First Edition: June 23, 2020

Kaiser Health News: California Lawmakers Block Health Care Cuts 
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers agreed Monday on a state budget plan that would avoid the deep cuts to essential health care services that the governor had initially proposed. Even though the state faces a massive budget deficit, legislators flatly rejected Newsom’s proposed cuts to safety-net programs intended help keep older adults and low-income residents out of long-term care homes, the epicenters of coronavirus outbreaks. (Young, 6/23)

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: Lost On The Frontline
A nursing home certified medication aide who was Navajo and could speak to residents in their Indigenous language. A travel nurse from Tennessee who felt obliged to serve when he heard New York was short-staffed in the pandemic. These are the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who died of COVID-19. (6/23)

Kaiser Health News: Pandemic Forced Insurers To Pay For In-Home Treatments. Will They Disappear?
After seven days as an inpatient for complications related to heart problems, Glenn Shanoski was initially hesitant when doctors suggested in early April that he could cut his hospital stay short and recover at home — with high-tech 24-hour monitoring and daily visits from medical teams. But Shanoski, a 52-year-old electrician in Salem, Massachusetts, decided to give it a try. He’d felt increasingly lonely in a hospital where the COVID pandemic meant no visitors. Also, Boston’s Tufts Medical Center wanted to free up beds for a possible surge of the coronavirus. (Appleby, 6/23)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Navigating The Pandemic And Protests As The U.S. Reopens
KHN Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony appeared on Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st” with host Brian Mackey in a reporter’s roundtable about the latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the civil rights protests. After the protests highlighted police brutality and systemic racism, she reported on the unwritten rules that Black teens learn to try to cope with the mental health burden of other people’s racist assumptions. (6/22)

Kaiser Health News: The Hidden Deaths Of The COVID Pandemic
Sara Wittner had seemingly gotten her life back under control. After a December relapse in her battle with drug addiction, the 32-year-old completed a 30-day detox program and started taking a monthly injection to block her cravings for opioids. She was engaged to be married, working for a local health association and counseling others about drug addiction. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. (Hawryluk, 6/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Cases Top 9.1 Million Globally; Second Wave Hits Seoul
Reopening plans have slowed in Louisiana, where Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state wouldn’t move into its third phase of reopening by the end of the week as planned due to increased infections and hospitalizations. Mr. Edwards said 630 people were in hospitals for the coronavirus, an increase of almost 90 over the past 10 days. The state passed two milestones Monday, with more than 50,000 total cases and 3,000 total deaths. (6/23)

The Associated Press: Surging US Virus Cases Raise Fear That Progress Is Slipping
Alarming surges in coronavirus cases across the U.S. South and West raised fears Monday that the outbreak is spiraling out of control and that hard-won progress against the scourge is slipping away because of resistance among many Americans to wearing masks and keeping their distance from others. Confirming predictions that the easing of state lockdowns over the past month and a half would lead to a comeback by the virus, cases surpassed 100,000 in Florida, hospitalizations are rising dramatically in Houston and Georgia, and a startling 1 in 5 of those tested in Arizona are proving to be infected. (Lush, Ellgren and Webber, 6/22)

CNN: US Is Still In The First Wave Of The Coronavirus Pandemic And Experts Raise Concern For Several States 
With half of US states reporting a rise in new cases, one expert warns of 'danger signs' in some parts of the US. After weeks of many Americans failing to heed face mask and social distancing guidelines, health officials in some states are reporting an increase in younger populations testing positive -- saying those individuals are often asymptomatic but could be infecting others. And public health measures meant to control infection aren't quite up to speed -- a problem the country has consistently faced in past months. (Maxouris, 6/23)

CNN: Study Suggests Most Covid-19 Cases Went Undetected 
A new study suggests that as many as 8.7 million Americans came down with coronavirus in March, but more than 80% of them were never diagnosed. A team of researchers looked at the number of people who went to doctors or clinics with influenza-like illnesses that were never diagnosed as coronavirus, influenza or any of the other viruses that usually circulate in winter. There was a giant spike in these cases in March, the researchers reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. (Fox, 6/23)

Reuters: White House: Trump Did Not Direct Virus Testing Slowdown, Does Not Regret 'Kung Flu' Remark
President Donald Trump has not directed any slowdown in coronavirus testing and does not regret using the term “kung flu,” which many consider to be offensive, to describe the virus, the White House said on Monday. The Republican president said at a political rally in Oklahoma on Saturday that he had directed his people to slow down testing for the virus because the process had led to an increased number of known COVID-19 cases.The White House said at the time that he was kidding and made clear on Monday that no such request was made. (Mason and Holland, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Trump: US Doing 'Too Good A Job' On Testing
President Donald Trump said Monday the United States has done “too good a job” on testing for cases of COVID-19, even as his staff insisted the president was only joking when he said over the weekend that he had instructed aides to “slow the testing down, please.” The president’s comments at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday brought quick rebukes from the campaign of likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as well as scores of Democratic lawmakers. (Freking, 6/22)

The Hill: Pence, In Call With Governors, Defends Trump Comments On Coronavirus Testing 
Vice President Pence while on a conference call with governors on Monday defended President Trump's recent comments downplaying the importance of coronavirus testing, according to a source on the call. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) told Pence that Trump's comments at his campaign rally over the weekend in Oklahoma, where the president called testing a "double-edged sword" and quipped that he told aides to "slow the testing down," were "not helpful," the source said. (Samuels, 6/22)

Politico: White House Delivers Mixed Explanations On Trump's Vow To Slow Down Testing
Scientists and even politicians in states like Florida, where the uptick in cases has been especially severe, have said the recent spike in coronavirus cases cannot solely be explained by an increase in testing. But Trump did not deny asking his staff to slow down testing when questioned during a Monday interview with Scripps’ Joe St. George. “If it did slow down, frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth.” Trump said. “We’ve done too good a job.” (Cohen, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Defends Trump Comments On ‘Kung Flu,’ Coronavirus Testing
Democratic lawmakers, activists and experts have said the phrase, a reference to Chinese martial arts, is rooted in racist stereotypes about Asian people.“121,000 Americans are dead. Thousands died alone. Isolated. Families could not grieve. Donald Trump’s response is to make racist jokes,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) said on Twitter. “He is linking it to its place of origin,” Ms. McEnany said, arguing that Mr. Trump was stressing that the virus started in China. Later, she said, “The president does not believe it’s offensive to note that the virus came from China.” (Restuccia, 6/22)

NPR: White House Defends Trump's Use Of Racist Phrase About Coronavirus 
The White House on Monday denied any malicious intent behind President Trump's use of the racist term "kung flu" this weekend to describe the deadly coronavirus pandemic, saying that the president had no "regrets putting the onus back on China" for the deadly virus. "It's not a discussion about Asian Americans, who the president values and prizes as citizens of this great country. It is an indictment of China for letting this virus get here," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at the Monday news briefing. (Wise, 6/22)

Politico: McEnany Defends Trump's 'Kung Flu' Comment At Rally
The phrase has been identified by many — including counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway — as racist. But McEnany insisted on Monday that the president's remark was far from out of line even as she avoided directly answering questions as to whether the term is indeed racist. “It's a fair thing to point out as China tries to ridiculously rewrite history, to ridiculously blame the coronavirus on American soldiers,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters during a news briefing, rejecting reporters’ characterization of the remark as racist. “President Trump is trying to say, 'no, China, I will label this virus for its place of origin.'” (Oprysko, 6/22)

Reuters: Two More Trump Campaign Staff Members Test Positive For Coronavirus
“After another round of testing for campaign staff in Tulsa, two additional members of the advance team tested positive for the coronavirus,” spokesman Tim Murtaugh said. “These staff members attended the rally but were wearing masks during the entire event.” The White House and Trump campaign largely brushed away concerns ahead of the event about holding a rally with thousands of people despite warnings from health officials against gathering in large groups. (6/22)

The New York Times: Two More Trump Staff Members Test Positive For Coronavirus After Tulsa Rally
Two Trump campaign staff members who attended the president’s indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday night tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesman said Monday, despite earlier assurances that a small outbreak among campaign workers had been contained and no staffers who had tested positive had entered the arena. The two workers, members of the campaign’s advance team, tested positive when “another round of testing” was conducted after the rally, according to Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director. He said the staff members in question had attended the event, but had worn masks the entire time. (Karni, 6/22)

The New York Times: White House Eases Virus Restrictions Except For Those Around Trump
The White House on Monday began easing up on restrictions that have been in place since Washington officials instituted a stay-at-home order in the city in March in response to the coronavirus. Temperature checks for visitors to the complex will be scaled back, allowing many White House staff members who have been teleworking to return to their offices, and the cafeteria in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the West Wing, will be reopened. But assuring that President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will not be exposed to the virus by visitors will remain a priority. (Karni, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Anger Over Tulsa Rally Underscores Growing Problems Within His Campaign 
A sea of empty seats in a Tulsa arena on Saturday set off a furious round of finger-pointing and recriminations around President Trump’s campaign that continued through Monday, amplifying the president and his team’s struggle to find their footing amid national and political crises. Trump has fumed about his campaign manager Brad Parscale over the half-empty arena, campaign officials are engaged in whisper campaigns against their colleagues, and some Trump allies are calling for a dramatic reorganization of the reelection machine, according to several current and former administration and campaign officials. (Olorunnipa, Dawsey and Parker, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Trump Rally Size Raises Question About Risk In Age Of Virus
President Donald Trump’s paltry crowd for his weekend campaign rally in Oklahoma raises new questions about politics in the age of the coronavirus: Maybe pandemic-scarred Americans just aren’t ready to risk exposure for close-up engagement in the 2020 presidential election. Only about a third of seats in the 19,000-seat BOK Center were filled for the rally, despite boasts by Trump and his campaign team that they had received more than 1 million ticket requests. (Madhani, Lemire and Jaffe, 6/23)

The Associated Press: After Tulsa, Trump Heads To Virus Hotspot Arizona And Border
Regrouping after a humbling weekend rally, President Donald Trump faces another test of his ability to draw a crowd during a pandemic Tuesday as he visits Arizona and tries to remind voters of one of his key 2016 campaign promises. Trump’s weekend rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had been meant to be a sign of the nation’s reopening and a show of political force but instead generated thousands of empty seats and swirling questions about the president’s campaign leadership and his case for another four years in office. (Lemire, 6/23)

ABC News: Health Precautions A 'Game-Time Decision' For Trump’s Arizona Gathering, Organizers Say 
Organizers are expecting roughly 3,000 conservative activists to attend the event at a Phoenix megachurch. Attendees will be asked, but not required, to wear masks. "We are asking people to be responsible citizens, so while we won't tackle people in the pews if they aren't wearing [masks], we will be asking folks to be respectful of local ordinances and rules," Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for the Students for Trump convention, told ABC News. (Steakin and Siegel, 6/23)

ProPublica: An Illustrated History Of Government Agencies Twisting The Truth To Align With White House Misinformation
It has become a familiar pattern: President Donald Trump says something that doesn’t line up with the facts held by scientists and other experts at government agencies. Then, instead of pushing back, federal officials scramble to reconcile the fiction with their own public statements. It happened in March, when Trump pushed his opinion that antimalarial drugs could treat COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an unusual directive that lent credence to the president’s perspective: “Although optimal dosing and duration of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 are unknown, some U.S. clinicians have reported anecdotally” on specific dosages that the CDC then lists. (Umansky, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Increasingly Preoccupied With Defending His Physical And Mental Health 
The early June meeting in the Cabinet Room was intended as a general update on President Trump’s reelection campaign, but the president had other topics on his mind. Trump had taken a cognitive screening test as part of his 2018 physical, and now, more than two years later, he brought up the 10-minute exam. He waxed on about how he’d dazzled the proctors with his stellar performance, according to two people familiar with his comments. He walked the room of about two dozen White House and reelection officials through some of the questions he said he’d aced, such as being able to repeat five words in order. (Parker and Dawsey, 6/22)

CNN: Trump's Pandemic Failing Is Now Directly Impacting His Campaign 
President Donald Trump is now paying a direct, personal price for his pandemic denial -- the possible shelving of the thing he cares about most, the raucous rallies that defined his political rise and are crucial to his reelection hopes. Trump spent the weekend seething about the disappointing crowd for his comeback event in Oklahoma on Saturday night, according to CNN reporting. His hopes of a full-time return to the campaign trail then took another blow with news that eight staffers and two Secret Service agents at the event are now positive for the coronavirus. (Collinson, 6/23)

Politico: Trump’s 2020 Strategy: A Never-Ending War With States
In 2020, President Donald Trump has found reusable scapegoats for the parade of crises that have afflicted the country — governors. When the country faced a shortage of medical supplies during the coronavirus outbreak, Trump accused governors of being unprepared. When stay-at-home orders left millions unemployed and businesses tittering on the brink, Trump blamed governors for not letting Americans return to work. And when massive protests erupted against racial injustice, Trump said governors were siding with “antifia-led anarchists.” (Kumar, 6/23)

The Associated Press: Mail Voting: Pence, Aides Embrace Practice Panned By Trump
Vice President Mike Pence and a half-dozen other senior advisers to President Donald Trump have repeatedly voted by mail, according to election records obtained by The Associated Press. That undercuts the president’s argument that the practice will lead to widespread fraud this November. More than three years after leaving the Indiana governor’s residence, Pence still lists that as his official residence and votes absentee accordingly. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has permanent absentee voting status in her home state of Michigan. (Slodysko, 6/23)

Detroit Free Press: U-M To Withdraw From Hosting October Presidential Debate
The University of Michigan is withdrawing from hosting a presidential debate between Republican incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, sources told the Detroit Free Press. The official announcement is expected to come Tuesday. U-M is making the move because of concerns of bringing the campaigns, media and supporters of both candidates to Ann Arbor and campus during a pandemic, two sources with direct knowledge of the move told the Free Press. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on behalf of the university. (Jesse, 6/22)

The New York Times: University Of Michigan Plans To Withdraw From Hosting Trump-Biden Debate
Two people directly familiar with the debate planning said the Michigan gathering will be moved to Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, which hosted the first debates of the 2020 Democratic primary season last summer. ... The move, expected to be formally announced on Tuesday, comes as President Trump has sought to alter the debate schedule, add a fourth debate to the planned three and exert more control over the selection of moderators, which is typically handled by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit organization that sponsors presidential general election debates. (Epstein and Stevens, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Trump Administration Extends Visa Ban To Non-Immigrants
“In the administration of our Nation’s immigration system, we must remain mindful of the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particularly in the current extraordinary environment of high domestic unemployment and depressed demand for labor,” Trump wrote in his presidential proclamation. Trump imposed a 60-day ban on green cards issued abroad in April, which was set to expire Monday. That announcement, which largely targeted family members, drew a surprisingly chilly reception from immigration hardliners, who said the president didn’t go far enough. (Riechmann and Spagat, 6/23)

The New York Times: Trump Suspends H-1B And Other Visas That Allow Foreigners To Work In The U.S.
Amid the pandemic, the Trump administration has seized on the threat to public health as a pretext to issue a series of policy changes affecting almost every aspect of the immigration system, including asylum and green cards. While many changes have been announced as temporary, they could remain in place indefinitely. But critics say the administration has used the health crisis and the economic meltdown it has caused as pretext to put in place restrictions that further its immigration agenda. (Shear and Jordan, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Trump, Citing Pandemic, Orders Limits On Foreign Workers, Extends Immigration Restrictions Through December 
The ban expands earlier restrictions, adding work visas that many companies use, especially in the technology sector, landscaping services and the forestry industry. It excludes agricultural laborers, health-care professionals supporting the pandemic response and food-service employees, along with some other temporary workers. (Miroff and Romm, 6/22)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Announces New H1-B Visa Restrictions On Foreign Workers
The order primarily affects H-1B visas, broadly set out for high-skilled workers; H-2B visas, for seasonal employees; L-1 visas, for corporate executives; and J-1 visas, for scholars and exchange programs, restricting new authorizations through Dec. 31. The new measure takes effect Wednesday. Yet it also comes with broad exemptions, such as for many potential agricultural, healthcare and food industry workers. It does not change the status of immigrants already in the U.S. In the order, Trump wrote that admitting workers to the country within the targeted visa categories “poses a risk of displacing and disadvantaging United States workers during the current recovery” and “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” (O'Toole, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Moves To Temporarily Suspend New H-1B, Other Visas Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
President Trump signed an order Monday temporarily barring new immigrants on a slate of employment-based visas, including the H-1B for high-skilled workers, from coming to the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic. The restrictions, which are set to take effect June 24 and last through the end of the year, will prevent hundreds of thousands of new immigrants who were expected to rely on the visas to work in industries ranging from tech and consulting to landscaping and seasonal jobs at resorts. (Hackman, 6/22)

WBUR: Trump Expected To Suspend H-1B, Other Visas Until End Of Year
But other workers will also be affected, including foreign au pairs who provide child care. Professors and scholars are not to be included in the order, the official said. There will be a provision to request exemptions. The order is not expected to affect immigrants and visa holders already in the United States. Business groups are expected to oppose the move. But groups that want less immigration cheered it. (Ordoñez, 6/20)

Politico: Trump Team Weighs A CDC Scrubbing To Deflect Mounting Criticism
White House officials are putting a target on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, positioning the agency as a coronavirus scapegoat as cases surge in many states and the U.S. falls behind other nations that are taming the pandemic. Trump administration aides in recent weeks have seriously discussed launching an in-depth evaluation of the agency to chart what they view as its missteps in responding to the pandemic including an early failure to deploy working test kits, according to four senior administration officials. Part of that audit would include examining more closely the state-by-state death toll to tally only the Americans who died directly of Covid-19 rather than other factors. About 120,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus so far, according to the CDC’s official count. (Cook and Cancryn, 6/23)

CNN: Geoffrey Berman Refused To Sign DOJ Letter Criticizing New York's Covid Restrictions 
Geoffrey Berman, the federal prosecutor ousted over the weekend by the Trump administration, recently refused to sign a letter from the Justice Department that criticized New York City's coronavirus restrictions that affect religious institutions, a person briefed on the matter said. Attorney General William Barr wasn't aware of the dispute, and it had nothing to do with the ouster of Berman, the person said. The letter was sent Friday from the Justice Department. (Perez and Duster, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Fauci To Testify At A Fraught Time For US Pandemic Response
With coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations, Dr. Anthony Fauci returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday at a fraught moment in the nation’s pandemic response. The government’s top infectious disease expert will testify before a House committee, along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Neergaard and Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/23)

ABC News: 3 Questions To Watch For As Fauci, Redfield Testify Before House Panel 
As President Donald Trump heads to an Arizona megachurch to rally supporters, Anthony Fauci and other top health officials will be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for the first time in weeks to answer questions on COVID-19 testing and treatments. Their testimony comes on the heels of several new developments regarding the virus. (Flaherty, 6/23)

Stat: The Likely Heir To An FDA Powerbroker Brings Expertise — And Controversy
Janet Woodcock, one of the FDA’s most powerful regulators, has an almost mythic reputation and an outsized personality to match. For years, rumors have swirled: Who could possibly succeed her? Now, it seems, there’s an answer to that question: The FDA official who has been tapped to step into Woodcock’s role for at least a temporary stint is a relative newcomer — and until now, a relatively quiet, low-profile presence at an agency that has been thrust into the spotlight amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Florko, 6/23)

The Hill: FDA Warns Against 9 Hand Sanitizers After Dangerous Chemical Discovered 
The agency said consumers who have been espoused to hand sanitizer containing methanol should seek “immediate treatment.” The FDA identified the following products in its warning: All-Clean Hand Sanitizer (National Drug Code: 74589-002-01), Esk Biochem Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-007-01), CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-008-04), Lavar 70 Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-006-01), The Good Gel Antibacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-010-10), CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-005-03), CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-009-01), CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-003-01) and Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-001-01). (Klar, 6/22)

ABC News: FDA Issues Warning About 9 Hand Sanitizers Made By This Company 
The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use hand sanitizer manufactured by the Mexican company Eskbiochem SA de CV because the products contain methanol, a toxic substance that can cause short- and long-term health problems. "Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and should not be used due to its toxic effects," according to the FDA. (Schumaker, 6/22)

CNN: Hand Sanitizers By Eskbiochem May Contain Methanol, FDA Warns 
Exposure to significant amounts of methanol can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. Anyone exposed to these hand sanitizers should seek immediate treatment, the FDA warns. The FDA asked Eskbiochem SA to remove its hand sanitizer products from shelves on June 17 but has yet to receive a response from the company. The agency recommends that consumers stop using these products immediately and dispose of them in "appropriate hazardous waste containers." (Kim, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Study Of Medicare Recipients Finds Coronavirus Impacting Black People Disproportionately
Black people on Medicare, a program for people 65 and older, had the highest hospitalization rate for coronavirus, with 465 cases per 100,000 beneficiaries. Hispanics had 258 hospitalizations per 100,000 people on Medicare and Asians had 187 hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the federal health insurance program for seniors. White people on Medicare had 123 coronavirus hospitalizations per 100,000. Each hospitalization costs Medicare about $23,000. Older Americans and those with medical conditions were the hardest hit. (Armour, 6/22)

The Hill: Black Americans Four Times More Likely To Be Hospitalized For COVID-19: Medicare Data 
More than 325,000 people on Medicare were diagnosed with COVID-19 between Jan. 1 and May 16, and 110,000 people on Medicare were hospitalized with a COVID-19 diagnosis this year through May 16, based on the data. Medicare payments for fee-for-service hospitalizations totaled $1.9 billion, with an average cost of $23,094 per hospitalization, CMS said. (Klar, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Medicare Data: Blacks Likelier To Be Hospitalized For COVID
Blacks were nearly four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized with COVID-19 among people with Medicare, the government said Monday. The analysis from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found that having advanced kidney disease was an even more severe risk indicator for hospitalization than race, ethnicity, or being poor. “It reconfirms long-standing issues around disparities and vulnerable populations,” said Medicare administrator Seema Verma, adding that “race and ethnicity are far from the only story.″ (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/23)

NPR: Racial Disparities In COVID-19 Highlighted In New Medicare Claims Data 
New federal data reinforces the stark racial disparities that have appeared with COVID-19: According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Black Americans enrolled in Medicare were hospitalized with the disease at rates nearly four times higher than their white counterparts. Disparities were also striking among Hispanics and Asian Americans. Hispanics were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized as whites, while Asian Americans were about 50% more likely. Black and Hispanic beneficiaries were more likely to test positive for the coronavirus as well, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. (Godoy, 6/22)

Reuters: Black Americans Hospitalized For COVID-19 At Four Times The Rate Of Whites, Medicare Data Shows
“The disparities in the data reflect longstanding challenges facing minority communities and low income older adults,” said Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which released the data. The data showed that more than 325,000 Medicare beneficiaries were diagnosed with COVID-19 between Jan. 1 and May 16. Of those, more than 110,000 were hospitalized. (O'Donnell and Roy, 6/22)

Politico: Swamped Mental Health And Addiction Services Appeal For Covid Bailout
Mental health and addiction treatment centers and counselors have been overwhelmed with work during the coronavirus pandemic and economic crash. But many are struggling to stay afloat amid confusion and delays over the federal bailout for the health care industry. Some have waited months for the release of promised aid. Others held out and didn't apply, believing they'd get a better deal in a future round of funding aimed at centers that see mostly low-income patients. As a result, nearly a third haven't received any of the $175 billion HHS is doling out to hospitals and other health providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. And now, they’re appealing to the government for help. (Roubein and Ehley, 6/22)

Politico: Senate Democrats Threaten To Block GOP Police Bill
Senate Democrats are strongly signaling they will filibuster Republicans’ police reform bill later this week absent more concessions from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican set the Senate on a path to consider the legislation on Wednesday and must lure at least seven Democrats to support even opening debate on a GOP bill written without any Democratic input. So far, few Democrats have expressed any interest. (Everett and Levine, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers Ask Fed To Help Businesses Struggling To Make Mortgage Payments
More than 100 members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve to help struggling businesses pause debt payments in a key real-estate financing market. Many of the hotels, shopping malls and office buildings that borrow money in the roughly $550 billion market for commercial-mortgage-backed securities said they have been unable to negotiate debt reprieves during the coronavirus pandemic. Some are worried they could lose their properties to foreclosure, The Wall Street Journal reported this month. (Eisen, 6/23)

The New York Times: G.O.P. Faces Risk From Push To Repeal Health Law During Pandemic
Republicans are increasingly worried that their decade-long push to repeal the Affordable Care Act will hurt them in the November elections, as coronavirus cases spike around the country and millions of Americans who have lost jobs during the pandemic lose their health coverage as well. The issue will come into sharp focus this week, when the White House is expected to file legal briefs asking the Supreme Court to put an end to the program, popularly known as Obamacare. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seizing on the moment, will unveil a Democratic bill to lower the cost of health care, with a vote scheduled for next week in the House. (Stolberg, 6/22)

Stat: Lawmakers Push Bill To Track Federal Funds Used To Discover Covid-19 Drugs
Amid ongoing concern that Covid-19 therapies and vaccines may be unaffordable, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a pair of bills Monday that would prohibit drug makers from price gouging and also require all taxpayer-funded Covid-19 research to be recorded in a federal database. The move comes as access to Covid-19 medical products emerges as a hot-button issue in the U.S. and elsewhere, with worries mounting over the extent to which a therapy or vaccine will be available in sufficient quantities at affordable prices. (Silverman, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Election Chaos Renews Focus On Gutted Voting Rights Act
When some Georgia voters endured a pandemic, pouring rain and massive waits earlier this month to cast their ballot, President Donald Trump and other Republicans blamed local Democrats for presiding over chaos. “Make no mistake, the reduction in polling places is a result of a concerted effort by Democrats to push vote-by-mail at the expense of in-person voting,” said Justin Clark, the Trump campaign’s senior counsel. “Nothing more and nothing less.” (Barrow, 6/23)

CNN: Some Public Health Officials Are Resigning Amid Threats During The Covid-19 Pandemic 
During a live public briefing on Facebook last month, "someone very casually suggested" the Los Angeles County's public health director should be shot, the director said. "I didn't immediately see the message, but my husband did, my children did, and so did my colleagues," Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Monday in a statement. It's just one of the many threats of violence public health workers are facing across the nation "on a regular basis" as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, Ferrer said. (Mossburg, Waldrop and Thomas, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Amid Threats And Political Pushback, Public Health Officials Are Leaving Their Posts 
For Lauri Jones, the trouble began in early May. The director of a small public health department in Washington state was working with a family under quarantine because of coronavirus exposure. When she heard one family member had been out in the community, Jones decided to check in.The routine phone call launched a nightmare.“Someone posted on social media that we had violated their civil liberties [and] named me by name,” Jones recalled. “They said, ‘Let’s post her address. . . . Let’s start shooting.’ ” (Weiner and Eunjung Cha, 6/22)

The New York Times: Health Officials Had To Face A Pandemic. Then Came The Death Threats.
Leaders of local and state health departments have been subject to harassment, personal insults and death threats in recent weeks, a response from a vocal and angry minority of the public who say that mask requirements and restrictions on businesses have gone too far. One top health official, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, issued a statement on Monday condemning attacks on public health directors and disclosing that she faced repeated threats to her safety. (Bosman, 6/22)

The New York Times: Public Health Experts Reject President’s View Of Fading Pandemic
Public health experts warned on Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic is not going away anytime soon. They directly contradicted President Trump’s promise that the disease that has infected more than two million Americans would “fade away” and his remarks that disparaged the value of evidence from coronavirus tests. A day after Mr. Trump told a largely maskless audience at an indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he had asked to “slow down the testing” because it inevitably increased the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, infectious disease experts countered that the latest rise of infections in the United States is real, the country’s response to the pandemic is not working and rallies like the president’s risk becoming major spreading events. (Gorman, 6/21)

Stat: Sanofi, A Straggler In The Covid-19 Vaccine Race, Accelerates Its Plans
The drug maker Sanofi Pasteur has been more cautious than some of its rivals in projecting when its Covid-19 vaccines might be ready. Now, it’s announcing an acceleration of clinical trials to reach the market faster — and striking a $425 million deal to broaden its partnership with a smaller biotech company to develop one of them. (Branswell and Feuerstein, 6/23)