exist.  
No doubt you have seen the advertisement that President Donald Trump is running claiming he has lowered drug prices. Back in 2016, he promised to lower drug prices and, in this reelection campaign, he is claiming success. On July 24, President Trump held a signing ceremony that was portrayed as imposing a “favored nations clause” on drugs sold in the United States. That means that the price of some drugs would be tied to the low prices that some foreign countries pay. (Tompkins, 8/26)

WBUR: What We'd Really Import From Canada Under Trump's Executive Order. It's Not Prescription Drugs 
Politicians from President Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders have been calling for years to allow the importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada. In July, Trump signed an executive order intended to facilitate prescription drug importation. High and rising prescription drug costs are one of vanishingly few issues with bipartisan attention these days, and even bipartisan agreement on some specific policies, like this one. Trump, Sanders and Joe Biden all support prescription drug importation — but importing drugs from Canada won’t solve the U.S.’s prescription drug costs problem. (Sarah Ruth Bates, 9/2)

Also —

Stat: Congressional Committee To Subpoena AbbVie In Drug Pricing Investigation
A Congressional committee plans to subpoena AbbVie (ABBV) for documents about pricing practices for two of its best-selling medicines, after the drug maker failed to provide information lawmakers requested when an investigation was launched in January 2019. At the time, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform sought data from a dozen large pharmaceutical companies about their pricing tactics for some of the most expensive medicines in response to nationwide angst over the rising cost of prescription drugs. (Silverman, 9/1)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Has Achieved Nothing On Drug Prices
If the Republican National Convention is any guide, you’re going to be hearing a lot in the next two months about how President Trump has brought down drug prices. “Now, I’m really doing it,” Trump said on Day 1 of the RNC last week. It wasn’t the first time he patted himself on the back for fighting Big Pharma. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/31)

Los Angeles Times: Trump And Drug Companies Have Secret Plans To Lower Prices 
One thing Republicans and Democrats agree on is that drug prices are too darn high. So it should be offensive to all that President Trump and the drug industry are competing to offer the most disingenuous plan for making prescription meds more affordable. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the drug industry’s lobbying group, reportedly submitted a memo to Trump this week aimed at countering his proposal to link the U.S. prices of some drugs to lower costs abroad. (David Lazarus, 8/27)

The Nashua Telegraph: Trump Administration Should Reject Foreign Prescription Drug Price Controls 
In responding to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump has rightly focused on the tremendous innovative capacity of American businesses — first by waiving regulations that impose unnecessary burdens, next by providing incentives to get tough jobs such as vaccine development done as quickly as possible. That’s why it was so disheartening to see the recent Executive Orders on prescription drug pricing. They point in exactly the opposite direction: toward more government intervention in a way that will reduce access to the latest treatments and stifle innovation. (Pete Sepp, 8/28)

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Prescription Drug Costs Can Be Lowered By Medicare Administrators
President Donald Trump recently signed executive orders to take on drug prices, working to fulfill one of his signature campaign promises. To keep this momentum moving, President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma can take administrative action now to lower the costs seniors face on the most expensive drugs. (John Michael O'Brien, 8/22)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus 'Herd Immunity' Is Just Another Way To Say 'Let People Die'
Is President Trump embracing a “herd immunity” strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic?Last week, the White House directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise guidelines to discourage people who have been exposed to COVID-19 from getting tested. This policy conflicts with what virtually all health experts recommend, but one that jibes with the view of his new pandemic advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, who thinks America should adopt the Swedish model of letting the coronavirus run its course and infecting millions of people in order to protect the economy. (9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: A Virus Progress Report
We hate to be the bearer of good news, but here goes: The so-called second virus wave is receding and has been far less deadly than the first in the spring thanks to better therapies and government preparation. Nobody is suggesting we should now let it rip, but the progress should give Americans more confidence that schools and businesses can reopen safely. (9/1)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Disastrous Virus Response Is Veering Toward Another Terrible Turn 
President Trump's disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic is veering toward another wildly irresponsible turn. After first saying the virus would go away, then failing to properly boost the supply chains, then bungling the testing scale-up, then walking away and turning the burdens over to governors, then advocating a reopening in May that triggered a new virus firestorm, Mr. Trump has been asking questions about the strategy of relying on natural “herd immunity.” This is another way of taking a hands-off approach, protecting the most vulnerable while allowing the virus to spread until there is enough natural immunity in the population to block transmission. Mr. Trump should ask very hard questions about this. An analysis by The Post showed that in the United States, with a population of 328 million, reaching a 65 percent threshold for herd immunity could lead to 2.13 million deaths. This was the pandemic approach in Sweden, and it did not turn out well. (9/1)

Fox News: Wearing A Mask Can Help Stop COVID And Get Our Jobs Back
If we all wear a mask when we’re around others, particularly indoors, we’ll all be safer and we’ll get more of our economy back sooner. My initiative, Resolve to Save Lives, just published a review on the facts and best practices on mask use.This hasn’t always been clear. We’ve never encountered the virus that causes COVID-19 before. Back in February and March, we learned that COVID-19 behaves very differently from most infectious diseases. Usually, the sicker you are, the more infectious you are. Surprisingly, that’s not how COVID-19 works. (Former Director Of The CDC Tom Frieden, 9/1)

The Wall Street Journal: The Failed Experiment Of Covid Lockdowns 
Six months into the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. has now carried out two large-scale experiments in public health—first, in March and April, the lockdown of the economy to arrest the spread of the virus, and second, since mid-April, the reopening of the economy. The results are in. Counterintuitive though it may be, statistical analysis shows that locking down the economy didn’t contain the disease’s spread and reopening it didn’t unleash a second wave of infections. (Donald L. Luskin, 9/1)

Bloomberg: Congress Must Act To Feed America’s Children
It’s hard to believe that America’s legislators, whatever their political leanings, would willingly allow millions of children to go hungry. Yet that is what’s happening during the Covid-19 crisis — and unless Congress acts quickly, the problem’s about to get worse.In one of the world’s wealthiest nations, food insecurity should not be an issue. Yet it is. Even in good times, the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as food stamps) falls far short of reaching everyone in need. As of 2018, some 2.5 million children lived in households that reported being unable to give their kids enough to eat. Such deprivation has long-term consequences for health and broader well-being. (9/1)

The Hill: COVID-19: Focus On The Science And Facts To Save Many Lives
"To save as many lives as possible, we are focusing on the science, the facts and the data." We hold this truth to be self-evident. We embrace this as the only way forward for the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, these words were proclaimed during a widely televised national event, where few distanced and few wore masks as the best practices recommended by scientific and public health experts. Such marginalization of science, data, and facts result in an inadequate response that is detrimental to us all. (Michael Goodin and Felicia Goodrum Sterling, 9/1)

The Washington Post: People Of Color Are Underrepresented In Covid-19 Vaccine Trials. There's Still Time To Make It Right.
Six months into our battle against covid-19, the disease has killed more than 181,000 Americans, and the pandemic continues to disproportionately affect communities of color. Black Americans, Latinos, Asian Pacific Islanders and Native Americans are significantly more likely than White Americans to be diagnosed with covid-19, be hospitalized over it and die of the disease. Despite these appalling trends, the most promising covid-19 vaccine trials are reportedly failing to recruit participants of color. (U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, 9/1)

CNN: The Summer Of Staying Put
If you'd asked me this past February, here are the things I'd have told you I'd be doing this summer: Launching a fourth book of poetry and going on tour with said book. In June, I was going to be in Seattle, Chicago, New York and LA. In July, I was going to teach for a short stint in Paris. My husband was going to come with me to Europe; we were going to leave our kids with the grandparents -- a blessed week alone together after nearly a decade of raising kids. Then I was going to give a reading in Edinburgh. Finally, in September, after the kids were back in school, I had a residency in Ireland. (Tess Taylor, 9/1)

The Washington Post: It’s Time To Talk About How Toilets May Be Spreading Covid-19
It’s not something people like to talk about, but there’s a potential important source of covid-19 spread that deserves some attention: toilets. Studies are showing that the novel coronavirus can be detected in stool samples and anal swab samples for weeks. In fact, scientists are testing wastewater as an early tracking system for outbreaks. And a recent case on an airplane identified the airplane bathroom as the potential source. (Joseph G. Allen, 9/1)

CNN: Trump Ignores Lessons Of His Pandemic Failures As Election Looms 
The fatal flaw of President Donald Trump's botched pandemic response has been a yearning for a quick return to normality that is dangerous and unattainable while the coronavirus still lies in wait. And now he may be making the same mistake again. (Stephen Collinson, 9/2)

The Hill: How To Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines 
The development of new COVID vaccines is unleashing hope across the nation that we will soon gain control of this terrible pandemic. But vaccine discovery is only the beginning. Vaccinating 330 million Americans will be a tremendous operational undertaking. The surprising urgency and ferocity of the pandemic created a disjointed and inefficient approach this Spring. This time we can do better, but I worry. (Kathleen Silard, 8/31)

Des Moines Register: Watch Iowa State Football Game On TV, Not From The Stands In Ames
Iowa State may be opening its football stadium to 25,000 spectators on Sept. 12, but you can watch the game on ESPN. You shouldn't attend. And that message is coming from the White House. The White House advises Iowans to limit gatherings to 10 people or fewer. Translation: Don't attend the ISU football game with 25,000 people. (9/1)