First Edition: Sept. 8, 2020

Kaiser Health News: With Schools Starting Online, Vaccinations Head For Recess
Dr. Chris Kjolhede is focused on the children of central New York. As co-director of school-based health centers at Bassett Healthcare Network, the pediatrician oversees about 21 school-based health clinics across the region — a poor, rural area known for manufacturing and crippled by the opioid epidemic. From ankles sprained during recess to birth control questions, the clinics serve as the primary care provider for many children both in and out of the classroom. High on the to-do list is making sure kids are up to date on required vaccinations, said Kjolhede. (Heredia Rodriguez, 9/8)

Kaiser Health News: Altered Mindsets: Marijuana Is Making Its Mark On Ballots In Red States 
When Tamarack Dispensary opened in the northwestern Montana city of Kalispell in 2009, medical marijuana was legal but still operating on the fringes of the conservative community. Times have changed. Owner Erin Bolster no longer receives surprised or puzzled looks when she tells people what she does. Now, her business sponsors community events and was recently nominated as a top marijuana provider by a local newspaper. “We’ve become a normal part of the community, and it feels good that the community has finally accepted us,” Bolster said. (Franz, 9/8)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: She Tangled With Health Insurers For 25 Years — And Loved It 
Barbara Faubion’s boss, an insurance broker, used to tell clients: “Listen, you don’t need to be on the phone for four hours with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let us do that. I have a person.” Faubion was that person. And she got up every day psyched to go to work, which she said puzzled her friends. “They’d go, ‘You love your job?!? You spend your whole day talking to an insurance company. Are you kidding me?’” (Weissmann, 9/8)

Kaiser Health News: Behind The Byline: ‘At Least I Got The Shot’ 
Photojournalist Heidi de Marco’s stunning images transport viewers to two California hospitals near the U.S.-Mexico border where the influx of patients with COVID-19 overwhelmed local intensive care units in late May. To capture these scenes at El Centro Regional Medical Center in Imperial County and Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista in San Diego County, de Marco donned personal protective equipment and followed each facility’s safety guidelines. Still, she acknowledges, the work increased her risk of exposure to the coronavirus. She also risked bringing the virus home to her family. For her it was worth the risk, in order to give readers a window on health care in the midst of a pandemic — and to share her work with the world. (de Marco, 9/8)

NPR: India Moves Into 2nd Place For COVID-19 Cases
India's recorded coronavirus case total has surpassed that of Brazil, making India the second worst-affected country in the world after the United States. India overtook Brazil on Monday after registering 90,802 fresh cases — the highest single-day increase any country has recorded so far during the pandemic. India's total cases are now more than 4.2 million. (Pathak, 9/7)

The Washington Post: India Surpasses Brazil To Take Second Spot In Total Coronavirus Cases 
India overtook Brazil to become the country with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world as infections continue to accelerate in this country of more than 1.3 billion people.India added 90,802 cases — a fresh global record in the pandemic — in the last 24 hours, pushing its total past 4.2 million. Only the United States, with 6.2 million cases, has recorded more. Brazil had 4.1 million cases as of Sunday evening. (Slater and Masih, 9/7)

AP: The Summer Of COVID-19 Ends With Health Officials Worried
The Lost Summer of 2020 drew to a close Monday with many big Labor Day gatherings canceled across the U.S. and health authorities pleading with people to keep their distance from others so as not to cause another coronavirus surge like the one that followed Memorial Day. Downtown Atlanta was quiet as the 85,000 or so people who come dressed as their favorite superheroes or sci-fi characters for the annual Dragon Con convention met online instead. Huge football stadiums at places like Ohio State and the University of Texas sat empty. Many Labor Day parades marking the unofficial end of summer were called off, and masks were usually required at the few that went on. (Collins, 9/7)

The Hill: COVID-19 Cases Will Surge In The Fall, Peak After Election Day: Experts
Experts say a second wave of COVID-19 cases will surge this fall, with the peak of the pandemic slated to hit after the Nov. 3 Election Day. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University are looking into what they call "Surge 2.0," where they envision a second major outbreak of the virus could potentially overwhelm medical facilities with COVID-19 patients, The Washington Post reported. (Deese, 9/5)

The New York Times: Pharma Companies Plan Joint Pledge On Vaccine Safety 
The pharmaceutical companies are not the only ones pushing back. Senior regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have been discussing making their own joint public statement about the need to rely on proven science, according to two senior administration officials, a move that would breach their usual reticence as civil servants. (Thomas, Weiland and LaFraniere, 9/4)

The Hill: Vaccine Scientist: 'Smart Business Practice' For Companies To Not Seek Premature FDA Approval 
Vaccine scientist Peter Hotez on Monday called a safety pledge by pharmaceutical companies for the development of a coronavirus vaccine “smart business.” “They want this vaccine to work and they want people to trust their pharmaceutical company,” Hotez, the dean of Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine, told CNN. (Budryk, 9/7)

MarketWatch: AstraZeneca Vaccine ‘Most Likely’ To Roll Out In The U.K. Early Next Year 
U.K. health secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said a COVID-19 vaccine would “most likely” be available in the first few months of 2021, as the country recorded a sharp rise in daily coronavirus cases. Speaking on national news radio station LBC, Hancock said the government has already started production of the U.K. government’s initial order of 30 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, which is being developed by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca AZN, -1.07% in collaboration with the University of Oxford. (Saigol, 9/8)

Reuters: Australia Expects To Receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Within Months 
Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of new daily infections in the country’s virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low. Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines - one developed by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and another developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland. (Packham, 9/6)

AP: Australia OKs Funding For Two Potential Vaccines
Australia announced on Monday it had struck supply and production agreements with pharmaceutical companies worth 1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion) over two potential COVID-19 vaccines. Under the agreement, Britain’s University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca and Australia’s University of Queensland working with CSL will provide more than 84.8 million vaccine doses for Australia’s population of 26 million people, almost entirely manufactured in the Australian city of Melbourne, a government statement said. Australians would have access to 3.8 million doses of the University of Oxford vaccine in January and February, it said. (9/7)

USA Today: Trump Attacks Biden On Vaccines In Labor Day News Conference
President Donald Trump used a Labor Day press conference to continue to push back on allegations he disparaged members of the military and to attack his Democratic opponents over the timing of a potential coronavirus vaccine. Speaking from the North Portico of the White House, Trump echoed many of the same themes he has raised on the campaign trail – repeatedly criticizing Democratic nominee Joe Biden and defending his record on the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic. (Fritze and Jackson, 9/7)

Politico: Trump Slams Harris For Caution On Vaccine Push 
President Donald Trump on Monday suggested Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is sabotaging a prospective coronavirus vaccine for political ends. He argued that his political foes are using the unprecedented rapid speed of vaccine research to attack him, creating doubts that may mean people are afraid to take it. "Okay. Let's disparage the vaccine," he said at a Labor Day press conference. "That's so bad for this country. So bad for the world to even say that." (Luthi, 9/7)

Reuters: Trump Calls Biden 'Stupid,' Demands Apology For Challenging Him On Vaccines 
Republican President Donald Trump, accused by Joe Biden of putting lives at risk in his handling of the coronavirus, on Monday called his Democratic rival “stupid” and demanded an apology for what Trump called anti-vaccine rhetoric. Trailing in national opinion polls as the U.S. death toll from the virus approaches 190,000, Trump unleashed a broad attack against both the former vice president, his opponent in the Nov. 3 election, and Biden’s running mate, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris. (Mason, 9/7)

Politico: Biden: QAnon Is ‘Bizarre’ And ‘Embarrassing,’ Supporters Should Seek Mental Health Treatment
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden denounced the QAnon conspiracy theory as "dangerous" and "embarrassing" Friday, suggesting those that support it should seek mental health treatment. "I've been a big supporter of mental health," Biden said. "I'd recommend the people who believe it maybe should take advantage, while it still exists, of the Affordable Care Act." (Choi, 9/4)

Politico: Harris Says She Wouldn't Trust Trump On Any Vaccine Released Before Election
Harris also expressed concern that Trump has continued to contradict his own health officials amid a pandemic and suggested Friday that a vaccine would “probably” be available in October for the virus, which has killed more than 188,000 people in the U.S. as of Saturday. “If past is prologue ... they'll be muzzled. They'll be suppressed,” Harris said of health experts and scientists. “They will be sidelined because he’s looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days, and he's grasping for whatever he can get to pretend he has been a leader on this issue when he has not.” (Semones, 9/5)

The Washington Post: Kamala Harris Visits Milwaukee For Her First In-Person Campaign Event
Sen. Kamala D. Harris visited Milwaukee on Monday for her first in-person campaign stop since being named the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, highlighting the campaigns’ continued convergence on Wisconsin, the epicenter of ongoing protests against police violence and a state President Trump won by fewer than 30,000 votes in 2016. Hours after Vice President Pence toured an energy facility in La Crosse — and just days after Biden himself visited Kenosha and Milwaukee — Harris toured an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training facility and held a roundtable with Black business owners in Milwaukee. President Trump also visited Kenosha last week. (Janes, 9/7)

Stat: A Second U.S. Agency Will Review Moderna's Vaccine Patent Disclosures
A second U.S. government agency is now reviewing whether Moderna (MRNA) properly disclosed millions of dollars in federally funded awards in several patents and patent applications the company filed for its vaccines. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is reviewing contracts awarded to the vaccine maker in response to a request from an advocacy group that analyzed dozens of patent applications. To date, BARDA has awarded the company up to $955 million to develop a vaccine based on its mRNA technology that would be jointly invented by the National Institutes of Health. (Silverman, 9/4)

Stat: Operation Warp Speed Pledged To Do The Impossible. How Far Has It Come?
It’s called Operation Warp Speed. And — regardless of one’s politics, one’s level of concern about Covid-19, or one’s views of therapeutics and vaccines — it inarguably ranks as one of the most ambitious scientific endeavors in modern U.S. history. Is it working? (Branswell, Herper, Facher, Silverman and Florko, 9/8)

The New York Times: Russians Publish Early Coronavirus Vaccine Results 
On Friday, a team of Russian scientists published the first report on their Covid-19 vaccine, which had been roundly criticized because of President Vladimir Putin’s decision last month to approve it before clinical trials had proved it safe and effective. In a small group of volunteers, the scientists found that the vaccine produced a modest level of antibodies against the coronavirus, while causing only mild side effects. The research has not yet shown, however, whether people who are vaccinated are less likely to become infected than those who are not. (Zimmer, 9/4)

Fox News: Coronavirus Vaccine Trial In Russia Shows Promising Results With Immune Response, Study Claims
Results of coronavirus vaccine trials in Russia have shown an antibody response within three weeks in all participants tested, according to findings released Friday. “The vaccine is safe, well tolerated, and induces strong humoral and cellular immune responses in 100 percent of healthy participants," the researchers said of a vaccine, called Sputnik V, in a study published in the journal The Lancet on Friday. (McGorry, 9/4)

Reuters: China's Sinovac Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Appears Safe, Slightly Weaker In Elderly 
Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd (SVA.O) said on Monday its coronavirus vaccine candidate appeared to be safe for older people, according to preliminary results from an early to mid-stage trial, while the immune responses triggered by the vaccine were slightly weaker than younger adults. Health officials have been concerned about whether experimental vaccines could safely protect the elderly, whose immune systems usually react less robustly to vaccines, against the virus that has led to nearly 890,000 deaths worldwide. (9/7)

NPR: How Scientists Determine If A COVID-19 Vaccine Works 
Several vaccines are currently in large-scale studies to see if they can prevent COVID-19, and more are on the way. President Trump has been hinting that a vaccine could be ready before the end of October, but Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to the administration's Operation Warp Speed, downplayed that possibility in an interview on NPR's All Things Considered. "There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October," Slaoui said. (Palca, 9/7)

Stat: From Shipping To Security, A Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain Takes Shape
For the past few months, Joachim Kuhn has scrambled to rework his factories and rapidly ramp up production of temperature-controlled containers — a critical but often overlooked part of the global supply chain that will be needed to deliver Covid-19 vaccines around the world. Container supplies are among the countless challenges facing companies that are part of a vast, behind-the-scenes global network planning to quickly transport huge numbers of Covid-19 vaccines. (Silverman, 9/8)

CBS News: Voters Skeptical About Potential COVID-19 Vaccine And Say That One This Year Would Be Rushed
Skepticism about getting a coronavirus vaccine has grown since earlier this summer, and most voters say if a vaccine were made available this year, their first thought would be that it was rushed through without enough testing. Just 21% of voters nationwide now say they would get a vaccine as soon as possible if one became available at no cost, down from 32% in late July. Most would consider it but would wait to see what happens to others before getting one. (de Pinto, 9/6)

Fox News: Prominent US Doctors Break Down Which Coronavirus Tests Will Curb Transmission Rates
Rapid antigen tests could play a pivotal role in curbing the spread of the coronavirus, according to some of the country’s top medical professionals. Antigen tests are the type of tests the White House just ordered from Abbott Laboratories in a $750 million deal that will reportedly buy 150 million of its new rapid coronavirus tests: the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card. (Carlton, 9/5)

AP: Bold Hopes For Virus Antibody Tests Still Unfulfilled
At the height of the coronavirus lockdown, President Donald Trump and his top health advisers trumpeted a new test that would help Americans reclaim their lives — one that would tell them if they already had the virus and were protected from getting it again. Their arrival would help “get Americans back to work” by showing those who might have “the wonderful, beautiful immunity,” said Trump, a point repeated at the daily briefings last April. (Perrone, 9/7)

The New York Times: New York Will Test The Dead More Often For Coronavirus And Flu 
Cough, fever, chills — with fall fast on the way, symptoms alone won’t be useful in distinguishing Covid-19 from similar-looking cases of the flu. That means routinely testing for both viruses will be crucial — even, perhaps, after some patients have already died. That will at least be true in New York, where officials recently announced a ramp-up in post-mortem testing for the coronavirus as well as the flu. Deaths linked to respiratory illnesses that weren’t confirmed before a person died are to be followed up with tests for both viruses within 48 hours, according to the new regulation. (Wu, 9/6)

The Guardian: Fatigue And Headache Most Common Covid Symptoms In Children – Study
Fatigue, headache and fever are the most common symptoms of coronavirus in children, with few developing a cough or losing their sense of taste or smell, researchers have found, adding to calls for age-specific symptom checklists. The NHS lists three symptoms as signs of Covid-19 in adults and children: a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and a loss or change in the sense of smell or taste. (Davis, 9/7)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Tied To Poorer Parent And Child Mental Health 
Parent and child well-being has taken a serious hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, three studies published this week in Pediatrics show. The first study consisted of collecting survey data on daily moods from 645 hourly service workers with children 2 to 7 years old in large US cities from Feb 20 to Apr 27. The researchers also analyzed data from 561 subsample survey respondents collected from Mar 23 to Apr 26. (Van Beusekom, 9/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Ground Zero Workers With Chronic Conditions Get Hit Hard By Covid-19 
Roughly 400,000 New Yorkers—first responders, residents, workers, students and others—were exposed to caustic dust and toxic pollutants in the 9/11 dust-and-debris cloud, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Yorkers who survived the attacks and the aftermath suffer from dozens of medical conditions, ranging from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancers. These are all dangerous underlying conditions that can make a case of Covid-19 far more serious, according to doctors at the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai, part of a federal program to track responders’ health. (Grayce West, 9/7)

The Atlantic: What Young, Healthy People Have To Fear From COVID-19 
Many young people navigating this pandemic are asking themselves a two-part health question: What are the odds that I get infected? And if I do get infected, is that really a big deal? ... The most universal answer must begin with the observation that death is not a synonym for risk. (Thompson, 9/7)

The New York Times: For Long-Haulers, Covid-19 Takes A Toll On Mind As Well As Body 
Forty hours after treating her first coronavirus patient, on March 30, Angela Aston came home to her family with a cough. “Gosh, your throat is scratchy,” her husband told her. Right away she knew she had likely been infected with Covid-19. As a nurse practitioner, Ms. Aston, 50, was confident she knew how to handle her symptoms, and disappeared to her bedroom to quarantine and rest. By day 50 of her illness, that confidence had disappeared. In late May, she was still experiencing daily fevers and fatigue. She went to bed each evening worried that her breathing would deteriorate overnight. Particularly frustrating was the difficulty she felt explaining to her colleagues, friends and family that after eight weeks she was still sick. (Goldberg, 9/7)

The New York Times: Vaping Links To Covid Risk Are Becoming Clear 
Twenty-year-old Janan Moein vaped his first pen a year ago. By late fall, he was blowing through several THC-laced cartridges a week — more, he said, than most people can handle. Then in early December, he found himself in the emergency room of Sharp Grossmont Hospital in San Diego with a collapsed lung and a diagnosis of vaping-related lung illness. His hospital stay plunged him into a medically induced coma, forced him onto a breathing machine and stripped nearly 50 pounds off his 6-foot-1-inch frame in just two weeks. (Wu, 9/4)

The Washington Post: Deep Cleans And Disinfecting Mists Might Not Keep Us From Getting The Virus, But They Sure Make Us Feel Better
No one is touching anything, and everyone is cleaning everything. Despite initial reports warning people that the novel coronavirus can be transmitted from contaminated surfaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told Americans in no uncertain terms that the virus is primarily transmitted person-to-person, through breathing, speaking, shouting and singing. While it may be possible to catch the coronavirus from a doorknob or a package, it’s a long shot, and “not thought to be the main way the virus spreads,” says the agency. (It still recommends disinfecting high-touch surfaces.) Yet, six months into the pandemic, Americans seem determined to Clorox their way to absolution. They’re wiping down soccer balls, Lysoling beach chairs, touching PIN pads with “touch tools” and gloves, and cleaning bags of Tostitos with diluted bleach. (Judkis, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Really Diabolical’: Inside The Coronavirus That Outsmarted Science 
The new coronavirus is a killer with a crowbar, breaking and entering human cells with impunity. It hitchhikes across continents carried on coughs and careless hands, driven by its own urgent necessity to survive. It has a gregarious side that makes it hard to resist. It loves a party. The persistent social climber claims its victims around the world by riding on moments of the most innocent of human interactions—a shared laugh, a conversation, an embrace. And it is a liar. SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, often misleads the body’s immune systems. (Lee Hotz and Kahn, 9/7)

Fox News: Vitamin D Deficiency May Increase Coronavirus Risk, Study Says 
Low vitamin D levels may increase risk for coronavirus, according to a retrospective study. Researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine found those who were deficient in vitamin D (< 20ng/ml) and not treated, were nearly twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 compared to those who had sufficient levels. “The relative risk of testing positive for COVID-19 was 1.77 times greater for patients with likely deficient vitamin D status compared with patients with likely sufficient vitamin D status, a difference that was statistically significant,” the authors stated in the recently published study in JAMA Network Open. (McGorry, 9/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Can You Get Covid-19 From Your Dog? Here’s What Disease Experts Say 
Animals can catch the coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep your distance from the family pet. Disease experts say the chance of your pet catching the virus from you or another pet in the neighborhood or at the park is tiny. If they do, the chance they get sick is smaller still. And the chance you catch the virus from your pet is close to zero. (Douglas, 9/7)

Axios: Why Tech Couldn't Save Us From The Coronavirus 
Tech's biggest, richest companies have proved powerless to help stop or stem the pandemic — largely because the companies' own products have destabilized the public sphere. The big picture: When the greatest public health disaster of our lifetimes hit, the industry, despite earnest efforts, found that the information environment it had shaped via the internet and social media was profoundly vulnerable to misinformation, partisan division, ignorance and fraud. (Rosenberg, 9/8)

Stat: Plasma Giant Grifols To Buy Alkahest, A Startup Targeting Blood Proteins
The giant blood plasma processing company Grifols on Monday said it has agreed to buy Alkahest, a Silicon Valley startup founded by Genentech alums that’s betting that proteins in plasma can fight diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The planned acquisition is primed to bring new resources and recognition to the quixotic, often controversial search for an elixir for diseases associated with aging. (Robbins, 9/7)

Stat: Blueprint Medicines' Genetically Targeted Lung Cancer Drug Approved
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new drug from Blueprint Medicines for patients with lung cancer driven by a rare gene mutation. The Blueprint drug, a once-daily pill called Gavreto, is the second treatment approved to treat lung tumors that harbor alterations to a gene called RET. In May, Eli Lilly won approval for a similar drug called Retevmo. (Feuerstein, 9/5)

Stat: China's I-Mab Gets Boost From AbbVie To Develop Cancer Therapy 
In November 2014, a little less than six years ago, Chinese scientist Jingwu Zang set up his own drug company, Third Venture Biopharma. The former head of China R&D for GlaxoSmithKline wanted to develop innovative biologics that can treat various cancers and autoimmune diseases. (Chan, 9/4)

The New York Times: Dr. Seymour Schwartz, Who Wrote The Book On Surgery, Dies At 92 
Dr. Seymour Schwartz, an eminent surgeon and prolific polymath who was the founding editor of the 1,800-page surgery textbook, first published in 1969, that became a bible for medical students, died on Aug. 28 in St. Louis. He was 92. Dr. Schwartz died at the home of his son Dr. David Schwartz, whom he was visiting, according to another son, Richard Schwartz. He lived in Pittsford, N.Y., near Rochester, and had been affiliated with the University of Rochester since 1950. (Roberts, 9/3)

The New York Times: Cathy Smith, Who Injected John Belushi With Fatal Drugs, Dies At 73 
Ms. Smith would admit to injecting Mr. Belushi with a combination of heroin and cocaine during her interview with The Enquirer, for which she was paid $15,000. The article resulted in a renewed investigation and, in 1983, her indictment by a grand jury in Los Angeles County on one count of second-degree murder and 13 counts of administering a dangerous drug. Ms. Smith, one of pop culture’s most notorious footnotes, died on Aug. 16 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. She was 73. (Genzlinger, 9/4)

The Guardian: Homeless Californians Face New Crisis: Living Outside In Smoke-Filled Air 
Susana de Sant’Anna hasn’t been able to take a full breath of air since about June 2015.That was when she was hospitalized in San Francisco with severe sepsis, complicated by Lemierre’s syndrome – a rare infectious disease - and an abscess of the left lung. She underwent two lung surgeries, and in the two years it took her to recover, she burned through all her savings and became homeless. Sant’Anna has spent the last five years bouncing between shelters, transitional housing and friends’ couches. Now, with wildfire smoke choking the city, fog for weeks on end and the lingering threat of a virus that affects the lungs, she spends her days hiding in a hotel room paid for by donations that she stretches by cutting back on food, knowing that just one breath of the smoky air outside could set her recovery back. (Ho, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Readers Share Worry, Hope For Isolated Elderly In Covid Pandemic
Isolation in the pandemic is hitting elderly people especially hard, wrote Betsy Morris in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Many nursing homes and retirement communities instituted restrictions on visits and socializing in an effort to protect their vulnerable residents from the coronavirus, but loneliness and perceived isolation have also been linked to poor health outcomes. Many readers wrote in to share their own experiences with these challenges. (Sanchez, 9/7)

The Washington Post: For Women And Children, A Double Plague: Coronavirus And Domestic Violence 
Zoila fell fast for the soft-spoken day laborer, moving in with him last year just two weeks after their first date. But after El Salvador imposed a strict coronavirus lockdown, she says, the man she thought she knew became an inescapable menace. “The quarantine changed everything,” she said. (Faiola and Vanessa Herrero, 9/6)

NPR: Pandemic's Stress Is Pushing A Rise In Eating Disorders 
For most of her 34 years, Stephanie Parker didn't recognize she had an eating disorder. At age 6, she recalls, she stopped eating and drinking at school — behavior that won her mother's praise. "It could have started sooner; I just don't have the memory," says Parker. In middle school, she ate abnormally large quantities, then starved herself again in the years after. This spring, it all came to a head: She was confined and alone in her New York City studio apartment, as COVID-19 ripped through the city. The pandemic fomented fear and, for Parker, called up past trauma and aggravated the obsessive compulsive disorder that had started to become apparent years earlier. She realized then her relationship with food was life-threatening. (Noguchi, 9/8)

The Guardian: Act Now Or Coronavirus Will Sentence More Prisoners To Death, Say Experts
Jails and prisons continue to be among the largest clusters of Covid-19 in the United States, and experts believe disease will continue to spread inside them and out into the surrounding community without more concerted containment efforts – chief among them, releasing people from confinement. (Glenza, 9/8)

AP: What Should I Look For In A Hand Sanitizer?
What should I look for in a hand sanitizer? Pick one that contains mostly alcohol, and has few other ingredients. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hand sanitizers should be at least 60% ethyl alcohol or 70% isopropyl alcohol. Other approved ingredients may include sterile distilled water, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You should avoid anything with methanol or 1-propanol, both of which can be highly toxic. The FDA also warns people to watch out for hand sanitizers packaged in food and drink containers, since accidentally ingesting them could be dangerous. (9/8)

AP: Voting In Person Nov. 3? Expect Drive-Thrus, Sports Arenas
Voting will look a little different this November. States are turning to stadiums, drive-thrus and possibly even movie theaters as safe options for in-person polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic and fears about mail-in ballots failing to arrive in time to count. The primary season brought voters to an outdoor wedding-style tent in Vermont and the state fairgrounds in Kentucky. The general election on Nov. 3 is expected to include voting at NBA arenas around the country, part of an agreement owners made with players to combat racial injustice. (Eppolito, 9/5)

AP: Facebook Blocks Ailing Man's Planned End-Of-Life Broadcasts
Facebook on Saturday blocked live broadcasts from a chronically ill bed-ridden man who appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron for a medically-assisted death and who wanted to show what he expects will be a painful end to his life after he announced that he was stopping all food and drink. Prostrate on his bed, Alain Cocq posted video of himself Friday after taking what he said would be his last liquid meal. “I know the days ahead are going to be very difficult,” he said. “But I have taken my decision and I am serene.” (Leicester, 9/5)

AP: During Pandemic, Black Families Put Trust In Black Doctors
Dr. Janice Bacon was exactly the person Kay McField hoped to talk to when she found herself spending most of her days in bed, feeling too depressed to get up as the coronavirus pandemic threatened those around her. As she watched those closest to her test positive for the virus — a goddaughter and her uncle, whom she cares for, among them — McField said she was terrified that she or her daughter, who both suffer from autoimmune diseases, would fall ill. When she wasn’t in bed, the 51-year-old single mother was cleaning her house compulsively. (Willingham, 9/7)

The New York Times: The Risks Of The Prescribing Cascade 
The medical mistakes that befell the 87-year-old mother of a North Carolina pharmacist should not happen to anyone, and my hope is that this column will keep you and your loved ones from experiencing similar, all-too-common mishaps. As the pharmacist, Kim H. DeRhodes of Charlotte, N.C., recalled, it all began when her mother went to the emergency room two weeks after a fall because she had lingering pain in her back and buttocks. Told she had sciatica, the elderly woman was prescribed prednisone and a muscle relaxant. Three days later, she became delirious, returned to the E.R., was admitted to the hospital, and was discharged two days later when her drug-induced delirium resolved. (Brody, 9/7)

AP: Virus Still Throwing Theme Park Attendance For A Loop
Theme park operators who spent months installing hand sanitizing stations, figuring out how to disinfect roller coasters seats and checking the temperatures of guests at their gates so they’d come back in the midst of the pandemic are finding many reluctant to return. Some parks have reduced operating days, slashed ticket prices, and closed early for the year because of lower-than-hoped attendance — expectations weren’t high to begin with — along with the uncertainty of what’s to come with the coronavirus. A few parks have been unable to open their gates at all because of state and local health restrictions. (Seewer, 9/7)

The New York Times: Babies Born At High Altitudes May Be Smaller 
Living at high altitudes may be associated with giving birth to smaller babies who grow more slowly through childhood. Researchers studied 964,299 children in 59 low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. Among them, 106,441 lived above an altitude of 1,500 meters, or about a mile high. (Bakalar, 9/3)

The New York Times: Excess Weight May Increase Your Risk Of Dementia 
Being overweight may be linked to an increased risk for dementia. British researchers used data on 6,582 men and women, age 50 and older, who were cognitively healthy at the start of the study. The analysis, in the International Journal of Epidemiology, tracked the population for an average of 11 years, recording incidents of physician-diagnosed dementia. (Bakalar, 9/3)

The New York Times: Rising Shingles Cases In Adults Put Unvaccinated Children At Risk
Chickenpox and shingles vaccines are both highly effective, so why is the latter only available to older adults? How many young adults get shingles in the first place, and does the F.D.A. age recommendation for the Shingrix vaccine prevent them from getting it? (Szczypinski, 9/3)