First Edition: July 21, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Pandemic-Inspired Food Labeling Raises Alarms For Those With Food Allergies
As the mother of a child with food allergies, Heather Sapp was well versed in reading labels and calling manufacturers to verify ingredients. For years, she kept her daughter’s diet free of the peanuts and tree nuts that could kill her. But when a bite of lemon-ginger hummus three years ago sent Sapp herself into life-threatening anaphylactic shock, her dependence on labeling accuracy became more complicated. Testing determined that Sapp, now 43, had developed adult-onset anaphylactic allergies to chickpeas, sesame and cilantro. More recently, Sapp, who lives in Phoenix, had an anaphylactic reaction to parsley. (West, 7/21)

Kaiser Health News: NIH Project Homes In On COVID Racial Disparities 
While the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Hispanic Americans is no secret, federal officials have launched studies of the disparity that they hope will better prepare the country for the next great epidemic. The National Institutes of Health began the ambitious “All of Us” research project in 2018 with the goal of enrolling at least a million people in the world’s most diverse health database. Officials saw it as an antidote to medical research that traditionally has skewed heavily white, well-off and male. (Gold, 7/21)

Kaiser Health News: Behind The Byline: ‘Reporting From A Distance’
Although the coronavirus pandemic shut down many organizations and businesses across the nation, KHN has never been busier — and health coverage has never been more vital. We’ve revamped our Behind The Byline YouTube series and brought it to Instagram TV. Journalists and producers from across KHN’s newsrooms take you behind the scenes in these bite-size videos to show the ways they are following the story, connecting with sources and sorting through facts — all while staying safe. (Almendrala, 7/21)

Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline 
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. “Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified 836 such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic. We have published profiles for 149 workers whose deaths have been confirmed by our reporters. (7/21)

Kaiser Health News: Watch: COVID Patients And Families Battle To Get Benefits 
As COVID cases in the U.S. continue to soar, health care workers on the front lines are increasingly getting sick and even dying of the disease. KHN’s Christina Jewett and Hari Sreenivasan of PBS NewsHour discuss what often happens and how some employers evade paying benefits. (7/20)

Politico: ‘We Are Not Trying To Take Away Your Freedoms’: Surgeon General Makes Urgent Mask Plea 
Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Monday implored Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus and acknowledged he was wrong to discourage the use of face coverings in the early days of the pandemic. “I’m pleading with your viewers. I’m begging you,” Adams told the hosts of “Fox & Friends” in an interview. “Please understand that we are not trying to take away your freedoms when we say, ‘Wear a face covering.’” (Forgey, 7/20)

The Washington Post: Trump To Bring Back White House Coronavirus Briefings In Attempt To Revive Faltering Campaign 
President Trump’s announcement Monday that he would resurrect the White House coronavirus task force briefings is the culmination of weeks of debate among his aides about how best to turn around — or explain away — his administration’s failed response to the pandemic. As the number of infected Americans surges and as Trump’s coronavirus-related approval ratings plummet, the president is pledging to “get involved” in the daily messaging campaign in a more direct way by returning to the stage where he headlined controversial news conferences in March and April. (Olorunnipa and Dawsey, 7/20)

USA Today: Trump Boasts About Acing Montreal Cognitive Assessment. What We Know
The test Trump took, as described by his physician in early 2018, was the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, a tool used by health professionals to identify signs of dementia or cognitive impairment. It is a one-page assessment that typically takes about 10 minutes to complete and can yield a score of up to 30 points. The test poses a series of questions and challenges, including drawing a copy of a given shape, naming images of animals and repeating a series of words from memory. (Santucci, 7/20)

The Hill: White House, Senate GOP Clash Over Testing Funds 
Senate Republicans are clashing with the White House over whether to include new money for coronavirus testing in the next relief package, which lawmakers estimate could swell to $2 trillion once Democratic demands are included. The intraparty tension in the GOP could give Democrats leverage as congressional discussions intensify over the next couple weeks. (Bolton, 7/20)

The Hill: GOP Eyes More Than $70 Billion For Schools In Coronavirus Package 
Republicans are eyeing more than $70 billion in help for schools as part of the next coronavirus aid package currently being negotiated. "There is going to be over $70 billion that this president has already authorized to work with Congress to try to make sure we not only keep the classrooms safe, but the students safe," White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told Fox News of the forthcoming GOP proposal for the fifth coronavirus relief legislation. (Carney, 7/20)

The Hill: GOP Signals Trump's Payroll-Tax Cut In Republican Coronavirus Bill — For Now 
Top administration officials signaled on Monday night that a payroll-tax cut, a top priority for President Trump, is in the forthcoming Republican coronavirus aid proposal, at least for now. Asked if the payroll-tax cut had to be in the Republican bill, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters "it's in the bill." "So we'll see," he added. "We look forward to meeting with everybody." (Carney, 7/20)

Politico: ‘Surprise’ Billing Fix Likely Out Of Next Covid-19 Package As Fight Over Tests Plays Out 
Congress looks unable to protect patients from "surprise" medical bills before the election, despite a push from key health committee chairs and the Trump administration to include a fix in a new coronavirus relief package. Senate Republicans are expected to unveil a skinny package of rescue measures this week that will largely skirt contentious health issues but include protections for hospitals from lawsuits over coronavirus exposure and possibly money for Covid-19 testing that private insurers won't cover. (Luthi and Roubein, 7/20)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood Launches Six-Figure Ad Campaign Blasting Vulnerable GOP Senators On COVID-19 Bill
Planned Parenthood Action Fund launched a six-figure ad campaign Monday pressuring several vulnerable GOP senators to pass the next coronavirus relief legislation. Senators return this week from a two-week recess with a steep path to negotiating a bill both parties have vowed to pass by August. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to share the GOP proposal with fellow Republicans on Tuesday. (Bikales, 7/20)

The Hill: Democratic AGs Sue Trump Administration Over LGBTQ Health Protections Rollback 
A coalition of 23 Democratic state attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over a rule that scraps ObamaCare's nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ patients. Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, New York Attorney Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the lawsuit alleges that the new rule allows providers and insurers to discriminate against certain vulnerable and protected populations. (Weixel, 7/20)

Politico: 'We Can't Pull It Off': Florida Sheriff Says He Can't Muster Security For GOP Convention
The sheriff of Jacksonville, Fla., said he can’t provide security for the Republican National Convention because of a lack of clear plans, adequate funding and enough law enforcement officers. “As we're talking today, we are still not close to having some kind of plan that we can work with that makes me comfortable that we're going to keep that event and the community safe,” Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams told POLITICO. (Caputo, 7/20)

Politico: Coronavirus Hospital Data Goes Live On New HHS System
The system replaces a CDC system and relies on outside vendors who have received at least $35 million combined. Democrats and public health experts have expressed alarm about the move, concerned it would sideline the federal public health agency and cause confusion among hospitals and states amid a pandemic. (Roubein, Diamond and Tahir, 7/20)

The Hill: HHS Unveils New Public Coronavirus Data System 
The Trump administration has restored public access to coronavirus data reported by hospitals to the federal government, after an outcry over missing data and controversy over a change in the agency that collects it. The information is now being published on the Department of Health and Human Services's (HHS) site, HHS Protect, instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network. The change was necessary, officials said, because they believed the CDC's system was too slow, and wasn't able to keep up with the constantly changing information about the virus. (Weixel, 7/20)

USA Today: University Of Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Shows Early Promise
Early stage trials explore only safety and dosing and cannot determine a vaccine's effectiveness, but signs indicate that all four candidate vaccines are leading to immune responses similar to those experienced by people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. About 17 candidate vaccines are being tested in people around the world. (Weintraub and Hjelmgaard, 7/20)

NPR: Vaccine From Oxford-AstraZeneca Shows Promising Results In Early Human Trial 
An experimental coronavirus vaccine triggered an immune response against COVID-19 in study participants, and it has only minor side effects, according to new data published in the medical journal The Lancet. The vaccine, called AZD1222 for now, is being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It uses a different, harmless virus to deliver biological instructions for how to fight off the coronavirus. According to a phase one/phase two study of more than 1,000 patients, the vaccine triggered two immune responses: an increase in antibodies and a T-cell response. This, scientists said, is a good sign. (Harris and Lupkin, 7/20)

The New York Times: Oxford Covid Vaccine Among Those Developers Say Have Promising Initial Results 
The race for a vaccine against the coronavirus intensified on Monday as three competing laboratories released promising results from early trials in humans. Now comes the hard part: proving that any of the vaccines protects against the virus, and establishing how much immunity they provide — and for how long. Two of the vaccine developers — the first, a partnership between Oxford University and the British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca; the second, the Chinese company CanSino Biologics — published their early results as peer-reviewed studies in The Lancet, a British medical journal. (Kirkpatric, 7/20)

Stat: New Data Offer Glimpse Of Efficacy Of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine
While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, known as AZD1222, has moved most rapidly into larger-scale studies of any major contender — and AstraZeneca has said that billions of doses could be manufactured — the new data represent the first glimpse researchers have gotten at its efficacy. They show a relatively safe vaccine — though side effects were greater than for a meningitis vaccine, to which it was compared — that engages the immune system to fight the virus. AstraZeneca said that, because of the results, it is likely that future studies will test giving patients two doses of the vaccine. (Herper, Garde and Branswell, 7/20)

USA Today: COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Attract More Than 138,600 US Volunteers
At a time when some Americans are concerned about the safety of a COVID-19 vaccine, tens of thousands have already volunteered to help bring oneinto existence. As of Monday , more than 138,600 people had signed up to take part in testing. “That’s why we’re optimistic that we’re going to be able to get the trials enrolled in an expeditious way. I think we can do what we need to do,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Weise, 7/20)

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)

Stat: Two Lawmakers Own Large Sums Of Stock In Vaccine Makers Set To Testify Before Their Committee
Two of the lawmakers tasked with grilling pharmaceutical executives on the development of Covid-19 vaccines also own stock in one or more of the companies, creating potential conflicts of interest as drug manufacturers race toward lucrative scientific breakthroughs. Reps. Joe Kennedy and Michael Burgess are members of the House subcommittee that will question officials from Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Moderna on Tuesday. Each member holds shares in at least one of the companies. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, owns as much as $1.7 million of stock in three of them, according to his most recent financial disclosure. (Garde, 7/20)

Stat: Pharma Companies Working On Coronavirus Drugs Ramp Up Lobbying
Pharmaceutical companies racing to develop coronavirus treatments and vaccines have upped their lobbying presence in the past three months, as drug companies work to combat the pandemic and fend off many lawmakers’ longstanding quest to lower drug prices via regulation. Takeda, which is working to produce a plasma treatment for Covid-19, more than doubled its lobbying expenditure in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period a year ago: From $570,000 to $1.33 million. (Facher, 7/20)

AP: FDA Calls For Removal Of Fruity, Disposable E-Cigarettes
U.S. health officials are cracking down on fruity disposable electronic cigarettes popular with teenagers, saying the companies never received permission to sell them in the U.S.The Food and Drug Administration sent a letter Monday telling the company behind Puff Bar e-cigarettes to remove them from the market within 15 business days, including flavors like mango, pink lemonade and strawberry. An undated notice on the company’s website says online sales and distribution have ceased “until further notice.” (Perrone, 7/20)

The Hill: FDA Orders Removal Of Fruity Puff Bar Vapes 
Puff Bar flavors include watermelon, strawberry banana, pink lemonade and sour apple. The other companies were cited for marketing e-cigarettes or liquid flavors that are directly marketed at and appeal to children. Some imitate packaging for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, Twinkies and Cherry Coke, while others feature cartoon characters. The move comes months after public health advocates and many lawmakers warned that disposable e-cigarettes were a gigantic loophole in the administration's ban on certain e-cigarette flavors. (Weixel, 7/20)

Stat: FDA Extends Deadline For Stem Cell Clinics To Comply With Agency Rules
The Food and Drug Administration has pushed back by six months the deadline by which clinics that offer stem cell-based treatments must start complying with FDA drug development rules, citing the coronavirus pandemic. The agency originally said in November 2017 that companies making stem cell products for patients had three years to start following FDA rules for developing treatments, including filing paperwork for clinical trials. (Joseph, 7/20)

Stat: Acadia Fails In Attempt To Use Antipsychotic To Treat Patients With Depression
Acadia Pharmaceuticals reported negative results Monday from a pair of late-stage clinical trials seeking to expand the use of its antipsychotic medicine Nuplazid to patients with major depressive disorder. The two identically designed Phase 3 clinical trials involved 300 patients who hadn’t responded well to currently approved depression treatments. In both studies, Nuplazid failed to demonstrate an anti-depressive benefit compared to a placebo when given to patients alongside their current medicines. (Feuerstein, 7/20)

The Washington Post: Blowing Out Candles Is Basically Spitting On Your Friends’ Cake. Will We Ever Do It Again? 
Picture the scene in its nostalgic innocence, the way it’s always been captured in photo albums and home movies: family and friends huddled together, voices raised in song; a smiling face illuminated by flickering flames atop a colorful cake; a momentary darkness when the music ends and the room fills with the distinctive whiff of blown-out birthday candles. Now imagine it again, this time having spent a 100-something days in quarantine, barraged by news graphics detailing the spit-plume that erupts from our faces every time we speak, laugh, sing or cough. Visualize that same gathering of loved ones, hovering shoulder-to-shoulder, cheering as someone forcibly exhales a blast of aerosolized germs across the surface of a communal dessert. (Gibson, 7/20)

USA Today: Spiking COVID-19 Cases Show Summer's Heat Doesn't Stop The Coronavirus
Any hopes that summer’s high temperatures might slow the spread of the coronavirus were smashed in June and July by skyrocketing cases across the country, especially in some of the warmest states. Colin Carlson wasn’t a bit surprised that summer heat failed to curb the virus that causes COVID-19, which has claimed more than 138,000 lives in the U.S. That notion, no matter how many times it was repeated, was never supported by science, said Carlson, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University who studies the relationship between climate change and infectious disease. (Voyles Pulver, 7/17)

Philadelphia Inquirer: U.S. Bungles Coronavirus Testing Again, This Time With Delayed Results Due To Hotspots, Lack Of Federal Coordination
When Madeline Santiago decided to take her 12-year-old daughter on vacation to see relatives in Puerto Rico, she didn’t count on a stressful side trip into the surreal world of COVID-19 testing. Puerto Rico now requires all visitors to prove they tested negative for infection no more than 72 hours before arriving in the U.S. island commonwealth — even though test processing in the United States is so backed up that getting results typically takes a week or two. (McCullough, 7/17)

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)

CIDRAP: Focus Groups Reveal Primary Care Docs Less Concerned About Antibiotic Resistance
In a series of focus groups conducted with primary care providers in four US cities, most participants consistently identified antibiotic resistance as a lower priority compared with other health concerns, and suggested that urgent care, retail clinics, and patient demand were the key drivers of inappropriate prescribing, researchers reported last week in BMJ Open. The eight focus groups, which were conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the American Medical Association in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Birmingham, included family medicine and internal medicine physicians and pediatricians. In each focus group, an independent moderator asked the participants to rank a number of public health issues in terms of importance, then asked questions aimed at understanding physicians' attitudes and perceptions around antibiotic use and stewardship. A total 52 primary care providers participated in the recorded discussions. (7/14)

ABC News: Post-Pandemic Baby Boom And Fertility Consults Via Zoom: How COVID-19 Is Affecting Pregnancy Plans
Both planning for pregnancy and raising children can create stress for parents and parents-to-be during normal times, but taking on either of these roles during a pandemic can be even more taxing. Many couples looking to have children during the COVID-19 crisis are worried about the risks associated with getting pregnant at this time, but they are also concerned about waiting too long to conceive. (Farber, 7/20)

AP: First COVID-19, Now Mosquitoes: Bracing For Bug-Borne Ills
Sophia Garabedian had been dealing with a persistent fever and painful headache when her parents found her unresponsive in her bed one morning last fall. Doctors ultimately diagnosed the then-5-year-old Sudbury, Massachusetts, resident with eastern equine encephalitis, a rare but severe mosquito-borne virus that causes brain swelling. (Marcelo, 7/20)

CIDRAP: Mosquitoes Unlikely To Transmit SARS-CoV-2, Study Finds
New research by scientists from Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine shows that mosquitoes are unlikely to be a vector for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study published late last week in Scientific Reports. The scientists inoculated three common species of mosquito—Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus—with SARS-CoV-2, with the hypothesis that if the virus did not replicate in the mosquitoes under an extreme viral challenge, the lack of replication would preclude the possibility of biological transmission.

AP: Mosquitoes Plentiful In Maine, Where State Urges Precautions
Mosquitoes are biting in Maine, and public health authorities in the state say it’s a good time to exercise precautions to limit exposure to diseases they carry. Mosquitoes can carry diseases such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile virus. The risk of contracting the diseases increases in late summer and early fall. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that residents should take steps such as wearing long sleeves and pants, using repellent on skin and clothes and taking extra care at dusk and dawn. It’s also a good idea to drain artificial sources of standing water, because that’s where mosquitoes lay eggs, the department said. (7/21)

AP: California Court Upholds Verdict In Monsanto Cancer Case
A California appeals court on Monday upheld a groundbreaking verdict that Monsanto’s widely used weed killer caused cancer in a school groundskeeper but the panel also slashed the damage award from $78.5 million to $21.5 million. The 1st District Court of Appeal said there was evidence to support a California jury’s 2018 decision that “Monsanto acted with a conscious disregard for public safety,” but it reduced the damages to Dewayne Johnson of Vallejo because state law doesn’t allow damages for reduced life expectancy, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (7/21)

The Hill: Major Hotels To Require Guests Wear Masks Nationwide 
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), which represents the hotel industry, says several major chains nationwide will require face masks for guests in all public spaces. The group released industrywide guidelines for enhanced health and safety protocols during the coronavirus pandemic last week, with members including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Loews Hotels, Radisson and Wyndham all set to mandate masks and social distancing. (Gangitano, 7/20)

The Hill: Ice Cream Store Manager In NY Says He Was Fired For Not Serving Customer Coughing Without Mask
An ice cream store manager in New York said his employer recently fired him for not serving a customer who wasn’t wearing a mask, despite a state mandate issued months ago requiring all residents to wear face coverings in public amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thomas DeSarle, who previously worked at a Carvel ice cream store in Long Island, told local station WABC in an interview this week that he was fired earlier this month following the incident with the customer. (Folly, 7/20)

The Washington Post: Why Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Stands Alone On Masks 
In a campaign ad in 2018 boasting that he was “so conservative,” Brian Kemp brandished a chain saw and declared his tool “ready to rip up some regulation.” Two years later, the regulation to which Georgia’s Republican governor is turning his attention is a municipal order requiring people to wear masks in Atlanta, among other precautions designed to arrest transmission of the novel coronavirus, which has sickened nearly 150,000 Georgians. (Stanley-Becker and Witte, 7/20)

USA Today: Gap Inc. Will Mandate Masks Nationwide Aug. 1
Gap Inc. will soon require masks in all of its U.S. stores, which include Old Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix, Janie and Jack and its namesake Gap stores. The new requirement will start Aug. 1, the same day Target will start its nationwide mask mandate. (Tyko, 7/20)

The Washington Post: NFL Agrees To Eliminate Preseason, Reaches Deal With Union On Coronavirus Testing 
The NFL on Monday offered to eliminate its preseason entirely while agreeing with its players’ union on a novel coronavirus testing program for players. The moves to resolve the key remaining issues between the two sides came as rookies for the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans reported to their training camps. The league’s concessions on the preseason and daily testing of players, at least at the outset of training camps, increased the likelihood that all teams’ camps will open fully by July 28 as scheduled. The NFL previously cut the preseason from four games per team to two and was planning for testing every other day. But the NFL Players Association had been adamant about daily testing for players and no preseason at all. (Maske, 7/20)

Los Angeles Times: No NBA Players In Orlando Have Tested Positive For The Coronavirus 
NBA players and coaches have espoused a type of blind faith in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the document governing the league’s attempted reboot amid a global pandemic. And Monday, that faith was rewarded with something concrete. Since July 13, the NBA has tested 346 players inside its Orlando bubble, and none have shown evidence of the coronavirus, the league announced in coordination with the NBPA, the union that represents the league’s players. (Woike, 7/20)

Politico: Fauci To Throw First Pitch On Opening Day For The Washington Nationals
Anthony Fauci, health care superstar and baseball superfan, will throw the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day for the Washington Nationals, the team announced Monday. "Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World Series Championship title," the Nationals announced in a statement. (Choi, 7/20)

USA Today: Playing Football 'High Risk,' Outbreaks Inevitable
The bleakest picture to date of football’s uncertain future amid the coronavirus pandemic was painted by the NCAA, which posted on Twitter last week a graph illustrating the wide gap between two points: one, where the NCAA “thought we’d be” in terms of flattening the national curve of confirmed cases; and two, “where we are,” with cases surging nationwide since the end of June.“ Although testing and contact tracing infrastructure have expanded considerably,” read the accompanying text, “the variations in approach to reopening America for business and recreation have correlated with a considerable spike in cases in recent weeks.” (Myerberg, 7/20)

The Washington Post: An E-Book For Families Provides Answers To Important Questions About Covid-19 
Will school start again this fall? How many tests do we really need to tackle covid-19? How long should people quarantine if they do contract the virus?Adults have all of these questions, but so do kids. William Haseltine, a medical researcher and public health veteran with a history of pioneering ambitious projects to tackle HIV/AIDS, cancer and genomics, is tackling those issues with “A Family Guide to Covid.” (Blakemore, 7/20)

The Washington Post: Florida Teachers' Union Sues Over School Reopening Order 
Florida’s largest teachers union sued top state officials Monday over an order mandating a return of in-person schooling, drawing the courts into an increasingly politicized nationwide debate over when and how kids can return to class amid the coronavirus pandemic. The suit from the Florida Education Association asked a judge to stop Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran from requiring the return of in-person schooling without first reducing class sizes and ensuring that educators have adequate protective supplies. (Zapotosky, 7/20)

AP: St. Louis-Area Catholic Schools Plan In-Person Classes
The Archdiocese of St. Louis on Monday announced plans to resume in-person classes next month as one area Catholic school deals with a coronavirus outbreak. At least 19 St. Dominic High School students and two guests tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an outdoor graduation ceremony July 8 and prom July 10, according to the O’Fallon school. The school cancelled student activities through Aug. 9. (Salter, 7/21)

The Hill: Kansas Governor Orders Students And Teachers To Wear Masks When Schools Reopen 
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) signed an order Monday mandating all students, teachers, faculty and visitors to public or private K-12 school buildings or facilities wear face coverings. “I will continue to use every resource and tool available to this administration to protect Kansans and keep our economy open for business, regardless of the political pushback,” Kelly said in a statement. (Klar, 7/20)

NPR: Kids Get Coronavirus, But Do They Spread It? We'll Find Out When Schools Reopen
As scientists study the burden of COVID-19 around the globe, it's pretty clear that despite some cases of serious illness, kids tend to get infected with the coronavirus less often and have milder symptoms compared to adults. "It seems consistently, children do have lower rates of infection than adults," says Dr. Alison Tribble, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan. (Aubrey, 7/20)

Nieman Journalism Lab: Journalists Are Suffering Mental Health Consequences From Covering Covid-19, According To A New Survey 
Early results from a new study on mental health among journalists covering the pandemic were so worrisome that the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism decided to publish the preliminary data. “This is early data on a vital topic,” wrote Meera Selva, the study’s co-author and the Institute’s director of the Journalist Fellowship Program, on Twitter. Selva and her colleagues surveyed 73 journalists from international news organizations in June. All of them had “worked on stories directly related to the pandemic.” The survey had a 63 percent response rate. Of the group responding, about 70 percent said they were suffering from psychological distress. More than a quarter of respondents demonstrated symptoms like worry, feeling on edge, insomnia, poor concentration and fatigue that were “clinically significant” and compatible with the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. (Scire, 7/20)

Stat: Lack Of Darker Skin In Textbooks, Journals Harms Patients Of Color 
When dermatologist Jenna Lester learned that rashes on skin and toes were a symptom of Covid-19, she started searching the medical literature for images of what the rashes looked like on Black skin so she’d recognize it in her Black patients. She couldn’t find a single picture. (McFarling, 7/21)

AP: Navy Vet Beaten By Federal Agents: 'They Came Out To Fight'
The Navy veteran stands passively in Portland, Oregon, amid swirling tear gas. One of the militarized federal agents deployed by President Donald Trump swings a baton at him with full force. With both hands. Five times. Under the assault, 53-year-old Christopher David seems like a redwood tree — impervious to the blows. But in a video shot by a reporter, another officer — wearing green military camouflage, a helmet and gas mask — sprays David full in the face with what appears to be pepper gas. Video of the Saturday night incident has gone viral. Accounts of it have been reported by news outlets in the United States and around the world. (Selsky, 7/20)

The Washington Post: About 82 Percent Of Those 50 And Older Complain Of Ageism, Research Says 
About 82 percent of Americans who are 50 and older say they have experienced prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping based on their age, according to new research. Ageism, as it is commonly called, can occur as jokes about memory or hearing, comments about difficulty using cellphones or computers, or even passively through advertising and other forms of messaging about undesirable signs of aging, such as wrinkles or gray hair. (Searing, 7/20)

Los Angeles Times: Some Recovered COVID Patients Face Lingering Stigmas 
Don Udan spent almost three weeks on a ventilator while hospitalized with COVID-19, but he has been slowly returning to his normal life since being discharged April 21. Every so often, though, he has a wake-up call that life may be different for a while. “When I had my appointment to get an ultrasound on my leg, the tech found out I was in a hospital diagnosed with COVID, and she right away left the room,” Udan said. “She kind of freaked out.” (Warth, 7/20)

Politico: America’s Hidden Economic Crisis: Widespread Wage Cuts 
Millions of Americans who managed to hold onto their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic have seen their incomes drop as employers slashed wages and hours to weather what they expected to be a short-term shutdown. Now, with the virus raging and the recession deepening, those cuts that were meant to be temporary could turn permanent — or even pave the way for further layoffs. That could portend deep damage to the labor market and the economy because so many workers who have kept their jobs have less money to spend than a few months ago. (Cassella, 7/19)

The Washington Post: ‘A Very Dark Feeling’: Hundreds Camp Out In Oklahoma Unemployment Lines 
John Jolley never thought he'd be sleeping in his car awaiting unemployment benefits. But there he was, the owner of a once-successful advertising agency, taking a sweaty nap in a Subaru wagon in a convention center parking lot at 1:45 a.m. on a Wednesday. The pandemic sent his business into a free fall, and now Jolley wanted to be first in line for an unemployment claims event beginning in five hours. He barely dozed, afraid that if he fell into a deep sleep, he would miss the early-morning handout of tickets for appointments with state agents. (Gowen, 7/20)

The Hill: Louisiana Coronavirus Rental Assistance Program Suspended After 4 Days Due To Overwhelming Demand 
Louisiana’s coronavirus rental assistance program was temporarily suspended just four days after it launched due to overwhelming demand. A notice on the Louisiana Housing Corporation website states that the program has been temporarily suspended due to “overwhelming response.” The housing corporation advises residents to add their emails to be notified when the application process reopens. (Klar, 7/20)