First Edition: Oct. 15, 2020

KHN: Most Home Health Aides ‘Can’t Afford Not To Work’ — Even When Lacking PPE
In March, Sue Williams-Ward took a new job, with a $1-an-hour raise. The employer, a home health care agency called Together We Can, was paying a premium — $13 an hour — after it started losing aides when COVID-19 safety concerns mounted. Williams-Ward, a 68-year-old Indianapolis native, was a devoted caregiver who bathed, dressed and fed clients as if they were family. She was known to entertain clients with some of her own 26 grandchildren, even inviting her clients along on charitable deliveries of Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas hams. (Cahan, 10/16)

KHN: Musicians Improvise Masks For Wind Instruments To Keep The Band Together
Trombonist Jerrell Charleston loves the give-and-take of jazz, the creativity of riffing off other musicians. But as he looked toward his sophomore year at Indiana University, he feared that steps to avoid sharing the coronavirus would also keep students from sharing songs. “Me and a lot of other cats were seriously considering taking a year off and practicing at home,” lamented the 19-year-old jazz studies major from Gary, Indiana. His worries evaporated when he arrived on campus and discovered that music professor Tom Walsh had invented a special mask with a hole and a protective flap to allow musicians to play while masked. (Ungar, 10/16)

KHN: Majority Of Voters Tilt Toward Biden As Health Issues Weigh Heavily
At least half of voters prefer former Vice President Joe Biden’s approach to health care over President Donald Trump’s, suggesting voter concern about lowering costs and managing the pandemic could sway the outcome of this election, a new poll shows. The findings, from KFF’s monthly tracking poll, signal that voters do not trust assurances from the president that he will protect people with preexisting conditions from being penalized by insurance companies if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.) (Huetteman, 10/16)

KHN and Politifact: No, The WHO Didn’t Change Its Lockdown Stance Or ‘Admit’ Trump Was Right 
On Monday, President Donald Trump claimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) “admitted” he was correct that using lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19 was more damaging than the illness. In a post on Twitter, Trump wrote: “The World Health Organization just admitted that I was right. Lockdowns are killing countries all over the world. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. Open up your states, Democrat governors. Open up New York. A long battle, but they finally did the right thing!” (Knight, 10/15)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Democrats May Lose On SCOTUS, But Hope To Win On ACA 
Republicans appear to be on track to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before Election Day, cementing a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court regardless of what happens Nov. 3. Democrats, meanwhile, lacking the votes to block the nomination, used the high-profile hearings to batter Republicans for trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, a number of scientific journals that typically eschew politics, including the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, threw their support to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, citing what they call the Trump administration’s bungling of the coronavirus pandemic. (10/15)

KHN: KHN On The Air This Week
California Healthline correspondent Angela Hart discussed how the coronavirus pandemic has derailed California’s efforts to deal with homelessness on KPBS “Midday Edition” on Oct. 8. (10/16)

The New York Times: U.S. ‘Headed In The Wrong Direction’ As A 3rd Peak Nears 
As coronavirus cases across the United States climb toward a third peak, the country surpassed a total of eight million total known cases on Thursday afternoon, according to a New York Times database. Epidemiologists warned of a new, worrisome phase as 17 states are seeing surges unlike anything they experienced earlier in the pandemic. States including Alaska, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin reported more new cases during the seven-day stretch that ended on Wednesday than in any other week since the virus arrived in the country. (10/16)

The Washington Post: U.S. Tops 60,000 Daily Coronavirus Infections For First Time Since Early August
For the first time since early August, the number of newly reported coronavirus infections in the United States on Thursday topped 60,000. More than 36,000 people are hospitalized nationally with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, amid a long-feared autumnal rise of infections and serious illnesses. (Achenbach and Dupree, 10/15)

The Atlantic: Coronavirus Cases And Hospitalizations Are Surging Yet Again
After a month of warning signs, this week’s data make it clear: The third surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is underway. Outbreaks have been worsening in many states for more than a month, and new COVID-19 cases jumped 18 percent this week, bringing the seven-day average to more than 51,000 cases a day. Though testing rose by 8 percent nationally, that’s not enough of an increase to explain the steep rise in cases. Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which had previously been creeping upward slowly, jumped more than 14 percent from a week earlier. (10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Covid-19 Is Spreading Again: Fatigue, Colder Weather, Eased Restrictions
A number of factors are likely contributing to the rise, some epidemiologists and public-health researchers said. The virus has spread to more rural counties and other communities, exposing vulnerable populations that hadn’t yet experienced it significantly and who are now reacting instead of taking steps to prevent the virus, public-health researchers said. Some people have grown tired of restrictions on their movements and might be taking more risks than they did in the spring, they said. (Calfas, 10/15)

USA Today: COVID-19: Last Counties In US With No Coronavirus Cases
Nine months into a pandemic that shows no signs of relenting, it seems like the coronavirus has reached into every corner of the U.S. Well, not quite, but it’s close. Until Thursday, three counties – technically two and a borough – remained as the lone holdouts, fighting off the virus and reporting no cases of COVID-19. They are Esmeralda County in Nevada, Loving County in Texas and Skagway in Alaska, which uses the term “boroughs’’ rather than “counties.’’ (Ortiz, 10/15)

Politico: Trump Gets Grilled As Biden Coasts: Takeaways From The Dueling Town Halls
It came off less like a split screen than a breach in the political universe – “Die Hard” versus “It’s a Wonderful Life.” At the edge of his seat at his town hall in Miami, Donald Trump refused to disavow QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory, and sidestepped questions about his coronavirus tests. On a more sober, distant stage in Philadelphia, Biden criticized Trump’s response to the pandemic and discussed the intricacies of racial injustice. (Siders and Kumar, 10/15)

AP: Trump, Biden Go At It — From A Distance — In Town Halls
The presidential rivals took questions in different cities on different networks: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed out of plans for the presidential faceoff originally scheduled for the evening after debate organizers said it would be held virtually following his COVID-19 diagnosis. The town halls offered a different format for the two candidates to present themselves to voters, after the pair held a chaotic and combative first debate late last month. The difference in the men’s tone was immediate and striking. (Weissert and Superville, 10/16)

USA Today: Trump, Biden Town Halls: What You Missed On COVID, Court Packing
In Miami, NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie grilled Trump for 18 minutes before opening the forum to audience members' questions. The president squirmed, chafed, and sarcastically called her "cute." When Guthrie asked Trump if he had taken a COVID-19 test on the day of his debate with Biden, he dodged: "Possibly I did. Possibly I didn’t.” When she asked if he had pneumonia during his COVID-19 illness, he said, "No, but they said the lungs are little bit different, a little bit – perhaps infected." (Shesgreen, Morin, Santucci and King, 10/15)

The New York Times: Trump And Biden Spar From Afar At Town Halls 
In his appearance, Mr. Biden also confronted a number of issues that have been challenging for him to address throughout the campaign, including his views on expanding the Supreme Court and his record on the 1994 crime bill. Mr. Biden has recently dodged questions on the issue of court packing, insisting that his focus is instead on potential judicial threats to the Affordable Care Act and at times responding brusquely when pressed on the issue. But on Thursday, under questioning from George Stephanopoulos of ABC, he appeared to say that he would clarify his position on expanding the Supreme Court before Election Day. “They do have a right to know where I stand,” he said, “and they’ll have a right to know where I stand before they vote.” (Burns and Glueck,10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Pressed On Coronavirus Response In Town Hall, Biden Asked To Outline Alternative Plan
Mr. Biden meanwhile criticized Mr. Trump for sending mixed messages about public health guidelines and for rarely wearing a mask. “The words of a president matter,” Mr. Biden said. “When a president doesn’t wear a mask…people say, ‘Well it mustn’t be that important.’” (Siddiqui and Ballhaus, 10/15)

Reuters: In Split-Screen Town Halls, Trump And Biden Squabble Over Coronavirus Response
Biden, speaking to voters in Philadelphia on ABC, blamed the Republican president for concealing the deadliness of the virus.“ He said he didn’t tell anybody because he was afraid Americans would panic,” Biden said. “Americans don’t panic. He panicked.” Trump defended both his response to the pandemic as well as his own personal conduct, including staging a Rose Garden event at the White House where few wore masks or practiced social distancing, which resulted in numerous attendees contracting the disease. (Holland and Martina, 10/15)

ABC News: Aviation Staffer Who Has Flown With Biden In Recent Days Tests Positive For COVID-19 
The Biden campaign has announced that someone who flew with former Vice President Joe Biden to Ohio on Monday and Florida on Tuesday has tested positive for COVID-19. The positive result was discovered through contact tracing that the campaign undertook following the positive diagnosis of Sen. Kamala Harris’ communications director and a non-staff flight crew member. ... However, the campaign says that Biden and the member who tested positive did not have any passing or close contact during the flight and he is not required to isolate. (Nagle, 10/15)

Politico: Harris Cancels Travel After Biden Campaign Announces Positive Covid Tests
Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled all campaign travel through this weekend “out of an abundance of caution” after a flight crew member and her communications director tested positive for coronavirus, the Biden campaign announced Thursday. Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has tested negative for coronavirus three times over the past week — including on Thursday — the campaign added. (Oprysko, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Blocks California Wildfire Relief 
The Trump administration has rejected California’s request for disaster relief funds aimed at cleaning up the damage from six recent fires across the state, including Los Angeles County’s Bobcat fire, San Bernardino County’s El Dorado fire, and the Creek fire, one of the largest that continues to burn in Fresno and Madera counties. The decision came late Wednesday or early Thursday when the administration denied a request from Gov. Gavin Newsom for a major presidential disaster declaration, said Brian Ferguson, deputy director of crisis communication and media relations for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services. (Campa, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Administration Wants To Exclude ‘Anarchist Jurisdictions’ From Coronavirus Safety Grant 
The Transportation Department said it will use a presidential memo calling for punishing “anarchist jurisdictions” when deciding which cities should get money under a coronavirus grant program. The American Public Transportation Association said the declaration could undermine applicants for the pandemic safety grants from Seattle, Portland, Ore., or New York City, the first three jurisdictions the Trump administration has deemed to be “permitting anarchy.” (Laris, 10/15)

Politico: Senate Republicans Wave Away SCOTUS Threat To Obamacare 
Republicans have a surprising new message: Obamacare is safe under them. After spending a decade trying to repeal the 2010 health care law, Republicans are now insisting it is not in peril and that there’s no proof Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will attempt to strike it down when the high court hears a challenge to Obamacare on Nov. 10. Their assertion that there’s nothing to fear comes as Senate Democrats are making the Supreme Court’s threat to the Affordable Care Act their central argument against Barrett’s confirmation. (Levine and Miranda Ollstein, 10/15 )

Politico: Not Just Obamacare: How Supreme Court's Conservative Majority Could Remake American Health Care 
Across four days of hearings, senators reviewing Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court sparred extensively over Obamacare’s future. Left largely unmentioned, though, is the many ways the court’s buttressed 6-3 conservative majority could quickly steer America’s health care system to the right even if Obamacare survives its looming legal showdown. On tap for the justices to consider are rules to require people on Medicaid to work or lose their benefits, skimpier insurance alternatives for Obamacare that the Trump administration has championed, and cuts to federal funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. (Luthi, 10/15)

USA Today: Amy Coney Barrett: What Happens Next In Her Confirmation Process
Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings are over. The proceedings in the Senate Judiciary Committee didn’t appear to derail her nomination, keeping her on a fast track to be confirmed to the Supreme Court before Election Day. Throughout the four days of hearings, senators peppered President Donald Trump's nominee with questions about her views on controversial issues that could come before the court, such as abortion, guns and the Affordable Care Act. (Hayes and Wu, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Pelosi, Mnuchin Cite Progress In Economic Relief Talks But Eye Obstacles With Senate Republicans
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cited progress Thursday in their ongoing coronavirus-relief negotiations less than three weeks before the November elections, though the Democratic leader raised concerns about whether any big spending package could pass Congress given fierce resistance in the GOP-controlled Senate. Pelosi and Mnuchin have been discussing a new spending deal between $1.8 trillion and $2.2 trillion, although President Trump has said he would support even more. (Werner and Stein, 10/15)

The New York Times: Republicans Clash On Stimulus Package As Trump Says ‘Go Big’ 
President Trump clashed with his own party on Thursday over a stimulus package to stabilize the economy, calling for a big-spending plan of the kind envisioned by Democrats even as the top Republican leader declared that such a measure had little support within the party. Mr. Trump declared he “would go higher” than the latest $1.8 trillion framework the White House has put forward in negotiations with Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, faulting his own Treasury secretary for failing to offer enough money in the talks. A short time later, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, all but ruled out such a deal, saying senators in his party would never support a package of that magnitude. (Cochrane and Rappeport, 10/15)

Reuters: Spending Dropped, Savings Dwindled For U.S. Unemployed After Enhanced Benefits Expired: Study 
Jobless Americans who received enhanced unemployment benefits during the pandemic were able to boost spending and pad up their savings for a time. But the majority of those savings were spent quickly after emergency benefits expired, a study released on Friday found, suggesting many of the unemployed may need more financial help soon. People receiving unemployment benefits and direct cash payments as part of the CARES Act were able to approximately double their liquid savings between March and July of this year, according to an analysis by the JPMorgan Chase Institute. (Marte, 10/16)

AP: Collins, Gideon Clash On Records, Health Care In Debate
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and her Democratic opponent Sara Gideon sparred on health care and the nation’s coronavirus response during a Thursday debate that saw the two candidates heavily criticize each other’s records in office. Collins, a 24-year senator, and Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, are in a heated, expensive race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate. (Whittle, 10/16)

Politico: Schwarzenegger: California Republicans 'Off The Rails' With 'Fake' Ballot Boxes
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday night that the state Republican Party is "off the rails" and doing a "stupid thing" by placing unauthorized ballot boxes in counties with battleground congressional districts. Schwarzenegger, the state's last Republican governor, was asked during a CNN interview to respond to the California Republican Party placing unauthorized ballot boxes in at least three counties. Republicans have defended the move as no different than Democrats going door-to-door to collect ballots from sympathetic voters, but state officials have ordered the party to remove the boxes because, they said, only counties are allowed to establish them. (10/15)

AP: Trump's Election-Eve Drug Discounts For Seniors Get Snagged
President Donald Trump’s plan to mail millions of seniors a $200 prescription savings card has hit legal and budget roadblocks, making it unlikely the government can carry it out before Election Day. Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about whether the administration has the authority to order on its own billions of dollars in Medicare spending for what the Democrats say are political reasons. Administration and congressional officials say such questions have bogged down review of the plan by agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the White House Office of Management and Budget. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/16)

The Washington Post: President Trump’s Medicare Drug Discount Cards Face Uncertain Path
Three weeks after President Trump announced the government would send tens of millions of older Americans $200 to help pay for medicine, the election-season idea is mired in uncertainty over whether such drug discount cards are legal, proper or will ever exist. Since the last-minute inclusion of the cards in a presidential speech, Trump’s aides and Medicare officials have been hastily drafting and revising a proposal to build scaffolding under the president’s promise. This account of those efforts draws on interviews and information from five individuals familiar with the work, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal matters. (Goldstein, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Chris Christie Admits He Was ‘Wrong’ Not To Wear A Mask At White House 
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie admitted in a frank statement Thursday that he was “wrong” not to wear a mask at a White House event last month where the novel coronavirus spread among several attendees. The Republican also urged Americans to wear masks in public and chided elected officials who refuse to wear masks and who downplay the importance of social distancing amid a pandemic that has killed at least 216,000 people in the United States. Notably, Christie is a close ally of President Trump, who has often scorned masks. (Shepherd, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: A Demoralized CDC Grapples With White House Meddling And Its Own Mistakes 
President Trump and his advisers have taken a more hands-on role than previously known in shaping Covid-19 recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, helping create a crisis of confidence in the nation’s top public-health agency. The changes the White House has sought—in many cases successfully—go beyond the agency’s public messaging. White House advisers have made line-by-line edits to official health guidance, altering language written by CDC scientists on church choirs, social distancing in bars and restaurants as well as internal summaries of public-health reports, according to interviews with current and former agency and administration officials and their emails. (Ballhaus, Armour and McKay, 10/15)

The Hill: Town Of Great Barrington, Mass., Comes Out Against Great Barrington Declaration 
A small town in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts has come out against a declaration made in its name by economists and scientists who advocate for a so-called “herd immunity” strategy to get through the coronavirus pandemic. The Great Barrington Declaration, released last week, urges against lockdowns and economic restrictions governments have used to wrestle the virus under control. (Wilson, 10/15)

NBC News: What's Your Blood Type? It May Affect Your Risk For Covid-19
A growing body of evidence suggests that blood type may play a role in the risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus or developing life-threatening complications from the illness. But it does not mean that any single blood type is more protective or more dangerous regarding Covid-19, and the evidence may indeed raise more questions than answers. ... "Blood group O is significantly associated with reduced susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection," the study authors wrote, meaning that people with type O blood seemed to be less likely to become infected. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19. (Edwards, 10/14)

Science Alert: We Just Got More Evidence Your Blood Type May Change COVID-19 Risk And Severity
Research is coalescing around the idea that people with Type O blood may have a slight advantage during this pandemic. Two studies published this week suggest that people with Type O have a lower risk of getting the coronavirus, as well as a reduced likelihood of getting severely sick if they do get infected. One of the new studies specifically found that COVID-19 patients with Type O or B blood spent less time in an intensive-care unit than their counterparts with Type A or AB. They were also less likely to require ventilation and less likely to experience kidney failure. (Woodward, 10/16)

The New York Times: Remdesivir Fails To Prevent Covid-19 Deaths In Huge Trial 
Remdesivir, the only antiviral drug authorized for treatment of Covid-19 in the United States, fails to prevent deaths among patients, according to a study of more than 11,000 people in 30 countries sponsored by the World Health Organization. The data, which were posted online on Thursday, have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal. (Wu and Kolata, 10/15)

The Hill: WHO Study Finds No Benefit From Remdesivir On COVID-19 Deaths, Hospital Stays 
The antiviral drug remdesivir had no substantial impact on the survival of COVID-19 patients or the length of their hospital stays, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) clinical trial. The results, announced late Thursday, could potentially be a major blow to the efforts of finding a suitable treatment to the disease that has killed more than 217,000 Americans. (Weixel, 10/15)

Stat: Thank This Ebola-Fighting African Doctor For Monoclonal Antibody Treatments
As President Trump recovers from Covid-19, he has been singing the praises of an experimental monoclonal antibody cocktail made by Regeneron, which he credits for his fast recovery. He’s not alone in his optimism. Some infectious disease experts anticipate that monoclonal antibody treatments will become a significant tool in controlling the pandemic, potentially as valuable as a vaccine. But the credit for this promising breakthrough should not go to Western biomedical research alone. In fact, we have Ebola — and Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, the intrepid African scientist known as the “Ebola hunter” — to thank for revealing the promise of these therapies. (Jenson, 10/15)

The Hill: Pentagon Study: Low Risk Of Contracting COVID-19 On Planes With Passengers Wearing Masks 
The risk of contracting an airborne virus such as COVID-19 is very low when traveling aboard a large commercial aircraft when most people are wearing masks, according to a Defense Department-led study released Thursday. A U.S. Transportation Command-backed study found that due to air particle filtration and ventilation systems, 99.99 percent of particles released into the air from an infected person wearing a mask were removed from the aircraft cabin within six minutes of being released. (Mitchell, 10/15)

The New York Times: Did Lockdowns Lower Premature Births? A New Study Adds Evidence 
Some public health researchers are seeing hints that the coronavirus pandemic might help solve a longstanding puzzle: What causes premature birth? Studies in Ireland and Denmark this summer showed that preterm births decreased in the spring during lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus in those countries. Anecdotally, doctors around the world reported similar drops. They speculated that reduced stress on mothers, cleaner air or better hygiene might have contributed. A large study from the Netherlands, published on Tuesday in The Lancet Public Health, has yielded even stronger evidence of an association between the lockdowns and a smaller number of early births. (Preston, 10/15)

The New York Times: A Rapid Test Offers Hope For Community Screening 
A $5 rapid test for the coronavirus may be nearly as effective as the slower, more complex polymerase chain reaction test for identifying people who may spread the coronavirus, a novel experiment has found. The study, conducted by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, is among the first head-to-head comparisons of a rapid test and the P.C.R. diagnostic tool under real-world conditions. (Mandavilli, 10/15)

NPR: Drug Companies Use Tobacco Plant Protein As Ingredient In COVID-19 Vaccine
Historically, tobacco plants are responsible for their share of illness and death. Now they may help control the COVID-19 pandemic. Two biotech companies are using the tobacco plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, as bio-factories to produce a key protein from the coronavirus that can be used in a vaccine. (Palca, 10/15)

Stat: Many Air Cargo Companies Are Unprepared To Transport Covid-19 Vaccines
As much of the world focuses on vaccine development to alleviate the pandemic, a new survey finds that just 28% of the air cargo companies that will play the highly crucial, behind-the-scenes role of transporting Covid-19 vaccines far and wide feel prepared for the job. At the same time, 19% of these companies report that they feel “very unprepared.” (Silverman, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer, BioNTech Race To Meet Global Covid-19 Vaccine Needs 
The chief executive of the German company partnering with Pfizer Inc. in its coronavirus vaccine effort said the two are racing to increase production to meet the world’s needs, assuming the shot wins a regulatory green light. The two companies are now scrambling to scale up their manufacturing capacities, said Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech SE. Both companies said they are confident they will be able to deliver all the doses they have already agreed to provide to governments, including the U.S. and the European Union. (Pancevski and Hopkins, 10/15)

NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Will Be Challenging. States Rush To Plan Ahead
Even the most effective, safest coronavirus vaccine won't work to curb the spread of the virus unless a large number of people get immunized. And getting a vaccine from the manufacturers all the way into people's arms requires complex logistics — and will take many months. Now, public health officers across the country are rushing to finish up the first draft of plans for how to distribute a coronavirus vaccine if and when it is authorized, and they're grappling with a host of unknowns as they try to design a system for getting the vaccine out to everyone who wants it. (Simmons-Duffin, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: What CIOs Can Learn From The Race To Understand Covid-19 Data
Chief information officers can learn many lessons from the coronavirus pandemic when it comes to managing data, according to DJ Patil, a former U.S. chief data scientist, including the need to prepare for constant change and broadening who counts as data stakeholders. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network virtual event Wednesday, Mr. Patil said he took a leave from his job as head of technology at Devoted Health Inc. to help the state of California manage its Covid-19 response this spring. The resulting experience should not be unfamiliar to CIOs, some of whom are developing their own pandemic-related analytics tools for functions such as office reopenings. (Council, 10/14)

AP: FDA Extends Pregnancy Warning For Common Pain Relievers
Pregnant women should avoid a group of common pain relievers including Advil and Aleve for the last four months of pregnancy, federal health officials said Thursday, expanding the warning from three months. The Food and Drug Administration said the fever-and-pain-reducing drugs can cause a rare but serious complication that can harm the fetus. They can lead to kidney problems in the fetus that can result in low levels of amniotic fluid that fills the womb. (Perrone, 10/15)

The Washington Post: What To Know About Public Restrooms, The Novel Coronavirus And 'Toilet Plumes' 
As the holiday season approaches, Americans preparing to travel hundreds of miles to see family or friends may notice a green mile marker off in the distance: Public restrooms are ahead. Using shared bathrooms at gas stations, train stations, rest stops and restaurants during long road trips is inevitable. But restrooms are typically small, poorly ventilated spaces — the exact type of environment public health experts say Americans should avoid to reduce the transmission of the novel coronavirus. (Amenabar, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Teen On Family Trip Spread The Coronavirus To 11 Relatives Across 4 States After A Negative Test, CDC Says 
A 13-year-old girl spread the coronavirus to 11 relatives across four states this summer, despite testing negative two days before a three-week family vacation, a recent journal article released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed. The trip occurred at an undisclosed location in June and July, and it infected family members from ages 9 to 72 who traveled to a home that was shared between five households. No masks or distancing measures were in place. The teen was exposed to an unspecified covid-19 outbreak in June before testing negative, the report says. Nasal congestion was her only symptom. (McMahon, 10/15)

The New York Times: After 700 Students Test Positive, a College President Resigns
The State University of New York at Oneonta on Thursday announced the abrupt resignation of its president only weeks after it experienced the most severe coronavirus outbreak of any public university in the state. The departure of the president, Barbara Jean Morris, is one of the most high-profile over the coronavirus crisis, which has thrown many colleges and universities across the country into turmoil as they try to maintain some semblance of campus life during the outbreak. (Rosa, 10/15)

AP: Virus Cases At Arizona School Send Hundreds Into Quarantine
Schools should maintain options for parents whether they prefer in-person or online instruction for their children, Gov. Doug Ducey said Thursday as the state sees an uptick in newly confirmed virus cases. “We want to provide those options to our kids and families,” Ducey said after touring a Phoenix charter school with U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. “We think options are very important.” (10/15)

The Washington Post: Negotiations Stall Between D.C. Teachers Union And The City Over School Reopening Plans. 
The District’s public school system was close to an agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union on the safety precautions the city would need to take to reopen classrooms during the pandemic, but negotiations stalled over details in the plan to ensure that the buildings were safe. After hours of virtual negotiations Wednesday, both union and city officials said they expected an agreement to be signed Thursday. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) was optimistic, saying at her news conference Wednesday that the city and the union have a “large agreement on how to reopen.” (Stein, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Sexual Assault Is Not Often Talked About In The Context Of Elementary, Middle And High Schools. 
The Education Department found that reports of sexual assaults at elementary, middle and high schools increased sharply between 2015 and 2018, a finding advocates say underscores the need for more schools to be prepared to handle reports of sexual violence. The finding was drawn from the Civil Rights Data Collection, a compilation of data drawn from surveys of every public school, charter school and juvenile justice facility in the nation. It was published by the department Thursday. (Balingit, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Elder-Care Facilities Devastated By The Coronavirus Pandemic Have Little Hope Of A Winter Reprieve, New Research Suggests 
The novel coronavirus tore through long-term-care facilities for the elderly in spring. It continued into summer months, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead around the world. Now, as autumn heads toward winter and the Northern Hemisphere prepares for a cold-weather surge in coronavirus cases, experts who focus on long-term care are desperate to avert the next chapter in the disaster. (Taylor, 10/15)

AP: Possible Abuse Investigated At Iowa Facility For Disabled
Iowa officials are investigating possible abuse at a troubled state-run institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Kelly Garcia, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services, said in an interview Thursday that there is a “visible marking” on a resident at the Glenwood Resource Center, which has been rocked by scandals twice in the past four years, the Des Moines Register reports. (10/15)

USA Today: Michigan Woman Beats Coronavirus After 196 Days In Hospital
Deanna Hair finally left [Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor on] Thursday, after 196 days of hospitalization for COVID-19. “My life is forever changed because of this experience," Hair said in a statement to USA TODAY, "physically, mentally and emotionally.” The 67-year-old Ann Arbor resident and her husband began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms after a trip to Palm Springs, California. Both tested positive on March 31. While her husband's symptoms were mild, Hair developed a fever and cough, and four days later began vomiting. (Rodriguez, 10/15)

AP: Officials Fired: Problems With 2nd Birth At Florida Jail
Two officials at a county jail in South Florida have been fired following problems surrounding a second birth at the facility in just over a year, authorities said Thursday. The more recent Broward County jail birth took place Sept. 27, nearly three months after the state enacted the Tammy Jackson Healthy Pregnancies for Incarcerated Women law, the Sun Sentinel reported. The law puts safeguards in place preventing pregnant women being in restrictive or isolated cells during their detention. (10/16)

USA Today: Justin Trudeau: No Canada Border Reopening Until US Controls COVID-19
Don't bet on the U.S.-Canadian border reopening after the closure agreement expires Oct. 21. In an interview Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is committed to keeping the border closed until the United States gets control of COVID-19. (Deerwester, 10/15)

The Washington Post: American Travel In Flux With Rise Of Covid-19 Cases In Europe 
The record-setting coronavirus infection numbers in Europe this week may not bode well for U.S. travelers hoping to return to the continent anytime soon. In just the past 10 days, Europe has recorded an exponential increase in infections, with a million new cases, The Washington Post reported. The continent has been nearly free of U.S. tourists since March 17, when the European Union restricted nonessential travel and closed its external borders. (Compton, 10/15)