First Edition: July 20, 2020

Kaiser Health News: For COVID Tests, The Question Of Who Pays Comes Down To Interpretation
In advance of an upcoming road trip with her elderly parents, Wendy Epstein’s physician agreed it would be “prudent” for her and her kids to get tested for COVID-19. Seeing the tests as a “medical need,” the doctor said insurance would likely pay for them, with no out-of-pocket cost to Epstein. But her children’s pediatrician said the test would count as a screening test — since the children were not showing symptoms — and she would probably have to foot the bill herself. (Appleby, 7/20)

Kaiser Health News: An Ickier Outbreak: Trench Fever Spread By Lice Is Found In Denver
Dr. Michelle Barron, medical director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, received an unusual call last month from the microbiology lab: confirmation of the third case this year of trench fever, a rare condition transmitted by body lice that plagued soldiers during World War I. Barron’s epidemiological training kicked in. “Two is always an outbreak, and then when we found a third — OK, we clearly have something going on,” Barron recalled thinking. (Hawryluk, 7/20)

Kaiser Health News: As Coronavirus Patients Skew Younger, Tracing Task Seems All But Impossible 
Younger people are less likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID-19 than their elders, but they circulate more freely while carrying the disease, and their cases are harder to trace. Together, these facts terrify California hospital officials. People under 50 make up 73% of those testing positive for the disease in the state since the beginning of June, compared with 52% before April 30. That shift isn’t comforting to Dr. Alan Williamson, chief medical officer of Eisenhower Health in Riverside County’s Coachella Valley. (Almendrala, 7/20)

Kaiser Health News: Administration Eases Rules To Give Laid-Off Workers More Time To Sign Up For COBRA 
People who’ve been laid off or furloughed from their jobs now have significantly more time to decide whether to hang on to their employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a recent federal rule. Under the federal law known as COBRA, people who lose their job-based coverage because of a layoff or a reduction in their hours generally have 60 days to decide whether to continue their health insurance. But under the new rule, that clock doesn’t start ticking until the end of the COVID-19 “outbreak period,” which started March 1 and continues for 60 days after the COVID-19 national emergency ends. That end date hasn’t been determined yet. (Andrews, 7/20)

NPR: Global Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 600,000, With U.S. Accounting For Nearly A Quarter
Total coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have surpassed 140,000, reaching somber new heights as surging cases continue to break records in parts of the country and around the world. The U.S. passed the latest threshold late on Saturday, the same day the World Health Organization reported the largest one-day increase in global fatalities since May, with 7,360 new deaths. Global deaths had been averaging 4,600 a day in June and 4,800 in July. (Treisman, 7/19)

NPR: Some People 'Have The Sniffles': Trump Downplays The Coronavirus's Severity
President Trump downplayed the danger of the coronavirus, claiming in an interview that aired Sunday that many cases are simply people who "have the sniffles." "Many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day," Trump said in his interview with Fox News Sunday. "They have the sniffles, and we put it down as a test." He added that many of those sick "are going to get better very quickly." (Montanaro, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Trump Defends Bungled Handling Of Coronavirus With Falsehoods And Dubious Claims 
President Trump said in an interview aired Sunday that the rising number of U.S. deaths from the coronavirus “is what it is,” defended his fumbled management of the pandemic with a barrage of dubious and false claims, and revealed his lack of understanding about the fundamental science of how the virus spreads and infects people. Making one of his biggest media appearances in months — an hour-long, sit-down interview with “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace — Trump was visibly rattled and at times hostile as he struggled to answer for his administration’s failure to contain the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 137,000 lives in the United States. (Rucker and Sonmez, 7/19)

The Hill: Trump Says He Won't Issue National Mask Mandate 
President Trump says he will not issue a national mandate requiring Americans to wear masks in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. “I want people to have a certain freedom and I don’t believe in that, no,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace that will air in full on “Fox News Sunday.” (Chalfant, 7/17)

Politico: Trump Says His Relationship With 'Alarmist' Fauci Is 'Very Good' 
“Dr. Fauci's made some mistakes,” the president in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." “He's a little bit of an alarmist. That's OK. A little bit of an alarmist.” During the sometimes contentious interview, taped Friday at the White House, Trump ticked off a few instances in which he believed the doctor had made some errors. (Rahman, 7/19)

The Hill: NIH Director Said Firing Fauci Would Be 'Unimaginable' 
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) director said Sunday that firing top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci would be “unimaginable.” NIH Director Francis Collins told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that no one from the White House has requested he demote or fire Fauci as the infectious disease expert has condemned what many see as White House attacks against him. “Nobody has asked me to do that, and I find that concept unimaginable,” Collins said. (Coleman, 7/19)

The Hill: California Governor Told He Had To Ask And Thank Trump To Get Help With COVID-19 Response: Report 
White House officials told California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) he would need to personally appeal to President Trump and thank him if he wanted aid in obtaining coronavirus test swabs, according to The New York Times. The move was part of a deliberate decision by the Trump administration in mid-April when the White House, deciding the pandemic was on the downslope, decided it had given state governments all the aid they would need to handle any further outbreaks, the Times reported. (Budryk, 7/19)

AP: Russian Ambassador Rejects Virus Vaccine Hacking Claims
Intelligence agencies in the U.S., Britain and Canada on Thursday accused the hacking group APT29 — also known as Cozy Bear and believed to be part of Russian intelligence — of using malicious software to attack academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in COVID-19 vaccine development. It was unclear whether any useful information was stolen. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also said that “Russian actors” had tried to interfere in last year’s general election by “amplifying” stolen government papers online. (7/19)

Politico: Ambassador Says Russia Not Involved In Cyberattack On British Vaccine Research
Russia’s ambassador to the U.K. said there is “no sense” in the claim that Russian intelligence services attempted to steal British coronavirus vaccine research. Speaking on the BBC's "Andrew Marr Show" on Sunday, Andrey Kelin said it was “impossible” to link hackers to any one country and that he doesn't believe the allegations. On Thursday, the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre published details of attacks that it said "almost certainly" originated from Russian intelligence services. (Furlong, 7/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Congress To Start Negotiations On Next Round Of Coronavirus Aid
Congress returns to work Monday with just weeks to craft new agreements on aid to households and protections for businesses, urged on by signs of a faltering economic recovery, a resurgent coronavirus pandemic and a looming deadline for enhanced unemployment payments. Some early areas of potential compromise have emerged on pulling together what would be the fifth coronavirus package since the beginning of the year. Both parties appear eager to pass another bill. (Duehren, 7/19)

The Wall Street Journal: As $600-A-Week Jobless Aid Nears End, Congress Faces A Quandary
Some 25 million Americans are set to lose $600 a week each in federal unemployment benefits at the end of the month, one of the thorniest issues Congress faces when it returns to Washington this week to consider another coronavirus relief bill. Many people view the payments as a lifeline, and analysts say the $15 billion a week in federal spending has provided vital support to an economy staggering from the effects of the pandemic. But critics say the money, paid on top of regular state jobless benefits, discourages some Americans from returning to work as businesses try to reopen, holding back the recovery. (Morath and Chen, 7/19)

The New York Times: Amid A Deadly Virus And Crippled Economy, One Form Of Aid Has Proved Reliable: Food Stamps 
More than six million people enrolled in food stamps in the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented expansion that is likely to continue as more jobless people deplete their savings and billions in unemployment aid expires this month. From February to May, the program grew by 17 percent, about three times faster than in any previous three months, according to state data collected by The New York Times. Its rapid expansion is a testament to both the hardship imposed by the pandemic and the importance of a program that until recently drew conservative attack. (DeParle, 7/19)

The New York Times: Are You Eligible For Food Stamps Now? Maybe, But It’s Complex 
The safety net is starting to unravel. At the end of the month, struggling Americans could lose the extra $600 per week they’ve been receiving in unemployment insurance. Some eviction protections are already expiring. And as people scramble to afford basic needs, hunger looms. Yet there is a program that may be able to help millions of struggling Americans: food stamps, or as they are known in most places now, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (Lieber, 7/17)

AP: FDA Approves Quest COVID-19 Test For 'Pooled' Sample Use
The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency approval to a new approach to coronavirus testing that combines test samples in batches instead of running them one by one, speeding up the process. The FDA said Saturday that it reissued an emergency use authorization to Quest Diagnostics to use its COVID-19 test with pooled samples. It is the first test to be authorized to be used in this way. (7/19)

Yahoo: What Is The Coronavirus Treatment Being Hailed A ‘Breakthrough’?
An experimental coronavirus treatment has been hailed a “breakthrough” in the fight against the outbreak. Southampton-based biotech firm Synairgen tested the inhaled protein interferon beta on 101 patients across nine UK hospitals. Preliminary results reveal those given the treatment were 79% less likely to develop particularly severe disease, like requiring ventilation, than the patients on placebo. (Thompson, 7/20)

Reuters: Synairgen Shares Soar As Drug Shows Lower Risk Of Severe COVID-19 Cases 
The company said that no deaths were reported in patients treated with SNG001, while three people died after being randomised to placebo. The measure of breathlessness was also markedly reduced in patients who received the drug, Synairgen added. (7/20)

Politico: Trump Admin Allows Group Covid-19 Testing 
The FDA said that Quest Diagnostics will now be able to group up to four samples together. This is aimed at easing the current testing crunch driven by the spike in new infections. (Ollstein, 7/18)

The Hill: FDA Gives Green Light On 'Pool Testing' To Increase Diagnostic Capacity 
The method isn't novel, it's been around for decades, and has been used during the pandemic by several countries, including China, Germany, Israel and Thailand. Pooled testing has also been used by the U.S. military since the 1940s. An unpublished report from the White House coronavirus task force this week put 18 states in the "red zone," meaning that they all have 100 new cases per 100,000 people per week. (Johnson, 7/18)

Politico: Colorado Governor: 'National Testing Scene Is A Complete Disgrace'
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Sunday said national testing for Covid-19 is disastrously slow. “The national testing scene is a complete disgrace,“ Polis said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “So, every test we send out to private lab partners nationally, Quest, Labcorp, seven days, eight days, nine days — maybe six days if we're lucky. Almost useless from an epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective." (Cohen, 7/19)

The Washington Post: How To Understand Your Coronavirus Test Results, From Swabs To Antibodies 
Americans are being swabbed by the thousands to learn if they have covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It’s how many are determining their risk of contracting or spreading the virus to someone else. Experts say testing is a vital component to controlling the outbreak, but one test result still isn’t a green light to visit vulnerable friends or family members. The nature of covid-19, the time it takes for someone to develop symptoms and the varied ways the virus affects people make each test a snapshot in time more than a definitive answer. (Amenabar, 7/19)

Reuters: Symptom Tracker App Reveals Six Distinct Types Of COVID-19 Infection - Reuters
British scientists analysing data from a widely-used COVID-19 symptom-tracking app have found there are six distinct types of the disease, each distinguished by a cluster of symptoms. A King’s College London team found that the six types also correlated with levels of severity of infection, and with the likelihood of a patient needing help with breathing - such as oxygen or ventilator treatment - if they are hospitalised. (7/17)

Politico: De Blasio Created A Contact Tracing Advisory Board Then Largely Ignored Its Advice
Mayor Bill de Blasio, faced in May with the task of monitoring the spread of coronavirus among a population of more than 8 million people, wanted community buy-in for his city’s mammoth contact tracing program to work. So he created an advisory board and stacked it with community leaders and public health experts. Two months later, members say the city has ignored the committee’s recommendations on an issue central to the program’s success: protecting privacy. (Eisenberg, 7/17)

The New York Times: Mistrust Of A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Imperil Widespread Immunity 
Almost daily, President Trump and leaders worldwide say they are racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine, in perhaps the most urgent mission in the history of medical science. But the repeated assurances of near-miraculous speed are exacerbating a problem that has largely been overlooked and one that public health experts say must be addressed now: persuading people to actually get the shot. A growing number of polls find so many people saying they would not get a coronavirus vaccine that its potential to shut down the pandemic could be in jeopardy. (Hoffman, 7/18)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Updates: Officials Sound Alarms About Testing; LA 'on The Brink' Of New Stay-At-Home, Mayor Says 
With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations climbing nationally, state and local officials from all over the country are sounding the same alarms heard early on in the pandemic: They’re missing key resources to confront the surge. They are weighing new restrictions and complaining of persistent backlogs in the mass-testing systems considered key to tracking and containing the virus, as the Trump administration seeks to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing and billions more that Republicans lawmakers want to give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Labs in some places are taking a week or more to provide results, and health experts say such wait times render tests near-useless in controlling the virus’s rampant spread. (Hawkins, Sonmez and Knowles, 7/19)

The New York Times: Older Children Spread The Coronavirus Just As Much As Adults, New Study Finds 
In the heated debate over reopening schools, one burning question has been whether and how efficiently children can spread the virus to others. A large new study from South Korea offers an answer: Children younger than 10 transmit to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero. And those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do. (Mandavilli, 7/18)

AP: Texas Coronavirus Cases Include More Than 80 Infants
A health official on the Texas Gulf Coast said 85 infants have tested positive for the coronavirus. Corpus Christi Nueces County Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez said Friday that the 85 infants are each younger than 1, but offered no other details, including how the children are suspected to have become infected. (7/19)

AP: Most Young Virus Cases In Texas County Diagnosed This Month
Most of the 85 young children in a South Texas county who are known to have contracted the coronavirus tested positive this month amid a surge in the state, a health official said Sunday. Nearly all of the children, most of whom are 1 year old or younger, are expected to recover on their own, Annette Rodriguez, the Corpus Christi-Nueces County public health director, told The Associated Press by phone. One of the children died, but officials are still trying to determine if COVID-19 was the cause, she said. (7/19)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Children Sickened By Coronavirus-Related Syndrome 
A rare but serious and potentially deadly inflammatory syndrome believed to be associated with the coronavirus has now been identified in 15 children in Los Angeles County, officials said. Of the children, 73% were Latino, representing a disproportionate burden for the ethnic group. Latino residents are the largest ethnic group in L.A. County, making up about half of the county’s residents. Nationally, about 70% of the cases of the inflammatory syndrome have been either Latino or Black patients. (Lin II, 7/19)

The New York Times: During Coronavirus Lockdowns, Some Doctors Wondered: Where Are The Preemies? 
This spring, as countries around the world told people to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, doctors in neonatal intensive care units were noticing something strange: Premature births were falling, in some cases drastically. It started with doctors in Ireland and Denmark. Each team, unaware of the other’s work, crunched the numbers from its own region or country and found that during the lockdowns, premature births — especially the earliest, most dangerous cases — had plummeted. When they shared their findings, they heard similar anecdotal reports from other countries. (Preston, 7/19)

AP: Doctor Who Survived COVID-19 Bewildered By Public Disregard
Dr. Michael Saag spends much of his time treating patients fighting for their lives and working with colleagues who are overwhelmed and exhausted by the relentless battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. But he enters a different world when he walks out the door of his Alabama clinic: one where many don’t wear masks, keep their distance from others or even seem aware of the intense struggle being waged against a virus. The disconnect is devastating. (Reeves, 7/18)

CIDRAP: Trial Data Support Dexamethasone, But Not Hydroxychloroquine, For COVID-19
Data from a large randomized controlled trial in the United Kingdom showing a benefit from use of the steroid dexamethasone in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was released today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), while two more studies show no benefit for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. (7/17)

The New York Times: The Flu May Linger In The Air, Just Like The Coronavirus 
The coronavirus is not the flu. But the two viruses have something crucial in common: Both have been described as spreading primarily through close contact with symptomatic people or the surfaces they’ve touched. Mounting evidence may be starting to turn the tide on that message. Last week, the World Health Organization modified its stance on coronavirus transmission, acknowledging that the virus may also hop from person to person by lingering in the air, trapped inside tiny aerosols that can traverse the length of room. (Wu, 7/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Medical Devices Aren’t Out Of The Danger Zone 
The business outlook for medical-device companies is clearly improving. The danger to their stock prices hasn’t gone away, though. Second-quarter results from health-care bellwethers Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories on Thursday were stronger than Wall Street expected. J&J raised its 2020 profit outlook, while Abbott issued better guidance than analysts were expecting.  Shares of both are near records, as is a broad index of smaller device companies. A key reason for investor optimism is evidence that a device recovery is underway. (Grant, 7/19)

CIDRAP: Ethnic Minorities Have More Severe COVID-19 Chest X-Rays Findings
Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to have evidence of severe COVID-19 disease on chest x-rays, according to a study yesterday in Radiology.The study was based on 326 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 infection between Mar 27 and Apr 10, seen by radiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Doctors at the hospital noticed non-white patients had significant more lung disease on admitting chest x-rays than white patients and studied the phenomenon. (7/17)

The New York Times: You’re A Senior. How Do You Calculate Coronavirus Risk Right Now? 
Early on in the pandemic, most public health officials warned older adults to simply stay at home, except to buy food or medicine or exercise outdoors apart from others. Now, with states and cities reopening (and some re-closing) at varying paces, the calculations grow steadily more complicated. “Lots of people are really agonizing about what to do and whom to have faith in,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.(Span, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Housekeepers File Complaint Against U-Md. Over Working Conditions, As Heat And Virus Raise Concerns
The housekeepers preparing the University of Maryland’s flagship campus in College Park for the return of thousands of students next month are unequipped to safely do their jobs, according to a labor complaint filed by their union. Since May, housekeepers and other facilities workers have asked the university to enforce mandatory coronavirus tests, provide coronavirus-specific training and distribute more equipment — including N95 masks, disposable gowns and extra cleaning agents. But union leaders say the university is unwilling to meet their demands. (Lumpkin, 7/19)

AP: Cancer Doctor's Victims Get Restitution Years After Sentence
More than $4 million has been distributed to hundreds of people who were victims of a Detroit-area doctor’s bogus diagnoses. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said restitution from Farid Fata was recently completed for his former patients, five years after he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Fata poisoned patients through needless cancer treatments that wrecked their health and, in some cases, contributed to their death, according to the government. He pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in 2014. (7/19)

The New York Times: REI Faces Staff Backlash Over Response To Covid-19 Cases 
About 40 current and former employees of the outdoor equipment store REI in Grand Rapids, Mich., regularly communicate using the messaging app GroupMe. On July 6, they received a jarring note from a colleague. “Hey guys just so everybody knows I tested positive for Covid-19,” the employee wrote. “I was told not to tell anybody and that the store would let everybody know what was going on. I assumed everybody knew but apparently that was not the case. I’m glad the store is now taking it seriously and we are closed for a while. I have no symptoms and am feeling good.” (Maheshwari, 7/19)

The New York Times: Public Transit Officials Fear Virus Could Send Systems Into ‘Death Spiral’ 
Jeffrey Tumlin, who leads San Francisco’s $1.3 billion transit system, is in a hard spot. Ridership on his transit system is down 70 percent citywide, reeling from the effects of a pandemic that has killed over 138,000 in the United States alone and smothered the national economy. His agency predicts $568 million in revenue losses over the next four years, and in an effort to stay afloat, he has had to eliminate half of his city bus lines, unsure if they will ever come back. (Verma, 7/19)

Reuters: Nicklaus Says He Was Ill With COVID-19 Earlier This Year 
Jack Nicklaus, the 18-time golf major winner, said on Sunday that he was ill with COVID-19 earlier this year and his wife Barbara had also tested positive for the coronavirus. At 80 years old, Nicklaus is in the higher risk category for being seriously ill with the disease, which has killed more than 140,000 people in the United States. He said he counted himself lucky to have come through with a relatively mild case. (7/19)

Reuters: NFL Players Take To Twitter To Express Concerns Over COVID-19 Protocols 
Some of National Football League’s biggest names took to social media on Sunday to express their concerns and anger over the lack of COVID-19 safety protocols in place as teams prepare to open training camps this week. Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson along with Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt were among those expressing their frustration at the NFL ignoring advice from its own medical experts. (7/19)

AP: Players Plead With NFL To Address Health, Safety Concerns
NFL players are publicly pleading with the league to address several health and safety concerns on the eve of training camp. The league informed teams on Saturday that training camps will open on time even though discussions with the players’ union regarding testing for the coronavirus and other health and safety protocols are ongoing. Rookies for Houston and Kansas City are set to report Monday, and rookies for other teams are due on Tuesday. Many prominent players expressed their thoughts in a social media blitz Sunday. (Maadi, 7/19)

Los Angeles Times: Pro Sports Leagues Jump The Line For COVID Test Results 
On July 2, Dr. Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine physician in central Florida, saw a patient who feared he might have contracted COVID-19. So he had the patient tested and submitted the test to a lab. Sixteen days later, he’s still waiting for the results. That same day, less than half an hour away in Orlando, about 180 players and staff members from four Major League Soccer teams had a similar test performed upon checking into their hotel. Their results came back within hours. (Baxter, 7/19)

The New York Times: How The Yankees Are Adapting To A Season Of Distancing 
During a recent practice game at Yankee Stadium, pitcher Jordan Montgomery occasionally wiped his nose with his hand between pitches. Behind the plate, catcher Gary Sanchez spit to his side a few times. Frequently, Manager Aaron Boone sat or stood just a couple feet away from some of his coaches or an umpire to chat. A day later, outfielder Aaron Judge smacked palms and fists with several teammates after smashing a home run. All of these actions are either forbidden or discouraged by Major League Baseball these days, but old habits are hard to break — especially if you have played baseball for many years. Spitting, high-fiving and sidling up to teammates in the dugout are basically part of the job description. (Wagner, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Canada Bars Blue Jays From Playing Home Games In Toronto 
Canada won’t allow the Blue Jays to play Major League Baseball games in Toronto this season, citing the risk posed by team players and staff traveling to parts of the U.S. where the risk of Covid-19 transmission is elevated. The country’s immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, issued the ruling Saturday, just five days before the start of a pandemic-shortened, 60-game MLB campaign. The Blue Jays’ schedule is slated to begin Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla., against the Tampa Bay Rays. They were hoping to return to Rogers Centre, their stadium in downtown Toronto since 1989, for a series against the Washington Nationals on July 29. (Diamond and Vieira, 7/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Schools Ask Athletes To Accept Health Risks Amid The Pandemic
As the power brokers of college football frantically maneuver to save the 2020 season, some are asking a very big favor from their athletes: accept the risk of playing during the coronavirus pandemic. A number of schools have required or encouraged athletes to sign forms acknowledging the health risks of playing during the pandemic, and in some cases absolving schools of liability in the case of athlete infection. (Higgins, 7/19)

The New York Times: New York City Eases Into Phase 4 Of Reopening, But Indoor Limits Remain 
Amid concerns about a coronavirus resurgence, New York City will enter a limited fourth phase of reopening on Monday, allowing some art and entertainment venues, like zoos and botanical gardens, to open for outdoor activities at a limited capacity, officials announced on Friday. But stringent restrictions will remain on indoor activities: Gyms, malls, movie theaters and museums will remain shuttered, and indoor dining will still not be allowed. (Ferre-Sadurni and Mays, 7/17)

AP: Nevada Passes Cuts To Health Care, Education Amid Pandemic
The Nevada Legislature approved immense cuts to the state’s health and education budgets on Sunday in an effort to rebalance the state budget amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and plummeting revenue projections. The revised budget passed through both the state Senate and Assembly after days and nights of deliberation in the part-time Legislature, which Gov. Steve Sisolak convened for an unscheduled special legislative session on July 8 to address a projected $1.2 billion revenue shortfall. (Metz, 7/20)

Politico: Rep. Donna Shalala Calls For Florida To Shut Down Again 
Rep. Donna Shalala slammed President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday for reopening too soon. "The lack of leadership in the White House and in our governor's office, they simply have not hit this with a hammer, which is what we needed to do, and starve the virus," Shalala (D-Fla.) said on ABC’s “This Week.” "They opened too soon. And they misunderstand what you need to do — or they understand it and they're not willing to do it." (Carrasco, 7/19)

AP: Judge Weighs N.C. Voting Rule Change Demand With COVID-19
A judge is listening to arguments this week about whether the COVID-19 pandemic demands wholesale changes to North Carolina’s voting systems this fall. U.S. District Judge William Osteen scheduled three days of hearings starting Monday involving a lawsuit by two voting advocacy groups and several citizens who fear current rules threaten their health if they want to vote. There’s already been a spike in mail-in absentee ballot applications, presumably by voters who prefer not to venture out to in-person voting centers and precincts. (7/20)

Reuters: In Arizona, School Reopening Sparks Protest Movement 
Arizona third-grade teacher Stacy Brosius has been called a “liberal socialist Nazi” and a “whiner and complainer” for leading car-based protests to delay in-person schooling, but she says she’s doing it to save lives in a pandemic. Inspired by Black Lives Matter demonstrations, hundreds of Arizona teachers like Brosius are putting on red t-shirts they last wore in a 2018 strike and driving around cities in cars daubed with slogans like: “Remote learning won’t kill us but COVID can!” (Hay and O'Brien, 7/18)

The Wall Street Journal: New Mexico’s Governor, A Possible Biden Running Mate, Stands Firm On Coronavirus Restrictions 
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the state’s former health secretary, has imposed tougher restrictions than those in other states, including fines for not wearing face masks in public. Out-of-state visitors are required to quarantine for 14 days, and only New Mexico residents are allowed in state parks. Last week, she closed indoor seating at restaurants and breweries, which had been allowed to reopen in a limited capacity at the end of May after being shut for over two months. Supporters say the moves have so far kept the virus manageable: Coronavirus cases have spread in New Mexico, but it so far hasn’t seen the surge experienced in neighboring Arizona and Texas. Republicans, however, are funding a lawsuit to prevent Ms. Lujan Grisham from fining businesses that don’t follow her coronavirus orders. (Collins, 7/19)

NPR: Virginia Poultry Workers See Victory In New COVID-19 Protection Rules 
Virginia became the first state in the nation last week to require businesses to protect workers from the coronavirus. The state's new emergency temporary standards obligate businesses to give out personal protective equipment, mandate social distancing guidelines and put in place response plans and training for workers, among other measures. Companies risk up to $130,000 in penalties if they are found to be in violation of the guidelines. (Garcia-Navarro and Silva, 7/19)

Politico: Georgia Mask Feud Exposes America's Fault Lines 
On its face, the legal showdown between Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over the legality of the city’s face mask mandate is a dispute over the right balance between personal freedom and public health. But the increasingly bitter feud between the Republican governor, an acolyte of President Donald Trump, and the Democratic mayor, a possible vice presidential pick who, herself, has tested positive for Covid-19, is also a microcosm of the fault lines — political, racial, geographic — hampering the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic and fueling an outbreak that now appears to be spinning out of control. (King, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Garcetti Says L.A. On The Verge Of New Stay-At-Home Order 
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Sunday said L.A. opened too quickly and again warned that the city was close to imposing some type of new stay-at-home order as coronavirus cases continued to spike. Speaking on CNN, Garcetti was asked about a Los Angeles Times editorial that criticized the rapid reopening of California, which was followed by a major surge in both new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. (Wigglesworth, 7/19)

AP: Carefree Florida Summers A Thing Of Past; 5K Die From Virus
As coronavirus cases skyrocket, daily life is looking very different in the Sunshine State, where many popular beaches are shuttered, residents and tourists can be fined for not wearing masks, and bars across the state aren’t allowed to pour liquor to toast the carefree days of summer. The state Department of Health on Sunday reported 12,478 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 87 more deaths. Overall, there have been nearly 350,047 cases, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths. (Kennedy, 7/19)