Viewpoints: Politics Really Don’t Belong In This Race For A Vaccine; Taking Aim At Fauci Is Just A Way Of Shifting Blame

Boston Globe: Politics Endanger COVID-19 Vaccine
Imagine being able to visit your relatives, return to school or work, open a business, go to a live concert, and take a vacation without the fear of either contracting or spreading a deadly illness. That’s the promise that a COVID-19 vaccine holds for billions of people. If scientists develop a vaccine that is safe and effective in conferring immunity to the novel coronavirus, it could change life as we’ve come to know it in this country and around the world. But for Americans to benefit from a vaccine, it won’t be enough for one to be discovered and proven to work. To return to daily life as it was before the pandemic while protecting public health, a vaccine must be broadly available, and people will need to actually take it. At present, the US president is threatening both those crucial ingredients for success. (7/14)

CNN: How To Decide Who Gets The Covid-19 Vaccine First
Last month, Moderna Health announced advancements in Covid-19 vaccine trials, prompting speculation that a vaccine might be available as early as next year. But with this increased optimism comes challenges in manufacturing and distribution. Vaccines take time to produce, and the initial supply might not meet US demands. As the race for a Covid-19 vaccine heats up, policymakers must confront a series of pressing questions: Who should get the vaccine first, and how should that decision be made? (Andrew Peterson, 7/10)

The Washington Post: Fauci Has Been An Example Of Conscience And Courage. Trump Has Been Nothing But Weak.
When historians try to identify the most shameful documents from the Trump administration, a few are likely to stand out. For unconstitutional bigotry, it is hard to beat the initial executive order banning travel to the United States from Muslim countries. For cruelty and smallness, there is the “zero tolerance” directive to federal prosecutors that led to family separations at the border. For naked corruption, there is the transcript of the quid-pro-quo conversation between President Trump and the president of Ukraine. But for rash, foolish irresponsibility, I’d nominate the opposition research paper recently circulated by the White House in an attempt to discredit the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Anthony S. Fauci. (Michael Gerson, 7/13)

CNN: The Ludicrous Plot Against Fauci
Since 1984, scientist and physician Anthony Fauci has led America's response to infectious disease, saving countless lives and gaining the world's gratitude as he advised five prior presidents. Now, as America's coronavirus pandemic death toll passes 135,000, a sixth president needs Dr. Fauci and his expertise. Instead, aides to President Donald Trump are trashing Fauci, apparently setting him up for bureaucratic assassination. (Michael D'Antonio, 7/14)

The Washington Post: We Don’t Worry For Dr. Fauci. We Worry For The Country. 
Confronted with the gravest crisis in decades, the United States needs leadership in public health and biomedicine. Anthony S. Fauci has been preparing for such a role in a lifetime of distinguished service in science and public policy. He helped develop the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, perhaps the largest public health program ever aimed at a single disease. He joined President Trump from the podium in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, Mr. Trump is leading a despicable back-alley campaign to discredit him, to the detriment of the nation. Dr. Fauci was a steady voice of calm and reason in those early, uncertain weeks, and polls show he enjoys high levels of public confidence. But Mr. Trump and his White House decided to rush pell-mell to relax restrictions and encourage states to reopen. (7/13)

The New York Times: In Some Countries, Normal Life Is Back After The Coronavirus. Not Here. 
If you’re lucky enough to live in New Zealand, the coronavirus nightmare has been mostly over since June. After more than two weeks with no new cases, the government lifted almost all restrictions that month. The borders are still shut, but inside the country, normal life returned. It’s coming back elsewhere too. Taiwan, where most days this month no new cases have been reported, just held the Taipei Film Festival, and a recent baseball game drew 10,000 spectators. Italy was once the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak and remains in a state of emergency, but with just a few hundred new cases a day in the whole country, bars are open and tourists have started returning, though of course Americans remain banned. According to The New York Times’s figures, there were 321 new cases in all of Canada last Friday. And America? We had 68,241. (Michelle Goldberg, 7/13)

CNN: America Shuts Down Again -- Choosing Reality Over Trump's False Claims 
While President Donald Trump obsesses about his reelection hopes in his White House bubble, state and local leaders are frantically reversing state reopenings that he demanded, which turned America into the world's biggest coronavirus hotspot. As emergency rooms filled and the virus quickened its relentless march across southern and Western states, Trump stuck to the fiction that the worst is already over: "We had to close it down; now we're opening it up," the President said of the economy at the White House, patting himself on the back for saving "millions of lives." (Stephen Collinson, 7/14)

Los Angeles Times: Oh No. It's California Lockdown 2.0
Here we go again. California is back on coronavirus lockdown. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. With the harshest of initial pandemic closures lifted around Memorial Day, many Californians seemed to think the danger from the novel coronavirus was over and rushed out to make up for three terrible months of quarantine. We partied, we protested, we patronized salons and stores. And too often, we did so without maintaining a safe distance from others or wearing a face mask. Businesses ignored infection-control rules in large numbers, and some county sheriffs refused to enforce the rules. (Mariel Garza, 7/13)

Modern Healthcare: Failing To Bridge The Digital Divide 
Will Deepen Health Disparities
The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on health disparities and systemic inadequacies associated with decades-long underinvestment in public health. At the same time, the need to socially isolate has accelerated virtual solutions to address access issues, contact tracing and primary- and specialty-care services in new ways—progress that’s not likely to be reversed. (Karen Ignagni, 7/11)

Stat: In The NICU, Both Parents Need To Be At Their Child’s Bedside 
As Covid-19 surged through the United States this spring, Reina and James were told they could no longer stay with their severely ill newborn in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and could visit for only a few hours — separately. “My husband was allowed to visit for just one hour a week and had to prebook his time,” Reina (the parents’ names have been changed to protect their privacy) shared with one of us. “I was allowed to visit for two hours each day. Our baby sadly gained his wings seven days after he was born.” (Jennifer Canvasser, Kurlen Payton and Elizabeth Rogers, 7/13)

Bloomberg: Covid-19, Singapore's Elections And New Normal Political Lessons - Bloomberg
The coronavirus that has upended the world's economic and social life is turning out to be a mediocre election campaigner. The lesson of recent contests in Asia is that pre-existing conditions haven’t gone away and will likely be decisive, even in the bitterly fought U.S. campaign. Singapore's general election Friday, among the first of the Covid-19 era, saw a big swing against the entrenched incumbent party that positioned itself as best placed to steer the country through the pandemic. With a history of unbroken rule since independence in 1965, four swiftly passed stimulus bills and relatively few virus deaths, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's People's Action Party banked on receiving a strong mandate. Instead, the opposition made historic gains. (Daniel Moss, 7/12)

Boston Globe: New Mass. Law Makes Voting Safer And Easier
Amid the ongoing public health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, the state needs to make sure residents can vote as safely and easily as possible. Recent elections in other states underscore the urgency of taking proactive measures here in Massachusetts to protect our democratic process. In Georgia, voters had to wait up to seven hours to cast a ballot in their state primary after local election authorities closed dozens of polling locations amid safety concerns and accusations of voter suppression. (Finegold and Lawn, 7/8)

The Hill: The Fog Of War 
Here in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently ordered universal mask use in public. It is possible that mask use is more effective than previously thought, so use them. He and other governors also rolled back some reopening plans. However, after seeing about 10 cases early on (all survived) in our three geriatrician practices, we have not seen a COVID-19 case in over six weeks. Our local hospital is far from overwhelmed. (Dr. Thomas W. Lagrelius, 7/13)

Houston Chronicle: Gov. Abbott Must Act On Shutdown Requests As Coronavirus Surges In Texas 
The delays and denials must end. It is time for Gov. Greg Abbott to give elected officials in the Houston region and other parts of Texas being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic the power to issue stay-at-home orders. COVID-19 deaths in the state are rising, hospitals are running out of ICU beds, respirators and other crucial supplies are running low again and the U.S. military announced last week that it is deploying medical and support personnel to the state to try to deal with a growing health-care crisis. (7/13)

Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune: Ron DeSantis And The Lack Of COVID-19 Leadership 
If coronavirus were a hurricane, it seemed to reach Category 5 status over the weekend. More than ever, Florida needs decisive, resolute guidance to get through this storm.Instead, Ron DeSantis continues to muddle and spin his way through. For every good move, there have been too many missteps. (7/13)