First Edition: May 18, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Drugmakers Tout COVID-19 Vaccines To Refurbish Their Public Image
Johnson & Johnson researchers working on a vaccine against the coronavirus are “just like the heroes in the hospitals” fighting to save patients, J&J CEO Alex Gorsky said on the “Today” show a few weeks ago. It’s a message he likes to deliver. In recent weeks, Gorsky has talked about J&J’s efforts on NBC’s “Today” and twice on CNBC and Fox. Nobody asked him about high drug prices, J&J’s role in the opioid crisis or lawsuits alleging its baby powder caused cancer. (Hancock, 5/18)

Kaiser Health News: Medicaid Providers At The End Of The Line For Federal COVID Funding
Casa de Salud, a nonprofit clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, provides primary medical care, opioid addiction services and non-Western therapies, including acupuncture and reiki, to a largely low-income population. And, like so many other health care providers that serve as a safety net, its revenue — and its future — are threatened by the COVID-19 epidemic. (Rovner, 5/18)

Kaiser Health News: Tourists, Beware: Foreign Visitors’ Travel Health Insurance Might Exclude Pandemics
It was evident that the fever, nausea and loss of appetite Vlastimil Gajdoš felt on his wedding day was not a mere case of cold feet. Gajdoš, 65, fell ill in Honolulu in March after arriving with his bride-to-be from the Czech Republic. He and Sylva Di Sandro, 58, intended to marry and honeymoon on the island. While they did tie the knot, they also engaged in serious battle with the novel coronavirus. He was in the hospital for two weeks, some of it in intensive care, on a ventilator. (Heredia Rodriguez, 5/18)

Kaiser Health News: In The COVID Age, Bring A Mask And Gloves To A Protest
When Lamari Edwards joined Dreasjon “Sean” Reed’s Facebook Live video, she could sense something bad was going to happen, but she never thought she was witnessing the last moments of her friend’s life. “I had a bad feeling, but I did not think it would end this way,” said Edwards. Reed’s video showed him driving at a high speed and narrating as officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department chased him May 6. The officers said they observed Reed’s car driving recklessly, almost striking other vehicles. (Lofton, 5/18)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Angst And Advice From A Health Insurance Insider
After hearing the story of Anna Davis Abel’s fight with her insurance company over testing related to COVID-19, we heard from a listener who has worked for a health insurance company for decades.“I am shocked,” she wrote. In Davis Abel’s position, “I would be screaming from the rooftops.” She added: “I have listened to all the episodes in this podcast, and there are times I come away feeling bad for working for the insurance company.” (Weissmann, 5/18)

ProPublica: Two Coasts. One Virus. How New York Suffered Nearly 10 Times The Number Of Deaths As California.
By March 14, London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, had seen enough. For weeks, she and her health officials had looked at data showing the evolving threat of COVID-19. In response, she’d issued a series of orders limiting the size of public gatherings, each one feeling more arbitrary than the last. She’d been persuaded that her city’s considerable and highly regarded health care system might be insufficient for the looming onslaught of infection and death. “We need to shut this shit down,” Breed remembered thinking. Three days later in New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio was thinking much the same thing. (Sexton and Sapien, 5/16)

Politico: U.S. On Pace To Pass 100,000 Covid-19 Deaths By June 1, CDC Director Says
The United States is heading toward more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths by June 1, with leading mortality forecasts still trending upward, CDC Director Robert Redfield tweeted on Friday. His assessment cited 12 different models tracked by his agency and marked the first time Redfield has explicitly addressed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths, even as the Trump administration turns its strategy toward reopening the economy. The CDC director has been mostly sidelined in the government’s public-facing response to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Luthi, 5/15)

The New York Times: Trump Looks Ahead To Post-Coronavirus Sports: 'We Want Big, Big Stadiums Loaded With People.'
In a telephone appearance during a televised charity golf exhibition on Sunday, President Trump enthusiastically supported the return of live sports events during the coronavirus pandemic. “We want to get sports back, we miss sports,” Trump said. “We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. And that’s what we’re doing.” On Sunday, at roughly the halfway point of a skins game match involving four of the PGA Tour’s top golfers — Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff — Trump praised NBC for carrying the event, then called for a more robust resumption of activities in all sports. (Pennington, 5/17)

The Associated Press: Trump Says Back To Normal In Golf Means Big Crowds, No Masks
“After that, hopefully, it will be back,” Trump said in his interview with NBC host Mike Tirico. “We really want to see it back to normal so when we have all these thousands, tens of thousands of people going to your majors and going to golf tournaments, we want them to be having that same experience. We don’t want them having to wear masks and be doing what we’ve been doing for the last number of months. Because that’s not getting back to normal. “We want to be back to normal where you have the big crowds, and they’re practically standing on top of each other and they’re enjoying themselves, not where they’re worried,” he said. “But in the meantime, they do the social distancing, and they practice that. And they’ve been doing really well. The country is ready to start moving forward.” (Ferguson, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Trump Poised To Let Others Take The Lead In Coronavirus Pandemic 
President Trump has proclaimed the latest phase of pandemic response the “transition to greatness.” But Trump appears poised to preside over the eventual transition more as a salesman and marketer than a decider. Many consequential actions are being done by others. The nation’s governors are overseeing their states’ plans to reopen their economies. Business leaders are making their own choices about how their employees can safely and responsibly return to work. Treasury officials are negotiating with Congress the details of financial stimulus packages. And scientists and public health officials are leading the race for a vaccine. (Parker and Rucker, 5/17)

Politico: Trump Projects A Sense Of Normal, But West Wing Has A Ways To Go
As President Donald Trump urges businesses across the country to reopen and Americans to return to work, he and his administration are projecting a sense of normal after months of disruption because of the coronavirus. Trump is spending the week meeting with governors and restaurant executives at the White House, while Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Florida to meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis and deliver personal protective equipment to a nursing home. (Cook, 5/18)

The Washington Post: Crisis Exposes How America Has Hollowed Out Its Government
The government’s halting response to the coronavirus pandemic represents the culmination of chronic structural weaknesses, years of underinvestment and political rhetoric that has undermined the public trust — conditions compounded by President Trump’s open hostility to a federal bureaucracy that has been called upon to manage the crisis. Federal government leaders, beginning with the president, appeared caught unaware by the swiftness with which the coronavirus was spreading through the country — though this was not the first time that an administration seemed ill-prepared for an unexpected shock. But even after the machinery of government clanked into motion, missteps, endemic obstacles and lack of clear communication have plagued the efforts to meet the needs of the nation. (Balz, 5/16)

The Washington Post: White House Tensions With CDC Spill Into Public View As Top Trump Adviser Criticizes Agency Response 
Tensions between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spilled out into public view on Sunday as a top adviser to President Trump criticized the public health agency’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The comments by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro are the latest signal of how the Trump administration has sought to sideline the CDC. The agency typically plays the lead role in public health crises, but in recent weeks it’s had its draft guidance for reopening held up by the White House, leaving states and localities to largely fend for themselves. (Sonmez and Fears, 5/17)

The Hill: Navarro: CDC 'Really Let The Country Down With The Testing' 
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday faulted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its handling of coronavirus testing, saying the CDC “really let the country down.” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Navarro on “Meet the Press” about the lack of a CDC briefings over the past month and whether President Trump has “confidence” in the CDC during the pandemic. (Budryk, 5/17)

Politico: Azar Champions Trump Coronavirus Response
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar championed the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a pair of Sunday news show appearances — his first major ones since March 1 amid reports the health official has been sidelined in the White House’s public-facing Covid-19 response. Azar on Sunday defended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite the agency’s delays in rolling out a coronavirus test earlier this year. He also confirmed, but downplayed, the laboratory contamination problem that had reportedly delayed the testing rollout. (Beavers, 5/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Again Considering Withholding WHO Funding
President Trump is again considering cutting off funding to the World Health Organization, administration officials said, in a possible shift from a prior plan to restore partial funding to the group. Officials said the president hasn’t yet made a final decision on how to proceed, but he appeared to now be skeptical of an internal proposal to provide reduced funding to the WHO on par with what China contributes. Instead, the president is weighing extending a temporary funding halt that he put in place in April amid frustration with the WHO’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the officials said. (Restuccia, 5/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Pandemic Review Still In Balance As China, U.S. Weigh Response 
More than 100 countries, led by the European Union and Australia, have backed a resolution to independently review the global response to the coronavirus pandemic and the question of whether the World Health Organization acted to the best of its limited powers to contain the disease. It isn’t clear if the resolution, to be considered at a WHO summit likely on Tuesday, will be blocked by the Trump administration, which has pushed for an inquiry much more squarely targeted at China. Nor is it clear if Beijing will accept the resolution since China has opposed any inquiry that could blame the country for its failure to stop the virus when it first emerged in the central Hubei province. (Norman and Hinshaw, 5/17)

The New York Times: Remote And Ready To Fight Coronavirus’s Next Wave
In mid-March, Dr. Jim Bristow’s wife came down with gastrointestinal issues. Then, she couldn’t stop coughing. Her symptoms pointed to coronavirus, but she couldn’t get tested — in part because of the nationwide test shortage, but also because the pair lived in Vashon, an idyllic town on an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound with scant medical resources. When Dr. Anthony S. Fauci of President Trump’s coronavirus task force said that the United States was failing with regards to testing, Dr. Bristow, said that it “really struck me.” Dr. Bristow felt inspired to collaborate with other members in the Vashon community to develop a model to test, trace and isolate — in essence, a coronavirus response plan that they call the Rural Test & Trace Toolkit. (Yan, 5/16)

Politico: Getting It Right: States Struggle With Contact Tracing Push 
A half-dozen states have announced they’re building their own apps to pinpoint the spread of coronavirus so they won’t have to rely on similar efforts from distrusted big tech firms. So far, it’s not going well. North Dakota is getting spotty data from cell phone towers after relying on an app originally designed to connect its state university football fans on road trips to away games. Utah delayed the rollout of a GPS tracking function after technical difficulties. Other states, like Georgia, are promoting tools that rely on people to self-report new Covid-19 infections, potentially creating gaps in the effort to track the spread of the virus. (Ollstein and Ravindranath, 5/17)

Stat: Life As A Covid-19 Contact Tracer: Sleuthing, Stress, Going Off-Script 
All Maddie Bender knew when she called the New Haven, Conn., family was that a child had tested positive for Covid-19. Anyone who lived with the child was at risk of catching the new virus, and Bender needed to find out if they had symptoms, if new cases were taking root. What she learned was that public health work during a pandemic is four parts shoe leather and intuition, one part empathy. (Sataline, 5/18)

The Washington Post: As Coronavirus Testing Expands, A New Problem Arises: Not Enough People To Test
Four months into the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, tests for the virus finally are becoming widely available, a crucial step toward lifting stay-at-home orders and safely returning to normal life. But while many states no longer report crippling supply shortages, a new problem has emerged: too few people lining up to get tested. A Washington Post survey of governors’ offices and state health departments found at least a dozen states where testing capacity outstrips the supply of patients. Many have scrambled to make testing more convenient, especially for vulnerable communities, by setting up pop-up sites and developing apps that help assess symptoms, find free test sites and deliver quick results. (Thompson, Eilperin and Dennis, 5/17)

The Associated Press: Trump Still Confident In Virus Test Despite False Negatives
President Donald Trump expressed no concerns Friday about a rapid coronavirus test that the White House has been relying on to ensure his safety, despite new data suggesting the test may return an inordinate share of false negatives. Trump expressed his confidence in the test from Abbott Laboratories after a preliminary study by New York University researchers reported problems with it. Trump and his deputies have promoted the 15-minute test as a “game changer” and have been using it for weeks now to try to keep the White House complex safe. (Colvin, Perrone and Madhani, 5/15)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Clears Another Coronavirus Testing Kit For Use At Home
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency clearance for a coronavirus testing kit that will enable individuals to take a nasal sample at home and send it to a laboratory for diagnostic testing, the second such approval it has made. Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement that the new test “not only provides increased patient access to tests, but also protects others from potential exposure.” Health care workers can risk infection when they administer diagnostic tests. (Kaplan, 5/16)

Reuters: FDA Suspends Gates-Backed At-Home COVID-19 Testing Program
An at-home coronavirus testing project in Seattle backed in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said on Saturday it was working with U.S. regulators to resume the program after being suspended by the Food and Drug Administration. The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN), which aims to monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus in the region, had said it was suspending its testing of patient samples collected at home after the Food and Drug Administration tightened guidelines to require emergency approval first. (5/16)

Politico: 'Immunity Passports' Won't Reopen America
Antibody tests and “immunity passports” were supposed to be the great hope for safely reopening the economy. The problem is many of the more than 120 tests on the market are inaccurate. And scientists don’t really yet understand how much immunity antibodies confer or how long it lasts. But these tests — and the apps to promote them — are gaining traction among businesses and consumers eager to know who has been exposed to the virus, raising the risk that people will be relying on faulty results to promote their immunity from the coronavirus. (Kenen, 5/18)

The Associated Press: Los Angeles Offers Virus Tests To All, Still Has Unused Kits
With ample coronavirus tests and not enough sick people seeking them, the mayor of Los Angeles recently did something on a scale no other major U.S. city had done — allow anyone with or without symptoms to be tested as often as they want. A website to book a test was quickly swamped by residents in the nation’s second-largest city and the surrounding county who couldn’t get tested under more stringent guidelines and were concerned they were infected or could be asymptomatic carriers unwittingly exposing others. (Melley, 5/16)

The Associated Press: US Begins 'Warp Speed' Vaccine Push As Studies Ramp Up
President Donald Trump vowed to use “every plane, truck and soldier” to distribute COVID-19 vaccines he hopes will be ready by year’s end — even as the country’s top scientists gear up for a master experiment to rapidly tell if any really work. Trump on Friday declared the vaccine program he calls “Operation Warp Speed” will be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.” The goal is to have 300 million doses in stock by January, a huge gamble since a vaccine never has been created from scratch so fast — and one that could waste millions if shots chosen for the production line don’t pan out. (Neergaard and Miller, 5/15)

The Hill: Gottlieb Says Widespread Coronavirus Vaccine Availability 'More Likely A 2021 Event' 
A coronavirus vaccine likely won't be available for widespread distribution until 2021, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday. The health expert said there are a "lot of uncertainties" when going from scaling up manufacturing of a vaccine from an experimental basis to get quantities available for the wider population. "When you try to scale up and get volume, a lot of things can go wrong, a lot of things can be delayed. It's very hard to get to the point where you're manufacturing at high, high quantities," Gottlieb said on CBS's "Face the Nation." (Klar, 5/17)

Politico: Vaccine Is Possible By End Of Year, Johns Hopkins Expert Says
A vaccine for the novel coronavirus is possible by the end of the year, but he wouldn’t “bank on it,” the director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said Sunday. “We should hold out some level of hope that if everything goes in the right direction, we could possibly be seeing a vaccine by the end of the year,” Dr. Tom Inglesby said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.“ (Cohen, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Vaccine Within A Year Not Certain, Expert Warns
A coronavirus vaccine by year’s end is possible, but not something to “bank on,” a leading public health expert warned Sunday as the Trump administration continued to push for swift business reopenings in a bid to revive the battered U.S. economy. Aides to President Trump have touted vaccine prospects, but they’ve also tried to de-couple significant progress toward an immunization protocol from the need to return to workplaces, schools and public life, as many states are now moving to do. (King, 5/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Vaccine Front-Runners Emerge, Rollouts Weighed
Governments and drugmakers are weighing how to roll out coronavirus vaccines, including reserving the first batches for health-care workers, as several shots race to early leads. Of more than 100 vaccines in development globally, at least eight have started testing in humans, including candidates from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. At the same time, pharmaceutical giants like Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca PLC and Sanofi are building capacity to make hundreds of millions of doses of their own or their partners’ vaccines. (Loftus, 5/17)

Reuters: So Far, No Spike In Coronavirus In Places Reopening, U.S. Health Secretary Says
U.S. authorities are not yet seeing spikes in coronavirus cases in places that are reopening but it was still too early to determine such trends, health secretary Alex Azar said on Sunday. “We are seeing that in places that are opening, we’re not seeing this spike in cases,” Azar said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We still see spikes in some areas that are, in fact, closed.” However, Azar said identifying and reporting new cases takes time. A critical part of reopening will be surveillance of flu-like symptoms in the population and other hospital admissions data, as well as testing of asymptomatic individuals, he said. (Chiacu, 5/17)

The New York Times: As States Reopen, Governors Balance Existing Risks With New Ones
The pain of the coronavirus shutdown, in terms of wrecked economies and shattered lives, has been unmistakable. Now, governors across the country are contemplating the risks of reopening, particularly if it produces a surge of new cases and deaths. “This is really the most crucial time, and the most dangerous time,” Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, said on the CNN program “State of the Union” on Sunday. “All of this is a work in progress. We thought it was a huge risk not to open. But we also know it’s a huge risk in opening.” State officials said that pressure was building to revive commerce and to chart a path for states to stagger back toward a semblance of normalcy, and some were already discussing plans for starting school in the fall. (Rojas and Delkic, 5/17)

The Associated Press: US, European Leaders Weigh Reopening Risks Without A Vaccine
On a weekend when many pandemic-weary people emerged from weeks of lockdown, leaders in the U.S. and Europe weighed the risks and rewards of lifting COVID-19 restrictions knowing that a vaccine could take years to develop. In separate stark warnings, two major European leaders bluntly told their citizens that the world needs to adapt to living with the coronavirus and cannot wait to be saved by a vaccine. (Schor, Stobbe and Kunzelman, 5/18)

Reuters: Beaches, Parks Busy As Europe Heat Wave And U.S. Spring Test New Coronavirus Rules
People are streaming back to beaches, parks and streets just as a heat wave hits southern Europe and spring-like temperatures allow Americans to shed winter coats. As they venture out again, most are keeping their distance and some are wearing masks. However, protests are also heating up from Germany to England to the United States, arguing the government restrictions demolish personal liberties and are wrecking economies. (Shumaker, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Summer Weather And Coronavirus: It May Slow Spread But Won't Halt Pandemic 
New research has bolstered the hypothesis that summer’s heat, humidity, abundant sunshine and opportunities for people to get outside should combine to inhibit — though certainly not halt — the spread of the coronavirus. But infectious-disease experts add a cautionary note: Any benefit from summer conditions would probably be lost if people mistakenly believe the virus can’t spread in warm weather and abandon efforts that limit infections, such as social distancing. (Freedman and Achenbach, 5/16)

The Associated Press: Me And We: Individual Rights, Common Good And Coronavirus
From the moment the American republic was born right up until today, this has been its hallmark: Me and we — different flavors of freedom that compete but overlap — living together, but often at odds. The history of the United States and the colonies that formed it has been a 413-year balancing act across an assortment of topics, priorities, passions and ambitions. Now, in the coronavirus era, that tug of war — is it about individuals, or the communities to which they belong? — is showing itself in fresh, high-stakes ways. (Anthony, 5/18)

The Associated Press: Floridians Take First, Hesitant, Steps Back To Public Life
Guests flocked to a theme park shopping district, a casino fired up its slot machines and businesses prepared for serving customers in Florida on Sunday, months after the coronavirus pandemic forced life to ground to a halt over health safety concerns. During this flurry of activity, signs were everywhere that life had changed — and that people were clamoring to return to some semblance of normal. (5/17)

The Associated Press: NY Widens Testing Eligibility As Social Distancing Hits Snag
New York City residents who flouted social distancing restrictions for a night on the town got the mayor’s wrath Sunday. The city’s embattled health commissioner is staying on the job. Gov. Andrew Cuomo played the part of a model patient, getting swabbed for coronavirus on live TV as he announced all people experiencing flu-like symptoms are now eligible for testing. (Sisak and Villeneuve, 5/18)

The New York Times: 'Credible Threats' To Kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Lead To Charges, Police Say
A Detroit man has been charged with threatening to kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and the state attorney general, Dana Nessel, prosecutors said on Friday. The man, Robert S. Tesh, 32, was charged with false report of threat of terrorism, a felony. Mr. Tesh relayed what prosecutors called “credible threats” to an acquaintance, using more than one social media messenger on April 14, First Lt. Mike Shaw, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police, said on Friday. (Mele, 5/15)

Stat: Utah Embraced An Unproven Covid-19 Drug, Then Raced To Course-Correct
Even before President Trump started plugging chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as Covid-19 treatments, enthusiasm for the old malaria drugs was swelling in the state of Utah... Propelled by that hype, as well as mounting fears of the oncoming pandemic, the state pursued a sweeping — and eyebrow-raising — policy that would have let pharmacies dispense the unproven medications to patients with Covid-19 without a prescription. Utah, which took perhaps the most aggressive strategy with the drugs of any state, also put in an order for $800,000 worth of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to build a stockpile, and considered buying millions of dollars more. (Joseph, 5/18)

The New York Times: Where Chronic Health Conditions And Coronavirus Could Collide
As the new coronavirus continues to spread over the next months, and maybe even years, it could exact a heavy new toll in areas of the United States that have not yet seen major outbreaks but have high rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other chronic health conditions. Large parts of the South and Appalachia are especially vulnerable, according to a health-risk index created for The New York Times by PolicyMap, a company that analyzes local health data. The index for the first time identifies counties with high rates of the underlying conditions that increase residents’ risk of becoming severely ill if they are infected with the coronavirus. (Popovich, Singhvi and Conlen, 5/18)

The New York Times: ‘Straight-Up Fire’ In His Veins: Teen Battles New Coronavirus Syndrome
When a sprinkling of a reddish rash appeared on Jack McMorrow’s hands in mid-April, his father figured the 14-year-old was overusing hand sanitizer — not a bad thing during a global pandemic. When Jack’s parents noticed that his eyes looked glossy, they attributed it to late nights of video games and TV. When he developed a stomachache and didn’t want dinner, “they thought it was because I ate too many cookies or whatever,” said Jack, a ninth grader in Woodside, Queens, who loves Marvel Comics and has ambitions to teach himself “Stairway to Heaven” on the guitar. (Belluck, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Girl, 12, Survives Heart Failure Tied To Kawasaki-Like Syndrome Believed Caused By Coronavirus
The day Juliet Daly’s heart gave out started much like every other Monday during the quarantine. The 12-year-old from Covington, La., padded out of her room in her PJs shortly after 7 a.m., ate a half-bowl of Rice Krispies, and got on a Zoom call with her sixth-grade social studies class. She had been feeling unwell all weekend with twisting abdominal pains, vomiting and a fever of 101.5, but she seemed to be on the mend. The weird thing, she recalled, was that her lips looked bluish in the mirror and she was super tired. In fact, she kept falling asleep unexpectedly. On the couch. In front of her computer. In the bath. (Cha and Janes, 5/17)

The New York Times: In The Shadows Of America’s Smokestacks, Virus Is One More Deadly Risk
This isn’t the first time Vicki Dobbins’s town has been forced to shelter in place. Last year, the Marathon Petroleum refinery that looms over her neighborhood near Detroit emitted a pungent gas, causing nausea and dizziness among neighbors and prompting health officials to warn people to stay inside. When a stay-at-home advisory returned in March, this time for the coronavirus, “it was just devastating,” Ms. Dobbins said. (Tabuchi, 5/17)

The Associated Press: 'COVID Toes,' Other Rashes Latest Possible Rare Virus Signs
Skin doctors suddenly are looking at a lot of toes — whether by emailed picture or video visit — as concern grows that for some people, a sign of COVID-19 may pop up in an unusual spot. Boston dermatologist Esther Freeman expected to see skin complaints as the pandemic unfolded — various kinds of rashes occur when people get very ill from other viruses. (Neergaard, 5/17)

The New York Times: Fed Chair Says Economic Recovery May ‘Stretch’ Through End Of 2021
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said that the United States would have a slow recovery from what he called the “biggest shock that the economy’s had in living memory,” suggesting that a full rebound from virus-induced lockdowns could take until the end of 2021. In an interview on “60 Minutes,” the CBS program, Mr. Powell reiterated that both Congress and the central bank may need to do more to help workers and businesses make it through the sudden and sharp slump caused by efforts to contain the coronavirus. (Smialek, 5/17)

Reuters: Fed's Powell: 'Medical Metrics' Most Important Data For U.S. Economy Now: CBS
“If we are thoughtful and careful about how we reopen the economy so that people take these social distancing measures forward and try to do what we can not to have another outbreak...then the recovery can begin fairly soon,” Powell said. States are now easing restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. That has raised the hope of a gradual return to normal, but also has increased the risk of new infections. As Congress debates possible further economic relief, Powell has stretched the limits of typical central bank commentary, directly calling for more fiscal spending. In Sunday’s interview, he even urged people to wash their hands and wear masks to aid the recovery. (5/17)

The Associated Press: Powell: Recovery May Begin By Summer, Will Likely Be Slow
“In the long run, and even in the medium run,” the chairman said, “you wouldn’t want to bet against the American economy. This economy will recover. And that means people will go back to work. Unemployment will get back down. We’ll get through this.” Powell pointed out that the downturn wasn’t a result of deep-seated financial instabilities, like the housing meltdown and the excessive risk-taking among banks that ignited the Great Recession. Rather, it resulted from an external event — a pandemic — that required a shutdown of the economy. That may mean, he said, that “we can get back to a healthy economy fairly quickly.” (Rugaber, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Pushes A Man To A Food Pantry Line For The First Time In His Life
I’ve never done anything like this. I don’t really know how it works. I’ve been standing in line for a few hours now, and it’s barely starting to move. I’m not complaining. It’s a blessing to be here. I’ll wait all day if I have to, because this virus has left me with no other choice, but what happens if they run out of food? (As told to Eli Saslow, 5/16)

Reuters: What Did Eight Weeks And $3 Trillion Buy The U.S. In The Fight Against Coronavirus?
Unemployment checks are flowing, $490 billion has been shipped to small businesses, and the U.S. Federal Reserve has put about $2.5 trillion and counting behind domestic and global markets. Fears of overwhelmed hospitals and millions of U.S. deaths from the new coronavirus have diminished, if not disappeared. Yet two months into the United States’ fight against the most severe pandemic to arise in the age of globalization, neither the health nor the economic war has been won. Many analysts fear the country has at best fought back worst-case outcomes. (Schneider, 5/18)

Politico: Congress Nowhere Close To A Coronavirus Deal As Unemployment Spikes
Americans hoping for the next round of coronavirus relief will probably be waiting for weeks — if not much longer. Though House Democrats on Friday passed a sweeping, $3 trillion stimulus bill built around aid for local governments and a fresh batch of direct payments to the public, the Republican Senate majority has no immediate plans to produce an alternative. Instead, senators are expected to consider a handful of lifetime judicial appointments this week and then head home for the Memorial Day recess. (Everett, 5/17)

Reuters: Pelosi Sees Negotiations On New $3 Trillion Coronavirus Legislation: CBS
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday there will be negotiations on the new $3 trillion coronavirus relief legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and that Democrats have “no red lines.” Asked if there has been a Republican response or counteroffer to begin negotiations on the bill passed late on Friday, Pelosi said, “No bill that is proffered will become law without negotiations, so, yeah.” (5/17)

Reuters: Senator Rubio Calls For Fast Action To Extend U.S. Payroll Protection Program
The United States needs to quickly revise its coronavirus aid program for small businesses to extend the eight-week period in which the law currently requires companies to spend the money, a key U.S. senator said on Sunday. (Cornwell, 5/17)

Reuters: U.S. Mulls Paying Companies, Tax Breaks To Pull Supply Chains From China
U.S. lawmakers and officials are crafting proposals to push American companies to move operations or key suppliers out of China that include tax breaks, new rules, and carefully structured subsidies. Interviews with a dozen current and former government officials, industry executives and members of Congress show widespread discussions underway - including the idea of a “reshoring fund” originally stocked with $25 billion - to encourage U.S. companies to drastically revamp their relationship with China. (Shala, Alper and Zengerle, 5/18)

The Wall Street Journal: In Commencement Addresses, Obama Takes Aim At Coronavirus Response
Former President Barack Obama returned to the national stage on Saturday, delivering a pair of virtual commencement addresses in which he criticized the response by some U.S. leaders to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Obama, who has largely stayed out of the public eye since leaving office, highlighted the impact of the pandemic on students in speeches to college and high school graduates, both of whom saw their school year cut short by the spread of the virus. (Siddiqui, 5/17)

The Washington Post: Obama Criticizes Nation’s Leaders For Bungled Handling Of Coronavirus Pandemic
Obama did not mention his successor, President Trump, by name. But the comments echoed criticism of the Trump administration that Obama leveled last month in a video endorsement of former vice president Joe Biden. Obama said then that the pandemic had shown that “having leaders who are informed and honest and seek to bring people together” matters. (Scherer and Mettler, 5/16)

Politico: Obama Jabs U.S. Response To Coronavirus In Commencement Address
Obama also addressed the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man killed while jogging in Georgia, while acknowledging the hardships that graduates and members of the African American community also now face during the pandemic. “Let’s be honest, a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country,” Obama said. “We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities, just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him if he doesn’t submit to their questioning.” (Semones, 5/16)

The New York Times: If Democrats Hold A Big Convention, Will Anybody Come?
Three months before their national convention is to kick off in Milwaukee, Democratic Party officials are planning for three scenarios depending on the severity of the coronavirus pandemic at the time. But the planners face a substantial problem in putting on the quadrennial event that is recognizable to Americans as the traditional launch of the presidential general election campaign: Many of the delegates don’t want to go. Interviews with 59 members of the Democratic National Committee and superdelegates who will formally nominate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in August found that the vast majority of them don’t want to risk their own health or the health of others by traveling to Milwaukee and congregating inside the convention facilities. (Epstein, 5/18)

Politico: Trump Team Searches For A Strategy To Aid Voters Of Color Ahead Of November
Almost a month ago, as the coronavirus exacted an outsized toll on vulnerable groups across America, President Donald Trump turned to an under-the-radar White House council to quickly determine how the federal government “can best support minority and distressed communities.” Little has come of it. The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, repurposed by Trump on April 22 to confront the pandemic’s disproportionate damage to communities of color, is still assembling proposals to reduce racial health disparities that have been magnified by the coronavirus outbreak, according to four people familiar with the planning. (Orr, 5/15)