First Edition: July 28, 2020

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Biden Is Right. Pay For Home Health Workers Is Paltry. 
In a speech this month, former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, offered the third installment of a four-part economic plan being rolled out in advance of the Democratic National Convention in August. This set of proposals focused on caregivers — whether for children, older adults or people with disabilities — and is about “easing the squeeze on working families who are raising their kids and caring for aging loved ones at the same time,” Biden said. His campaign’s sweeping set of initiatives, which represent a $775 billion expenditure in a variety of programs, aims to get significant traction among middle-class voters, whose struggles with caregiving issues have been exacerbated during the coronavirus pandemic. (Stapleton, 7/28)

Kaiser Health News: The COVID-19 Downturn Triggers Jump In Medicaid Enrollment
Reversing a three-year decline, the number of people covered by Medicaid nationwide rose markedly this spring as the impact of the recession caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 began to take hold. Yet, the growth in participation in the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people was less than many analysts predicted. One possible factor tempering enrollment: People with concerns about catching the coronavirus avoided seeking care and figured they didn’t need the coverage. (Galewitz, 7/28)

The Hill: Trump Hits Road To Tout Progress Toward Vaccine
President Trump and Vice President Pence hit the road on Monday to highlight progress on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, seeking to project optimism about the administration's response to a pandemic that has killed more than 145,000 people in the U.S. Trump visited a biotech facility [in Morrisville, N.C.] to boast of the rapid progress on finding a vaccine to combat the pandemic, claiming his administration’s work through its vaccine development effort, Operation Warp Speed, had reduced the wait time by “years.” (Samuels, 7/27)

Politico: Drugmakers Refuse To Attend White House Meeting After Trump Issues Executive Orders On Costs 
A White House meeting with top pharmaceutical executives that President Donald Trump promised for Tuesday is off, five industry sources familiar with discussions told POLITICO. Three said the drug-pricing discussion was canceled because the major drug lobbies, reeling from Friday’s cluster of executive orders on the topic, refused to send any members. Drugmakers and Trump were slated to discuss an executive order, signed Friday but not yet released, that would order health officials to release a plan linking Medicare payments for certain medicines to lower costs paid abroad. The provision, known as a most-favored-nations rule, has been lambasted by the drug industry and some patient groups that say it would curb innovation and reduce drug access. (Owermohle, 7/27)

The Hill: GOP Rolls Out $1 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package 
Senate Republicans unveiled a roughly $1 trillion coronavirus relief package Monday, paving the way for negotiations with Democrats. The legislation caps off days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and public infighting as a group of GOP negotiators and administration officials tried to line up on key provisions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the package represents a "realistic" proposal for what would be "appropriate" to add to the country's debt. (Carney, 7/27)

Stat: Covid-19 Relief Package Likely To Include Billions More For Vaccines, Testing
The latest round of Covid-19 relief could include a dramatic increase in new funding for public health initiatives, according to draft legislation released Monday by Senate Republicans. The proposed bill includes $20 billion for BARDA, the pandemic-response agency, to advance the development of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics, as well as $6 billion to coordinate vaccine distribution efforts through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Facher, 7/27)

The Hill: GOP Coronavirus Bill Includes $1.75 Billion For Construction Of New FBI Building 
A coronavirus relief package unveiled on Monday evening by Senate Republicans includes nearly $2 billion in funding for the Department of Justice to construct a new FBI building. The funding, tucked into a 177-page appropriations section of the package, would provide $1.75 billion for "the design and construction of a Washington, DC headquarters facility for the Federal Bureau of Investigation," according to the text of the legislation. (Carney, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: GOP Coronavirus Plan Cuts Unemployment Benefit To $200 A Week 
Senate Republicans on Monday rolled out the major pieces of a $1-trillion economic relief plan that would provide a second round of $1,200 coronavirus stimulus payments to many American adults and slash enhanced federal unemployment payments from $600 a week to $200. The release of the plan marked the start of negotiations that will involve House Democrats, who passed their own, more generous relief bill in the House in May that includes $1,200 checks and an extension of the $600 unemployment benefit. (Haberkorn, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Fend Off Attempts To Back Medicare For All In Platform 
Democrats rejected efforts to amend the party’s platform to show support for Medicare for All and legalizing marijuana, as they moved the document closer to adoption by delegates to next month’s convention. The document, approved Monday by the party’s platform committee, aligns closely with presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s campaign proposals. The next step is for the platform to be voted on by nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates, which they will do by mail ahead of the convention where Mr. Biden is set to be formally named the party’s nominee. (Collins, 7/27)

Politico: Trump Downplays National Security Adviser's Coronavirus Diagnosis 
President Donald Trump socially distanced himself from his own national security adviser on Monday after he tested positive for Covid-19. Asked about the positive test result for Robert O’Brien, Trump said he hadn't seen his top foreign policy aide recently. "I haven't seen him lately," the president said on Monday during a brief exchange with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. "I heard he tested, yeah. I have not seen him." (Lippman, 7/27)

The Hill: Tennessee Governor Shoots Down Birx Recommendation To Close Bars At Joint Press Conference 
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) shot down White House adviser Deborah Birx’s recommendation to close bars and limit indoor seating at restaurants during a joint press conference on Monday. Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, made her recommendation to shut down bars and limit indoor dining during the press conference, warning that Tennessee was on the verge of rapid COVID-19 spread. (Coleman, 7/27)

Politico: First Presidential Debate Moved To Cleveland Amid Pandemic Concerns 
The first presidential debate has been moved to Cleveland amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced. The Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit that has conducted the general election debates for decades, announced on Monday that Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic will co-host the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. (Montellaro, 7/27)

AP: 2nd Presidential Debate Host Withdraws Amid Virus Outbreak
The University of Notre Dame has become the second university to withdraw as the host of one of this fall’s three scheduled presidential debates amid the coronavirus pandemic. The university was set to host the inaugural face-off between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Sept. 29. The first debate will now be hosted by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday. (Miller, 7/27)

Stat: Generic Group Fails Again To Block California Law That Bans Pay-To-Delay Deals 
A federal appeals court denied a bid by a pharmaceutical industry trade group to block a closely watched California law that bans so-called pay-to-delay deals between drug makers, a contentious issue that has factored into the larger debate over the cost of prescription medicines. The ruling, which was issued Friday, came in response to a lawsuit by the Association for Accessible Medicines after California passed its law last fall. The state became the first in the nation to outlaw pay-to-delay deals, and California officials explained the step was necessary in order to prevent drug companies from thwarting competition and maintaining higher prices. (Silverman, 7/27)

Stat: New York Panel Seeks Extra Medicaid Rebates From Biogen For Pricey Rare Disease Drug 
A New York State panel has recommended that officials seek a supplemental Medicaid rebate for a pricey rare disease drug sold by Biogen (BIIB), marking only the third time such a move was proposed because a medicine may cause the state Medicaid program to exceed a cap on drug spending. In a 14-to-0 vote last Thursday, the state’s Drug Utilization Review panel agreed that a rebate should be pursued for Spinraza, which is used to treat muscular spinal atrophy, an often-fatal genetic disease affecting muscle strength and movement. In its deadliest form, referred to as Type 1, the disease causes children to die by the time they turn 2 years old. (Silverman, 7/27)

CNBC: Pfizer And BioNTech Began Late-Stage Human Trial For Coronavirus Vaccine Monday
The trial will include up to 30,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 85 across 120 sites globally, including 39 U.S. states, the companies announced. If successful, they expect to submit it for final regulatory review as early as October. They plan to supply up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. (Lovelace Jr., 7/27)

Stat: Pfizer And BioNTech Pick Covid-19 Vaccine And Begin Pivotal Study 
Pfizer and BioNTech are starting a large study of a vaccine candidate for Covid-19 aimed at securing approvals — but it’s not the one for which results were released earlier this month. The companies always said that they planned to pick from among four different candidates, all of which use a technology called messenger RNA to produce a protein on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The vaccine is designed to lead the immune system to recognize the protein, and, it is hoped, to attack the virus. (Herper and Garde, 7/27)

Stat: Democratic Group Warns U.S. Unprepared To Distribute Covid-19 Vaccine
A Democratic group warned Tuesday that the U.S. is fundamentally unprepared to manufacture and distribute hundreds of millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses when one becomes available, urging Congress to step up preparedness efforts and spend $40 billion to quickly increase manufacturing and distribution capacity. In a 20-page report published by the Center for American Progress, two leading Democratic health policy figures called the current vaccine manufacturing setup “haphazard.” (Facher, 7/28)

The New York Times: Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion In Rush For Coronavirus Vaccine 
On June 26, a small South San Francisco company called Vaxart made a surprise announcement: A coronavirus vaccine it was working on had been selected by the U.S. government to be part of Operation Warp Speed, the flagship federal initiative to quickly develop drugs to combat Covid-19. Vaxart’s shares soared. Company insiders, who weeks earlier had received stock options worth a few million dollars, saw the value of those awards increase sixfold. And a hedge fund that partly controlled the company walked away with more than $200 million in instant profits. (Gelles and Drucker, 7/25)

AP: Head Of China CDC Gets Injected With Experimental Vaccine
The head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention says he has been injected with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an attempt to persuade the public to follow suit when one is approved. “I’m going to reveal something undercover: I am injected with one of the vaccines,” Gao Fu said in a webinar Sunday hosted by Alibaba Health, an arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant, and Cell Press, an American publisher of scientific journals. “I hope it will work.” (Kang, 7/28)

Stat: Facebook's Vaccine Misinformation Problem Faces A New Test With Covid-19
As scientists begin to clear a path to a potential coronavirus vaccine, researchers and advocates are increasingly sounding the alarm over what they see as a looming threat: Facebook’s apparent inability to police dangerous falsehoods about vaccines. Since the outset of the pandemic, vaccine-related falsehoods have ballooned on the platform — and recent research suggests some of those inaccurate posts are gaining traction among people who weren’t previously opposed to vaccinations. Part of the problem appears to be the way Facebook’s algorithms capitalize on divisive or extremist content. (Brodwin, 7/28)

Stat: Covid-19 Leaves Its Impact On The Heart, Raising Fears Of Lasting Damage
Two new studies from Germany paint a sobering picture of the toll that Covid-19 takes on the heart, raising the specter of long-term damage after people recover, even if their illness was not severe enough to require hospitalization. One study examined the cardiac MRIs of 100 people who had recovered from Covid-19 and compared them to heart images from 100 people who were similar but not infected with the virus... More than two months later, infected patients were more likely to have troubling cardiac signs than people in the control group: 78 patients showed structural changes to their hearts, 76 had evidence of a biomarker signaling cardiac injury typically found after a heart attack, and 60 had signs of inflammation. (Cooney, 7/27)

CIDRAP: Research Reveals Heart Complications In COVID-19 Patients 
Two German studies published today in JAMA Cardiology show abnormal heart imaging findings in recently recovered COVID-19 patients, and cardiac infections in those who have died from their infections. The first, an observational cohort study, involved 100 unselected coronavirus patients identified from the University Hospital Frankfurt COVID-19 Registry from April to June, 57 risk factor-matched patients, and 50 healthy volunteers. (Van Beusekom, 7/27)

The New York Times: A Possible Weapon Against The Pandemic: Printing Human Tissue 
As shortages of personal protective equipment persist during the coronavirus pandemic, 3-D printing has helped to alleviate some of the gaps. But Anthony Atala, the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and his team are using the process in a more innovative way: creating tiny replicas of human organs — some as small as a pinhead — to test drugs to fight Covid-19. The team is constructing miniature lungs and colons — two organs particularly affected by the coronavirus — then sending them overnight by courier for testing at a biosafety lab at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. While they initially created some of the so-called organoids by hand using a pipette, they are beginning to print these at scale for research as the pandemic continues to surge. (Rosen, 7/27)

CIDRAP: Study Finds COVID-19 Symptoms Linger In 35% Of Outpatients
Interviews of COVID-19 patients with mild illness found that more than a third had symptoms that lasted for 2 to 3 weeks after testing positive, including 1 in 5 previously healthy adults, researchers reported late last week in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Of 582 patients in 13 states who were contacted by the CDC COVID-19 Response Team, 292 patients responded. The interviews were conducted 14 to 21 days after the first positive test for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and included questions about baseline demographics, baseline chronic medical conditions, symptoms present at time of testing, and whether those symptoms had resolved and patients had returned to their usual state of health by the time of the interview. The median age of the 292 respondents was 42.5 years, and 53% reported one or more chronic medical conditions. The median interval from test to interview date was 16 days. (7/27)

CIDRAP: Analysis Of Remdesivir COVID-19 Trials Posts Encouraging Results
In a comparative analysis published late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the antiviral drug remdesivir was linked to significantly greater recovery and a 62% lower death rate by day 14 versus standard treatment in hospitalized adults with severe COVID-19. Researchers used data from 298 participants in an ongoing phase 3 trial of remdesivir at 45 international sites, as well as retrospective data from an ongoing real-world longitudinal study of 816 patients given standard treatment at 16 international sites. (7/27)

CIDRAP: Most COVID-19 Clinical Studies Produce Poor-Quality Evidence, Analysis Finds
Less than one-third of clinical COVID-19 studies yielded evidence strong enough to potentially change clinical practice, an analysis of 1,551 studies published today in JAMA Internal Medicine found.Researchers at Stanford University and Yale School of Medicine searched coronavirus studies registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from Mar 1, 2011 to May 19, 2020. Of the 1,551 studies, only 451 (29.1%) could potentially yield Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) 2011 level 2 results, the highest level of individual study evidence. And only 75 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (11.3%) were placebo-controlled and blinded and had two or more study centers (60 had more than 100 participants, while 24 had more than 500). (7/27)

The New York Times: The Doctor Behind The Disputed Covid Data 
A college degree at 19. A medical school graduate with a Ph.D. at 27. By the time he completed training in vascular surgery in 2014, Dr. Sapan Desai had cast himself as an ambitious physician, an entrepreneur with an M.B.A. and a prolific researcher published in medical journals. Then the novel coronavirus hit and Dr. Desai seized the moment. With a Harvard professor, he produced two studies in May that almost instantly disrupted multiple clinical trials amid the pandemic. (Gabler and Caryn Rabin, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Joseph Costa, ICU Doctor At Mercy Medical Center, Dies Of Coronavirus 
A physician who headed the intensive care at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center has died of the novel coronavirus, a hospital spokesman said Monday. Dr. Joseph J. Costa, who was chief of the hospital’s Critical Care Division, died about 4:45 a.m. Saturday in the same ICU he supervised. He was attended by his partner of 28 years and about 20 staff members, who placed their hands on him as he died. Costa was 56. (Kunkle, 7/27)

Stat: First U.S. Covid-19 Case Was Found In This Congresswoman's District 
Six months ago, the first Covid-19 case was diagnosed in the U.S. in a man who had returned home to Washington state from visiting family in Wuhan, China. The infection set off a flurry of local efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, while serving as a signal that the U.S. was not protected from the pathogen. STAT recently spoke with U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, the Washington Democrat who represents the district where that first known case occurred, about the lessons learned from it, what the role of a member of Congress is during a pandemic, and what more lawmakers need to do to help the U.S. response. (Joseph, 7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Suffering From Covid For Months—And Battling Murky Test Results Too 
Jenny Berz woke up on March 27 with a fever, headache and shortness of breath. Four months later she is still sick, struggling with fatigue, sinus pain, blurred vision, gastrointestinal issues, and pain and numbness in her hands. She loses her sense of smell every few days. Ms. Berz, a 50-year-old clinical psychologist in Brookline, Mass., believes she is suffering from long-term symptoms of Covid-19, and her primary care doctor does too. Her husband tested positive for Covid about a week after she fell ill. But the four antibody tests Ms. Berz has taken came back negative, as did a diagnostic test she took in the emergency room in late March. (Reddy, 7/27)

NPR: With Testing Delays And Cases Surges, Contact Tracing Is Stymied In Some States 
When the coronavirus pandemic began, public health experts had high hopes for the United States. After all, the U.S. literally invented the tactics that have been used for decades to quash outbreaks around the world: Quickly identify everyone who gets infected. Track down everyone exposed to the virus. Test everyone. Isolate the sick and quarantine the exposed to stop the virus from spreading. The hope was a wealthy country like the United States would deploy those tried-and-true measures to rapidly contain the virus — like quickly dousing every ember from a campfire to keep it from erupting into a forest fire. (Stein, 7/27)

AP: Georgia Governor Backs Out Of Hearing On Atlanta Mask Order
Georgia’s governor said he’s withdrawing a request for an emergency hearing in a lawsuit that aims to block the state’s largest city from ordering people to wear masks in public or imposing other restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this month sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council, but a spokesman announced late Monday that the governor wanted “to continue productive, good faith negotiations.” As a result, the governor decided to withdraw the request for a hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday morning, spokesman Cody Hall said. (Brumback and Amy, 7/28)

AP: Wyoming To Distribute 500,000 Face Masks To Schools
Wyoming officials plan to distribute 500,000 face masks to school districts around the state to help schools reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.The cloth face coverings will be washable and help school districts to meet safety standards for reopening schools this fall, state officials said Monday. The Wyoming Department of Health and Wyoming Office of Homeland Security obtained the face masks through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Schools will get the face masks in early August. (7/27)

Politico: For HBCUs, The Coronavirus Pandemic Hits Especially Close To Home
Leaders of historically Black colleges and universities are grappling with a challenge others in higher education don’t fully share: how to reopen their campuses to a population that has proven especially vulnerable to Covid-19. Black people are dying at 2.5 times the rate of white people, according to the Covid Racial Data Tracker. And nearly a third of deaths among nonwhite Americans were in people younger than 65, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with 13 percent among white people under that age. (McCaskill and King, 7/27)

AP: Medical Groups Call For Iowa Governor To Require Masks
Iowa physician groups are urging Gov. Kim Reynolds to order the public to wear masks as cases continue to rise. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Medical Society and 14 other health-professional groups said Monday in a letter to the governor that “widespread use of cloth masks in public settings will dramatically slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.” (7/27)

The New York Times: Research Boosts Evidence Of Masks’ Utility, Some Experts Say 
Researchers have long known that masks can prevent people from spreading airway germs to others. But now experts are pointing to evidence suggesting that masks also protect the people wearing them, lessening the severity of symptoms, or in some instances, staving off infection entirely. Different kinds of masks “block virus to a different degree, but they all block the virus from getting in,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco. If any virus particles do breach these barriers, she said, the disease might still be milder. (7/27)

The Washington Post: What You Need To Know About Wearing A Mask During The Covid-19 Pandemic 
It appears face masks are here to stay.The New York Times surveyed 511 epidemiologists, and more than half of them predicted that masks will be necessary for at least the next year, if not longer. Colleges are requiring students to wear masks on campus when classes start back up in the fall. The World Health Organization now recommends that everyone wear a mask while out in public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says organizers of large gatherings should “strongly encourage” the use of masks at events. (Amenabar, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Wearing Masks Might Help You Avoid Major Illness Even If You Get Coronavirus, Experts Say 
As health experts urge the public to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, they continue to get pushback. Among the arguments of skeptics: If masks can’t fully protect me against covid-19, what is the point of wearing them? Scientists’ counterargument is that masks can help reduce the severity of the disease caused by coronavirus even if you get infected. (Lin II, 7/28)

The New York Times: A Small Georgia City Plans To Put Students In Classrooms This Week 
When Jennifer Fogle and her family moved from Indiana to Georgia 13 years ago, they settled in Jefferson, a small, handsome city an hour’s drive from Atlanta, because they had heard about the excellent schools. And until recently, they had little to complain about. The teachers are passionate and committed, and the facilities rival those found at some private schools. But in recent days Ms. Fogle found herself uncharacteristically anxious, after learning that Jefferson City Schools planned to offer face-to-face instruction in the midst of a resurgent coronavirus pandemic that has seen thousands of new cases reported daily in Georgia. (Fausset, 7/27)

The Washington Post: States With Stricter Covid-19 Restrictions Watch Lax Neighbors Warily, Knowing The Virus Does Not Respect Borders 
Sarah Poe watched with rising alarm as coronavirus cases began to spiral last month in rural Malheur County, Ore., turning the remote region bright red on maps of hot spots. The county health director knew locals were ditching masks and isolation. But she also saw a threat directly across the Snake River: Idaho. Half the workforce in Malheur, where the minimum wage is $4 higher than across the border, lives in Idaho. Other Idahoans come for Oregon’s sales-tax-free shopping and legal marijuana. But the intermingling looks more menacing to Poe and other Malheur officials these days — because unlike in Oregon, masks are not mandated across the border and the coronavirus metrics there are far bleaker. Now, the public health department in that Oregon county has traced cases to origins in Idaho. (Brullliard and Weiner, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: Military Medical Teams Arrive At Two L.A. County Hospitals 
Medical professionals from the military have arrived in Los Angeles County to reinforce the ranks of two hospitals. The Department of Defense sent the Air Force teams last week to Los Angeles County-USC and Harbor-UCLA medical centers, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. ... Ferguson said state authorities requested the support through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Sheridan, 7/27)

The Atlantic: You Can Stop Cleaning Your Mail Now
As a covid-19 summer surge sweeps the country, deep cleans are all the rage. National restaurants such as Applebee’s are deputizing sanitation czars to oversee the constant scrubbing of window ledges, menus, and high chairs. The gym chain Planet Fitness is boasting in ads that “there’s no surface we won’t sanitize, no machine we won’t scrub.” New York City is shutting down its subway system every night, for the first time in its 116-year history, to blast the seats, walls, and poles with a variety of antiseptic weaponry, including electrostatic disinfectant sprays. And in Wauchula, Florida, the local government gave one resident permission to spray the town with hydrogen peroxide as he saw fit. “I think every city in the damn United States needs to be doing it," he said. (Thompson, 7/27)

AP: Sinclair Says It Won't Air Fauci Conspiracy Theory Segment
The Sinclair Broadcast Group says it will not air a segment on its “America This Week” program in which a conspiracy theorist speculates about Dr. Anthony Fauci and the coronavirus. Over the weekend, Sinclair said it was delaying the story for a week after it attracted media attention. But in a tweet late Monday, Sinclair said that given the nature of Judy Mikovits’ claims to correspondent Eric Bolling, the segment was “not appropriate” to air. (Bauder, 7/28)

Politico: National Guard Officer Calls Treatment Of Lafayette Square Protesters 'Deeply Disturbing' 
A District of Columbia National Guard officer claimed law enforcement used excessive force on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square last month, directly disputing the White House’s account of events that led to a photo-op during the height of demonstrations against racial injustice. Adam DeMarco, a major in the D.C. National Guard and Iraq War veteran, will testify on Tuesday in front of the House Natural Resources Committee that he observed a brutal law enforcement reaction against protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. DeMarco was among the D.C. National Guardsmen stationed at Lafayette Square on June 1 when federal authorities used tear gas and flash-bang grenades to clear peaceful demonstrators. (Cohen, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Miami Marlins’ Virus Outbreak Throws MLB’s Pandemic Season Into Turmoil 
Five days after Major League Baseball began its attempt to stage a season amid the coronavirus pandemic, its plan was thrown into turmoil following an outbreak of positive tests on the Miami Marlins. Tests showed that a dozen or more players and staff members from the team have contracted Covid-19, prompting MLB to postpone two games previously scheduled for Monday, several people familiar with the matter said. (Diamond and Radnofsky, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Google To Keep Employees Home Until Summer 2021 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic 
Google will keep its employees home until at least next July, making the search-engine giant the first major U.S. corporation to formalize such an extended timetable in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The move will affect nearly all of the roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees across Google parent Alphabet Inc. and adds pressure to other technology giants that have slated staff to return as soon as January. (Copeland and Grant, 7/27)

AP: Cleanup From Hanna Spurs Fear Amid COVID-19 Surge In Texas
As recovery and cleanup efforts got underway Monday in South Texas in the wake of a downgraded Hanna, worried residents confronted the prospect of undertaking the effort amid a surge in coronavirus cases that has left many fearful about their health. For 66-year-old, Nora Esquivel, who has mostly stayed in her home in Weslaco, Texas, in Hidalgo County since March because of the pandemic, flooding damage to her home from Hanna meant greater chance of exposure to the virus. “No contact with nobody, only my daughter once in a while, and now with this, I have to allow people to come into my house, the insurance and all this and I’m scared,” said a tearful Esquivel, who takes heart medication and had to be rescued from her home Sunday morning by her son on a kayak. (Mone and Lozano, 7/28)

The Hill: Oregon Officer In Isolation After Suspect With Coronavirus Allegedly Spit And Coughed On Them 
An Oregon officer was put in isolation after a suspect with coronavirus spit and coughed on them during a Sunday incident. The Tigard Police Department alleges the suspect, identified as Miguel Hernandez-Cuesta, 24, intended to infect the officer with COVID-19, according to a release. (Coleman, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom To Send 'Strike Teams' To Fight COVID-19 In Central Valley 
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Latinos in the Central Valley have been disproportionately harmed by the spread of COVID-19, prompting the governor to send “strike teams” to eight counties while asking the California Legislature to approve $52 million to improve testing, tracing and isolation protocols in those regions. Newsom said the targeted approach on eight counties — San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare, and Kern counties — comes as the state is seeing widening disparities in deaths and infections of Latinos statewide. Those increases are particularly felt in the Central Valley, where Latinos make up a higher percentage of residents. (Gutierrez, 7/27)

Sacramento Bee: Water Park Open During COVID-19 To Lose Permit: CA Officials 
A California water park that’s stayed open despite COVID-19 rules will lose its permit, officials say. WaterWorks Park in Redding opened on June 5 in violation of California’s coronavirus rules and “repeated direction” not to do so, according to the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency. It has continued to operate since then — sparking a nearly two-months long battle with health officials. (Aldridge, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: Poll: Latinos In California Worry More About Coronavirus 
Latinos are much more anxious that they will become sick or affected financially by the novel coronavirus than their fellow Californians, according to a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. The poll, released Monday, found that 61% of Latinos respondents were worried that they or their family members would get sick with the virus, compared with just 28% of Black and white Californians and 37% of Asian American residents. (Reyes-Velarde, 7/27)

AP: Nevada Scraps Phased Reopening Plan, Unveils New Approach
Gov. Steve Sisolak announced plans to implement a long-term reopening strategy that allows for more granular decision-making as the coronavirus continues to spread and leaves Nevada unable to follow its original reopening plan. “We’ve learned a lot about this virus in the last five months. While phases made sense at the time, we’ve got to be flexible and responsive to what we’re seeing now,” the governor said. (Metz and Ritter, 7/28)

AP: Montana Has More Than 350 COVID Cases, 1 Death Over Weekend
Montana testing confirmed more than 350 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend while the state reported its 47th death due to the respiratory virus. A woman in her 90s died at a Billings hospital on Saturday, the Yellowstone County health department said Monday. The woman’s death was the 18th in 20 days in the county. Fifteen of those deaths are tied to an outbreak at Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings, officials have said. (7/27)

AP: Monument Health Hospitals Allowing Visitors Again
All five Monument Health hospitals are allowing visitors once again. Opening the hospitals to visitors beginning Monday is part of a phased-in approach for the health care provider which began allowing one visitor per patient at the John T. Vucurevich Cancer Care Institute in Rapid City [South Dakota] last Monday. As for the hospitals, bedside visiting and accompanying someone for emergency care, surgery or other procedures is now permitted, KOTA-TV reported. (7/27)

AP: 2 Of Maine's Hardest Hit Counties To Get Testing Help
A medical center that serves two of the hardest-hit counties in Maine is slated to receive a boost from the federal government to offer more coronavirus testing. Community Clinical Services in Lewiston has been awarded more than $320,000 to expand testing and training capacities, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said Monday. The center serves Androscoggin and Cumberland counties, which are two of the three hardest hit counties in the state of Maine in terms of caseload. (7/28)

AP: Virus Exacts A Heavy Toll In Queens Neighborhood Of Corona
Damiana Reyes is back at work at a busy Manhattan hair salon, making highlights, blowouts and extensions. But her mind often drifts to her father, with whom she lived in Queens, before he succumbed to the coronavirus at age 76. “All my clients ask about him and then, when I return home, people ask me in the street where he is. It’s a constant reminder that he is not around anymore,” said Reyes, who thinks her father got sick while playing dominoes at a day care center for elders. The pandemic has changed Reyes’ life and those of many in Corona, a Latino neighborhood in Queens that was among the hardest hit places in the world. (Torrens, 7/28)

The New York Times: Chainsmokers Concert In Hamptons Is Under Investigation By Cuomo 
A charity concert on Saturday night in the Hamptons featuring performances from the chief executive of Goldman Sachs and the D.J. duo The Chainsmokers drew widespread outrage and a state investigation after video footage showed attendees appearing to ignore public health precautions. (7/27)

The New York Times: Poland Considers Leaving Treaty On Domestic Violence, Spurring Outcry 
The Polish government, emboldened by a narrow election victory this month and undeterred by criticism from European Union leaders, is considering withdrawing from a treaty aimed at curbing domestic violence and protecting women’s rights, with the country’s minister of justice filing paperwork on Monday to start the process. The move came just one week after European Union leaders, bowing to pressure from Poland and Hungary, relaxed demands that were supposed to tie funding in the bloc’s long-term budget to issues related to rule of law. (Santora, 7/27)

Politico: Pet Cat In England Tests Positive For Covid-19 
A pet cat in England has tested positive for Covid-19, the first confirmed case in an animal in the U.K. and one of very few worldwide. The U.K.'s Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said that it was "a very rare event" and there was no evidence to suggest that pets transmit the coronavirus to humans. The cat is thought to have contracted the virus from its owners, who had tested positive and since made a full recovery — as has the cat. (Cooper, 7/27)