The New York Times: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surpass 9 Million With No End In Sight
More than 2,000 new coronavirus cases in Colorado. More than 6,400 new cases in Illinois. And more than 1,000 new cases in New Mexico. All record-breaking numbers for those states — and all on a day when the United States as a nation reached two grim new highs. On Thursday, the country recorded at least 90,000 new cases (that’s the equivalent of more than one per second) and crossed the threshold of nine million cases since the start of the pandemic. (10/30)

USA Today: 'There's No Way To Sugarcoat It': COVID-19 Cases Are Surging; One American Dies Every 107 Seconds
The U.S. set a record this week for new coronavirus cases over a seven-day period with more than 500,000 infections. An American is testing positive every 1.2 seconds. Daily deaths are also climbing – one of us is dying every 107 seconds, according to Johns Hopkins data. And daily hospitalizations have been rising steadily for more than a month, from 28,608 on Sept. 20 to more than 44,000 on Tuesday. (Bacon, 10/29)

Reuters: Task Force Sees 'Unrelenting' COVID-19 Spread; Daily U.S. Cases Up By Record 91,000 
The White House coronavirus task force warned that much of the country is in the grips of an “unrelenting” surge in COVID-19 cases and urged tough countermeasures, as the number of U.S. infections reported on Thursday hit a new daily record of more than 91,000. The hardest-hit regions in the West and Midwest encompass a number of battleground states expected to play a pivotal role in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election contest between Republican incumbent Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. “We are on a very difficult trajectory. We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading task force member and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Chiacu and Michalska, 10/29)

CNN: US Coronavirus Cases Hit Record Daily High And Experts Warn Daily Death Rates Will Triple By Mid-January 
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine says it is most likely that by the middle of January, 2,250 Americans will be dying every day from the coronavirus -- three times more than the current rate. And it could get much worse. "If states do not react to rising numbers by re-imposing mandates, cumulative deaths could reach 514,000 by the same date," the IHME said in its latest forecast. (Cullinane, 10/30)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Cases Are Surging In Swing States That Will Decide The Presidential Election 
Coronavirus cases are surging in every competitive state before Election Day, offering irrefutable evidence against President Trump’s closing argument that the pandemic is nearly over and restrictions are no longer necessary. In the 13 states deemed competitive by the Cook Political Report, the weekly average of new cases reported daily has jumped 45 percent over the past two weeks, from fewer than 21,000 on Oct. 14 to more than 30,000 on Oct. 28. (Stevens, 10/29)

And California's Bay Area reports its first dual case of COVID-flu —

San Francisco Chronicle: First Known Case In Bay Area Of Dual Coronavirus-Flu Infection Found In Solano County
The first known case in the Bay Area of a dual coronavirus-influenza infection was confirmed Thursday in Solano County, prompting health officials to urge residents to hurry up and get flu shots and double down on social distancing and mask wearing. The Solano County Department of Health and Social Services described the unlucky patient as an otherwise healthy individual under the age of 65, but the county did not release any personal information. (Fimrite, 10/29)

NPR: Internal Documents Reveal COVID-19 Hospitalization Data The Government Keeps Hidden
As coronavirus cases rise swiftly around the country, surpassing both the spring and summer surges, health officials brace for a coming wave of hospitalization and deaths. Knowing which hospitals in which communities are reaching capacity could be key to an effective response to the growing crisis. That information is gathered by the federal government — but not shared openly with the public. NPR has obtained documents that give a snapshot of data the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collects and analyzes daily. The documents — reports sent to agency staffers — highlight trends in hospitalizations and pinpoint cities nearing full hospital capacity and facilities under stress. They paint a granular picture of the strain on hospitals across the country that could help local citizens decide when to take extra precautions against COVID-19. (Huang and Simmons-Duffin, 10/30)

The Hill: Winter COVID-19 Wave Poses Threat To Nation's Hospitals
Coronavirus hospitalizations are rising in the United States as a wave builds ahead of winter, threatening to overwhelm hospitals in some areas. Several major European countries currently have even worse outbreaks than the U.S., but former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned Wednesday that the U.S. is on a trajectory to match them in about three weeks. (Sullivan, 10/29)

USA Today: Wisconsin Is On Track To Run Short Of ICU Beds In Two To Six Weeks
Wisconsin is on track to run out of beds in the intensive care unit and, more importantly, the nurses to staff them, in as little as two weeks if the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 does not drop. On Tuesday, when the state reported a record 5,200 positive cases, only 187 of the state's 1,469 intensive care unit beds were available. Of the patients in ICUs, 319 were being treated for COVID-19. Given the trajectory of new cases, the number of COVID-19 patients being treated could double in two to six weeks, said Bill Melms, chief medical officer for Marshfield Clinic Health System. (Boulton, 10/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Hospitals Hope To Avoid Nationwide Surge Of Coronavirus Cases But Are Planning For The Worst 
As the United States sets records for new coronavirus cases, overwhelming hospitals in states including Texas, Utah and the Dakotas, Maryland still has beds and supplies to spare. Cases have been climbing in Maryland this month, reaching a high since Aug. 1 of 962 new cases Thursday. Hospitalizations topped 500 Wednesday, after falling to a low in late September, but still remain well below the peak in early May of more than 1,700 hospitalized. (Cohn, 10/30)

NPR: Amid COVID-19 Upswing, El Paso, Texas, Doctor Says ICU Is 'Surreal' And 'Strange' 
A dramatic upswing in COVID-19 cases and positivity rates in El Paso, Texas, has led officials to ask residents to stay at home for two weeks and to impose a mandatory countywide curfew. Dr. Ogechika Alozie, chief medical officer of the Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, told NPR's Morning Edition that as you walk through the intensive care unit "it hits you just how surreal and how strange this is." (Greene, 10/29)

NPR: 'No Pandemic Exception To The Constitution': Court Rejects Minn. Ballot Extension
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with Minnesota Republicans in a dispute on mail-in ballots, deeming that absentee votes received by mail after 8 p.m. and in person after 3 p.m. should be separated from other ballots. The move means that the fate of those later-received ballots will likely fall in the lap of another court, which could eventually declare the votes invalid. This ruling reverses an extension by Secretary of State Steve Simon to accommodate voters who may have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. (Wise, 10/29)

The Washington Post: Appeals Court Panel Rules Minnesota Must Set Aside Ballots Received After Election Day In Case They Are Invalidated 
Under a federal appeals court panel decision issued Thursday evening, Minnesotans must return mail-in ballots by Tuesday to ensure they are counted, upending plans the state had advertised to keep counting absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day for another week. The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit said a Republican lawmaker and GOP activist could challenge the state’s plans to keep counting ballots after the election — and predicted those received after Election Day could ultimately be invalidated, sending Democrats scrambling to warn voters. (Davis, 10/29)

In related news on voter safety —

NPR: Polling Places Are Closing Due To COVID-19. It Could Tip Races In 1 Swing State
The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Waterloo. The senior high school in Fort Dodge. The Masonic Temple in Council Bluffs. Iowa voters won't be able to cast their ballot at any of those polling places this Election Day because of hundreds of closures and consolidations that have rippled across the state due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Payne, Rebala, Levine and Talbot, 10/29)

The Washington Post: Options Dwindle For Voters Diagnosed With Covid-19 As Election Day Draws Near 
Hundreds of thousands of Americans will test positive for the novel coronavirus between now and Election Day, leaving many scrambling for alternatives to in-person voting and injecting another dimension of uncertainty into an election already shadowed by the pandemic. Those voters will need to navigate an unfamiliar and varied landscape to cast their ballots. Some will be required to get doctor’s notes or enlist family members to help. Others, in isolation, will need to have a witness present while they vote. Planned accommodations — such as officials hand-delivering ballots — may prove inadequate or could be strained beyond limits. (Satija, 10/29)

Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Failed To Spend $10 Million For Election Security, COVID Protection
With days to go, Florida has failed to spend more than $10 million designated for election security, COVID-19 protection at the polls and a surge in mailed ballots. A large piece of that pie is $3.5 million that Secretary of State Laurel Lee requested from the Legislature earlier this year for the state’s 67 county supervisors of elections to shore up their systems. (Schweers, 10/29)

AP: As Virus Surges, Trump Rallies Keep Packing In Thousands
There are no crowds at Disneyland, still shut down by the coronavirus. Fewer fans attended the World Series this year than at any time in the past century. Big concerts are canceled. But it’s a different story in Trumpland. Thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters regularly cram together at campaign rallies around the country — masks optional and social distancing frowned upon. (Riechmann, 10/30)

The Hill: Two People Who Attended Trump's North Carolina Rally Test Positive For COVID-19 
Two people who attended President Trump's rally at an airport in Gaston County in North Carolina last week have tested positive for COVID-19, the county health department said Thursday. The Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services said the cases are not thought to be an indication of spread from the rally, but rather two independent cases among individuals who were in attendance. (Weixel, 10/29)

The Hill: Florida Heat Sends A Dozen Trump Rally Attendees To Hospital 
Nearly a dozen attendees at President Trump’s rally in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday were sent to the hospital after waiting for hours in the steamy heat. Both the president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden held rallies in Tampa on Thursday, a rare crossover of their activities in the final sprint before election day. (Williams, 10/29)

USA Today: Poll: Most Americans Disapprove Of Trump's Decision To Hold Massive Campaign Rallies During COVID-19 Pandemic
It's the most stark stylistic difference between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden: The incumbent has surrounded himself with thousands of supporters at dozens of rallies while the Democratic challenger is literally keeping his distance. But as Trump and Biden embrace strikingly different approaches to campaigning during the coronavirus pandemic, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finds that nearly two-thirds of likely voters prefer Biden’s low-key strategy to Trump's raucous fanfare. (Fritze, Jansen and Bowling, 10/30)

In other developments —

The Washington Post: Donald Trump Jr. Says Covid-19 Deaths Are At ‘Almost Nothing’ On A Day When More Than 1,000 Americans Died 
Donald Trump Jr. declared on Thursday night that coronavirus deaths had dropped to “almost nothing,” questioning the seriousness of the pandemic on a record-breaking day for new cases in which more than 1,000 Americans died of the virus. “I went through the CDC data, because I kept hearing about new infections, but I was like, ‘Why aren’t they talking about this?’” Trump Jr. said. “Oh, because the number is almost nothing. Because we’ve gotten control of this thing, we understand how it works. They have the therapeutics to be able to deal with this.“ (Bella, 10/30)

Politico: ‘I View It As Propaganda’: Trump’s Food Box Letters Create Problems In Run-Up To Election
Food banks, schools and other nonprofits serving needy families during the pandemic are expending considerable resources in the final days of the election to remove or explain letters from President Donald Trump that are now required in millions of government food aid boxes. The USDA’s $4 billion Farmers to Families Food Box Program began requiring that all boxes include a self-praising letter from the president, in both English and Spanish, a month ago — setting off a rash of criticism that Trump is leveraging taxpayer resources to bolster his reelection campaign. (Bottemiller Evich, 10/30)

The Atlantic: Why Many White Men Love Trump’s Coronavirus Response
Kurtis, a young accountant in McKinney, Texas, likes the thing that many people hate about Donald Trump: that the president has left the pandemic response almost entirely up to local officials. “He left it up to each state to make their own decision on how they wanted to proceed,” Kurtis told me recently. Most experts think the absence of a national strategy for tackling the coronavirus has been a disaster. But Kurtis argues that North Dakota, for example, shouldn’t have to follow the same rules as New York City. Kurtis voted for Trump in 2016, and he plans to do so again this year. (Khazan, 10/29)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: As Cases Spike, White House Declares Pandemic Over
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said this week that “we’re not going to control the pandemic,” effectively conceding that the administration has pivoted from prevention to treatment. But COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly in most of the nation, and the issue is playing large in the presidential campaign. President Donald Trump is complaining about the constant news reports about the virus, prompting former President Barack Obama to say Trump is “jealous of COVID’s media coverage.” (10/29)

CNN: Trump And Biden Cross Paths In Florida In Final Election Sprint As Virus Rages
Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump went head-to-head in the mighty swing state of Florida on Thursday, as the US crossed a daily record with more than 88,000 new coronavirus cases and the two candidates showed their sharply divergent approaches to the virus at dueling rallies. At a socially distant drive-in rally in South Florida's Broward County -- where Biden thanked attendees for wearing masks and staying six feet apart -- the former vice president called on Floridians to change the course of the pandemic and choose "science over fiction," by using their state to block Trump's path to reelection. (Reston, 10/30)

Des Moines Register: Joe Biden To Host Drive-In Rally In Des Moines On Friday. What's That Like?
Former Vice President Joe Biden will visit Des Moines on Friday, but don't expect to hear a roar of the crowd — instead, plan for honking. The rally will be a "drive-in event." It's a style the campaign has used in several states as the COVID-19 pandemic wears on and large, in-person gatherings are still inadvisable. This week, Biden and former President Barack Obama have spoken to parked crowds in Georgia and Florida. (Akin, 10/29)

Pioneer Press: Biden To Hold ‘Drive-In Event’ In St. Paul Friday As Trump Plans Rochester Rally
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will hold a “drive-in event” in St. Paul Friday afternoon, his campaign announced Thursday. The former vice president will hold the 3:45 p.m. event hours before President Donald Trump is to hold a rally in Rochester as both candidates begin their final pushes before Election Day on Tuesday. (Orrick, 10/29)

The New York Times: No Selfies Or Hugs, But Biden Is Sneaking In Meet And Greets 
Though he is not quite kissing babies or walking a rope line, Mr. Biden has quietly continued chit-chatting and snapping photographs with supporters behind the scenes. Most of the encounters are not public, and they often happen far from the watchful eyes of reporters. Participants have been instructed not to take their own pictures of their interactions and to put away their cellphones before meeting Mr. Biden — a protocol that the campaign has instituted for sanitation reasons but that means there are few records of the interactions on personal social media accounts or otherwise, if there are any at all. (Ember, 10/29)

In related news —

Stat: Biden Could Spell Trouble For Biotech, But CEOs Are Backing Him Anyway
From a policy perspective, Joe Biden should be biotech’s worst nightmare. He’s promised to increase the corporate tax rate, dramatically rein in money in politics, and allow Medicare to negotiate over the price of drugs. But that isn’t stopping major biotech CEOs and investors from personally backing Biden this election cycle. (Florko and Sheridan, 10/30)

KHN: KHN On The Air This Week
KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed the current surge in COVID-19 cases, health policy in the election and the Affordable Care Act case before the Supreme Court with NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Sunday and WBUR’s “On Point.” (10/30)

The Hill: New Trump Policy Will Force Insurers To Disclose Prices Up Front 
Health insurers will be required to publicly post, in advance, the price for the most common services and procedures, under a rule finalized by the Trump administration on Thursday. The final rule is an effort to inject transparency into the opaque health care sector, and comes less than a week before the culmination of a campaign in which President Trump has been hammered on health care by Democratic nominee Joe Biden for his efforts to overturn ObamaCare and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Weixel, 10/29)

Stat: New Trump Rule Forces Insurers To Disclose Prices, Including For Drugs
The move represents a dramatic change to the health care marketplace, and likely will result in significant added transparency between competing industry groups and, to an extent, for patients. (Facher, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes Insurer Transparency Rule
The Transparency in Coverage rule will force employer health plans and insurance companies to post in-network and out-of-network rates they negotiate with providers. It also requires insurers to develop online price transparency tools to give patients cost-sharing information. Insurers and hospital groups and even some experts argued it would confuse patients and do little to lower costs. "Disclosing privately negotiated rates will reduce incentives to offer lower rates, creating a floor—not a ceiling—for the prices that drug makers, providers and device makers would be willing to accept," America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Matt Eyles said in a statement. (Brady, 10/29)

In related news about medical costs —

Detroit Free Press: Surprise Out-Of-Network Medical Bills Now Illegal In Michigan
The laws forbid medical providers from sending big surprise bills to patients who received emergency care outside of their insurance network, a practice known as balance billing. For those receiving care for non-emergencies, an out-of-network provider must send the patient a disclosure form at least 14 days before the scheduled medical service. The form must explain how his or her insurance company may not cover all services and that they would be personally responsible for any uncovered costs. (Reindl, 10/30)

KHN: A $200 Debit Card Won’t Do Much For Seniors’ Drug Costs
If they’ve been listening to President Donald Trump, seniors may be expecting a $200 debit card in the mail any day now to help them pay for prescription drugs. He promised as much this month, saying his administration soon will mail the drug cards to more than 35 million Medicare beneficiaries. But the cards — if they are ever sent — would be of little help. Policy experts say that what Medicare beneficiaries really need, as well as younger Americans, are sweeping federal changes to close the gap between what their health insurance pays and what drugs cost them. (Meyer, 10/30)

KHN and Politifact: A $10,000 Obamacare Penalty? Doubtful. 
A viral Facebook post claims that former President Barack Obama’s health insurance law penalized a family a large amount of money for not buying health insurance and that President Donald Trump was responsible for stopping the practice. The post features writing on the back of a car windshield that says, “Because our family couldn’t afford health insurance, Obama/Biden penalized us about $10,000, then took that $10,000 and used it to pay for others’ free Obamacare. Trump ended that theft.” (Knight, 10/29)

The New York Times: Celebrity Vetting And ‘Helping The President’ To Defeat Coronavirus Despair 
A $265 million public campaign to “defeat despair” around the coronavirus was planned partly around the politically tinged theme that “helping the president will help the country,” according to documents released on Thursday by House investigators. Michael R. Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, and others involved envisioned a star-studded campaign to lift American spirits, but the lawmakers said they sought to exclude celebrities who had supported gay rights or same-sex marriage or who had publicly disparaged President Trump. The actor Zach Galifianakis, for instance, was apparently passed over because he had declined to have Mr. Trump on his talk show “Between Two Ferns.” (Weiland and LaFraniere, 10/29)

In other news from the Trump administration —

Politico: Pence Absent From Covid-19 Planning Calls For More Than A Month
When Vice President Mike Pence first took charge of the White House’s coronavirus task force, among his earliest moves was establishing a standing call with all 50 governors aimed at closely coordinating the nation’s pandemic fight. Yet as the U.S. confronts its biggest Covid-19 surge to date, Pence hasn’t attended one of those meetings in over a month. (Cancryn, 10/30)

AP: On Virus, Trump And Health Advisers Go Their Separate Ways
A multi-state coronavirus surge in the countdown to Election Day has exposed a clear split between President Donald Trump’s bullish embrace of a return to normalcy and urgent public warnings from the government’s top health officials. It’s the opposite of what usually happens in a public health crisis, because political leaders tend to repeat and amplify the recommendations of their health experts, not short-circuit them. “It’s extremely unusual for there to be simultaneous contrary messaging,” said John Auerbach, who heads the nonpartisan Trust for America’s Health. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/30)

The Hill: Fauci: Maybe 2022 Before US Sees 'Some Semblances Of Normality' 
Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that it might be 2022 until the U.S. sees “some semblances of normality. ”During a University of Melbourne panel discussion, Fauci said it’s possible a “substantial proportion of the people” won’t receive vaccination until the second or third quarter of next year, even with the U.S. getting a vaccine in the next few months. "I think it will be easily be the end of 2021, and perhaps even into the next year, before we start having some semblances of normality," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said. (Coleman, 10/29)

Politico: Pelosi Signals Covid Deal Possible Before January 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she’s still hoping to clinch a massive coronavirus relief deal with the White House before the end of the year, despite predicting a sweeping Joe Biden victory next week that could deliver Democrats control of Washington in January. “I feel very confident that Joe Biden will be elected president on Tuesday,” Pelosi told reporters at her last weekly press conference before the Nov. 3 election. “We want to have as clean a slate as possible going into January.” (Caygle and Ferris, 10/29)

AP: Pelosi, Trump Administration Trade Blame Over Virus Aid
The major players in Washington’s COVID-19 relief blame game lobbed familiar volleys on Thursday, marking time in the days before an election that promises to change the landscape for talks that have dragged on for months without producing results. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a scolding assessment, blaming Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for failing to produce answers to her demands for Democratic priorities as part of the approximately $2 trillion aid package. President Donald Trump again promised “a very big package as soon as the election is over” and faulted Pelosi for the pre-election standoff that has rattled markets and shows, at least for now, no signs of easing. (Taylor, 10/30)

Politico: Jobless Americans Face Debt Crunch Without More Federal Aid As Bills Come Due
A new phase of the economic crisis is looming for the winner of Tuesday’s presidential election: potentially massive defaults by jobless Americans on consumer loans as the chances for more federal relief this year diminish. (Guida, 10/29)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: Schumer Calls Trump 'A Moron' Over Coronavirus Response 
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said the federal government is failing to react appropriately to surging coronavirus cases around the country because President Trump is “a moron.” “More people are in hospitals, more people are dying. This third wave in the cold weather with the combination of the flu, and we're sitting on our hands and that's because Donald Trump is such a — pardon my saying, I know you have a very nice show — such a moron,” Schumer told SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show.” (Bolton, 10/29)

AP: Pelosi Wants 'Big' Health Care, Infrastructure Push In 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing a 2021 legislative agenda with two “great, big initiatives” — expanding health care access and rebuilding American infrastructure — that are longtime Democratic priorities aligned with Joe Biden’s platform and taking on fresh urgency in the COVID-19 crisis. Pelosi said the bills, from the party’s own top 10-list of legislation that has already passed the Democratic House this session of Congress, “fit comfortably” with what Biden is proposing in his “Build Back Better” platform. They are bills that “we will pass again in a new Congress,” she said. (Mascaro, 10/29)

KHN: If They Sweep On Election Day, Dems Still Face A Challenge Meeting Health Promises 
Democrats are favored to win both chambers of Congress after years of campaign-trail promises about health care. But with a pandemic, a more conservative Supreme Court and lingering disagreements between progressives and moderates, it could be difficult for Democrats to turn those promises into law. In the final days of the campaign, COVID-19 and the threat posed to the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade by the court’s bolstered conservative majority are consuming congressional Democrats — right down to keeping them in Washington well after they would usually go home to campaign. (Huetteman, 10/30)

KHN: Democrats Link GOP Challengers To Trump’s COVID Record, Efforts To Undo Obamacare 
In a tweet to his 78,000 followers Sunday, U.S. Rep. Harley Rouda, a Democrat from Orange County, California, described his Republican opponent Michelle Steel’s attendance at an indoor fundraiser without a mask as “sickening.” Democratic U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros also blasted his Republican opponent, Young Kim, on Twitter for attending the “superspreader fundraiser,” calling it a “slap in the face to frontline workers” and his constituents in southern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. (Young, 10/30)

KHN: ‘It’s Science, Stupid’: A School Subject Emerges As A Hot-Button Political Issue
At the top of Dr. Hiral Tipirneni’s to-do list if she wins her congressional race: work with other elected officials to encourage mask mandates and to beef up COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. Those choices are backed up by science, said Tipirneni, an emergency room physician running for Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. On the campaign trail, she has called on her opponent, Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), to denounce President Donald Trump’s gathering of thousands for a rally in Arizona and his comments about slowing down COVID-19 testing. (Knight, 10/30)

The Washington Post: As Pandemic Raged And Thousands Died, Government Regulators Cleared Most Nursing Homes Of Infection-Control Violations
Government inspectors deployed by [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] during the first six months of the crisis cleared nearly 8 in 10 nursing homes of any infection-control violations even as the deadliest pandemic to strike the United States in a century sickened and killed thousands, a Washington Post investigation found. Those cleared included homes with mounting coronavirus outbreaks before or during the inspections, as well as those that saw cases and deaths spiral upward after inspectors reported no violations had been found, in some cases multiple times. All told, homes that received a clean bill of health earlier this year had about 290,000 coronavirus cases and 43,000 deaths among residents and staff, state and federal data shows. (Cenziper, Jacobs and Mulcahy, 10/29)

In other news about Medicare and Medicaid —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Makes Telehealth Permanent For Home Health
CMS on Thursday made permanent changes to telehealth flexibilities for home health providers. In its home health payment rule for 2021, the agency signed off on changes to allow providers to use telehealth for related skilled services if they're outlined in a patient's care plan. It also requires provides to describe how telehealth would improve treatment in a patient's medical record. CMS bumped pay for home health providers by 1.9%, or about $390 million. (Brady, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: Health Centers Sue To Protect 340B Savings From California Drug-Pricing Plan
Community health centers in California on Thursday sued to stop the state from absorbing health centers' 340B drug discount program savings under Gov. Gavin Newsom's bulk drug-purchasing plan. Newsom has advanced a plan that would transition the state's drug purchasing from Medicaid managed care to fee-for-service, which he thinks will consolidate the state's negotiating leverage and help lower prescription drug costs. But community health centers say they would lose 340B savings that they use to sustain their operations. The changes are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. (Cohrs, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: Flood Of Medicaid Redeterminations Could Overwhelm States
States need more time to restart Medicaid eligibility redeterminations to prevent further disruptions to healthcare coverage and their budgets, experts said during a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Accession Commission meeting Thursday. When Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in March, it required states to give continuous Medicaid coverage to enrollees during the pandemic to receive a 6.2% boost in federal Medicaid funding. The move effectively barred states from disenrolling people from their Medicaid programs until the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, causing the program's rolls to grow. (Brady, 10/29)

The New York Times: Death Rates Have Dropped For Seriously Ill Covid Patients 
The coronavirus struck the United States earlier this year with devastating force. In April, it killed more than 10,000 people in New York City. By early May, nearly 50,000 nursing home residents and their caregivers across the country had died. But as the virus continued its rampage over the summer and fall, infecting nearly 8.5 million Americans, survival rates, even of seriously ill patients, appeared to be improving. At one New York hospital system where 30 percent of coronavirus patients died in March, the death rate had dropped to 3 percent by the end of June. (Rabin, 10/29)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Antibodies Last At Least 5 Months In Mild-To-Moderate Cases
A study yesterday in Science reports that the vast majority of patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 have stable levels of antibodies for at least 5 months. Of 30,082 COVID-19 patients in New York City's Mount Sinai Health System, 27,849 (92.6%) had moderate-to-high antibody titer levels (1:320 and up), which an assay test showed would cause at least 90% of the sera to exhibit neutralizing activity for the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers conducted approximate 3-month and 5-month follow-ups with 121 people, where they saw a drop of 764 geometric mean titer to 690 and then to 404 at the last time of testing. (10/29)

In other developments —

The Washington Post: States Say They Lack Federal Funds To Distribute Coronavirus Vaccine As CDC Tells Them To Be Ready By Nov. 15 
State health officials are expressing frustration about a lack of federal financial support as they face orders to prepare to receive and distribute the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 15, even though one is not likely to be approved until later this year. The officials say they don’t have enough money to pay for the enormous and complicated undertaking. State officials have been planning in earnest in recent weeks to get shots into arms even though no one knows which vaccine will be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, what special storage and handling may be required and how many doses each state will receive. (Sun, 10/29)

USA Today: Black Americans Are The Most Hesitant To Get A COVID-19 Vaccine
Black Americans distrust the government so much they're not participating in large numbers in COVID-19 clinical trials, and many say they won't get a COVID-19 vaccine – at least not until many others get it. Although the first two large clinical trials of candidate vaccines have managed to include about 3,000 Black participants each, it hasn't been easy. And later trials might have even more trouble.  (Weintraub, 10/29)

The Hill: Moderna Says It's On Track To Report Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Results Next Month
Moderna is on track to report initial results from its coronavirus vaccine trial next month, company executives said Thursday. The company is one of the front-runners to produce a vaccine for COVID-19. During an earnings call, Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks said the trial is operating as planned, and an independent data-monitoring committee is expected to conduct an interim review in November. (Weixel, 10/29)

The New York Times: Gilead’s Covid-19 Drug Is Mediocre. It Will Be A Blockbuster Anyway. 
The United States reached a milestone, of sorts, when last week the Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment for Covid-19. The drug is called Veklury, although most people know it by its scientific name, remdesivir. ... But the F.D.A.’s decision to grant the drug full approval — which means the company can now begin broadly marketing it to doctors and patients — has puzzled several outside experts, who say that it may not deserve the agency’s stamp of approval because it is, at best, a mediocre treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. (Thomas, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Crispr Gene Editing Can Lead To Big Mistakes In Human Embryos 
Scientists using the Crispr gene-editing technology in human embryos to try to repair a gene that causes hereditary blindness found it made unintended and unwanted changes, frequently eliminating an entire chromosome or large sections of it. The study published Thursday in the journal Cell comes as the international scientific community continues to grapple with the potential use of Crispr for editing human embryos that would be intended for creating a pregnancy and birth. (Dockser Marcus, 10/29)

AP: Lab Tests Show Risks Of Using CRISPR Gene Editing On Embryos
A lab experiment aimed at fixing defective DNA in human embryos shows what can go wrong with this type of gene editing and why leading scientists say it’s too unsafe to try. In more than half of the cases, the editing caused unintended changes, such as loss of an entire chromosome or big chunks of it. Columbia University researchers describe their work Thursday in the journal Cell. They used CRISPR-cas9, the same chemical tool that a Chinese scientist used on embryos in 2018 to help make the world’s first gene-edited babies, which landed him in prison and drew international scorn. (Marchione, 10/29)

In other science and research news —

Stat: Training The Innate Immune System To Thwart Cancer Could Aid Therapy
Until now, immunotherapy has relied on revving up just one arm of the immune system against tumors. But scientists reported Thursday that in animal experiments, they trained a different arm to beat back cancer, pointing to a new potential treatment pathway. (Cooney, 10/29)

NPR: Why Some Memories Seem Like Movies: 'Time Cells' Discovered In Human Brains
If you fall off a bike, you'll probably end up with a cinematic memory of the experience: the wind in your hair, the pebble on the road, then the pain. That's known as an episodic memory. And now researchers have identified cells in the human brain that make this sort of memory possible, a team reports in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The cells are called time cells, and they place a sort of time stamp on memories as they are being formed. That allows us to recall sequences of events or experiences in the right order. (Hamilton, 10/29)

Burlington Free Press: UVM Health Network Suffers Cyberattack Causing IT Outage
The University of Vermont Health Network has confirmed it suffered a cyberattack that compromised some of its systems, and is working with the FBI and Vermont Department of Public Safety to investigate the attack. "We expect that it will take some time to restore (our systems) and we are working as quickly as possible to return to normal operations," spokesman Neal Goswami said in a statement Thursday afternoon. (D'Ambrosio, 10/29)

Also —

AP: Utah Epidemiologist's Home Address Leaked Online For Protest
Anti-mask protesters stood in front of the home of Utah Epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn on Thursday evening after her personal information was leaked online. Dunn said it was “scary and wrong” that anyone would feel comfortable sharing her personal information and protesting outside her home. “It’s taken a really big toll on my family and myself,” Dunn said when asked about the protest during the governor’s weekly COVID-19 briefing. “I think it’s really unfortunate we live in a state where people feel that it is OK to harass civil servants.” (Eppolito, 10/30)

The New York Times: 40 Dead, Now 40 Laid Off: Inside A Nursing Home In Crisis 
On a recent morning in Staten Island, the quiet at Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center was unsettling. Employees in sanitary gowns and face masks moved through a brightly decorated front area devoid of residents or chatter. Six months ago, the nursing home was one of the deadliest places in the city, with 40 residents dying in the course of a month. Now the workers who cared for them, sometimes holding their hands as they died, face a second crisis: The home recently laid off more than 40 employees, and others fear they will be next. (Leland, 10/29)

Crain's Detroit Business: Health Systems Join Forces With $48 Million Shared Laundry Facility In Detroit
Since opening June 1, a $48 million laundry facility in downtown Detroit shared by three health systems has been running two shifts over a six-day work week. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Michigan and flu season approaching, health care executives said in a Wednesday morning news conference that demand for clean laundry has become even more important. Each week, the 115,000-square-foot facility is expected to wash, press and fold 700,000 pounds of laundry. (Greene, 10/29)

Crain's Chicago Business: Here's How A Chicago Rehab Hospital Is Treating COVID 'Long-Haulers'
Given the wide range of possible responses to COVID, the rehabilitation process often requires much more cross-collaboration among different disciplines in the facility. While non-COVID patients normally come for one specific issue, the COVID unit had to transform into a place where a variety of team members are involved, given the myriad of ways the virus affects the body, said Shirley Ryan AbilityLab CEO Dr. Joanne C. Smith. (Asplund, 10/29)

Georgia Health News: Though Standard Medical Visits Have Made A Comeback, Telehealth Is Here To Stay 
The surge in telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic has leveled off, with more patients seeing their doctors in person again. But experts say virtual medical appointments will continue, and with more frequency than before COVID struck. Some of the change appears permanent. (Miller, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: Molina's Profits Cool As Utilization Normalizes
Molina Healthcare's profit growth rate slowed in the third quarter as utilization rebounded to more normal levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurers reaped record profits in the second quarter as fewer people sought healthcare amid the pandemic, even as many companies lowered or eliminated patients' costs for in-network COVID-19 tests as well as for some treatment, while some waived cost-sharing for primary care and offered premium "credits" to plan members. (Kacik, 10/29)

Stat: Ashish Jha On Covid, Pandemic Fatigue, And When We Get Back To Normal
A very 2020 thing is that we now have a group of people who’ve become pandemic celebrities. They’d probably prefer not to have that moniker. But the fact is, public health experts are now well-known faces on TV news and well-known voices on your favorite podcasts. Among them is Ashish Jha, who’s now dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. (Feuerstein, Tirrell and Garde, 10/30)

And concerns over PPE continue —

KHN: Why State Mask Stockpiling Orders Are Hurting Nursing Homes, Small Providers
Nursing homes, small physician offices and rural clinics are being left behind in the rush for N95 masks and other protective gear, exposing some of the country’s most vulnerable populations and their caregivers to COVID-19 while larger, wealthier health care facilities build equipment stockpiles. Take Rhonda Bergeron, who owns three health clinics in rural southern Louisiana. She said she’s been desperate for personal protective equipment since her clinics became COVID testing sites. Her plight didn’t impress national suppliers puzzled by her lack of buying history when she asked for 500 gowns. And one supply company allows her only one box of 200 gloves per 30 days for her three clinics. Right now, she doesn’t have any large gloves on-site. (Weber, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Employees Write Investors Over PPE, Coronavirus Safety Concerns
HCA Healthcare employees on Thursday said they sent a letter directly to the company's investors about lack of personal protective equipment and workplace safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, asking them to meet with workers and to seek answers from the giant hospital chain. Employees said the Nashville-based system's "PPE protocols may be systemically putting lives at risk." (Christ, 10/29)

The New York Times: Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence Tests Positive For The Coronavirus 
Trevor Lawrence, the star quarterback at top-ranked Clemson and a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy, has tested positive for coronavirus, the university said Thursday night. Tigers Coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement that Lawrence was “doing well with mild symptoms” but that he would miss Saturday’s home game against Boston College. Perhaps more crucially for the race toward the College Football Playoff, Swinney did not say when Lawrence had tested positive or when he had developed symptoms — distinctions that could determine whether he would be eligible to play at No. 4 Notre Dame on Nov. 7. (Blinder, 10/29)

Tampa Bay Times: Wife Of Rays Player Tested Positive For Coronavirus
The Rays had a COVID-19 issue of their own to deal with as the World Series was ending, as the wife of one of their players tested positive. The player has not been identified. He and his wife did not fly with the team back to Tampa on Wednesday night, instead renting a car and driving home. The positive test was processed on Tuesday, the day of the final game. (Topkin, 10/30)

AP: NASCAR Pit Crew Benched For Positive COVID Tests
The pit crew for NASCAR driver William Byron has been benched because of multiple positive tests for COVID-19. The regular Hendrick Motorsports crew for the No. 24 did not participate in Wednesday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway and will also miss Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. (10/29)

The New York Times: Travis Roy, Who Inspired Millions After A Hockey Tragedy, Dies At 45 
Travis Roy, who suffered a paralyzing injury just 11 seconds into his first hockey game for Boston University in 1995 and, as a philanthropist and motivational speaker, was revered by the sports world as an example of determination and courage, died on Thursday in a hospital outside Burlington, Vt. He was 45. The cause was complications of surgery he needed after two and a half decades of being in a wheelchair, Keith VanOrden, his brother-in-law, said. (Paybarah, 10/30)

In airline industry news —

AP: JetBlue Is The Latest Airline To Retreat From Blocking Seats
The days of airlines blocking seats to make passengers feel safer about flying during the pandemic are coming closer to an end. JetBlue is the latest to indicate it is rethinking the issue. A spokesman for the carrier said Thursday that JetBlue will reduce the number of seats it blocks after Dec. 1 to accommodate families traveling together over the holidays. (Koenig, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Testing Vs. Quarantines For International Flights: Airlines And U.S. Transportation Officials Spar With CDC
U.S. transportation officials and airlines are at odds with public-health officials over whether people who test negative for coronavirus before they travel should still have to quarantine when they arrive in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. The rift has emerged as U.S. officials have also been looking to strike deals with their foreign counterparts to establish safe-travel corridors between major American and international cities. (Sider, Hackman and Tangel, 10/29)

And bad news for anyone who relies on Netflix while self-isolating —

USA Today: Netflix Prices Going Up: Most Popular Plan Now $14, Premium To $18
The price to binge watch Netflix is going up. The most popular plan, which lets subscribers watch in high-def on two screens at the same time, has increased by $1 to $13.99, up from $12.99 monthly, for new subscribers. As in the past, current subscribers will see their monthly bill increase, too in the coming weeks. The premium plan ($15.99), which lets you watch up to four screens with Ultra HD, will now cost $17.99. The lowest priced plan of $8.99 for one standard-def stream remains the same price. (Snider, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Walmart Pulls Guns, Ammo Displays In U.S. Stores, Citing Civil Unrest 
Walmart has removed all guns and ammunition from the sales floors of its U.S. stores this week, aiming to head off any potential theft of firearms if stores are broken into amid social unrest. The retail giant, which sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 U.S. stores, said customers can still purchase guns and ammunition upon request even though they are no longer on display. (Nassauer, 10/29)

CNN: About 20% Of Grocery Store Workers Had Covid-19, And Most Didn't Have Symptoms, Study Found 
Grocery store work puts employees at serious risk for infection, a new study found, particularly those who have to interact with customers. These workers likely became a "significant transmission source" for Covid-19 without even knowing it because most in the study were asymptomatic. (Christensen, 10/29)

Roll Call: Inspector General: More Amtrak Safety Workers Need Drug Testing 
Amtrak conducts random drug tests on conductors and engineers but fails to include about 4,000 other employees who work in safety-related positions, the company's inspector general said in a new report released Thursday. While the National Transportation Safety Board recommends random drug tests of all transportation employees in positions that could affect employee safety or the safety of others, Amtrak limits its random tests to those who fall under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s minimum requirements — about 8,300 of the company’s roughly 18,500 employees. (Wehrman, 10/29)

Dallas Morning News: Is Rapid Coronavirus Testing The Answer To Getting Back To Normal?
In September, state officials confirmed a plan was in the works to use such tests widely. At the University of Texas at Austin, students have been required to pass a university-provided rapid test before they attend some sports events. The Dallas Independent School District will soon begin regular rapid testing of student athletes, and Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced a pilot program that will provide rapid testing to students and employees in some school districts. But health experts say that though rapid tests can be useful, they aren’t the answer to ending COVID-19 health precautions. (Marfin, 10/29)

Roll Call: Schools Weigh Plans For Rapid COVID-19 Tests 
White House officials hoped that sending states rapid COVID-19 tests would encourage their use in reopening schools, and while that’s one way states are using the shipments, they say they need more resources and better data about how to best deploy testing. Health officials in some states say they are beginning to offer testing to students and teachers, but they are still finessing how to determine who should be tested and how frequently that should occur. (McIntire, 10/29)

In other public-health news —

The Washington Post: Ice-Cream Store With Special-Needs Employees Overcomes Pandemic’s Business Obstacles
[Tom] Landis’s store became one of Texas’s top employers of special-needs workers, and his hope was that Howdy’s success would change the way companies thought about hiring people with special needs. But when the pandemic sparked an unemployment crisis, Landis saw his cause pushed to the back of the line. ... Landis was undeterred. He remains proud of five years in business with zero employee turnover and knows his employees with Down syndrome and autism have a place in the economy, in any industry.

San Francisco Chronicle: Potential Transfers Out Of San Quentin Raise Dire Concerns For Inmates
State prison officials are planning to transfer dozens of young men to the Valley State Prison in Chowchilla — a facility that is already overcrowded, at 139% of its design capacity, and where 27 prisoners have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past two weeks, according to interviews with multiple incarcerated people. The preparations come just days after an appeals court ordered that San Quentin’s prison population be cut in half after its disastrous coronavirus outbreak this summer. (Cassidy and Fagone, 10/29)

NH Times Union: Restaurants To Keep Customer Databases Due To COVID-19
Hours after the hospitality industry requested it, Gov. Chris Sununu approved a requirement that restaurants keep a temporary database of diners to more quickly contain cases of COVID-19 linked to a business. Starting Saturday, all restaurants must get and keep on file the name and telephone number of at least one person in each dining party. (Landrigan, 10/29)

And many states cope with a surge in COVID cases —

Boston Globe: New Data Shed More Light On Source Of Coronavirus Clusters Around Mass. 
Amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Massachusetts, new state data indicate that dozens of clusters in the past month have been identified in child care settings, nursing homes, senior living centers, restaurants and food courts, and from organized athletic activities. Yet many of these clusters — identified as two or more confirmed cases with a common exposure — resulted in a relatively small percentage of the roughly 20,000 new confirmed cases for that period. By far the largest number of clusters counted by Massachusetts are from households, defined as a shared residence of people who are not identified with another cluster. (Lazar, 10/29)

The CT Mirror: CT's Daily COVID Positive Test Rate Surges Past 6%; Lamont Threatens To Re-Impose Business Restrictions
Connecticut’s daily coronavirus infection test rate soared beyond 6% on Thursday — roughly six times the daily rate the state faced all summer and early into the fall. A somber Gov. Ned Lamont warned residents to brace for the worst, but he opted not to reverse the Oct. 8 easing of restrictions on business activities. (Phaneuf, 10/29)

Bangor Daily News: With Coronavirus On The Rise, Big Gatherings Should Be Avoided, Not Bragged About
Maine, like many other states, is seeing a troubling rise in coronavirus cases. Ninety-four new cases were reported on Thursday, the largest single day increase since the pandemic began in March. Unlike that original surge in the early days of the pandemic, new cases have been rising in predominantly rural areas rather than Maine’s dense urban counties. Rural outbreaks have been tied to church services, nursing homes and schools. Because of rising coronavirus case numbers across the country, some states and cities are reimposing restrictions on businesses and other activities. State and local governments are having to step in because of a lack of a coherent, coordinated federal policy to limit the spread of the virus. (10/29)

NPR: Long Island 'Superspreader Events' Threaten To Undo Progress
Two recent "superspreader events" on Long Island, N.Y., show the impact of large gatherings during virus outbreaks — and threaten to undo the months-long efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in the area. Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone announced fines on Wednesday against a country club and a homeowner for hosting events in violation of social-gathering limits. (Wamsley, 10/29)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson Mayor Addresses Record Homicides, Coronavirus In City Address
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba gave his third State of the City address Thursday night, focusing much of his attention on the record surge in gun violence in the capital city and the coronavirus pandemic. “We started 2020 set for another year of growth," Lumumba said. "Instead we found ourselves hit with a record flood and a pandemic that derailed life as we know it." (Vicory, 10/29)

Dallas Morning News: State Investigating Frisco Memory Care Center After 10 COVID-19 Deaths In Less Than A Month
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a Frisco memory care center that has reported 10 deaths in the past month. The Denton County health department has reported eight deaths at the Saddle Brook Memory Care Center in the last three days, including two deaths on Thursday. The facility said there were two more deaths that are expected to be announced by the county in the coming days. (Keomoungkhoun, 10/29)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Governor Calls For Action But State Strategy Is Unchanged As Utah Sees 1,837 New COVID-19 Cases, 10 More Deaths 
With Utah reporting 1,837 new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations nearly reaching a new record high Thursday, Gov. Gary Herbert declared that “the time for talk is over — it’s time for action. ”But that action isn’t coming from the Utah Capitol. Herbert said local governments will have to decide whether to enforce the mask orders and gathering restrictions that are in effect in almost every county — rules that many Utahns have defied or ignored. (Alberty and Means, 10/29)

In other news from Rhode Island, North Carolina and Texas —

AP: Fatal Drug Overdose Deaths In Rhode Island Are On The Rise
The number of accidental drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island is on the rise, and the coronavirus pandemic could be partially to blame, state health officials say. There were 233 accidental drug overdose deaths in the first seven months of this year, compared to 185 during the same period last year, the state Department of Health said in a statement Wednesday. While all drug fatal overdoses increased 26%, opioid-involved fatal overdoses increased 33%. (10/29)

North Carolina Health News: High PFAS In Pittsboro Residents’ Blood 
A new Duke University study has found that the concentrations of some potentially cancerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS — are two to four times higher in the blood of Pittsboro residents than the U.S. population as a whole. The study also found that some types of PFAS chemicals found in Pittsboro residents’ blood are “strikingly similar” to those found in the blood of Wilmington residents during an earlier study conducted by N.C. State and East Carolina universities. (Barnes, 10/29)

USA Today: Train Derailment In Texas Leaks 'Corrosive' Product, Prompts Evacuation Orders For 600 People; No Injuries
A train derailment in Texas prompted officials to ask nearly 600 residents to evacuate their homes and will take days to clean up — but the local emergency management office reported no injuries. A Kansas City Southern train derailed around 7:30 a.m. in Mauriceville, Texas, near the state's border with Louisiana. The derailment involved 25 cars, according to the Orange County Office of Emergency Management. Most of the cars were loaded; 10 were empty. "Five confirmed tank cars were breached, four were leaking a petroleum product that did not represent a risk to the general population and the fifth involves a corrosive product that is being contained," the Office of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post.  ... A one-mile "exclusion zone," which initially impacted 600 residents, was set up while cleaning and containment were underway. (Culver, 10/29)

NPR: Remote Marshall Islands Record First Coronavirus Confirmed Cases 
The Marshall Islands, a group of volcanic islands and atolls in the Pacific, closed its borders in March to fend off the coronavirus. ... On Wednesday, the government announced that two workers arriving from the U.S. tested positive for the coronavirus at a U.S. military base on Kwajalein Atoll. The two cases ended the Marshall Islands' run as one of the few nations in the world with zero known coronavirus cases. (Oxner, 10/29)

The Washington Post: Jacinda Ardern Votes Yes As New Zealanders Back Euthanasia, But Not Marijuana 
New Zealanders voted in a referendum to allow voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill but were marginally opposed to legalizing marijuana, initial results showed Friday, putting the nation on course to become one of the few to permit assisted dying. With nearly all votes tallied, 65 percent voted in favor of euthanasia, a proposition that has only made the statute books in a handful of countries, including the Netherlands and Canada, and some U.S. states. The cannabis result was much closer, with 53 percent opposed and 46 percent in favor. (Stoakes, 10/29)

AP: Pope Ends Public Audiences, Eyes Christmas As Virus Surges
Pope Francis is halting his public general audiences and will limit participation at Christmas and other upcoming Masses amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Italy and the Vatican, officials said Thursday. Starting next week, Francis will resume livestreaming his weekly catechism lessons from his library in the Apostolic Palace, as he did during the Vatican’s COVID-19 lockdown during the spring and summer, the Vatican said. (wINFIELD, 10/29)

The Washington Post: A Maryland Family Battled Covid-19 At The Same Time As Trump. It Devastated Them.
Carol Coates had battled covid-19 at the same time as the president. But instead of a suite at Walter Reed, the 46-year-old Black teacher self-isolated in the basement of her family’s home. And instead of the experimental cocktail of antibodies that Trump was given, she received get-well cards from her fifth-grade students. Carol had taught nine miles from the White House. But her illness unfolded in what seemed like a different universe than the one the president described. ... It would take even more from Carlton Coates. His phone buzzed during his sister’s funeral, but the 43-year-old truck driver ignored it. It was only when he returned home and saw people gathered in the driveway that he knew something else had gone wrong. As they stepped out of the car, his fiancee pulled him aside. “I hate to tell you this,” she said, “but your mom passed away.” (Miller, 10/28)

Stat: Covid-19 Expert Akiko Iwasaki Fights A Different Virus: Sexism In Science
Even for one of the most high-profile virologists in the midst of the pandemic, it was not an event that will be easily forgotten. For nearly 10 hours on a recent Saturday, Akiko Iwasaki was feted at a virtual gathering celebrating her 50th birthday and the 20th anniversary of her Yale lab. Former and current colleagues showered her with gifts, reminisced about outings to bars, Six Flags, and campsites, and answered trivia questions (her favorite color is purple — Iwasaki is a huge Prince fan). (Chakradhar, 10/27)

The New York Times: This Addiction Treatment Works. Why Is It So Underused? 
Steven Kelty had been addicted to crack cocaine for 32 years when he tried a different kind of treatment last year, one so basic in concept that he was skeptical. He would come to a clinic twice a week to provide a urine sample, and if it was free of drugs, he would get to draw a slip of paper out of a fishbowl. Half contained encouraging messages — typically, “Good job!” — but the other half were vouchers for prizes worth between $1 and $100. (Goodnough, 10/27)

North Carolina Health News: Disrupting The Addiction Cycle 
Baby Tyler uttered his first word the other day, and much to Kerry T.’s surprise, that word was “dada.” “I’m the one taking care of you, not your daddy,” Kerry, 21, who did not want her full name used to protect her privacy, chided the six-month-old. Tyler grinned at his mom, flapping his arms this way and that. Kerry, from Maxton, a town of roughly 2,500 less than 20 miles from the South Carolina border, knows that she is lucky. She could have just as easily lost her child to foster care. The drugs she used could have killed him too, she knows. (Engel-Smith, 10/26)

The New York Times: Protecting Your Birth: A Guide For Black Mothers 
The data is heartbreakingly clear: Black women in America have more than a three times higher risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth than their white peers. This is regardless of factors like higher education and financial means, and for women over 30, the risk is as much as five times higher. While the recent national dialogue created in response to the data has been a critical leap forward, it has also brought up a lot of fear and questions from Black women about how we can prevent these outcomes. (Chidi and Cahill, 10/22)

The New York Times: Depression In Pregnancy May Raise Risk Of Childhood Asthma 
A mother’s psychological distress during pregnancy may increase the risk for asthma in her child, a new study suggests. Researchers had the parents of 4,231 children fill out well-validated questionnaires on psychological stress in the second trimester of pregnancy, and again three years later. The mothers also completed questionnaires at two and six months after giving birth. The study, in the journal Thorax, found that 362 of the mothers and 167 of the fathers had clinically significant psychological distress during the mothers’ pregnancies. (Bakalar, 10/21)

The Wall Street Journal: A Key To Healthier Adult Diets: Healthier Baby Diets
Feeding babies the right healthy foods during a critical window of time may help set them up for better health as adults, emerging research suggests. As the federal government weighs the first-ever dietary guidelines for children under 2, there’s evidence that the food habits of young kids influence their diet—and their health—later on. The science is still nascent and studies are generally small. But with childhood obesity on the rise and a growing understanding that the seeds of adult illnesses like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are planted in childhood, there’s increasing interest in how to shape the youngest palates. (Petersen, 10/26)

The New York Times: Respecting Children’s Pain 
In a new report on pediatric pain in the British medical journal The Lancet, a commission of experts, including scientists, doctors, psychologists, parents and patients, challenged those who take care of children to end what they described as the common undertreatment of pain in children, starting at birth. Isabel Jordan, of Squamish, British Columbia, took part as a parent partner, along with her son Zachary, 19, who has a genetic condition, and lives with chronic pain. “Pain matters with every child and at every intersection with the health care system,” she said. But for her son, “it didn’t matter with many providers, doctors, nurses, phlebotomists, and that made for worse outcomes.” (Klass, 10/26)

Roll Call: Pathogens, Nose Swabs, Flip Phones: What Work Was Like During Anthrax
After mail laced with anthrax showed up on Capitol Hill in 2001, things started to feel different. “You picked it up and it was all crinkly and crispy,” says Jim Manley of the letters he got after that, treated to kill any spores. Manley remembers the uncertainty of that time, when he worked as an aide for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “It really was a surreal moment, right up there with the weirdest stuff I ever saw in 21 years in the Senate,” he says. “There was a lot of fear, a lot of paranoia.” (Cioffi, 10/29)

The New York Times: Holidays Must Look Different This Year. Lives Are At Stake.
In some ways, the coronavirus is still a mystery. Scientists can’t say for certain why it’s deadly or debilitating in some people but has virtually no effect in others. They don’t know exactly how long immunity lasts or whether (or when) a vaccine will stop its spread and bring this wretched chapter to a close. But they do know this: The virus spreads most rampantly between people who gather indoors, in close quarters, to talk or laugh or sing, without wearing masks. Experts say the wave of outbreaks now sweeping the nation has been caused by precisely these types of gatherings. As gut-wrenching as this may be, one of the most obvious ways to mitigate further viral spread will be for as many people as possible to stay home this holiday season. (10/29)

Los Angeles Times: A Mask Mandate May Prevent More COVID-19 Lockdowns
The way President Trump tells it, the COVID-19 pandemic is all but vanquished in the U.S., with a vaccine just around the corner. Healthcare workers across the country know better. Coronavirus cases are surging to record highs, a fact that’s not attributable to increased testing, according to Adm. Brett Giroir, who leads the federal government’s coronavirus testing response. Hospital beds in hard-hit states such as Utah, Idaho and North Dakota are filling up with COVID-19 patients, and if the surge continues, those hospitals could be overwhelmed. (10/30)

The CT Mirror: Preventing The Spread Of COVID-19 Is Everybody’s Responsibility
Winter is on the horizon and already the specter of another viral resurgence looms before us. Dr. Anthony Fauci is already warning of a “difficult situation,” as the number of infected people in the United States has started trending upward again. Significant numbers of states are currently reporting more than 3% of corona virus tests returning positive. This trend concerns me. It concerns me because I have seen first-hand the worst cases of COVID-19. (Ben Ways, 10/30)

Miami Herald: Don’t Weaken Contact Tracing Just As COVID Cases Are Rising
It should come as no surprise, eight months into the ebbing and surging coronavirus pandemic in Florida, that we are not in this thing together. True to form, the state of Florida seems poised to stop funding for contact tracing, an effective tool to alert people who have been exposed to the virus to get tested. It pushes those who test positive into isolation and treatment, while giving peace of mind to those who test negative. But, according to the Tampa Bay Times, Alina Alonso, director of the Palm Beach County health department, informed a county commission meeting that the state will stop funding local contact tracing efforts at the end of November. (10/30)

Houston Chronicle: Think COVID Is Disappearing? Just Look At The Crisis In El Paso.
With hospitals and funeral homes filled to capacity, the crisis in El Paso is irrefutable evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is not just “going to disappear.” The outbreak also should puncture those reckless claims that the seriousness of the virus has been overblown or that reasonable steps to keep ourselves and others safe are too costly or inconvenient. The startling surge of COVID-19 cases in West Texas and around the globe shows infections can erupt suddenly, spread quickly and overwhelm health-care resources with devastating consequences. (10/28)

Stat: The Ever-Expanding Role Of The Chief Medical Officer 
Until March of this year, my job as chief medical officer of Salesforce was demanding but reasonably predictable from one day to another. I focused on steering the company’s health care and life sciences strategy, identifying opportunities to bring solutions to market, and interpreting the significance of government policy changes for our clients and partners. Covid-19 blew up my job description overnight. (Ashwini Zenooz, 10/30)

And on other topics —

Stat: 'Patient Friction Coefficient' Can Gauge A Clinical Trial's Patient Burden 
The rigor and complexity needed to generate measurable results from clinical trials often makes them difficult for patients to participate in. And that’s a problem for the biopharma industry. (David Cameron and Murray Aitken, 10/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Walmart’s Opioid Whipsaw
The Trump Administration has criticized the practice of regulating by informal guidance, but its opioid enforcement comes straight out of that old Obama-Biden playbook. Walmart is pushing back against this bureaucratic abuse. At stores across the U.S., Walmart’s pharmacists fill legal opioid prescriptions written by doctors licensed in their states and registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). For conducting this legitimate business, the Trump Administration has threatened to sue Walmart for contributing to the opioid crisis and plans to seek a “massive liability,” the company claims in a pre-emptive lawsuit filed last week. (10/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: Implications Of The 2020 Election For U.S. Health Policy
This article explores the implications of the 2020 election for the future of health policy in the United States. A substantial body of research has shown that policy decisions made by nationally elected officials in recent years more closely reflect the views of their party’s adherents than they do the views of the general voting public as a whole. People who identify with a party are more likely to have voted in a partisan primary election and are often more active in political affairs. The elected officials’ decisions also reflect to some degree the views of each party’s largest financial donors. (Robert J. Blendon and John M. Benson, 10/29)

USA Today: 'Wartime President' Donald Trump Surrenders To COVID-19
Early in his fight against a novel coronavirus, Donald Trump proclaimed himself in a call-to-arms moment a "wartime president." But as a third surge of COVID-19 infections sweeps across the country, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows capitulated on Trump's behalf. "We are not going to control the pandemic," he told CNN last Sunday.Beyond consigning Americans to a wretched winter of sickness before a vaccine becomes widely available, surrendering in the face of a viral enemy is a tragically fitting capstone to perhaps the worst crisis-management performance for a president in U.S. history. (10/29)

USA Today: Biden And COVID: His Presidency And Plan Won't Fix Everything
As the 2020 presidential election hurls itself at us, there is one thing upon which the far right and far left agree: The COVID-19 pandemic should be over within days after Nov. 4. The right says the “deep state” is holding on to a secret vaccine that it will introduce to the world once Donald Trump is thrown out of office. The left says that Trump is the primary cause of the virus’ spread, and that with the biological weapon in chief out of office, people will soon be out safely ingesting each other’s disgusting germs. Alas, despite these extremes being so far out there that they meet again in the back, neither is right. Trump is not entirely to blame for the virus’ spread, and Joe Biden’s election will not be a panacea in stopping it. (Christian Schneider, 10/29)

The New York Times: Donald Trump's Divided America
Social media and the former reality star have entwined to make cruelty and fake news central elements of the nation’s discourse. Who could have conceived of a president calling a vice-presidential candidate from the other party, a respected senator and groundbreaker for women, “a monster”? This fog of fakery peaked with Covid-19, with Trump politicizing the mask and turning Democratic governors and his own health officials into the enemy. (Maureen Dowd, 10/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Joe Biden’s Covid Fairy Tale 
The Democrats want to turn Covid against the president, and they appear to be succeeding. But their strategy makes no sense in the end—perhaps because Joe Biden makes no sense. The first big problem is that President Trump’s handling of the plague has been sensible from the start. Be careful until treatment improves and a vaccine is ready. (David Gelernter, 10/29)

JAMA: Health Policy In The Supreme Court And A New Conservative Majority
Within 8 days of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg—a pioneer of women’s rights and a liberal icon—President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill her seat. Her elevation to the Supreme Court will have profound consequences for health care and policy. (Lawrence O. Gostin, Wendy E. Parmet, and Sara Rosenbaum, 10/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Justice Barrett May Inspire Pro-Life Votes For Trump
Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation will likely drive turnout among pro-choice suburban women. But there may be a countereffect: Pro-life voters who aren’t enthusiastic about Donald Trump could be inspired to vote for him. The Susan B. Anthony List has been laying groundwork for that to happen since before her nomination. (Nicole Ault, 10/29)

The Washington Post: Trump Rejects Science And Endangers Lives. I Can No Longer Remain Silent. 
Almost 63 million people voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but in 1983, more than 106 million people watched the last episode of “M.A.S.H.” So, it seems that by this president’s standard, I’m a bigger deal than he is. But I don’t write here as a formerly famous person; I write just as a citizen who might have something in common with you. After spending a decade doing everything I could to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified, I made a decision 37 years ago to keep much quieter in public about my political opinions. If I was going to make a contribution, it should be by doing what I was good at: writing and acting. (Alan Alda, 10/29)

The New York Times: Lies, Damned Lies And Trump Rallies
On Tuesday the White House science office went beyond Trump’s now-standard claims that we’re “rounding the corner” on the coronavirus and declared that one of the administration’s major achievements was “ending the Covid-19 pandemic.” Who was that supposed to convince, when almost everyone is aware not only that the pandemic continues, but that coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging? All it did was make Trump look even more out of touch. (Paul Krugman, 10/29)