Very Thing Trump Is Counting On To Divert Attention From COVID Could Bring Second Spike In Cases

The Associated Press: Protests Eclipse Pandemic, But White House Fears Resurgence
For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage — mass protests over the death of George Floyd — may bring about its resurgence. Trump this week has eagerly pronounced himself the “president of law and order” in response to the racial unrest that has swept across the nation, overshadowing the pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 105,000 Americans and imperiled his reelection prospects. (Lemire and Miller, 6/3)

ABC News: Mass Protests Could Lead To Another Wave Of Coronavirus Infections 
As thousands of demonstrators continue to protest the killing of George Floyd, health experts are worried that a second wave of COVID-19 infections could be sparked by the mass gatherings. "What we have here is a very unfortunate experiment going on with COVID virus transmission," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. (Schumaker, 6/3)

The Washington Post: Scores Of Testing Sites Forced To Close Because Of Vandalism In Civil Unrest
At 1:30 a.m., Michael and Joan Kim were jolted awake by an alarm. Lying in bed, they grabbed their iPhones and watched what a security camera had captured moments before: the back of a U-Haul van ramming through the glass side wall of the Grubb’s pharmacy they own in Southeast Washington, cold medicine, allergy pills and bandages flying as wooden shelves splintered and crashed to the floor. The Anacostia drugstore is one of four the Kims own in the District, and each has suffered damage during the past nights of unrest. (Goldstein, 6/3)

The Associated Press: Democrats Prepare Police Reform Bills After Floyd's Death
Congressional Democrats, powered by the Congressional Black Caucus, are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms as pressure builds on the federal government to respond to the death of George Floyd and others in law enforcement interactions. With the urgency of mass protests outside their doors, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working furiously to draft what could become one of the most ambitious efforts in years to oversee the way law enforcement works. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both former presidential candidates, are expected to announce a package in coming days, with a House bill coming soon. (Mascaro, 6/4)

Politico: 'We Need To Show People': Democrats Look To Seize The Moment On Police Reform
House Democrats have a chance to position themselves at the center of a political movement that drives societal change for years to come. Or they could miss seizing the moment entirely. The House Democratic Caucus — the most diverse group of lawmakers ever assembled in Congress — is in the midst of a complex and emotional debate over how to confront decades of systemic racism that led to police killings like the death of George Floyd last week. (Ferris, Caygle and Zanona, 6/4)

NPR: How Police Unionization Has Affected Police Violence
Every year, more than a thousand people are killed by a police officer in the United States. This is many more people than are killed in other countries with similarly advanced economies. And within the U.S., there is also a big disparity in who is likeliest to die from a police killing. A black person, like George Floyd, is three times as likely to be killed as a white person. Economist Rob Gillezeau studies the history of police killings and the protests that often result from them. (Garcia and Smith, 6/3)

The New York Times: Have A Teenager Joining A Protest? Talk About Safety First.
When Sandy Asirvatham’s 17-year-old son, Miles Donovan, expressed interest in attending a protest this week near their downtown Baltimore home, she appreciated that he wanted to demonstrate solidarity with those who are outraged over the death of George Floyd. But just hours before it started, she began to worry. “I started fearing overzealous policing in the neighborhood and that Miles might get caught up in something even if he’s not a part of a group being violent,” she said. She also was nervous about him contracting the coronavirus and spreading it, having seen coverage of other rallies where “there wasn’t much mask wearing.” (Halpert, 6/4)

The Wall Street Journal: For African-Americans, A Painful Economic Reversal Of Fortune
In the decade before Covid-19, African-Americans’ economic circumstances, crushed during the 2007-09 recession, had slowly but steadily improved. Then lockdowns crashed the economy, and last week the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police touched off a wave of angry and at times violent protests. The events have highlighted painful disparities that continue to weigh on African-Americans, in their health, their incomes and their treatment by the justice system. (Ip, 6/3)

The Washington Post: Florida’s Largest Majority-Black City Was Doing Well. Then Came The Coronavirus.
Betty Ferguson has spent decades trying to make sure her community doesn't suffer the same kind of economic and environmental discrimination she's seen in too many places. Ferguson, 75, has led successful fights against a garbage dump and a detention center. She rallied neighbors to fight for an independent county commission seat and then to vote for incorporation as the city of Miami Gardens, arguing that things would improve if residents had more control over how their tax dollars were spent. (Wootson, 6/3)

NPR: For One Immigrant Community, George Floyd's Death Isn't Just About Black And White
There's something about the video of the George Floyd killing that makes it very specific to the Twin Cities. The video shows a white police killings seen nationwide — but there's a third identifiable person: an Asian American officer seen running interference with the crowd and standing watch. He's now-former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, a Hmong American — which is how you know this isn't "any" city. It's Minneapolis. (Westerman, King and Kwong, 6/4)

NPR: Pandemic Shut Down Minneapolis Barbershop, Then A Fire Destroyed It
Trevon Ellis spent years building up his north Minneapolis barbershop, the Fade Factory, luring customers with smart haircuts, snacks and friendly conversation. It took just one terrible night to destroy it all. "Inside is totally burned down," Ellis says. "Everything was burned to a crisp." (Zarroli, 6/4)

NPR: How A Mother Protects Her Black Teenage Son From The World
The best thing about being 17, according to Shawn Richardson, is freedom. "I'm able to go out more with my friends," he says. "I can do things solo." Shawn is a rising high school senior in Minneapolis. School is fine, but what he really loves is track. His friend timed him running the 100-meter dash in 10.71 seconds. The track season was canceled because of COVID-19. But if he can run that time officially, he will have the school record. Distance running isn't his thing. Shawn is a sprinter. (King, Kwong, Westerman and Doubek, 6/3)

ABC News: Nurses, Health Care Workers Kneel In Solidarity With Protesters 
As thousands of protestors marched for justice amid the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, a handful of essential health care workers took pause to genuflect in solidarity. Health care workers near New York City's Union Square took a knee to honor protesters calling for an end to police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (Castillejo, Noll and McCarthy, 6/3)

NBC News: George Floyd Had Coronavirus, Autopsy Says
George Floyd, whose in-custody death in Minneapolis last week triggered an avalanche of protests over the mistreatment of black people by police, tested positive for the coronavirus weeks before his death, an autopsy report released Wednesday shows. The 20-page document released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office says a test of Floyd on April 3 was positive for the virus' genetic code, or RNA. (Stelloh, 6/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Health Care Workers In East Bay Stage Walkout, Take A Knee In Support Of Protesters
Hundreds of health care workers from Kaiser Permanente hospitals in the East Bay staged concurrent walkouts on Wednesday afternoon to stand in solidarity with George Floyd. The protests were organized Dr. Matthew S. Schechter, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Oakland Medical Center, who sent an email Tuesday to health care managers within the Kaiser system describing the action as a grassroots event. (Vaziri, 6/3)