First Edition: Nov. 3, 2020
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Feds Approve Fractious Georgia Plan To Change ACA Marketplace
With the Trump administration announcing two days before Election Day that Georgia’s healthcare.gov website will no longer provide options for residents shopping for plans starting in 2022, consumers will need to rely on private brokers, insurance companies, agents and commercial websites. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who pushed the plan, argued that this would give private entities an opening to aggressively advertise and compete for consumers and increase the number of plans sold for 2023. (Rau, 11/3)
KHN:
The Best COVID Warning System? Poop And Pooled Spit, Says One Colorado School
Carol Wilusz’s mornings now often start at 4 a.m., scanning the contents of undergraduates’ feces. Specifically, scanning the data on how much coronavirus they flushed into the shadows, destined to be extracted from 17 manholes connected to dorm buildings on Colorado State University’s Fort Collins campus. “There are quite extensive numbers of poop jokes,” said Wilusz, a CSU molecular biologist. (Bichell, 11/3)
KHN:
‘No Mercy’ Chapter 6: Trickle-Down Heartache Reaches The Next Generation In A Rural Town With No Hospital
Josh is 17. He said he smokes marijuana. He struggles with anger. He’s also juggling some extraordinary responsibilities for a teenager. Josh’s mother died of a drug overdose when he was 3 years old and he has lived with his grandparents ever since. When his grandfather’s heart started failing, Josh and his grandmother followed as his grandfather was shuttled from one regional hospital to another. The family couldn’t pay their light bill and struggled to find the money to pay for gas for the car. They wanted to stay nearby as Josh’s grandfather recovered in the hospital, but paying for a hotel was another financial burden. (Tribble, 11/3)
KHN:
Seniors Form COVID Pods To Ward Off Isolation This Winter
Over the past month, Dr. Richard Besdine and his wife have been discussing whether to see family and friends indoors this fall and winter. He thinks they should, so long as people have been taking strict precautions during the coronavirus pandemic. She’s not convinced it’s safe, given the heightened risk of viral transmission in indoor spaces. (Graham, 11/3)
KHN and Politifact:
How COVID Death Counts Become The Stuff Of Conspiracy Theories
In the waning days of the campaign, President Donald Trump complained repeatedly about how the United States tracks the number of people who have died from COVID-19, claiming, “This country and its reporting systems are just not doing it right.” He went on to blame those reporting systems for inflating the number of deaths, pointing a finger at medical professionals, who he said benefit financially. All that feeds into the swirling political doubts that surround the pandemic, and raises questions about how deaths are reported and tallied. (Knight and Appleby, 11/2)
KHN and The Guardian:
‘His Lies Are Killing My Neighbors’: Swing-State Doctors Target Trump
Dr. Chris Kapsner intubated his first COVID-19 patient — a 47-year-old man who arrived short of breath at an emergency room in Minnesota’s Twin Cities — back in April. Now, seven months later, Kapsner, who lives across the border in Wisconsin, is weary and exhausted from the steady stream of patients arriving with a virus that is spreading across this part of the Midwest. Hospital beds and personal protective equipment are in short supply, and his colleagues are getting sick. “Even if we put up all the field tents in the world, we don’t have the staff for this,” he said. (Renwick, 11/2)
AP:
Huge Voter Turnout Expected Despite Virus, Political Rancor
The scourge of a global pandemic produced an election season like no other in the U.S., persuading record numbers of Americans to cast their ballots early, forcing states to make changes to long-established election procedures and leading to hundreds of lawsuits over how votes will be cast and which ballots will be counted. Polls were to open Tuesday as election officials warned that millions of absentee ballots could slow the tallies, perhaps for days, in some key battleground states and as President Donald Trump threatened legal action to prevent ballots from being counted after Election Day. (Cassidy and Izaguirre, 11/3)
CNN:
Americans Head To Polls Amid Harrowing Covid-19 Surge That Has Nearly Doubled The US 7-Day Case Average In A Month
As Americans head to the voting booths Tuesday, the devastating Covid-19 pandemic looms: surging across the US yet again, setting grim records and forecast to take tens of thousands more lives across the country in the coming months. Experts have warned this bout with the virus will be the worst one yet -- and alarming trends are already pointing in that direction. In just one month, the country's 7-day case average jumped by more than 97%. (Maxouris, 11/3)
The Washington Post:
Unlike Previous Lethal Viruses, This One Will Define A Major Election
For at least the fourth time in a century, voters will go to the polls amid a lethal viral outbreak, but unlike previous elections held in the shadow of flu, polio and HIV, the novel coronavirus — and the destruction it has unleashed — will almost certainly define the 2020 contest. ... Two-thirds of the public now personally know one of the 9.25 million people who have tested positive for the virus — a new high — polls show. And even more think the worst of the pandemic is yet to come. (Bernstein and Achenbach, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Coronavirus Updates: CDC Says People Who Test Positive For Covid-19 Can Still Vote In Person
As the United States faces what one top health official called “the most concerning and most deadly phase” of a pandemic that has already claimed at least 230,000 American lives, record numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalizations are forcing doctors in rural states to get creative. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that people who are in isolation after testing positive can still cast ballots in person. In newly-updated guidance published Sunday, the agency says that voters who have tested positive or may have been exposed to the coronavirus should follow the standard advice to wear a mask, stay at least six feet away from others and sanitize their hands before and after voting. “You should also let poll workers know that you are sick or in quarantine when you arrive at the polling location,” the CDC’s website states. (Noori Farzan, 11/3)
The Washington Post:
Officials Prepare For The Unpredictable As A Tense Election Day Arrives
With tensions flaring across the country leading up to Election Day, officials, experts and activists have been gearing up for an array of possibilities about what they might face, including potential voter intimidation, clashes around the polls or spiraling unrest. “It’s the unknown that creates all the anxiety for us,” Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said in an interview Monday. “How do you know what’s going to happen?” (Berman, Hauslohner and Hamburger, 11/2)
The New York Times:
National Guard Readies For Election Day Deployment
Communities are bracing for protest regardless of the election’s outcome. If demonstrations turn violent and overwhelm the local police, governors will almost certainly call out their states’ National Guard. Under federal law, it is the Guard, not active-duty military, that can enforce order on domestic soil. It has already happened dozens of times this year in cities across the country. States are already on alert for violence. On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts ordered 1,000 members of the National Guard to be on standby in case of turmoil following Tuesday’s election. (Phillipps, 11/2)
NPR:
Cities And Businesses Prepare For Post-Election Unrest, Violence
Phil Brach spent the weekend putting huge sheets of plywood up over the massive glass windows of the store where he works, Rodman's Food and Drug in Washington, D.C., in preparation for Election Day. "We'll probably go up two or three boards high," Brach says. Across the country, there are growing concerns that the bitterness and animosity over the presidential election will not end when the polls close Tuesday night. From coast to coast, cities are preparing for possible protests, civil unrest and violence, regardless of the election's outcome. (Schaper, Penaloza and Baker, 10/2)
The New York Times:
America Picks Its President As It Faces Joblessness, Coronavirus And Anxiety
A nation with nearly 8 percent unemployment and mourning more than 231,000 Covid deaths, where four out of five Americans say they feel nervous about the country’s future, gets a final chance Tuesday to decide which candidate is best equipped to lead it past those daunting numbers. The division and anxiety are evident in conversations among voters in long lines outside early voting places and across browning autumn lawns where warring yard signs pit neighbor against neighbor. Here in the middle of the country, where case counts are surging and college football games were postponed after much angst this past weekend, the worry is all connected, from people on either side of the political chasm. (Searcey, Badger, Cohen and Smith, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Caregivers Have Witnessed The Coronavirus’s Pain. How Will They Vote?
Few groups have witnessed more of the virus’s horrors than caregivers — frontline workers who have grappled with the public health crisis while trying to help older people at risk of isolation, distress and, in some cases, death. The deaths of almost 40 percent of all Americans killed by the coronavirus have been linked to nursing homes and similar facilities — indoor spaces crowded with vulnerable adults. ... In interviews ahead of the election with more than a dozen caregivers in Pennsylvania, one of the country’s most important battleground states, they described how their experiences are shaping their political outlooks. (Stevens, 11/1)
NPR:
Voters Are Motivated To Keep Protections For Preexisting Conditions
In swing states from Georgia to Arizona, the Affordable Care Act — and concerns over protecting preexisting conditions — loom over key races for Congress and the presidency. "I can't even believe it's in jeopardy," says Noshin Rafieei, a 36-year-old from Phoenix. "The people that are trying to eliminate the protection for individuals such as myself with preexisting conditions, they must not understand what it's like." (Stone, 11/2)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
What Will Election Day Look Like At Polls? Lots Of Sanitizing And Be Prepared To Wait
On Nov. 3, the typical sights and rituals of Election Day will be changed by the coronavirus pandemic. The changes will start with some elections officials greeting voters from tables behind plexiglass shields, but they won’t stop there. The typical lines may form at peak hours in the morning and late evening, but they could look longer than in the past as people maintain social distance before doing their civic duty. (Headley, 11/3)
The New York Times:
‘It’s Just Crazy’ In Pennsylvania: Mail Voting And The Anxiety That Followed
“Hello, Elections.” “Hello, Elections.” “Hello, Elections.” The rapid-fire calls were pouring in to Marybeth Kuznik, the one-woman Elections Department of Armstrong County, a few days before Election Day. “This is crazy,” she told an anxious caller. “Crazy, crazy, crazy. It’s a good thing because everybody should vote,” she added, “but it’s just crazy.” Armstrong County, northeast of Pittsburgh, is one of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties with 44,829 registered voters. But it is a microcosm of the high tension, confusion and deep uncertainty that have accompanied the broad expansion of mail-in voting this year, during an election of passionate intensity. (Gabriel, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Michigan Residents Brave Long Lines To Cast Early Ballots
On the eve of Election Day, Michigan voters swarmed to polling sites to cast their ballots, in many cases braving long lines and unforgiving weather to ensure their voices were heard in what some described as the most consequential election of their lifetimes. The secretary of state’s office reported some 2.9 million absentee ballots had been cast — about 60 percent of the ballots cast in Michigan in 2016. Nationwide, at least 98 million people already have voted, about 70 percent of the total vote from four years ago. (Ruble, Sofradzija and Balingit, 11/2)
NPR:
Texas Drive-Through Ballots To Be Counted After Federal Court's Ruling
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen on Monday threw out a suit challenging the legality of some 127,000 votes cast at drive-through voting sites in the Houston area. He ruled the plaintiffs don't have legal standing to sue. Harris County, Texas' most populous county and majority-Democratic, erected 10 drive-through sites, mostly tents, to expedite the early voting process as a way of allowing people to cast ballots safely during the coronavirus pandemic. They were also in place this summer before the state's primary. Noting that point, Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, asked plaintiffs, "Why am I just getting this case?" He later said that the suit was not timely and that "this has been going on all summer." (Naylor, 11/2)
NPR:
Nevada Judge Blocks Republican Lawsuit Over Mail-In Ballot Count
A Nevada judge has rejected a lawsuit by President Trump's reelection campaign and state Republican officials seeking to halt mail-in ballot counting in Clark County. The county, home to Las Vegas, is by far the state's most populous. About 70% of Nevada's voters live in the county, which is "heavily Democratic," CNN reports. (Wamsley, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
As Election Day Arrives, A Fight About Military Ballots Takes Center Stage
Voting by U.S. troops has been thrust into the spotlight as a bitter election campaign comes to a close, with opponents of President Trump alleging that his efforts to limit mail-in voting could disenfranchise military families. Democrats have raised the issue repeatedly after the president said last week that it would be “very proper and very nice” if a winner was declared on Election Day. Trump added that it was “totally inappropriate” for ballots that arrive later to be included, even though the votes of hundreds of thousands of service members that are sent by mail have been counted afterward for years. (Lamothe and Sonne, 11/2)
The New York Times:
As Voting Nears End, Battle Intensifies Over Which Ballots Will Count
With the election coming to a close, the Trump and Biden campaigns, voting rights organizations and conservative groups are raising money and dispatching armies of lawyers for what could become a state-by-state, county-by-county legal battle over which ballots will ultimately be counted. The deployments — involving hundreds of lawyers on both sides — go well beyond what has become normal since the disputed outcome in 2000, and are the result of the open efforts of President Trump and the Republicans to disqualify votes on technicalities and baseless charges of fraud at the end of a campaign in which the voting system has been severely tested by the coronavirus pandemic. (Rutenberg, Schmidt, Corasaniti and Baker, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Fewer Ballots Rejected By Election Officials This Election
With absentee ballots flooding election offices nationwide, the officials processing them are tentatively reporting some surprising news: The share of ballots being rejected because of flawed signatures and other errors appears lower — sometimes much lower — than in the past. Should that trend hold, it could prove significant in an election in which the bulk of absentee voters has been Democratic, and Republicans have fought furiously, in court and on the stump, to discard mail ballots as fraudulent. (Wines, 11/2)
Politico:
‘Something Must Be Done’: Trump Lashes Supreme Court For Ruling On Pennsylvania Ballots
President Donald Trump railed against the Supreme Court on Monday for its decision to allow an extended count of Pennsylvania mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day, tweeting that doing so would lead to violent unrest in the country. “The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one,” Trump tweeted on Monday evening, only hours before Election Day. “It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!” (Choi, 11/2)
USA Today:
Twitter Posts Warning On President Trump’s Election Eve Supreme Court Tweet
Twitter posted a warning label on an election-eve tweet from President Donald Trump on Monday, noting that his assertion that a recent Supreme Court decision could lead to problems in the election is misleading. Trump has repeatedly slammed a Supreme Court decision last week that will allow some absentee ballots to be received after Election Day in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. In a tweet Monday, Trump took the complaint a step farther, arguing it would prompt “rampant” cheating and “violence in the streets.” There is no evidence that either outcome is likely and the court's decision was far more limited than Trump’s portrayal. (Fritze and Subramanian, 11/2)
The Hill:
Trump Ramps Up Fauci Attacks On Eve Of Election Dominated By COVID-19
President Trump is ramping up his attacks on Anthony Fauci in the closing hours of the 2020 campaign, increasing tensions with the nation's top infectious disease doctor as the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the country. During a rally that lasted well past midnight into Monday morning, Trump suggested he might fire Fauci after Tuesday’s election. (Weixel, 11/2)
The Hill:
Obama Rips Trump Over Suggestion That He May Fire Fauci
Former President Obama hammered President Trump on Monday for suggesting that he may fire Anthony Fauci after Election Day, saying that Trump’s “second-term plan” is to oust “the one person who can actually help them contain” the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a rally in Atlanta on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia, Obama expressed incredulity at Trump’s suggestion on Sunday that he may try to have Fauci removed from his post at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases following the 2020 general election. (11/2)
AP:
Widely Shared Photo Of Biden Without Mask Was Taken In 2019
President Donald Trump’s supporters have seized on a photo circulating on Twitter since late Sunday that shows Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden not wearing a mask while he talks to a campaign staffer on a plane. Why wasn’t Biden, who has made a point to put on a facial covering throughout the campaign, wearing a mask? Because the photo was taken in November 2019. ... The image was shared on Twitter by Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, where it was liked and shared from his account more than 50,000 times. (Seitz, 11/2)
ProPublica:
Misinformation Image On WeChat Attempts To Frighten Chinese Americans Out Of Voting
At least two dozen groups on the Chinese-owned social media app WeChat have been circulating misinformation that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is “preparing to mobilize” the National Guard and “dispatch” the military to quell impending riots, apparently in an attempt to frighten Chinese Americans into staying home on Election Day. The misinformation, which takes the form of a photo of a flyer and is in both English and Chinese, also warns that the government plans to impose a national two-week quarantine and close all businesses. (Rodriguez, Lin and Huseman, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Birx Suggests The White House Has Spent Too Much Time On Preventing Lockdowns And Not Enough On Controlling The Virus.
Dr. Deborah L. Birx, who has carefully straddled the line between science and politics as she helps lead the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, delivered a stark private warning on Monday, telling White House officials that the pandemic is entering a new and “deadly phase” that demands a more aggressive approach. The warning, contained in a private memo to White House officials as the nation’s daily coronavirus caseload has broken records and approached 100,000, amounted to a direct contradiction of President Trump’s repeated — and inaccurate — assertions that the pandemic is “rounding the corner.” (11/3)
PBS NewsHour:
‘We Can’t Give Up.’ U.S. Can Still Control The Spread Of COVID-19, Experts Say
In the final days before voting wraps up in the 2020 presidential election, the United States has repeatedly broken its record for new daily cases of COVID-19 and seen hospitals overwhelmed with treating them. Yet top officials from the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump himself, seem to reject the worsening conditions that could lead to tens of thousands more deaths. Instead, Trump has incorrectly suggested the country is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic, a leading adviser has floated talk of herd immunity and shared misinformation about face masks, while another senior official publicly stated that the U.S. strategy is not focused on curbing the virus’ spread. (Santhanam, 11/2)
The Hill:
Pelosi At Ceremony Marking Number Of US Coronavirus Deaths: 'It's Almost Incomprehensible'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday called the U.S. coronavirus death toll “almost incomprehensible” while speaking at an art installation paying tribute to the dead. “It’s almost incomprehensible that here in America this would happen,” Pelosi said Monday at the ceremony, where celebrity chef José Andrés and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) also made remarks at the DC Armory Parade Ground in front of RFK Stadium in the nation's capital. (Budryk, 11/2)
CNN:
A 13-Year-Old Missouri Boy's Last Day Of School Was In Late October. He Died From Covid-19 Days Later
An eighth grade student from Missouri passed away from complications related to Covid-19, officials in his school district said. Peyton Baumgarth, 13, died over the weekend, Dr. Lori VanLeer, the superintendent of his school system in Washington, said in a statement sent to families in the district. Peyton is the youngest person to pass away from Covid-19 in the state of Missouri according to state records. (Johnson, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Justice Amy Coney Barrett Hears Her First Supreme Court Argument
Justice Amy Coney Barrett heard her first Supreme Court argument on Monday, asking assured and probing questions in a case on the Freedom of Information Act. ... And with the court hearing arguments by phone on Monday because of the pandemic, Justice Barrett did not join her colleagues on the bench and take the junior justice’s traditional seat on its far right. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did start Monday’s session by greeting the newest justice. (Liptak, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Supreme Court Sides With Black Lives Matter Activist DeRay Mckesson In First Amendment Case
The Supreme Court sided in separate cases with a Black Lives Matter activist and a Texas prison inmate Monday, and new justice Amy Coney Barrett became the court’s first member to make her debut via telephone. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. welcomed the 48-year-old Barrett to her lifetime appointment with a wish for a “long and happy career in our common calling.” The court last met in person to do its work in March — it has been holding arguments by teleconference since May because of the threat of the coronavirus. (Barnes, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Lafayette Square Protester Accused Of Assault ID'd With Facial Recognition
A line of U.S. Park Police officers pushed protesters back from Lafayette Square on June 1, firing pepper balls and rolling canisters spewing irritant gas into the retreating crowds on H Street NW, video shows. Amid screams and smoke, a man in a tie-dye T-shirt pulled an officer to the ground and punched him in the face, before disappearing into the chaos, according to charging documents. The man grabbed another officer, before police caught up with him and attempted to make an arrest, authorities said. But the man wrestled free and vanished once again. The protester might never have been identified, but an officer found an image of the man on Twitter and investigators fed it into a facial recognition system, court documents state. They found a match and made an arrest. (Jouvenal and Hsu, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
The Health 202: Obamacare Marketplaces Survived Trump's Term Better Than Expected
“The overall impact of the Trump administration’s policies towards the marketplaces have probably been more muted than most expected — at least so far,” said Adam Gaffney, a professor at Harvard Medical School and president of Physicians for a National Health Program. To the concern of health-care advocates, enrollment has ticked down over the past four years, contributing to the nation’s worsening uninsured rate amid the coronavirus pandemic and fueling a growing sense among Democrats that further health restructuring is needed. Yet by some measures, the marketplaces look healthier than ever. (Cunningham, 11/2)
Politico:
Pelosi Eyes Reconciliation To Boost Obamacare, Pandemic Aid
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday said Democrats will deploy budget reconciliation procedures next year to enhance the Affordable Care Act and provide additional pandemic relief if the party secures a narrow majority in the Senate, wins the White House and maintains control of the House. “We’ll almost certainly be passing a reconciliation bill, not only for the Affordable Care Act, but for what we may want to do further on the pandemic and some other issues that relate to the well-being of the American people,” Pelosi said on a call sponsored by the liberal group Protect Our Care. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments next week in the Trump administration’s push to overturn the health care law. (Emma, 11/2)
The Hill:
Pelosi Says Democrats Would Fast-Track ObamaCare, COVID-19 Aid Next Year
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that, given control of both chambers of Congress next year, Democrats intend to fast-track legislation to strengthen ObamaCare and provide coronavirus relief. To do so, they would lean on a special budget procedure, known as reconciliation, that empowers the majority party in the Senate to move legislation with just a simple majority — a move that would erase the minority party's filibuster powers. (Lillis, 11/2)
The Hill:
ObamaCare Enrollment Faces New Challenges From Courts, COVID-19
The Affordable Care Act’s annual open enrollment period kicked off Sunday amidst uncertainty caused by legal challenges to the law as well as the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people have lost their health coverage this year after losing their jobs in the economic downturn caused by the health pandemic. Open enrollment risks being overshadowed by the disruptions caused by the pandemic, elections, and the Supreme Court’s pending oral arguments and eventual decision in a case challenging the ACA’s constitutionality. (Hellmann, 11/2)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Signs Off On New Payments To Encourage Home Dialysis
CMS on Monday signed off on its proposal to pay providers extra money if they use home dialysis machines to treat end-stage renal disease patients. The final rule expands a transitional add-on payment to cover home dialysis machines that CMS Administrator Seema Verma touted in July when the agency proposed it, saying the COVID-19 highlighted the need to increase home dialysis access. (Brady, 11/2)
AP:
Hospitals Competing For Nurses As US Coronavirus Cases Surge
As the coronavirus pandemic surges across the nation and infections and hospitalizations rise, medical administrators are scrambling to find enough nursing help — especially in rural areas and at small hospitals. Nurses are being trained to provide care in fields where they have limited experience. Hospitals are scaling back services to ensure enough staff to handle critically ill patients. And health systems are turning to short-term travel nurses to help fill the gaps. (Webber, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Pregnant Women Are More Likely To Die From The Coronavirus, Though Risk Remains Small
Pregnant women who catch the coronavirus are at greater risk of death and severe illness than women who are not pregnant, even as the risk overall remains small, according to federal statistics released Monday. The data — the most comprehensive U.S. accounting to date of how the virus affects pregnant women — shows that pregnant women are almost three times more likely to be admitted to intensive care units, and more than three times more likely to be put on a ventilator. The findings echo previous studies linking pregnancy to increased risk for severe illness. (Wan, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Pregnant Women Face Increased Risks From Covid
U.S. health officials on Monday added pregnancy to the list of conditions that put people with Covid-19 at increased risk of developing severe illness, including a heightened risk of death. While most pregnant women infected with the coronavirus have not become severely ill, the new caution is based on a large study that looked at tens of thousands of pregnant women who had Covid-19 symptoms. (Rabin, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Coronavirus Rapid Testing Falters In People Without Symptoms: Study
A new study casts doubt on whether rapid tests perform as promised under real-world conditions, especially when used in people without symptoms. In a head-to-head comparison, researchers at the University of Arizona found that, in symptomatic people, a rapid test made by Quidel could detect more than 80 percent of coronavirus infections found by a slower, lab-based P.C.R. test. But when the rapid test was used instead to randomly screen students and staff members who did not feel sick, it detected only 32 percent of the positive cases identified by the P.C.R. test. (Wu, 11/2)
CIDRAP:
Confronting The Notion That Face Masks Reduce COVID 'Dose'
When two physicians at the University of California at San Francisco published a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on Sep 8 proposing to resurrect the 18th century practice of variolation using face coverings to prevent severe COVID-19 and confer immunity, the Internet lit up with headlines such as "Coronavirus: Another reason for that mask: You'll get less sick." The paper, written by Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, and George Rutherford, MD, suggested that face coverings, in the absence of a vaccine, could reduce the inhaled dose of coronavirus by filtering some virus-containing droplets, leading to asymptomatic or mild disease and stimulating T- and B-cell immunity. (Van Beusekom, 11/2)
Bloomberg:
Covid Patients Show Immunity Gauge Lasting Six Months In Study
A crucial type of defensive blood cell persists for at least six months in people after Covid-19, even in those who had no symptoms, in a new study that may ease concern about waning immunity and its implications for a vaccine. The research on 100 people shows that all had T-cell responses against a range of the coronavirus’s proteins, including the spike protein used as a marker in many vaccine studies, after half a year. Those who experienced symptoms had levels that were at least 50% higher than those who didn’t. (Fourcade, 11/3)
AP:
Does Weather Affect The Spread Of The Coronavirus Outside?
The World Health Organization says the virus can be transmitted in any kind of weather and that there is no reason to believe that cold weather can kill it. The U.N. health agency says the virus is mainly spread between people. Rain and snow might dilute any traces of the virus on benches or other outside objects, but transmission from surfaces is not believed to be a major contributor to the pandemic. (11/3)
CNN:
Metformin Recall: Type 2 Diabetes Drug Recalled Over Contamination With Possible Carcinogen
Two lots of a widely used type 2 diabetes medication, metformin, are being recalled due to possible contamination with a potentially cancer-causing compound. Metformin is designed to lower glucose levels. Nostrum Laboratories Inc., based in Kansas City, Missouri, announced Monday that it is voluntarily recalling its metformin HCl extended release tablets, USP 750 mg, according to a recall posted by the US Drug & Food Administration. (Erdman, 11/3)
AP:
South African Firm And Johnson & Johnson Strike Vaccine Deal
South African pharmaceutical firm Aspen Pharmacare has announced a deal with U.S. firm Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, if it is approved in South Africa and internationally. In a statement issued on Monday, Aspen said that if ongoing trials bring international health authorities to endorse the J&J vaccine as effective and safe, it would be produced at Aspen’s manufacturing facility in Port Elizabeth in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. (Magome, 11/2)
AP:
California Health Group To Pay $31.5M Over Drug Billing
A non-profit California health care chain will pay more than $31.5 million to settle allegations that it overbilled Medi-Cal for drugs bought through a federal program, authorities said Monday. Memorial Health Services, based in Fountain Valley southeast of Los Angeles, didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing in agreeing to the payment, according to statements from the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office. (11/2)
Stat:
Takeda Hikes Price Of Common Gastrointestinal Drug Again
Two weeks ago, Takeda Pharmaceuticals raised the list price of its Entyvio treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease by 4%, to nearly $7,000 for a vial. This followed an earlier 4% price hike last January, which means the company boosted the list price for its medicine by 8% this year. (Silverman, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
Colleges To Ramp Up Coronavirus Testing Before Thanksgiving
The State University of New York announced recently that students who use on-campus facilities in the public system must test negative before heading home. That will require testing 140,000 students statewide during a 10-day period before the break. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras called it “a smart, sensible policy that protects students’ families and hometown communities and drastically reduces the chances of covid-19 community spread.” Not all schools go as far as SUNY’s mandate. But experts say that even giving students a chance to get a pre-Thanksgiving test is an important step. (Anderson, 11/2)
The New York Times:
Dementia ‘Took Its Toll’ On Sean Connery, Wife Says
Sean Connery, the actor who originated the role of James Bond, had dementia in the last few months of his life, his wife, Micheline Roquebrune, told The Daily Mail. Mr. Connery died this weekend at age 90 in the Bahamas. Ms. Roquebrune, who was married to Mr. Connery for 45 years, said the actor “was not able to express himself” in the months leading up to his death. “It was no life for him,” she said. “At least he died in his sleep and it was just so peaceful.” (Bahr, 11/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
AI May Help Identify Patients With Early-Stage Dementia
Researchers are studying whether artificial-intelligence tools that analyze things like typing speed, sleep patterns and speech can be used to help clinicians better identify patients with early-stage dementia. Huge quantities of data reflecting our ability to think and process information are now widely available, thanks to watches and phones that track movement and heart rate, as well as tablets, computers and virtual assistants such as Amazon Echo that can record the way we type, search the internet and pay bills. (Wang, 11/2)
NPR:
Mass. Governor Implements New Coronavirus Restrictions
Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of new coronavirus restrictions Monday--including requiring face coverings for all residents over the age of five, in an attempt to curb the rising cases of Covid-19 in the state. Baker announced Massachusetts would revise current public health emergency rules to require everyone to wear face coverings in all public places, indoors or outdoors, even where they are able to maintain six feet of distance from others, according to the executive order released today. This still allows for an exception for residents who can't wear masks due to a medical or disabling condition. (Diaz, 11/2)
The Hill:
Judge Rules To Limit California Governor Powers Amid Pandemic
A judge ruled on Monday to limit California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) executive powers during a pandemic. Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman issued a preliminary order for Newsom to stop making executive orders that could contradict state laws, after determining one of his orders was “an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power.” (Coleman, 11/2)
The Washington Post:
In Arizona, The Coronavirus Raged. With Masks And Other Measures, It Subsided. What Can It Teach America?
As temperatures in Arizona shot toward their summer peaks, so did the state’s coronavirus crisis. Lines for drive-up testing snaked for blocks in June. Hospitals were running out of beds, bodies were being stored in coolers, and the state’s per capita caseload topped global charts. But by mid-August, the Southwest hot spot made a remarkable reversal. Cases plummeted 75 percent. (Brulliard and Duda, 11/2)
Des Moines Register:
Iowa Hospitals 'entering The Danger Zone' As COVID-19 Pandemic Worsens
Leaders of Iowa's largest hospital systems say the COVID-19 surge is stretching their facilities and threatens to get worse. "What we're entering is the danger zone," Suresh Gunasekaran, chief executive officer of University of Iowa Hospitals, told reporters Monday. Iowa hospitalizations for the disease, caused by the coronavirus, have nearly doubled in a month, according to state statistics. On Monday afternoon, the Iowa Department of Public Health was reporting 718 people being treated in Iowa hospitals for the disease, including 156 in intensive-care units. (Leys, 11/2)