First Edition: June 11, 2020

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: A Family With Five Doctors — And Two COVID Deaths
On the morning of April 1, Dr. Priya Khanna inched her way from the bedroom to the front door, using walls, doors and railings to hold herself up long enough to get to the stretcher waiting outside. She had been battling COVID-19 for five days and was struggling to breathe. Her mother, also COVID-positive, watched helplessly as EMTs in full personal protective equipment guided Priya into the ambulance. Priya waved to Justin Vandergaag, a childhood friend walking alongside her. “I’ll see you later,” he said. (Megas, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News: Fighting COVID And Police Brutality, Medical Teams Take To Streets To Treat Protesters
Amid clouds of choking tear gas, booming flash-bang grenades and other other “riot control agents,” volunteer medics plunged into street protests over the past weeks to help the injured — sometimes rushing to the front lines as soon as their hospital shifts ended. Known as “street medics,” these unorthodox teams of nursing students, veterinarians, doctors, trauma surgeons, security guards, ski patrollers, nurses, wilderness EMTs and off-the-clock ambulance workers poured water — not milk — into the eyes of tear-gassed protesters. (Dawson, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News: Using Stories To Mentally Survive As A COVID-19 Clinician
Dr. Christopher Travis, an intern in obstetrics-gynecology, has cared for patients with COVID-19 and performed surgery on women suspected of having the coronavirus. But the patient who arrived for a routine prenatal visit in two masks and gloves had a problem that wasn’t physiological. “She told me, ‘I’m terrified I’m going to get this virus that’s spreading all over the world,'” and worried it would hurt her baby, he said of the March encounter. (Stephens, 6/11)

Reuters: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Now Over 2 Million: Reuters Tally
Total U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials urge anyone who took part in massive protests for racial justice to get tested. Nationally, new infections are rising slightly after five weeks of declines, according to a Reuters analysis. Part of the increase is due to more testing, which hit a record high on June 5 of 545,690 tests in a single day but has since fallen, according to the COVID-Tracking Project. (Shumaker, 6/10)

Politico: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass 2 Million
It took the U.S. nearly three months to officially hit 1 million confirmed cases on April 28, but just six weeks to double it. Reporting of Covid-19 cases got off to a slow start amid the Trump administration’s delays in rolling out widespread testing capacity. Testing has now ramped up significantly, from nearly 6 million conducted in late April to over 21 million as of this week. But there are also signs of increased spread, as numerous states have started to see a spike in cases. (Roubein, 6/11)

NPR: U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients
Texas set new records for COVID-19 hospitalizations on three consecutive days this week, with a total of 2,153 hospitalized patients on Wednesday. The state was among the first to start the reopening process, and Gov. Greg Abbott is moving forward with plans to raise occupancy limits for bars, restaurants, amusement parks and other businesses. Florida is seeing its own new surge, with more people testing positive for the coronavirus on Saturday than any day in the past two months. Since June 2, the state has reported more than 1,000 new cases every day, even as the number of COVID-19 deaths has dropped to double-digits. (Chappell and Stein, 6/10)

The New York Times: For A Day, Scientists Pause Science To Confront Racism
Galvanized by the reaction to the killing of George Floyd and continued reports that minority researchers feel marginalized and disrespected, almost 6,000 scientists and academicians said they would participate in a one-day strike on Wednesday. The event was organized by a loosely affiliated group of physicists and cosmologists operating under various hashtags, including #Strike4BlackLives, #ShutDownStem and #ShutDownAcademia. (Overbye, 6/10)

Stat: For Black Youth, A Time Of Upheaval Takes A Toll On Mental Health 
From his room in Los Angeles, Cecil Hannibal worries about his grandmother getting Covid-19 every time she goes to the supermarket in Louisville, Ky. In northern Georgia, Visaysha Harris puts limits on her news consumption, to keep from “taking too much of it all in.” In Dallas, Ashley Otah makes sure to follow reminders on her mindfulness apps. In New Jersey, Zane Keyes unwinds by riding his bike. “Since George Floyd’s murder, I feel angry, frustrated, unheard,” he says. (Glaser, 6/11)

The New York Times: Why Are So Many N.Y.P.D. Officers Refusing To Wear Masks At Protests?
Riot helmets, ballistic vests, shields, batons — fully decked-out police officers have become staples in New York City as the protests against racism and police brutality approach their third week. But increasingly, one piece of equipment has attracted attention with its absence: the face mask. On any given day, any corner, any group of officers, some or all of them are not wearing masks. Others wear them below their chin. With masks having become as ingrained as shirts and shoes in the vast majority of New Yorkers’ wardrobes, their widespread absence on the police is striking — and to a mayor and governor still fighting the coronavirus pandemic, troubling. (Wilson, 6/11)

The Washington Post: Beleaguered And Besieged, Police Try To Come To Grips With A Nation's Anger
The crowds have thinned and the smoke has cleared, with more than a week of nationwide protests leaving in their wake a nation increasingly resolved to change a broken law enforcement system. But they also have left police officers badly shaken, and in some cases physically bruised. Nationwide, police leaders say the rank and file are struggling to come to grips with the level of animus they encountered on the streets, as epithets, bricks and bottles all came hurtling their way. (Witte and Miroff, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Lawmakers Grapple With Policing And Race As Focus Shifts From The Streets To The Capitol
The national response to the police killing of George Floyd began transitioning from America’s streets to the halls of Congress on Wednesday, as lawmakers held their first hearing on a Democratic policing reform proposal and Republicans promised soon to release legislation of their own. It marked the first time in years that leaders from both parties expressed determination to offer legislative remedies for racial injustice in policing, but their ability to find common ground remained far from a sure bet. (Olorunnipa and Bailey, 6/10)

Politico: ‘I'm Tired': George Floyd's Brother Pleads For Police Reforms
The brother of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed last month by a Minneapolis police officer, pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday to implement sweeping restrictions on the use of force by police. Philonise Floyd described the anguish his family felt after videos surfaced of an officer, Derek Chauvin, putting his knee on his brother's neck for nearly nine minutes as his brother cried for air until he drew his last breath. That anguish quickly consumed a nation already paralyzed by coronavirus lockdowns and economic turmoil. (Cheney, 6/10)

Reuters: George Floyd's Brother Decries 'A Modern-Day Lynching' In Testimony To Congress 
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held the first congressional hearing to examine racial injustice and police brutality following George Floyd’s May 25 death after a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death prompted a wave of protests in U.S. cities and abroad. “They lynched my brother. That was a modern-day lynching in broad daylight,” Philonise Floyd, 42, of Missouri City, Texas, near Houston, told the committee, his voice breaking with emotion. (Morgan and Cowan, 6/10)

NPR: Philonise Floyd Tells House Judiciary Justice Has To Be Served
Democrats have promised to hold hearings to shine light on the lost trust between communities of color and the police as part of a broader plan to overhaul law enforcement policies. Wednesday's hearing is the beginning of that effort in the House. Throughout the hearing, lawmakers on the panel staked out their positions on the state of policing — diverging on issues of police funding and what types of reforms are needed. Members of both parties condemned the killing of Floyd. (Naylor and Snell, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Considers Ways To Address Police Abuse
President Trump and his advisers are weighing a possible executive order or other policy actions to address abuses by police, responding to widespread public anger following the killing of George Floyd in police custody last month. Advisers to the president have been conferring with Republican lawmakers about legislation and are considering an executive order, a presidential directive that doesn’t go through Congress and could be reversed later. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Wednesday that Mr. Trump has been “working on proposals to address the issues that the protesters raised across the country,” adding that the “body of work I’m told is reaching its final edits and we hope to produce it for you in the coming days.” (Lucey and Duehren, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: More Cities Ban Chokeholds, Similar Restraints In Wake Of George Floyd Protests
A growing number of cities and states are moving to ban the use of neck holds by police following protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. That city, along with Houston, Raleigh, N.C., San Diego, Denver and others have all taken or announced actions against chokeholds or other kinds of neck restraints that can incapacitate someone by cutting off airflow or blood flow. A sweeping Democratic-backed police-reform bill in the U.S. House includes a chokehold ban. (Kamp and Calvert, 6/10)

NPR: Protesting? Here's How To Help Keep Your Family Safe From COVID-19 When You Go Home
Protesting during a pandemic likely leaves participants with at least two questions: Did I get infected? And might I be putting others at risk?Given that COVID-19 has an incubation time of up to two weeks, experts say it will take a couple of weeks before the impact of the protests on community transmission is known. But in the meantime, there are critical steps you can take to minimize the risks to yourself and those you live with. (Godoy, 6/10)

Reuters: Washington, D.C. Urges Anti-Racism Protesters To Get Tested For Coronavirus
Washington, D.C. on Wednesday urged people who had participated in protests against police brutality and systematic racism to get tested for the coronavirus. The federal district joins a number of other locales, including Boston, Dallas and the state of New York, that have asked protesters to be tested, after thousands of people flooded the streets in demonstrations amid the pandemic that has sickened nearly 2 million Americans and killed about 112,000. (6/10)

The Hill: Fauci Underscores Concerns About Protests Spreading Coronavirus 
Anthony Fauci early Wednesday expressed concern that recent mass protests against police brutality and racism would spread the novel coronavirus because of a lack of social distancing. Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC's “Good Morning America” he isn’t surprised that members of the Washington, D.C., National Guard who mobilized in response to the protests had tested positive, but he called the development “disturbing.” (Chalfant, 6/10)

Reuters: Pence Says No Rise In U.S. Coronavirus Cases Seen Yet Due To Protests
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday there had been no sign yet of an increase in coronavirus cases from two weeks of nationwide protests over police misconduct and racism. “What I can tell you is that, at this point, we don’t see an increase in new cases now, nearly two weeks on from when the first protests took effect,” Pence said in an interview on Fox Business Network. (6/10)

Politico: Quarantine Fatigue: Governors Reject New Lockdowns As Virus Cases Spike
The coronavirus is spiking in more than a dozen states and intensive care beds are filling again, but several governors have no plans to reimpose shutdown measures or pause reopenings, a sign that the political will to take drastic measures has dissipated even as the virus is still raging. In Texas, where total cases have shot up by one-third in the last two weeks, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is moving ahead with plans to let virtually all businesses keep expanding capacity by the end of this week. (Ollstein and Goldberg, 6/10)

The Washington Post: As Coronavirus Cases Rise Nationwide, Public Health Experts Urge Caution
When Gov. Doug Ducey allowed Arizona’s stay-at-home order to expire on May 15, 340 patients were in intensive care units statewide due to the novel coronavirus — the largest number since the beginning of the pandemic. Public health experts at the University of Arizona spent the week before publicly pleading with Ducey to postpone reopening, suggesting cases in the state were still projected to grow. About two weeks later, the maximum amount of time it takes the virus to incubate, Arizona began seeing a precipitous rise in cases and a flood of new hospitalizations, straining medical resources and forcing the state’s top medical official to reissue a March order urging all hospitals to activate emergency plans. (Janes, Stanley-Becker and Weiner, 6/10)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Says No Turning Back On California Reopening Plans
California officials remain confident about the rapid reopening of the economy even as coronavirus deaths and new cases continue to rise, saying they have no plans now to slow the efforts. They said they expected cases to tick upward as businesses reopened but stressed the overall metrics still support the reopening strategy, which took another major step forward on Wednesday. (Shalby, 6/10)

The Hill: Americans Divided On Return To Regular Routines: Poll 
Americans are divided on returning to their regular routines about three months after the country shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll released Wednesday. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 49 percent of respondents said they feel comfortable returning to their normal routines after the shutdowns, compared to 50 percent who say they do not. In May’s poll, 41 percent said they felt comfortable returning to regular life, and 58 percent said they did not. The level of comfort is split among partisan lines, with 73 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 23 percent of Democrats polled saying they are comfortable returning to regular life. (Coleman, 6/10)

NPR: Coronavirus: Thousands Of Workers Say Their Jobs Are Unsafe As Economy Reopens
The past few months have weighed heavily on Edgar Fields. He's been meeting with workers at chicken processing plants around Georgia and nearby states. His union represents them, and many have become sick. Some have died. "You know, you lay in the bed and you can't sleep because stuff is on your mind? I've got to do this. I've got to do that," he says. "That's what I wake up in every morning thinking, what can I do to protect my members to where they have a safe work environment to go to?" (Arnold, 6/11)

The Hill: Maryland To Lift Restrictions On Indoor Restaurants, Gyms, Casinos 
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Wednesday lifted a host of COVID-19 restrictions in the biggest wave of reopenings to date in the state. Hogan said casinos, day cares, gyms, amusement parks, malls and indoor dining will all be able to resume with restrictions over the next 10 days. Hogan also urged local schools to schedule outdoor graduation ceremonies with capacity and distancing restrictions in place. (Weixel, 6/10)

Reuters: Exclusive: Lilly COVID-19 Treatment Could Be Authorized For Use As Soon As September - Chief Scientist
Eli Lilly and Co could have a drug specifically designed to treat COVID-19 authorized for use as early as September if all goes well with either of two antibody therapies it is testing, its chief scientist told Reuters on Wednesday. Lilly is also doing preclinical studies of a third antibody treatment for the illness caused by the new coronavirus that could enter human clinical trials in the coming weeks, Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said in an interview. Lilly has already launched human trials with two of the experimental therapies. (O'Donnell and Erman, 6/10)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Commissioner Says Agency Seeks Fast Review Of COVID-19 Products
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking to review treatments and tests for COVID-19 “as fast as we can” for emergency clearance, with the priority on those using high-level science, the agency’s commissioner said on Wednesday. The FDA aims to expedite products with the greatest chance of making it through the clinical trial process and eventually helping people, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. (Beasley, 6/10)

Politico: The ‘Hard Slog’ Of Waiting For A Coronavirus Vaccine
What if all it took for the world to return to normal was a shot in the arm? Politicians are repeating the mantra that a coronavirus vaccine is the exit strategy. But getting there is neither simple nor even guaranteed. "A vaccine is not a given," said David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology and distinguished fellow at Chatham House. There are hundreds of vaccine candidates in development, but the vast majority will fail. Assuming one is successful, it could take years to manufacture billions of doses for the entire globe. (Deutsch and Martuscelli, 6/10)

The Hill: Final Testing Stage For Potential Coronavirus Vaccine Set To Begin In July 
The final testing stage for a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna is set to begin in July, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. John Mascola, the director of the vaccine research center at NIAID, told The Wall Street Journal that the trials will involve about 30,000 people at more than 50 sites, which will mostly be within the U.S. The third phase of testing for potential vaccines developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca will begin in August while the last trials for one developed by Johnson & Johnson will start in September, NIAID confirmed to The Hill. (Coleman, 6/10)

Reuters: J&J Moves Up Start Of Coronavirus Vaccine Human Trials To July
Johnson & Johnson moved up the start of human clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the highly contagious coronavirus by two months to the second half of July, as the drugmaker rushes to develop a prevention for COVID-19, the company said on Wednesday. The acceleration should allow J&J to take part in the massive clinical trials program planned by the U.S. government, which aims to have an effective vaccine by year end. (Steenhuysen and Joseph, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccine: AstraZeneca, Moderna Chase Outbreaks Before They Disappear
The top teams rushing to develop coronavirus vaccines are alerting governments, health officials and shareholders that they may have a big problem: The outbreaks in their countries may be getting too small to quickly determine whether vaccines work. A leader of the Oxford University group, one of the furthest ahead with human trials, admits the reality is paradoxical, even “bizarre,” but said the declining numbers of new infections this summer could be one of the big hurdles vaccine developers face in the global race to beat down the virus. (Booth and Johnson, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Hit Hard By Coronavirus, Russia Joins Global Race For A Vaccine
From state-run Siberian labs where scientists are experimenting on rats to military garrisons where servicemen are isolating ahead of participation in a clinical trial, Russia’s top scientists are racing to answer a daunting demand from President Vladimir Putin: Develop a coronavirus vaccine by the fall. The global pursuit of a vaccine against the respiratory coronavirus disease Covid-19 has been likened to the 1960s space race that pitted the Soviet Union against the U.S. (Kantchev and Hinshaw, 6/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Now Made In New York City: Much-Needed Coronavirus Test Kits
New York City officials are building a supply line of locally made coronavirus viral test kits, which they say is essential to safely reopening the economy. Two New York City companies and one college are on track to deliver 100,000 test kits a week by the end of June, according to the New York City Economic Development Corp., which is coordinating the effort. Having a reliable and local source of testing materials is critical as the city moves forward with reopening its businesses and offices, said EDC Chief Executive James Patchett. (King, 6/10)

The Washington Post: States Are Wrestling On Their Own With How To Expand Testing, With Little Guidance From The Trump Administration
In Maryland, drive-through coronavirus testing sites are now open to all residents, whether or not they show signs of illness. In Oregon, by contrast, officials have said that generally only people with symptoms of covid-19, the illness associated with the coronavirus, should be tested — even in the case of front-line health-care workers. (Weiner and Helderman, 6/10)

Reuters: Europe Sets Sights On Dud Antibody Tests Amid COVID-19 Free-For-All
The market for COVID-19 antibody tests is red-hot. It has ballooned in a matter of months as hundreds of products flood the world for people who want to find out whether they’ve already had the virus. The problem is, some of them don’t work properly. As a result, European authorities aim to tighten regulation of the new sector, to weed out tests that give consistently inaccurate results and crack down on companies that make false claims, three sources familiar with the plans told Reuters. (Guarascio, 6/11)

CNN: Medical Supply Company Threw Out Products After Donald Trump Toured Its Facility 
A medical supply company said Tuesday that it discarded the products it had produced during President Donald Trump's visit to its headquarters in Maine last week. Puritan Medical Products said it had decided ahead of Trump's visit on Friday to throw away the swabs it produced due to the number of people who would be visiting the facility, including government officials, security personnel and the media. (Nedelman, 6/10)

Stat: Coronavirus Immunity Is A Mystery. Scientists Are Trying To Crack The Case
Scientists stress that just because someone has recovered from Covid-19 and produced antibodies to the coronavirus does not mean they are protected from contracting it a second time. No one’s yet proven that. That, then, leaves open the question: What does immunity look like? (Joseph, 6/11)

The Associated Press: What Is Herd Immunity And Could It Work With COVID-19?
What is herd immunity and could it work with COVID-19? Herd immunity is when a virus can no longer spread easily because enough people are immune to it. That lowers the chances of the virus jumping from person to person and reaching those who haven’t been infected yet. People can become immune to certain viruses after surviving infection or being vaccinated. (6/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Tested Positive For Coronavirus Antibodies? Don’t Let Your Guard Down
After a rocky rollout, higher-quality coronavirus antibody tests have emerged that, among other uses, are beginning to give a clearer picture of the pathogen’s spread. But for people who are simply curious about whether they’ve unknowingly been infected, some doctors and public-health authorities are still hesitant to recommend antibody tests. The reliability of these tests for any one person, they say, comes down to a matter of probability: As with most other medical tests, that depends not only on a test’s quality but also on a disease’s prevalence within a community. (Abbott, Wang and Roland, 6/10)

Reuters: Explainer: Summer Might Slow Coronavirus But Is Unlikely To Stop It
The arrival of warmer weather in the Northern Hemisphere raises the question of whether summer could slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Here is what science says. While warmer weather typically ends the annual flu season in temperate zones, climate alone has not stopped the COVID-19 pandemic from sweeping any part of the globe. In fact, outbreaks in hot and sunny Brazil and Egypt are growing. Still, recent data about how sunlight, humidity and outdoor breezes affect the virus gives some reason for optimism that summer could slow the spread. (Kelland, Mishra and Soares, 6/10)

Reuters: Temperature, Humidity Affects Virus Life On Surfaces, C-Section May Raise Risk For Infected Mothers
Temperature, humidity affect how long virus ‘survives’ on surfaces. A new mathematical model adds to evidence that hotter, dryer conditions may diminish the amount of time virus-packed droplets remain contagious on surfaces. Once droplets emitted by an infected person dry, the virus particles inside it become inactive, researchers said on Monday in the journal Physics of Fluids. "The outdoor weather ... determines the duration of drying of respiratory droplets deposited on surfaces. The drying time is linked to the survival of the coronavirus inside the droplets," coauthor Rajneesh Bhardwaj of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay told Reuters. (Lapid, 6/10)

Reuters: Short-Term Ventilator Sharing May Be Viable For COVID-19 Patients: Study
Ventilators could be safely shared by two COVID-19 patients for up to two days, a small U.S. study found, validating an experimental method followed by hospitals struggling to handle the onslaught of lung failure cases with limited equipment. At the peak of the coronavirus outbreak, the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan began having selected pairs of surgery patients with healthy lungs share a ventilator. This approach freed up as many machines as possible for COVID-19 patients, but some medical experts criticized it, saying it could worsen outcomes. (Joseph, 6/10)

Reuters: South Korean Doctors Find Risk Factors For Severe COVID-19 Cases
South Korean doctors have found certain underlying conditions that may make some COVID-19 patients more severely affected by the disease, a professor at Yeungnam University Medical Center said on Wednesday. The findings could help doctors identify and prioritise high-risk patients at an early stage of the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Ahn June-hong, professor of internal medicine, told Reuters. (6/10)

Reuters: Special Report: Pandemic Exposes Systemic Staffing Problems At U.S. Nursing Homes
One night in April, as coronavirus swept through the Hammonton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, Robyn Esaw, a double amputee, signaled for help with her bedpan. She said she hit the bedside button that turns on a red hallway light. None of the few remaining staff showed up - and one of them turned the light off. Esaw only got help, eventually, by wheeling herself to the nursing station and yelling. (Kirkham and Lesser, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Nursing Homes Say Some Protective Gear Sent By FEMA Is Unusable
A major federal effort to ship protective gear to nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic is providing equipment that some facilities say is unusable, including plastic gowns that they say don’t meet their infection-control requirements. The shipments, coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are ultimately supposed to provide two weeks’ worth of gloves, gowns, surgical masks and eye protection for each of approximately 15,000 facilities. A FEMA spokeswoman said that as of Tuesday, 13,654 packages have been sent, with more slated for the coming weeks. (Mathews, 6/11)

The Associated Press: Homes For Disabled Hit Hard By COVID, Faced Past Violations
Neil Sullivan was angry, frustrated and crushed with guilt. His brother Joe had been rushed by ambulance from his home for the developmentally disabled to the emergency room with a possible case of the coronavirus. Neil had known the people at the Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center near Chicago were at risk. Regulators had flagged the facility over the years for violations such as neglect of residents and not keeping restrooms stocked with soap and paper towels. And now, in the middle of a pandemic, a staffer told Neil they were still short of life-saving equipment like surgical masks, gowns, hand sanitizers and even wipes. (Mohr, Weiss and Dunklin, 6/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Pandemic Pressures Special-Needs Caregivers
Darius Stewart, who provides care for people with special needs such as autism and Down syndrome, hasn’t left the residential home where he works since late April. All three employees and four residents of the Silver Spring, Md., home had tested positive for the new coronavirus. After 14-hour shifts, Mr. Stewart said, he watches television news and sees nurses, doctors, retail workers and others being singled out for praise. The 28-year-old wonders why his profession never seems to get a mention. “We are barely even recognized as health-care workers,” he said. (MacDonald, 6/11)

The New York Times: Beyond Georgia: A Warning For November As States Scramble To Expand Vote-By-Mail
The 16 statewide primary elections held during the pandemic reached a glaring nadir on Tuesday as Georgia saw a full-scale meltdown of new voting systems compounded by the state’s rapid expansion of vote-by-mail. But around the country, elections that have been held over the past two months reveal a wildly mixed picture, dominated by different states’ experiences with a huge increase in voting by mail. Over all, turnout in the 15 states and Washington, D.C., which rapidly expanded vote-by-mail over the past few months, remained high, sometimes at near record levels, even as the Democratic presidential primary was all but wrapped. (Corasaniti and Wines, 6/10)

The New York Times: Georgia’s Election Mess: Many Problems, Plenty Of Blame, Few Solutions For November
Before Georgia’s embattled election officials can fix a voting system that suffered a spectacular collapse, leading to absentee ballots that never got delivered and hourslong waits at polling sites on Tuesday, they must first figure out who is responsible. As multiple investigations begin into what went wrong, and as Democrats accuse the state’s Republicans of voter suppression, a picture emerged Wednesday of a systematic breakdown that both revealed general incompetence and highlighted some of the thorny and specific challenges that the coronavirus pandemic may pose to elections officials nationwide. (Fausset and Epstein, 6/10)

The New York Times: Trump 2020 Campaign Will Return With Rally In Tulsa
President Trump will return to the campaign trail on June 19 with a rally in Tulsa, Okla., for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak forced most of the country into quarantine three months ago, a campaign official said Wednesday, as polls show former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. establishing a significant national lead over Mr. Trump and the president’s approval ratings plummeting. Oklahoma, a deep-red state Mr. Trump won four years ago by 36 percentage points, began lifting restrictions on businesses on April 24 and moved into Phase 3 of its reopening on June 1, allowing summer camps to open and workplaces to return with full staffing levels. (Karni, 6/10)

The New York Times: With Jobless Benefits Set To Lapse, Congress Is At Odds Over An Extension
With expanded jobless benefits put in place to help laid-off workers weather the pandemic set to expire by the end of July, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are at odds over whether to continue to provide substantial payments to tens of millions of Americans who are still out of work. Lawmakers in both parties and administration officials appear to agree that Congress should consider some form of assistance to workers as part of another round of coronavirus aid that is likely to be debated in the coming weeks. But while Democrats want to continue a supplement of $600 a week past July 31, when those benefits are set to lapse, Republicans and the White House — citing an unexpected improvement in jobs numbers — are resisting the move, arguing that doing so could discourage people from returning to work. (Cochrane and Tankersley, 6/11)

The New York Times: Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged And Projects Years Of High Unemployment
The head of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday offered a grim assessment of how quickly the U.S. economy will recover from its pandemic-induced recession, suggesting that millions of people could remain out of work for an extended period as central bank officials estimated unemployment will be at 9.3 percent by the end of 2020. The Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell, said the labor market might have “hit bottom” after recording a 14.7 percent unemployment rate in April, but made clear that it was too soon to know for certain. (Smialek and Rappeport, 6/10)

The New York Times: $130 Billion In Small-Business Aid Still Hasn’t Been Used
In April, when the federal government offered $349 billion in loans to small businesses reeling from government shutdown orders in the pandemic, the funding ran out in just 13 days, prompting Congress to swiftly approve a second round of $310 billion. Small businesses have since grown more wary of taking the money. As of Tuesday, more than $130 billion was left in the fund, known as the Paycheck Protection Program. (Cowley, 6/10)

Reuters: U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Seen Declining Further, But Millions Still Unemployed
Layoffs in the United States are abating, but millions who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 continue to draw unemployment benefits, suggesting the labor market could take years to heal from the pandemic even as businesses resume hiring workers. (Mutikani, 6/11)

The New York Times: Amid A Pandemic, Churches Offer Prayer, Hope — And Testing
Ten days in May. Twenty-four churches around New York City. Nearly 20,000 coronavirus tests. Over the past few weeks, churches serving communities of color have been transformed overnight into mini-clinics offering free coronavirus tests to all comers. The initiative, a partnership of the churches, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office and Northwell Health, is an effort to expand testing among black and Hispanic citizens, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. (Lee and Rabin, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Is It Safe To Go Swimming During The Coronavirus Pandemic?
Is it safe to swim at a beach or pool during the coronavirus pandemic? Health officials say it can be safe, as long as swimmers stick to social distancing guidelines in and out of the water. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can spread from person to person in water in pools, hot tubs, oceans or lakes. Pool disinfectants like chlorine should also kill the virus, providing another layer of protection. (6/11)

The New York Times: Meet The ‘Grandmother Of Street Medics’
As protests against police brutality have swept the country, in some cases leading to additional police aggression, toward demonstrators, a loosely organized group of trained volunteers has been on call to intervene and treat injuries. Street medics, who may be medical professionals or first aid practitioners with only basic training, bandage cuts and rubber bullet wounds. They treat symptoms from tear gas, Mace and pepper spray, using water and saline to flush protesters’ eyes. And, working as teams, they help move marchers out of harm’s way. (Bromwich, 6/10)

The New York Times: Masks, No Kissing And ‘A Little Kinky’: Dating And Sex In A Pandemic
Pandemic life is tough on everyone. But for a single person, the prospect of dating and sex — while social distancing to avoid a potentially life-threatening respiratory illness — feels impossible. How do you date without touching or kissing? How do you have sex without breathing on your partner and putting each other at risk? “I’ve gone at least two months without sex or other physical connection, and even in my 50s, that’s a long time,” said one man from Austin, who asked not to be named to protect his privacy. “My only venture outside has been to walk the dogs and run a very rare errand, for Pete’s sake. Dating seems even a more remote possibility.” (Parker-Pope, 6/11)

The New York Times: Why 2 Crises May Finally Force N.Y.C. Schools To Integrate
When New York City became the national epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, its once-sacrosanct practice of sorting thousands of children into selective public schools suddenly collapsed: The metrics that dictate admissions evaporated as schools shuttered. Then, the city erupted in protest over the killing of George Floyd, and the fact that the proudly progressive city is home to one of the nation’s most racially divided school districts took on fresh urgency. New York is now inadvertently running an experiment in how to operate without high-stakes admissions screens. (Shapiro, 6/11)