Germany Gets Assurance From US Military About Taming Outbreak

The Hill: US General Reassures German Town Of Commitment To Prevent COVID-19 Spread After Outbreak 
The general overseeing American troops in Bavaria told local officials in an Alpine resort town that the military is committed to containing a coronavirus outbreak traced back to an American woman. Fifty-nine residents of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen have tested positive for the coronavirus. Of those, 25 work at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, run by the U.S. military, according to The Associated Press. An American woman who allegedly visited several bars last week in violation of quarantine rules is believed to be the source of the outbreak. (Budryk, 9/16)

Reuters: Red Cross Warns Coronavirus Is Driving Discrimination In Asia
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Thursday that the novel coronavirus is driving discrimination towards vulnerable communities in Asia, including migrants and foreigners. The humanitarian agency surveyed 5,000 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Pakistan and found about half blamed a specific group for spreading the coronavirus, with many mentioning Chinese people, immigrants and foreigners. (9/17)

CNN: France Coronavirus: Bordeaux ICUs Are Nearing Capacity. And It's Only September 
Bordeaux, France -- Dealing with the first wave was like a sprint, the second will be more like a marathon. That's how Dr. Olivier Joannes-Boyau, head of the intensive care unit at University Hospital in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, describes the resurgence of Covid-19 in France. After young French people took advantage of the lifting of lockdown and summer months to socialize freely, Covid-19 hospitalizations have risen in large cities like Paris, Bordeaux and Marseille on the Mediterranean coast. French hospitals are now preparing for the long slog. (Bell and Bairin, 9/16)

AP: UK To Ration COVID-19 Testing Amid Testing Failures
U.K. lawmakers criticized the government’s handling of the COVID-19 testing crisis for a second day Wednesday, as opposition leaders claimed Prime Minister Boris Johnson lacked a cohesive plan to tackle the virus at a time when the country faces a second wave in the pandemic. Johnson defended his efforts to increase testing capacity, telling the House of Commons that the government was responding to a “colossal″ increase in demand and arguing that Britain is testing more people than other European countries. (Kirka and Hui, 9/16)

AP: Doctors In Hard-Hit Madrid: 'It's Like March In Slow Motion'
It feels like a flashback. Pneumonia, a common acute manifestation of the COVID-19 disease, is keeping Spanish intensive care wards busy again. And it’s also leaving medical workers who are still recovering from the pandemic’s peak with an anxious sense of déja vu. Foreseeable as it was, the second wave has arrived in Europe earlier than expected, hitting countries with different intensity. In Madrid, for the second time the capital worst hit by coronavirus outbreaks on the continent, doctors and nurses say that authorities are responding, again, too erratically and too late. (Parra, 9/16)

Reuters: Spain's COVID Tracing App Tries To Balance Public Health With Privacy
“What does RadarCOVID not do?” a promotional video for Spain’s contact-tracing app asks. The answer: while navigating the country’s decentralised healthcare system, it does not locate users, identify them, record personal details, or send data. Without a vaccine or a cure for the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 1 million people worldwide, countries around the world have unleashed such technology to help break the chain of infections. Some governments’ contact-tracing tools use location data. But that tool is not available under European privacy laws in countries like Spain. Instead, they use Bluetooth to generate anonymous codes logging proximity between people’s phones. (Binnie, 9/17)

AP: South Africa Says 12 Million 'Probably' Had Coronavirus
About 12 million people in South Africa have “probably” been infected with the coronavirus, but that startlingly high number has not caused a similarly high death rate and might indicate a widespread “level of immunity,” the country’s health minister says. More than 20% of South Africa’s population of 58 million have had the virus at some point, Dr. Zweli Mkhize estimated this week. He cited studies that found the presence of coronavirus antibodies in blood samples taken from parts of the population. The findings have prompted the government to launch a national study, he said. (Imray, 9/16)