First Edition: Oct. 6, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of COVID’? Not Buying It, Unless Businesses Do Job Right 
As stores, restaurants, airlines and offices try to lure clients back, this is what they need to do to earn my business: Make me feel safe — no, make me be as safe as possible. As I’ve begun to explore old haunts, some are doing a fabulous job. Others are not. So my dollars will flow to the former, and I’ll effectively boycott the latter. Think of it as ethical shopping, with a safety twist: I’ll reward businesses that are seriously implementing recommended COVID-19 precautionary guidelines. And I’ll punish, in my own tiny way, those who don’t take them to heart. (Rosenthal, 10/6)

Kaiser Health News: ‘No Mercy’ Chapter 2: Unimaginable, After A Century, That Their Hospital Would Close 
Closing a hospital hurts. In Fort Scott, Kansas, no one was a bigger symbol for that loss — or bigger target for the town’s anger — than hospital president Reta Baker. Baker was at the helm when the hospital doors closed. “I don’t even like going out in the community anymore, because I get confronted all the time,” Baker said. “Someone confronted me at Walmart. You know — ‘How could you let this happen?’” (Tribble, 10/6)

Kaiser Health News: Campus Dorm Resident Assistants Adjust To A New Role: COVID Cop 
Breaking up parties, confiscating booze and answering noise complaints — being a resident adviser has always required a willingness to be the “bad guy” and uphold university policy despite the protests of friends and peers. Now there’s a new element to the job description: COVID cop. (Almendrala and Heredia Rodriguez, 10/6)

Kaiser Health News: Easier-To-Use Coronavirus Saliva Tests Start To Catch On 
As the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the country, health care providers and scientists relied on the standard method for detecting respiratory viruses: sticking a long swab deep into the nose to get a sample. The obstacles to implementing such testing on a mass scale quickly became clear. Among them: Many people were wary of the unpleasant procedure, called a nasopharyngeal swab. It can be performed only by trained health workers, putting them at risk of infection and adding costs. And the swabs and chemicals needed to test for the virus almost immediately were in short supply. (Tuller, 10/6)

The New York Times: ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of Covid,’ Trump Says, Undermining Public Health Messages 
Public health experts had hoped that President Trump, chastened by his own infection with the coronavirus and the cases that have erupted among his staff, would act decisively to persuade his supporters that wearing masks and social distancing were essential to protecting themselves and their loved ones. But instead, tweeting on Monday from the military hospital where he has been receiving state-of-the-art treatment for Covid-19, the president yet again downplayed the deadly threat of the virus. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote. “Don’t let it dominate your life.” (Kolata and Rabin, 10/5)

USA Today: 'Don't Be Afraid Of It:' Donald Trump Talks COVID-19 On Video After Return To White House
The president painted an optimistic view of his condition, saying that "now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune, I don't know." Trump delivered the remarks, maskless, from the White House South Portico shortly after he arrived from Walter Reed Medical Center. White House physician Sean Conley told reporters earlier on Monday that Trump would continue his treatment regimen at the White House, where he will receive "24/7 world class medical care." The president will continue taking his five-day course of remdesivir, an antiviral drug, as well as the steroid dexamethasone. (Jackson, Subramanian and Weise, 10/5)

NPR: 'Maybe I'm Immune': Trump Returns To White House, Removes Mask Despite Infection
President Trump, who spent the weekend in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, made a theatrical return to the White House Monday evening, disembarking Marine One and walking the staircase to the South Portico entrance, where he turned to face the cameras, removed his mask and gave his signature two thumbs up. Shortly before, a masked Trump had emerged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was receiving treatment, pumping his fist and giving a thumbs up as he ignored questions from reporters. (Neuman, 10/6)

Politico: Trump Returns To White House Despite Mysteries Around His Health 
Trump left Walter Reed Medical Center by helicopter on Monday evening, with Marine One touching down on the White House South Lawn about 15 minutes later. He walked out of Walter Reed under his own power, but did not take questions from reporters gathered outside. Upon his return, Trump walked up the stairs to the White House wearing a white mask before taking it off on the balcony, standing for a few moments for a photo op before walking in without wearing the mask. Experts say that someone in Trump‘s progression of the virus is still likely contagious, and multiple people could be seen waiting for him on the other side of the entrance. (Oprysko and Forgey, 10/5)

NPR: Back At White House, Trump Still Faces Serious Health Risks 
At Monday's press briefing, though largely optimistic about the president's condition, his physician, Sean Conley, said he "may not be out of the woods yet." "I would also agree with the medical team that just because he's going home, he's not completely out of the woods," says Dr. Faisal Masud, medical director of critical care at Houston Methodist Hospital. "He has to demonstrate continuous success and no lung issue because, you know, some of these patients have long-term lung impact." (Chatterjee, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: President Trump Still Faces Risk As He Convalesces At White House 
President Trump has left the hospital to return to the White House, but he will still require close monitoring and could be at risk of worsening symptoms in the coming days, doctors said. ... Doctors treating the president said Monday that Mr. Trump didn’t have a fever and his oxygen levels were normal, an important indicator for patients with Covid-19. At least one of the medications the president is taking can bring down fever, so it is not clear if his temperature is truly back to normal, according to doctors not involved in his care. Mr. Trump received supplemental oxygen on Friday and Saturday when his blood oxygen level dropped. (Wilde Mathews and Hernandez, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Leaves Hospital Monday Evening, As White House Cases Mount 
President Trump left the hospital with a cautious prognosis Monday after three days of treatment for Covid-19, returning to a White House roiled by the spread of the contagion among his top aides a month before he seeks re-election. Mr. Trump, wearing a surgical mask, walked out the front door of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he had been receiving treatment since Friday evening. Administration officials were making preparations for Mr. Trump to isolate in the White House residence, instead of the West Wing, where many senior aides work, according to a person familiar with the discussions. (Restuccia and Leary, 10/5)

Politico: What We Know — And Still Don't Know — About Trump's Illness
President Donald Trump's medical team on Monday afternoon gave a mixed picture of his condition hours before they prepared to send him back to the White House, continuing to leave key questions about his health unanswered.... [They] still refused to answer questions that could have indicated the severity of Trump’s illness, including whether the president's lung scans had revealed damage or pneumonia. They also dodged questions about the date of Trump’s last negative coronavirus test — information that could help determine who he may have exposed to the virus before his diagnosis — and said they didn’t have information on his viral load, which could indicate his level of contagiousness. (10/5)

The New York Times: Trump’s ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ Comments Outrage Public Health Experts
The president’s comments drew outrage from scientists, ethicists and doctors, as well as some people whose relatives and friends were among the more than 210,000 people who have died in the United States. “I am struggling for words — this is crazy,” said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is just utterly irresponsible.” Fiana Garza Tulip, 40, who lives in Brooklyn and lost her mother to the virus, wrote in a text message that she was “reeling” after reading Mr. Trump’s tweet, which she described as a “slap in the face” and a “painful reminder that our president is unfit for office and that he does not care about human life.” (Kolata and Caryn Rabin, 10/5)

USA Today: 'Reckless To A Shocking Degree': Reaction To Trump Saying Not To 'Be Afraid Of Covid' As US Passes 210,000 Deaths
Celebrities, political pundits, and critics responded to President Donald Trump's tweet to not "be afraid of Covid", calling the message "preposterous" and "dangerous" for the leader of a nation that has surpassed 210,000 deaths to spread. (Behrmann, 10/5)

AP: 'An Embarrassment': Trump Tweet Angers Pandemic Survivors
Dizzy with a soaring fever and unable to breathe, Scott Sedlacek had one thing going for him: He was among the first people to be treated for COVID-19 at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, and the doctors and nurses were able to give him plenty of attention.The 64-year-old recovered after being treated with a bronchial nebulizer in March, but the ensuing months have done little to dull the trauma of his illness. Hearing of President Donald Trump’s advice by Tweet and video on Monday not to fear the disease — as well as the president’s insistence on riding in a motorcade outside Walter Reed Medical Center and returning to the White House while still infectious — enraged him. “I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” Sedlacek said. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment.” (Johnson and Prengaman, 10/6)

The New York Times: Charting A Covid-19 Immune Response 
Amid a flurry of press conferences delivering upbeat news, President Trump’s doctors have administered an array of experimental therapies that are typically reserved for the most severe cases of Covid-19. Outside observers were left to puzzle through conflicting messages to determine the seriousness of his condition and how it might inform his treatment plan. Though Mr. Trump left Walter Reed medical center on Monday night to continue his recovery in the White House, the future of his health status is unclear. Physicians have warned that the president remains at a precarious point in his disease course. The coronavirus can be a tricky adversary — and for many people whose cases of Covid-19 are severe, the greatest threat to survival might not be the pathogen itself, but the deadly forces that the body marshals to fight it. (Wu and Corum, 10/5)

AP: Trump's Doctor Leans On Health Privacy Law To Duck Questions
President Donald Trump’s doctor leaned on a federal health privacy law Monday to duck certain questions about the president’s treatment for COVID-19, while readily sharing other details of his patient’s condition. But a leading expert on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act said a more likely reason for Dr. Sean Conley’s selective disclosures appears to be Trump’s comfort level in fully revealing his medical information. “That’s a little head-scratcher,” said Deven McGraw, a former career government lawyer who oversaw enforcement of the 1996 medical privacy statute. “It’s quite possible the doctor sat down with the president and asked which information is OK to disclose.” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/5)

The New York Times: When The Patient Is Your Commander In Chief, The Answer Is Usually ‘Yes, Sir’
President Trump’s excursion around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday evening, his repeated requests to be discharged and his aggressive denial of the seriousness of the coronavirus underscore the highly unusual and precarious problem presented to his doctor: His patient is also his boss. In the case of Dr. Sean P. Conley, the White House physician and Navy doctor, the patient is both the boss and the commander in chief. Disobeying Mr. Trump’s wishes could be seen as tantamount to insubordination, among the military’s highest offenses. (Steinhauer, 10/5)

Stat: 'Covid Is All About Privilege': Trump's Care Underscores Health Inequalities
As the symptoms of Covid-19 took hold, President Trump got an infusion of an experimental antibody cocktail and was whisked by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. When his oxygen levels dipped, he was quickly put on a steroid normally given to patients with severe cases of the disease. At every step of the way, the president has had a team of expert physicians carefully monitoring his care. That experience is a world away from the stressful waiting game most patients wade through after a positive test. (Ross, 10/6)

The Hill: Fauci Defends Care Given To Trump, Calling It 'Optimal' 
Anthony Fauci defended the doctors caring for President Trump on Monday, saying he is confident the president is getting “optimal care” while also saying he is not involved in the treatment. “My colleagues that I know, including Sean Conley, are very good physicians, and they're very qualified, so I am really confident that the President of the United States is getting the optimal care that you can get with the team over at Walter Reed,” Fauci said on CNN, referring to the president’s doctor. (Sullivan, 10/5)

Politico: Trump Allies Turn Covid Diagnosis Into A Message Of Strength 
President Donald Trump’s carefully crafted image of power and control took brutal blows over the past few days, as he and dozens of his closest confidants tested positive for the coronavirus. ... The challenge now for team Trump: How to spin the situation into a positive, less than a month from Election Day. His allies have tried to connect the president’s experience to the pain of millions of Americans affected by the deadly virus, but they haven’t used the experience to send a broader public-health message about a pandemic that has killed around 210,000 people in the U.S. They have instead presented, in a series of TV appearances and tweets, a testament to Trump’s resilience by asserting that he has overcome the disease. (Choi, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Concern Rises For White House Residence Staffers As Their Workplace Emerges As A Virus Hot Spot 
The White House residence staff members are largely Black and Latino, and often elderly, according to Kate Anderson Brower, who compiled a trove of interviews with former staffers for her book “The Residence.” ... As the residence staff has been caring for the first family, a chorus of concern has started to rise among former White House and residence staff members about whether the first family and the administration are taking care of those employees in return. (Yuan, 10/5)

The Atlantic: Trump Is Putting White House Staff At Risk Of COVID-19 
Trump and the first lady interact with dozens of White House employees every day, many of them nonpolitical and largely invisible to the American public. Because of his months-long failure to take COVID-19 seriously even inside his own home, Trump continues to place these staff members and their families at considerable risk. Which is to say that the blast radius from the president’s and the first lady’s illness could be a lot larger than many Americans realize. (Godfrey and Harris, 10/5)

Politico: Working For Trump: Tweet-Firings, Subpoenas And Now Coronavirus 
Working for Donald Trump has never been easy. The president’s staffers get fired and insulted by tweet. They get blamed for the president’s own failures. They get screamed at in the Oval Office. Scores of them have ended up subpoenaed, fined or even sentenced to prison. Now, the president’s staff has been dragooned into a coronavirus outbreak in which the stakes could be deadly. (Cook and McGraw, 10/5)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Invades West Wing, White House Reporters Face Heightened Risks 
Visitors to the White House will notice a makeshift sign taped to the door of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, entry point for the reportorial corps that regularly covers President Trump and his administration. “Masks Required Beyond This Point,” it reads. “Please wear masks over both your nose and mouth at all times.” The sign was not put up by the White House. The correspondents had to do it themselves. (Grynbaum, 10/5)

USA Today: Donald Trump Says COVID-19 Vaccines Coming 'Momentarily.' They're Not.
President Donald Trump, back at the White House days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, said vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic are coming "momentarily." Doctors and scientists have repeatedly refuted that claim. Trump, speaking in a video posted to Twitter after leaving the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, said he felt "better than 20 years ago" after praising the medicines and equipment involved in his treatment. Earlier in the day, he said people shouldn't be afraid of COVID-19, and said, "Maybe I'm immune, I don't know," during Monday night's video. In the video, Trump also said, "The vaccines are coming momentarily."  (Culver, Weise and Weintraub, 10/5)

The Hill: Trump Health Official Meets With Doctors Pushing Herd Immunity 
A top Trump health official met Monday with a group of doctors who are proponents of the controversial “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19, even as other experts warn of its deadly and dangerous consequences. Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity. (Hellmann, 10/5)

USA Today: White House COVID-19 Outbreak Shows The Limits Of Testing; Even The Most Accurate Ones Can Miss The Coronavirus Early
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she tested negative for COVID-19 "every day since Thursday" – until she tested positive Monday. McEnany's disclosure shows the limits of daily testing in halting the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. A person might have such small traces of the virus after exposure a case isn't identified until days later, even using the most accurate and sensitive tests. It's "what we call a window period: that’s the period after you get infected and before you test positive," said Dr. Richard Scanlan, chair of the College of American Pathologists Council on Accreditation.

Politico: The 30 People Who Have Tested Positive In The Trump Covid Outbreak
Here’s who has tested positive thus far, the day we learned about their result and what we know about their condition. (Niedzwiadek, 10/5)

The New York Times: White House Is Not Contact Tracing ‘Super-Spreader’ Trump Rose Garden Event
Despite almost daily disclosures of new coronavirus infections among President Trump’s close associates, the White House is making little effort to investigate the scope and source of its outbreak. The White House has decided not to trace the contacts of guests and staff members at the Rose Garden celebration 10 days ago for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, where at least eight people, including the president, may have become infected, according to a White House official familiar with the plans. (Mandavilli and Tully, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Hasn’t Asked CDC Investigators For Covid-19 Case Tracking Help 
The White House hasn’t called on the nation’s top disease detectives to investigate a Covid-19 outbreak involving the president and several staff, though a team has been mobilized specifically for that work, according to people familiar with the matter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has readied a team of investigators but hasn’t been asked by the White House to help track down related infections since President Trump announced early Friday he and the first lady tested positive for the new coronavirus, these people said. A federal official said the CDC has been on standby. (McKay, Ballhaus and Abbott, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Leaders In Washington Region Ask White House To Follow Safety Protocols As Coronavirus Outbreak Spreads 
Elected leaders in the Washington region are urging the White House to follow pandemic safety protocols to slow the coronavirus’s spread, even as they said the Trump administration hasn’t consulted with them over the growing outbreak. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said her administration has offered help to the White House but otherwise has had little contact with federal leaders. In Montgomery County, where President Trump was recovering for three nights after contracting the virus, the top elected official urged the president to act responsibly. (Nirappil, Chason and Hedgpeth, 10/5)

Politico: Riverside Megachurch Pastor Who Attended White House Event Contracts Covid-19
The evangelical pastor of a high-profile California megachurch with links to President Trump announced Monday he's among those who have contracted Covid-19 following the recent White House event for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Pastor Greg Laurie of Riverside's Harvest Christian Fellowship confirmed on his Facebook page that he tested positive for the virus over the weekend. (Marinucci, 10/5)

The Washington Post: With Trump Out Of The Hospital, Biden Steps Up Criticism 
Joe Biden stepped up his criticism of President Trump on Monday, challenging his calls not to fear the deadly coronavirus and admonishing him to regulate the use of face masks, as Trump returned to the White House after being hospitalized for covid-19. ... “I was glad to see the president speaking in recorded videos over the weekend,” Biden said in a speech Monday afternoon in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. “I would ask him to do this: Listen to the scientists! Support masks! Support a mask mandate nationwide. Require a mask in every federal building, facility in their state. Urge every governor in America to do the same. We know it saves lives.” (Sullivan and Wang, 10/5)

The New York Times: In Florida, Biden Says ‘I Wasn’t Surprised’ By Trump’s Diagnosis
As President Trump battled the coronavirus on Monday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. ventured onto the campaign trail, where he wished the president a speedy recovery but criticized his leadership, suggesting that he bore some responsibility for his positive test after flouting public health guidelines around masks and social distancing. ... “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Mr. Biden said at the town hall, asked whether Mr. Trump shouldered some responsibility for contracting the virus. (Glueck, 10/5)

The Guardian: 'Masks Matter': Joe Biden Reminds Trump That Face Covering Is There To Protect Others
Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, has said he was not surprised by Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection and delivered a blunt rebuke: “Masks matter.” Speaking at an NBC television town hall event in Miami, Florida, the former vice president drew a stark contrast with Trump, who on returning to the White House just an hour earlier instantly removed his face mask for a photo op. (Smith, 10/5)

CNBC: Joe Biden Says Trump Bears Responsibility For Covid-19 Infection
Joe Biden said on Monday that President Donald Trump bears responsibility for becoming infected with Covid-19 as a result of his frequent refusal to wear a mask while around others. “Look, anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying, ‘masks don’t matter; social distancing doesn’t matter’ — I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Biden said during a NBC News town hall hosted by Lester Holt in Miami. (Higgins, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden, Trump Swap Roles After President’s Coronavirus Diagnosis 
Joe Biden, after facing months of criticism from President Trump for sticking close to his Delaware home, is now traveling around the country. Mr. Trump, who held campaign rallies throughout the summer, is sick with the coronavirus and off the trail. The sudden candidate role reversal has thrust the already turbulent campaign into a new stage less than 30 days before Election Day. Mr. Trump, trailing in the polls with more than 3 million early votes cast, according to data compiled by the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, faces new challenges in closing the gap with the Democratic presidential nominee. Mr. Biden has the battleground states mostly to himself for in-person campaigning now. (Lucey and Thomas, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Pence-Harris Debate To Feature Plexiglass Barriers 
The vice-presidential debate set for Wednesday will feature plexiglass barriers between Vice President Pence (R), Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and the moderator, organizers said Monday, amid a growing dispute over whether in-person debates should be held at all. The Commission on Presidential Debates agreed to the request from the Biden campaign. The Trump team did not object, though “they didn’t want the vice president surrounded by plexiglass,” said commission co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. “They don’t want to have him in what looks like a box.” Top Pence advisers said late Monday they did not support plexiglass for their candidate and that discussions were ongoing. (Janes, Dawsey and Viser, 10/5)

Reuters: U.S. Vice Presidential Debate To Include Plexiglass Barrier After White House Outbreak
In a statement, Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, said: “If Senator Harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it.” In response, Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for Harris, wrote on Twitter: “Interesting that @VPComDir Katie Miller mocks our wanting a plexiglass barrier on the debate stage, when her own boss is supposedly in charge of the COVID-19 task force and should be advocating for this too.” Miller herself had COVID-19 in the spring. (Ax and Hunnicutt, 10/5)

The Guardian: Mike Pence V Kamala Harris: Trump's Health Raises Stakes Of Vice-Presidential Debate
It is always about who will be a heartbeat away from the presidency. But this time, that applies more than ever. The incumbent, Mike Pence, and the California senator Kamala Harris are set to take part in a vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday with both under pressure to show their readiness to step up to the top job. (Smith, 10/6)

Politico: The Logistics Of A Pandemic Vice Presidential Debate 
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris are set to face off Wednesday in their first and only debate. But as coronavirus cases balloon inside President Donald Trump's circles, debate planners are on extra alert to prevent the spread of the disease. The socially distanced debate will be held at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Here's what to expect. (Choi, 10/5)

USA Today: From COVID-19 To Voting: Trump Is Nation's Single Largest Spreader Of Disinformation, Studies Say
Is President Trump the nation’s chief disinformation officer? Controversial posts concerning COVID-19 on Monday in which the president tells the public "Don’t let it dominate you" and "Don’t be afraid of it" and claims he may have immunity to the deadly virus have heightened public criticism of Trump for spreading dangerous falsehoods. “There is no doubt that Donald Trump is the largest spreader of specific and important types of misinformation today,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.  (Guynn, 10/5)

The Atlantic: Trump Is A Super-Spreader Of Disinformation
A super-spreader—a term we didn’t much use nine months ago—is a person with a contagious disease who gives it to a lot of other people. In the coronavirus pandemic, super-spreaders have played an outsize role. Scientists have identified super-spreaders who have infected dozens of people with the virus, while others with the illness haven’t infected anyone at all. Super-spreaders may explain why the coronavirus seems to take over so quickly in some places, but not in others. We don’t know yet whether President Donald Trump was a super-spreader of the coronavirus or the victim of one, perhaps at the Rose Garden event for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, where few wore masks and many shook hands; perhaps while he was preparing to debate. But Trump has been a super-spreader in a different sense for many, many years—a super-spreader of disinformation. (Applebaum, 10/3)

NPR: Mary Trump Says Trump Family Saw Illness As 'Unforgivable Weakness'
Attitude about illness is looming large over the president's coronavirus treatment. White House physician Sean Connelly said on Sunday that he didn't initially disclose that the president was given oxygen on Friday, despite multiple questions about it from reporters, because he was trying to "reflect the upbeat attitude" of the president. Trump's estranged niece, Mary Trump, says members of the Trump family have viewed illness as "a display of unforgivable weakness." (Silva, 10/4)

AP: White House Nixes Updated FDA Guidelines On Vaccine Approval
At issue was the FDA’s planned instruction that vaccine developers follow patients enrolled in their trials for at least two months to rule out safety issues before seeking emergency approval from the agency. A senior administration confirmed the move Monday evening, saying the White House believed there was “no clinical or medical reason” for the additional requirement. (Miller and Perrone, 10/6)

The New York Times: White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines 
Top White House officials are blocking strict new federal guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, objecting to a provision that would almost certainly guarantee that no vaccine could be authorized before the election on Nov. 3, according to people familiar with the approval process. Facing a White House blockade, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking other avenues to ensure that vaccines meet the guidelines. That includes sharing the standards — perhaps as soon as this week — with an outside advisory committee of experts that is supposed to meet publicly before any vaccine is authorized for emergency use. The hope is that the committee will enforce the guidelines, regardless of the White House’s reaction. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 10/5)

Politico: White House Cited Drug Companies’ Objections In Overruling FDA’s Vaccine Standards 
A White House decision to halt release of new standards for emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine came after officials close to President Donald Trump told the FDA that the pharmaceutical industry had objected to the tougher requirements, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The White House cited the private-sector opposition as a chief reason for blocking the guidelines, which aim to hold companies’ vaccines to a higher bar for safety and effectiveness and would likely push any authorization beyond Election Day, they said. (Cancryn, 10/5)

USA Today: CDC Updates Guidelines (Again) To Note Risk Of Airborne Transmission, Says Coronavirus Can Infect People More Than 6 Feet Away
Scientists have warned for months that the virus could be spread through tiny aerosols that spread farther and hang in the air longer than previously known. The World Health Organization, lobbied by hundreds of scientists, noted that risk in July. In September, the CDC attempted to address airborne transmission, revising its guidelines to say, “There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants, or in fitness classes).” (Rodriguez, 10/5)

Politico: CDC Says Coronavirus Is Airborne, But Weakens Language From Earlier Warning
The CDC on Monday confirmed that the coronavirus is airborne and may be able to infect people who are more than six feet apart, especially indoors with poor ventilation. The agency first said last month that the virus spreads mainly through "aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes." CDC pulled that language days later, saying it had been posted in error and required further review. (Ehley, 10/5)

NPR: CDC Updates Guidance Acknowledging Coronavirus Spreads Via Airborne Transmission 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says the coronavirus can be spread through airborne particles that can linger in the air "for minutes or even hours" — even among people who are more than 6 feet apart. The CDC still says that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is most frequently spread among people in close contact with one another, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. But in new guidance published Monday on its website, the agency also acknowledged that under certain circumstances, people have become infected by smaller particles that can linger in the air in enclosed spaces that are poorly ventilated. (Godoy, 10/5)

Politico: Supreme Court Sides With Republicans, Reinstates Witness Requirement In South Carolina 
There were no noted dissents, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would have granted a stay application in full, meaning ballots already submitted that did not have a witness signature would have been rejected. It is one of the first election-related cases that the Supreme Court has ruled on since the primaries and could suggest the justices will rein in lower courts that seek to alter the rules of an election, even if to expand access to voting as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. (Montellaro, 10/5)

NPR: SCOTUS Sides With S.C. To Reinstate Witness Signature Mandate For Absentee Ballots 
The eight-person Supreme Court on Monday sided with South Carolina to reinstate a mandate that absentee ballots require witness signatures, even as critics argue that the coronavirus puts an undue burden on voters to safely get a witness cosign on the ballots. The order will not apply to ballots already cast or those mailed in within the next two days, but will apply to ballots going forward for the Nov. 3 general election. (Wise, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Surge In Mail Voting Likely To Lead To More Rejected Ballots 
As more Americans turn to voting by mail due to the coronavirus, some election officials are already seeing the kinds of mistakes that could lead to large volumes of ballots being disqualified. Some fraction of mail-in ballots are disqualified every election. Around 1% of them were rejected nationally in the 2016 general election, according to the federal U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Common reasons include ballots being received after the deadline or voters not signing the ballot envelope or supplying a signature that doesn’t match state records. (Corse and Day, 10/4)

Stat: Supreme Court To Review Contentious Law Governing PBMs
Amid debate over prescription drug costs, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a closely watched case on Tuesday that is expected to determine the extent to which the states can regulate pharmacy benefit managers, the controversial middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain. At issue is an Arkansas law that governs reimbursements rates that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, must pay to pharmacies. (Silverman, 10/5)

Politico: 'I'll Go In A Moon Suit': Covid Outbreak Leaves GOP Unfazed In SCOTUS Fight
Senate Republicans are still moving forward with confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court — and they’re making no apologies for it. Senate Republicans, in statements and interviews Monday, defended their decision not to slow down their timeline for Barrett’s confirmation even as the coronavirus rips through Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee is still scheduled to begin hearings Oct. 12. (Levine, 10/5)

The Washington Post: A U.S. Senator Kept Taking Off His Mask On A Delta Flight, Raising Questions About Safety Oversight 
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate committee that oversees airlines and U.S. transportation policy, had his mask off for extended periods on a Delta flight to Mississippi on Thursday night, according to another passenger, and the company said he had to be reminded twice by a flight attendant to follow the airline’s mask requirement. The next day, the Trump administration rejected a union petition calling for a federal mandate requiring masks be worn on planes, trains and buses. (Laris and Aratani, 10/5)

The Hill: Cornyn: Trump 'Let His Guard Down' On Coronavirus 
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday that President Trump “let his guard down” on the coronavirus, in some of the toughest comments yet from a GOP lawmaker about the president’s handling of the virus after Trump announced his positive test late Thursday night. “I think he let his guard down, and I think in his desire to try to demonstrate that we are somehow coming out of this and that the danger is not still with us — I think he got out over his skis and frankly, I think it’s a lesson to all of us that we need to exercise self discipline,” Cornyn told the Houston Chronicle editorial board. (Sullivan, 10/5)

The Hill: Schumer: Graham Must Require Testing For Senators, Staff Before Supreme Court Hearings 
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that Senate Republicans should require testing for senators and staff if they will not delay a Supreme Court hearing scheduled to start next week, amid an outbreak of coronavirus cases.  (Carney, 10/5)

The Hill: Bill To Expand Support For Community Addiction Treatment Passes House 
The Family Support Services for Addiction Act, a bill that would establish a $25 million fund to support organizations specializing in addiction treatment and support for family members of those suffering from addiction, is heading to the Senate after passing the House last week. (Bowden, 10/4)