First Edition: Sept. 16, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Lack Of Antigen Test Reporting Leaves Country ‘Blind To The Pandemic’ 
More than 20 states either don’t release or have incomplete data on the rapid antigen tests now considered key to containing the coronavirus, which has sickened more than 6 million Americans. The lapses leave officials and the public in the dark about the true scope of the pandemic as untold numbers of cases go uncounted. The gap will only widen as tens of millions of antigen tests sweep the country. Federal officials are prioritizing the tests to quickly detect COVID-19’s spread over slower, but more accurate, PCR tests. (Pradhan, Weber and Recht, 9/16)

Kaiser Health News: COVID Vaccine Trials Move At Warp Speed, But Recruiting Black Volunteers Takes Time 
Participation in clinical trials among Black people is low, according to Food and Drug Administration statistics. Still, including them in coronavirus vaccine trials has been a stated priority for the pharmaceutical companies involved, since African American communities, along with those of Latinos, have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic. The ongoing trials are moving at a pace that is unprecedented for medical research, with the Trump administration’s vaccine acceleration effort dubbed “Operation Warp Speed.” Yet recruiting minority participants requires sensitivity to a mistrust borne of past and current medical mistreatment. Trust-building cannot be rushed. (Farmer, 9/16)

Kaiser Health News: Tough To Tell COVID From Smoke Inhalation Symptoms — And Flu Season’s Coming 
The patients walk into Dr. Melissa Marshall’s community clinics in Northern California with the telltale symptoms. They’re having trouble breathing. It may even hurt to inhale. They’ve got a cough, and the sore throat is definitely there. A straight case of COVID-19? Not so fast. This is wildfire country. (Kreidler, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Daily U.S. Coronavirus Tally Hits Highest Level In More Than One Month 
New coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose to more than 52,000, the highest daily total in more than a month, as wildfires in some Western states and an approaching hurricane in the Southeast opened potential pathways for the virus to spread further. The wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington state have killed at least 34 people and are part of a wider outbreak that has scorched more than 4.7 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Health experts say the wildfires make it harder for people to take preventive measures against the virus as people are forced to seek shelter. (Hall, 9/16)

CNBC: The Coronavirus Has Killed At Least 121 Young People In The U.S., Mostly Minorities, CDC Says
The study comes days after reports surfaced alleging that Trump administration officials were interfering with the CDC’s process for publishing such studies. The researchers, which include a number of CDC personnel and officials from nearly 30 state health departments, said the study underscores the risk Covid-19 presents to young people, even though young people typically don’t become as sick as older coronavirus patients. They added that the data should be continually monitored as schools and child-care centers reopen. (Feuer, 9/15)

The Hill: 120 Young People Died Of Coronavirus In Six Months, Most Were People Of Color 
More than 120 people age 21 and younger died of COVID-19 between February and July, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most had underlying health conditions or were people of color, the report said. Most of the deaths occurred in people between the ages of 14 and 20, according to the report; nearly half of all deaths in that age group were among people ages 18-20. (Hellmann, 9/15)

AP: Coronavirus Deaths In Kids Echoes Toll In Adults, CDC Says
A detailed look at COVID-19 deaths in U.S. kids and young adults released Tuesday shows they mirror patterns seen in older patients. The report examined 121 deaths of those younger than 21, as of the end of July. Like older adults, many of them had one or more medical condition — like lung problems, including asthma, obesity, heart problems or developmental conditions. Deaths were also more common among those in certain racial and ethnic groups, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC found 54 were Hispanic, 35 were Black, and 17 were white, even though overall there are far more white Americans than Black and Hispanic. (Stobbe, 9/16)

The New York Times: Some Of The Planet’s Most Polluted Skies Are Now Over The West Coast
The billowing wildfire smoke that has blanketed much of the West Coast with a caustic haze also began settling into the atmosphere thousands of miles away on Tuesday. While more favorable weather has allowed firefighters to make some progress against the devastating blazes in Oregon, the crisis was far from over: The largest fires were still mostly uncontained, the air has been some of the most polluted on the planet for a week, and the state was setting up a mobile morgue as crews continued to sift through the rubble for missing people. (Baker, 9/15)

AP: Seeping Under Doors, Bad Air From West's Fires Won't Ease Up
Dangerously dirty air spewing from the West Coast wildfires is seeping into homes and businesses, sneaking into cars through air conditioning vents and preventing people already shut away by the coronavirus pandemic from enjoying a walk or trip to the park. People in Oregon, Washington state and California have been struggling for a week or longer under some of the most unhealthy air on the planet. The acrid yellow-green smog may linger for days or weeks, scientists and forecasters said. (Cline and Flaccus, 9/16)

The Washington Post: Hazardous Smoke From Wildfires Continues To Smother West Coast 
Thick, hazardous smoke could continue to smother the West Coast for days, hindering firefighters battling dozens of deadly blazes that continue to scorch the region. While a brief, long-awaited rain arrived along the Oregon coast on Tuesday, clearing up the skies in some parts of the state, officials warned that dangerous smoke will remain in the air through at least Thursday. (Schmidt and Livingston, 9/15)

USA Today: Smoke From Western Wildfires Reaches East Coast; Mount Wilson Observatory At Risk In California; At Least 36 Dead
Intense smoke from historic wildfires that is filling the lungs of millions of Westerners is clouding skies across the nation. AccuWeather meteorologist Matt Benz said you can draw a line from California through St. Louis and on to Norfolk, Virginia – pretty much everyplace north of that line is looking at smoke-tainted skies. Areas south of that line see less smoke because of air coming up from the Gulf. "Amazingly, that wildfire smoke has traveled thousands of miles and finally has reached the East," Benz told USA TODAY. "It looks like clouds, but it is smoke. And we are stuck with this until the weather pattern changes." (Bacon, 9/15)

Reuters: Thousands Of Oregon Evacuees Shelter From Wildfires As U.S. Disaster Declared
Thousands of evacuees displaced by deadly wildfires in Oregon settled into a second week of life in shelters and car camping on Tuesday as fire crews battled on, and search teams scoured the ruins of incinerated homes for the missing. With state resources stretched to their limit, President Donald Trump approved a request from Oregon’s governor for a federal disaster declaration, bolstering U.S. government assistance for emergency response and relief efforts. (Bloom and Brooks, 9/15)

The Washington Post: Trump, In Town Hall, Says He Wouldn’t Have Done Anything Differently On Pandemic 
Trump often praised his own performance and said problems were the fault of others. Trump blamed cities and states run by Democrats for any problems with the response to coronavirus, as well as for any crime or violence in the country, not accepting responsibility for problems that he sees as happening under political rivals. (Itkowitz, Dawsey, Sonmez and Wagner, 9/15)

Politico: Trump Tells Town Hall He ‘Up-Played’ The Coronavirus Pandemic 
Another town hall participant confronted Trump on his “Make America Great Again” motto, pointing out that for many African Americans who have historically faced injustices because of racism, “we cannot identify with such greatness.” He confronted the president for declining to acknowledge that there is a “race problem in America,” a remark that caused the president to pause. “Well, I hope there’s not a race problem,” Trump said. “I can tell you there’s none with me, because I have great respect for all races.” (Choi, 9/15 )

USA Today: 'Herd Mentality': Trump Again Asserts Coronavirus Will 'Disappear'
ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Trump whether the coronavirus "would go away without the vaccine?" "Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away --" Trump responded. Stephanopoulos interjected: "--And many deaths." "And you'll develop, you'll develop herd -- like a herd mentality. It's going to be -- it's going to be herd developed - and that's going to happen. That will all happen," Trump said. (Behrmann, 9/15)

The Washington Post: Woodward Says There Was ‘Denial Across The Board’ In White House About Severity Of Coronavirus 
Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward said Tuesday that there was “denial across the board” among White House staffers about the severity of the coronavirus, and blamed President Trump for being a “bulldozer” who rejects opposing views. Woodward, whose new book, “Rage,” is based in part on 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump, made the comments in a Washington Post Live interview. (Sonmez, 9/15)

Politico: More Americans Lacked Health Insurance Last Year — Even Before Pandemic Hit, Census Reports
The ranks of the nation’s uninsured continued to grow last year, even before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic that’s devastated the economy, new federal data show. Nearly 30 million Americans went without health coverage at some point in 2019, up by roughly 1 million from the previous year, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. The figures show continued losses in health insurance under the Trump administration, slightly eroding coverage gains made following passage of Obamacare a decade ago. (Luthi, 9/15)

The Hill: Uninsured Americans Increased Even Before Pandemic, Census Bureau Finds 
The number of uninsured Americans has been increasing for the past three years, after seeing a massive decline in the wake of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. According to the report, there has been an increase of more than 2 million uninsured people since 2016. The number of uninsured people decreased by 20 million after the law was passed in 2010. (Weixel, 9/15)

AP: While Income In The US Rose In 2019, So Did The Uninsured
In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit and the U.S. economy crashed, median household income was the highest ever on record, but the number of U.S. residents without health insurance also increased, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Median household income in 2019 was $68,703, an increase of 6.8% from the previous year. That figure surpassed past boom-before-the bust years in 2007, when it was $62,090 in 2019 dollars and in 1999, when it was $62,641 in 2019 dollars, according to the Census Bureau. The poverty rate in 2019 was 10.5%, a decrease from 11.8% in 2018. It was the fifth consecutive annual decline in the national poverty rate, according to the Census Bureau. (Schneider, 9/15)

The New York Times: Michael Caputo, Trump Health Official, Apologizes For Facebook Outburst 
Michael R. Caputo, the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, apologized Tuesday morning to the health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, and to his staff members for a bizarre and incendiary Facebook outburst in which he accused federal government scientists working on the pandemic of “sedition” and warned of coming violence from left-wing “hit squads.” He is considering a leave of absence to address physical health problems, according to a person familiar with the situation. (LaFraniere, 9/15)

Politico: Caputo Apologizes To HHS Staff, Signals Desire For Medical Leave 
Caputo told staffers that his series of false accusations on Facebook Live this weekend — which included unfounded allegations that the Centers for Disease Control was harboring a “resistance unit” — reflected poorly on HHS’ communications office. He blamed his recent behavior on a combination of physical health issues and the toll of fielding death threats against his family. Caputo also acknowledged that he had never read one of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, despite his team's ongoing efforts to try to edit those documents. (Cancryn, Diamond and Owermohle, 9/15)

Politico: HHS Chief Overrode FDA Officials To Ease Testing Rules 
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led an escalating pressure campaign against his own Food and Drug Administration this spring and summer, urging the agency to abandon its responsibility for ensuring the safety and accuracy of a range of coronavirus tests as the pandemic raged. Then in late August, Azar took matters into his own hands. Overriding objections from FDA chief Stephen Hahn, Azar revoked the agency’s ability to check the quality of tests developed by individual labs for their own use, according to seven current and former administration officials with knowledge of the decision. (Cancryn and Owermohle, 9/15)

The Hill: Schumer Calls For Azar To Resign Over 'Chaos' In Coronavirus Response 
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday called on Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to resign, arguing he has failed to stand up to President Trump in the response to coronavirus. "It has become abundantly clear that the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services has allowed perhaps the most important federal agency right now to become subservient to the president's daily whims," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "So today, I am calling on Secretary Azar to resign immediately. We need a Secretary of Health and Human Services who will look out for the American people, not President Trump's political interests." (Sullivan, 9/15)

Stat: CDC Director Is Seen As Allowing Agency To Buckle To Political Influence
In his first address to the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield called the Atlanta-based agency “the best science-based, data-driven agency in the world.” His voice breaking repeatedly as he tried without success to hold back tears, Redfield — named director of the CDC in March 2018 — told thousands of employees he had long dreamed of leading the prestigious institution, considered the gold-standard for public health agencies around the globe. (Branswell, 9/16)

The Hill: Bill Gates: CDC Being 'Written Out Of The Picture' On Coronavirus 
Bill Gates says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is “being written out of the picture” of the federal coronavirus response. Gates was asked in a Bloomberg Television interview published Tuesday whether he trusted the federal agency amid the pandemic. “The CDC is largely being written out of the picture,” he said, “because you have people at the White House who aren’t epidemiologists saying what a great job they’ve done, and so it’s no longer a set of experts.” (Coleman, 9/15)

USA Today: Pelosi Says House Will Stay In Session Until Coronavirus Stimulus Deal Is Reached, Moderate Lawmakers Push For Compromise
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday the House will stay in session until a breakthrough is made on a coronavirus stimulus bill, while moderate lawmakers pressed leaders to come up with a relief deal before the November elections. "We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement, an agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Pelosi said on CNBC Tuesday. Her words signaled relief talks between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump's White House may be salvaged even though the two sides don't appear any closer to an agreement.  (Hayes, Wu and King, 9/15)

Roll Call: Despite Pressure For COVID-19 Relief Deal, Stalemate Continues
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday heeded a call from her members to commit to keeping the House in session until there’s a coronavirus relief deal, but the vow does little to break the stalemate in bipartisan negotiations that is at the heart of Democrats’ concerns. House Democrats have been fretting privately for weeks and more publicly since returning to Washington on Monday about being sent home to voters without any additional COVID-19 assistance enacted. (McPherson, 9/15)

Politico: Pelosi Faces Growing Democratic Unrest Over Covid Relief 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces growing calls from within her own ranks — including from some of her most vulnerable members — to take quick action on a coronavirus relief bill even if there’s no agreement with Republicans or the White House over the issue. But Pelosi, supported by her leadership team and most committee chairs, is refusing to back down from her demands for a bipartisan $2.2 trillion-plus stimulus package to boost the U.S. economy, which Republicans have repeatedly dismissed. (Caygle, Ferris and Bresnahan, 9/15)

Politico: Biden Campaign Manager On Trump's Return To Rallies: 'People Will Die' 
Joe Biden’s campaign manager attacked President Donald Trump and his team for the packed rallies they've recently resumed, warning that "people will die" because of the acute risk of coronavirus transmission at the largely maskless events. In a POLITICO Playbook interview, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon pointed to indoor campaign events Trump held this week, in direct contradiction with the coronavirus guidelines of his own administration. She also brought up the packed event on the South Lawn of the White House where Trump celebrated the normalization of relations between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. (Oprysko, 9/15)

New York Daily News: Jon Stewart Lashes Out Against Congress For Lack Of Funds For 9/11 Responders
Known for his passionate defense for 9/11 first responders, Jon Stewart as well as U.S. Sen. Kristin Gillibrand, and other 9/11 advocates called BS on Congress and the federal government again, this time on behalf of veterans and service members sickened by exposure to burning pits of toxic trash. “Welcome to another exciting episode of, ‘When is America going to start acting like the great country we keep telling ourselves we are?’" the former Daily Show host told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (McAuliff, 9/15)

The Hill: Democratic Lawmakers Call For An Investigation Into Allegations Of Medical Neglect At Georgia ICE Facility 
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called for an investigation into allegations detailed a day before in a whistleblower complaint over “jarring medical neglect” at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia. The complaint alleges migrants and nurses at the Irwin County Detention Center reported “high rates of hysterectomies done to immigrant women,” with the whistleblower adding that there were also issues “of proper informed consent,” according to a copy of the complaint. (Klar, 9/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Bill Gates Sr., Father Of Microsoft Founder, Dies At Age 94
Searching for a new mission after his wife died of cancer in 1994, [William H. Gates II] volunteered to help his son deal with increasingly frequent requests for donations. He later became co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent $53.8 billion over the past 20 years on its humanitarian missions, including the eradication of malaria and the provision of vaccines to children in poor countries. (Hagerty, 9/15)

The New York Times: Bill Gates Sr., Who Guided Billionaire Son’s Philanthropy, Dies At 94 
[Bill Gates Sr.'s] principal focus after 1994 was the Gates foundation. During his tenure, he directed grants that created children’s vaccines; provided sanitation and clean water to impoverished rural areas in developing countries; distributed bed netting to reduce mosquito-borne malaria; supported the education of girls; and promoted contraceptive use, nutritional supplements and single-use syringes. In an age of income inequality, Mr. Gates Sr. argued that the purpose of wealth was not to pass it on to loved ones. (McFadden, 9/15)

Stat: Lawmakers Demand Drug Makers Stop Threatening To End Drug Discounts
Dozens of U.S. lawmakers sent sharply worded letters to the Trump administration and the pharmaceutical industry trade group to demand drug makers stop threatening to curtail discounts provided to a federal program for safety-net hospitals. The bipartisan effort comes in response to recent steps taken by at least five large drug companies to reduce discounts they offer to the 340B drug discount program. (Silverman, 9/15)

Reuters: Russia To Sell 100 Million Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine To India: Source 
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed a deal to sell 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik-V, to a major listed pharmaceutical company in India, a source close to the deal said on Wednesday. Clinical trials of the Russian vaccine in India are expected to follow and to be held jointly with this firm, the source said. Both the trials and supply deal depend on domestic regulatory approval. (9/16)

Reuters: Explainer: Reaching Herd Immunity In A Viral Pandemic
The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought “herd immunity” to the public consciousness, kindling hope the phenomenon can help slow or even end the outbreak. Herd immunity refers to a large portion of a community developing a degree of immunity to a virus, thereby reducing person-to-person spread. As a result, the whole community gains protection, not just those who are immune. (Sharma, Scarr and Wardell, 9/16)

CIDRAP: US Kids Gaining Ground On HPV Vaccine Coverage, But Gaps Remain
An analysis of 15 years' worth of US insurance data on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in nearly 8 million girls and boys found increasing uptake, but that levels are still shy of targets with differences that vary by state. A team based at Harvard University published its findings yesterday in Pediatrics. The investigators looked at HPV vaccination information from the MarketScan healthcare database from January 2003 to December 2017, examining one- and two-dose coverage by birth year, sex, and state. The team also examined associations between state vaccination policies and vaccine coverage. The study included 7,837,480 children. (9/15)

CIDRAP: Experts Seek To Unravel COVID Mysteries In Kids 
Two studies published yesterday in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society describe the presentation of the COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and how heavy coronavirus exposure didn't lead to infection in four siblings aged 9 to 12 years. In addition, an expert review in the same journal recommends best practices for the use of antiviral drugs in infected children. (Van Beusekom, 9/15)

CIDRAP: New Guidelines Issued For S Aureus Prevention, Control In NICUs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new recommendations for the prevention and control of Staphylococcus aureus in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients. The guidelines are based on current understanding of the transmission dynamics of S aureus in the NICU and were developed through a systematic review of the best available literature available through August 2019. The review was guided by questions about the most effective strategies for preventing S aureus transmission from colonized or infected NICU patients, which sampling sites and laboratory assays most effectively identify colonization in NICU patients, and what risk factors exist for S aureus infection in NICU patients. (9/15)

Stat: Compass Pathways Set To Become The First Psychedelic Biotech IPO 
Compass Pathways isn’t the first company to fashion FDA-regulated therapies out of psilocybin, but it intends to be the first one to go public. This week, the British company is seeking to raise about $100 million at a $570 million valuation. Compass, which counts Thiel Capital among its private investors, intends to sell 6.7 million shares for between $14 and $16 each. The funds will support an ongoing Phase 2b trial intended to prove that psilocybin-based therapy can help patients with treatment-resistant depression. (Garde, 9/15)

Stat: FDA Warns Sprout For Failing To Mention Risks In Radio Ad For Addyi
The Food and Drug Administration has admonished Sprout Pharmaceuticals for running a radio ad that omitted all possible risks associated with its controversial female libido pill and also for giving listeners a misleading impression about the extent to which it can improve a woman’s desire. In an Aug. 31 warning letter, the agency noted the ad for the pill, known as Addyi, failed to mention that women should avoid alcohol and certain antifungal medicines, which was described as “material information” that is found in a so-called black box warning on the product labeling. (Silverman, 9/15)

Stat: What Will It Take For Gilead To Break Even On Its $21 Billion Deal?
For years, investors have pestered Gilead Sciences with the same question in myriad phrasings: When are you going to buy something big? Now, before the ink has even dried on the company’s commitment to a $21 billion acquisition, they’re wondering just how Gilead can justify that price. (Garde, 9/15)

The New York Times: How Companies Are Getting Fast Coronavirus Tests For Employees 
As businesses try to recover from the pandemic’s economic blow while ensuring the safety of workers and customers, many have complained of two obstacles: access to coronavirus testing for their employees and long delays in receiving results. But some have found a reliable workaround. Through a growing number of intermediaries, they can generally obtain test results in one to three days, often by circumventing large national labs like Quest and LabCorp that have experienced backlogs and relying on unused capacity at smaller labs instead. (Scheiber, 9/15)

Fox News: Health Care Services That Cover HIV In The South Disrupted By Coronavirus Pandemic 
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted health care services in America, especially in the South, where HIV continues to plague the region. The South accounted for more than half of the country’s roughly 37,000 HIV infections in 2018 and has been a focus of the Trump administration’s goal of eradicating the disease by 2030 by focusing on hot spots for the infection and getting people on drugs. (Miles, 9/15)

NPR: Poll: Latinos Struggle Financially As Pandemic Sweeps Through U.S. 
Working as a fast-food cashier in Los Angeles, Juan Quezada spends a lot of his time these days telling customers how to wear a mask. "They cover their mouth but not their nose," he says. "And we're like, 'You gotta put your mask on right.' "Quezada didn't expect to be enforcing mask-wearing. Six months ago he was a restaurant manager, making $30 an hour, working full time and saving for retirement. But when Los Angeles County health officials shut down most restaurants in March because of the spreading pandemic, Quezada lost his job. The only work he can find now pays a lot less and is part time. (Fortier, 9/16)

CIDRAP: Loneliness, Isolation Doubled Among Older Adults Early In Pandemic
Twice as many older adults—who are at high risk for serious COVID-19 outcomes—reported feeling lonely and isolated in the first months of the pandemic than in 2018, a new University of Michigan poll shows. The university's National Poll on Healthy Aging team asked a national sample of more than 2,000 adults aged 50 to 80 about changes in loneliness and the number of social interactions outside of their household from March to June. Chronic loneliness is associated with declines in memory, physical and mental health, and longevity. (9/15)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Deaths Traced To Maine Wedding ’Superspreader’ Event 
Only about 65 close family members and friends were on the guest list for a bride and groom’s rustic wedding celebration in a small Maine town in early August.But the nuptials began an outbreak now traced to more than 175 reported novel coronavirus infections and also to the deaths of seven people, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. (Kornfield and Shammas, 9/15)

The Washington Post: Northern Virginia Schools Adjust To Online Learning 
One week into remote schooling, students, parents and teachers throughout Northern Virginia — where all major public school districts are conducting online-only learning — are slowly adjusting to their new, virtual reality. The first week of school-from-a-distance saw no massive technological or privacy failures, according to interviews with more than two dozen educators, parents and students. Just a whole lot of bizarre. (Natanson, 9/15)

CIDRAP: WHO, Partners: Safe School Reopening Top Priority 
Some of the world's top health and education officials today warned that delays in safely reopening schools will cause lasting damage and that many communities heading into winter months will face tough choices needed to keep schools open. In other developments, COVID-19 levels are rising to worrying levels in several Middle Eastern countries. The global total today climbed to 29,398,712 cases, and 930,910 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 9/15)

Fox News: Coronavirus Cases Prompt Lock Down Of NYU Dorm: Officials 
Six cases of coronavirus in a freshman dorm at NYU caused the building to be placed on mandatory quarantine this week. This comes as the school ramped up testing protocols to help negate the transmission of the novel coronavirus.“Last week’s ongoing testing in Rubin Hall indicated six (6) positive cases out of the approximately 400 students living there. We have isolated all the students with positive findings and quarantined their close contacts, in line with our protocols. Out of an abundance of caution, we are also retesting all residents of Rubin Hall (and employees, too), and instructed them on Saturday to begin quarantining until at least Tuesday night," reads a Monday statement from NYU officials and the NYU COVID-19 Prevention & Response Team. (McGorry, 9/15)

Fox News: Texas County To Pay Coronavirus Survivors For Plasma Donations 
Need fast cash? If you’re a survivor of the novel coronavirus and live in one Texas county, you may be in luck — if you donate plasma, that is. Officials in Bexar County, which San Antonio is a part of, are willing to pay survivors of the novel coronavirus money to donate their plasma to COVID-19 patients in need. One official said only a small number of COVID-19 survivors in the area have donated plasma, which has been touted as a potentially lifesaving treatment for those with severe infections. (Farber, 9/15)

AP: 2 Oklahoma Inmates Die; Health Officials Probe Link To Virus
Two more state prison inmates in Oklahoma have died, and the deaths could be linked to COVID-19, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Corrections. One inmate was hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus, the department reported late Monday. The other was being treated for symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. (9/15)

Stat: Court Rules New York Tax Drug Makers To Address Opioid Crisis
A U.S. appeals court upheld a controversial New York state law to require drug makers and distributors to fund a program for covering costs for treatment, prevention, and recovery related to the opioid crisis. Under the Opioid Stewardship Act, which was enacted three years ago, any manufacturer or wholesaler licensed to sell or distribute opioids in New York would pay a collective $100 million a year into a fund. At the time, state officials estimated that $600 million in surcharges would be collected over a stipulated six-year period. (Silverman, 9/15)

The Washington Post: St. Elizabeths Has Increased Usage Of Restraints On Patients, Report Says
A mental health advocacy group this week said the city-owned psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington has increased its use of restraint and seclusion on patients despite regulations designed to limit such interventions. The nonprofit Disability Rights DC, the federally mandated advocate for people with disabilities in the city, said its review of St. Elizabeths Hospital’s incident reports showed it had “steadily increased its use of restraint and seclusion.” The report, released Monday, comes in a difficult year for the hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic, which killed several patients earlier in the year. (Moyer, 9/15)

AP: Chicago Warns Against Wisconsin Travel, Cites COVID-19 Spike
Chicago officials cautioned city residents Tuesday about travel to Wisconsin, citing a recent COVID-19 spike in Illinois’ neighbor to the north. The Chicago Department of Public Health stopped short of adding Wisconsin to a travel advisory list. There are 16 states on the list, including Utah, which was announced Tuesday. City officials said Sith some exceptions, Chicago residents who travel to the states must quarantine for two weeks upon return. Visitors from those states are expected to quarantine while in Chicago. (9/15)

AP: 5M People Infected, India's Virus Outbreak Still Soaring
India’s total of coronavirus infections passed 5 million Wednesday, still soaring and testing the feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages. The world’s second-most populous country has added more than 1 million cases of infection this month alone and is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.6 million people have been infected. (Sharma, 9/16)

Reuters: In Coronavirus Vaccine Race, China Inoculates Thousands Before Trials Are Completed 
China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines and attracting international interest in their development, despite expert concerns over the safety of drugs that have not completed standard testing. China launched a vaccine emergency use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech SVA.O. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics 6185.HK was approved for use by the Chinese military in June. (Stanway and Kim, 9/15)

AP: The Latest: UN Assembly Head Warns Of Pandemic Unilateralism
The new president of the U.N. General Assembly is warning that unilateralism will only strengthen the COVID-19 pandemic and is calling for a new commitment to global cooperation including on the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines. Turkish diplomat and politician Volkan Bozkir, who took over the reins of the 193-member world body on Tuesday, announced that the General Assembly will hold a high-level special session on the COVID-19 pandemic in early November, though diplomats said the date may slip. (9/16)

AP: 3 More COVID Cases Linked To American's Bar Crawl In Bavaria
Authorities in southern Germany have recorded three more COVID-19 infections in people who frequented bars visited by a 26-year-old American woman suspected of flouting quarantine rules in the Alpine resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The latest cases take the total number of recent infections in the town to 59, including 25 staff at a hotel resort where the woman worked that caters to U.S. military personnel. (Jordans and Rising, 9/15)

AP: Germany Boosts Own Vaccine Makers In Race For COVID-19 Jab
Germany says it is providing up to 750 million euros ($892 million) to support three domestic pharmaceutical companies that are developing vaccines against the new coronavirus. Science Minister Anja Karliczek said Tuesday that the government has already agreed to provide BioNTech and CureVac with 375 million euros and 230-million euros respectively to develop their mRNA-based vaccines. (9/15)