Viewpoints: Lessons On Understanding Risk-Taking Mindsets; Infection Of Farm Workers Remains Largely Overlooked

Los Angeles Times: How To Get Through To Your Coronavirus Risk-Taking Friends 
A good friend says no to an outdoor barbecue. Your uncle doesn’t stop by when he passes your town en route to a vacation. A friend fails to mask up in your car. These are a few examples of how COVID-19 can spur misunderstanding and even conflict. Such tensions in families and among friends add to the stress of managing life in a pandemic. In many ways, these kinds of conflicts boil down to differences between how scared we are or how safe we feel. (George Loewenstein and Elke U. Weber, 9/14)

CNN: Trump Ignores Science At Dangerous Indoor Rally In Nevada
President Donald Trump offered a glaring new example of his refusal to put medical science before politics with a large indoor rally Sunday night that made a mockery of social distancing, while the pandemic he mismanaged has now claimed more than 194,000 American lives. The event in Nevada -- his second rally in the state in as many days -- did not only risk the health of those present, thousands of whom were packed together inside a manufacturing facility in defiance of the state's ban on local gatherings of 50 people or more. It also has the potential to turn into a super spreader event that could seed Covid-19 outbreaks in the wider community. Trump hadn't held an indoor rally in nearly three months, since his last one, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after which the city saw a surge in cases and multiple campaign staffers along with Secret Service agents tested positive for the virus. (Stephen Collinson, 9/14)

CNN: Trump's Risky Rallies Are Straight Out Of 'Hunger Games'
Welcome to Donald Trump's "Covid Hunger Games: Campaign edition." That's the only way to describe Trump's continued flouting at his campaign rallies of measures enacted to keep people safe from the coronavirus. We saw another example Saturday night when Trump held a rally in Nevada that violated the state's rules on limiting events to 50 people, ignored the state's mask mandate and jammed people on top of each other. (Dean Obeidallah, 9/13)

Bloomberg: Covid Is Clobbering America’s Farm Workers
As many as 3 million migratory and seasonal laborers work on American farms. By one count, more than 100,000 of them have now been infected by the coronavirus. Yet the federal government has made no effort to test, trace or even document these cases. Instead, state and local officials have once again been asked to manage a pandemic that flows across their borders, damaging lives, communities and potentially the nation’s food supply. The toll has been rising since spring. In Wasco, California, more than 150 workers were infected at a pistachio processing plant; in Ventura County, 188 others tested positive at a berry farm. Similar outbreaks have been reported in Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere in recent weeks. (Adam Minter, 9/12)

Los Angeles Times: I Got Coronavirus While Working For Ralph's 
After spending seven weeks isolated in my bedroom sick with COVID-19, I stood in front of the Ralphs grocery store where I work, bracing to return. It took me about five minutes to make the decision to cross the threshold and go back to work. I wasn’t sure I could do it. For 20 years I have been a Ralphs employee, working at different stores throughout Los Angeles. I work the night shift, cleaning, stocking and preparing the store for the next day. I believe I caught COVID-19 at work. (Maria Hernandez, 9/14)

The Washington Post: Trump Could Still Save Thousands Of Lives. All It Would Take Is An Ability To Learn From The Woodward Book. 
As I listened to the recording of President Trump telling Post associate editor Bob Woodward that he deliberately misled Americans about the severity of covid-19, I alternated between anger and sadness. I thought of all those who have lost their lives and all the pain and suffering that could have been prevented. I also thought about what can be done now. Because a responsible leader could still turn things around. (Leana S. Wen, 9/12)

Fox News: How Would Liberal Media Report On Coronavirus Deaths Under President Hillary Clinton?
Let's put aside the nagging question of why Republican presidents grant interviews to this liberal Watergate warhorse. Let's focus instead on the nastiness of blaming hundreds of thousands of deaths on the president. Imagine, for a minute, if Hillary Clinton had been president when the coronavirus arrived from China. Would the press place a single death at the White House door? That's a rhetorical question. (Tim Graham, 9/12)

ABC News: Trump Says He Didn't Want To 'Create Panic' Over The Pandemic, But Stoking Fear Has Been His Trademark: ANALYSIS 
While President Donald Trump said he downplayed the threat of the novel coronavirus earlier this year because he did not "want to create panic," there's a glaring contradiction: He has run a reelection campaign -- and based much of his presidency -- on promoting fear. From dire warnings about undocumented immigrants during his run in 2016, and issuing a Muslim ban shortly after taking office, to now warning the suburbs would be "destroyed" under a Biden administration, Trump has used fear -- often laced with racist undertones -- to fire up his base and turn out voters. (Elizabeth Thomas and Ben Gittleson, 9/10)

Houston Chronicle: Sens. John Cornyn And Ted Cruz Are All Hat, No Cattle When It Comes To Texans With Disabilities 
In Texas, we lead and we take care of each other. And when the Texans we elect to represent us go to Washington, D.C., they bring every Texan with them along with our time-honored Texas ideals. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz left our Texas values behind, along with their 500,000 constituents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. (Jennifer Martinez, 9/11)