First Edition: April 10, 2020

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: ‘Baby, I Can’t Breathe’: America’s First ER Doctor To Die In Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
At about 5 a.m. on March 19, a New York City ER physician named Frank Gabrin texted a friend about his concerns over the lack of medical supplies at hospitals. “It’s busy ― everyone wants a COVID test that I do not have to give them,” he wrote in the message to Eddy Soffer. “So they are angry and disappointed. ”Worse, though, was the limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) — the masks and gloves that help keep health care workers from getting sick and spreading the virus to others. (Gee, 4/9)

Kaiser Health News: To ‘Keep The Lights On,’ Doctors And Hospitals Ask For Advance Medicare Payments
Darrin Menard, a family physician in Lafayette, Louisiana, has spent the past month easing patients’ anxieties about the coronavirus that has killed 10 people in his parish so far. But Menard has his own fears: How will his medical practice survive the pandemic? His office typically sees 70 patients a day, but now it handles half that amount and many of those appointments are done over the phone or computer. (Galewitz, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: Millennial Zeitgeist: Attitudes About COVID-19 Shift As Cases Among Young Adults Rise
When Laura Mae, 27, first heard about the coronavirus, it didn’t seem like a big deal. “I’m in college, and school was still going on. It didn’t really sink in,” she said. “And once it did start spreading, I thought, if I did get it, I’m young and healthy, I’ll be fine. I don’t need to worry.” It was Saturday, March 14, and concerns about the coronavirus were amping up around the nation, said Laura Mae, who lives in Milwaukee. (Knight, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: A Colorado Ski Community Planned To Test Everyone For COVID-19. Here’s What Happened. 
In late March, residents of the Colorado town of Telluride and surrounding San Miguel County stood in line, along marked spots spaced 6 feet apart, to have their blood drawn by medical technicians wearing Tyvek suits, face shields and gloves for a new COVID-19 test. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tests for the virus that causes the respiratory illness have been in short supply since the outbreak began, this was a new type of test. (Aschwanden, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: Comic Relief From COVID-19: Leaders Really Meme It When They Say Stay Home
As their city confronts a wave of COVID-19 patients, Chicagoans are managing to get some belly laughs. The source? Memes of their leader staring down would-be social-distancing violators. In one doctored image, a somber Mayor Lori Lightfoot peers down from the roof of the famous Superdawg hotdog stand alongside a pair of wiener statues. (Jaklevic, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Who Will Pay For COVID-19 Care?
In the absence of clear leadership from the federal government, states and private companies are pursuing their own plans to help Americans cope with the coronavirus pandemic. But while there are many examples of public and private officials working cooperatively, underlying political battles are also taking place, particularly when it comes to how to distribute funding already provided by Congress and funding that may be provided in the coming weeks and months. (4/9)

Reuters: U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 16,000: Reuters Tally
U.S. deaths due to coronavirus topped 16,400 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, although there are signs the outbreak might be nearing a peak. U.S. officials warned Americans to expect alarming numbers of coronavirus deaths this week, even as there was evidence that the number of new infections was flattening in New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. But Americans must resist the temptation to backslide on social distancing now that signs of progress have emerged in the battle against the coronavirus outbreak, U.S. medical and state officials said on Thursday. (Shumaker, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Climbs To World’s Second Highest 
U.S. confirmed cases rose to more than 466,000, according to Johns Hopkins, though the actual number is likely higher, experts say, due to lack of widespread testing, false negatives and differences in reporting standards. The number of U.S. deaths was 16,686. In comparison, Italy’s death toll was 18,279, the highest of any country, and Spain’s was 15,447, according to Johns Hopkins. As lockdowns across the U.S. continue, the economic picture is darkening. The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that an additional 6.6 million people submitted applications for unemployment insurance in the week ended April 4, bringing the total number of unemployment applications to 17 million since the beginning of the pandemic. (Strumpf, 4/10)

The New York Times: Stark Death Toll, But Cautious Optimism In N.Y. Over Hospitalizations
The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus in New York State rose on Wednesday by only 200 from the previous day, officials said on Thursday, the smallest increase since before the imposition of a statewide lockdown and another promising sign that the government’s measures may have started working. But even as the flow of infected people into emergency rooms appeared to level out, more than 18,000 ailing patients — nearly equal to the capacity of Madison Square Garden — were still packed into New York’s hospitals, and the daily death toll was near 800 for the second day in a row, bringing the state’s total fatalities to more than 7,000. (Feuer, 4/9)

Reuters: 'You Can't Relax': Vigilance Urged As New York Sees Signs Of Coronavirus Progress
Americans must resist the impulse to ease social-separation measures at the first glimpse of progress now being seen in the coronavirus battle, state government and public health leaders warned on Thursday, as the U.S. death toll surpassed 16,500. (Caspani, 4/9)

Politico: NYC Could Ease Coronavirus Restrictions In Late May, But Hampered By Lack Of Testing
New York City could begin to ease some coronavirus restrictions in late May or June — but it will require widespread testing of residents for the virus, which the city does not yet have the ability to do. Even as the death toll continues to surge — reaching 5,150 on Thursday, according to state data, with more than 84,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 — the city has begun to plan for a gradual return to normalcy down the road, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. (Durkin, 4/9)

The Associated Press: California Governor Encouraged By Drop In ICU Placements
California saw its first daily decrease in intensive care hospitalizations during the coronavirus outbreak, a key indicator of how many health care workers and medical supplies the state needs, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday. The rate of all virus hospitalizations has slowed this week. Those in the ICU need the highest level of care, and so it was particularly encouraging that the number of patients in those rooms actually dropped 1.9% on Wednesday to 1,132. (Beam, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Did Ohio Get It Right? Early Intervention, Preparation For Pandemic May Pay Off.
On Feb. 26, two days before President Trump called the coronavirus outbreak the Democratic Party’s “new hoax,” the Cleveland Clinic alerted the public that it was prepared to quickly open 1,000 additional hospital beds should the need arise. On March 4, the day Trump boasted that “we have a very small number” of infected people in the United States, Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, shut down a weekend fitness expo expected to draw 60,000 people a day to a Columbus convention center. There were no identified coronavirus cases in the state at the time. (Bernstein, 4/9)

Reuters: New York City Hires Laborers To Bury Dead In Hart Island Potter's Field Amid Coronavirus Surge
New York City officials have hired contract laborers to bury the dead in its potter’s field on Hart Island as the city’s daily death rate from the coronavirus epidemic has reached grim new records in each of the last three days. The city has used Hart Island to bury New Yorkers with no known next of kin or whose family are unable to arrange a funeral since the 19th century. (Jackson and McDermid, 4/9)

Stat: Here's How Projected Covid-19 Fatalities Compare To Other Causes Of Death
The numbers seem catastrophic, overwhelming, beyond a magnitude that the human mind or heart can grasp: What do 60,000 — or even 240,000 — deaths look like? Those are roughly the lower and upper limits of projected fatalities in the U.S. from Covid-19 in models that have been informing U.S. policy. (Begley and Empinado, 4/9)

The Associated Press: U.S. States Share, Get Creative In Hunt For Medical Supplies
With the federal stockpile drained of protective gear, states are turning to each other, private industries and anyone who can donate in a desperate bid to get respirators, gloves and other supplies to doctors, nurses and other front-line workers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Wednesday that the federal cupboard is officially bare at least through this month after it was able to fulfill just a sliver of states’ requests. (Mulvihill, 4/10)

NPR: How 1 State Says It's Being Left Out Of Airlifted Supply Chain
In recent days, the Trump administration has organized dozens of flights to deliver surgical masks and other critical medical supplies around the country, working with a half dozen major medical distributors to get those supplies "to the right place at the right time." But if your state isn't considered the right place, that system can be frustrating. "When you look at those five or six national distributors, Montana is sure as heck not getting much luck out of them," Gov. Steve Bullock said in an interview. (Rose, 4/10)

Politico: Mayors Look To Each Other, Not Trump, On Coronavirus Response
Mayors representing some of the country’s emerging hot spots for the coronavirus are leaning on one another — not the federal government — as they struggle to prevent their cities from becoming the next New York. Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration has made an effort “to be particularly responsive to” areas where a growth in cases has been identified, such as Chicago, Detroit, Denver and cities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Louisiana. (McCaskill, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Smaller Cities Cry Foul On Coronavirus Aid
Mayors of small cities facing big budget shortfalls say they were unfairly cut out of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law, and they are drawing support in Congress to make them eligible for direct aid in future rounds of coronavirus legislation. Localities are seeing increased strain on first responders and police departments, in addition to bearing the cost of purchasing personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, revenue streams from sales taxes and income taxes have slowed and unemployment claims are surging. (Andrews, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Pushing To Reopen Much Of The U.S. Next Month
The Trump administration is pushing to reopen much of the country next month, raising concerns among health experts and economists of a possible covid-19 resurgence if Americans return to their normal lives before the virus is truly stamped out. Behind closed doors, President Trump — concerned with the sagging economy — has sought a strategy for resuming business activity by May 1, according to people familiar with the discussions. In phone calls with outside advisers, Trump has even floated trying to reopen much of the country before the end of this month, when the current federal recommendations to avoid social gatherings and work from home expire, the people said. (Zapotosky, Dawsey, Del Real and Wan, 4/9)

NPR: What Will It Take To Reopen U.S., CDC Says 'Aggressive' Contact Tracing
It's the question on everyone's minds: What will it take for us to come out of this period of extreme social distancing and return to some semblance of normal life? It turns out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been working on a plan to allow the U.S. to safely begin to scale back those policies. CDC Director Robert Redfield spoke with NPR on Thursday, saying that the plan relies on not only ramped-up testing but "very aggressive" contact tracing of those who do test positive for the coronavirus, and a major scale-up of personnel to do the necessary work. (Simmons-Duffin and Stein, 4/10)

The New York Times: Trump Keeps Talking. Some Republicans Don’t Like What They’re Hearing.
In his daily briefings on the coronavirus, President Trump has brandished all the familiar tools in his rhetorical arsenal: belittling Democratic governors, demonizing the media, trading in innuendo and bulldozing over the guidance of experts. It’s the kind of performance the president relishes, but one that has his advisers and Republican allies worried. As unemployment soars and the death toll skyrockets, and new polls show support for the president’s handling of the crisis sagging, White House allies and Republican lawmakers increasingly believe the briefings are hurting the president more than helping him. (Martin and Haberman, 4/9)

The Associated Press: White House Says No 'Surprise' Bills For COVID-19 Patients
Hospitals taking money from the $2 trillion stimulus bill will have to agree not to send “surprise” medical bills to patients treated for COVID-19, the White House said Thursday. Surprise bills typically happen when a patient with health insurance gets treated at an out-of-network emergency room, or when an out-of-network doctor assists with a hospital procedure. They can run from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands. Before the coronavirus outbreak, lawmakers in Congress had pledged to curtail the practice, but prospects for such legislation now seem highly uncertain. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/10)

ProPublica: Trump Removed The Head Of The Coronavirus Bailout Oversight Board. Its Members Could Be Next.
In the wake of President Trump’s move to push aside the official who was supposed to lead the coronavirus bailout watchdog group, four other members are just as vulnerable. Trump was able to remove the panel’s chosen head, Glenn Fine, by naming a new Defense Department inspector general and bumping Fine to the No. 2 job at the Pentagon watchdog office. No longer an acting inspector general, Fine was disqualified from serving on the panel he was supposed to lead. (Arnsdorf, 4/9)

Politico: Melania Trump Promotes Wearing Face Masks. Her Husband, Not So Much.
First lady Melania Trump used her platform to promote health officials' recommendation on wearing face masks — though her husband has said he won't wear one. The first lady on Thursday posted a picture of herself wearing a mask on Twitter, emphasizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation that Americans wear face masks in public to help slow the spread of coronavirus across the U.S. (Ward, 4/9)

NPR: In Reversal, Federal Support For Coronavirus Testing Sites Continues
The Department of Health and Human Services is stepping back from a plan to end support on Friday for community-based coronavirus testing sites around the country. Instead the agency says local authorities can choose whether they want to transition to running the programs themselves or continue with federal oversight and help. The news came after NPR reported yesterday that some local officials were critical of plans to end the program before the pandemic peaks. (Brady, 4/9)

Politico: HHS, FEMA Ask States To Take Control Of Drive-Through Testing Sites
But an HHS spokesperson told POLITICO the federal government will continue to operate the sites if governors request such assistance — and said that the agency would not hold states to the deadline listed in a FEMA memo: 5 p.m. today. “I want to be clear that the federal government is not abandoning any of the community-based testing sites,” HHS testing czar Brett Giroir told reporters late Thursday. “Many people want the federal government to allow them to do the programs as they want — without the Public Health Service officers, without the restrictions that we have." (Lim, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Authorities Roll Out New Coronavirus Tests To Gauge Infection’s Spread
Health departments, hospitals and companies around the world are rolling out the next wave in Covid-19 testing, which looks in a person’s blood for signs of past infection. The new tests promise to give public-health and hospital officials a better idea of how widely the virus has spread and who can safely treat patients and stop social distancing. But uncertainty about the accuracy of some of the tests and unknowns surrounding immunity to Covid-19—the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus—could limit their usefulness, at least early on. (Abbott and Roland, 4/10)

The New York Times: Small-Business Aid Stalls In Senate As Democrats Demand More Funds
A Trump administration request for quick approval of $250 billion in additional loans to help distressed small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis stalled Thursday in the Senate after Republicans and Democrats clashed over what should be included in the latest round of government relief. The dispute was a prelude to what is likely to be a far more complicated and consequential set of negotiations over a larger infusion of federal aid that lawmakers expect to consider in the coming weeks on the heels of the $2 trillion stimulus law enacted late last month. (Cochrane, 4/9)

The Associated Press: Senators Block New Virus Aid, Pelosi Decries 'Stunt'
GOP leader Mitch McConnell sought to keep Thursday’s debate limited to Trump’s request and wouldn’t accept Democratic additions. Even if the GOP plan had succeeded in the Senate, the Democratic-controlled House is determined to make changes to ensure small businesses in minority communities benefit from the burst of government funding. Democrats and Republicans agree the aid is urgently needed and talks are sure to continue, but it reinforces that Congress and the White House will need to find bipartisan agreement — especially with lawmakers scattered in their states and districts and both the House and Senate unable to conduct roll-call votes. (Taylor and Mascaro, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP, Democrats Hit An Impasse Over Nature Of Next Round Of Coronavirus Aid
Democrats said the small-business loan program, called the Paycheck Protection Program, needed changes to ensure that less-sophisticated business owners can also access the funds. “In this process, many people who do not have banking relationships were going to be last in line,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told reporters on a call Thursday. “That’s why when they asked for more money, we said, ‘Let’s help everybody here.’ ” Mrs. Pelosi said the Senate GOP bill wouldn’t be able to pass the House, but said it could be the “basis for some negotiation.” (Peterson and Duehren, 4/9)

Politico: Senate Brawl Derails Fast Push For New Coronavirus Relief
Democratic Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen each deemed McConnell’s move a “political stunt” and said the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program doesn’t need money at the moment. “It’s a good program, we strongly support it. It’s bipartisan. But this unanimous consent request was not negotiated. There was no effort made to follow the process that we could get this done. So it won’t get done,” said Cardin, the top Democrat on the Small Business Committee. “The majority leader knows that.” (Everett and Caygle, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP, Democrats Hit An Impasse Over Nature Of Next Round Of Coronavirus Aid
Mr. McConnell indicated that he was open to the idea of approving more funding for health-care workers, but in future legislation, not as part of the next infusion of small-business aid. “I’m in favor of even more funding for hospitals and providers down the line,” Mr. McConnell said. “Nobody thinks this will be the Senate’s last word on Covid-19.” (Peterson and Duehren, 4/9)

Politico: 'Surprise' Billing Fix Could Hitch Ride On Next Coronavirus Relief Bill
The coronavirus crisis is spurring leaders of two congressional health committees to renew bipartisan efforts to end “surprise” medical bills over fears that thousands of Americans exposed to the disease could get hit by staggering balances for out-of-network or emergency care. The issue sharply divided hospitals, doctors and insurers before the outbreak and triggered expensive lobbying campaigns by moneyed health interests and private equity companies with stakes in firms that staff hospitals with physicians. (Luthi, 4/9)

Politico: Democrats Seek Hazard Pay For Health Workers Amid Pandemic
Congressional Democrats are trying to add $13 per hour hazard payments for frontline health care workers up to a total of $25,000 in the next coronavirus relief package, along with $15,000 incentives for people who join the medical workforce surge during the pandemic. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said a so-called Heroes Fund could compensate nurses, EMTs and other workers for unanticipated risks as they confront a flood of new cases. (Doherty and Roubein, 4/9)

Politico: Pelosi Warns Trump Not To Reopen Country Too Soon
Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled Thursday that the House is unlikely to return to session later this month, her clearest indication yet that Congress — like the rest of the country — could remain shuttered for weeks or even longer as the coronavirus crisis continues. In a half-hour interview, Pelosi issued a stark warning to President Donald Trump, urging him not to prematurely rush to reopen major segments of the country before the coronavirus is under control, which she said could further send the U.S. economy into a tailspin. (Caygle and Bresnahan, 4/9)

The Associated Press: For McConnell, Virus Carries Echo Of His Boyhood Polio
Mitch McConnell’s earliest childhood memory is the day he left the polio treatment center at Warm Springs, Ga., for the last time. He was just a toddler in 1944, when his father was deployed to World War II, his mother relocated the family to her sister’s home in rural Alabama and he came down with flu-like symptoms. While he eventually recovered, his left leg did not. It was paralyzed. (Mascaro, 4/10)

The New York Times: Virus Throws Millions More Out Of Work, And Washington Struggles To Keep Pace
When the federal government began rushing trillions of dollars of assistance to Americans crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, the hope was that some of the aid would allow businesses to keep workers on the payroll and cushion employees against job losses. But so far, a staggering number of Americans — more than 16 million — have lost their jobs amid the outbreak. Businesses continue to fail as retailers, restaurants, nail salons and other companies across the country run out of cash and close up shop as their customers are forced to stay at home. (Tankersley, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Dire Economic Numbers Intensify Debate Over Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions 
Record-setting jobless claims and dire economic forecasts are giving fresh urgency to the debate within the Trump administration and across the country over how rapidly coronavirus-fueled restrictions should be pared back so the economy can begin its revival. President Trump has expressed eagerness to move quickly, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on CNBC Thursday that he thought the U.S. economy could be ready to reopen by the end of May, “as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues.” (Mitchell, Restuccia and Lubold, 4/9)

Reuters: High U.S. Unemployment, 2.5 Million Jobs Lost Through 2021: Survey
After a widely expected and sharp drop in the U.S. economy over the next three months, a panel of top business economists sees high joblessness persisting for more than a year in an outcome that would douse hopes for a quick, post-pandemic return to normal. (Schneider, 4/10)

Reuters: Fed Rolls Out $2.3 Trillion To Backstop 'Main Street,' Local Governments
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a broad, $2.3 trillion effort to bolster local governments and small and mid-sized businesses, the latest in an expanding suite of programs meant to keep the U.S. economy intact as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic. (Shcneider, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Fed Expands Corporate-Debt Backstops, Unveils New Programs To Aid States, Cities And Small Businesses
“It’s really an awesome display of creativity and decisiveness—the breadth and diversity of programs,” said Antonio Weiss, a Treasury official in the Obama administration who is now a senior fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “They are taking a role well beyond any the Fed has played in its modern history, and the economy needs it.” In leading the Fed beyond past efforts to support lending during the Great Depression or after the 2008 financial crisis, Chairman Jerome Powell is pushing deeper into areas of credit and fiscal policy that the central bank has traditionally deferred to elected officials. (Timiraos, 4/9)

Politico: Treasury Expected To Get Started On Stimulus Payments Friday
The Treasury Department on Friday is expected to take the first step in getting economic stimulus payments to millions of Americans, who will get access to the money next week if they have direct deposit bank accounts, according to financial industry sources. Paper checks for people without direct deposit would start going out early next month, though some could take up to five months to reach recipients and there are still unanswered questions about how banks will handle some of them. (Lorenzo, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Crisis Legacy: Mountains Of Debt
The full impact of the coronavirus pandemic may take years to play out. But one outcome is already clear: Government, businesses and some households will be loaded with mountains of additional debt. The federal government budget deficit is on track to reach a record $3.6 trillion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and $2.4 trillion the year after that, according to Goldman Sachs estimates. Businesses are drawing down bank credit lines and tapping bond markets. Preliminary signs are emerging that some households are turning to credit for funds, too. (Hilsenrath, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Doesn’t Flu Tank Economy Like Covid-19?
As one state after another issued economy-wrecking stay-at-home orders to counter the spread of the new coronavirus, skeptics asked a confounding question: Millions of Americans get the flu each year, and tens of thousands die from it. Why doesn’t the flu cause a shutdown?According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 55 million Americans got the flu this season, and as many as 63,000 died. In comparison, more than 450,000 have been diagnosed with Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 16,000 have died. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. (McGinty, 4/10)

The New York Times: Everything Is Awful. So Why Is The Stock Market Booming?
What on earth is the stock market doing? Death and despair are all around. The number of people filing for unemployment benefits each of the last two weeks was about 10 times the previous record — and is probably being artificially held back by overloaded government systems. Vast swaths of American business are shuttered indefinitely. The economic quarter now underway will most likely feature Great Depression-caliber shrinkage in economic activity. (Irwin, 4/10)

The Associated Press: As Trump Rails Against Mail Voting, Some Allies Embrace It
President Donald Trump is warning without evidence that expanding mail-in voting will increase voter fraud. But several GOP state officials are forging ahead to do just that, undermining one of Trump’s arguments about how elections should be conducted amid the coronavirus outbreak. While Trump has complained that voting by mail was “ripe for fraud,” Republican state officials in Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia have all taken steps to ease access to mail-in ballots, following health officials’ warnings that voting in person can risk transmission of the deadly virus. (Riccardi, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Democrats Renew Vote-By-Mail Push As Virus Upends Elections
Democrats want to bolster mail-in voting and take other steps to make balloting easier this November in the next round of congressional efforts to revive the economy and battle the coronavirus pandemic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Pelosi’s still-evolving proposals Thursday drew immediate condemnation from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, echoing President Donald Trump’s opposition to federal attempts to prod states to relax restrictions for this fall’s presidential and congressional elections. (Fram and Cassidy, 4/10)

The New York Times: Does Vote-By-Mail Favor Democrats? No. It’s A False Argument By Trump.
President Trump said that if the United States switched to all-mail voting, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” The G.O.P. speaker of the House in Georgia said an all-mail election would be “extremely devastating to Republicans.” Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said universal mail voting would be “the end of our republic as we know it.” Yet leading experts who have studied voting by mail say none of that is true. (Epstein and Saul, 4/10)

The Washington Post Fact Check: Trump Once Again Misleads With Bogus Claims Of Voter Fraud
Trump, without evidence or by relying on dubious sources, has persistently claimed that massive voter fraud is occurring in the United States. The most recent major case allegedly involved a Republican operative, in North Carolina, but Trump instead suggests such fraud is being perpetrated on behalf of Democrats, especially in blue states. In recent days, he has attacked the whole notion of mail-in voting in a time of coronavirus social distancing, even though he votes by absentee ballot. (Kessler, 4/10)

ProPublica: Rationing Protective Gear Means Checking On Coronavirus Patients Less Often. This Can Be Deadly.
Every morning, between 7 and 8, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, several coronavirus patients are pronounced dead. It’s not that more people die at the beginning of the day, according to two medical providers at the hospital. But as a new shift arrives, doctors and nurses find patients who have died in the hours before and went undetected by a thin overnight staff. (Kaplan, Presser and Miller, 4/10)

The New York Times: Hospitals Warn Nurses And Doctors Not To Speak Out On Coronavirus
It was the fliers bearing his photo that made Adam Witt suspect something had gone deeply wrong. Last week, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he worked as a nurse, posted the fliers at two security stations, declaring that he was persona non grata. “Mr. Witt is not allowed on property at JSUMC,” the writing said, beneath a picture of him looking tired and pained. “If he is seen on property please contact your supervisor immediately.” (Scheiber and Rosenthal, 4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Faulty N95 Masks Hamper Hospitals On Coronavirus Front Line
Some hospitals say they are buying faulty imitations of the high-quality N95 masks workers need to treat patients with Covid-19, a new hazard for officials scouring the globe for scarce protective gear. Hospital executives and local officials said they are trying to procure whatever masks they can from private stockpiles and lesser-known manufacturers around the world. Some have bought N95 masks—which block 95% of very small airborne particles—that are failing basic quality tests, indicating they might not guard against the new coronavirus. (Hufford, 4/9)

ProPublica: Pharmacy Workers Are Coming Down With COVID-19. But They Can’t Afford To Stop Working.
At his home in the Bronx, where he lies in bed with a fever, Jose Peralta keeps replaying the scene in his head. It was Monday, March 16, the start of an unusually hectic week at a Walgreens in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Peralta, a senior pharmacy technician, was on his way to take a break when he noticed a familiar customer waiting in line to pick up medication. “I thought, Gee it would be nice to help this guy,” Peralta said. “We’ve all been trying to minimize exposure and make sure that people don’t have to spend too long in the store.” (Kofman, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Hospitals Are Laying Off Staff In Midst Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
Hospitals across the country have deferred or canceled non-urgent surgeries to free up bed space and equipment for covid-19 patients. But that triage maneuver cut off a main source of income, causing huge losses that have forced some hospitals to let go of health-care workers as they struggle to treat infected patients. Last week, Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven states, announced it would furlough 700 workers. (Harris, Sondel and Schneider, 4/9)

The New York Times: At The Center Of A Storm: The Search For A Proven Coronavirus Treatment
Beginning every morning at 5:30, Dr. Andre Kalil makes himself a double espresso, runs 10 kilometers, makes additional double espressos for himself and his wife, and heads to his office at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. A deluge awaits him. Calls and insistent emails pile up each day. Patients and their doctors are clamoring for untested coronavirus treatments, encouraged by President Trump, who said that “we can’t wait” for rigorous studies of the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, and that ill patients should have ready access to experimental medicines. (Kolata, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Chicago’s Rush University Medical System Was Designed For A Pandemic
As this city braces for April 20, the anticipated peak of coronavirus infections here, doctors and nurses at Rush University Medical Center say they are prepared, not just because of their training, but because of where they work: A 14-story, 830,000-square-foot facility built specifically for a deadly pandemic. The butterfly-shaped building, known as “the Tower,” opened in January 2012 as the first of its kind in the United States. (Guarino, 4/9)

Stat: The Coronavirus Sneaks Into Cells Through A Key Receptor. Could Targeting It Lead To A Treatment?
Nearly 20 years ago, when a different coronavirus struck, Michael Farzan and his team figured out how it was getting into human cells: targeting a specific receptor called ACE2 found on certain cells. During this year’s ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, that receptor has attracted fresh attention as a potential target for drug companies because it seems to offer a cellular doorknob for this coronavirus, too. (Sheridan, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Haywire Immune Response Eyed In Coronavirus Deaths, Treatment
An immune system gone haywire may be doing more damage than the coronavirus itself in patients with the severest forms of Covid-19, doctors and scientists say, a growing theory that could point the way to potential treatments. Much remains unknown about the path the virus takes in the sickest patients, but an increasing number of experts believe a hyperactive immune response, rather than the virus, is what ultimately kills many Covid-19 patients. (Walker and Hopkins, 4/9)

The New York Times: Smokers And Vapers May Be At Greater Risk For Covid-19
Anxious times — like a pandemic — can lead to unhealthy but self-soothing habits, whether it’s reaching for a bag of potato chips, more chocolate or another glass of wine. But some stress-reducing behaviors are alarming to medical experts right now — namely vaping and smoking of tobacco or marijuana. Because the coronavirus attacks the lungs, this is exactly the moment, they say, when people should be tapering — or better yet, stopping — their use of such products, not escalating them. (Hoffman, 4/9)