First Edition: Oct. 14, 2020

KHN: Making Money Off Masks, COVID-Spawned Chain Store Aims To Become Obsolete
Darcy Velasquez, 42, and her mother, Roberta Truax, were walking recently in the Park Meadows mall about 15 miles south of downtown Denver, looking for Christmas gifts for Velasquez’s two children, when they spotted a store with a display of rhinestone-studded masks. It’s an immutable truth of fashion: Sparkles can go a long way with a 9-year-old. The store is called COVID-19 Essentials. And it may well be the country’s first retail chain dedicated solely to an infectious disease. (Hawryluk, 10/14)

KHN: As Californians Get Older And Less Mobile, Fires Get Hotter And Faster
Late on the night of Sept. 27, a bumper-to-bumper caravan of fleeing cars, horse trailers, RVs and overstuffed pickup trucks snaked east on Highway 12, the flames of the Glass Fire glowing orange in their rearview mirrors. With her cat, Bodhi, in his carrier in the back seat, 80-year-old Diana Dimas, who doesn’t see well at night, kept her eyes glued to the rear lights of her neighbor’s Toyota. She and Magdalena Mulay had met a few years before at a bingo night in their sprawling retirement community on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. Both Libras, each with two marriages behind her, the two women soon became the sort of friends who finish each other’s sentences. (Scheier, 10/14)

KHN and Politifact: Pence Said Biden Copied Trump’s Pandemic Response Plan. Pants On Fire!
During last week’s vice presidential debate, moderator Susan Page, USA Today’s Washington bureau chief, asked Vice President Mike Pence about the U.S. COVID-19 death toll. Pence replied by touting the Trump administration’s actions to combat the pandemic, such as restrictions on travel from China, steps to expand testing and efforts to accelerate the production of a vaccine. Pence also took a jab at Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, a strong critic of the Trump pandemic response. “The reality is, when you look at the Biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what President Trump and I and our task force have been doing every step of the way,” said Pence. “And, quite frankly, when I look at their plan,” he added, “it looks a little bit like plagiarism, which is something Joe Biden knows a little bit about.” (Knight, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Cases Are Rising In U.S., Sparking Worries The Next Big Wave Has Begun 
U.S. coronavirus cases are rising again, driven by rapid transmission in Midwestern states and sparking fears that a forewarned wave of infections this fall and winter has begun. For almost a month, new U.S. cases have been trending upward. Since Saturday, more than 20 states have hit a new high in their seven-day average of case counts, and more than half of those states set records again on Tuesday, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. (Wan and Dupree, 10/13)

NPR: Americans Are Dying In The Pandemic At Rates Far Higher Than In Other Countries
During this pandemic, people in the United States are currently dying at rates unparalleled elsewhere in the world. A new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that over the last 5 months per capita deaths in the U.S., both from COVID-19 and other causes have been far greater than in 18 other high-income countries. "It's shocking. It's horrible," says Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a professor of health policy and medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the authors of the study. (Beaubien, 10/13)

Reuters: Trump U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Barrett Says She Is 'Not On A Mission' To Destroy Obamacare 
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, said on Tuesday she gave no commitments to the White House on how she would rule on Obamacare or election-related cases and declined to say if she believed landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided. During 11 hours of questioning on the second day of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Barrett opted not to say whether she would step aside from taking part in a major Obamacare case to be argued on Nov. 10 or in any disputes arising from the Nov. 3 election - as Democrats have requested. (Hurley, Zengerle and Chung, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Nominee Barrett Says Personal Views Will Not Impact Her Decisions On Abortion, Health Care 
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday disputed assertions by Democrats that she would be a reliable vote to restrict health-care access and abortion rights, pledging during the second day of her confirmation hearing that she has no policy agenda while deflecting specifics about how she would rule. Barrett came into her nomination with a lengthy public record that underscores a personal opposition to abortion and skepticism about legal reasonings that upheld the Affordable Care Act. She testified Tuesday that she believes Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion, is not among the “super precedents” of the Supreme Court that are considered so fundamental they cannot be overturned. (Min Kim and Marimow, 10/13)

The New York Times: Barrett, Declining To Detail Legal Views, Says She Will Not Be ‘A Pawn’ Of Trump 
Judge Amy Coney Barrett flatly refused on Tuesday to pledge that she would recuse herself if a dispute over the Nov. 3 election came before the Supreme Court, insisting that despite her nomination by President Trump, she would not “allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people.” ... “I have not made any commitments or deals or anything like that,” she told the Senate Judiciary Committee on her second day of confirmation hearings. “I’m not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act. I’m just here to apply the law and adhere to the rule of law.” (Fandos, 10/13)

The Washington Post: On Roe V. Wade, One Amy Coney Barrett Exchange Was Telling 
Amy Coney Barrett has been something of a stone wall in her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. She has resolutely declined to weigh in on anything that might come before the court. But she has also demurred on whether a president can unilaterally delay an election (it’s pretty clear President Trump can’t) and whether voter intimidation is a federal crime (it is). But after hours of pulling teeth, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) might have moved the needle a bit. (Blake, 10/13)

The Hill: Harris Raises Alarm On Abortion Rights While Grilling Barrett 
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told Amy Coney Barrett [Tuesday] that her nomination to the Supreme Court poses a serious threat to abortion rights, signaling that women’s reproductive freedom will emerge as a significant issue in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign. “Anti-choice activists and politicians have been working for decades to pass laws and file lawsuits designed to overturn Roe and the precedents that followed. The threat to choice is real,” Harris said during her 30 minutes of question time at Barrett’s second day of confirmation hearings. (Bolton, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Takeaways From Day 2 Of Amy Coney Barrett’s Hearing 
Barrett said the job of the justices is to decide whether the law can still stand without a tax mandate — by “severing” it from the rest of the law — or whether that’s legally impossible. She said she would consider the real-world consequences of her decision and what she thought Congress intended those consequences to be when Republicans fundamentally changed how the mandate works. “I’m not hostile to the ACA,” she said. (Phillips, 10/13)

AP: Barrett Back On Capitol Hill For Senators' Final Questions
Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett returns to Capitol Hill for a third day of confirmation hearings as senators dig deeper into the conservative judge’s outlook on abortion, health care and a potentially disputed presidential election — the Democrats running out of time to stop Republicans pushing her quick confirmation. Wednesday’s session is set to be Barrett’s last before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has been batting away questions in long and lively exchanges, insisting she would bring no personal agenda to the court but decide cases “as they come.” (Mascaro, Sherman and Kellman, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Biden And Trump Step Up Their Fight For Older Voters
Joe Biden on Tuesday made his most direct appeal yet to older voters, seeking to lock in support from a group that favored President Trump four years ago but has emerged as one of the most significant groups to potentially shift toward Biden in 2020. At a senior center in Florida a day after Trump visited the state, Biden argued that Trump has turned his back on older Americans, citing the president’s widely criticized response to the novel coronavirus, his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his approach to Social Security and Medicare. (Sullivan, 10/13)

The New York Times: Biden Pitches To Older Americans, And Trump Attacks His Fitness 
Joseph R. Biden Jr. turned his attention on Tuesday to older Americans, making a case in South Florida that seniors were paying the price for the president’s poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “The only senior that Donald Trump cares about — the only senior — is senior Donald Trump,” Mr. Biden said in a speech at a community center in Pembroke Pines, a city in the vote-rich Democratic stronghold of Broward County. ... He went on to say that Mr. Trump’s “reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis is unconscionable.” (Mazzei and Kaplan, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Trump Mocks Biden As Elderly And Disabled In A Meme Shared On Twitter 
Last week, President Trump tweeted out a video where he makes a direct appeal to seniors, calling them “my favorite people in the world!” That affectionate tone was nowhere to be found in his latest broadside against his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden. Trump on Tuesday night shared a meme of Biden Photoshopped in a wheelchair inside what appears to be a nursing home, implicitly mocking him as elderly and disabled. (Elfrink, 10/14)

AP: Pence Touts Trump's Supreme Court Pick At Wisconsin Rally
Vice President Mike Pence defended President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court and his response to the coronavirus pandemic at an outdoor rally Tuesday in a conservative Milwaukee suburb before a crowd of supporters, most of whom were not wearing masks or socially distancing even as COVID-19 cases broke records in Wisconsin. The rally at Weldall Manufacturing in Waukesha came exactly three weeks before the election and as the Senate Judiciary Committee held confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s pick to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. ... Pence also promised to eradicate what he called the “China virus,” a description Trump has also repeatedly used when referring to the coronavirus, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, before it spread across the world. (Bauer, 10/13)

AP: Trump Rally Comes To Iowa As Virus Hospitalizations Climb
Hospitalizations, virus spread and deaths continued at high levels Tuesday in Iowa on the eve of a campaign rally by President Donald Trump, where Gov. Kim Reynolds and thousands of other Trump supporters will likely defy the governor’s own emergency proclamation to keep distance between people in public places. Iowa remains under a public health emergency declared by Reynolds on March 17. It requires that organizers of mass gatherings “must ensure at least six feet of physical distance between each group or individual attending alone.” (Pitt, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Early Voting Begins In Texas With High Turnout, Despite New Legal Developments On Voting Access 
Early voting in Texas began Tuesday with crowds of excited voters waiting in line for several hours in some places to cast their ballots, even as new legal developments sowed confusion and threatened to restrict options for voting ahead of Election Day. As they have in other states, long lines formed outside voting locations as socially distanced voters sometimes turned up hours before early in-person voting began Tuesday morning. Many brought folding chairs, lunches and umbrellas to wait their turn. (Ye Hee Lee, Gardner and Martin, 10/14)

The New York Times: Why Early Voting In Some States Has Had A Rough Start. 
Virginia’s online voter registration portal crashed on the final day it was available when roadside utility workers cut the wrong cable. Texans waited in long lines on the first day of early voting in their state’s biggest cities, and in one county in the Houston suburbs, a programming error took down all of the voting machines for much of the morning. On Georgia’s second day of early voting, long lines again built up at polling places in the Atlanta suburbs. The hurdles to early voting on Tuesday resulted from a combination of intense voter interest that stressed the capacity of overwhelmed local elections officials and the sort of messiness that has long been common in American elections and which is now under a microscope as concerns over voter suppression and the unprecedented dynamics of voting during a pandemic collide. (Epstein, Saul and Fernandez, 10/13)

Politico: Trump Urges California GOP To 'Fight On' With Unofficial Ballot Boxes Despite Prosecution Threat
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to urge the California Republican Party to “fight on” in its move to collect ballots in unofficial “drop boxes’’ around the state, in defiance of legal threats from state officials. Trump’s comments come a day after top California officials sent the state party a cease-and-desist notice, ordering them to remove the unofficial ballot drop boxes. The appearance of the boxes prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to accuse California Republicans of “willing to lie, cheat and threaten our democracy all for the sake of gaining power.” (Marinucci, 10/14)

The New York Times: The Fight Over Absentee Ballots Intensifies Around Drop Boxes 
From lawsuits by the Trump campaign to a decree from the governor of Texas — to the sudden appearance of boxes falsely labeled “official” in California — Republicans are intensifying efforts to eliminate the use of drop boxes to collect absentee ballots, or using them in ways that undermine confidence in their security. (Thrush and Corasaniti, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Trump Again Attacks Fauci's Guidance As Coronavirus Infections Tick Upward In Campaign's Final Weeks 
President Trump’s long-fraught relationship with Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease specialist, ruptured again this week in an ugly public dispute just as U.S. coronavirus cases have ticked past 50,000 per day and with three weeks left in a campaign dominated by the government’s response to the pandemic. Trump on Tuesday responded to Fauci’s warnings that the president’s decision to resume campaign rallies this week was “very troublesome” by mocking him in a tweet that unfavorably compared his medical guidance to his errant ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals game in July. (Nakamura, Dawsey and Abutaleb, 10/13)

Stat: Fauci: Trump’s Rapid Recovery ‘Amplifies’ Misunderstanding Of Covid-19
Health officials have struggled to convey the seriousness of Covid-19 to many Americans. President Trump’s rapid recovery from the disease, while welcome by all, makes the challenge even more difficult, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases acknowledged. Trump’s quick bounce-back from his infection will likely underscore the mistaken belief some people have that the disease does not present significant health risks, Fauci said in an interview with STAT. (Branswell, 10/13)

The Washington Post: McConnell Plans Vote On Narrow Economic Relief Measure While Trump Urges Lawmakers To ‘Go Big Or Go Home!!!’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Tuesday that the Senate will take up a narrow economic relief bill when it comes back in session next week. President Trump immediately undermined the move, writing on Twitter: “STIMULUS! Go big or go home!!!”The clashing messages were a stark display of GOP disunity just three weeks before the November election, as Senate Republicans balk at a $1.8 trillion relief package Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has offered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Trump, though, has suggested Republicans should agree to an even bigger deal than what Democrats have offered. (Stein and Werner, 10/13)

Reuters: McConnell Sets Senate Vote On Coronavirus Aid, Pelosi Spurns White House Bid 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the Republican-led U.S. Senate would vote next week on a targeted, $500 billion coronavirus economic aid bill of the type Democrats already have rejected as they hold out for trillions in relief. ... McConnell said the bill would include help for schools and liability protections for businesses, which Republicans sought. McConnell also said there would be more unemployment benefits and assistance for hospitals in the bill. “I want to give our friends on the other side one more chance to do highly targeted relief that the country desperately needs,” McConnell said in Barbourville, Kentucky. (Cornwell, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Federal Retirement And Social Security Benefits To Increase By 1.3 Percent In January 
Federal retirement benefits will be increased by 1.3 percent in January, the same as the upcoming increase in Social Security benefits that was announced Tuesday. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will go to almost all of the nearly 2.2 million federal retirees plus about 500,000 survivor beneficiaries. The figure is about average for the past 10 years, when the boosts have ranged from zero to 3.6 percent; a 1.6 percent increase was paid at the start of this year. (Yoder, 10/13)

AP: Retiree Checks To Rise 1.3% In 2021 Amid Coronavirus Fallout
Social Security recipients will get a modest 1.3% cost-of living-increase in 2021, but that might be small comfort amid worries about the coronavirus and its consequences for older people. The increase amounts to $20 a month for the average retired worker, according to estimates released Tuesday by the Social Security Administration. That’s a little less than this year’s 1.6% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. ... The economic fallout from the virus has reduced tax collections for Social Security and Medicare, likely worsening their long-term financial condition. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Taylor, 10/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Social Security Benefits To Rise 1.3% In 2021 
AARP Chief Executive Jo Ann Jenkins called the cost-of-living adjustment “modest,” but said the increase was crucial given the coronavirus pandemic’s health and economic consequences. Medicare’s trustees in April projected the standard 2021 monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other types of outpatient care, would increase by $8.70 to $153.30 from $144.60 this year. The trustees, citing uncertainty around the Covid-19 outbreak, didn’t factor any potential impacts from the pandemic into their projections. However, such a rise in Part B standard premiums would consume about 43% of the increase in the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit. (Omeokwe, 10/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Drug-Discount Cards Expected To Reach Medicare Recipients After Election
President Trump’s plan to send 33 million Medicare beneficiaries a card that can be used to help pay for as much as $200 in prescription drug costs won’t be completed until after the election, according to a person familiar with the plan. The cards will be mailed in phases, with some likely going out later in October but most not until after the Nov. 3 presidential election, the person said. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is spending an estimated $20 million for administrative costs to print and send letters to Medicare beneficiaries informing them that they will be getting cards, the person said. (Armour, 10/13)

Politico: Democrats Urge Watchdog To Rush Review Of Trump Drug Cards 
Senior Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called on government auditors to quickly review the Trump administration's hastily devised plan to award drug-discount cards to seniors, warning it could be an election-linked gambit and violate federal law. "Given the unusual nature of these taxpayer-funded payments to Medicare beneficiaries, we are concerned that the demonstration fails to comply with relevant federal laws and regulations," wrote Reps. Frank Pallone and Richard Neal and Sen. Ron Wyden to the Government Accountability Office, citing a POLITICO report. They also called on GAO to provide an "expedited review" of the plan the Trump administration is aiming to finalize before Election Day. (Diamond, 10/13)

Politico: Eugene Scalia’s Wife Tests Positive For Coronavirus 
The wife of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon, the department told its employees in a Tuesday night email. Trish Scalia “is experiencing mild symptoms but doing well,” the Labor Department wrote, adding that Secretary Scalia had tested negative and experienced no symptoms of the virus. The agency didn’t specify whether Trish Scalia would self-isolate, but did say, “The Secretary and Mrs. Scalia will follow the advice of health professionals for Trish’s recovery and the health of those around them.” Secretary Scalia, his wife and his mother sat in the second row for the late-September introduction of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett at the White House. (Bermel, 10/13)

Politico: Murphy: No Covid Outbreaks Linked To Trump’s Bedminster Fundraiser
New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy said Tuesday that state and local health officers have not identified any outbreaks of coronavirus linked to attendance at a fundraiser earlier this month at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster. “We’re not aware of any outbreaks and the federal response was extremely disappointing,” Murphy told reporters after an unrelated press conference with Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Tom Malinowski (both D-N.J.) and state legislative leaders in Somerset County, about 20 miles from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. (Sutton, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Proposal To Hasten Herd Immunity To The Coronavirus Grabs White House Attention But Appalls Top Scientists 
Maverick scientists who call for allowing the coronavirus to spread freely at “natural” rates among healthy young people while keeping most aspects of the economy up and running have found an audience inside the White House and at least one state capitol. The scientists met last week with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist who has emerged as an influential adviser to President Trump on the pandemic. (Achenbach, 10/13)

Politico: FDA Pushes Back On Trump Administration Attempt To Rebrand ‘Emergency Authorization’ 
The FDA is resisting Trump administration pressure to rebrand the emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine as a “pre-licensure,” over worries that it would appear the agency is politicizing its scientific determinations, according to four senior administration officials with knowledge of the debate. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn rejected attempts to alter the terminology tied to its closely watched regulatory process in recent weeks, frustrating health department officials who contend the agency is holding coronavirus vaccines to a far higher standard than normal for an emergency authorization – and that its description should reflect that, the officials said. (Cancryn, 10/13)

Reuters: Exclusive: FDA Faults Quality Control At Lilly Plant Making Trump-Touted COVID Drug
U.S. drug inspectors uncovered serious quality control problems at an Eli Lilly and Co pharmaceutical plant that is ramping up to manufacture one of two promising COVID-19 drugs touted by President Trump as “a cure” for the disease, according to government documents and three sources familiar with the matter. The Lilly antibody therapy, which is experimental and not yet approved by regulators as safe and effective, is similar to a drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals that was given to the president during his bout with COVID-19. Trump, who credits the Regeneron drug with speeding his recovery, has called for both therapies to become available immediately on an emergency basis, raising expectations among some scientists and policy experts that the administration will imminently release an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the drug. (Levine and Taylor, 10/13)

AP: Possible Safety Issue Spurs Pause Of COVID-19 Antibody Study
Independent monitors have paused enrollment in a study testing the COVID-19 antiviral drug remdesivir plus an experimental antibody therapy being developed by Eli Lilly that’s similar to a treatment President Donald Trump recently received. Lilly confirmed Tuesday that the study had been paused “out of an abundance of caution” and said safety is its top concern. The company would not say more about what led to this step. (Marchione and Johnson, 10/13)

Stat: NIH Paused Eli Lilly Covid-19 Antibody Trial Because Of Safety Concerns
It could be two weeks until there is news on a paused trial of Eli Lilly’s closely watched monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19. The National Institutes of Health said late Tuesday that it paused the trial because one of the two groups in the study — one had received the antibody, the other a placebo — was doing better than the other. Both groups also received remdesivir, a Covid-19 treatment from Gilead Sciences. (Garde and Herper, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly Pause Covid-19 Trials For Possible Safety Issues
On Tuesday, Eli Lilly & Co. also paused a trial of its closely watched monoclonal antibody drug — the same class of medicine President Trump received and credited with his recovery — for safety concerns. Experts say the pauses of trials of vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca and a treatment from Eli Lilly demonstrate the system to protect participants’ safety is working as intended. But the intense scrutiny of the fast-moving covid-19 trials mean that the lack of transparency around possible adverse events could unintentionally help foster distrust of the scientific effort to develop ways to prevent and treat the disease. (Johnson, 10/13)

USA Today: COVID Vaccine Trials Are On Hold. Why Experts Say That's Reassuring.
Recent pauses to two large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trials and a treatment study should reassure people — not frighten them — vaccine experts said, though it is a reminder of the messiness of science. “This is an indication that the system is working as it was designed to work to protect human subjects in clinical trials,” Lawrence Gostin, a public health and legal expert at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins universities, said Tuesday. “It demonstrates that the ethical guard rails on vaccine trials are working.” (Weintraub and Weise, 10/13)

Reuters: Japan Supercomputer Shows Humidity Affects Aerosol Spread Of Coronavirus
A Japanese supercomputer showed that humidity can have a large effect on the dispersion of virus particles, pointing to heightened coronavirus contagion risks in dry, indoor conditions during the winter months. The finding suggests that the use of humidifiers may help limit infections during times when window ventilation is not possible, according to a study released on Tuesday by research giant Riken and Kobe University. ... The study also indicated that clear face shields are not as effective as masks in preventing the spread of aerosols. Other findings showed that diners are more at risk from people to their side compared to across the table, and the number of singers in choruses should be limited and spaced out. (Swift, 10/14)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Reinfections Are Real But Very, Very Rare 
Reports of reinfection with the coronavirus evoke a nightmarish future: Repeat bouts of illness, impotent vaccines, unrelenting lockdowns — a pandemic without an end. A case study published on Monday, about a 25-year-old man in Nevada, has stoked those fears anew. The man, who was not named, became sicker the second time that he was infected with the virus, a pattern the immune system is supposed to prevent. But these cases make the news precisely because they are rare, experts said: More than 38 million people worldwide have been infected with the coronavirus, and as of Monday, fewer than five of those cases have been confirmed by scientists to be reinfections. (Mandavilli, 10/13)

NPR: Contact Tracing Survey: U.S. Workforce Surpasses 50,000 But Falls Short Of Need
The United States has more than 50,000 contact tracers for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to a survey of states conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in collaboration with NPR. The total number of contact tracers reported in all U.S. states and territories was 53,116. That's four times the number of contact tracers states reported to NPR in its initial survey in late April, but still falls far short of the more than 100,000 public health experts have been calling for since the pandemic began, seven months ago. (Simmons-Duffin, 10/14)

San Francisco: Rapid Tests. PCR. Antigen. Antibody. These Are Coronavirus Test Options, And What’s Coming
Seven months into the coronavirus pandemic, we’re a far cry from the early days when getting a test was nearly impossible. Now, people have a lot more options, with major coronavirus testing initiatives and more places to get tested. But there are also a wide variety of tests available, ranging from highly reliable to not-so-much. From rapid testing to deep nasal swabs, antibodies to antigens, it can be confusing to sort out. (Vainshtein, 10/12)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Passed From Humans To Large Cats At Bronx Zoo, Study Suggests
The first SARS-CoV-2 infections in US animals were confirmed in large cats at the Bronx Zoo in March during the height of the local COVID-19 outbreak. An American Society for Microbiology study today details the genomic characteristics of viruses that infected zookeepers, four tigers, and three African lions, supporting a human-to-animal transmission pathway. SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—has a suspected zoonotic origin, meaning it arose in animals. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 shows a close relationship with bat coronaviruses. Natural SARS-CoV-2 infections in animals have been reported in dogs, cats, and farmed mink, and in ferrets and fruit bats in the lab. (10/13)

Los Angeles Times: Could Your Car Keep You Safe From The Coronavirus? 
The novel coronavirus has created an opportunity for businesses that purport to offer high-end products with enhanced protections against infection — from $250 face masks to $20,000 private jet flights and $200,000 home ventilation systems. Luxury car makers could be the next to capitalize. At a time when there’s more focus than ever on what people are breathing in — read: a deadly virus, wildfire smoke — well-heeled buyers could be enticed by cars with advanced air filtration systems and other devices designed to protect against a variety of dangerous particulates, including some pathogens. (Miller and Mitchell, 10/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Loses Bid To Dismiss Criminal Charges 
A federal judge in California on Tuesday denied bids by Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes and former top executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to dismiss the criminal charges they face in connection with the disgraced blood-testing startup. Ms. Holmes, 36 years old, is set to go to trial March 9 on charges she and Mr. Balwani defrauded investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and deceived patients by lying about the reliability of Theranos blood tests. Mr. Balwani will face trial separately at a later date. (Davis O'Brien, 10/13)

Stat: Teladoc Sues Amwell Over Alleged Patent Infringement 
In a move that sets up an intellectual property battle between telemedicine’s two most powerful companies, Teladoc has sued its rival Amwell for allegedly infringing on its patents. Teladoc’s complaint, filed on Monday in federal court in Delaware, seeks to recoup damages and to block Amwell from continuing to market the products that it believes infringe on its patents. (Robbins, 10/13)

The Washington Post: A Doctor Is Accused Of Years Of Unnecessary Hysterectomies. The Women Who Trusted Him Want Answers.
The last time Brittni DuPuy-German saw her trusted gynecologist, she once again explained that the stabbing, mystery pain in her abdomen had not gone away. It first appeared two years earlier, after she said her doctor, Javaid Perwaiz, surgically tied her tubes. To fix it, he had proposed more surgery — three additional procedures in nine months that she said included a hysterectomy when she was 29. But the pain persisted. (Mettler and Schmidt, 10/13)

Stat: For Black Women, Isolation Of Infertility Is Compounded By Barriers 
Organized and efficient, L’Oreal Thompson Payton had a five-year-plan. Married at 27, she wanted to start having kids after she turned 30. Once ready, she downloaded an app to track her cycle, started prenatal vitamins, and picked out baby names. But the baby never came. Like 12% of American women of reproductive age, Thompson Payton, now 32, has impaired fertility. (McFarling, 10/14)

AP: Facebook Bans Anti-Vaccination Ads But Not Antivax Posts
Facebook says it will ban ads on its platform that discourage vaccinations — with an exception carved out for advocacy ads about government vaccine policies. The company already bans ads about vaccine “hoaxes,” such as the false idea that vaccinations cause autism. The latest policy expands the ban to ads that discourage vaccines for any reason. (Ortutay, 10/13)

The Washington Post: HBCUs Get $15 Million From Gates Foundation To Expand Coronavirus Testing 
Howard University and up to nine other schools will receive millions of dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support campus coronavirus testing facilities and expand screening for thousands of students at historically Black colleges and universities, the foundation announced Tuesday. The foundation’s three-year, $15 million donation will equip as many as 10 schools to be testing hubs that process tests for the novel coronavirus that are administered at other HBCUs in their regions. (Lumpkin, 10/13)

The Hill: University Warns About College Students Trying To Contract COVID-19 To Make Money Donating Plasma With Antibodies 
Brigham Young University-Idaho warned on Monday about accounts of college students “intentionally” trying to contract COVID-19 in order to make money by donating plasma with antibodies. The Idaho university issued a statement saying officials were “deeply troubled” by the alleged behavior and “is actively seeking evidence of such conduct among our student body.” (Coleman, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Philadelphia Teenager Battles Nursing Home Loneliness With Video Calls Amid The Pandemic 
When the coronavirus pandemic left elderly residents in long-term care facilities largely cut off from their families and the outside world in early March, Hita Gupta got to work. Channeling the resources and volunteers of a nonprofit she founded in 2018, Gupta, 15, of Pennsylvania, started sending letters, cards and care packages to senior homes nationwide, even reaching some facilities in the United Kingdom and Canada. Her efforts garnered her widespread media attention and positive feedback poured in from recipients. But Gupta didn’t think the efforts went far enough. While letters and cards are a kind gesture that research has suggested can have a positive impact on mental health, they are “one-sided communication,” the high school junior said. (Chiu, 10/13)

The New York Times: Cristiano Ronaldo Tests Positive For Coronavirus 
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of soccer’s biggest stars and among the world’s most famous athletes, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Portugal’s soccer federation announced Tuesday. The federation’s statement said Ronaldo was not displaying symptoms of Covid-19, and that he had entered isolation, away from the rest of Portugal’s players. Those players continued their preparations for a match against Sweden on Wednesday in Lisbon. (Mather and Panja, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Steph Curry Interviews Fauci, Stacey Abrams And More For New Series 
Stephen Curry is launching a series of long-form interviews focused on the global pandemic and voting ahead of November’s election, the most recent move by an NBA star into civic engagement. The first video, released Tuesday on Curry’s YouTube channel, is a 20-minute conversation with Bill Gates in which they talk about the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus. Future conversations include a discussion with Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about how society will emerge safely from the pandemic. Another is with Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia, about voter suppression and registration. Several others are in the works, Curry said. (Strauss, 10/13)

AP: Warner, Gade Focus On Health Issues In Final Debate
Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and his Republican opponent, Daniel Gade, sparred over how best to respond to the coronavirus and other health care issues Tuesday in their third and final debate. The televised event, sponsored by the AARP, focused heavily on the pandemic as well as issues important to seniors, like prescription drug prices and the Affordable Care Act. Warner, a former governor, cast himself as a trusted problem solver. (Suderman, 10/14)

AP: Georgia House Candidates Clash Over Health Care, COVID-19
Candidates in two closely contested suburban Atlanta U.S. House districts continued to clash Tuesday over their views on health care, the pandemic response and the size of government. Those disagreements were aired in two debates sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. One was between 6th Congressional District incumbent Lucy McBath, a Democrat, and Republican Karen Handel, the woman McBath unseated in a narrow 2018 victory. Slightly less sharp was a debate between candidates in the neighboring 7th District, where Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux is trying to claim an open seat after falling just short of beating Republican incumbent Rob Woodall in 2018. With Woodall stepping down, Republican Rich McCormick is trying to hold the seat for his party. (Amy, 10/13)

The Hill: New Mexico To Renew Coronavirus Restrictions, Warning Of More If Cases Continue To Rise 
New Mexico plans to renew several coronavirus restrictions on Friday, and officials warned of more to come if COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the state. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced the new rules, which will include restricting indoor dining and limiting mass gatherings, on Tuesday, saying that the virus is “booming” in the state. (Coleman, 10/13)

Politico: Which States Had The Best Pandemic Response?
Vermont locked itself down early and reopened gradually. Washington state paid workers who couldn't do their jobs while quarantined. And Louisiana zeroed in on students who were most at-risk of falling behind and prioritized help for them first. When President Donald Trump decided to delegate the pandemic response to the states, he gave them a chance to call their own shots. Some states acted aggressively to contain COVID-19, others far less so. We wondered with all those decisions put in states’ hands, which ones have done the best job so far? (Doherty, Guida, Quilantan and Wanneh, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Louisiana Hurricanes Are Causing Thousands To Languish In Hotels. Now They're Waiting For Help From FEMA
Languishing in a tiny hotel room, their three young children buzzed around them on two beds pushed together. A pile of donated toys sat on the floor near a baby stroller that doubles as a cart to fetch groceries. Cockroaches lurked on the inside of an open cabinet near a mini refrigerator. “We’re not complaining about it. It’s a place to live,” said Skyla M. Thomas, 20. “But at the same time, it’s disgusting.” (Lamothe, 10/13)