First Edition: Aug. 20, 2020

Kaiser Health News: COVID Plans Put To Test As Firefighters Crowd Camps For Peak Wildfire Season 
Jon Paul was leery entering his first wildfire camp of the year late last month to fight three lightning-caused fires scorching parts of a Northern California forest that hadn’t burned in 40 years. The 54-year-old engine captain from southern Oregon knew from experience that these crowded, grimy camps can be breeding grounds for norovirus and a respiratory illness that firefighters call the “camp crud” in a normal year. He wondered what the coronavirus would do in the tent cities where hundreds of men and women eat, sleep, wash and spend their downtime between shifts. (Volz, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: Scam Alert: Things A COVID Contact Tracer Wouldn’t Say 
State officials and federal agencies warn there’s a new phone scam circulating: Some callers posing as COVID-19 contact tracers try to pry credit card or bank account information from unsuspecting victims. The grifters apparently are taking advantage of a genuine public health intervention that’s crucial to stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus: contact tracing. (Appleby, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: We Put Off Planning, Until My Father-In-Law’s Medical Crisis Took Us By Surprise 
Earlier this month, my husband picked up the phone and learned his 92-year-old father had been taken to the hospital that morning, feeling sick and short of breath. We were nearly 2,000 miles away, on a vacation in the mountains of southern Colorado. No, it wasn’t COVID-19. My father-in-law, Mel, who has diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease, was suffering from fluid buildup in his legs and around his lungs and excruciating knee pain. Intravenous medications and steroid injections were administered, and he responded well. (Graham, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Democratic Convention, Night 2: Defending The ACA And Attacking Trump On Pandemic 
The second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention featured a 17-person keynote speech, past presidents, a roll call vote that doubled as a virtual tour of the United States and an emphasis on health care and national security issues. Ady Barkan, a health care activist paralyzed by ALS, appeared in a video — speaking with a computer-generated voice in support of Joe Biden. “Nearly 100 million Americans do not have sufficient health insurance,” he said. Barkan emerged on the national scene as a backer of “Medicare for All,” an approach Biden does not support. (8/19)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 173,000
The number of new U.S. coronavirus cases edged up to more than 46,000, while countries including India and South Korea faced a rise in new infections. Total U.S. coronavirus cases passed 5.5 million—just under a quarter of the global tally—as the nation’s death toll topped 173,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins’s data showed California had more than 9,000 new cases, Texas had more than 5,000 and Florida had over 4,000, Georgia and Illinois had more than 2,000 each, while Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee all exceeded 1,000 each. (Hall, 8/20)

CNN: New Covid-19 Cases Are Declining Across The US, Official Says, But That Could Quickly Change If People Aren't Careful
States across the US are now seeing a decline in coronavirus cases, a US top official said this week, though he warned things could quickly change again if Americans aren't careful. US trends are now "going in the right direction," said Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration official overseeing US coronavirus testing, attributing the decline in part to safety protocols like masks and social distancing. (Maxouris, 8/20)

USA Today: 'Silent Spreaders' Of COVID-19: Kids Who Seem Healthy May Be More Contagious Than Sick Adults, Study Says
A new study adds to growing evidence that children are not immune to COVID-19 and may even play a larger role in community spread than previously thought. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Mass General Hospital for Children found that among 192 children, 49 tested positive for the coronavirus and had significantly higher levels of virus in their airways than hospitalized adults in intensive care units, according to the study published Thursday in the Journal of Pediatrics. (Rodriguez, 8/20)

Reuters: As U.S. Schools Reopen, Concerns Grow That Kids Spread Coronavirus 
Dr. [Alessio] Fasano and colleagues at Boston’s Massachusetts General and MassGeneral Hospital for Children found that infected children have a significantly higher level of virus in their airways than adults hospitalized in intensive care units for COVID-19 treatment. The high viral levels were found in infants through young adults, although most of the participants were age 11 to 17. The study, published on Thursday in the Journal of Pediatrics, involved 192 participants ages 0-22 who were seen at urgent care clinics for suspected COVID-19. Forty-nine of them - a quarter of the total - tested positive for the virus. (Beasley, 8/20)

The Hill: Harris: There Is No Vaccine For Racism 
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) highlighted the disproportionate impact the coronavirus is having on communities of color, as well as further issues of racial injustice the Democratic vice presidential candidate said can’t be cured with a vaccine. “This virus has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other—and how we treat each other,” she said Wednesday night during her convention speech. “And let’s be clear—there is no vaccine for racism. We’ve gotta do the work.” (Klar, 8/19)

Stat: Bolstered Testing And Daily Briefings: Inside Biden’s Covid-19 Response Plan
No president has ever inherited a pandemic. But if Joe Biden is elected in November, he has made clear that his first moments in office would mark a dramatic shift in the nation’s approach to Covid-19. (Facher, 8/20)

AP: Trump, Pence Campaign Events Signal Lax Approach To Virus
Sitting and standing shoulder to shoulder, some without face masks, hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump jammed into an airplane hangar for an Arizona campaign event this week, ignoring the advice of Trump’s own health experts. Like his boss, Vice President Mike Pence went mask-less in Iowa last week as he reached across a barrier to autograph a half-dozen familiar red Trump campaign hats, literally crossing the line of vulnerability outlined by the coronavirus task force he heads. The episodes, along with similar ones in New Jersey, Florida and Wisconsin, project a confusing message to the public. (Beaumont, 8/19)

CNN: CNN Poll: Most Americans Embarrassed By U.S. Response To Coronavirus
Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say the US response to the coronavirus outbreak makes them feel embarrassed, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as 62% of the public says President Donald Trump could be doing more to fight the outbreak. The new poll finds disapproval of Trump's handling of the outbreak at a new high, 58%, as the share who say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come has risen to 55% after dropping through the spring. And as the virus has spread from the nation's cities throughout its countryside, the number who know someone who's been diagnosed with the virus has jumped dramatically to 67%, up from 40% in early June. (Agiesta, 8/19)

The New York Times: Local Officials In China Hid Coronavirus Dangers From Beijing, U.S. Agencies Find 
Trump administration officials have tried taking a political sledgehammer to China over the coronavirus pandemic, asserting that the Chinese Communist Party covered up the initial outbreak and allowed the virus to spread around the globe. But within the United States government, intelligence officials have arrived at a more nuanced and complex finding of what Chinese officials did wrong in January. (Wong, Barnes and Kanno-Youngs, 8/19)

AP: Source: Michigan Reaches $600M Deal In Flint Water Crisis
The offices of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have been negotiating for more than 18 months with lawyers for thousands of Flint residents who have filed suits against the state. Flint switched its water source from the city of Detroit to the Flint River to save money in 2014. State environmental regulators advised Flint not to apply corrosion controls to the water, which was contaminated by lead from aging pipes. Residents quickly began complaining that the water was discolored and had a bad taste and smell. They blamed it for rashes, hair loss and other health concerns, but local and state officials insisted it was safe. (Flesher, 8 /20) Researchers with Virginia Tech University reported in summer 2015 that samples of Flint

The New York Times: Michigan To Pay $600 Million To Victims Of Flint Water Crisis 
The money would largely be designated for children in Flint who were poisoned by lead-tainted tap water after officials changed the city’s water supply six years ago, setting off a crisis that drew national attention and remains a worry for many residents. (Bosman, 8/19)

The Hill: Supreme Court To Hear ObamaCare Arguments One Week After November Election 
Oral arguments for the Trump administration-backed lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), will be heard at the Supreme Court on Nov. 10, just one week after the presidential election. If successful, the lawsuit would result in 20 million people losing health insurance while the country is in the middle of a pandemic. President Trump and congressional Republicans have no replacement plan. (Weixel, 8/19)

Politico: Trump Administration Limits FDA Review Of Some Coronavirus Tests
The Trump administration will allow coronavirus tests developed by individual laboratories — including commercial facilities run by Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp — to be used without an FDA review, a decision that public health experts warn could lead to broad use of flawed tests. The Department of Health and Human Services outlined the decision in a notice published Wednesday. (Lim and Brennan, 8/19)

Stat: In A Shocking Decision, FDA Rejects BioMarin’s Gene Therapy For Hemophilia
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday rejected a one-time gene therapy for hemophilia A, delaying what would have been a major medical milestone in a decision that upended the expectations of doctors, patients, and Wall Street. The FDA’s move means the gene therapy, which promised to revolutionize the treatment of the bleeding disorder, will be delayed until at least 2022, according to BioMarin, the treatment’s manufacturer. (Garde, 8/19)

Stat: FDA Rejection Signals Potential New Hurdles For Gene Therapies
The Food and Drug Administration’s unexpected rejection of a gene therapy for the bleeding disorder hemophilia has reverberated through the biotech industry, potentially complicating the path to market for these one-time treatments. In deciding not to approve Roctavian, a BioMarin Pharmaceutical gene therapy for hemophilia A, the FDA demanded two additional years of data to strengthen the case that its benefits are durable. (Feuerstein and Garde, 8/20)

Stat: An Expected Blockbuster Drug From Gilead Is Rejected, Imperiling Growth
Back before remdesivir became a household name, Gilead Sciences’ most-discussed drug was filgotinib, a treatment for inflammatory disease expected to deliver billions of dollars in new revenue at a time when the biotech desperately needs it. All that got put in jeopardy on Tuesday night. The FDA rejected Gilead’s application to sell filgotinib as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and said it wouldn’t reconsider until the company can provide more data on the drug’s effect on patients’ sperm counts. (Feuerstein and Garde, 8/19)

Stat: After FDA Rejection Of A Key Drug, Is Gilead Still A Turnaround Story?
The surprise decision by the FDA to reject a Gilead Sciences (GILD) drug for treating inflammatory diseases is clearly a setback for the biotech. The question now, though, is whether Gilead can still be considered a turnaround story that can diversify beyond its core virology business and return to growth levels seen in the past. (Silverman, 8/19)

The New York Times: Blood Plasma Treatment For Covid-19 Now On Hold At F.D.A. 
Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to two senior administration officials. The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said. (Weiland, LaFraniere and Fink, 8/19)

Politico: Trump Suggests Government Scientists Held Back Plasma Therapy For Political Reasons 
President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused government scientists of slow-walking a safe but unproven coronavirus therapy, convalescent plasma, for political reasons. “You have lot of people over there that don't want to rush things. They want to do it after November 3rd,” he said in a White House press briefing. (Owermohle and Brenna, 8/19)

NPR: How Feds Decide On Remdesivir Shipments To States Remains Mysterious
NPR attempted to dig into federal data to understand how the government was making its decisions about remdesivir, but only a few of the data points used in the allocation process are public. Still, NPR has learned that some states, such as North Carolina, appear to have at times been allocated insufficient amounts of remdesivir, while others were offered more than they needed. Each week in July and early August, some states and territories were earmarked less remdesivir than they were offered the week before or none at all, even as their number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was trending upward, an NPR analysis found. Meanwhile, some states were allocated enough remdesivir to treat every hospitalized COVID-19 patient more than once that week.(Lupkin, 8/19)

CIDRAP: Iranian Clinical Trials Assess Hepatitis C Combo Drug For COVID-19
The results from two randomized, controlled clinical trials published today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy suggest the hepatitis C combination drug sofosbuvir/daclatasvir has potential as a treatment for COVID-19. In one of the trials, 66 adults with moderate or severe COVID-19 at four university hospitals in Iran were randomized 1:1 into a treatment arm receiving sofosbuvir/daclatasvir plus standard care or a control arm receiving standard care alone from Mar 26 to Apr 26. The primary endpoint was clinical recovery within 14 days of treatment. The results showed that recovery within 14 days was achieved in 29 of 33 patients (88%) in the treatment arm and 22 of 33 patients (67%) in the control arm (P = 0.076). Patients in the treatment arm also had a significantly shorter median duration of hospitalization (6 days) than the control group (8 days). (8/19)

The New York Times: Remdesivir Tests For Covid Treatments Enter New Phase 
A large federal study that found an antiviral drug, remdesivir, can hasten the recovery in hospitalized Covid-19 patients, has begun a new phase of investigation. Now it will examine whether adding another drug, beta interferon — which mainly kills viruses but can also tame inflammation — would improve remdesivir’s effects and speed recovery even more. (Kolata, 8/18)

Stat: Turning Point Releases Positive Data For Targeted Cancer Drug 
Turning Point Therapeutics, a San Diego developer of targeted cancer drugs, released positive data Wednesday on repotrectinib, its treatment for non-small cell lung cancer and other cancers, and said the Food and Drug Administration might allow it to file for approval sooner than previously expected. Repotrectinib is a medicine targeted against cancers driven by a rare mutation in which DNA becomes rearranged, called a Ros1-fusion. (Herper, 8/19)

AP: Trail Of Bubbles Leads Scientists To New Coronavirus Clue
A doctor checking comatose COVID-19 patients for signs of a stroke instead stumbled onto a new clue about how the virus may harm the lungs -- thanks to a test that used tiny air bubbles and a robot. Dr. Alexandra Reynolds, a neurologist at New York’s Mount Sinai Health System, initially was baffled as she tracked “the cacophony of sound” made by those harmless bubbles passing through the bloodstream of patient after patient. Yet the weird finding excited lung specialists who now are studying if it helps explain why often, the sickest coronavirus patients don’t get enough oxygen despite being on ventilators. (Neergaard, 8/19)

Reuters: Peru To Test China Sinopharm's COVID-19 Vaccine In Phase 3 Trial
Health authorities of the Republic of Peru have approved a Phase 3 clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the company said on Thursday in Chinese social media platform Weibo. The experimental vaccine of CNBG, a unit of state-owned pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), has already entered Phase 3 testing in United Arab Emirates. (8/20)

Stat: Natural Byproduct Of Metabolism Seen As A Trigger Of Cancer Spread 
Aging is the biggest risk factor for cancer: The older we get, the more likely it is that a tumor becomes malignant — and lethal. But the biology behind this phenomenon is little understood. A new study, published in Nature, describes a stunning new link between aging and the rapid proliferation of cancer, pinpointing a substance that our bodies naturally produce. (Keshavan, 8/19)

Stat: Johnson and Johnson To Buy Momenta Pharma To Bolster Autoimmune Disease Pipeline
Health care giant Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that it is acquiring Momenta Pharmaceuticals, gaining access to a promising experimental treatment for autoimmune diseases. Momenta is being acquired for $52.50 per share, or a 73% premium to Tuesday’s closing price. The all-cash deal values the company at $6.5 billion. (Feuerstein, 8/19)

Stat: Otsuka Approved To Buy Bankrupt Smart-Pill Maker Proteus’ Assets
The Japanese drug maker Otsuka has been approved to purchase the assets of bankrupt smart pill maker Proteus Digital Health for $15 million — capping off a spectacular fall for Proteus, which raised close to $500 million and soared to a valuation of $1.5 billion on the promise that its sensor technology could revolutionize how medications are taken and tracked. The sale, approved on Wednesday by a federal bankruptcy court judge in Delaware after a three-day hearing, overcame the fierce objections of a group of Proteus investors that included the pharma giant Novartis. (Robbins, 8/19)

The Hill: Democratic Lawmaker Calls Telehealth Expansion The 'Silver Lining' Of Pandemic 
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said the COVID-19 pandemic has opened the door to widespread adoption of remote health care. “Telehealth has become the silver lining of the pandemic,” Matsui said at The Hill’s “COVID-19: The Way Forward” event. (Mihaly, 8/19)

AP: Pharmacists Can Give Childhood Shots, U.S. Officials Say
Pharmacists in all 50 states are now allowed to give childhood vaccinations under a new directive aimed at preventing future outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases. Alex Azar, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, took the step using emergency powers he has during the U.S. coronavirus epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency. The directive announced Wednesday will temporarily preempt restrictions in 22 states starting this fall. (Stobbe, 8/19)

AP: Another North Dakota Health Officer Resigns Amid Pandemic
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday announced another resignation by a top health officer in the midst of a worsening coronavirus pandemic in the state. Burgum said Dr. Andrew Stahl notified him Tuesday that he would be stepping down at the end of the month to join a private practice in Bismarck. Stahl took over as interim health officer in late May for Mylynn Tufte, who resigned without explanation. (MacPherson, 8/19)

The New York Times: As U.S. Schools Move To Reopen Despite Covid-19, Teachers Threaten To Strike
Educators and families around the United States continued to grapple this week with the complicated realities of opening schools in the middle of a pandemic, as teachers’ unions threatened strikes, colleges rethought reopening plans on the fly, and school districts, discovering new cases, improvised quarantines and classroom cleanings. The voice of teachers in the reopening debate took center stage Wednesday in Michigan, where the Detroit Federation of Teachers voted to authorize their executive committee to call for a strike over plans to open public schools for in-person learning. (8/19)

The Washington Post: The New York City Teachers Union Opposes Mayor Bill DeBlasio's Plan To Reopen Schools Sep. 10. 
The union representing New York City’s public-school teachers said its members would not return to classrooms next month unless the city met their health and safety demands — including testing all students and staff for that coronavirus and ensuring all schools have a nurse. The announcement from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which represents 75,000 professionals, comes a week after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that schools would reopen Sept. 10 for in-person classes. UFT President Michael Mulgrew threatened legal action against the city and said teachers would strike if the mayor tried to force them to return to classrooms. (Balingit, 8/19)

AP: Teachers Could Stay In Classroom If Exposed To COVID-19
New guidance from the President Donald Trump’s administration that declares teachers to be “critical infrastructure workers” could give the green light to exempting teachers from quarantine requirements after being exposed to COVID-19 and instead send them back into the classroom. Keeping teachers without symptoms in the classroom, as a handful of school districts in Tennessee and Georgia have already said they may do, raises the risk that they will spread the respiratory illness to students and fellow employees. Experience from schools that reopened for face-to-face instruction in recent weeks shows multiple teachers can be required by public health agencies to quarantine for 14 days during an outbreak. That could stretch a district’s ability to keep providing in-person instruction. (Amy, 8/20)

AP: Iowa Governor's Push To Reopen Schools Descends Into Chaos
An aggressive push by Iowa’s pro-Trump governor to reopen schools amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak has descended into chaos, with some districts and teachers rebelling and experts calling the scientific benchmarks used by the state arbitrary and unsafe. At issue is Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ mandate in July that districts offer at least 50% classroom instruction. The conflict intensified Wednesday when the statewide teachers union announced a lawsuit challenging the governor’s ability to make such decisions for local districts. (Foley, 8/20)

The Hill: Trump Pushes For Universities To Reopen Even As Coronavirus Cases Spike On Campuses 
President Trump on Wednesday pushed for universities to reopen for classes in the fall amid coronavirus outbreaks on campuses that have reopened — and in some cases closed — this month. “We have learned one thing, there’s nothing like campus, there’s nothing like being with a teacher as opposed to being on a computer board,” Trump said Wednesday at a briefing. “The iPads are wonderful but you’re not going to learn the same way as being there.” (Klar, 8/19)

The Washington Post: Pandemic Parents: Why Can Child-Care Open In Schools That Won’t Allow Classes?
Schools in Montgomery County won’t open for traditional classes in the fall, but hundreds, maybe thousands, of elementary schoolchildren may be taking part in “distance learning hubs” in the same buildings that were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. In programs run by child-care providers long based in county schools, students would take their Chromebooks to school daily and join small cohorts of their peers — akin to parent-organized “pandemic pods” that are popular across the country. Children ages 5 to 12 would follow online learning schedules and participate in activities during free time. (St. George, 8/19)

AP: Arizona Close To Meeting Virus Metrics For School Reopenings
Arizona’s downward trend of coronavirus cases means parts of the state could meet all three metrics the state’s health and education departments set for at least a partial reopening of schools by Labor Day, according to a former state health director. And bars and nightclubs in at least some counties could meet the parameters for reopening shortly after that, according to Will Humble, who now leads the Arizona Public Health Association. (Christie, 8/19)

Politico: Contact Tracing Apps Have Been A Bust. States Bet College Kids Can Change That
Colleges across the country are testing contact-tracing apps, hoping that tech-savvy students already accustomed to sharing so much of their life online will embrace the digital tool as densely populated campuses try to reopen. The tracing apps, announced with much fanfare early in the coronavirus pandemic, haven’t yet been in widespread use because of bureaucratic hurdles, early tech hiccups and public apprehension about privacy risks. But the contained environment of college campuses may be the ideal testing ground to boost lagging digital efforts to trace infections, say state officials and public health experts behind this push. (Ravindranath and Eisenberg, 8/19)

MarketWatch: Child-Care Duties Forced Working Moms To Take Time Off Work At The Beginning Of The Pandemic — While Dads Weren’t Affected
Working mothers got hit with a one-two punch in the early days of the pandemic. Because child-care demands fell mostly on their shoulders, moms who were lucky enough to keep their jobs were not so lucky in the domestic sphere as shutdown orders kept children home from school, new research by the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve suggests. In states with early shutdown orders, mothers took one of two paths, both less than ideal: They temporarily took time off their jobs to care for children, or they worked more hours on nights and weekends while balancing domestic duties, research by U.S. Census Bureau principal economist Misty Heggeness and senior researcher Jason Fields found. (Albrecht, 8/20)

The Washington Post: Child Abuse Victims: 40,000 Fewer Kids Seen By Advocacy Centers During Pandemic 
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, advocates and educators have warned that the closures of schools would make it terrifyingly difficult to keep a watchful eye on children who are being abused. Child abuse reports began to plummet across the country — not because it wasn’t happening, but because teachers, doctors and others had fewer ways of catching it. Now, a new survey of children’s advocacy centers across the country offers some of the clearest data yet on the scope of this gap in child abuse reporting. (Schmidt, 8/19)

The Washington Post: Time To Ditch ‘Toxic Positivity,’ Experts Say: ‘It’s Okay Not To Be Okay’
In the midst of a raging pandemic and widespread social unrest, these days it can feel as if reassuring platitudes are inescapable. “Everything will be fine.” “It could be worse.” “Look on the bright side.” But as well intentioned as those who lean on such phrases may be, experts are cautioning against going overboard with the “good vibes only” trend. Too much forced positivity is not just unhelpful, they say — it’s toxic. (Chiu, 8 /19)

The Wall Street Journal: Men Urged To Limit Alcohol To One Drink A Day Amid New Concerns 
Men should consume no more than one alcoholic drink a day, according to a federal committee’s recommendations for new U.S. dietary guidelines. That’s a reduction from the current recommended limit of two drinks a day, and matches the guidance for women. The shift reflects scientists’ evolving thinking on moderate drinking, and comes as a 20-year rise in Americans’ drinking is accelerating during the pandemic. (Reddy, 8/17)

CNN: Peaches May Be Linked To Salmonella Outbreak That Has Sickened 68 People In 9 States 
The US Food and Drug Administration is investigating a salmonella outbreak affecting 68 people in nine states that could be linked to tainted peaches. The bagged peaches were sold under the Wawona brand name in 2-pound clear, plastic bags at ALDI stores in 16 states starting on June 1. (Lin Erdman, 8/20)

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Onions Grows By More Than 200 Cases
A multistate Salmonella Newport outbreak linked to onions grew in the past week, with 229 new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC, officials have confirmed 869 cases in 47 states, including 116 hospitalizations. No deaths have been recorded. Thomson International, Inc. of Bakersfield, California, is the likely source of potentially contaminated red onions, which were used in a variety of food products, according to a list of recalled produces from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition to onions, cheese dips, salsa, and pre-diced onions have all been recalled. The products have been sold at retailers throughout the country, including Aldi, Public Super Market, Walmart, and Kroger. (8/19)

CNN: The Odds Of Catching Covid-19 On An Airplane Are Slimmer Than You Think, Scientists Say 
Sitting squeezed between a number of strangers on board an aircraft might feel like a risky position during these uncertain times. But according to some experts who point to the very few documented cases of in-flight transmission, the chances of catching Covid-19 while on board a flight are actually relatively slim. (Hardingham-Gill, 8/20)

AP: Pope: Rich Can't Get Priority For Vaccine, Poor Need Help
Pope Francis on Wednesday warned against any prospect that rich people would get priority for a coronavirus vaccine. “The pandemic is a crisis. You don’t come out of it the same — either better or worse,″ Francis said, adding improvised remarks to his planned speech for his weekly public audience. (D'Emilio, 8/19)

AP: California Slammed By Wildfires, Heat, Unhealthy Smoky Air
Northern Californians were confronted with multiple threats as wildfires, unhealthy smoky air, extreme heat, the looming possibility of power outages and an ongoing pandemic forced many to weigh the risks of staying indoors or going outside. Ash sprinkled the ground and smoke from several wildfires cast an eerie glow over much of the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, creating unhealthy air quality and heightening concerns about people most prone to respiratory illnesses. (Nguyen and Borenstein, 8/20)

The New York Times: California Endures Fires, Blackouts, A Heat Wave And A Pandemic
How many things can go wrong at once? On Wednesday millions of California residents were smothered by smoke-filled skies as dozens of wildfires raged out of control. They braced for triple-digit temperatures, the sixth day of a punishing heat wave that included a recent reading of 130 degrees in Death Valley. They braced for possible power outages because the state’s grid is overloaded, the latest sign of an energy crisis. And they continued to fight a virus that is killing 130 Californians a day. Even for a state accustomed to disaster, August has been a terrible month. (Fuller, 8/19)

The New York Times: Bryce Hall, TikTok Influencer, Has Power Shut Off By Los Angeles 
The City of Los Angeles cut the power at a Hollywood Hills mansion rented by the TikTok stars Bryce Hall, Noah Beck and Blake Gray on Wednesday in response to parties held at the residence amid the coronavirus crisis. Mr. Hall hosted a party for his 21st birthday on Friday, Aug. 14; footage from the event posted to Instagram shows dozens of attendees crowded together in one room. After neighbors called in noise complaints, the event was shut down by the Los Angeles Police Department. (Lorenz, 8/19)

Stat: As Covid-19 Cases In Prisons Climb, Data On Race Remain Largely Obscured
By mid-August, jails, prisons, and other detention centers accounted for all of the top 10 Covid-19 clusters in the country. This week, the number of Covid-19 deaths among inmates and correctional officers passed 1,000, with more than 160,000 infected. (Guo, 8/20)

The Hill: Florida Surpasses 10,000 Coronavirus Deaths 
Florida on Wednesday surpassed 10,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to state figures, almost six months since the first case was identified in the state. The state reported 174 new deaths Wednesday, bringing its total since the pandemic began to 10,067. California, New York, Texas and New Jersey are the only other states whose COVID-19 fatalities have reached five digits. (Weixel, 8/19)

AP: Cuomo Brushes Back AP Report Of Care Home Death Undercount
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded Wednesday to an Associated Press report that his state’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes could be a significant undercount, saying it makes sense to include only those residents who died on the home’s property. Unlike the federal government and every other state with major outbreaks, only New York explicitly says that it counts just residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there. (Condon and Villeneuve, 8/20)

The Hill: Positive COVID-19 Tests Hit Record Low In New York City 
The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has reached a record low in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Wednesday, a sign that enough people are being tested and that the city has control of the virus. “This is extraordinary,” de Blasio said during a press conference. (Hellmann, 8/19)

AP: Inslee Orders More COVID-19 Testing For Farm Workers
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday updated his coronavirus proclamation so that it requires agricultural employers to test their workforce broadly when health officials identify an outbreak that passes certain thresholds. Since the governor first issued his proclamation on May 28, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Washington has increased from 21,138 to 67,721, an average of more than 500 new cases per day. (8/19)

AP: Hawaii Governor Blames Virus Spike For Tracer Shortage
Hawaii Gov. David Ige on Wednesday blamed a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases for the state falling short when it comes to tracing the contacts of people with the disease. Ige spoke at a news conference at the Hawaii Convention Center where the state Department of Health has started using empty meeting space to host an expanded team of contact tracers. (McAvoy, 8/20)