Colorado Lawmakers Shelve 2020 Plans To Pass Public Option Bill; Contact Tracing Is Key Strategy For Massachusetts

Modern Healthcare: Colorado Tables Public Option Bill Thanks To COVID-19
Colorado lawmakers put their controversial public option plan on ice Monday, saying that consumers, providers and other stakeholders haven't been able to weigh in on the bill because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill's sponsors promised to resurrect the effort next year, arguing that the economic fallout from the outbreak demonstrates that there's a need for more affordable health coverage options in the state. (Brady, 5/5)

WBUR: Here's How Coronavirus Contact Tracing Works In Massachusetts 
It’s been a month since Gov. Charlie Baker announced a dramatic expansion of efforts to reach everyone who tests positive for the coronavirus, make sure they are in isolation and then track and test all of their close contacts to stop the spread. It's called contact tracing and Baker says it's a key piece of his strategy to control the coronavirus and reassure the public. (Bebinger, 5/5)

WBUR: Almost 1,000 Prisoners Released In Mass. Amid Pandemic 
Close to 1,000 Massachusetts prisoners have been released in the past month, according to a state report on releases and testing for the coronavirus. The report, from the state Supreme Judicial Court, says 993 prisoners have been released from Massachusetts jails and prisons since April 3. It's not clear how many people were let out solely because of the pandemic or how many were previously scheduled to be released. (Becker, 5/5)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Lawmakers Will Debate Bill To Provide Marijuana Businesses With Coronavirus Relief Funds
Massachusetts lawmakers will hold a virtual hearing Tuesday to discuss a proposal to establish a state-level coronavirus relief program that would extend benefits to the marijuana industry and other businesses that are currently excluded from receiving federal COVID-19 funds. The Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses won’t meet in person due to the pandemic, but they will hold a Zoom hearing to debate the bill, which was filed by Chairwoman Diana DiZoglio last month. (Jaeger, 5/5)

Boston Globe: Mass. Dentists Gearing Up For Expanded Services Amid Coronavirus Pandemic 
Virtual waiting rooms. Patient and staff temperature checks. Workers outfitted with gowns, gloves, masks and hairnets. Glass partitions at the front desk. Longer periods between patients, so employees can sanitize treatment areas. Those are just a few of the safeguards being implemented by dentists around the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic, before the May 18 date designated by the Massachusetts Dental Society as the target for practices to resume offering elective and non-urgent care, in addition to emergency procedures that have continued during the health crisis. (Andersen, 5/5)

Boston Globe: Raimondo Orders All R.I. Residents To Wear Masks In Public; Coronavirus Deaths Reach 355
With “phase one” of Governor Gina Raimondo’s plan to reopen Rhode Island’s economy set to begin this weekend, Raimondo announced Tuesday that she will sign an executive order requiring all residents to wear a mask whenever they are in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The order, which will take effect Friday, expands on an existing policy that requires employees at “customer-facing” businesses to wear masks. Raimondo has previously urged all residents to wear masks in public, but the policy was not mandatory. (McGowan, 5/5)

ABC News: As NYC Subways Prepare For Disinfecting, Homeless Will Have To Find Alternate Refuge 
The New York City subway system will close overnight for the first time in at least 50 years when workers in the fight against COVID-19 begin daily cleanings of the system's 472 stations Wednesday. To accomplish the cleanings, which will take place each day from 1-5 a.m. until further notice, authorities will remove scores of the city's homeless who have been sleeping on the nearly-empty trains. (Torres and Katersky, 5/5)

KQED: California, City Attorneys Sue Uber And Lyft Over Worker Misclassification 
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, joined by city attorneys in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other jurisdictions across the state, filed a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft over their use of contractors. The suit aims to force the two companies to recognize their workers as employees under the authority of Assembly Bill 5, a state law that went into effect this year that significantly limits which workers can be classified as contractors. (Harnett, 5/5)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: Appeals Court Rules ICE Doesn't Have To Immediately Release Migrants
A panel of three 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges on Tuesday overruled a lower court’s order to significantly reduce the number of detainees held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility northeast of Los Angeles. The decision by judges Barry Silverman, Jacqueline Nguyen and Daniel Collins came in response to an emergency request by the Trump administration to halt the April 23 preliminary injunction ruling by U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter while it appeals his order. A preliminary injunction is temporarily issued early in a lawsuit to stop defendants from continuing harmful actions as the case moves forward. (Castillo, 5/5)

PBS NewsHour: When Lifesaving COVID-19 Care Arrives By Helicopter
Regional and rural hospitals can be ill-equipped to handle serious coronavirus cases -- so additional care comes to the patient. Jennifer Adamski is a critical care nurse practitioner with the Cleveland Clinic, an Ohio-based hospital system that dispatches her far and wide to retrieve patients in need, often via helicopter. (Brangham and Kane, 5/5)