Wisconsin Convent Grapples With Outbreak That Killed Nuns Struggling With Dementia; Minorities Hard Hit In Chicago Area With Low Density Rate

The New York Times: After Decades Of Service, Five Nuns Die As Virus Sweeps Through Convent
Our Lady of the Angels Convent was designed as a haven of peace and prayer in a suburb of Milwaukee, a place where aging, frail nuns could rest after spending their lives taking care of others. Songbirds chirped in the sitting area. A courtyard invited morning prayers and strolls for the several dozen nuns who lived in the facility, a low-slung cream-colored building with a turret. The quiet convent has become the site of a deadly cluster of the coronavirus. Four staff members have tested positive, a health official said. Since April 6, five nuns have died from the virus. (Bosman, 4/30)

ProPublica: In Chicago, Urban Density May Not Be To Blame For The Spread Of The Coronavirus
Asiaha Butler was disturbed when coronavirus cases started to climb in her neighborhood, but she wasn’t surprised. A longtime housing advocate in Englewood, she knew the area was at high risk, even though it’s sparsely populated. Vacant lots and empty houses dot the neighborhood, leaving homes spaced farther from one another than in other parts of the city. “People I talk to say, ‘Well, Englewood looks no different after the shelter-in-place order,’” said Butler, executive director of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, or RAGE. (Coryne, 4/30)

The Washington Post: With Limited Coronavirus Testing, A Rural Louisiana Parish Is Trying To End The Pandemic's Deadly Assault On Its Residents
River Road hugs the curves of the Mississippi River, past sugar-cane fields and chemical plants, on the way to this semirural community 50 miles upstream from New Orleans. Epidemiologists believe the coronavirus quietly made this journey after taking root in the city during Mardi Gras in late February. St. John Parish confirmed its first case of covid-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — on March 13, four days after a New Orleans hospital reported Louisiana’s initial patient. Officials tried to act quickly. (Montgomery, 4/30)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Drug Trials, Fewer Ventilators: Here's How Louisiana’s Coronavirus Treatments Have Evolved 
Louisiana physicians faced a troubling scenario in early March when coronavirus patients started appearing in the state’s intensive care units: no one could say for sure how best to treat them. Now, nearly two months after the state confirmed its first positive case, they’ve re-examined drugs and protocols once considered the best bets for saving the lives of seriously ill patients. (Gallo and Woodruff, 4/30)

The Hill: Coronavirus Outbreak Spreading Farther Into Rural America
The coronavirus that has infected more than a million Americans is increasingly moving into rural areas in search of new victims, as nearly one-third of the nation’s counties experienced widespread transmission over the last week. A new analysis by the Brookings Institute demographer William Frey shows the virus spreading to new areas in almost every state in the country. But its spread is now more concentrated in smaller towns, rural areas and exurban areas that had previously been untouched. (Wilson, 4/30)

The Washington Post: How Mark Levine Came To Be Hyped As ‘The Anthony Fauci Of The New York City Council’
Mark Levine, a member of the New York City Council and chairman of its health committee, dismissed early anxieties as "fear mongering." Then he and his wife fell ill. In the weeks since their recovery from covid-19, Levine (D) has become one of the city’s most outspoken and occasionally polarizing figures, seizing on his newfound spotlight to make one of the most ambitious proposals in New York’s recent history: creation of a $1 billion Public Works Administration — but for public health. (Morgan, 4/29)

State House News Service: Baker Signs Public Health Standards Bill Into Law
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill into law Wednesday afternoon directing the Department of Public Health to "develop a set of minimum standards for foundational public health services for the commonwealth," and to establish a "state action for public health excellence program" that is intended to encourage local boards of health to adopt certain practices. The state is expected provide funding to local boards through a competitive grant program. (Young, 4/30)

Boston Globe: The State Has Changed How It Classifies Coronavirus Cases. It Could Lead To A Spike In Numbers
As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into a third month, state health leaders are reclassifying the way they count COVID-19 cases, a change that’s sure to lead to an increase in the number of reported victims and have a profound effect on our understanding of the devastating impact of the disease in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts state health department last week issued new directives on what counts as COVID-19 to hundreds of local health boards based on guidance from a low-profile, but influential national group of disease trackers. (Lazar and Ryan, 4/30)

Boston Globe: Boston’s New Fire Commissioner: ‘We’re Doing Everything That We Normally Do’ 
It’s been quite the baptism for John “Jack” Dempsey as head of the city’s fire department. He assumed the mantle of Boston fire commissioner on an interim basis on the same day the president declared a national emergency, the Boston Marathon was postponed for the first time in its storied history, and the city’s school district, the largest in the state, was closed. All because of the COVID-19 pandemic. .By the time his interim title was removed last Friday, life in the city remained significantly altered by the coronavirus outbreak. (McDonald, 4/30)

Boston Globe: Thousands Of Constituents Urge Governors To ‘Deprioritize’ Marijuana Enforcement Amid Coronavirus 
The marijuana reform group NORML is leading an effort to encourage states to “deprioritize” the enforcement of marijuana prohibition amid the coronavirus pandemic. So far, more than 4,000 constituents across the country have participated in the organization’s action campaign launched Wednesday by sending messages to their governors, urging them to take steps to minimize the spread of the virus by avoiding unnecessary marijuana arrests. (Jaeger, 4/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Hospitals Ease Back Into Surgeries
The coronavirus pandemic in Georgia is far from over: Infected patients are still flowing into hospitals, and health workers are still reusing masks to conserve supplies. But slowly, hospitals in the state are trying to focus beyond COVID-19 and to open their doors, once again, to non-emergency patients. (Hart, 4/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Patient At State Hospital For Mental Health Care Dies From COVID-19
A patient at a state hospital in DeKalb County that provides mental health care has died from the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to new data released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The agency did not identify the Georgia Regional Hospital-Atlanta patient or say when and where that person died, citing privacy laws. (Redmon, 4/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 200 In Southern Nevada  
Another 88 cases of COVID-19 and six new fatalities were reported in Clark County over the past 24 hours, pushing the county death toll from the disease to 202, data published Thursday indicated. The new cases reported by the Southern Nevada Health District on its coronavirus webpage — which brought the total cases reported in the county to 3,979 — was slightly below the average of 91 cases reported over the past seven days. (Brunker, 4/30)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Coronavirus In Ohio: DeWine To Provide Update On COVID-19 In Prisons At 2 P.M.
Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that he would extend Ohio’s stay-at-home order, which is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Friday.But the governor’s office declined to say when the new order would end. The extension would include exceptions for businesses reopening, such as office work restarting Monday and retail reopening on May 12. (Borchardt, 4/30)

Detroit Free Press: Oakland County To Conduct COVID-19 Testing At Independent Senior Living Facilities
Oakland County has announced an effort to conduct widespread COVID-19 testing at independent senior living facilities. County Executive David Coulter said at a news conference Thursday that the county is partnering with local EMS to address the need and that testing had already begun in some locations. (Kaufman, 4/30)