The Washington Post: Wealthy Nations Applaud Their Leaders’ Covid-19 Responses. The U.S. And U.K. Are The Exceptions. 
A poll of 14 developed nations found majorities in most countries were pleased with how their governments had handled the coronavirus pandemic. More than 9 out of 10 respondents in Australia and Denmark said their countries have done a good job. But there were two countries where a majority thought otherwise: the United States and Britain.In the United States, 52 percent said they thought their government had done poorly, and 54 percent in Britain said the same. (Taylor, 8/27)

USA Today: How'd Your Country Handle COVID? Americans, Brits Have Worst Responses
United by a common language and high levels of political polarization, the USA and United Kingdom stand out in a new survey as two nations whose populations are split over how well their governments handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 14 mostly European countries, people were canvassed for attitudes about whether their leaders did a good job responding to the coronavirus: 52% of Americans and 54% of Britons have a negative or "bad" impression, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that carried out the survey of advanced economies. (Hjelmgaard, 8/27)

And there are hopeful signs as cases decline nationally —

The Hill: US Faces Long Road On COVID-19 Amid Signs Of Improvement 
Coronavirus cases nationally are falling from their July peaks and some hard-hit states are showing signs of improvement, a hopeful sign even as the country deals with about 1,000 COVID-19 deaths every day. The positive news is still dwarfed by the negative reality of the pandemic’s hold over the country. Though the situation is not as bad as it was in July, when cases peaked around 70,000 per day, the virus is still circulating around United States at a very high level, with around 40,000 new cases per day, according to the COVID Tracking Project. (Sullivan, 8/27)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Announces Deal With Abbott Laboratories For 150 Million Rapid Covid-19 Tests 
The Trump administration unveiled Thursday a $750 million deal to buy 150 million rapid Covid-19 tests from Abbott Laboratories, a move that would substantially expand the nation’s capacity for rapid testing. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday granted emergency-use authorization to the company for a $5 rapid-response Covid-19 antigen test that is roughly the size of a credit card. The test could be administered in a doctor’s or school nurse’s office and uses technology similar to home pregnancy tests. It returns results in about 15 minutes. (Ballhaus, 8/28)

The Hill: Trump Administration To Purchase 150 Million Rapid COVID-19 Tests 
The Trump administration plans to purchase nearly all of the new rapid COVID-19 tests that Abbott Labs will manufacture this year, a White House official confirmed. The administration will purchase 150 million tests as part of the $750 million deal, which President Trump is expected to announce later Thursday during his speech to accept the GOP presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention. (Weixel, 8/27)

The Washington Post: White House Announces Deal To Provide 150 Million Rapid Coronavirus Tests 
“This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school!” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted late Thursday afternoon. The move is the federal government’s biggest step into testing for the virus that has killed more than 177,000 Americans and infected more than 5.8 million. Almost since the pandemic arrived on U.S. shores in January, Trump has insisted that testing was mainly the province of state and local authorities. (Bernstein and Min Kim, 8/27)

Boston Globe: Abbott Will Hire 1,200 People To Make COVID-19 Tests At New Maine Plant 
The maker of a recently approved rapid test for the virus that causes COVID-19 says it is planning to hire 1,200 people at a new manufacturing plant in Westbrook, Maine, as it ramps up production of the new product. Abbott Laboratories, based in Illinois, said it is creating 300 permanent jobs and 900 temporary positions for the site near Portland, where it will make a new test for antigens, or proteins, found on the surface of the virus. (Rosen, 8/27)

President Trump also pledged a vaccine by the end of the year —

Stat: Trump Pledges A Covid-19 Vaccine By End Of 2020
President Trump on Thursday pledged a Covid-19 vaccine would be available by the end of 2020, the most concrete claim he has made yet about the timetable for coronavirus vaccine development. “We are delivering life-saving therapies, and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner,” he said. (Facher, 8/27)

The Washington Post: Takeaways From Republican Convention Night Four 
The boldest promise Trump made — repeatedly — in his lengthy speech Thursday was that there would be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. “We are delivering lifesaving therapies and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year — or maybe even sooner,” Trump said. He added later: “We will have a safe and effective vaccine this year, and we will crush the virus.”Trump, delivering his speech from the legally problematic perch of the White House’s South Lawn, notably went further than Vice President Pence had gone the night before. Pence said merely that “we’re on track to have the world’s first safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.” (Blake, 8/27)

In related vaccine news —

Reuters: New Reckoning For WHO Vaccine Plan As Governments Go It Alone 
The World Health Organization will next week receive a raft of pledges of support for its plan for COVID-19 vaccines for all. But the agency has already had to scale back its ambition. The United States, Japan, Britain and the European Union have struck their own deals to secure millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses for their citizens, ignoring the U.N. body’s warnings that “vaccine nationalism” will squeeze supplies. (Kelland, Guarascio and Nebehay, 8/28)

USA Today: CDC Walks Back Surprise Coronavirus Asymptomatic Testing Guidelines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted Thursday to clarify controversial coronavirus testing guidelines published Monday that said people with no symptoms "do not necessarily need a test" even if they were exposed to an infected person. ... Guidance released Thursday by CDC Director Robert Redfield says those who come in contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 patient can be tested, even if they don’t show symptoms. (Weise and Rodriguez, 8/27)

Stat: CDC Director Attempts To Clarify Controversial Covid-19 Testing Guidelines
At issue are a set of guidelines released on Monday that say that people without symptoms who have come into contact with someone with Covid-19 do not necessarily need to be tested. Earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said that “testing was recommended” for the same group. Redfield’s comments Thursday softened the change. He said testing “may be considered” for asymptomatic contacts of people who have confirmed or probable cases of Covid-19. The guidelines, he said, were intended to place “an emphasis” on testing people with symptoms, as well as people in long-term care facilities and nursing homes and people who may be particularly vulnerable to the infection. (Sheridan, 8/27)

The Hill: CDC Director Clarifies Change In Coronavirus Testing Guidelines After Backlash 
“Testing is meant to drive actions and achieve specific public health objectives. Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test; the key is to engage the needed public health community in the decision with the appropriate follow-up action,” Redfield said. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services later said Redfield was “amplifying and explaining” the guidance, rather than walking back the earlier change. (Wilson, 8/27)

Criticism of the new guidelines continues —

The Hill: American Medical Association Criticizes New Trump Testing Guidance 
The American Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors group, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s new guidance that asymptomatic people do not need to be tested, warning that it will lead to “more spikes in coronavirus.” “Months into this pandemic, we know COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic people,” Susan Bailey, president of the AMA, said in a statement. “Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus.” (Sullivan, 8/27)

The Hill: Democrats Press CDC Director Over Coronavirus Testing Guidelines 
House Democrats are taking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield to task over his agency’s coronavirus testing guidelines amid backlash over recent changes. Eighty-six lawmakers wrote in a Thursday letter that they have “grave concerns” over revised guidance issued this week limiting tests to those who show symptoms, a policy that swiftly garnered backlash from Democrats and health experts who underscored the role asymptomatic people play in spreading the virus. (Axelrod, 8/27)

Some states say they won't follow the guidelines —

Reuters: California, Florida, New York, Texas Will Not Follow New U.S. COVID-19 Testing Plan 
Several large U.S. states are not heeding new federal health officials’ calls to reduce COVID-19 testing of some exposed to the virus, joining a broad rebuke of the Trump administration by public health leaders. Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey and New York all plan to continue to test asymptomatic people who have been exposed to COVID-19, despite new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting that such tests may not be needed. (O'Donnell, 8/27)

Boston Globe: Mass. Stays Course On Testing, Despite Shift In Federal Guidelines
Massachusetts continues to recommend testing for asymptomatic people who come in contact with someone infected with the coronavirus, despite new federal guidelines saying such tests are unnecessary, a spokesman for the command center overseeing the state’s COVID-19 response said Thursday. “While we are reviewing this changed federal guidance, it is not anticipated that any immediate changes will be made to the current testing protocols,” the spokesman, Tory Mazzola, said in a statement. The state has been offering free testing for anyone in high-risk communities. (Freyer and Andersen, 8/27)

AP: Idaho Weighs Whether To Adopt New CDC Testing Guidelines
Idaho’s public health officials are trying to decide whether they’ll officially adopt new CDC guidelines that no longer recommend coronavirus testing for asymptomatic people who have had close contact with infected people. Some experts said the decision could have a big impact on how coronavirus spreads in Idaho. (Boone, 8/27)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Chemical Fire In Lake Charles After Hurricane Laura's Landfall Prompts Shelter-In-Place Order 
Hours after Hurricane Laura made landfall early Thursday, a large chemical fire erupted at a chlorine production plant just west of Lake Charles, sending a billowing plume of smoke for miles and prompting an emergency alert for people to take shelter from chlorine gas and other harmful emissions. The sprawling BioLab Inc. complex just south of Interstate 10 in Westlake caught fire around 9 a.m., about seven hours after the hurricane blasted through the area. (Baurick and Mitchell, 8/27)

NPR: Chemical Fire Burns Near Lake Charles, La., In Aftermath Of Hurricane Laura
A chemical plant in Westlake, La., that caught fire during Hurricane Laura is still burning Thursday evening. The facility, BioLab Inc., makes chlorine for swimming pools. Officials are unsure exactly when the fire started, but Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Press Secretary Greg Langley said his agency was informed of the fire around 9 a.m. local time. (Dean, Wendland and Westwood, 8/27)

The Washington Post: Fire Burns At Louisiana Swimming Pool Chemical Plant 
Fire raged Thursday at a Louisiana chemical plant damaged by Hurricane Laura, pumping dark smoke carrying chlorine gas into the sky, raising public health alarms and prompting the governor to warn residents to turn off their air conditioners, seal their homes and stay indoors. In the Lake Charles region, dotted with chemical plants and oil and gas refineries, trouble began early Thursday at a BioLab plant that manufacturers chlorine for swimming pools and disinfectants. An unknown amount of chlorine began to decompose sometime during the storm, generating heat and igniting, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Kevin W. Reeves told reporters, adding that the cause was under investigation. He said a small crew from BioLab tried to extinguish the flames before calling state police for help shortly before 10 a.m. local time as black clouds billowed from the plant. (Mufson and Fears, 8/27)

Also —

NBC News: Fears Mount Hurricane Laura Could Be COVID-19 Super-Spreader In Already Struggling Texas And Louisiana
Texas and Louisiana were still struggling to contain the pandemic as Hurricane Laura bore down on them, and now officials fear a new wave of COVID-19 infections will come in the wake of the massive storm. But it will take time before they know for sure. (Murphy and Siemaszko, 8/27)

The Washington Post: After Hurricane Laura, Concerns Mount Over Its Potential Impact On The Pandemic 
Officials on Friday were assessing the damage wrought by Hurricane Laura and its potential effects on the spread of the coronavirus. The pandemic had complicated evacuation and shelter plans before Hurricane Laura slammed ashore in southwestern coastal Louisiana early Thursday as one of the most powerful storms to strike the Gulf Coast in decades. But authorities cautioned that any potential impact on infection rates won’t be known for days to come. “We’re basically going to be blind for this week because we’ll have to discontinue much of our community-based testing,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said before the hurricane made landfall, citing the disruption of testing in the region. (Noori Farzan and Noack, 8/28)

NPR: FEMA Assesses Hurricane Damage, Taking COVID-19 Precautions 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday that while the impact of Hurricane Laura was less catastrophic than initially predicted, the storm significantly damaged many communities and remains a threat to parts of several Southern states still in its path. FEMA officials said on a call with reporters that it is working to assess the damage and distribute aid to people in need — while taking precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (Treisman, 8/27)

NPR: COVID-19 Complicates Response To Hurricane Laura, Spurs Fears Of New Outbreaks 
Texas and Louisiana were already struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus when Hurricane Laura hit early Thursday, and now some experts are warning mass evacuations could be responsible for a new wave of infections. More than half a million people were ordered to leave parts of those states in the largest evacuation since the coronavirus pandemic began. Many who heeded those warnings were directed to stay in government-paid hotel rooms or sleep in their cars since officials didn't want to open mass shelters and risk the spread of COVID-19. (Raphelson, 8/27)

AP: What Virus? At GOP's Convention, Pandemic Is Largely Ignored
It was a stunning scene in a country where parents and children have been laid to rest without their loved ones present, schools have gone to online-only learning and businesses have shut their doors to halt the spread of the coronavirus. On Thursday night, about 1,500 people gathered on the South Lawn of the White House so President Donald Trump could accept his party’s nomination for reelection in front of a roaring crowd. Masks were not required and chairs were placed inches apart from one another, with no room for social distancing, in violation of endless public health recommendations. Only those the White House expected to be in “close proximity” to the president and vice president had been tested for COVID-19. (Colvin, 8/28)

Politico: ‘We’re Here. They’re Not’: Trump Claims A MAGA Victory In An Ongoing Crisis 
President Donald Trump on Thursday presented a picture of America recognized mostly by his fiercest supporters. He boasted that a coronavirus vaccine would be ready by year’s end “or maybe even sooner,” even though scientists are uncertain about that pledge. He pushed businesses and schools to open, even though many still cannot do so safely. He promoted yet another “powerful” treatment — convalescent plasma — even though doctors caution the evidence is still developing. He boasted about low fatality rates, even though roughly 1,000 people are still dying of Covid-19 each day. (Kumar, 8/28)

The Hill: UFC's Dana White Defends Trump's Coronavirus Response: He 'Has Faced All These Obstacles Head On' 
UFC President Dana White praised President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic during his address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday. White started his speech by blasting calls to defund the police and voicing support for first responders. "Come on America! Defunding these vital positions is not the answer," he said. "The first responders have always taken care of us and now more than ever we need to take care of them." (Seipel, 8/27)

Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact: Pence Praises Trump’s ‘Seamless’ COVID Response, Leaves Out His State Feuds  
Vice President Mike Pence portrayed his boss, President Donald Trump, as a leader who has reached out across the aisle to help during the coronavirus pandemic. “President Trump marshaled the full resources of the federal government and directed us to forge a seamless partnership with governors across America in both parties,” Pence said during his speech Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention. (Greenberg, Sherman and Knight, 8/27)

Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact: Republican Convention, Day 3: Revisionist History 
In accepting the Republican Party nomination Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence accurately recounted the history of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, and how a failed British bombardment in 1814 helped inspire Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Pence’s claims about the Trump administration as well as his attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, on the other hand, were sometimes misleading, incomplete or wrong. (8/27)

Few wore masks at a crowded party celebrating Trump's renomination —

The Washington Post: Few Masks, Little Distancing: Trump Celebrates At Crowded White House Party Largely Devoid Of Coronavirus Precautions 
President Trump celebrated his renomination Thursday with a crowded party at the White House that offered a jarring contrast with a nation that is still widely shut down over fears of the coronavirus pandemic whose spread remains uncontrolled. More than 1,500 supporters poured onto the South Lawn for his formal acceptance speech to cap the Republican National Convention, and most were not wearing masks, even though they were seated closely together in white folding chairs. (Nakamura and Dawsey, 8/27)

The Hill: Hundreds Gather At White House For Trump Speech Despite COVID-19 Guidelines 
Hundreds of people packed the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday for President Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, flouting federal and local health guidance on the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 1,500 guests are expected to attend, a Trump campaign official said, with lawmakers, congressional candidates, administration officials and first responders among them. Seats were mere inches apart, and few guests were spotted wearing masks in the hours before Trump took the stage. (Samuels, 8/27)

And the Democrats respond —

CNN: Kamala Harris Slams Trump's Handling Of Coronavirus: 'He Was Scared' 
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris lambasted President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a speech Thursday designed to prebut Trump's own appearance at the Republican National Convention hours later. Ticking through what she characterized as Trump's early missteps, she said: "Donald Trump froze. He was scared. And he was petty and vindictive. "She said Trump was "fixated on the stock market" and "caved" to the Chinese government. (Merica, Lee, Bradner and Diaz, 8/27)

NBC News: DHS Mulling Plan To Collect Phone Numbers From All Arriving Air Travelers For COVID-19 Tracing
Federal health and homeland security officials are considering a contact tracing program that would require all incoming air travelers to the United States — including American citizens — to hand over phone numbers and email addresses regardless of whether they have contracted COVID-19, according to government and airline officials. The policy under consideration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security is intended to allow airlines to alert travelers who may have come in contact with an infected passenger, but two sources with knowledge of the program say the information could be accessed by law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and potentially used to track the arriving air travelers. (Strickler and Ainsley, 8/27)

The Hill: Democrats Press Esper On 'Concerning' Rise In Pentagon's COVID-19 Cases 
A group of Senate Democrats is reviving its concerns about the Pentagon’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing a spike in cases in July. In a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the nine senators called reports of a rise in cases among service members “concerning.” (Kheel, 8/27)

In other news from the Trump administration —

AP: US Detaining More Migrant Children In Hotels Despite Outcry
The Trump administration has sharply increased its use of hotels to detain immigrant children as young as 1 before expelling them from the United States during the coronavirus pandemic despite facing outcry from lawmakers and human-rights advocates. Federal authorities said they detained 577 unaccompanied children in hotels through the end of July, up from 240 in April, May and June, according to a report published late Wednesday from a court-appointed monitor for detained immigrant youth. (Merchant and Sanon, 8/27)

Stat: New Polling Shows Wide Support For Several Trump Drug Pricing Reforms 
Voters in several battleground states overwhelmingly support several of President Trump’s recent proposals to drastically cut drug prices. But they’re markedly less enthusiastic about his plan to end drug rebates, according to a new poll shared first with STAT. (Florko, 8/28)

Also —

The New York Times: How Dr. Fauci Found Himself Talking To Julia Roberts, Lil Wayne And Just About Any Podcaster Who Asked 
On March 15, as the novel coronavirus was beginning to surge in the United States, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci accomplished a rare Washington feat: He appeared on all five major Sunday talk shows. But the White House worried that Dr. Fauci might upstage (and sometimes contradict) President Trump, and soon his media handlers were no longer approving his high-profile interview requests. So Dr. Fauci found another way to get his message out: He said yes to pretty much every small offer that came his way: academic webinars, Instagram feeds and niche science podcasts, as well as a few celebrity interviews. (Bui, Sanger-Katz, Gay Stolberg, Weiland and Bennett, 8/27)

Politico: ‘We’re Not Budging’: Efforts To Restart Coronavirus Talks Sputter 
An effort to restart stalled coronavirus negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House went nowhere Thursday, with the top House Democrat saying the talks are fruitless until GOP negotiators agree to a massive $1 trillion concession. Pelosi had little new to say after a 25-minute phone conversation with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Thursday afternoon, the first communication between the two since the coronavirus relief talks collapsed in early August. (Caygle, 8/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus-Aid Talks Limp Along Between Democrats, White House 
“This conversation made clear that the White House continues to disregard the needs of the American people as the coronavirus crisis devastates lives and livelihoods,” Mrs. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said after the call. “Democrats are willing to resume negotiations once Republicans start to take this process seriously.’’ The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. (Peterson, 8/27)

NBC News: Pelosi Says Coronavirus Relief Talks At 'Tragic Impasse' After First Call With White House In Weeks
Thursday’s conversation was the first time the speaker and the White House had talked since earlier this month when President Donald Trump signed executive actions to extend enhanced unemployment benefits, defer payroll taxes and student loan payments, and discourage evictions. Democrats say they’ll file a legal challenge to what they see as circumventing Congress, which has the constitutional authority to determine federal spending. (Caldwell, 8/27)

Thursday's report from the Labor Department shows layoffs are still at historic highs —

CBS News: Unemployment Claims Remain Stuck Above 1 Million: "A Highly Stressed Labor Market"
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, but layoffs remained historically high as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the labor market. Some 1 million people applied for state unemployment benefits in the week ended August 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. That figure, which accounts for seasonal adjustments, showed a drop of about 100,000 from the week before. (Ivanova, 8/27)

Kaiser Health News: Opposition To Obamacare Becomes Political Liability For GOP Incumbents 
In the 2014 elections, Republicans rode a wave of anti-Affordable Care Act sentiment to pick up nine Senate seats, the largest gain for either party since 1980. Newly elected Republicans such as Cory Gardner in Colorado and Steve Daines in Montana had hammered their Democratic opponents over the health care law during the campaign and promised to repeal it. Six years later, those senators are up for reelection. Not only is the law still around, but it’s gaining in popularity. What was once a winning strategy has become a political liability. (Hawryluk, 8/28)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Replay: What’s At Stake When High Court Hears ACA Case  
The “What the Health?” panelists are taking a break for two weeks. But since the Supreme Court recently scheduled arguments in the case challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, it seemed like a good opportunity to replay an episode from March, when the law turned 10. As the “What the Health?” panelists point out in this episode, that’s a milestone that many considered unlikely. The past decade for the health law has been filled with controversy and several near-death experiences. But the law also brought health coverage to millions of Americans and laid the groundwork for a shift to a health system that pays for quality rather than quantity. (8/27)

The Washington Post: Medicaid Contracts Would Shift Poor D.C. Residents’ Health Care Amid Pandemic 
The D.C. Council is scrutinizing a move by the Bowser administration that would reshuffle health coverage for hundreds of thousands of the District’s sickest and poorest residents. At a hastily scheduled meeting on Thursday, lawmakers grilled administration officials about the city’s plan to cut costs by assigning all Medicaid patients to managed-care plans and splitting them randomly among three health-care providers: MedStar, AmeriHealth and CareFirst. (Zauzmer, 8/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Returning To Normal Could Be Expensive For State, Health Agency
The agency that provides health care to about 2 million Georgians is requesting almost a $400 million increase in its state budget next year. The request is not totally because of the COVID-19 pandemic but, in part, in anticipation that things will be closer to normal when fiscal 2022 starts July 1. (Salzer, 8/27)

Georgia Health News: Community Health Looks Ahead To Big Financial Hole To Fill Next Year
Enrollment in Medicaid, which covers the poor and disabled, and PeachCare, the program for uninsured children, has increased by 223,000 from March through July during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, according to state figures. That increase is linked to many people losing jobs and health insurance during the pandemic’s first few months, and therefore needing government coverage, mainly for their children. But state officials say Medicaid and PeachCare members’ use of medical services has been lower than normal during the pandemic, probably because many people have skipped appointments or check-ups out of fear of contracting COVID-19. (Miller, 8/27)

The Washington Post: Citing Reports About Use Of Hydroxychloroquine In Nursing Homes, Senators Call For Federal Probe 
Fearing the experimental use of hydroxychloroquine went “unchecked” in nursing homes struck by the coronavirus, three U.S. senators are calling on federal authorities to determine whether providers improperly treated patients, failed to disclose serious side effects or faced any repercussions from regulators responsible for oversight of the industry. In a letter sent Thursday to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) pointed to state inspection reports that cited nursing homes for treating residents with the antimalarial drug without the consent of patients or their family members. (Cenziper, 8/27)

ABC News: Controversial Coronavirus Drug Hydroxychloroquine Administered At 2 Nursing Homes, Senators Say 
Nursing homes in Texas and Pennsylvania administered hydroxychloroquine to residents battling novel coronavirus without first gaining needed approvals, according to state inspector reports highlighted by a group of Democratic senators Thursday. The senators said the drug, which has been aggressively touted by President Donald Trump as a promising treatment for COVID-19 despite sparse evidence, was used in one nursing home after the Food and Drug Administration specifically warned against its use in non-hospital settings. (Pecorin and Freger, 8/27)

In other news about hydroxychloroquine —

CIDRAP: Review Of COVID Studies Links Increased Death To Hydroxychloroquine Plus Azithromycin
A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving COVID-19 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine found that the antimalaria drug alone was not associated with reduced mortality in hospitalized patients, but when combined with the antibiotic azithromycin it was linked with significantly increased mortality, European researchers reported yesterday in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. The researchers looked at 29 studies published up until Jul 25, including 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 1 non-randomized trial. After excluding 11 studies with critical risk of bias, the meta-analysis included 11,932 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine, 8,081 treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and 12,930 who received neither drug. The investigators compared mortality between patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and those treated with the standard of care, as well as death rates with hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin. (8/27)

The New York Times: Reopened Schools Find Health Risks In Water After Covid-19 Lockdowns 
The new coronavirus is not the only illness that teachers, students, parents and staff will have to worry about as some schools attempt to reopen this fall. Legionella could lurk in the water supplies of school buildings, and some measures to keep people in schools safe from coronavirus may even increase risks from deadly illnesses caused by the bacteria. Last week in Ohio, officials found Legionella at five schools in an assortment of towns. On Friday, a district in Pennsylvania also announced it had found Legionella at four of its schools. (Horberry, 8/27)

ABC News: NYC Approves Outdoor Learning, But Offers No Plan For Schools 
Mayor Bill de Blasio's latest chess move in the tense battle over in-person education in the New York City was to unveil a surprise plan this week for outdoor learning in public, private and charter schools. "Parents have asked about it. Educators have asked about it," de Blasio said during a news conference Monday. "Outdoors is one of the things that works," de Blasio added, noting that Italy, Norway and Denmark have implemented outdoor learning effectively. "The disease doesn't spread the same way outdoors. We've seen that over and over." (Schumaker and Chalasani, 8/28)

AP: Hogan Urges All Schools To Plan Some In-Person Instruction
Maryland’s COVID-19 health metrics have improved enough for all schools to have some in-person instruction this fall, Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday. All of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions are starting the school year with online instruction, but 16 of them plan some in-person school instruction for K-12 this fall. Hogan said it “doesn’t make any sense” for eight jurisdictions to not have plans to return students to the classroom. Still, Hogan said it will remain up to local school officials to decide. (Witte, 8/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Resources For Children Who Can't Do Online School At Home
The sites give parents a supervised place to send their child during day to do their online school work. Staffers, in some cases volunteers, help students keep up with their classes, troubleshoot technology problems and even provide a bit of social interaction or extracurricular fun. (McCray, 8/26)

Detroit Free Press: Ford Fund Donates 450,000 Masks To Detroit Schools
The Ford Motor Company Fund is donating about 450,000 face masks to the Detroit Public Schools Community District to protect students and staffers as they prepare to return to school. The masks were made under Project Apollo — Ford Motor Co.'s code name for its production of personal protective equipment including respirators, face shields and medical gowns, and ventilators for COVID-19 patients. The company has been making medical-grade masks for its own workers but production is now humming to the point that the company has extras to give away to groups in need. (Wisely, 8/28)

In higher-education news —

AP/Capitol News Service: More College Students In Quarantine As COVID-19 Cases Rise
As more universities open, they’re collecting and releasing COVID-19 data and grappling with contingency plans for those who contract the disease.The University of Virginia in Charlottesville released its first set of COVID-19 testing data on Wednesday. There have been 58 total positive cases at the university since Aug. 17, including 31 students. The university’s quarantine rooms are currently 5% occupied and the isolation rooms are not occupied. (Fleischman, 8/27)

AP: 9 Greek Houses At University Of Kansas Told To Quarantine
Health officials ordered residents of nine University of Kansas fraternity and sorority chapter houses to quarantine for two weeks following a coronavirus outbreak on campus. The university opened its fall semester Monday with in-person classes and offered free testing for students, faculty and staff. By Tuesday, 222 people had tested positive out of 19,452 test results received, for a positivity rate of 1.1%, according to the university. But the rate among fraternities and sororities was nearly 5.5%, with 133 Greek members testing positive. Updated results will be released Friday. (Hanna and Hollingsworth, 8/27)

The Hill: Cuomo Says NY Colleges With 100 Coronavirus Cases Must 'Go Remote' For Two Weeks 
Colleges in New York must switch to remote learning for two weeks if they experience an outbreak of 100 or more COVID-19 cases or equal to 5 percent of their population, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Thursday. “As college students return to campus, schools must be prepared for all possibilities,” Cuomo tweeted. (Klar, 8/27)

CBS News: Coronavirus Outbreak In Massachusetts Tied To Bachelorette Party In Rhode Island 
A cluster of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts was traced to a bachelorette party in Rhode Island late last month, Gov. Charlie Baker said. Health officials in both states said 19 guests who attended the late July gathering at an undisclosed location were sickened. (8/27)

CNN: Delta Has Banned More Than 200 Passengers For Defying Mask Rule 
Delta Airlines' mask policy is not a suggestion, it's mandatory. Passengers refusing to abide by the rule to keep masks on at all times (save eating or drinking) don't get to fly with Delta. It's just that simple. As of August 27, Delta said it has banned roughly 240 people from flying with the carrier. "Although rare, we continue to put passengers who refuse to follow the required face-covering rules on our no-fly list," says Delta CEO Ed Bastian in an internal memo to employees shared with CNN. (Lastoe, 8/27)

In other public health news —

CNN: FDA Warns About Hand Sanitizer Packaged To Look Like Food Or Drinks
The US Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about alcohol-based hand sanitizers being packaged in containers that look like food or drink packaging. "The agency has discovered that some hand sanitizers are being packaged in beer cans, children's food pouches, water bottles, juice bottles and vodka bottles," a news release from the agency said. "Additionally, the FDA has found hand sanitizers that contain food flavors, such as chocolate or raspberry. (Thomas and Howard, 8/27)

Stat: Some Covid-19 Survivors Feel Stalked By Possibility Of Reinfection 
Since Covid-19 flattened him in Southern California in late June, Jarrod Castillo fears that every tickle in his throat and every twinge of pain in his limbs means he’s getting sick again. On Long Island, the thought of enduring the illness a second time fills Sadie Nagamootoo with such dread, she gets sick to her stomach. In upstate New York, where Martha Barrera suffered for more than two months with crushing respiratory symptoms, the idea of reinfection gives her such panic, she’s unable to enter a supermarket. (Glaser, 8/28)

Kaiser Health News: COVID + Influenza: This Is A Good Year To Get A Flu Shot, Experts Advise 
Flu season will look different this year, as the country grapples with a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 172,000 people. Many Americans are reluctant to visit a doctor’s office and public health officials worry people will shy away from being immunized. Although sometimes incorrectly regarded as just another bad cold, flu also kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. each year, with the very young, the elderly and those with underlying conditions the most vulnerable. When coupled with the effects of COVID-19, public health experts say it’s more important than ever to get a flu shot. (Appleby and Andrews, 8/28)

Boston Globe: New Study Confirms Staggering Racial Disparities In COVID-19 Cases In Massachusetts 
A new study quantifies COVID-19′s disproportionate toll on Black and Latino communities in Massachusetts for the first time, and explores the extent to which other demographic factors — including foreign-born noncitizen status, average household size, and the role of the essential worker — explain racial and ethnic gaps. The results, drawn from an analysis of 351 Massachusetts cities and towns, are staggering: A 10 percentage point increase in the Black population is associated with 312.3 more cases per 100,000 people. The same increase in the Latino population is associated with 258.2 more cases per 100,000. (Moore, 8/27)

Kaiser Health News: How To Weigh Evacuation Options With Both Wildfires And COVID At Your Door  
As the smoke thickened near her home in Santa Cruz, California, last week, Amanda Smith kept asking herself the same questions: Should we leave? And where would we go? The wildfire evacuation zone, at the time, ended a few blocks from her house. But she worried about what the air quality — which had reached the second-highest warning level, purple for “very unhealthy” — would do to her children’s lungs. Her 4-year-old twins had spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit; one was later diagnosed with asthma, and last year was hospitalized with pneumonia. (Gold, 8/28)

Sacramento Bee: Does My Mask Protect Me From Smoke? Here’s The Expert Advice 
In recent days, Sacramento weather conditions have improved, reducing smoke in the air, but hundreds of wildfires continue to burn across California. This fire season brought novel challenges, since poor air quality limited the potential for outdoor activities — which officials had encouraged as a safer alternative during the pandemic. It’s a complicated time, so The Bee spoke to several experts to get their advice on taking care of our health this fire season. (Kerber, 8/28)

CNN: Peach Recall Expanding Over Possible Salmonella Contamination After 78 Sickened In 12 States 
A peach recall has expanded to include loose peaches and peach products after 78 people were sickened in 12 states by salmonella poisoning linked to the fruit, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Of the 78 reported cases of illness traced back to the potentially tainted fruit between June 29 and Aug. 3, 23 victims were hospitalized, the CDC reported. No deaths have been reported. Victims ranged in age from one to 92 years old. (Erdman, 8/27)

GMA: Sheryl Crow Urges Women To Take Breast Cancer Screening Seriously Amid COVID-19 Pandemic 
Sheryl Crow is speaking about the importance of breast cancer screening amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. It's been 14 years since the 58-year-old singer was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, and she says early detection played such a large role in her battle with the disease. (FitzPatrick, 8/28)

In obituaries —

The New York Times: Charles Cook, Ground Zero Volunteer For Months, Dies At 79 
Mr. Cook died on Aug. 19 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 79. His brother, Dan Cook, said the cause was complications of pancreatitis and gall bladder disease. Charles Cook had respiratory problems from his extensive time at ground zero, and he had also recovered from Covid-19, his brother said, but neither appeared to have played a direct role in his death. (Seelye, 8/27)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: COVID-19 Is A ‘Crisis Within A Crisis’ For Homeless People
Nearly 200 tents stand inches apart on the scorching gravel lots, many covered in blankets for an extra layer of relief from the desert sun. Outside, their occupants sit on hot ground or in folding chairs, nearby palm trees providing no shade. Despite 12-foot-square sections painted in the gravel, there is little social distancing for Phoenix’s homeless population. Created by local officials in late April as a temporary solution for some of the estimated 3,700 unsheltered homeless, the fenced-in lots on the edge of downtown promised round-the-clock security, social distancing and access to water and toilets. But residents complain that hygiene supplies have become scarce, and measures meant to contain the spread of COVID-19 are not enforced. (Bohannon, Surma, Fast, Abdaladze, Lupo, Fields and Garg, 8/24)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: Homeless In 43 Counties Most Vulnerable To COVID-19
The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism developed a vulnerability index to understand which counties' homeless populations might struggle the most in a COVID-19 outbreak. The index was based on an analysis of homeless and poverty rates, as well as numbers of doctors and shelter beds in a given area. (Fast, 8/24)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: Voices Of The Homeless
Homeless people across the U.S. talk about their struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Audio has been edited for length and clarity. (Abdaladze, Lupo, Fields, Bohannon and Garg, 8/24)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: Months Later, Communities Still Await Federal Homeless Aid
Four months after Congress rushed $4 billion to help the nation’s homeless population cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, most of those funds still have not made their way to local communities, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found, and even those with access to the money have yet to receive federal guidelines on how it can be spent. The head of one homeless nonprofit in Florida, a state with one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates, said the delay means that some people are living on the street when they could have been housed. (Surma, 8/25)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: COVID’s Impact On The Homeless Is Largely Unknown
No one knows how many homeless people have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, not even the nation’s homelessness czar. One man in New York City describes his pandemic plight. (Fast, 8/25)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: Homeless Workers Face Heightened Risks In The Pandemic
At the beginning of the pandemic, Tiffany Cordaway’s biggest struggle was finding a place to shower. She worked two jobs in Northern California, disinfecting medical equipment during the day and caring for an elderly couple overnight. When she finally clocked out, she just wanted to clean up. But she had nowhere to do that. Cordaway, 47, was homeless, sleeping in a friend’s car between her two eight-hour shifts. Unlike her co-workers, who talked about showering when they got home, she worried about finding hot water and a place to clean up where no one could see her. Some nights, she just washed from a 2-liter bottle of water. (Lupo, Abdaladze, Bohannon, Garg, Fields and Surma, 8/26)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: Homeless People In Rural America Struggle To Find Help
Allie Smith was three months shy of high school graduation when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and students were sent home to finish the year remotely. The problem is, Smith doesn’t really have a home. The 18-year-old is one of an estimated 1.5 million students classified by the U.S. Department of Education as homeless because of unstable living situations. Smith grew up in New Castle, a rural town of almost 22,000 in western Pennsylvania, bouncing from group homes to foster care in between stints living with her mom, dad and other family members. (Fields and Surma, 8/27)

Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University: COVID-19 Homeless Work-Arounds Turn Into Silver Linings
When the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle moved its homeless residents from crowded shelters into hotels, staff worried about how to keep them connected to services. They decided to buy cellphones, tablets and laptops, and now their clients at the Red Lion Hotel can virtually attend medical appointments and meet with mental health specialists with greater flexibility than before the pandemic. In San Francisco, homeless workers are providing small amounts of alcohol and nicotine to homeless people with addictions to encourage them to remain in quarantine. And throughout the country, shelter operators are seeing new life in people who have been relocated to hotels and motels that have been empty because of COVID-19 travel restrictions. (Garg and Fields, 8/28)

The Washington Post: Six Feet May Not Be Enough To Protect Against Coronavirus, Experts Warn 
Public health experts are reevaluating guidelines for safe social distancing amid growing evidence that the novel coronavirus can travel farther than 6 feet under certain conditions. A team of infectious-disease experts argues in a new analysis, published this week in the BMJ, that six-feet protocols are too rigid and are based on outmoded science and observations of different viruses. Other researchers say six feet is a start — but only a start, warning that more space is almost always better, especially in poorly ventilated areas indoors. (Guarino, 8/27)

Kaiser Health News: 5 Things To Know About Convalescent Blood Plasma 
President Donald Trump told the American people this week that convalescent plasma is a potential new treatment for COVID-19. His announcement followed the Food and Drug Administration’s decision Sunday to grant fast-track authorization for its emergency use as a treatment for hospitalized COVID patients. This “emergency use authorization” triggered an outcry from scientists and doctors, who said the decision was not supported by adequate clinical evidence and criticized the FDA for what many perceived as bowing to political pressure. (Knight, 8/27)

CIDRAP: Comparison Of COVID-19 Antibody Tests Reveals Wide Range Of Performance
An evaluation of assays to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has found a wide range of performance, underscoring the need for rigorous test validation with standardized sample sets. The study, published today in Nature Biotechnology, involved a comparison of 10 point-of-care lateral flow assays (LFAs) and two lab-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in 5-day intervals from symptom onset. Specificity was determined using blood samples donated before the pandemic. (8/27)

In other news —

Crain's Chicago Business: AbbVie, Harvard Form $30 Million Research Deal
AbbVie and Harvard University have entered into a $30 million research alliance with the goal of developing new therapies for viral infections.In addition to the money, which AbbVie will provide over three years, the North Chicago drugmaker’s scientists and facilities will help advance research and early-stage development efforts at Harvard Medical School, AbbVie announced today. The deal focuses on infections caused by coronaviruses and those that can affect the blood’s ability to clot, such as Ebola. (Goldberg, 8/27)

Stat: Amazon Debuts Wearable Halo, Marking Its Entry Into Health Tracking
Joining the ranks of other health tech giants, Amazon on Thursday debuted a wrist wearable that could give it a toehold into the increasingly hot field of health tracking. Called Halo, the screenless device can track sleep, body temperature, physical activity, and voice patterns, and will also give users the option to link some health data to their electronic medical records. (Brodwin, 8/27)

Modern Healthcare: Sharp HealthCare First To Deploy Amazon's New Health Wearable
Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new health gadget, dubbed the Amazon Halo Band, with plans already underway to distribute the wearable device to some patients at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego. Cerner Corp. customers, such as Sharp HealthCare, will be able to let patients share data from the wearable into their medical record—the latest step in a partnership with Amazon that Cerner announced last summer. (Cohen, 8/27)

In other health industry news —

Stat: NIH Awards Grant To EcoHealth Alliance After Political Uproar
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $7.5 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on finding unknown viruses in nature, months after the cancellation of an earlier award to the group prompted an outcry over political interference. EcoHealth had previously established a partnership with a virology laboratory in Wuhan, China — the city where the Covid-19 pandemic is believed to have begun — under the terms of a five-year grant from the NIH. That grant was due to run through 2024 but was abruptly canceled in April. (Branswell, 8/27)

Modern Healthcare: Allina Health, BCBS Of Minnesota Form Value-Based Payment Model
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Allina Health formed a six-year value-based payment model, the organizations announced Thursday. The insurer, which covers about a third of Minnesotans, and the 11-hospital system based in Minneapolis aim to reduce costs by 10% over five years by incentivizing more preventative and coordinated care, the organizations said. This would boost doctor-patient relationships, limit administrative expense and ultimately improve outcomes for around 130,000 Blue Cross members who receive care at Allina each year, executives said. (Kacik, 8/27)

Dallas Morning News: UT Southwestern And Children’s Health To Build First Joint Project In RedBird Mall
Children’s Health, the region’s leading pediatric provider, is teaming with UT Southwestern Medical Center to bring an outpatient clinic to RedBird Mall and expand treatment options for children in southern Dallas. The joint project is the first since UT Southwestern and Children’s formed a pediatric partnership last year, and it’s notable that they chose to expand in an underserved community where health disparities are common. (Schnurman, 8/27)

Stat: Employers Plan How To Blunt The Cost Of Gene Therapies, Pricey New Drugs
As the pharmaceutical industry develops increasingly expensive medicines – notably, those costing seven figures – a new survey finds the largest employers in the U.S. plan to boost the use of various tactics to mitigate the expense and, in some cases, possibly postpone access for employees. For instance, 44% of 122 employers expect to delay placing million-dollar-drugs on their formularies for a set amount of time, or at least until a pharmacy benefits manager vets safety and effectiveness. (Silverman, 8/27)

AP: Report: Hawaii Auditors Stonewalled In Contact Tracing Probe
A report from Hawaii’s state auditor’s office says Department of Health officials stonewalled them while attempting to get answers about the government’s coronavirus contact tracing program. The report, which was released Wednesday, says the auditor’s office “encountered barriers, delays, and ultimately were denied access to those responsible for leading the department’s contact tracing.” (Jones, 8/28)

In news from Nevada —

AP: Bars, Taverns To Remain Closed In Las Vegas, Reno
Bars and taverns in the Las Vegas and Reno areas will remain closed after Clark and Washoe counties didn’t offer new proposals Thursday to the state task force responsible for approving virus prevention plans. The task force kept existing plans in place in counties flagged as high-risk. Meanwhile, bars can remain open in Lander County and all of Nye County except Pahrump. (Metz, 8/27)

AP: The Mirage Joins Vegas Hotels Open After Coronavirus Hiatus
Another iconic Las Vegas Strip resort has joined casinos that have reopened since being closed in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Mirage reopened Thursday in what MGM Resorts International chief executive Bill Hornbuckle called a step toward economic recovery for employees and the community. (8/27)

In news from Oregon, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Michigan —

AP: 2 Inmates From Same Oregon Prison Die On Same Day
Two inmates from the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution died of COVID-19 within hours of each other, prison officials said Thursday. The deaths on Wednesday bring the total of COVID-19 fatalities in Oregon’s prisons to five, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. (8/28)

Billings Gazette: Wyoming Corrections Department 'Encouraged' By Latest Round Of COVID Testing That Identified 5 New Inmate Cases
ss retesting at Wyoming's state prison found five new coronavirus cases among inmates, an apparent slowing of the spread there that "encouraged" officials within the Department of Corrections"Comprehensive retesting has been completed at this facility and of the 726 samples taken there were only 5 positive inmate results and zero staff this round," department spokesman Mark Horan said in a statement. "We are very encouraged as this indicates our containment efforts have successfully reduced transmission." (Klamann, 8/27)

The Oklahoman: Average Oklahoma County Jail Population On Downward Trend, But Disparities Still Exist
The average inmate population at the Oklahoma County jail has stayed below 1,700 people for over a year, a downward trend after nearly two decades of populations routinely above 2,000. The decline in numbers is being attributed to diversion programs, collaboration between local judges, changes in state law and dedicated funding to address mental health and substance abuse issues. (Branch, 8/28)

Detroit Free Press: New Coronavirus Billboards, Ads Target Young, Diverse Michiganders
A group of young women are hanging out together, but Rona's with them, too, and hitches a ride when one of them later visits her mother. When people go to the beach, Rona tags along. It's all part of a $5 million ad and marketing campaign created by a coalition of Michigan businesses and health care companies to remind people how easily the virus can spread in the community. The aim is to reduce transmission in Michigan and allow for the state's economy to completely reopen. (Shamus, 8/27)

In news from Georgia —

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 15 Sex Trafficking Victims Among 39 Missing Children Recovered In Georgia
For law enforcement officials who spend countless hours investigating child sex trafficking cases, the work can feel like an uphill battle against evil. Those who traffic minors for sex tend to fly under the radar. And when a child is rescued from an abusive situation, they’re often reluctant to accept help or speak out against those who harmed them. (Abusaid, 8/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia WIC Implements Breastfeeding Support Campaign
The Georgia Department of Public Health recently announced the Georgia Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Breastfeeding Support social marketing campaign “Learn Together. Grow Together,” according to a press release. The goal of the campaign is to increase knowledge of and promote breastfeeding among Georgia mothers.The campaign highlights breastfeeding as a journey, family and partners are important parts of the team, and moms need encouragement, too. In addition to social media presence on Facebook and Instagram, activities consist of virtual breastfeeding classes, mom-to-mom support groups, and enhanced breastfeeding training for WIC staff in Clayton and DeKalb counties. (Miller, 8/27)

Reuters: UK Transport Minister: 'It Is Now Safe To Return To Work' 
Britain’s government will urge people to return to offices and other workplaces where it is safe to do so to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday. “Our central message is pretty straightforward: we are saying to people it is now safe to return to work,” he told LBC radio. (8/28)

The New York Times: U.K. Urges Workers to Return to Offices
Starting next week, when schools reopen, the government will begin an ad campaign designed to reassure people that their workplaces have been made safe over the summer and they can return to them with the right health and safety precautions. ... The advertisements, to be placed mainly in local and regional media, come amid mounting concern from some business groups that prolonged working from home is seriously harming the economies of town and city centers that rely on commuters. (Nelson, 8/28)

Reuters: Japan, Eyeing Olympics, Lines Up Half-Billion Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine 
Japan is making an aggressive move to grab enough coronavirus vaccine to inoculate its population four times over, a push the government hopes will instil confidence that it can host a delayed summer Olympics next year. Like other rich countries, Japan is signing multiple deals because some of the vaccines could fail in clinical trials or require more than one dose, an approach some experts consider prudent. But Japan has something else riding on a successful mass rollout of a vaccine: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s enduring aim to bring thousands of athletes and fans to Tokyo for the Games in 2021, after the event fell through this year due to the pandemic. (Swift, 8/28)

And in other health news from Japan --

The Washington Post: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Resigns, Citing Ill Health 
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he had decided to resign because of illness, after weeks of speculation about the conservative leader's political future following recent visits to the hospital. In a news conference in Tokyo, Abe told reporters that he had been "struggling" with his health, which had begun to deteriorate in mid-July, and he was ready to call time on his leadership of the world's third-largest economy. (Denyer and Crawshaw, 8/28)

And elsewhere around the globe —

AP: Costa Rica Counts Some COVID-19 Cases Without Tests
Costa Rica has adopted a less strict method of counting people infected with the new coronavirus, suddenly adding thousands of new cases to the country’s COVID-19 totals. The new “nexus” criteria adopted this month count people who show symptoms of the disease and who had direct contact with someone who tested positive, even if they were not tested themselves. (Cordoba, 8/27)

AP: Increasingly, LatAm Hospitals Allow Visits To COVID Patients
When Augusto Briceño hugged his mother in her bed in the COVID-19 intensive-care ward, he said he sensed the warmth of her body through his protective gloves, and felt full of peace. “I closed my eyes and tried to forget the gloves were there,″ the 59-year-old pediatrican said. He stroked her hair and soon after, she died. Despite his grief, Briceño said he felt lucky. (Calatrava, 8/27)

AP: Masks Imposed On Paris; 20% Of France In Virus Red Zone
The virus is actively circulating in about 20% of France’s regions and masks will now be required for everyone in Paris starting Friday — but the government is determined to reopen schools next week, get workers back on the job and kick off the Tour de France cycling race on Saturday. Showing a map of the country’s new “red zones,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday urged local authorities to impose new restrictions to slow infections and prevent another economically devastating national lockdown. (Charlton, 8/27)

The New York Times: How Bacteria-Eating Bacteria Could Help Win The War Against Germs 
Henry N. Williams’s favorite movie-action sequence unfolds on a strip of glass just a few millimeters across. It’s a cinematic showdown between two bacterial cells: Vibrio coralliilyticus, a large, rod-shaped marine microbe, and a petite pursuant, Halobacteriovorax, that has latched onto the bigger bacterium. The Vibrio, desperate to jettison its assailant, wriggles and whirls through a pool of liquid, zigzagging in futility before finally coming to a “screeching halt,” as Dr. Williams described it. Then the Halobacteriovorax starts its dirty work: It punctures the Vibrio’s exterior and begins to bore inside, where it will gorge on its host’s innards, clone itself many times over and burst free to find its next meal. (Wu, 8/25)

The New York Times: Heat, Smoke And Covid Are Battering The Workers Who Feed America 
Work began in the dark. At 4 a.m., Briseida Flores could make out a fire burning in the distance. Floodlights illuminated the fields. And shoulder to shoulder with dozens of others, Ms. Flores pushed into the rows of corn. Swiftly, they plucked. One after the other. First under the lights, then by the first rays of daylight. By 10:30 a.m., it was unbearably hot. Hundreds of wildfires were burning to the north, and so much smoke was settling into the San Joaquin Valley that the local air pollution agency issued a health alert. Ms. Flores, 19, who had joined her mother in the fields after her father lost his job in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, found it hard to breathe in between the tightly planted rows. Her jeans were soaked with sweat. (Sengupta, 8/25)

The New York Times: The Extra Stigma Of Mental Illness For African-Americans 
I was a 22-year-old temp working for a high-profile company when I collapsed on the bathroom floor at work. I had no clue what was happening and neither did anyone around me. My heart was beating loudly, making it difficult to think, move or speak. When I was taken to a hospital, the doctor told me what I had experienced was a panic attack induced by severe stress. I went back to work the next day and acted as if nothing had happened. I was ashamed, and my pride wouldn’t let me discuss the matter with my worried co-workers. (Givens, 8/25)

Stories about the health care industry —

Vox: Obamacare Saved Health Insurance For Millions During Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has been the first serious test for the Affordable Care Act as a new social safety net — and the law’s provisions have proven adept, if imperfect, in protecting Americans from losing health insurance in the middle of an infectious disease outbreak and an economic crisis. Two new analyses published in the last week explain concisely (as will I, aided by their charts) the depth of coverage losses resulting from the job losses of the last six months and the ACA’s success in catching many of those people to give them a new health insurance plan. (Scott, 8/26)

The New York Times: The Fine Line Between Choice And Confusion In Health Care 
American opponents of proposed government-run health systems have long used the word “choice” as a weapon. One reason “Medicare for all” met its end this year has been the decades-long priming of the public that a health system should preserve choice — of plans and doctors and hospitals. To have choice is to be free, according to many. So how many Americans actually have choices, and what type of freedom do choices provide? (Frakt, 8/24)

Fortune: Why An Amazon And Airbnb Vet Joined A Digital Health Company That Wants To Slash Drug Prices 
Geoffrey and Matt Chaiken have an ambitious plan to lower the price that consumers have to pay for their prescription drugs. And they've enlisted the help of a prominent player who's both an Amazon and Airbnb veteran to help achieve their mission through his knowledge of the interplay between consumers and technology: Vinayak Hegde is now the COO and president of the Chaiken brothers' company, Blink Health.While Blink made their announcement about Hegde's appointment earlier this month, this is the first time that Geoffrey Chaiken, and Hegde himself, have spoken with a media organization. (Mukherjee, 8/24)

The California Sunday Magazine: What Happened In Room 10?
The Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, was the first COVID hot spot in the U.S. Forty-six people associated with the nursing home died, exposing how ill-prepared we were for the pandemic — and how we take care of our elderly. This is their story. (Engelbart, 8/23)

Stat: The Scientist Behind #BlackInNeuro Is Building The Hastag Into A Community
Angeline Dukes, a graduate student in neuroscience, didn’t intend to organize an entire movement. But she did have a question. She had noticed other Twitter movements highlighting Black scientists in fields like birding, astronomy, and physics. She wondered: Where’s neuroscience? So in early July, Dukes, who is Black, tweeted:  “Sooo when are we doing a #BlackInNeuro week?” (Ortolano, 8/26)

The New York Times: Doctors Enter College Football’s Politics Amid Covid Pandemic, But Maybe Just For Show 
As Justin Fields, the star quarterback at Ohio State, was gathering more than 300,000 electronic signatures to beseech Big Ten university presidents to reverse their decision to postpone football this fall, he was applauded by his coach, Ryan Day, who in turn was being hailed by his athletic director, Gene Smith. Nobody, though, was cheering on Dr. Curt Daniels. Daniels, the director of sports cardiology at Ohio State, had also been busy, working to publish a three-month study whose preliminary findings were presented to Pac-12 and Big Ten leaders before they shut down football earlier this month. Daniels said that cardiac M.R.I.s, an expensive and sparingly used tool, revealed an alarmingly high rate of myocarditis — heart inflammation that can lead to cardiac arrest with exertion — among college athletes who had recovered from the coronavirus. (Witz, 8/23)

Stories about parenting and relationships —

The Washington Post: Our Baby Died After I Carried Him For 23 Weeks. A Simple Test Could Have Saved His Life. 
Our beautiful son, Eli Parker Levitt, was born July 5 at just 23 weeks. He came out sucking his thumb and was the most perfect being I had ever seen. In the moments between the time I laid my eyes on him and when the doctors handed him to me, Eli was dead. Our beautiful baby boy was gone. My story is tragic, but not unique. I had a fairly typical pregnancy, with only minor complications, raising our hopes that we were out of the woods for a miscarriage or loss. But like many women, I had an “incompetent cervix.” (Spiro-Levitt, 8/24)

The New York Times: How To Handle Separation Anxiety Meltdowns In Kids 
For Greg Clapp, it felt like a switch had flipped. Six weeks ago, Clapp’s son, Nolan, went from being a content, even-keeled soon-to-be 2-year-old to a toddling ball of nerves — almost overnight. During routine family walks around the neighborhood, Nolan, usually perfectly happy around new people, started running to his parents, whimpering to be picked up and held whenever a stranger passed. At bedtime, Nolan started attaching himself to the nearest parent, shrieking if his mother or father left the room even for a few minutes, and wailing as he was put him down for bed. (Couch, 8/20)

The New York Times: I Don’t Know If My Relationship Will Survive The Pandemic 
“I can’t take it anymore,” I told my partner of seven years and the father of my two children. “Maybe we should start looking for separate places.” Then I stormed out of our 700-square-foot apartment and took off down our quiet tree-lined street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Tears dampened the corners of my mask as I contemplated all that had brought me to this point: considering ending my relationship. It wasn’t a twin loss at 19 weeks; it wasn’t the several subsequent miscarriages; it wasn’t the birth of our two children, a cross-country move, or a contentious N.F.C. Championship game between my beloved Seattle Seahawks and his Green Bay Packers in January that threatened the longevity of our relationship. (Campaomor, 8/26)

Los Angeles Times: CDC's Incredibly Bad Coronavirus Testing Advice
It has been a bad week for the credibility of federal health officials, who have backtracked under fire from two ill-considered pandemic directives that were adopted under pressure from the White House. It started Sunday with the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, grossly overstating the benefits of giving COVID-19 patients blood plasma from people who’d recovered from the coronavirus. To support President Trump’s announcement that the therapy was some sort of amazing breakthrough (it isn’t) and that the FDA would be giving it emergency approval, Hahn had said the treatment would save an additional 35 lives out of 100 patients treated. Other medical experts quickly pointed out, however, that the data showed no such thing, and on Tuesday Hahn publicly apologized. The following day it was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s turn for embarrassment. (8/28)

Stat: My Severe Covid-19: It Felt Like Dying In Solitary Confinement 
Covid-19 is teaching everyone in medicine lessons about health care and public health. Mine have been up close, personal, and frightening. One day I was a healthy 44-year-old doctor, CEO of a health care company, and a triathlete who was prepared to do another triathlon. Then I was a Covid-19 patient a few shallow breaths away from being put on a ventilator. A nurse saved me from that fate. (Christopher Chen, 8/28)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Convention Speech Was Selling A Fantasy Version Of Himself 
It was a beautiful image. That’s all it was, but that was the most important thing. It was, in fact, the only thing. On Thursday evening, the stage was dramatically set for the president’s speech to the Republican National Convention on the South Lawn of the White House. Surely there were no more American flags left in the land because they were all assembled as a backdrop for the night’s grand finale.A pandemic is raging, preventing Americans from traveling freely, shuttering schools and keeping businesses closed. But not at Trump’s White House. The perfectly manicured lawn was filled with little white chairs that were spaced inches apart and most of the 1,500 or so people in attendance were maskless. Cabinet members, Trump family members, supporters and a beatific Vice President Pence were all nestled up next to one another. It wasn’t so much a cult of denial, but a cult of personality. (Robin Givhan, 8/28)

The Wall Street Journal: The Trump Disruption
Mr. Trump failed to repeal ObamaCare and has now defaulted to promoting drug price controls that would limit the development of new cures. He also failed on what could have been a landmark immigration reform, trading some legalization for more border security. His televised naturalization service this week clashes with his often harsh limits on even legal immigration. (8/27)

Fox News: Trump’s Strong Republican Convention Speech Increases His Reelection Chances
“Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens,” Trump said. Notably, the convention also made clear strides to emphasize diversity within the Republican Party, with noteworthy speeches by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. All this combined to make the Republican Convention effective at communicating Trump’s message for reelection, and drew a strong contrast between him and Biden. (Doug Schoen, 8/28)

The Washington Post: Trump Will Endanger American Lives If It Helps Him Get Reelected 
We are in the middle of a pandemic that has killed 177,000 Americans. Every rational medical expert on the planet, including those in Trump’s administration, has the same advice: Since we do not have a vaccine, wear masks and socially distance. Trump refuses. He invited 1,500 non-mask-wearing members of his cult and set out chairs on the South Lawn of the White House for them in close proximity to each other. (An unspecified number were tested.) He wants the false image of normalcy — the same thing he sought in his rally in Tulsa and could not get. He is more than willing to endanger those he invited — not to mention staff who come in contact with them — to make himself look more successful in addressing the pandemic and increase his chances of reelection. He tries to will the pandemic out of existence. And he prefers whatever political advantage he can wring out of his TV events over protecting the lives of Americans. You cannot get a better description of the essence of Trump. (Jennifer Rubin, 8/27)

The New York Times: America’s Coronavirus Reopening Choice: Schools, Bars Or Disney World? 
My daughter argues that as long as she’s seeing all of her friends together in school, they should be able to gather together in their houses as well. Unfortunately, she has risk exactly backward. She’s not alone; lots of Americans do. My kids, like most in Indiana, have been back at school since mid-August. Each time my 9th and 11th grader head off to high school, they spend more time among other human beings in a day than they had cumulatively all summer. Because of that, they along with many of their friends and those friends’ parents think that there’s less reason to be careful in other aspects of their lives.But as we loosen restrictions in some areas, we should be increasing restrictions in others. (Aaron E. Carroll, 8/28)

The New York Times: Kenosha Tells Us More About Where The Right Is Headed Than The R.N.C. Did
To the conservative media, however, what happened in Kenosha was eminently justifiable and even cause for celebration. “Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Tucker Carlson said on the Wednesday broadcast of his Fox News show. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Carlson, who has an average nightly audience of more than 4 million viewers, blamed local political leaders for the killings. “Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it. People in charge in Wisconsin from the governor on down refused to enforce the law,” he said. “They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.” Ann Coulter, a conservative author and provocateur, said that she wanted (the shooter) Rittenhouse “as my president.” (Jamelle Bouie, 8/28)