First Edition: Oct. 20, 2020

KHN: Can Ordinary COVID Patients Get The Trump Treatment? It’s OK To Ask 
When Terry Mutter woke up with a headache and sore muscles on a recent Wednesday, the competitive weightlifter chalked it up to a hard workout. By that evening, though, he had a fever of 101 degrees and was clearly ill. “I felt like I had been hit by a truck,” recalled Mutter, who lives near Seattle. The next day he was diagnosed with COVID-19. By Saturday, the 58-year-old was enrolled in a clinical trial for the same antibody cocktail that President Donald Trump claimed was responsible for his coronavirus “cure.” (Aleccia, 10/20)

KHN and Politifact: Progressive Group Highlights Trump, Tillis Weakness On Insulin Price Tags 
During the first presidential debate of 2020, President Donald Trump touted his efforts to curb skyrocketing drug prices and declared that insulin is now “so cheap, it’s like water.” The response on social media was swift, and divided, with some people sharing pharmacy bills showing thousands of dollars they’d spent on insulin, while others boasted of newfound savings. The next day, a self-described progressive political action committee called Change Now jumped into the fray by releasing an ad that circulated on Facebook attacking Trump and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on this issue. (Pattani, 10/20)

KHN: ‘No Mercy’ Chapter 4: So, 2 Nuns Step Off A Train In Kansas … A Hospital’s Origin Story 
Ever since Mercy Hospital went “corporate,” things just haven’t been the same — that’s what lots of locals in Fort Scott, Kansas, said when the Mercy health system shuttered the only hospital in town. It’s been years since Catholic nuns led Mercy Hospital Fort Scott, but town historian Fred Campbell is wistful for his boyhood in the 1940s when sisters in habits walked the hallways. (Tribble, 10/20)

KHN: Older COVID Patients Battle ‘Brain Fog,’ Weakness And Emotional Turmoil 
“Lord, give me back my memory.” For months, as Marilyn Walters has struggled to recover from COVID-19, she has repeated this prayer day and night. Like other older adults who’ve become critically ill from the coronavirus, Walters, 65, describes what she calls “brain fog” — difficulty putting thoughts together, problems with concentration, the inability to remember what happened a short time before. (Graham, 10/20)

Politico: Senior U.S. Officials Self-Isolate After Meeting Lebanese Spymaster Who’s Positive For Covid
Several U.S. officials, including a senior figure at the State Department, are now self-isolating after meeting with a Lebanese spymaster who has tested positive for the coronavirus. David Hale, the undersecretary of State for political affairs; CIA Director Gina Haspel; and national security adviser Robert O’Brien were among the Americans who met with Lebanon’s Major Gen. Abbas Ibrahim during his recent visit to Washington, people familiar with the situation told POLITICO. (Toosi, 10/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Allows Extension For Mail-In Ballots In Pennsylvania 
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to disturb a ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court that extended the battleground state’s deadline for accepting mail-in ballots, a win for Democrats that gives voters more time to navigate postal delays and avoid in-person voting. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal members to leave intact a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision extending by three days the time for receipt of absentee ballots and allowing those with illegible postmarks to be counted if received by the deadline. (Bravin and Kendall, 10/19)

Politico: Supreme Court Declines To Block Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballot Extension 
An evenly divided Supreme Court said Monday it is declining to block a Pennsylvania state court ruling allowing mail-in ballots in the crucial battleground state to be counted as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day, even if they arrive up to three days later. The order from the high court is a victory for Democrats, as the presidential campaigns prepare for an all-out battle for the state's 20 electoral votes. (Gerstein and Montellaro, 10/19)

The New York Times: Deadlocked Supreme Court Allows Extra Time For Some Pennsylvania Ballots 
Neither side gave reasons. The result suggested that Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump nominated to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death last month, could play a decisive role in election disputes. Judge Barrett is expected to be confirmed next week. (Liptak, 10/19)

Politico: Florida Shatters Opening Day Record For Early Voting
Florida shattered its opening day record for in-person early voting Monday, with at least 350,000 people casting ballots and election officials continuing to count statewide late into the night. The trend continues a record-setting pace in the battleground state that is viewed as a must-win for President Donald Trump. Voting by mail, which started earlier this month, racked up more than 2.5 million ballots headed into Monday, more than double the 1.2 million during the same timeframe in 2016. (Dixon, 10/19)

The Washington Post: California Ballot Box Burns In Arson Attempt, Officials Say 
Outside a public library in Baldwin Park, Calif., the smoke streaming from the intentional fire set inside an official ballot collection box made the deposit slot look like a chimney. Firefighters first tried to pry the sides of the metal container open with a crowbar and an ax. After a few minutes, they pulled out a saw and began cutting through the frame. As a sheet of metal finally fell away from the box, a thick cloud of smoke billowed out. “We’re going to save as many ballots as we can,” a firefighter said in a live stream of the incident posted to Facebook Sunday night. (Shepherd, 10/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Attacks 'Fauci And These Idiots' As Polls Show Him Trailing Biden
The president claimed that voters do not want to hear more from the country’s scientific leaders about the pandemic, responding angrily to a critical interview Sunday night with CBS’s “60 Minutes” by Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” Trump said in a call with his campaign staff Monday that was intended to instill confidence in his reelection bid two weeks before Election Day. He baselessly suggested that Fauci’s advice on how best to respond to the outbreak was so bad it would have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands more people. (Scherer and Dawsey, 10/19)

The Hill: Fauci Quotes 'The Godfather' In Response To Latest Trump Attacks 
Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci brushed off new criticism from President Trump on Monday, quoting "The Godfather" in a radio interview. In an interview with Southern California AM radio station KNX1070, Fauci was asked to respond to Trump reportedly calling him "a disaster" during a campaign call earlier in the day. (Seipel, 10/19)

The Hill: Biden Slams Trump For Calling Fauci A 'Disaster' 
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Trump on Monday for calling Anthony Fauci a “disaster” and dismissing public health experts, accusing the president of “waving a white flag” in the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. “Coronavirus infections are spiking across the country, but President Trump decided to attack Dr. Fauci again today as a ‘disaster’ and call public health experts ‘idiots’ instead of laying out a plan to beat this virus or heeding their advice about how we can save lives and get our economy moving again,” Biden said in a statement. (Greenwood, 10/19)

Politico: Trump Ties Fauci To Biden — To Biden's Delight 
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree on one thing: The Democratic nominee trusts Anthony Fauci. Trump ridiculed Biden during a campaign rally on Monday afternoon in Prescott, Ariz., for saying he would heed the advice of scientific experts to combat the coronavirus even if it required ratcheting down certain economic activity. “You know, Biden wants to lock it down,” Trump said. “He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.” “…yes,” Biden’s Twitter account quipped in response to the president’s line. The Biden campaign seemed gleeful to be linked with Fauci, who has continually rated as one of the most trusted voices in the country on Covid-19, according to numerous public opinion polls. (Niedzwiadek, 10/19)

The Hill: Rally Crowd Chants 'Superman' After Trump Talks Coronavirus Recovery
The crowd at a Trump campaign rally in Arizona erupted into chants of "Superman" on Monday after President Trump recounted feeling like the superhero upon recovering from his coronavirus diagnosis. "People are pandemic'd-out. You know that? They're pandemic'd-out. That's why it's so great what your governor has done. He's opened up your state," Trump said at the rally. "I'm here. And now I'm immune. I can jump into this audience and kiss every man and woman. I'm immune." (Seipel, 10/19)

The New York Times: A Viral Theory Cited By Health Officials Draws Fire From Scientists
As the coronavirus pandemic erupted this spring, two Stanford University professors — Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Dr. Scott W. Altas — bonded over a shared concern that lockdowns were creating economic and societal devastation. Now Dr. Atlas is President Trump’s pandemic adviser, a powerful voice inside the White House. And Dr. Bhattacharya is one of three authors of the so-called Great Barrington Declaration, a scientific treatise that calls for allowing the coronavirus to spread naturally in order to achieve herd immunity — the point at which enough people have been infected to stall transmission of the pathogen in the community. While Dr. Atlas and administration officials have denied advocating this approach, they have praised the ideas in the declaration. (Mandavilli and Gay Stolberg, 10/19)

Politico: Government Watchdog Will Probe Trump Officials’ Interference At CDC, FDA 
The government's independent watchdog will investigate whether Trump administration officials improperly interfered with the coronavirus response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, Senate Democrats announced on Monday. The Democrats demanded the probe just over a week ago, citing reports from POLITICO and other outlets that detailed how political appointees sought to steer the science agencies' policies and communications to match with President Donald Trump's efforts to minimize the pandemic. (Diamond, 10/19)

The New York Times: Justice Dept. Says Trump’s Denial Of Rape Accusation Was An Official Act 
The Justice Department said on Monday that President Trump should not be sued personally for having denied a rape allegation because he made the statement while acting in his official capacity as president. Lawyers for the government made the argument as they defended Attorney General William P. Barr’s decision to intervene in a defamation lawsuit filed in a New York court against President Trump by E. Jean Carroll, the writer. Ms. Carroll has said that Mr. Trump raped her in a department store two decades ago and then falsely denied the attack while in office, branding her a liar and harming her reputation. (Weiser and Feuer, 10/19)

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. Insists Trump Was Doing His Job In Denying Woman’s Rape Claim
Justice Department lawyers argue they can and should defend President Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her decades ago, according to a government filing Monday in advance of a court hearing on the issue set for this week. The case arose out of a memoir by E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist who accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan during the mid-1990s. He denied it, calling her a liar and “not my type,” after which she sued him for defamation. (Barrett, 10/19)

USA Today: COVID-19 Aid Updates: Pelosi Sets Deadline, McConnell Pushes Bill
The clock is ticking for Democrats and Republicans to reach a COVID-19 relief deal after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a Tuesday deadline for both sides to come together to restore urgently needed benefits before Election Day. Both sides are struggling to cut a deal weeks before the election. Democrats and Republicans are hundreds of billions of dollars apart in their proposals and unable to resolve major policy differences on COVID-19 testing, child tax credit provisions and funding for state and local governments. (Wu, 10/19)

The Washington Post: Pelosi, White House Remain At Odds In Coronavirus Stimulus Talks 
House Democrats and the Trump administration remained far apart Monday in economic relief negotiations, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said there were signs of progress in the ongoing talks. “We have finally in the last 24 hours...come to a place where they are willing to address the crisis, the coronavirus, to crush the virus,” Pelosi said Monday evening in an appearance on MSNBC. She said the Trump administration had agreed to language the Democrats demanded relating to addressing racial disparities in the virus’s impact. (Werner and Stein, 10/19)

Politico: Senate Republicans Cringe At Trump's Stimulus Negotiations
The coronavirus stimulus talks between Nancy Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin have been excruciating. But they’ll fuel an even more painful firefight within the GOP if the speaker and Treasury secretary can somehow get a deal. The bulk of the Senate GOP is resistant to the spending numbers being tossed around by Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Mnuchin, meaning a majority of Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate would likely vote against a deal in the ballpark of $2 trillion. And that’s if the legislation even comes up at all. (Everett and Levine, 10/19)

USA Today: More Than 6M Households Missed Their Rent Or Mortgage Payment In September
Persistent layoffs are slowing momentum in the labor market, which bodes poorly for the broader U.S. recovery as millions of out-of-work Americans delay their mortgage and rent payments. More than 6 million households failed to make their rent or mortgage payments in September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Research Institute for Housing America, a sign that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is weighing on jobless Americans as Congress stalls on relief measures. (Menton, 10/17)

Politico: Democrats Prepare Sweeping Budget Plans If They Win In November 
Democrats are eyeing aggressive budget and spending plans if they sweep in November, aiming to deploy every fiscal tool at their disposal to deliver major investments in infrastructure, clean energy, child care and more. ... It’s also possible that Democrats would turn to reconciliation for a massive health care expansion if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a senior appropriator. ... Democratic leaders have signaled their first priority would be another multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus relief package if Congress and the Trump administration can’t reach a deal by early next year. (Emma, 10/19)

Stat: Pharma Contributed To Attorneys General Who Want To Repeal The Affordable Care Act 
The Affordable Care Act has driven a huge boost in revenue for pharmaceutical companies — but ironically, $1.5 million in drug industry donations last election cycle were funneled to Republican state attorneys general who will soon make a case for repealing the law before the Supreme Court. In early 2018, a group of Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit seeking to repeal the ACA, which expanded prescription drug coverage for millions of people and in turn, helped drug makers rake in more revenue. (Silverman, 10/20)

NPR: New Law Creates 988 Hotline For Mental Health Emergencies
President Trump has signed into law a bipartisan bill to create a three-digit number for mental health emergencies. The Federal Communications Commission had already picked 988 as the number for this hotline and aims to have it up and running by July 2022. The new law paves the way to make that a reality. "We are thrilled, because this is a game changer," says Robert Gebbia, CEO of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (Chatterjee, 10/19)

AP: UK To Infect Healthy Volunteers To Speed Up Vaccine Efforts
U.K. researchers are preparing to begin a controversial experiment that will infect healthy volunteers with the new coronavirus to study the disease in hopes of speeding up development of a vaccine. The approach, called a challenge study, is risky but proponents say it may produce results faster than standard research, which waits to see if volunteers who have been given an experimental treatment get sick. Imperial College London said Tuesday that the study, involving healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30, would be conducted in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVivo, a company that has experience conducting testing. (10/20)

The Washington Post: Britain To Infect Healthy Volunteers With Coronavirus In Vaccine Challenge Trials
The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and funded by the British government, is a gutsy gambit, given that people will be submitting themselves to a deadly virus with no surefire treatment. The United States is moving more cautiously, with leading government researchers saying human challenge trials might be too risky or unnecessary. But the British scientists say the potential payoff is massive — that accelerating vaccine development by even three months could save hundreds of thousands of lives globally. (Booth and Johnson, 10/20)

Stat: Why An FDA Advisory Panel's Meeting On Covid-19 Vaccines Matters
For those closely watching the development of Covid-19 vaccines, Thursday is a crucial date. Nothing extraordinary is expected to happen when a committee of outside experts — known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC — meets for the first time to consider Covid-19 vaccines. But the very convening of the meeting is a reassuring sign that the Food and Drug Administration, which relies on VRBPAC for advice, plans to do what it usually does: Make decisions based not on political timetables but on data that show whether new vaccines are safe and effective. (Branswell, 10/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna CEO Expects Covid-19 Vaccine Interim Results In November 
Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel said the federal government could authorize emergency use of the company’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine in December, if the company gets positive interim results in November from a large clinical trial. Mr. Bancel, speaking during The Wall Street Journal’s annual Tech Live conference Monday, said if sufficient interim results from the study takes longer to get, government authorization of the vaccine may not occur until early next year. (Loftus, 10/19)

Reuters: Sinopharm Says May Be Able To Make Over 1 Billion Coronavirus Vaccine Doses In 2021 
China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), one of several Chinese firms developing coronavirus vaccines, said it may have the capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses in 2021, Chairman Liu Jingzhen said on Tuesday. About 60,000 people have received Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidates during Phase III clinical trials, with no serious side effects reported so far, Tian Baoguo, an official at China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, said at the same government media briefing. (10/20)

The Atlantic: What A Successful Vaccine Trial Looks Like 
Before COVID-19 upended our lives, clinical vaccine trials typically made news only when they were done—when scientists could definitively say, Yes, this one works or No, it doesn’t. These days, every step of the COVID-19 vaccine-development process comes under intense public scrutiny: This vaccine works in monkeys! It’s safe in the 45 people who have gotten it! The entire trial is on pause because one participant got sick, but we don’t know yet whether the person got a vaccine or a placebo! (Zhang, 10/19)

The Hill: California Plans To Review Coronavirus Vaccine Independently 
California is planning to review federally approved coronavirus vaccines independently before distributing it to residents, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Monday. Newsom said during a press conference that the state will establish an 11-person panel of experts in areas like epidemiology and biostatistics to review any vaccine that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves before its allocation. (Coleman, 10/19)

The Hill: UNICEF Is Stockpiling Syringes Ahead Of A COVID-19 Vaccine 
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF is stockpiling hundreds of millions of syringes in anticipation of a coronavirus vaccine to make sure there is enough global supply, the organization announced Monday. UNICEF said initially it will stockpile 520 million syringes in its warehouses, part of a larger plan to have 1 billion syringes by 2021. The goal is to guarantee initial supply and help ensure that syringes arrive in countries before the COVID-19 vaccine does. (Weixel, 10/19)

AP: What Are The Treatment Options For COVID-19?
What are the treatment options for COVID-19? There are several, and which one is best depends on how sick someone is. For example, steroids such as dexamethasone can lower the risk of dying for severely ill patients. But they may do the opposite for those who are only mildly ill. (10/20)

NBC News: Texas Woman Died Of Coronavirus 'On The Jetway' On Flight From Arizona
A Texas woman in her 30s died of Covid-19 while flying home from Arizona this summer, officials said Monday. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that the woman died in July, but that officials just learned of her official cause of death. ... The woman, who was from the Dallas suburb of Garland, had underlying health conditions, according to a Dallas County news release. Additional information about her was not immediately available. (Stelloh, 10/19)

The New York Times: Doctors May Have Found Secretive New Organs In The Center Of Your Head 
After millenniums of careful slicing and dicing, it might seem as though scientists have figured out human anatomy. A few dozen organs, a couple hundred bones and connective tissue to tie it all together. But despite centuries of scrutiny, the body is still capable of surprising scientists. A team of researchers in the Netherlands has discovered what may be a set of previously unidentified organs: a pair of large salivary glands, lurking in the nook where the nasal cavity meets the throat. If the findings are confirmed, this hidden wellspring of spit could mark the first identification of its kind in about three centuries. (Wu, 10/19)

NPR: Study: Plastic Baby Bottles Shed Microplastics When Heated. Should You Worry? 
Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic, often too small for the eye to see. They're created as plastic degrades. And they're everywhere. They're in oceans, thanks to plastic garbage. They're in fish. They find their way into the water we drink in various ways, from surface runoff and wastewater effluent to particles deposited from the atmosphere. And they're released in huge quantities from plastic baby bottles when they're used to prepare formula according to standard guidelines, a new study in the journal Nature Food finds. (Godoy, 10/19)

NPR: A Big Alzheimer's Drug Study Is Proceeding Cautiously, Despite The Pandemic
Medical research was an early casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. After cases began emerging worldwide, thousands of clinical trials unrelated to COVID-19 were paused or canceled amid fears that participants would be infected. But now, some researchers are finding ways to carry on in spite of the coronavirus. "It's been a struggle of course," says Joshua Grill, who directs the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders at the University of California, Irvine. "But I think there's an imperative for us to find ways to move forward." (Hamilton, 10/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Kodak To Push Forward On Making Drug Ingredients Despite U.S. Loan Troubles 
Eastman Kodak Co. Chief Executive Jim Continenza defended his company’s handling of a halted U.S. loan and said Kodak would continue to move ahead in making drug ingredients regardless of whether it receives government assistance. Mr. Continenza’s comments, at the WSJ Tech Live conference on Monday, follow a tumultuous period for the one-time photo giant. In July, the company struck a $765 million deal with the U.S. government to produce drug ingredients, only to have its plans promptly unravel. (Levy, 10/19)

AP: Lakes Region General Hospital Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
A New Hampshire hospital moved to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday. Lakes Region General Hospital has begun the legal and regulatory process of filing Chapter 11 and has received an offer from Concord Hospital to potentially acquire hospital assets, WMUR-TV reported. Concord Hospital could acquire Lakes Region General Hospital, Franklin Regional Hospital and all other outpatient care locations. (10/19)

Stat: State Treasurers Urge Cardinal Health Shareholders To Reject CEO Bonus
Two state treasurers are urging Cardinal Health (CAH) shareholders to reject a hefty, $2.5 million bonus for the chief executive officer, citing his long-standing tenure at the wholesaler and its role in fomenting the opioid crisis. In a regulatory filing, the treasurers argued that Cardinal appeared to have “persistently failed” to ensure safe and secure distribution of controlled substances, and that rewarding chief executive officer Michael Kaufman would risk shareholder value and have negative implications for society as a whole. (Silverman, 10/19)

Stat: CBC Group Sets Up AffaMed, EverInsight Merger, Eyes IPO 
With Everest Medicines’ $451 million listing now in the rear-view mirror, health care-focused CBC Group is paving the way for another portfolio company to IPO. But, first, a merger. AffaMed Therapeutics announced last week that it is merging with EverInsight Therapeutics, another biopharmaceutical company. Both firms were founded by CBC, formerly known as C-Bridge Capital. (Chan, 10/20)

USA Today: Jeff Bridges Diagnosed With Lymphoma: 'The Prognosis Is Good'
Jeff Bridges is sharing a health update. The Oscar winner revealed on Twitter Monday that he's been diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, according to Mayo Clinic." As the Dude would say.. New S**T has come to light," wrote Bridges, referencing his 1998 cult classic "The Big Lebowski." "Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good." (Henderson, 10/19)

AP: 10 Residents Dead Amid Virus Outbreak At Kansas Nursing Home
A coronavirus outbreak has killed 10 residents in a nursing home in a northwestern Kansas county that proportionally already had the nation’s largest increase in cases over two weeks. The health department in Norton County reported Monday night that all 62 residents and an unspecified number of employees at the Andbe Home in Norton had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The agency also said one Andbe Home resident was hospitalized, while the remaining 51 were being treated at the home. (Hanna, 10/20)

AP: Virus Outbreak Linked To Hockey Rink Grows To 30 Cases
The outbreak of people infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 traced to a Montpelier hockey rink has expanded to 30, the Vermont Health Department said Monday. The cases are linked to adult and youth hockey leagues and an adult broomball league at the Central Vermont Memorial Civic Center. (10/19)

The New York Times: Michigan Woman Found Alive At Funeral Home Dies 8 Weeks Later 
A young Michigan woman who was pronounced dead in August, only to be found alive at a funeral home hours later, has died, her family’s lawyer said. The woman, Timesha Beauchamp, 20, died on Sunday at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit after about eight weeks in a coma, said Geoffrey Fieger, the lawyer. (de Leon, 10/19)

AP: Oregon Mask Requirements Expanded As COVID Cases Rise
As the total number of COVID-19 cases in Oregon nears 40,000 people, health officials announced Monday that face-covering requirements are once again being expanded to include all private and public work spaces, outdoor markets and colleges. The Oregon Health Authority reported 266 new and presumptive COVID-19 cases Monday and eight deaths. The numbers bring the state’s case tally to 39,794. The death toll is 627. (Cline, 10/19)

The Washington Post: Key Palestinian Official In Critical Condition With Covid-19
Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian leader who tested positive for the novel coronavirus this month, was placed on a ventilator Monday and is in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, the facility said in a statement. Erekat, well known to diplomats as the Palestinians’ chief negotiator and the leader most frequently quoted by Western media, was rushed from his West Bank home to a hospital in Tel Aviv on Sunday, then transferred to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center. (Hendrix, 10/19)

The Washington Post: Child Labor On The Rise In Cocoa Industry Despite Years Of Company Promises To Stop It, Report Finds 
The world’s chocolate companies depend on cocoa produced with the aid of more than 1 million West African child laborers, according to a new report sponsored by the Labor Department. The findings represent a remarkable failure by leading chocolate companies to fulfill a long-standing promise to eradicate the practice from their supply chains. Under pressure from Congress in 2001, some of the world’s largest chocolatiers — including Nestlé, Hershey and Mars — pledged to eradicate “the worst forms of child labor” from their sources in West Africa, the world’s most important supply. Since then, however, the firms have missed deadlines to eliminate child labor in 2005, 2008 and 2010. (Whoriskey, 10/19)

AP: From 'Role Models' To Sex Workers: Kenya's Child Labor Rises
The teenage girls cannot remember how many men they have had to sleep with in the seven months since COVID-19 closed their schools, or how many of those men used protection. Painfully, they recall times when they were sexually assaulted and then beaten up when they asked to be paid -- as little as $1 -- to help feed their families as jobs evaporated during the pandemic. (Odula, 10/20)

The Washington Post: ‘Asbestos’ No More: Canadian Town Opts For Less Carcinogenic Name
After years of local debate and international ridicule, the Quebec town of Asbestos has finally relented. The community of 7,000 people some 100 miles east of Montreal, heretofore named for the deadly mineral that was for more than a century the lifeblood of the local economy, will henceforth be known as Val-des-Sources. That’s Valley of the Springs, more or less. (Coletta, 10/19)