The Hill: Russia Says It Will Test Coronavirus Vaccine On 40,000 People 
Russia said Thursday that its coronavirus vaccine, which is the first to be registered worldwide, will be tested on more than 40,000 people as it looks to ramp up production. The vaccine, dubbed “Sputnik V,” has received skepticism from international observers over its potential efficacy, particularly given the rapid speed of its approval, but Moscow maintains that it is safe after granting it domestic regulatory approval earlier this month. (Axelrod, 8/20)

ABC News: Russia Announces Expanded Trials For Coronavirus Vaccine Approved 10 Days Ago 
Roughly 10 days after becoming the first nation to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, an announcement greeted with skepticism by many in the international community, Russia now said it intends to expand key drug trials by tens of thousands of subjects. Tests originally said to include just 1,600 to 2,000 persons now will use 40,000, including a control group, which is much more in line with the 30,000 individuals being examined in comparable Phase III trials by the drugmakers Moderna, Pfizer/Biontech and AstraZeneca/Oxford. (Reevell and Salzman, 8/20)

AP: UN: Discussions With Russia On COVID-19 Vaccine Under Way
The World Health Organization’s Europe office said it has begun discussions with Russia to try to obtain more information about the experimental COVID-19 vaccine the country recently approved. Last week, Russia became the first country in the world to license a coronavirus vaccine when President Vladimir Putin announced its approval. But the vaccine has not yet passed the advanced trials normally required to prove it works before being licensed, a major breach of scientific protocol. Russian officials claimed the vaccine would provide lasting immunity to COVID-19 but offered no proof. (Cheng, 8/20)

Politico: Russians Ask: Is Putin’s Coronavirus Vaccine The Real Deal? 
Svetlana Zavidova, the executive director of the Association of Clinical Trials Organizations (ACTO) in Russia, warned against the untested vaccine in an interview with Bloomberg. "The rules for conducting clinical trials are written in blood. They can’t be violated,” Zavidova said. “This is a Pandora’s Box, and we don’t know what will happen to people injected with an unproven vaccine." (Maheshwari, 8/20)

In other vaccine news —

Reuters: Exclusive: Top FDA Official Says He Would Resign If Agency Rubber-Stamps An Unproven COVID-19 Vaccine 
A top U.S. health regulator who will help decide the fate of a coronavirus vaccine has vowed to resign if the Trump administration approves a vaccine before it is shown to be safe and effective, Reuters has learned. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, made the statement in response to concerns raised on a conference call late last week of government officials, pharmaceutical executives and academics who serve on a vaccine working group organized by the National Institutes of Health, according to three sources familiar with the matter. (Levine and Taylor, 8/20)

The New York Times: As Wildfires Rage, Californians Fear The Coronavirus At Shelters 
A wildfire was raging outside, but inside the evacuation centers there were risks, too. Natalie Lyons and Craig Phillips had to make a decision Thursday morning as they sat in their ash-coated Toyota Tundra under the smoky orange sky in Santa Cruz. “There’s some people coughing, their masks are hanging down,” said Ms. Lyons, 54, who said she had lung problems. “I’d rather sleep in my car than end up in a hospital bed.” (Browning, 8/20)

The Washington Post: Wildfire Smoke In West Brings Unhealthy Air And Haze To Millions
Hundreds of thousands of acres in California are burning, part of a spate of fires that have forced thousands of people to evacuate and taxed the state’s overextended firefighting resources. Satellite imagery reveals that thick plumes of smoke streaming off each blaze have combined into a thick, smoky veil that covered parts of at least 10 states Thursday. Air quality has plummeted in many areas, making it dangerous to breathe for some. (Cappucci, 8/20)

CNN: California Wildfires Kill At Least 4 People As Some Evacuees Weigh Coronavirus Risks
Even for a state prone to natural disasters, California's had a catastrophic week. At least four people have died as a result of wildfires fueled by a heat wave and a blitz of lightning strikes in the state's northern areas. The clusters of fires merged into orange infernos that are creeping up on residential areas, turning neighborhoods into ash and smoldering ruins. And as tens of thousands of people evacuate to shelters, they're weighing the risk of coronavirus infections after California became first state to surpass 600,000 cases last week. (Karimi and Almasy, 8/21)

Capital Public Radio: The Air Is Full Of Dangerous Wildfire Smoke And Viral Particles. What’s The Best Protection For Your Health?
If you don’t need to be outside this week, don’t be. Smoke from wildfires across the state carries tiny particles that can damage the lungs, especially for those with existing respiratory conditions. Public health officials and air quality experts also say staying indoors is the best way to protect yourself from the haze, the heat and exposure to COVID-19. (Caiola, 8/20)

And a war of words erupts between President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom —

Politico: Trump Blames California For Wildfires, Tells State 'You Gotta Clean Your Floors'
President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed California for its raging wildfires and threatened to withhold federal money, reprising his attacks from previous rounds of catastrophic blazes. “I see again the forest fires are starting," he said at a rally in swing-state Pennsylvania. "They’re starting again in California. I said, you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests — there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up." (White, 8/20)

Los Angeles Times: At DNC, Newsom Criticizes Trump For California Fire Comments 
In a video appearance Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, Gov. Gavin Newsom tore into President Trump for threatening to strip federal funding for wildfire prevention in California after nearly 500,000 acres burned in storm-related lightning strikes, criticizing him further for trying to dismantle the state’s landmark vehicle emission standards. ... “Just today, the president of the United States threatened the state of California, 40 million Americans who happen to live here in the state of California, to defund our efforts on wildfire suppression because he said we hadn’t raked enough leaves. I can’t make that up,” Newsom said in a three-minute video. (Willon, 8/20)

Stat: ‘No Miracle Is Coming’: In Acceptance Speech, Biden Rips Trump For Covid-19 Mismanagement
Former vice president Joe Biden excoriated President Trump’s Covid-19 response as he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, casting the pandemic as the defining issue in the Nov. 3 election. Biden lambasted the president for continually downplaying the pandemic, even as it continues to spread throughout the country. (Facher, 8/20)

Politico: Industry Campaign Targets Biden Health Plan During DNC 
Bernie Sanders threw Joe Biden a lifeline on health care this week. K Street is now trying to cut it away. A deep-pocketed health care coalition has launched an assault on the public option during the Democratic National Convention, previewing the intense level of industry opposition Biden's health plan will face if he's elected president. A new six-figure ad campaign from the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future — a group consisting of hospital, insurance and pharma lobbying heavyweights — decries the public option as an expensive quagmire that would undermine private health insurance. (Luthi, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Democrats In Array (For Now) 
Democrats have shown a remarkably united front, including on health care, in their socially distant, made-for-TV convention this week. That’s likely due, at least in part, to the physical separation of party members who disagree on issues — this year they cannot chatter on live television — and to the party truly being united in its desire to defeat President Donald Trump in November. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic continues to complicate efforts around the country to get students back to school, from preschool to college. And the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate anti-discrimination protections in health care for transgender people is put on hold by a federal judge. (Rovner, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Democratic Convention, Night 3: Making The Party Lines Clear
The third night of the Democratic National Convention was all about one thing: Sen. Kamala Harris of California becoming the first Black and Indian American woman to accept a major political party’s vice presidential nomination. But key Democratic criticisms — many rooted in health care issues and the COVID-19 pandemic — were repeated throughout the evening. (8/20)

Also —

Wisconsin Public Radio: Tammy Baldwin Focuses On Health Care, But Not COVID-19, During Convention Speech
Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin used her three minutes of screen time during the virtual Democratic National Convention on Thursday evening to focus on health care policy — but she only fleetingly mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Baldwin focused on a popular element of the Affordable Care Act she helped craft and pass in 2010: a ban on insurance companies denying coverage for patients with pre-existing medical conditions. (White, 8/20)

Politico: ‘We Stutter’: Teen Wins Praise With Biden Speech
At least one featured speaker during the final night of the Democratic National Convention drew bipartisan approval, and he isn’t even old enough to vote in the November election. In a video segment ahead of Joe Biden’s acceptance speech Thursday night, 13-year-old Brayden Harrington recalled meeting the former vice president earlier this year during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. (Forgey, 8/21)

AP: In Moving Speech, Boy Says Biden Helped Him Overcome Stutter
“It’s really amazing to hear that someone became vice president” despite stuttering, Brayden said. “He told me about a book of poems by Yeats that he would read out loud to practice.” Biden has spoken frequently about how overcoming a stutter was one of the hardest things he’s done in life. Brayden and Biden met at a February CNN town hall in Concord, where Biden spoke about overcoming a severe childhood stutter. He’s talked frequently publicly through the years about the anger and frustration of being mocked by classmates and a nun in Catholic school — and how that motivated him to work to overcome it.“It has nothing to do with your intellectual makeup,” he said at the town hall. (Weissert, 8/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Data Will Once Again Be Collected By CDC, In Policy Reversal
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course on a change to the way hospitals report critical information on the coronavirus pandemic to the government, returning the responsibility for data collection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told hospital executives and government officials in Arkansas this week that the current system under which hospitals report new cases is “solely an interim system” and that the reporting would soon go back to the CDC. (Whelan, 8/20)

NPR: Birx Stokes Hopes That Key Hospital Data Tracking Will Soon Return To CDC
[Dr. Deborah] Birx made the remarks Monday during a visit to the Arkansas Governor's Mansion, but she did not provide a time frame for the change. Having the CDC run data collection again "would help us tremendously in getting back on track with respect to reporting and understanding what's happening with this pandemic across the region, the state and the nation," said Dr. Vineet Chopra, chief of the division of hospital medicine at the University of Michigan and a member of a federal advisory committee on hospital infection prevention. (Huang, 8/20)

ABC News: Dr. Anthony Fauci Undergoes Surgery For Vocal Cord Polyp 
The nation's top expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a prominent member of the White House coronavirus task force, underwent outpatient surgery Thursday morning to remove a polyp on his vocal cord. Fauci's office confirmed to ABC News that he is home now and resting. (Flaherty, 8/20)

The Washington Post: Fauci Recovering From Vocal Cord Surgery 
[Dr. Anthony] Fauci, 79, said by text message that the surgery was conducted under general anesthesia at George Washington University Hospital. Doctors have told him to rest, avoid speaking “for a few days” and then limit the time he spends doing interviews and other speaking for a week or two. Vocal cord polyps are usually noncancerous growths, according to Albert L. Merati, chief of laryngology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. They can cause hoarseness and almost always result from overusing vocal cords or trauma to the vocal cords, he said. (Bernstein, 8/20)

CNN: Fauci Recovering After Vocal Cord Surgery 
Fauci has previously addressed his vocal cord issues, telling the Economic Club of Washington in April that he had influenza A in December, developed tracheitis and was getting better -- until the coronavirus put him on a busy schedule of briefings and interviews. "When you get your voices damaged a little -- I probably have a polyp there -- the only way to get better is to keep your mouth shut," he said at the time. (Gupta and Watts, 8/20)

The Hill: Senators Open Investigation Into Prescription Delays Through Postal Service 
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) on Thursday announced an investigation into delays in mail-order drug prescriptions, which they attributed to “sabotage” of the United States Postal Service by the Trump administration. "Millions of Americans with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, asthma, and other chronic conditions, illnesses or health care needs rely on the USPS for delivery of their prescription drugs and are at grave risks if President Trump's efforts to degrade the mail service results in delays and disruptions," they wrote. (Budryk, 8/20)

CNN: USPS Email Tells Managers Not To Reconnect Sorting Machines
While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may be suspending changes to postal service operations, it doesn't necessarily mean machines that had been removed will be put back in use, according to an email obtained by CNN. The email, sent hours after DeJoy's public suspension of changes on Tuesday, instructs postal workers not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected. (Holmes and Murphy, 8/20)

The Hill: VA Problems Raise Worries About Mail Slowdown, Prescriptions 
Concern is growing among Democrats and advocacy groups that slowdowns in the mail could leave millions of people without access to needed medications. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which fills about 80 percent of prescriptions by mail, has already reported problems, and has been forced to use alternative methods of shipping prescriptions in certain areas of the country. While only about 5 percent of all prescription drugs are delivered in the mail, pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers are increasingly using the mail to fill prescriptions for the most expensive drugs. (Weixel, 8/20)

Los Angeles Times: USPS: Dead Animals, Rotting Food, And Chaos Amid Cutbacks 
Six weeks ago, U.S. Postal Service workers in the high desert town of Tehachapi, Calif., began to notice crates of mail sitting in the post office in the early morning that should have been shipped out for delivery the night before. At a mail processing facility in Santa Clarita in July, workers discovered that their automated sorting machines had been disabled and padlocked. And inside a massive mail-sorting facility in South Los Angeles, workers fell so far behind processing packages that by early August, gnats and rodents were swarming around containers of rotted fruit and meat, and baby chicks were dead inside their boxes. (Nelson and Lau, 8/20)

AP: Thousands Of Chicks Arrive Dead To Farmers Amid USPS Turmoil
At least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in recent weeks after rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier’s operations, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said. Pingree, a Maine Democrat, is raising the issue of the dead chicks and the losses farms are facing in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sonny Perdue, The Portland Press Herald reported. (8/20)

In related news —

The New York Times: New York State Will Allow Voters To Cast Mail-In Ballots 
New York State will allow most voters to cast their ballots by mail in the November general election, joining a growing list of states that have expanded mail-in voting to address the potential spread of the coronavirus at polling places. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, signed a bill on Thursday allowing voters to request an absentee ballot if they cannot show up at a polling location because of the risk of contracting or spreading an illness, effectively permitting the state’s more than 12 million registered voters to vote by mail. (Ferre-Sadurni, 8/20)

Newsweek: Most Voters Believe Trump Is Against Mail-In Voting Because He Fears Losing: Poll
Published on Thursday, the new Morning Consult poll, which saw 1,994 registered voters surveyed between August 14 and 16, found that 51 percent of voters think Trump is afraid of losing the election, should widespread mail-in voting move forward. Meanwhile, 37 percent said they think Trump genuinely believes mail-in voting will "increase voter fraud". Another 12 percent said they did not know or had no opinion on the matter. (Da Silva, 8/21)

Reuters: House Speaker Pelosi Says She Opposes Smaller Coronavirus Relief Bill
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that now was not the time for the chamber to pass a stripped-down coronavirus relief bill, after more than 100 House Democrats urged their leadership to pass enhanced unemployment benefits. “I don’t think strategically it’s where we should go right now because the Republicans would like to pass something like that and say forget about” other Democratic priorities, Pelosi said in an interview on PBS’s “NewsHour” program. (8/20)

The Hill: Pelosi Axes Idea Of Saturday Vote On Additional COVID Relief 
Pelosi also warned that if the House were to pass a standalone bill to extend unemployment insurance, Senate Republicans could amend it and add "poison pills." "I don't think it's done by giving them an out," Pelosi said of reaching a coronavirus aid deal with Republicans. "I think it's done by making them come into the negotiation." (Marcos, 8/20)

Roll Call: Blue Dogs Call For Restart Of Relief Negotiations
The Blue Dog Coalition of moderate House Democrats is circulating a letter they plan to send to congressional leaders urging them to get back to the bargaining table on a new round of coronavirus relief legislation. The coalition, which includes several lawmakers in difficult reelection races, outlines areas of potential compromise between the parties including on unemployment benefits, state and local government aid and direct payments to households. (McPherson, 8/20)

In related news —

NBC News: Spike In Jobless Claims Comes After PPP And Other Pandemic Benefits Expired
The unexpected jump in weekly initial jobless numbers to more than 1 million is a red flag about the stability of small business in the United States. The first week of claims data after the Paycheck Protection Program stopped accepting applications shows the need for renewed stimulus for small businesses and consumers, advocates and business owners say. (White, 8/20)

USA Today: Unemployment Benefits: When Will The Extra $300 Unemployment Start?
The $400 in extra unemployment aid for millions of out-of-work Americans is actually $300 in most states. And it won’t arrive for weeks, experts warn. Americans may just get three weeks’ worth of payments, according to guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will run the relief program through its Disaster Relief Fund following an executive action from President Trump earlier this month. (Menton, 8/21)

Also from Capitol Hill —

CNBC: Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy Tests Positive For Covid-19
Sen. Bill Cassidy tested positive for Covid-19 after exposure to a person with the coronavirus, he said Thursday. The Louisiana Republican will quarantine for two weeks and notify anyone with whom he came in contact, he said in a statement. Cassidy, a doctor, is the second U.S. senator to test positive for Covid-19 after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. (Pamuk, 8/20)

Dallas Morning News: Uber Launches Prescription Delivery Pilot Program In Dallas And Seattle
Uber is getting into the pharmaceutical delivery business with a pilot program that will include Dallas and Seattle, the company said Thursday. Uber’s health arm is partnering with NimbleRx, which bills itself as the leading prescription delivery service and offers next-day delivery to 70% of the population of the United States as well as same-day delivery to 30%, according to the company. (DiFurio, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Uber Enters Rx At-Home Delivery Market
Ride-sharing giant Uber on Thursday took its first step into the prescription delivery market. Uber's healthcare arm is working with NimbleRx, a startup that partners with independent and regional pharmacies to offer prescriptions through the startup's app or website and request same- or next-day home delivery direct to consumers.A pilot will serve the Seattle and Dallas metropolitan areas, with Uber drivers delivering medications. (Cohen, 8/20)

In other health industry news —

AP: Pandemic Pushes Expansion Of 'Hospital-At-Home' Treatment
As hospitals care for people with COVID-19 and try to keep others from catching the virus, more patients are opting to be treated where they feel safest: at home. Across the U.S., “hospital at home” programs are taking off amid the pandemic, thanks to communications technology, portable medical equipment and teams of doctors, nurses, X-ray techs and paramedics. That’s reducing strains on medical centers and easing patients’ fears. (Johnson, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Insurers' Cost-Sharing Waivers For COVID-19 Treatment Are Expiring
Most people with individual or fully insured group health coverage are enrolled in plans that eliminated out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 treatment during the pandemic, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. However, more than a third of people in those markets are in plans in which cost-sharing waivers have already expired or are slated to expire by the end of September, exposing plan members to potentially high out-of-pocket costs should they become sick, the analysis found. (Livingston, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Union Sues HCA Over Alleged COVID Safety Failures
The union that represents about 1,100 employees of an HCA Healthcare hospital in Riverside, Calif. is suing the hospital and its for-profit owner, alleging they failed to keep employees and patients safe from COVID-19. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West says in its lawsuit that Riverside Community Hospital created an unnecessarily dangerous work environment during the pandemic, endangering not only employees but patients, visitors, the community and employees' family members. The union claims administrators forced employees to work without adequate personal protective equipment and forced sick employees to work. (Bannow, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Calif. Bill Could Stifle Healthcare M&A
A proposed California bill that would require the attorney general to sign off on any healthcare provider transaction exceeding $1 million would likely stifle mergers and acquisitions, regulatory experts said. The legislation would give California Attorney General Xavier Becerra—who would have 60 days to review a deal involving providers, private-equity firms and/or hedge funds—an "unprecedented expansion of authority," experts said, noting that the $1 million threshold would encompass most healthcare transactions. (Kacik, 8/20)

In financial news —

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Pandemic Sinks Sutter's Margin To -11%
The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a major blow to Sutter Health's bottom line, sinking its operating margin to almost -11%. The not-for-profit lost $321 million on $2.9 billion in revenue in the quarter ended June 30. The Sacramento, Calif.-based system's margin was already slim—just $36 million on $3.3 billion in revenue in the prior-year period, a 1% margin. (Bannow, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Judge Approves Sale Of Bankrupt Proteus Digital Health To Otsuka
A judge has approved the sale of bankrupt Proteus Digital Health's assets to Otsuka Pharmaceutical for $15 million in cash. Redwood City, Calif.-based Proteus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June after running into challenges with its primary income source: royalties from Otsuka, which markets and distributes its products. From the start, Otsuka appeared to be the most likely buyer. (Bannow, 8/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Bayer Settles Essure Birth-Control Litigation For $1.6 Billion 
Bayer AG said Thursday it will pay $1.6 billion to settle claims that its birth control device Essure causes serious health complications, the latest in a string of settlements by the German company to resolve litigation it faces in the U.S. Nearly 39,000 women had sued Bayer or hired lawyers over their use of Essure, a fallopian tube implant that prevents pregnancies. Bayer said it has already reached deals with lawyers representing 90% of those plaintiffs, and that the money is expected to cover the entirety of the claims. (Randazzo, 8/20)

Modern Healthcare: Bayer To Pay $1.6 Billion To Settle Thousands Of Essure Lawsuits
Bayer announced Thursday it will pay $1.6 billion to settle the nearly 39,000 U.S.-based claims made against its controversial sterilization device Essure. Since at least 2016, thousands of lawsuits or reports have been filed against Bayer from women who claim Essure has caused them serious harm. Bayer settled 90% of the 39,000 claims and is in discussions with representatives for the remaining plaintiffs to resolve those lawsuits. The $1.6 billion represents allowances for both the resolved and outstanding claims, the company said in a news release. (Castellucci, 8/20)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Stat: Pfizer-BioNTech Favored Covid-19 Vaccine Has Fewer Side Effects 
Pfizer and BioNTech surprised many industry watchers on July 27 when they announced they would conduct a large-scale study of a vaccine for Covid-19. The surprise? The vaccine that would be tested in a 30,000-patient trial wasn’t the one for which the companies had presented data on July 1. The reason, the companies said, was that a second vaccine seemed to generate a similar immune response, but fewer side effects. (Herper, 8/20)

Stat: Boehringer To Pay $379,000 To Settle Charges Of Wage Discrimination Against Female Employees 
Following a review by the Department of Labor, a unit of Boehringer Ingelheim agreed to pay more than $379,000 in back pay and interest to dozens of female employees who were paid less than male employees. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleged the wage discrimination occurred at the company’s Animal Health unit following an audit conducted in 2015, according to a settlement agreement. The company was acting as a federal contractor. (Silverman, 8/20)

Also —

Stat: Biomarin, Gilead Drug Rejections Don't Signal A Change In The FDA's Attitude
It’s tempting to interpret the Food and Drug Administration’s surprise rejections of drugs from Gilead Sciences and Biomarin Pharmaceuticals this week as an agency-wide sentiment downshift, raising concerns that fewer new medicines will reach the market. Don’t make that mistake. (Feuerstein, 8/21)

Stat: Wary Hemophilia Patients Are Willing To Wait Longer For A Safe Gene Therapy
The Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of a gene therapy for hemophilia A on Wednesday surprised many hematology researchers and Wall Street watchers who expected speedy approval for the one-time treatment to end the inherited bleeding disorder. For one family in Indianapolis active in the hemophilia patient community, the decision was disappointing, but also appreciated. (Cooney, 8/20)

The Hill: COVID-19 Fatality Rates Fall As Treatments Improve 
The percentage of those infected with the coronavirus who die of COVID-19 is falling in most states, a sign that the battle against the virus is entering a new phase. Across the nation, that percentage — known as the case fatality rate — has been on the decline for weeks, and in some states for months. It is a hopeful indicator, but one that health experts caution is layered with uncertainty. (Wilson, 8/20)

Reuters: Singapore Scientists Find Coronavirus Variant With Milder Infections
Researchers in Singapore have discovered a new variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus that causes milder infections, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal this week. The study showed that COVID-19 patients infected with a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 had better clinical outcomes, including a lower proportion developing low blood oxygen or requiring intensive care. (8/21)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Not Likely Passed From Moms To Babies Through Breast Milk
University of California researchers studying the breast milk of 18 women with COVID-19 found coronavirus RNA—but not live virus—in 1 of 64 samples, suggesting that babies aren't likely to be infected through that route. The research letter, published yesterday in JAMA, described studying self-collected and mailed samples and clinical data gathered through phone interviews from Mar 27 to May 6. The mothers' babies ranged in age from newborn to 19 months, and each mother provided 1 to 12 breast milk samples. (8/20)

CIDRAP: Study Finds Antibiotic Time-Outs Not Tied To Lower Overall Antibiotic Use
Implementation of a pharmacist-led antibiotic time-out (ATO) at an academic medical center was feasible and well-accepted, but did not change overall antibiotic use, researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. In the two-phased cluster-randomized study, three academic inpatient medical teams were randomly selected in the first phase (ATO-A) to implement the pharmacist-led time-out, in which initial antibiotic therapy in a patient is reassessed, and three teams maintained usual care (UC-A). In phase B, the usual-care teams implemented the ATO process (UC ATO-B), while ATO use continued in the other group (ATO-B). (8/20)

AP: CDC Study Suggests Inmates Should Have Been Tested In Mass
Correctional facilities that resisted mass coronavirus testing for inmates erred in their decision to only test inmates with symptoms, leading to large initial undercounts, a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggested. The study released this week examined 13 prisons and jails in California, Colorado, Ohio and Texas, and three federal prisons in states that weren’t identified. (Welsh-Huggins, 8/20)

AP: Coronavirus Cases In Missouri Prisons Spike 50% This Month
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Missouri prisons have spiked more than 50% so far this month, an increase a spokeswoman attributes to heightened testing. There have been 333 new cases among prisoners and Department of Corrections staff so far this month, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Previously, the prison system reported 661 cases cumulatively. (8/20)

Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus Outbreak Hits Muskegon Correctional Facility In Michigan
Nearly half the men incarcerated at a west Michigan prison have tested positive for COVID-19, a surge in hundreds of infections since the facility saw its first confirmed case in late July. As of Thursday evening, 612 prisoners at Muskegon Correctional Facility — 47% of the population of 1,296 people — and 15 staff were confirmed to have the virus. (Jackson, 8/21)

NBC News: Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Tied To New Coronavirus Cases A State Away In Nebraska
Coronavirus cases tied to this month's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota have appeared across state lines in Nebraska, public health officials said Thursday. At least seven new cases in the region have been tied to the rally, the Panhandle Public Health District confirmed to NBC News. The health department did not provide further details. (Madani, 8/20)

The Daily Mail: Cellphone Data Tracks Movements Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans Traveling To And From South Dakota's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
Cellphone data has tracked the movements of hundreds of thousands of Americans traveling to an annual motorcycle rally in South Dakota and those vacationing in Las Vegas amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The maps created by data visualization company Tectonix, with the help of location-data firms X-Mode Social and SafeGraph, shows the extent of the widespread travel from across the country. (Crane, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: Deadly Mix: How Bars Are Fueling COVID-19 Outbreaks
From the early days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, states have wrestled with the best course of action for bars and nightclubs, which largely have their economic prospects tied to social gatherings in tight quarters. As the virus has pinched the industry’s lifeblood, bar owners in a handful of states are fighting in court against government orders that they stay closed.But public health experts and top health officials, including the nation’s top infectious diseases official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said: When bars open, infections tend to follow. (Stone, 8/21)

In other public health news —

USA Today: Masks In Public Restrooms? Urinals May Shoot 'Plumes' Of Inhalable Coronavirus Particles Into The Air
Wearing a mask in public restrooms should be mandatory during the pandemic, researchers say, because there's increasing evidence that flushing toilets – and now urinals – can release inhalable coronavirus particles into the air. The coronavirus can be found in a person's urine or stool, and flushing urinals can generate an "alarming upward flow" of particles that "travel faster and fly farther" than particles from a toilet flush, according to a study published in the journal Physics of Fluid Monday. (Hauck, 8/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: With N95s Scarce, What Masks Can Protect You From Both Smoke And COVID-19? 
As wildfires relentlessly blaze through, Northern California’s air quality became the worst in the world on Wednesday as dense smoke polluted the air — with no signs of letting up. But the masks that were recommended for preventing smoke inhalation in previous wildfire seasons — N95s — are in short supply this year because of the pandemic. (Echeverria, 8/21)

ABC News: Mom Traveling With 6 Kids Kicked Off Flight After 2-Year-Old Refuses To Wear Mask 
A mother and her six children were kicked off of a JetBlue Airways flight Wednesday after her 2-year-old daughter refused to wear a mask. "It was extremely traumatizing for me and my family," the mother, Chaya Bruck, 39, from Brooklyn, said in an interview with ABC News. Bruck said she tried to put a mask on her youngest child, Dina, but she pulled it off. (Kaji, Benitez and Sweeney, 8/20)

CIDRAP: More Teens Got Routine Vaccines In 2019, But Doctor Orders Dropped Amid COVID
More US teens received at least one dose of two of the three vaccines recommended for their age-group in 2019 than in 2018, but vaccination orders dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to a study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that 11- and 12-year-old children be vaccinated against pertussis (whooping cough); meningitis (swelling of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord) types A, C, W, and Y (MenACWY); and human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers. Teens 16 years and older are urged to receive a booster dose of the meningococcal vaccine, and those 16 to 23 years old can be vaccinated against meningitis B (MenB), if appropriate. (8/20)

WBUR: Daycare, Grandparent, Pod Or Nanny? How To Manage The Risks Of Pandemic Child Care 
Pre-pandemic, about half of U.S. families reported having trouble finding care for a young child. That number jumped to nearly two thirds this spring, as daycares closed and other caretakers, such as grandparents and nannies, were told to stay home.And with many schools operating remotely, in a hybrid model or abruptly changing course this fall, many more parents, including those with kids in elementary school and beyond, are grappling with a child care crisis. (Harmon Courage, 8/21)

NBC News: COVID-19's Death And Suffering Could Lead Us To Rebirth, As The Bubonic Plague Did In Europe
As we wrestle with our contemporary challenges, it's important that we look back and learn from those who survived and ultimately surmounted similar ones 700 years ago. Doing so may give us something we're short on: hope. (Oren, 8/20)

WBUR: How To Mitigate Loneliness And Its Consequences
Long before COVID-19 changed so much of how we interact with one another, Dr. Vivek Murthy was on a mission to make us think of loneliness as a public health issue. A few years ago, the former U.S. surgeon general under President Obama framed the condition of loneliness — which can reduce life expectancy and limit creativity — as an epidemic in the United States. (Mosley and McMahon, 8/20)

Also —

The Hill: Former Secretary Of State James Baker Announces Coronavirus Diagnosis 
Former Secretary of State James Baker and his wife are recovering at home in Houston, Texas, after testing positive for coronavirus, a spokesperson said Thursday. A spokesperson for Baker confirmed the diagnosis to CNN and said the pair believe they caught the virus during a family trip to Wyoming. (Bowden, 8/20)

USA Today: 'Living In My Car'? Fall Semester Online Means College Students Are Scrambling For Housing, Wi-Fi
When California State University announced May 12 its schools would be online for the fall semester, Graciela Moran thought she might end up homeless. The San Bernardino student is immunocompromised and had been living in her dorm as a residential assistant. But with the Cal State announcement, her contract ended and her stipend was taken away. Her father, a carpet installer, had to keep working during the city's increase in coronavirus infections, so she couldn't move home without putting herself at risk. (Aspegren, 8/21)

Burlington Free Press: In-Person Classes Begin At Arizona State Despite Pandemic
Thousands of students return to Arizona State University on Thursday for the first day of the fall semester despite concerns from faculty and students and a shaky track record for universities in other states that have gone back to campus during the pandemic. The start of the semester looks much different than the norm since COVID-19 has altered the world. But ASU will operate like many other places do now. (Leingang and Wilder, 8/20)

The New York Times: College Officials Clamp Down On Student Behavior Over Covid-19 Fears 
Syracuse University and Vanderbilt fired warning shots across the bow of newly arrived students who seem intent on having an ordinary campus experience in a year that is anything but ordinary. The warning at Syracuse came after a campus gathering alarmed officials. “Last night,” one Syracuse official said in a letter, “a large group of first-year students selfishly jeopardized the very thing that so many of you claim to want from Syracuse University — that is, a chance at a residential college experience. I say this because the students who gathered on the Quad last night may have done damage enough to shut down campus, including residence halls and in-person learning, before the academic semester even begins.” (8/20)

Also —

Kaiser Health News: Swab, Spit, Stay Home? College Coronavirus Testing Plans Are All Over The Map
Yousuf El-Jayyousi, a junior engineering student at the University of Missouri, wanted guidance and reassurance that it would be safe to go back to school for the fall semester. He tuned into a pair of online town halls organized by the university hoping to find that. He did not. What he got instead from those town halls last month was encouragement to return to class at the institution affectionately known as Mizzou. The university, in Columbia, would be testing only people with symptoms, and at that point, the university said people who test positive off campus were under no obligation to inform the school. (McAuliff, Martinez Valdivia, Herman and O'Neill)

Boston Globe: Flu Shot Mandate For Mass. Students Leaves Many Questions Unanswered 
The state’s new first-in-the-nation rule mandating flu vaccines for students under age 30 is drawing nearly as many questions as plaudits from health and education leaders who said the initiative will help curtail illnesses, but they’re uncertain how it will operate or be enforced. The regulation, announced by the Baker administration Wednesday, requires the vaccination for anyone 6 months or older in child care centers, preschool, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities, unless they have a religious or medical exemption, are home-schooled, or are a higher education student living off campus and taking remote-only classes. (Lazar and Freyer, 8/20)

The Hill: School Reopenings With COVID-19 Offer Preview Of Chaotic Fall 
Thousands of students and teachers across the country are quarantining just days into the new school year, highlighting the challenges of resuming in-person instruction during a pandemic. While many schools aren’t scheduled to reopen until later this month or September, those that have are offering a preview of the chaos that awaits districts this fall, particularly in hot spots in the South and Midwest where the virus is spreading uncontrollably. (Hellmann, 8/20)

KQED: How To Lead During A Pandemic? Be Nimble, Bring In Many Voices And Hold On To Radical Hope 
In this post, five school administrators from across the country reflect on their experiences leading schools and districts during the COVID-19 outbreak. They describe successes and challenges of emergency distance learning, how they have practiced self-care and the lessons that will carry them into the new school year. MindShift interviewed these educators between early June and late July. As of early August, all of their districts were planning to begin the 2020-2021 school year with distance learning. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity. (Newhouse, 8/21)

The New York Times: School Nurses Are On The Coronavirus Front Lines. But Many Schools Don’t Have One. 
As the lone nurse for her school district in central Washington State, Janna Benzel will monitor 1,800 students for coronavirus symptoms when classrooms open this month, on top of her normal responsibilities like managing allergies, distributing medications and writing hundreds of immunization plans. “I’ll have to go to these schools and assess every sniffle and sneeze that could potentially be a positive case,” she said. “I just don’t know if I can do it alone.” (Levin, 8/20)

In developments from Florida —

NBC News: Florida Teachers Battle Gov. DeSantis Over Return To Classrooms
Florida's teachers have a message for Gov. Ron DeSantis: We're not going back to the classrooms in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic until it's safe for everybody. For a second day in a row, lawyers for the Florida Education Association clashed with the governor's lawyers Thursday over plans to resume in-person teaching by the end of the month. (Siemaszko, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: DeSantis Says COVID Is A Lower Risk For School-Aged Kids Than Flu 
Even as his state is a hotbed for COVID-19, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing schools to reopen so parents have the choice of sending children back to the classroom or keeping them home to learn virtually. The Republican governor has said children without any underlying health conditions would benefit from in-person learning and the stimulation and companionship of being among other young people. He has also made clear that he thinks these benefits far outweigh what he considers to be minimal risks. (Galewitz, 8/21)

In developments from Nevada, Georgia, New York and California —

AP: Nevada County Ditches Plans For Classroom Teaching For Now
The Elko County School Board in Nevada has decided to follow the lead of the state’s largest school district in Las Vegas and begin the new school year with only distance learning to help guard against the spread of the coronavirus.The board voted unanimously to push back the beginning of the school year until Sept. 8. (8/20)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Back To School: Disparity In Reporting COVID Cases And Lack Of Universal Reporting
DeKalb County School District Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris’ announcement on Aug. 10 that 80 district employees and students tested positive for COVID-19 since July 1 was an admission many metro Atlanta school systems have been reluctant to make. Before that, the state’s third-largest school district had announced publicly just one instance where an employee had tested positive for the virus. This was despite statements declaring all confirmed coronavirus exposures and related school site closures would be reported to the public. (Walker and Tagami, 8/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Reopening Schools Is So Complicated, New York Is Struggling To Schedule Classes
Jonathan Halabi, a math teacher who creates the course schedules for his Bronx high school, faces a daunting puzzle: Trying to match changing numbers of students to teachers and rooms while obeying class size limits required by the new coronavirus. His high-achieving public school, the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, has about 400 students, and so far 25% have asked to attend virtually. He expects that percentage to grow, a trend citywide. And it is still unclear how many of the 26 teachers will come to campus, he said: Several have gotten medical accommodations to work from home, and more may do so. (Brody, 8/20)

AP: Dozens Of California Elementary Schools Allowed To Reopen
Dozens of California elementary schools have been approved to reopen with in-person instruction under special waivers approved by health officials in counties that were placed on a state monitoring list because of high numbers of coronavirus infections. State health authorities haven’t said how many have been approved statewide. But data from San Diego and Orange counties on Thursday showed together they have had 50 schools approved, all of them private and mostly religious, along with two small public school districts. (Taxin, 8/21)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Cases So Low L.A. May Soon Try To Reopen Schools 
Despite disturbing numbers of young people dying of COVID-19, Los Angeles County’s chief medical officer said Thursday that new coronavirus cases may soon drop enough to allow officials to apply for waivers to reopen elementary schools. During an online news conference, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser noted that waivers can be sought to reopen schools when cases are below 200 for every 100,000 people for two weeks. (Dolan and Blume, 8/20)

The Washington Post: D.C. Report Shows Drop In HIV Infections, Other Progress Ending AIDS Epidemic 
The District has reached new milestones in its effort to end a decades-long HIV epidemic, according to a report released Thursday, with a reduction in new cases and the overwhelming majority of those who have the virus in effective treatment. In 2019, the city recorded its largest decline in new infections since Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) took office in 2015 and crafted a strategy for ending the epidemic, which has afflicted nearly 2 percent of city residents. (Nirappil, 8/20)

Sacramento Bee: Fentanyl Overdose Deaths On The Rise In Sacramento Area
U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott had a simple message at a news conference Thursday: “One pill can kill you,” Scott said, gesturing to a bag of fentanyl-laced pills to his left. Representatives from law enforcement agencies in the Sacramento region gathered Thursday for a news conference to warn the public about the dangers of fentanyl. Overdose deaths from the powerful narcotic have increased dramatically in the region. (Burke, 8/20)

ABC News: Racial Disparities Among Lung Cancer Diagnoses Have Nearly Vanished, New Study Finds 
A new study shows that racial disparities among new lung cancer diagnoses have nearly vanished. Because of deeply-rooted systemic problems, Black Americans tend to experience disproportionate rates of many common illnesses. However, a recent study has found that with thoughtful and rigorous public health programs, it is possible to flatten some of this disparity. (Stout, 8/21)

AP: Alert System For Mental Health Crises Advanced By Lawmakers
A Virginia Senate committee has approved legislation that would establish an alert system to dispatch mental health providers along with police to help stabilize people in crisis situations, a move prompted by the police killing of a high school teacher in Richmond police two years ago. The bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday is named after Marcus-David Peters, a 24-year-old Black man who was killed while he was undergoing a mental health crisis. Peters, who was naked and unarmed, was fatally shot after he charged at an officer and threatened to kill him. (Lavoie, 8/20)

In other public health news —

CNN: Thousands Of Hasbro Water Guns Sold At Target Recalled Due To Lead 
More than 52,000 water guns which are sold only at Target are being recalled by Hasbro, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a notice. "The decorative sticker on the water tank of the water blaster toys contain levels of lead in the ink that exceed the federal lead content ban," the notice said. Lead exposure in children can lead to impaired cognition and behavioral disorders, among other health effects. and is toxic if ingested. (Maxouris, 8/21)

AP: Washington Coach Ron Rivera Has A Form Of Skin Cancer
Washington Football coach Ron Rivera has a form of skin cancer, which the team called “very treatable and curable” because it was discovered at an early stage.A team spokesman confirmed Thursday night Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. The team said Rivera detected it in a lymph node from a self-care check and that the prognosis is good for him to make a full recovery. Rivera, 58, is expected to continue coaching for now after consulting with doctors and oncology specialists. (Whyno, 8/21)

NBC News: How This Mosquito, One Of Nature's Greatest Killers, Evolved Its Taste For Human Blood
Mosquitoes are humanity’s deadliest pest. Their bites spread painful diseases that sicken and kill tens of millions of people, making them the target of advanced schemes to limit their impact. But new research suggests some mosquitoes could prove especially difficult to eradicate, and that the diseases they spread could get even worse as more people move from rural environments into cities. (Metcalfe, 8/20)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Seeks Cancer Patients With Coronavirus For New National Study
How do cancer patients fare when they contract the novel coronavirus? A new study at Beaumont Health aims to answer that question. Researchers are now enrolling adults who are actively undergoing cancer treatment as part of a new National Cancer Institute COVID-19 in Cancer Patients Study at Beaumont hospitals in Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Royal Oak and Troy. (Shamus, 8/20)

Detroit Free Press: Flint Water Crisis Settlement Includes $9M For Special Education
Special education programs in Flint and neighboring school districts will receive at least $9 million in new funding as part of the settlement of lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis. The settlement still needs court approval but it's expected to improve special ed services in Genesee County for as many as 18,000 students who were exposed to lead poisoning after the city switched water sources in April 2014. (Wisely, 8/20)

PBS NewsHour: 6 Years After Water Crisis Began, What Has Changed In Flint — And What Hasn’t 
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, exposed major health and environmental concerns for residents and prompted new scrutiny of access to clean drinking water in the U.S. But Flint is still grappling with the consequences of its crisis, including financial and legal liability. John Yang reports and talks to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician who helped sound the alarm about Flint’s water. (8/20)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Caseload Falls Again In D.C. Region As Maryland Marks Testing Milestone
The daily coronavirus caseload in the greater Washington region tumbled again Thursday, hovering at a multiweek low, while Maryland officials celebrated a milestone in the state’s declining test positivity rate. The seven-day average number of new infections in D.C., Maryland and Virginia fell to 1,531, a number last recorded in mid-July. That is down from 2,083 average daily cases earlier this month, as officials were announcing new restrictions to avoid the kind of caseload spikes being recorded elsewhere in the country. (Hedgpeth and Moyer, 8/20)

AP: Utah Sets Pandemic Safeguards For People With Disabilities
Utah became the fifth state Thursday to overhaul crisis guidelines that could have deprived people with disabilities of doctors’ care if hospitals become overwhelmed during the coronavirus pandemic. The changes approved by federal officials settle a complaint from disability advocates and set a new standard for other states, said Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Whitehurst and McCombs, 8/20)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Nursing Home Visits May Soon Be Possible After Months On Lockdown; See Next Steps
For more than five months, Louisiana's nursing homes have been on strict lockdown in a desperate attempt to prevent the coronavirus from infiltrating facilities where it has proved the most deadly. But while that policy has undoubtedly prevented infections and deaths, it has also isolated the elderly and infirm, as homes have refused to admit visitors and at times confined residents to their rooms, discontinued communal meals and ruled out many social activities. (Roberts III, 8/20)

In updates from California —

Kaiser Health News: California’s Data Failures Stymie Efforts To Curb The Virus 
The failure of California’s infectious disease monitoring system for a stretch of at least 20 days in July and August triggered potentially deadly fallout that continues to reverberate across the state. The fallout has been most severe in heavily populated counties, which rely primarily on a statewide electronic information system to guide their pandemic response. Local health departments couldn’t clearly see where the coronavirus was spreading, dramatically slowing their efforts to trace and track new infections — leading to more death and disease, public health officials said. (Barry-Jester and Hart, 8/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Stays On California Coronavirus Watch List, Despite Newsom’s Hopes 
San Francisco failed to meet two of California’s six coronavirus thresholds Thursday and remains on the state’s watch list, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s prediction a day earlier that the city could be removed. The disappointing news represented dashed hopes for some businesses and private schools, which might have seen a faster path to reopening if Newsom’s forecast had held true. (Li, 8/20)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Shifts CARE COVID Funds From Sheriff To Health
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to allocate $45 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to its county health department. Most of the money – $19.2 million – will go to pay for a badly needed increase in microbiologists and other health staff within the Sacramento County Department of Health Services. (Breton, 8/20)

Reuters: Beijing Says Residents Can Go Mask-Free As China COVID Cases Hit New Lows
Health authorities in China’s capital Beijing have removed a requirement for people to wear masks outdoors, further relaxing rules aimed at preventing the spread the novel coronavirus after the city reported 13 consecutive days without new cases. Despite the relaxed guidelines, a large proportion of people continued to wear masks in Beijing on Friday. (8/21)

AP: PNG Demands China Explain COVID-19 Vaccine Trial On Miners
Papua New Guinea prevented the arrival of a flight carrying Chinese workers after a Chinese mining company claimed to have immunized employees against COVID-19 in an apparent vaccination trial, authorities said Friday. The Pacific nation’s pandemic response controller, David Manning, banned COVID-19 vaccine testing or trials after Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd. claimed to have vaccinated 48 Chinese employees. (McGuirk, 8/21)

Reuters: After Dining Ban, Takeaway Waste Clutters Hong Kong's Pavements, Parks And Waterways
A deluge of trash from takeaway containers and disposable cutlery is cluttering the streets and parks of Hong Kong as coronavirus restrictions on dining in restaurants eat away at the city’s capacity to dispose of its garbage. The dining restrictions in the China-ruled Asian financial hub ban eating in any outlet after 6 p.m. At other times in the day, restaurants can only operate at half-capacity and with two people per table. As a result, plastic from eating out has doubled from last year since takeaway food is the only option for many people who do not cook at home. Hundreds of thousands of people in the crowded city live in compact apartments with tiny or non-existent kitchens. (8/21)

In other global news —

Reuters: Doctors Strike In Nairobi Over Pay, Lack Of COVID Protection
Doctors in most public hospitals in Kenya’s capital went on strike on Friday to protest against delayed salaries and a lack of protective equipment when handling patients who may have COVID-19. The strike began at midnight on Friday, said Thuranira Kaugiria, secretary general for the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union. (Obulutsa and Ratner, 8/21)

Reuters: Irish PM Accepts Minister's Resignation Over COVID-19 Breach 
Ireland’s prime minister on Friday accepted the resignation of Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary after his attendance at a social event drew public anger for having apparently breached rules to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Calleary apologised “unreservedly” late on Thursday for being at a hotel dinner hosted by the Irish parliament’s golf society, a day after the government significantly tightened nationwide restrictions to try to rein in a spike in infections. (Halpin, 8/21)

AP: Asia Today: Seoul Surge Appears To Spread Around South Korea
South Korea added its most new virus cases in months on Friday, driven by a surge around the capital that appears to be spreading nationwide.The 324 new infections was its highest single day total since early March and the eighth consecutive triple-digit daily increase. (8/21)

The New York Times: Don’t Drink The Tea: Poison Is A Favored Weapon In Russia 
Poison, though redolent of medieval intrigue, has been a favored tool of Russian intelligence agencies for more than a century. And critics of the Kremlin and independent analysts say the weapon remains in use today. While other countries, including the United States and Israel, have targeted killing programs, they are strictly limited to counterterrorism efforts. Russia, by contrast, has been accused of targeting a wide variety of opponents both at home and abroad. (Kramer, 8/20)

The New York Times: Could Owl And Crocodilian Tears Lead To A Cure For Your Dry Eyes? 
Dr. Arianne Pontes Oriá stands firm: She does not make animals cry for a living. Technically, only humans can cry, or weep in response to an emotional state, said Dr. Oriá, a veterinarian at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil. For humans, crying is a way to physically manifest feelings, which are difficult to study and confirm in other creatures. But Dr. Oriá does collect animal tears — the liquid that keeps eyes clean and nourished. In vertebrates, or animals with backbones, tears are vital for vision, Dr. Oriá said. And yet, these captivating fluids have been paid little to no attention, except in a select few mammals. (Wu, 8/13)

Undark: Researchers Revisit Male Bisexuality — And Draw Critics
Some 2 percent of men in the U.S. identify as bisexual. But, for decades, some sexuality researchers have questioned whether true bisexual orientation exists in men. ... [A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] study has drawn positive coverage and received praise from some activists, who see it as valuable confirmation for an often-marginalized sexual identity. But it has also received backlash from other scientists and many bisexual people, some of whom argue that in attempting to prove, based on genital arousal, that bisexuality exists, researchers are discounting bisexual people’s lived experiences. It has also reignited a broader debate over the ethics of human sexuality research — and about what role, if any, scientists should play in validating the experiences of queer people. (Thomasy, 8/17)

The New York Times: How Young People Can Own Their Health Care (Even If They Still See A Pediatrician) 
Owning your health care is a key life skill for young people, like doing laundry, voting and making ramen — and it’s one you can start learning, even (or especially) while living under your parents’ roof. Adolescent medicine specialists want you to embrace your own medical care, and now might be the perfect time. Dr. Hina J. Talib, adolescent medicine inpatient service director at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, identifies the pandemic as a “golden opportunity” for teenagers to practice self-care and self-advocacy skills. (Newman, 8/14)

The New York Times: He Was An Active Guy. Suddenly His Legs Ached After A Few Blocks. 
“Wow, brother, you look awful!” the middle-aged woman called out to the 48-year-old man as he made his way slowly to the table. The siblings were from a large, close-knit family, together (back before Covid-19 hit) to celebrate the birthday of their 8-year-old niece. The woman always described her brother as strapping or robust; he now looked neither. He limped toward the table as if his left leg was somehow too weak to carry him. His normally ruddy complexion looked gray. His face looked both thinner — as if he’d lost weight since she last saw him two weeks earlier — but also fatter, his cheeks chipmunk-swollen, especially strange in his otherwise bony face. One of his ears was the only spot of color on him, fire-engine red and oddly enlarged. (Sanders, 8/13)

The New York Times: Are You Overpraising Your Child? 
“I love it!” It’s a phrase I’ve uttered countless times, typically in response to a new offering from our family’s artist-in-residence, also known as my 6-year-old daughter. I’m being honest — it’s a treat when she dedicates her work to me, rather than the parent with higher approval ratings (her mother, my wife), and I take a fatherly pride in her choice of colors and attention to detail. But it turns out, I’m also undermining her efforts, by putting myself, and my approval, at the center of the conversation. (Underwood, 8/13)

The New York Times: Breastfeeding My Son Was A Long, Hard Journey, But We Took It Together 
Breastfeeding is something I always knew I wanted to do when I became a mom. As a Muslim woman, our doctrine tells us that if we are able, breastfeeding for up to two years is beneficial for both the baby and the mother. I wasn’t certain of all the mechanics that came with the act of breastfeeding, or the possibility that sometimes babies may not latch right away and the act could be physically and mentally taxing. However, that set intention turned into a two-and-a-half year commitment that my son and I were fortunate to embark on — together. (8/20)

Also —

AP: The Home Front: Virus Stalks Nurses After They Leave Work
For the nurses of “4 North,” like their colleagues before them from New York and across the globe, home is fraught with uncertainty. Are they bringing the virus there? Are they exposing their partners and children? Should they isolate or quarantine themselves? Should they quit their jobs to keep their families safe? As the pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation’s hot spots, the answers remain unclear. (Dazio, 8/17)

The Washington Post: What It’s Like To Be A Flight Attendant During The Pandemic 
Flight attendants have always had unique occupational hazards, from managing bad behavior onboard to balancing perpetual jet lag. But the pandemic has brought even more (and tougher) challenges for the essential workers. They’ve faced backlash as the enforcers of airlines’ tightening mask policies. They’ve worried for the health and safety of their family members, colleagues and themselves. And like many during this global health and economic crisis, their jobs are more at risk than ever.We spoke with four flight attendants about their experiences working during the pandemic. (Compton, 8/17)

The Wall Street Journal: The Obama-Biden Virus Response
Is it reasonable to blame a single politician for the spread of a highly infectious virus, especially in a free country with 50 states and 330 million people? Joe Biden is lucky that wasn’t the standard a decade ago. If the Democratic convention produced one theme it’s that Donald Trump is personally at fault for every coronavirus death. (Kimberley A. Strassel, 8/20)

The New York Times: With The Speech Of His Life, Joe Biden Becomes The Man For This Moment
Look at America right now. My God. We’re hurting like we seldom hurt. We’re quarreling like we seldom quarrel. We’re exceptional in our death count, in our divisions. It’s easy to feel hopeless. It’s hard to press forward. Biden’s life is a parable of pressing forward. He did that after his young wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He did it after two brain aneurysms. He did it after two previous, humiliatingly unsuccessful campaigns for the Democratic nomination. He did it some six months ago, after a fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and a fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary cast his latest and surely last presidential campaign as yet another moribund one. (Frank Bruni, 8/21)

The Washington Post: Why Biden’s Nomination Is Actually A Bold Choice
His proposals give weight to his pledge to “build back better,” starting with taming covid-19 “on day one.” “No miracle is coming,” he said, but the United States can test more, not less, and ensure that protective gear is available while a vaccine is developed. Yet Mr. Biden noted that the pandemic is only one of “four historic crises,” along with the economic downturn, the need to address racial injustice and “the existential threat posed by climate change.” By merely identifying these as critical priorities, he distinguishes himself from a Republican Party in the grips of wide-ranging reality-denial. (8/20)

USA Today: Dynamic Joe Biden Takes Command At The Democratic National Convention
The second challenge was to convince viewers that he could do a better job than President Donald Trump in battling the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 175,000 Americans, shattered the economy and upended everyday life, producing this year's "unconventional" conventions, shorn of balloon drops and delegates in funny costumes. Without referring to Trump by name, the Democratic nominee called out the president for failing to plan or take the virus seriously. "No miracle is coming," Biden said, building a case for how he intends to correct the administration's mismanagement with adequate testing, medical supplies, school resources, a national mask-wearing mandate, a reliance on science and an unmuzzling of experts. (8/21)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: No One Can Rule Out A Second Wave Of Full Lockdowns 
The resurgence of the coronavirus in Europe has reignited fears that governments will have to lock down their economies again in the autumn. Some political leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, have rushed to dismiss this possibility, saying the collateral damage from a new bout of confinement would just be too high. Europe’s second wave of Covid-19 is certainly different — and, so far, less alarming — than the first. There is plenty that politicians and the general public can do to avoid a return to the most draconian measures of March, April and May. Localized lockdowns have been effective in particular towns or regions that suffer sudden infection spikes. (Ferdinando Giugliano, 8/21)

Stat: The Trump Administration's 'Public Charge' Rule And Covid-19: Bad Policy At The Worst Time 
As Covid-19 sweeps across the country, many immigrant communities are being hit hard by the pandemic. Latino individuals are four times more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, than non-Latino white individuals. Asian immigrant communities across the U.S. have also been hit hard by the pandemic. (Jose F. Figeroa, Fabiola Molina and Benjamin D. Sommers, 8/21)

Bloomberg: Mask Mandates, Not Nudges, Are The Only Solution 
What if nudges fail? Because of the coronavirus, that question has suddenly become urgent. Efforts to nudge people to wear masks, to engage in social distancing, and to use other protective measures have done some good. But with more than 170,000 deaths, they cannot be counted a smashing success. A nudge is an intervention that steers people in particular directions, but that fully preserves freedom of choice. A GPS device nudges. So does a calorie label or a warning (“this product contains peanuts”). Whenever a nudge fails, there are three major options. The first is to give up — declare victory and insist that freedom worked, because a major point of nudging is to allow people to go their own way. The second is to nudge better. The third is to turn to some other tool, such as a mandate or a ban. (Cass R. Sunstein, 8/20)

Stat: National Reporting Can Help Tame Health Facility Acquired Infections 
Contagious diseases are as old as time and routinely appear in health care settings. New ones emerge from time to time. Yet the U.S. health care system, the most expensive in the world, was tragically unprepared for the emergence of Covid-19. (Leah Binder, 8/21)

The New York Times: What’s Behind The Recent Rise In Shootings?
Murder rates typically increase in the summer, but experts told The Times that the coronavirus has compounded the socioeconomic stressors that often give rise to gun violence, including poverty, unemployment, housing instability and hunger.In Kansas City, for example, my colleagues have reported that many recent shootings have seemingly had no clear rationale, often arising from petty arguments that devolve into violence. In many cases, economic hardship appeared to play a role. “The pandemic has exacerbated the root causes of gun violence,” Michael Sean Spence, policy and implementation director at the nonprofit group Everytown for Gun Safety, told The Times. “What we’re seeing is almost a perfect storm.” (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 8/20)

Houston Chronicle: Pandemic Causes Surge Of Human Trafficking Of Children
As the world’s attention is laser-focused on the continuing economic, social and health impacts of COVID-19, another health threat for children is lurking in the shadows of the pandemic. Although statistics on the criminal enterprise of child trafficking are notoriously difficult to measure, experts estimate global impact of about 10 million children and youths annually, 5.5 million for labor and another 1 million a year for sex. (Jessica Peck, 8/21)

Los Angeles Times: Why Trump’s Attack On Fetal Tissue In Science Doesn't Hold Up 
The use of fetal tissue has long been invaluable in scientific research on numerous fronts. Significant work on Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injury, kidney failure and Parkinson’s disease has all been aided by the use of fetal tissue. Cells from fetuses have been used to develop vaccines for rubella, rabies and other serious diseases.Yet it has been controversial because the primary source of the tissue has been elective abortions. That’s why abortion opponents have fought to stop its use in research, and anti-abortion members of Congress have investigated (harassed, really) the biomedical companies that supply it.Pandering to the abortion opponents who support the president, the Trump administration has gone out of its way to cripple research that utilizes fetal tissue. (8/21)

Sacramento Bee: Legislature Must Address Internet Access Inequities In State 
Even as millions of Californians use cutting-edge technology to manage the challenges brought on by COVID-19, more than 20% of us live in impoverished or remote areas that are unconnected or under-connected to the Internet.For many of our neighbors, this means education, jobs, banking and health care are not accessible. To this, we say: shame on us. (Betty Yee and Sunne Wright McPeak, 8/20)