First Edition: Sept. 24, 2020

Kaiser Health News: These Secret Safety Panels Will Pick The COVID Vaccine Winners 
Most Americans have never heard of Dr. Richard Whitley, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Yet as the coronavirus pandemic drags on and the public eagerly awaits a vaccine, he may well be among the most powerful people in the country. (Pradhan, 9/24)

Kaiser Health News: A Fair To Remember: County Fairs Weigh Risk Of Outbreak Against Financial Ruin 
Laura Stutzman had no doubts that this year’s Twin Falls County Fair should go on despite the pandemic still raging across the U.S. — and several outbreaks tied to such community fairs. Though she saw few people wearing masks from her volunteer station in the fair’s hospitality tent in southern Idaho earlier this month, she said she wasn’t concerned. Stutzman, 63, had been attending the fair off and on for 30 years, and she didn’t consider this year that different. People in rural communities know how to respect one another’s space, she said, and don’t have time to “fret and worry” about the coronavirus. (Franz, 9/24)

Kaiser Health News: As Fires And Floods Wreak Havoc On Health, New Climate Center Seeks Solutions 
For the past month, record-breaking wildfires have torched millions of acres from the Mexican border well into Canada, their smoke producing air so toxic that millions of people remained indoors for days on end while many visited hospitals because of respiratory distress. Last week, Hurricane Sally left a trail of watery devastation in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, even as more storms brewed offshore. All of that on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 1 million people worldwide. (Wolfson, 9/24)

Reuters: Houston Study: More Contagious Coronavirus Strain Now Dominates 
The study, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, found that nearly all strains in the second wave had a mutation, known as D614G, which has been shown to increase the number of “spikes” on the crown-shaped virus. The spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells, increasing the ability of the mutated virus to infect cells. The Houston researchers said patients infected with the variant strain had significantly higher amounts of the virus on initial diagnosis. (Beasley, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Massive Genetic Study Shows Coronavirus Mutating And Potentially Evolving Amid Rapid U.S. Spread
The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say. Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are relatively stable as viruses go, because they have a proofreading mechanism as they replicate. But every mutation is a roll of the dice, and with transmission so widespread in the United States — which continues to see tens of thousands of new, confirmed infections daily — the virus has had abundant opportunities to change, potentially with troublesome consequences, said study author James Musser of Houston Methodist Hospital. (Mooney, Achenbach and Fox, 9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Americans In Their 20s Account For 1 In 5 New COVID-19 Cases 
The longer the COVID-19 pandemic goes on, the younger its victims get. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the median age of people with COVID-19 in the U.S. has declined over the spring and summer, with Americans in their 20s now accounting for more cases than people in any other age group. The findings suggest that if the U.S. wants to get its coronavirus outbreak under control, it will need more cooperation from young adults. (Kaplan, 9/23)

Politico: Trump Says He Might Reject Stricter FDA Vaccine Guidelines 
The stricter FDA standards cleared a review by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, with the expectation that the White House would soon approve them, according to two people with knowledge of the timeline. Trump’s remarks came hours after he spoke with HHS Secretary Alex Azar about the FDA proposal, two people familiar with the situation said. The president's criticism throws into jeopardy an effort viewed as key to boosting public confidence in any eventual coronavirus vaccine. (Morello and Cancryn, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Dismisses FDA Plan For Tougher Standard For Coronavirus Vaccine As A 'Political Move' 
Trump said he had “tremendous trust in these massive companies” developing prospective vaccines and suggested that they, not federal regulators, could best determine when a vaccine should be made available to the American people. “When you have great companies coming up with these vaccines, why would they [the FDA] have to be, you know, adding great length to the process? We want to have people not get sick.” “I don’t see why it should be delayed further,” he said. “That is a lot of lives you’re talking about.” (Goldstein and McGinley, 9/23)

The New York Times: Trump May Reject Tougher F.D.A. Vaccine Standards, Calling Them ‘Political’
President Trump said on Wednesday that the White House “may or may not” approve new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that would toughen the process for approving a coronavirus vaccine, and suggested the plan “sounds like a political move.” The pronouncement once again undercut government scientists who had spent the day trying to bolster public faith in the promised vaccine. Just hours earlier, four senior physicians leading the federal coronavirus response strongly endorsed the tighter safety procedures, which would involve getting outside expert approval before a vaccine could be declared safe and effective by the F.D.A. (Gay Stolberg, 9/23)

NPR: Trump Accuses FDA Of Playing Politics With COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines
Trump was apparently reacting to a Tuesday report in the New York Times that said the agency will soon move to tighten requirements for emergency authorization of any coronavirus vaccine to better ensure its safety and effectiveness. "That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move," Trump said during a press briefing at the White House. (Wise, 9/23)

The New York Times: Trump Won’t Commit To ‘Peaceful’ Post-Election Transfer Of Power
Hours after Mr. Trump’s assertions, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, expressed alarm over the comments on Twitter. “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” Mr. Romney wrote. “Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.” (Crowley, 9/23)

Politico: Trump Declines To Commit To A Peaceful Transition Of Power After Election
Trump has repeatedly expressed doubt about the current election infrastructure, even though numerous studies have found voter fraud to be exceedingly rare in the U.S. The president has waged a campaign against the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots expected this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, alleging that vote-by-mail is less secure than other forms of voting. He pushed a baseless theory that foreign actors are plotting to send in fake ballots, though his own intelligence community has found no evidence of such a plot. ... When asked on Wednesday about the potential public disturbances that could follow this year’s election, Trump said: “Get rid of the ballots, you’ll have a very transfer — you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.” “And the ballots are out of control,” he continued. “You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats.” (Choi, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Won’t Commit To A ‘Peaceful Transfer Of Power’ If He Loses 
President Trump refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, asserting that if he doesn’t win, it will be because of fraudulent mail-in voting and not because more Americans voted against him. His latest comments came after he has spent months making unsubstantiated claims that voting by mail is corrupt and will lead to a “rigged” election. In fact, states that have embraced universal mail voting have documented tiny rates of possible ballot fraud, data shows. (Itkowitz, 9/23)

AP: Trump Works To Win Over Catholic Voters On Abortion Issue
President Donald Trump promised Wednesday to sign an executive order that would require health care providers to provide medical care to all babies born alive as he makes an election-year push to appeal to voters who oppose abortion. The White House did not release further details about the order, but Trump’s announcement follows numerous attempts by GOP lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals around the country to pass legislation that threatens prison for doctors who don’t try to save the life of infants born alive during abortions. (Freking, 9/23)

The Hill: Trump Says He'll Sign Order Aimed At Protecting Premature Babies In Appeal To Religious Voters 
"Today I am announcing that I will be signing the born alive executive order to assure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty," Trump said during a pre-recorded address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. The president said his administration would also increase federal funding for neonatal research. The text of the order was not available after the announcement, making it unclear what it actually does. (Samuels, 9/23)

NPR: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Death, Abortion And The 2020 Election
This week Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. She'll be the first woman in history to do so. Ginsburg's death sparked record political donations from Democrats, explains Jessica Taylor of Cook Political Report. Those donations may help Democrats in an uphill battle to retake the Senate. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans appear to have the numbers to fill Ginsburg's seat with a conservative nominee, which would shift the balance of power on the court. Professor Mary Ziegler of Florida State University explains why that could change the outcome of several cases concerning abortion restrictions that could land before the Supreme Court. (9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Ginsburg's Death Sets Up Sharp Supreme Court Shift 
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court in 1993, she was its lone Democratic appointee, the first in 26 years. Her eight colleagues were named by the four Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush. They were not all conservatives, however. Ginsburg voted regularly with John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter, nominees of Gerald R. Ford and Bush, respectively. And in her later years, she aligned with President Obama’s two picks, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan —as well as Stephen G. Breyer who, like her, was named by President Clinton. (Savage, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Looks For Ways To Win Over Voters On Health Care After Failing To Deliver On Promises 
President Trump is pushing advisers to deliver health-care “wins” in the final weeks of the campaign, leading to a frenzied rollout of proposals as polls show the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and health-care policy are two of his biggest vulnerabilities in his reelection bid. Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech Thursday in Charlotte, broadly outlining how he would approach health-care policy in a second term, though the speech is likely to be light on details. Instead, Trump will tout the administration’s efforts to lower drug prices, address surprise medical bills and improve health-care price transparency, according to two senior administration officials and an outside lobbyist familiar with the plans. (Dawsey and Abutaleb, 9/23)

AP: Judge Will Rule Soon On GOP Attempt To Block Mail Ballots
Requiring Montana counties to open polling places for November’s election would be “absolutely catastrophic,” for voters and for public health, the governor’s chief legal counsel, Raph Graybill, told a federal judge Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen heard arguments in Missoula on a motion by President Donald Trump’s campaign and other Republican groups who want to overturn an option that Gov. Steve Bullock gave counties to hold the election by mail to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Christensen said he would rule quickly. (Hanson, 9/23)

ProPublica: In North Carolina, Black Voters’ Mail-In Ballots Much More Likely To Be Rejected Than Those From Any Other Race 
Sandra Cosby is no stranger to the election process — or to voting by mail. In recent years, she’s cast her ballot by mail days before the election. Then, on Election Day, she takes a break from her purchasing job with the school system to help out as a Wake County poll worker, guiding voters at precincts. So when Cosby, 58, sealed up her mail-in absentee ballot in 2018, she handed the envelope to the letter carrier without any worries. (Chou and Dukes, 9/23)

CNN: US Coronavirus: As 22 States Report A Rise In New Covid-19 Cases, CDC Chief Says More Than 90% Of Americans Remain Susceptible To Virus 
While nearly half of US states now report a rise in new Covid-19 cases, a leading public health official announced the majority of Americans remain susceptible to the virus. Speaking to the Senate Health Committee this week, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said preliminary results on the first round of a study by the agency show more than 90% of the population is susceptible. That means more than 295 million Americans could still get infected with the virus. (Maxouris, 9/24)

Fox News: 'Most' Americans Likely Vulnerable To Coronavirus Infection, CDC Director Says
Most Americans likely remain vulnerable to coronavirus infection and its potential outcomes, per comments from a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “In order to understand the proportion of the population that’s been infected with COVID-19, and what proportion remains at risk, CDC is currently performing large-scale serology testing across the United States,” Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, said on Wednesday during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing. (Rivas, 9/23)

Politico: FDA Chief: ‘I Will Fight For Science’ 
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn sought to reassure the public Wednesday that any Covid-19 vaccine approved by the agency would be safe and effective, but offered few details on the bar for emergency use. "FDA will not authorize or approve a vaccine we won’t be confident in giving to our families," he said at a Senate hearing on the government's coronavirus response, adding later that he would "absolutely" encourage his own family to take an FDA-authorized shot. (Owermohle and Brennan, 9/23)

The Hill: Atlas Contradicts Redfield On Population Susceptibility To Coronavirus 
White House adviser Scott Atlas on Wednesday contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on how much of the U.S. population remains vulnerable to the coronavirus. The remarks at a White House press briefing comes a week after President Trump used the same forum to undermine testimony from Redfield on how quickly a COVID-19 vaccine could be available. (Budryk, 9/23)

The Hill: Health Officials Tell Public To Trust In Science 
Trump administration health officials on Wednesday told a Senate panel that Americans should not lose faith in public health agencies or the vaccine development process, despite a recent spate of political interference. The officials sought to defend the scientific integrity of the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic while reassuring Americans growing increasingly skeptical over the politicization of a vaccine for the virus. (Weixel, 9/23)

The Hill: Fauci Scolds Rand Paul During Tense Exchange At Hearing 
A seemingly irritated Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, scolded Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at a congressional hearing on Wednesday after the senator claimed that COVID-19 cases might not be rising in New York because of herd immunity. Fauci, the country's top infectious diseases doctor, told Paul he was wrong to make the suggestion, and he said Paul had also been wrong in other public comments about the concept of herd immunity. "No, you've misconstrued that, senator, and you've done that repeatedly in the past," Fauci said. (Weixel, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Fauci Finally Loses His Patience With Rand Paul 
Whenever Sen. Rand Paul and Anthony S. Fauci appear at the same hearing together, they are bound to clash. In May, they tangled over children’s susceptibility to the coronavirus. In June, Paul attacked Fauci for not being more optimistic about the coronavirus, saying that Fauci wasn’t the “end-all” and that he should be more humble about what he didn’t know. Through it all, Fauci has been characteristically diplomatic. But on Wednesday, he seemed to reach his breaking point. (Blake, 9/23)

CNN: A 'Distressed' Birx Questions How Long She Can Remain On White House Task Force, Sources Say 
Once a fixture at the administration's coronavirus briefings, Dr. Deborah Birx has confided to aides and friends that she has become so unhappy with what she sees as her diminished role as coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force that she is not certain how much longer she can serve in her position, sources familiar with her thinking tell CNN. Birx has told people around her that she is "distressed" with the direction of the task force, describing the situation inside the nation's response to the coronavirus as nightmarish. (Acosta, 9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Orders Phaseout Of Gas Vehicles, Calls For Fracking Ban 
Emphasizing that California must stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to require all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies. Under Newsom’s order, the California Air Resources Board would implement the phaseout of new gas-powered cars and light trucks and also require medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission by 2045 where possible. California would be the first state in the nation to mandate 100% zero-emission vehicles, though 15 countries already have committed to phasing out gas-powered cars. (Willon and Barboza, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: California To Ban Sales Of New Gas-Powered Cars Starting In 2035 
The announcement spurred criticism from the Trump administration. “This is yet another example of how extreme the left has become,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere. “They want the government to dictate every aspect of every American’s life, and the lengths to which they will go to destroy jobs and raise costs on the consumer is alarming. President Trump won’t stand for it.” (Lazo, Gold and Maidenberg, 9/23)

NPR: Missouri Governor And Wife Test Positive For The Coronavirus 
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, whose mask-wearing habits have been publicly inconsistent and who has declined to issue a statewide mandate for face coverings, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Republican governor's wife, Teresa Parson, has also tested positive. In a brief video statement, Mike Parson said he is awaiting a second test to confirm the results. "Myself and the first lady are both fine," Parson said. "I was tested; the preliminary results have come back as a positive result." (Romo, 9/23)

Stat: HHS Criticizes Lilly For Seeking To Curtail Discounts For Safety-Net Hospitals
In a stern rebuke, the Department of Health and Human Services has taken Eli Lilly (LLY) to task for its recent decision to curtail the discounts offered to a federal program for safety-net hospitals and clinics. At issue is the 340B drug discount program, which was created in 1992 and requires drug makers to offer discounts that are typically estimated to be 25% to 50% — but could be much higher — on all outpatient drugs to hospitals and clinics that serve indigent populations. About 12,400 so-called covered entities, including 2,500 hospitals, participate in the program. (Silverman, 9/23)

FiveThirtyEight: How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine
Scientists around the world are currently undertaking one of the fastest vaccine-development programs in history, trying to get the novel coronavirus under control as quickly as humanly possible. But the vaccines being tested sit at a nexus of misinformation and mistrust. Between Trump’s apparent meddling in federal health agencies’ decision-making, skepticism about the seriousness of the disease, and long-standing culture wars around the safety of vaccines in general, it’s easy to find yourself floundering, unsure who you can trust. So I spoke with a handful of people who really know how vaccines, clinical trials and COVID-19 work to find out how to know when it’s a good idea to get the vaccine. (Koerth,9/23)

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson Launches Phase Three Trials For Potential Coronavirus Vaccine 
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday announced that it has begun phase three trials of its potential coronavirus vaccine, making it the fourth potential vaccine to begin the late-stage trials in the United States. The move adds to the array of potential vaccines that are being tested, with the hope that multiple candidates will prove safe and effective and help meet the enormous national and international demand. (Sullivan, 9/23)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Still Waiting For FDA Decision To Resume U.S. Trial 
AstraZeneca is still waiting for the go-ahead from the U.S. drug regulator to restart the clinical trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Thursday. “We are the sponsor of the U.S. study. We then provided all this information to the FDA (U.S. Federal Drug Administration) and we are waiting to hear their decision,” Soriot told a virtual World Economic Forum discussion. (Burger and Copley, 9/24)

Stat: Here Come The Tortoises: In The Race For A Covid-19 Vaccine, Slow Starters Could Still Win Out
The race is not always to the swift, as the cocky hare learned in Aesop’s classic fable, “The Hare and the Tortoise.” Those handicapping the so-called competition to develop Covid-19 vaccines would do well to keep an eye on the slower runners in this pursuit. (Branswell, 9/24)

Fox News: When Will Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Begin In Children? Top Companies Weigh In 
While four coronavirus vaccine candidates have now entered into late-stage clinical trials among adults, some may wonder when children will be enrolled. Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, announced Wednesday it is moving ahead with a Phase 3 trial of a single-shot dose to treat the virus that causes COVID-19, enrolling 60,000 adults from diverse backgrounds, including significant representation from those that are over 60 years old, to test for efficacy. (Rivas, 9/23)

ProPublica: Trump’s Vaccine Czar Refuses To Give Up Stock In Drug Company Involved In His Government Role 
The former pharmaceutical executive tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the administration’s race to a COVID-19 vaccine is refusing to give up investments that stand to benefit from his work — at least during his lifetime. The executive, Moncef Slaoui, is the top scientist on Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine in record time. Federal law requires government officials to disclose their personal finances and divest any holdings relating to their work, but Slaoui said he wouldn’t take the job under those conditions. So the administration said it’s treating him as a contractor. Contractors aren’t bound by the same ethics rules but also aren’t supposed to wield as much authority as full employees. (Arnsdorf, 9/23)

Becker's Hospital Review: Google Maps To Show COVID-19 Outbreaks
Google Maps unveiled a new feature on Sept. 23 that displays COVID-19 cases in a user's area. The new tool is embedded with Google Maps and is labeled "COVID-19 info." When activated, it shows a seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people for the area of the map being searched. (Drees, 9/23)

CIDRAP: Routine Blood Test Predicts COVID-19 Mortality Risk, Study Finds
A study today in JAMA shows that a routine blood test predicts increased risk of COVID-19 death in hospitalized patients. The study points to elevated red blood cell (RBC) distribution width (RDW), a measure of RBC volume variation and a standard part of a routine complete blood count test, as a tool to identify patients at higher risk of COVID-19 complications. Senior author John M. Higgins, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), said in an MGH news release, "We wanted to help find ways to identify high-risk COVID patients as early and as easily as possible—who is likely to become severely ill and may benefit from aggressive interventions, and which hospitalized patients are likely to get worse most quickly." (9/23)

Politico: What STDs Can Tell Us About How To Fight Covid 
As Covid-19 has rampaged across the United States, government officials have struggled with the basic steps needed to contain the pandemic. Should everyone get tested, or just people with symptoms? Should public health officials require Americans to wear masks or not? What’s the best way to track the infection, particularly in marginalized communities? For one set of public health experts, the heated debates over testing, wearing masks and contact tracing were eerily familiar — as odd as it might seem, these are similar to arguments that officials and academics working to eradicate sexually transmitted diseases have been having for decades as they’ve worked to bring down the rates of infections like HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. (Miranda Ollstein, 9/23)

Stat: Could Copper Surfaces Help Prevent Infections In Hospitals?
Keeping patients from getting sick during an inpatient stay has long been a problem for hospitals — and it’s an issue that has grown all the more pressing during a pandemic. Even before the rise of Covid-19, hospitals have increasingly struggled to get health-care associated infections in check. There are 2 million such infections — and 90,000 related deaths — in U.S. hospitals every year. As hospitals across the country hunt for ways to reduce the spread of pathogens to patients, a growing chorus of researchers is arguing that a simple swap might help: replace stainless steel surfaces with copper. (Zaleski, 9/24)

CIDRAP: Death In COVID Cancer Patients Tied To Age, Pre-Existing Conditions
A study of 435 German hospital patients presented online at the ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Diseases found that cancer patients showed significantly worse outcomes and higher mortality rates than others with COVID-19, and these appear to be the result of age and pre-existing conditions rather than the cancer itself. Researchers at Jena University Hospital in Germany studied a subset of 435 cancer patients from a sample of 3,071 COVID-19 patients enrolled in the multicenter Lean European Open Survey on SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients (LEOSS) registry. The LEOSS registry, established by the German Society of Infectious Diseases (DGI), is an open-access database of clinical COVID-19 information.  (9/23)

CIDRAP: Asymptomatic COVID In Healthcare Workers Points To Risk Of Silent Spread
A study released this week shows a 40% asymptomatic rate among healthcare workers (HCW) testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of screening—meaning they had no symptoms compatible with a COVID-19 diagnosis—raising concerns about silent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare settings. A systematic review of 97 studies presented online at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Conference on Coronavirus Diseases and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that 10% of HCW were positive via polymerase chain reaction testing and 7% by antibody tests. Nurses accounted for the most infections (48% of those infected), followed by physicians (25%) and other healthcare workers (23%). Five percent of healthcare workers with COVID-19 went on to develop severe clinical complications, and 0.5% subsequently died. (9/23)

The Washington Post: Apple Watch 6’s Blood Oxygen Sensor Is Unreliable And Misleading 
Sometimes the new Apple Watch Series 6 reports my lungs and heart are the picture of health, pumping blood that’s 100 percent saturated with oxygen. At other times, it reports my blood oxygen is so low I might be suffering from emphysema. (I am not.) The watch can’t decide. This much is clear: Don’t buy one of these $400 devices in the hopes of monitoring your lung health. (Fowler, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Covid-19 Patients Show Signs Of Heart Damage Months Later 
The new coronavirus can leave some patients with signs of heart inflammation and injury months after they get sick with Covid-19, even in cases where their illness wasn’t severe, researchers say. The findings could help explain the symptoms of recovered Covid-19 patients, some of whom are struggling with such issues as shortness of breath, chest pain and heart palpitations, scientists say. (Toy, 9/23)

CNN: Sex Boosts Long-Term Survival Hopes For Heart Attack Victims
People who have had heart attacks can boost their chances of long-term survival by returning to normal levels of sexual activity, a new study shows. Many people stop having sex after a heart attack in the belief that it could trigger another episode, but research published Wednesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology says sex is good for survival rates. (Guy, 9/23)

Fox News: Tobacco Use To Blame For 20% Of Heart Disease Deaths, WHO Says
Each year there are about 1.9 million avoidable deaths from tobacco-induced heart disease, per a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). The figure translates to around one-fifth of all deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) globally, which occurs when plaque builds within coronary arteries, reduces blood flow to the heart and can result in a heart attack. (Rivas, 9/23)

AP: Virus Shutdown Took A Toll On Routine Health Care For Kids
A sharp decline in routine medical care for low-income children during the coronavirus shutdown could cause long-term harm if not reversed, federal officials warned Wednesday. A data snapshot from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, found that vaccinations, screening for childhood diseases, visits to the dentist and even mental health care dropped precipitously from March through May of this year, when doctors’ offices and hospitals put elective services on hold to confront the coronavirus. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/23)

Stat: Gilead To Pay $97 Million For Allegedly Using A Charity To Pay Kickbacks To Medicare Patients 
Gilead Sciences (GILD) agreed to pay nearly $97 million to resolve allegations that donations it paid to a charity were actually kickbacks to Medicare patients used to cover out-of-pockets costs for its medicine used to treat a type of high blood pressure. This is only the latest instance in which federal authorities have cracked down on such arrangements between drug makers and patient assistance charities. (Silverman, 9/23)

The New York Times: 100 N.Y.C. School Buildings Have Already Reported A Positive Case 
At least one coronavirus case had been reported in more than 100 school buildings and early childhood centers in the New York City school system by the first day of in-person instruction on Monday, according to the Department of Education. Nearly all the buildings remained open, though six were closed temporarily, in accordance with city guidelines that only those schools that report at least two cases in different classrooms will be shut. (Otterman, 9/23)

The Hill: Trump Admin Sends 250K COVID-19 Tests To 41 HBCUs: Report
A White House official said the administration has shipped more than 250,000 rapid coronavirus tests to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). “We know they’ve been underserved historically, and we just want to support them,” Adm. Brett Giroir, who is serving as testing czar for the task force, told McClatchy in a story published Tuesday. (Budryk, 9/23)

The Hill: Study: Less Than 1 Percent Of Teachers, Students Infected Since Schools Reopened 
A new study has found minimal evidence that the novel coronavirus is transferring inside K-12 school buildings despite reports of students and faculty across the country contracting the disease. Brown University researchers collaborated with school administrators and released data Wednesday from a new National COVID-19 School Response Data Dashboard. (Deese, 9/23)

AP: 22 Middlebury College Students Barred On COVID-19 Violations
Twenty-two Middlebury College students were “barred from campus” due to “significant COVID-19 conduct violations” this past weekend, the school said. In a Monday message to the campus community, Dean of Students Derek Doucet said the school took “swift action” but he could not share any details of what prompted the school to take the action. (9/23)

The New York Times: How Burnout Became The Norm For American Parents 
Burnout occurs when the distance between the ideal and the possible lived reality becomes too much to bear. That’s true of the workplace, and that’s true of parenting. The common denominator among millennials, then, is that we’ve been inculcated with the idea that failure — like our failure to find secure employment, or save enough money to buy a house, or stave off an avalanche of medical debt — can be chalked up to simply not trying hard enough. Sure, “perfect parenting” doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel all the more compelled to achieve it, even as we burn ourselves — and our marriages, and our personal lives, and our mental health — into the ground. (Petersen, 9/22)

The Hill: CDC Flags 1600 Flights Where Person On Board May Have Had COVID-19 
Thousands of people may have been exposed to the coronavirus on commercial flights this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Wednesday. The CDC told CNN that it knows of 1,600 flights in the first eight months of the year where a person who may have had the virus was present. Up to 10,900 people may have been within the six-foot transmission range of that person during these flights, according to the agency. "CDC identified and notified relevant health departments about these 10,900 on-board close contacts," the CDC said in a statement to the network. (Budryk, 9/23)

AP: Gale Sayers, Bears Hall Of Fame Running Back, Dies At 77
Gale Sayers, the dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate, has died. He was 77. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet” and considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen, Sayers died Wednesday, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Relatives of Sayers had said he was diagnosed with dementia. In March 2017, his wife, Ardythe, said she partly blamed his football career. (Seligman and Litke, 9/24)

Omaha World-Herald: Even As Gale Sayers Battled Dementia, His Bonds Could Never Be Broken
From time to time, Roger Sayers finds the photograph and studies the marks that age can’t erase. Two old men — great-grandfathers — wearing the smiles of children. The man in back, one day before his 72nd birthday, wraps his arms around big brother and clenches his hands together. The man in front, 73, flashes the same grin. He and Gale might as well be flying down Grant Street on homemade skateboards in 1955. In May 2015, Roger knew that Gale’s memory was fading. He knew that Gale could be moody or disengaged, even nonresponsive. But they were still brothers. That week, Gale was in town and their alma mater, Central High, invited them downtown for a photo shoot. Gale drifted in and out. Lucid one minute, lost the next. At one point, a stranger got him chatting about old times and Gale thought about mom and dad. He broke down. “Tears started flowing,” Roger said. Roger put a hand on his brother and eased him back to the moment. They started laughing, and, seconds later, the photographer snapped the picture. That’s about the last time he remembers Gale being Gale. (Chatelain, 9/23)

The New York Times: Gale Sayers’s Balletic Runs Obscure Football’s Brutal Endings
It is perhaps no small irony that in 1965, the year that the Chicago Bears chose running back Gale Sayers fourth over all in the draft, George Halas, the team’s longtime owner, picked linebacker Dick Butkus one spot ahead of him. The tandem defined the team and the league for most of a decade. Both players ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But where Sayers was graceful, Butkus was brutal. Sayers eluded tacklers, Butkus slammed into ball carriers and threw them to the ground with glee. Sayers spent his years avoiding collisions. Butkus, the most fearsome player of his time, seemed to live for them. (Belson, 9/23)

The Washington Post: It May Feel Strange To Mourn A Celebrity You Never Met. Here’s Why It’s Healthy. 
In the hours following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday evening, thousands of mourners flocked to the Supreme Court, a pilgrimage propelled by raw grief. Many sang and lit candles; they cried together, and hugged. ... We’ve seen similar outpourings of sorrow following the death of a public figure this year. It happened in Los Angeles, when those grieving basketball legend Kobe Bryant gathered outside the arena where he had played, leaving piles of flowers, basketballs and written messages. In Georgia, Alabama and the District, as crowds showed up to see Rep. John Lewis’s funeral processions. ... But grieving a public figure — someone we didn’t know personally — can be perplexing. Why are we so affected? And how can we — should we — deal with these feelings? (Haupt, 9/23)