First Edition: July 9, 2020

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Could Trump’s Push To Undo The ACA Cause Problems For COVID Survivors? Biden Thinks So. 
The same day the Trump administration reaffirmed its support of a lawsuit that would invalidate all of the Affordable Care Act, Joe Biden sharply warned that the suit endangers millions of Americans. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said the law is even more important now, more than a decade after it was enacted, as the COVID-19 epidemic sweeps the U.S. The virus has killed more than 130,000, and Biden noted that some who survive may have long-lasting health problems. (Appleby, 7/9)

Kaiser Health News: Shingles Vaccination Rate Soars But Leaves Many Behind 
Worried about the high cost of the copayment for the shingles vaccine, Jacky Felder, a Medicare beneficiary, opted against getting immunized last year. Last month, the Green Bay, Wisconsin, woman developed the disease, which left a painful, itchy rash across her abdomen. “Luckily, I’ve had a relatively mild case, but it’s been a week and half with a lot of pain,” said Felder, 69. (Galewitz, 7/9)

Kaiser Health News: Behind The Byline: ‘Everybody Hit Record’ 
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. (7/9)

Kaiser Health News: High Court Allows Employers To Opt Out Of ACA’s Mandate On Birth Control Coverage
The Supreme Court Wednesday settled — at least for now — a decade’s worth of litigation over the women’s health provisions of the Affordable Care Act, ruling 7-2 that employers with a “religious or moral objection” to providing contraceptive coverage to their employees may opt out without penalty. The Trump administration was within its rights to exempt religious nonprofit agencies, like the lead plaintiff in the case — the Roman Catholic order Little Sisters of the Poor — from having to facilitate in any way contraceptive coverage for their employees. Wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion: “We hold today that the [government] had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption.” (Rovner, 7/8)

Politico: Grim Projection: 200,000 Dead By Election Day
As the United States surpasses 3 million coronavirus infections, forecasters are updating their models to account for the recent resurgence and reaching a grim consensus: the next few months are going to be bad. The national death toll is now expected eclipse 200,000 by Election Day, according to the latest models. (Goldberg and Cancryn, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Hits 3 Million Confirmed Coronavirus Cases 
After the coronavirus was first reported in the U.S. in January, the first million reported cases developed over roughly three months, as testing centered around those who had fallen ill and essential workers. The second million cases were reported over a period of about six weeks. (Ansari and Lucey, 7/8)

Politico: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Pass 3 Million 
It took less than a month for the national case count to rise to that level from 2 million, on June 11. With cases and hospitalizations spiking in states including Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, some public health officials have predicted the pace could further intensify and perhaps reach 100,000 new cases a day if the virus isn't controlled. (7/8)

The New York Times: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Reach Another Daily Record, Passing 59,000 
As President Trump continued to press for a broader reopening of the United States, the country set another record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with more than 59,400 infections announced, according to a New York Times database. It was the fifth national record set in nine days. (7/8)

Reuters: Global Coronavirus Cases Rise To More Than 12 Million 
Global coronavirus cases exceeded 12 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as evidence mounts of the airborne spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months. (Issa, 7/8)

The Hill: Florida Emerges As World's New Epicenter For COVID-19 
Florida has emerged as a global epicenter of the latest coronavirus surge, raising questions about the safety of major events that relocated to the state. As coronavirus cases surged throughout much of the Northeast in April and May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) declared victory. Florida was one of the last states to impose a stay-at-home order, and one of the first to reopen. (Weixel, 7/8)

The New York Times: Grave Shortages Of P.P.E. Gear Flare Again As Covid Cases Surge 
As coronavirus cases surge across the country, hospitals, nursing homes and private medical practices are facing a problem many had hoped would be resolved by now: a dire shortage of respirator masks, isolation gowns and disposable gloves that protect front-line medical workers from infection. (Jacobs, 7/8)

Reuters: Worsening U.S. Outbreak Prompts Tough Actions As New Coronavirus Cases Hit Record
New Jersey adopted a stringent coronavirus face-mask order on Wednesday, and New York City unveiled a plan to allow public school students back into classrooms for just two or three days a week, as newly confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases soared to a daily global record. (Szekely and Goldberg, 7/8)

NPR: Supreme Court Undercuts Birth Control Access Under Obamacare
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women to get access to birth control as part of their health plans if their employer has religious or moral objections to contraceptives. The opinion upheld a Trump administration rule that significantly cut back on the Affordable Care Act requirement that insurers provide free birth control coverage as part of almost all health care plans. (Totenburg, 7/8)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Upholds Trump Administration Regulation Letting Employers Opt Out Of Birth Control Coverage 
The 7-to-2 decision was the latest turn in seven years of fierce litigation over the “contraception mandate,” a signature initiative of the Obama administration that required most employers to provide cost-free coverage for contraception and that the Trump administration has sought to limit. (Liptak, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Says Employers May Opt Out Of Affordable Care Act’s Birth Control Mandate Over Religious, Moral Objections 
The issue has been at the heart of an intense legal battle for nine years — first with the Obama administration sparring with religious organizations who said offering contraceptive care to their employees violated their beliefs, and then with the Trump administration broadening an exemption, angering women’s groups, health organizations and Democratic-led states. (Barnes, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Rulings Expand Exemptions For Religious Employers
The Supreme Court expanded exemptions for religious employers from health-care regulations and antidiscrimination laws Wednesday, extending a line of decisions that have elevated the rights of religious exercise and the role of sectarian institutions in American society. In one case, the court ruled that the Trump administration had the legal power to exempt employers that raise religious or moral objections to Affordable Care Act regulations requiring that health-insurance plans cover contraceptives, stripping the benefit from as many as 125,000 women employees. (Bravin and Kendall, 7/9)

AP: Health Official: Trump Rally 'Likely' Source Of Virus Surge
President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday. Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday. (Murphy, 7/8)

Reuters: Trump's Campaign Rally In Tulsa May Have Contributed To COVID-19 Spike: Health Official 
Asked by a reporter if Trump’s campaign event at the Bank of Oklahoma Center on June 20 could be responsible for that surge, [Dr. Bruce Dart, health director for the city and county] said: “In the past few days, we’ve had almost 500 cases. And we know we had several large events a little over two weeks ago, which is about right. So I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said, apparently referring to the rally and accompanying protests. (Whitcomb, 7/8)

NPR: Trump Concedes GOP Convention May Need To Be 'Flexible' 
President Trump is acknowledging that he may have to temper his expectations, adamant at times, that his acceptance speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention should be a big event in front of thousands of people. "We're very flexible," Trump said when asked during an interview Tuesday with Gray Television whether he may not have as big a gathering next month as he's planned on to celebrate his renomination to lead the GOP presidential ticket. (Gonyea, 7/8)

AP: US Rule Targets Disease-Stricken Countries To Deny Asylum
The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed empowering border authorities to deny asylum to people from countries with widespread communicable disease, its latest in a string of regulations before the November elections to dramatically raise the bar on who qualifies for humanitarian protections. The Homeland Security and Justice departments said in a joint proposal that denying asylum to people from high-risk countries would combat disease in the United States, in some cases stopping it before it reaches American soil. Their argument rests on experiences with the coronavirus pandemic. (Spagat, 7/8)

The Hill: Biden Says He Will Rejoin WHO On His First Day In Office 
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) if elected. The former vice president said rejoining the WHO would be one of his first steps as president. (Klar, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Maryland To Open All Polling Places On Election Day, Mail Application For Absentee Ballot To Each Voter
Maryland will conduct November’s election as a “normal” affair, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Wednesday, opening every precinct and early-voting center while arming election workers with protective equipment to limit spread of the novel coronavirus. (Cox, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Senator Merkley Wants To Ban Middle Seats After Packed American Airlines Flight 
One day after American Airlines resumed booking flights to capacity, ending its effort to cap the number of passengers on board in response to the pandemic, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) experienced the policy change firsthand.Instead of finding his connecting flight to Texas mostly empty, as he had flying American recently, Merkley saw passengers shoulder to shoulder. (Compton, 7/8)

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Public Schools Will Not Fully Reopen In September 
About four months after 1.1 million New York City children were forced into online learning, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that public schools would still not fully reopen in September, saying that classroom attendance would instead be limited to only one to three days a week in an effort to continue to curb the coronavirus outbreak. (Shapiro, 7/8)

Politico: NYC Schools To Stagger Classes, Stay Partially Remote In September
The nation’s largest school system will not be able to fully reopen for its 1.1 million students because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. It will use a “blended learning” approach to keep numbers lower and allow social distancing between students, with children in school buildings part of the time and learning online at other times. (Durkin, 7/8)

NPR: Top Pediatrician Says States Shouldn't Force Schools To Reopen If Virus Is Surging
President Trump issued a forceful call this week for America's K-12 schools to reopen full time for all children in the fall. ... On Wednesday, [Dr. Sally] Goza [the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics], spoke with Morning Edition host David Greene about that guidance and whether she's concerned that schools may be pressured into reopening too quickly. (Greene and Turner, 7/8)

The Hill: CDC To Issue More Guidance On School Openings Amid Trump Criticism 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will issue additional guidance next week on reopening schools, Vice President Pence said Wednesday, hours after President Trump criticized the agency’s current guidelines as “very tough and expensive.” Pence appeared to frame the upcoming guidance as a response to Trump’s criticisms, saying they would offer “more clarity.” But just a day earlier he had said the CDC would be releasing additional guidelines on school openings that would address face coverings, symptom screening, school settings and “decisionmaking tools” for parents and caregivers. (Samuels and Hellmann, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Ivy League Won't Hold Sports This Fall Amid Coronavirus Pandemic 
A decision regarding winter and spring sports — and whether fall sports could be held in the spring — will be determined at a later date. Athletes on these campuses will be allowed to practice during the fall as long as they adhere to their university’s health and safety procedures, as well as state regulations. (Giambalvo, 7/8)

AP: Ivy League Suspends Fall Sports Due To Coronavirus Pandemic
Though the coalition of eight academically elite schools does not grant athletic scholarships or compete for an NCAA football championship, the move could have ripple effects throughout the big business of college sports. (Feinberg and Golen, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: College Football Parents Take Note Of Ivy League Suspending Fall Sports Amid Pandemic 
On Wednesday, Ohio State and North Carolina became the latest schools to suspend voluntary workouts due to alarming numbers of positive test results. In a statement, Ohio State said the athletes who are infected will self-isolate for 14 days and receive daily check-ups from the school’s medical staff. (McCollough, 7/8)

NPR: College Sports Falling Victim To Coronavirus And Financial Stresses 
The Ivy League Council of Presidents said in a statement that their institutions are implementing campus-wide health and safety policies that will make it impossible for sports teams to compete before the end of the fall semester. "With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk, consistent with the policies that each of our schools is adopting as part of its reopening plans this fall," they wrote. (Treisman, 7/8)

AP: 'Heartbreaking Day' — Stanford Drops 11 Sports To Cut Costs
Stanford was already facing some difficult financial choices as it tried to support one of the nation’s largest athletics departments. The coronavirus pandemic forced a dramatic and painful decision: Faced with a nearly $25 million deficit next year, Stanford became the first known Power Five school to eliminate athletic programs because of the pandemic, announcing Wednesday that 11 of its 36 varsity sports will be shuttered next year. (Marshall, 7/9)

Politico: FDA Official Casts Doubt On 'Challenge Trials' For Covid Vaccine
A top FDA official overseeing vaccine approvals raised doubts Wednesday about the possibility of intentionally infecting people with the coronavirus to see whether vaccines work, saying that could represent “ethical heartburn” because there's still no easy way to treat the potentially severe disease. (Owermohle, 7/8)

Reuters: Nonprofits Urge Johnson & Johnson To Halt Sales Of Baby Powder Globally 
More than 170 nonprofit groups on Wednesday called for Johnson & Johnson to stop selling its talc-based Johnson’s Baby Powder world-wide, citing concerns that it contains cancer-causing asbestos, according to a statement from advocacy group Black Women for Wellness. (O'Donnell, 7/8)

Stat: International Trade Judge Suggests A 10-Year Ban On A Botox Rival
In a boost for AbbVie (ABBV), a U.S. International Trade Commission judge this week made an initial determination that sales of a competing version of its best-selling Botox treatment should be banned for 10 years. The ruling came in response to a complaint filed last year by Allergan, which AbbVie has since acquired, that a pair of rival companies — Evolus (ELOS) and Daewoong Pharmaceuticals — allegedly stole trade secrets that were used to develop a new wrinkle-smoothing product. A final decision from the ITC, however, is not due until November. (Silverman, 7/8)

The New York Times: Judge Puts Cloud Over Settlement Of Roundup Cancer Claims 
An agreement to pay more than $10 billion to settle thousands of claims that the popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer is at risk of unraveling. Although the bulk of the complex deal between Roundup’s manufacturer, the German conglomerate Bayer, and a raft of plaintiff lawyers does not require court approval, one crucial piece does: a plan for handling future claims from customers who develop the form of cancer known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (Cohen, 7/7)

Stat: Gene-Editing Find Could Point To Cures For Mitochondrial Diseases 
Biologist David Liu was in the middle of his morning commute to the Broad Institute two summers ago when he opened the email. We just discovered a new toxin made by bacteria, explained the note from a researcher Liu had never spoken to, and it “might be useful for something you guys do.” Intrigued, Liu phoned the sender, biologist Joseph Mougous of the University of Washington, and it quickly became clear that the bacterial toxin had a talent that was indeed useful for what Liu does: invent ways to edit genes. On Wednesday, they and their colleagues reported in Nature that they had turned the toxin into the world’s first editor of genes in cell organelles called mitochondria. (Begley, 7/8)

CIDRAP: Symptoms Not Enough For 911 COVID-19 Screening, Study Finds 
Screening based on conventional COVID-19 symptoms may not be sensitive enough to identify which 911 patients should be tested for infection, a retrospective cohort study published today in JAMA Network Open found. In the study, researchers in Seattle evaluated data from surveillance systems and the electronic medical records of 124 patients with COVID-19 seeking 911 emergency medical services (EMS) in King County, Washington, from Feb 1 to Mar 18. (Beusekom, 7/8)

AP: Walgreens Dives Into Primary Care With Clinic Expansion
Walgreens will squeeze primary care clinics into as many as 700 of its U.S. stores over the next few years in a major expansion of the care it offers customers. The drugstore chain said Wednesday that it will partner with VillageMD to set up doctor-led clinics that also use nurses, social workers and therapists to provide regular treatment for patients. (Murphy, 7/8)

CIDRAP: Study Details Neurologic Complications In COVID-19 Patients
Of 43 patients with neurologic symptoms studied at the University College London, 29 tested positive for COVID-19, 8 with probable infections and 6 with possible infections. Ten of the 43 patients presented with delirium or psychosis, and 12 had inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) syndromes. Eight patients had strokes, and eight others had nerve damage, mostly caused by Guillain-Barre syndrome. (7/8)

The New York Times: 8 Questions From A Disease Detective On The Pandemic’s Origins 
For decades, Dr. Daniel R. Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University, has crisscrossed the globe to study epidemics and their origins. His attention now is on the Covid-19 pandemic, which first came to public notice late last year in Wuhan, China. Its exact beginnings are sufficiently clouded that the World Health Organization has begun a wide inquiry into its roots. The advance team is to leave for China this weekend, and Dr. Lucey has publicly encouraged the health agency to address what he considers eight top questions. (Broad, 7/8)

AP: Feds Charge Florida Man, Sons With Selling Fake Virus Cure
A Florida man and his three sons are facing federal charges that they illegally sold a bleachlike chemical mixture as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus and other diseases, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The substance marketed as Miracle Mineral Solution was sold nationwide through an entity called the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Bradenton, Florida, according to a criminal complaint. (Anderson, 7/9)

The Washington Post: Retail Workers Increasingly Being Drawn Into The Stressful Job Of Mask Enforcement 
It’s been nearly a week since the city of Mobile, Ala., began requiring masks in public. But inside the discount store where Kae Palmer works, not much has changed. Most shoppers still come in without face coverings. Workers are quick to remove masks when they’re not on the sales floor. Palmer, who brings her own masks from home, worries about her health but doesn’t feel like there’s much she can do about it. Corporate guidance, she says, has been, “Just serve the customer and don’t talk about their lack of a mask.” (Bhattarai, 7/8)

AP: Safe Injection Sites May Curb Opioid Deaths, Report Suggests
A safe haven in the U.S. where people can give themselves heroin and other drugs has observed more than 10,500 injections over five years and treated 33 overdoses with none proving fatal, researchers reported Wednesday. The injection site is unsanctioned and its location hasn’t been revealed. The researchers say the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show the potential for such places to curb deaths from the opioid epidemic. (Marchione, 7/8)

NPR: Starting A COVID-19 'Social Bubble'? How Safe Sex Communication Skills Can Help
Ina Park has been in a monogamous marriage for more than 15 years, but she feels like she has been having one safe sex conversation after another these days. There was the time she and some close friends spent a few hours together without wearing masks, and she later realized she needed to ask: "Are you seeing other people?" (Dembosky, 7/8)

The New York Times: Study Of 17 Million Identifies Crucial Risk Factors For Coronavirus Deaths 
An analysis of more than 17 million people in England — the largest study of its kind, according to its authors — has pinpointed a bevy of factors that can raise a person’s chances of dying from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The paper, published Wednesday in Nature, echoes reports from other countries that identify older people, men, racial and ethnic minorities, and those with underlying health conditions among the more vulnerable populations. (Wu, 7/8)

The New York Times: A Shot To Protect Against H.I.V.
A single shot every two months prevents H.I.V. better than the most commonly used daily pill, Truvada, researchers reported on Tuesday. At the moment, Truvada and Descovy, made by Gilead Sciences, are the only drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for prevention of H.I.V. infection, a strategy called PrEP. Gilead has heavily been criticized for setting a high price for the pills. (Mandavilli, 7/7)

NPR: Transcripts Of Police Body Cams Show Floyd Pleaded 20 Times That He Couldn't Breathe 
As officer Derek Chauvin had Floyd pinned under his knee, face-down to the pavement and complaining that he could not breathe, Lane, who was holding Floyd's legs, asked Chauvin whether the suspect should be moved. (Neuman, 7/8)

AP: Officer To Floyd: 'It Takes ... A Lot Of Oxygen To Talk'
As George Floyd told Minneapolis police officers that he couldn’t breathe more than 20 times in the moments before he died, the officer who pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck dismissed his pleas, saying “it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk,” according to transcripts of body camera video recordings made public Wednesday. (Forliti, 7/9)

The Washington Post: George Floyd Warned Police He Thought He Would Die Because He Couldn’t Breathe, According To Body Cam Transcripts 
The transcripts make clear that Floyd was trying to cooperate with police but was deathly afraid of them, at times telling them that he had had covid-19 and was worried that he was going to die because he couldn’t breathe while in their custody. As one of the officers — Derek Chauvin — pressed a knee into his neck and held Floyd on the ground, he told Floyd that he must be okay because he was able to speak, saying that he was using up a lot of oxygen pleading for help. (Bailey, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Finds Massachusetts Police Department Used Excessive Force 
Officers in the narcotics section of the Springfield, Mass., Police Department routinely violate the constitutional rights of citizens by using excessive force without accountability, the Justice Department said Wednesday in announcing the findings of an investigation into the police department’s practices. (Gurman, 7/8)

AP: Little Rock Passes Arkansas' First Hate Crime Law
Little Rock became the first city in Arkansas to pass a measure with increased penalties specifically for hate crimes that target people based on their race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. (7/8)

AP: Nebraska Surpasses 20,000 Positive Cases Of Corornavirus
State figures released Wednesday show Nebraska has surpassed 20,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the outbreak began earlier this year.The state’s online virus tracker shows 155 cases were reported on Tuesday, bringing the state total to 20,201. Of the total, nearly 15,000 have recovered from the virus. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, had reached 282 by the end of Tuesday. (7/8)

The New York Times: Pandemic Plunges Puerto Rico Into Yet Another Dire Emergency 
With hundreds of thousands of people suddenly out of jobs in Puerto Rico, Luciano Soto, a tour guide who has not worked in nearly four months, wanted to be first in line at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, now outfitted as an unemployment office. He showed up at 8 p.m. one night a few weeks ago, with a lunchbox full of snacks, prepared to spend the night, so that he could find out why the unemployment benefits he had applied for months earlier had never arrived. By 5 a.m., more than 400 others were also at the convention center, and many furious people were turned away. (Rosa and Robles, 7/8)

NPR: Brazil's Bolsonaro Sued For Unmasking As He Announced Positive Test For COVID-19
A group representing Brazilian journalists says it will file suit against the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, after he took off a protective mask as he spoke with reporters about his COVID-19 diagnosis. The Brazilian Press Association, or ABI, said in a statement that Bolsonaro had unnecessarily endangered a small group of journalists who interviewed him at his official residence. (Neuman, 7/8)

AP: China Defends WHO, Lashes Out At US Move To Withdraw
China defended the World Health Organization and lashed out at the U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. body, adding to a litany of disputes between the world’s largest economies and increasing geopolitical rivals.Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the move was “another demonstration of the U.S. pursuing unilateralism, withdrawing from groups and breaking contracts.” (7/9)

Politico: American, United Stop Flying To Hong Kong Amid Crew Testing Requirements 
United Airlines and American Airlines have temporarily halted flights to Hong Kong after its government imposed coronavirus testing requirements for airline crews, the latest twist in a simmering scuffle between the U.S. and China over access to aviation markets. (Mintz and Gurciullo, 7/8)

AP: The Latest: Tokyo Sees Most New Virus Infections Since April
The Japanese capital has confirmed more than 220 new coronavirus infections, exceeding its previous record.The number reported Thursday exceeds 206 daily cases recorded on April 17 when Tokyo’s infections were at their peak. (7/9)

CIDRAP: Korean Nightclub-Goers Linked To 246-Person COVID-19 Outbreak
At least 246 COVID-19 cases have been tied to reopened nightclubs in Seoul, South Korea, after the April 30 to May 5 Golden Week holiday, with 61% among contacts of nightclub revelers, according to a research letter published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Coronavirus cases in South Korea had plateaued in April, and nightclubs reopened on April 30. People from around the country visited the Itaewon neighborhood, known for its diversity and home to a US Army base and several embassies, in downtown Seoul over the holiday. On May 6, several COVID-19 cases were confirmed among nightclub visitors. (7/8)

AP: Serbia Eyes Restrictions; Virus Spreads In US, Brazil, India
The European nation of Serbia mulled how to curb accelerating coronavirus infections following two nights of clashes involving anti-lockdown demonstrators, while the virus showed no sign of slowing Thursday in the countries with the highest caseloads — the United States, India and Brazil. The three nations on separate continents are accounting for more than 60% of new confirmed cases, according to recent tallies from Johns Hopkins University. India on Thursday reported 25,000 new cases; the United States on Wednesday reported just short of the record 60,000 cases set a day earlier, and Brazil reported nearly 45,000. (Gec and Perry, 7/9)