First Edition: May 12, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Millions Stuck At Home With No Plumbing, Kitchen Or Space To Stay Safe
In nearly half a million American homes, washing hands to prevent COVID-19 isn’t as simple as soaping up and singing “Happy Birthday” twice while scrubbing. In many of those homes, people can’t even turn on a faucet. There’s no running water. In 470,000 dwellings in the United States — spread across every state and in most counties — inadequate plumbing is a problem, the starkest of several challenges that make it tougher for people to avoid infection. (Ungar and Lucas, 5/12)

Kaiser Health News/The Guardian: Lost On The Frontline
A pharmacist who refused to let the patients down. A police officer turned nurse. A school nurse who “was a mother to many.” These are some of the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who die of COVID-19. (5/12)

Kaiser Health News: ‘No Intubation’: Seniors Fearful Of COVID-19 Are Changing Their Living Wills
Last month, Minna Buck revised a document specifying her wishes should she become critically ill. “No intubation,” she wrote in large letters on the form, making sure to include the date and her initials. Buck, 91, had been following the news about COVID-19. She knew her chances of surviving a serious bout of the illness were slim. And she wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be put on a ventilator under any circumstances. (Graham, 5/12)

Reuters: U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 80,000 - Reuters Tally
U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 80,000 on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as nearly all states have taken steps to relax lockdown measures. Deaths in the United States, the epicenter of the global pandemic, have averaged 2,000 a day since mid-April despite efforts to slow the outbreak. The death toll is higher than any fatalities from the seasonal flu going back to 1967 and represents more U.S. deaths than during the first eight years of the AIDS epidemic, from 1981 to 1988. (Shumaker, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Study: Virus Death Toll In NYC Worse Than Official Tally
New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus may be thousands of fatalities worse than the tally kept by the city and state, according to an analysis released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between March 11 and May 2, about 24,000 more people died in the city than researchers would ordinarily expect during that time period, the report said. That’s about 5,300 more deaths than were blamed on the coronavirus in official tallies during those weeks. (Mustian, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Death Toll In New York City Likely Much Higher, CDC Says
The CDC’s total is 5,293 deaths higher than official New York City reports over the same period, which showed 13,831 laboratory-confirmed deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and 5,048 probable Covid-19-related deaths. CDC officials said the agency’s larger death toll included fatalities likely attributable to health problems caused by Covid-19 as well as other factors attributable to the pandemic, such as shortages of medical care. (Chapman, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Plateau In California Coronavirus Deaths Concerns Experts
Although some hope the worst of California’s coronavirus crisis has passed, there are signs the pandemic in the Golden State has merely stabilized, and the worst may be yet to come. The number of weekly COVID-19 deaths in California has hit a stubborn plateau, and the number of cases has not begun a sustained week-over-week decline, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found. For the seven-day period that ended Sunday, 503 people in California died from the virus — the second-highest weekly death toll in the course of the pandemic and a 1.6% increase from the previous week. (Lin and Lee, 5/11)

The New York Times: Fauci Plans To Use Hearing To Warn Of ‘Needless Suffering And Death’
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a central figure in the government’s response to the coronavirus, plans to deliver a stark warning to the Senate on Tuesday: Americans would experience “needless suffering and death” if the country opens up prematurely. Dr. Fauci, who has emerged as the perhaps nation’s most respected voice during the worst public health crisis in a century, is one of four top government doctors scheduled to testify remotely at a high-profile — and highly unusual — hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He made his comments in an email to a New York Times reporter late Monday night. (Stolberg, 5/12)

NPR: Trump, Testing, Asymptomatic Spread Could Be Flashpoints In Key Senate Hearing
The Senate hearing is called, "COVID-19: Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School." The irony, though, is it will take place via video conference. The Senate health committee's chairman, Republican Lamar Alexander, will chair the hearing remotely from his home in Tennessee because one of his staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Four top doctors integral to the government's coronavirus response, who are expected to testify, will also do so remotely. Three are self-quarantining because of exposure to a White House staffer who also tested positive for the coronavirus. (Montanaro, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Object Lesson On A Fickle Virus Frames Hearing On Reopening
Even before the gavel drops, the hearing offers two takeaways for the rest of the country, said John Auerbach, president of the nonprofit public health group Trust for America’s Health. “One thing it tells you is that the virus can have an impact in any workplace setting or any community setting,” said Auerbach. “All businesses will find it very challenging to ensure safety when there are cases.” Another lesson is that the public officials involved are taking the virus seriously by not appearing in person. “They are following the guidelines that they are recommending to others,” said Auerbach. “There is not a double standard.” (Alonso-Zaldivar and Neergaard, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Trump Faces Virus At White House Amid Push To 'Reopen' US
President Donald Trump insisted Monday his administration has “met the moment” and “prevailed” on coronavirus testing, even as the White House itself became a potent symbol of the risk facing Americans everywhere by belatedly ordering everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask. Trump addressed a Rose Garden audience filled with mask-wearing administration officials, some appearing publicly with face coverings for the first time during the outbreak, after two aides tested positive for COVID-19 late last week. The startling sight served only to further highlight the challenge the president faces in instilling confidence in a nation still reeling from the pandemic. (Miller and Freking, 5/12)

Politico: Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ Moment Masks Deep White House Unease
“In every generation, through every challenge and hardship and danger, America has risen to the task,” Trump said. “We have met the moment and we have prevailed.” It was a pronouncement incongruous with the widespread anxiety among employers across America about whether enough testing exists to reopen their workplaces. It was also incongruous with the internal turmoil spreading on Monday inside the West Wing, where officials were scrambling to prevent the virus from crippling the most famous and supposedly safest office in America — one that already featured ample testing capacity for anyone who meets with Trump or Vice President Mike Pence. (Cook, 5/11)

The Washington Post: Trump Claims U.S. Outpaces The World In Coronavirus Testing, But The Country Still Falls Far Short
The White House event Monday afternoon amounted to an acknowledgment that there is not yet enough testing capacity across the United States, even as more than 40 states are in some stage of lifting restrictions on travel, work and school. The president’s claims about U.S. testing benchmarks do not account for what health experts have criticized as the slow pace of testing capability in the United States this spring, a delay that some attribute to the rapid spread of the virus, the mounting death toll and uncertainty about the way forward. (Gearan, Dennis, Rucker and Wagner, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Trump Abruptly Ends Briefing After Contentious Exchanges
President Donald Trump abruptly ended his White House news conference Monday following combative exchanges with reporters Weijia Jiang of CBS News and Kaitlan Collins of CNN. Jiang asked Trump why he was putting so much emphasis on the amount of coronavirus tests that have been conducted in the United States. “Why does that matter?” Jiang asked. “Why is this a global competition to you if everyday Americans are still losing their lives and we’re still seeing more cases every day?” (Bauder, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Biden Calls Out Trump For Testing His Staff While Telling Americans Testing Isn’t Necessary
Former vice president Joe Biden launched a fresh line of attack against President Trump on Monday, criticizing the president for providing coronavirus tests to his staff while telling Americans that testing isn’t important. “If Trump and his team understand how critical testing is to their safety — and they seem to, given their own behavior — why are they insisting that it’s unnecessary for the American people?” Biden wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post. (Linksey, 5/11)

The Washington Post: Trump Visit To Pennsylvania Factory That Produces PPE Materials Was Scuttled After Plant Officials Expressed Concerns About Health Risks
President Trump was pushing to get out in the public eye in recent weeks and tout his leadership during the pandemic, and White House staff thought they had hit on the ideal event: a presidential visit to thank the Pennsylvania factory workers who had recently taken herculean steps to ramp up U.S. supplies of protective equipment. ... White House officials pressed to hold an event at the Braskem factory, initially scheduled for last Friday. But after extensive back and forth, factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant’s ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear, according to two people familiar with the decision and documents reviewed by The Post. (Leonnig, 5/11)

The New York Times: White House Orders Staff To Wear Masks As Trump Misrepresents Testing Record
The White House on Monday ordered all West Wing employees to wear masks at work unless they are sitting at their desks, an abrupt shift in policy after two aides working near the president — a military valet and Katie Miller, the vice president’s spokeswoman — tested positive for the coronavirus last week. In an internal email obtained by The New York Times, people who work in the cramped quarters around the Oval Office were told that “as an additional layer of protection, we are requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or face covering.” (Shear, Haberman and Qiu, 5/11)

Reuters: White House Directs Staff To Wear Masks After Officials Contract Coronavirus
The new guidelines, released in a memo to the president’s staff on Monday afternoon, reflect a tightening of procedures at the highest levels of the U.S. government over fears that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence could be exposed to the virus. Trump’s military valet and Pence’s press secretary both tested positive for the coronavirus last week. (Holland and Mason, 5/11)

The Washington Post: White House Implements Stringent Mask Policy — But Not For Trump
The request does not apply to staff members seated at their desks if they are “appropriately socially distanced,” and Trump is not expected to wear a mask in the White House, aides said. In a sign of the haphazard effort to impose more stringent safety standards inside the White House, one senior administration official and several other aides were still arguing that masks were unnecessary for people getting regular testing just moments before the memo was sent. (Parker, Dawsey and Rucker, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Directs Officials To Wear Masks At All Times Inside The West Wing
Mr. Trump has said he is reluctant to wear one, telling reporters in April: “I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know—somehow, I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t.” Mr. Pence recently drew criticism for not wearing a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which asked visitors to wear face coverings. The memo also directs officials to restrict in-person visits to the White House unless they’re necessary, one of the officials said. (Ballhaus and Leary, 5/12)

Reuters: Factbox: U.S. COVID-19 Tests - What's Out There And How Well Do They Work?
Health policy experts say the United States must dramatically increase the availability of tests for the coronavirus if it is to safely reopen its economy. U.S. regulators have moved speedily to authorize many new tests, but concerns still remain about tests’ accuracy, and some policymakers say new testing technologies need to proliferate to fully contain the virus. (O'Donnell, 5/11)

The New York Times: As States Rush To Reopen, Scientists Fear A Coronavirus Comeback
Millions of working people and small-business owners who cannot earn money while sheltering at home are facing economic ruin. So dozens of states, seeking to ease the pain, are coming out of lockdown. Most have not met even minimal criteria for doing so safely, and some are reopening even as coronavirus cases rise, inviting disaster. The much-feared “second wave” of infection may not wait until fall, many scientists say, and instead may become a storm of wavelets breaking unpredictably across the country. The reopenings will proceed nonetheless. The question now, scientists say, is whether the nation can minimize the damage by intelligently adopting new tactics. (McNeil, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Workplace Worries Mount As US Tracks New COVID-19 Cases
Even as President Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, thousands of new coronavirus infections are being reported daily, many of them job-related. Recent figures show a surge of cases in meat-packing and poultry-processing plants. There’s been a spike of new infections among construction workers in Austin, Texas, where that sector recently returned to work. Even the White House has proven vulnerable, with positive coronavirus tests for one of Trump’s valets and for Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary. (Crary, 5/12)

The New York Times: App Shows Promise In Tracking New Coronavirus Cases, Study Finds
In the absence of widespread on-demand testing, public health officials across the world have been struggling to track the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in real time. A team of scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom says a crowdsourcing smartphone app may be the answer to that quandary. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers found that an app that allows people to check off symptoms they are experiencing was remarkably effective in predicting coronavirus infections among the 2.5 million people who were using it between March 24 and April 21. (Jacobs, 5/11)

The New York Times: New York To Begin Limited Reopening In Upstate Region
In the most concrete step toward restarting his battered and shuttered state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that large chunks of New York State’s central interior will be allowed to partially reopen construction, manufacturing and curbside retail this weekend. The move toward a limited, regional reopening came 10 weeks after the state’s first confirmed case of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 26,000 people in New York and sickened hundreds of thousands more. That toll has been largely borne by New York City and its populous suburbs, with far fewer cases and fatalities thus far in the state’s more rural communities and smaller cities. (McKinley, 5/11)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In Washington, D.C.: Capital Moves To Reopen, While City Hesitates
As the Trump administration pushes for the federal government to lead the nation in reopening the doors to daily business, the leaders of the capital region that would live with the consequences are fragmented on how to move forward. This city, home to 700,000 people, anchors one of the most interconnected metropolitan regions in the nation, with a total population nearly 10 times larger than the District of Columbia. Washington and the close-in counties within Virginia and Maryland have a shared Metro system and populations that move daily across their borders, a large number of them workers for the government. (Steinhauer, 5/11)

Reuters: Trump Wades Into Pennsylvania Coronavirus Plan, Governor Pushes Back
President Donald Trump accused Democrats of moving to reopen U.S. states from coronavirus lockdown measures too slowly for political advantage on Monday, as Pennsylvania’s governor hit back against Republicans pushing a faster timetable. (Chiacu, 5/11)

The New York Times: A Red Corner Of A Blue State Fights To Reopen
To understand why Mayor Nate Duckett wants Farmington, N.M., to reopen while the governor wants it shut, it helps to know something about what he calls his city’s “death spiral.” Perched in a rural corner of northwest New Mexico, Farmington watched its wealth vanish as its oil and gas industries went elsewhere. Its population is one of the fastest-shrinking in America. What keeps the lights on in Farmington is a coal-fired power plant whose fate remains uncertain. And all of that was before the virus leveled what remained of Farmington’s economy. (Casey, 5/12)

The New York Times: ‘These Are Not Numbers. These Are Souls.’ Georgia Pastors Say No To Reopening.
Churches in Albany, Ga., have been devastated by the coronavirus. As the state reopens, pastors are uniting to keep people home. (Englebrcht and Reneau, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Pandemic Renews Push For Medicaid Expansion In GOP-Led States
The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the U.S. health-care system and economy is fueling renewed efforts in some states to expand Medicaid as millions of people lose their jobs and health coverage. Medicaid expansion initiatives will be on ballots this year in Oklahoma and likely in Missouri, two of the 14 states that haven’t widened the federal-state program for low-income and disabled people since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act under Democratic President Obama in 2010. (Armour, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Joins States Seeking $1 Trillion In Coronavirus Relief
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his counterparts in four Western states on Monday asked Congress for $1 trillion in COVID-19 pandemic relief for all states and local governments. Newsom joined with the governors of Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado, as well as legislative leaders from the five states, in asking the House and Senate for the aid. The governors said the funds would be critical for public health programs, law enforcement and schools. (Willon, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: New Johns Hopkins Course To Train Coronavirus Contact Tracers
Emily Gurley, an associate scientist at Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, said it is still beneficial to do contact tracing even when there are hundreds of positive diagnoses daily and there may not be sufficient numbers of tracers to reach every newly diagnosed person. “It’s not an all-or-nothing gain,” she said of contact tracing. Contact tracing, as well as wider coronavirus testing in the general population, are key elements to limiting the spread of Covid-19 and reopening New York, state and local officials have said. (West, 5/11)

The New York Times: California’s Plan To Trace Travelers For Virus Faltered When Overwhelmed, Study Finds
In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the United States, like many countries, had a very brief chance to limit the spread of the disease at its borders. Identifying travelers from high-risk countries and tracing their contacts with others would have been critical measures, if put in place early enough. In California, the largest state and a point of entry for thousands of travelers from Asia, a program was established to do just that. But its tracing system was quickly overwhelmed by a flood of passengers, many with inaccurate contact information, and was understaffed in some cases, rendering the program ineffective, according to a study released on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which looked exclusively at California. (Waldstein, 5/11)

The Associated Press: UN Says 7 Or 8 `Top' Candidates For A COVID-19 Vaccine Exist
The World Health Organization chief said Monday there are around seven or eight “top” candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus and work on them is being accelerated. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a U.N. Economic and Social Council video briefing the original thinking two months ago was that it may take 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. But he said an accelerated effort is under way, helped by 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) pledged a week ago by leaders from 40 countries, organizations and banks for research, treatment and testing. (Lederer, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: One Idea For Speeding A Coronavirus Vaccine: Deliberately Infecting People
It’s a controversial idea: Intentionally infect people with the virus that causes Covid-19 to test the effectiveness of a potential vaccine. The approach is called a human challenge trial, and it’s not the usual way a vaccine is tested. More commonly, researchers track thousands of people, some of whom receive a vaccine, and others a placebo, and then see who becomes infected in the natural course of their lives. It’s a slower process, but poses fewer risks than deliberately infecting people after they’ve received a vaccine. (Reddy, 5/11)

The Washington Post: The Race To Mass Produce A Coronavirus Vaccine
Johnson & Johnson’s race to manufacture a billion doses of coronavirus vaccine is ramping up in a small biotechnology plant near Interstate 95 in Baltimore. But even as technicians prepare to lower 1,000-liter plastic bags of ingredients into steel tanks for brewing the first batches of experimental vaccine, international concern is bubbling about what countries will get the first inoculations. The Baltimore plant is the second of four planned locations around the world where Johnson & Johnson plans to pump out vaccine on a massive scale, months before testing the first dose in a human being. (Rowland, Johnson and Wan, 5/11)

Stat: Why Moderna's Stock Value Requires An Almost Mythical Leap Of Faith
Moderna is moving at unprecedented speed to develop a vaccine to prevent infection from the novel coronavirus. But the biotech’s soaring stock price is moving faster, which raises an important question: Are investors taking on too much risk?Since late February, Moderna shares have more than tripled in value — making it one of the top-performing biotech stocks this year. On Monday, shares hit an all-time high of $66. (Feuerstein, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Bill Gates Has Regrets
Five years ago, Bill Gates warned that the biggest potential killer the world faced wasn’t war, but a pandemic. The billionaire spent hundreds of millions of dollars to find faster ways to develop vaccines and create disease-tracking systems. He urged world leaders to build national defenses against new infectious diseases. Looking back, Mr. Gates said, “I wish I had done more to call attention to the danger.” The Microsoft Corp. co-founder is now squaring off against the scenario he sought to forestall. “I feel terrible,” he said in an interview. “The whole point of talking about it was that we could take action and minimize the damage.” (McKay, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Distribution Of Key Drug Was Flawed, Says White House Official
The White House coronavirus response coordinator, in an email to senior colleagues, said the way the administration initially distributed supplies of the promising new drug remdesivir shouldn’t happen again, according to an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Deborah Birx, in the May 7 email sent to fellow Trump administration task force members and other senior officials, said her colleagues would review how the decision-making led to a “misalignment” of the drug’s allocation in the days after the government began distribution. (Armour and Walker, 5/11)

Politico: Hydroxychloroquine Shows No Benefit Against Coronavirus In N.Y. Study
A decades-old malaria medicine touted by the president as a coronavirus treatment showed no benefit for patients hospitalized in New York. There was also no noticeable advantage for patients that took the drug paired with the antibiotic azithromycin, according to hotly anticipated research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Owermohle, 5/11)

ProPublica: Ignoring Trump And Right-Wing Think Tanks, Red States Expand Vote By Mail
On April 23, during the same week that Kentucky’s Republican secretary of state said he was contemplating a “significant expansion” of vote by mail, the Public Interest Legal Foundation emailed one of his employees under the subject line “28 MILLION ballots lost.” “Putting the election in the hands of the United States Postal Service would be a catastrophe,” wrote J. Christian Adams, president of PILF, a conservative organization that has long complained about voter fraud. His missive contended, with scant evidence, that “twice as many” mailed ballots “disappeared” in the 2016 presidential election than made up the margin of votes between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. (Huseman and Spies, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Trump Casts Doubt On Mail Voting. His Campaign Promotes It.
While President Donald Trump claims mail-in voting is ripe for fraud and “cheaters,” his reelection campaign and state allies are scrambling to launch operations meant to help their voters cast ballots in the mail. Through its partnership with the Republican National Committee, Trump’s campaign is training volunteers on the ins and outs of mail-in and absentee voting and sending supporters texts and emails reminding them to send in their ballots. (Riccardi, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Democrats Set To Take Next Steps Toward Virtual Convention
Democrats are making new moves toward a virtual presidential nominating convention this August, with party officials preparing to grant convention organizers in Milwaukee the authority to design an event that won’t require delegates to attend in person amid the coronavirus pandemic. A top party official discussed the plans ahead of Tuesday’s virtual meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss moves that still require approval by the committee and the DNC’s 447 members. (Barrow and Ohlemacher, 5/11)

NPR: Democrats Developing Contingency Plans For Remote Convention
When the DNC's rules and bylaws committee meets by conference call on Tuesday, it will take up a resolution that would change official proceedings "so as to safeguard the ability of all validly-elected Convention delegates to participate in the Convention in person or by means that allow for appropriate social distancing." (Khalid, 5/11)

The Hill: Warren Warns Coronavirus 'Poses A Threat To Free And Fair Elections' 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday warned that the COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to “free and fair elections,” as experts cautioned that states are running out of time to prepare to hold elections during the crisis. “Coronavirus poses a threat to free and fair elections. But we can fix that,” Warren tweeted. “We need vote by mail. We need online and same-day registration. We need early voting and extended voting hours. We need real money for governments to administer elections safely.” (Miller, 5/11)

Politico: Hospitals At Center Of Fight Over Liability Protections In Coronavirus Relief Bill
Hospitals are warning they will be slow to restart elective procedures like knee surgeries and colonoscopies without assurances from Congress they won’t get sued by patients and their own workers if they are infected by the coronavirus during those visits. Powerful industry lobbies like the American Hospital Association pressing for relief in the next rescue package have gained a sympathetic ear from Republican leaders in Congress. They'll be joining with a raft of other industries seeking legal protections, ranging from manufacturers to casinos, while facing opposition from Democrats concerned about stripping patients' legal rights. (Luthi and Roubein, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Pelosi Wants To Go Big On Aid, But McConnell Sees No Urgency
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is poised to unveil the next coronavirus aid package, encouraging Congress to “go big” on aid to help cash-strapped states and struggling Americans. Voting is possible as soon as Friday. But the bill is heading straight into a Senate roadblock. Senate Republicans said Monday they are not planning to vote on any new relief until June. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is no “urgency” to act. (Mascaro, 5/12)

Politico: McConnell Brushes Off Pelosi As She Finalizes Relief Package
Hopes are fading on Capitol Hill for a deal on the next round of coronavirus relief before an approaching Memorial Day recess, raising the prospect that Congress won’t clinch a new spending agreement until June or beyond. While the Democratic-controlled House is aiming to pass a multitrillion-dollar package as soon as this week without GOP or White House input, the Senate Republican majority has no timeline for delivering its own bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the party is still “assessing what we’ve done already,” referring to the nearly $3 trillion in aid delivered by Congress thus far. (Everett and Caygle, 5/11)

The Hill: The 8 Key Provisions Expected In Democrats' Next COVID-19 Bill 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats are charging ahead this week with the next round of emergency coronavirus relief — another massive, multitrillion-dollar package designed to buttress the economy against the devastating pandemic. The enormous bill — the fifth legislative response to COVID-19 — could arrive as early as Monday or Tuesday, according to Democratic aides. That sets the stage for a House vote as soon as Friday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has said. Dubbed CARES 2, the legislation is expected to adhere largely to the contours of the first CARES Act, enacted March 27, by providing help to medical providers, small businesses, workers and families most affected by the crisis. (Lillis and Wong, 5/11)

The New York Times: G.O.P. Split Over State Aid That Could Mostly Go To Democratic Strongholds
When Senator Mitt Romney of Utah strode into a luncheon with fellow Republicans last week, he was carrying an oversize poster in his black-gloved hand that bore a blunt message: “Blue states aren’t the only ones who are screwed.” Two days later, Senator Rick Scott of Florida made the opposite point, arriving at another party gathering with his own placard that showed how rosy his state’s financial picture was compared with those of three Democratic states: New York, Illinois and California. Why should Congress help struggling states and cities, he argued, when the bulk of the aid would go to Democratic strongholds that he said had a history of fiscal mismanagement? (Cochrane, 5/11)

Politico: The Fed’s Next Challenge: Rebuilding The Economy For The Long Term
The Federal Reserve has poured trillions of dollars into the financial system over a matter of weeks. But soon it must do even more to confront the long-lasting economic wounds that will be left in the wake of the pandemic. Returning the U.S. to robust growth after the lockdown is lifted will mean dealing with mass unemployment, permanently shuttered companies and a buildup of mountains of debt for both households and businesses. (Guida, 5/12)

The Associated Press: White House Recommends Tests For All Nursing Home Residents
With deaths mounting at the nation’s nursing homes, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that all residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks. Why the government is not ordering testing at the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes was unclear. Nor was it clear why it is being recommended now, more than two months after the nation’s first major outbreak at a nursing home outside of Seattle that eventually killed 45 people. (Freking and Condon, 5/11)

NPR: New Jersey Investigates State's Nursing Homes, Hotbed Of COVID-19 Fatalities
Coronavirus fatalities in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for at least one-third of the deaths in 26 states.In New Jersey's nursing homes, the coronavirus has proved especially deadly: 53% of the more than 9,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the state were long-term care patients or staff. Now, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has opened an investigation into possible misconduct at those facilities. (Pao and Chang, 5/11)

The New York Times: Tribal Nations Face Most Severe Crisis In Decades As The Coronavirus Closes Casinos
Tribal nations around the United States are facing their most severe crisis in decades as they grapple simultaneously with some of the deadliest coronavirus outbreaks in rural America and the economic devastation caused by the protracted shutdown of nearly 500 tribally owned casinos. The Navajo Nation, the country’s largest Indian reservation, now has a higher death rate than any U.S. state except New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. (Romero and Healy, 5/11)

The Associated Press: 'The Grief Is So Unbearable': Virus Takes Toll On Navajo
The virus arrived on the reservation in early March, when late winter winds were still blowing off the mesas and temperatures at dawn were often barely above freezing. It was carried in from Tucson, doctors say, by a man who had been to a basketball tournament and then made the long drive back to a small town in the Navajo highlands. There, believers were preparing to gather in a small, metal-walled church with a battered white bell and crucifixes on the window. On a dirt road at the edge of the town, a hand-painted sign with red letters points the way: “Chilchinbeto Church of the Nazarene.” (Fonseca and Sullivan, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Has Been Devastating To The Navajo Nation, And Help For Complex Fight Has Been Slow
A group of more than a dozen tribe members filled dozens of dust-covered cars with diapers, flour, rice and water, the bare staples that are sustaining the Navajo Nation as many fall ill and die. If the novel coronavirus has been cruel to America, it has been particularly cruel here, on a desert Native American reservation that maybe has never felt more alone than during this pandemic. There's a lack of running water, medical infrastructure, Internet access, information and adequate housing. (Klemko, 5/11)

NPR: Coronavirus Infections Rise On Navajo Nation
If the Navajo Nation were a state it would have the highest rate of coronavirus cases per capita after New York. At least 100 people have died from the virus and 3,122 people have tested positive. On March 4 the Navajo Nation president cautioned its citizens to limit their travel. But a few days later doctors say a man who had been at a basketball tournament in Tucson brought the virus to a tiny church in Chilchinbito. In response to COVID-19, dozens of people drove hours from all over the region to gather and pray. Afterward, they returned to all parts of the reservation unwittingly bringing the virus home with them. (Morales, 5/11)

NPR: Checkpoint Clash Escalates Between South Dakota Governor, Tribal Leaders
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she will follow through on her threat to take legal action against two Native American tribes that have defied orders to remove highway checkpoints onto tribal land in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus on their reservations. In a Monday press conference, Noem affirmed that her office will take the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe to federal court, saying the checkpoints that were put in place last month on state and federal highways have prevented essential services from making their way to areas in need. (Romo, 5/12)

The Hill: How New Hampshire Built A Mammoth PPE Supply Chain From China 
State governments are scrambling to track down and acquire personal protective equipment (PPE) and essential medical gear to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as President Trump encourages governors to hit the open market to procure supplies. But while larger states like New York and California can compete with ever-rising prices and a limited global supply chain, smaller states have faced major complications, even losing orders to federal agencies that outbid them at the last minute... Some of those state leaders are turning to wealthy businessmen, philanthropists and sometimes their own family members to help secure the equipment they need to fully stock their hospitals and medical facilities. For New Hampshire, that philanthropist was Dean Kamen, an entrepreneur who invented the Segway and who runs a global robotics competition. (Wilson, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Virus Unleashes Wave Of Fraud In US Amid Fear And Scarcity
A 39-year-old former investment manager in Georgia was already facing federal federal charges that he robbed hundreds of retirees of their savings through a Ponzi scheme when the rapid spread of COVID-19 presented an opportunity. Christopher A. Parris started pitching himself as a broker of surgical masks amid the nationwide scramble for protective equipment in those first desperate weeks of the outbreak, federal authorities said. Within weeks, Parris was making millions of dollars on sales orders. Except there were no masks. (Fox and Suderman, 5/12)