AP: WHO Europe Chief Urges Nations To Keep Up Virus Quarantines
The World Health Organization’s European director warned national governments Thursday against reducing the quarantine period for people potentially exposed to the coronavirus, even as he acknowledged that COVID-19 “fatigue” was setting in with growing public resistance to the measures needed to control the pandemic. Dr. Hans Kluge said that “even a slight reduction in the length of the quarantine” could have a significant effect on the spread of the virus which returned to “alarming rates of transmission” in Europe this month. (Keaten and Cheng, 9/17)

NPR: 'A Very Serious Situation': WHO Says Coronavirus Cases Are Rising In Europe Again
The World Health Organization warned on Thursday that weekly coronavirus case numbers are rising in Europe at a higher rate than during the pandemic's peak in March. At a virtual news conference, Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of WHO in Europe, warned, "We do have a very serious situation unfolding before us." (Penaloza, 9/17)

Reuters: Second UK Lockdown? COVID Hospital Admissions Double Every Eight Days
Britain’s health minister said on Friday that the novel coronavirus was accelerating across the country, with hospital admissions doubling every eight days, but refused to say if another national lockdown would be imposed next month. The United Kingdom has reported the fifth largest number of deaths from COVID-19 in the world, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. (Faulconbridge and Holton, 9/18)

CIDRAP: Global COVID-19 Total Closes In On 30 Million
The global total today approached 30 million COVID-19 cases, as cases in India continued to accelerate and flare-ups in Europe prompted targeted measures. In addition, World Health Organization (WHO) officials warned of the impact on healthcare workers, part of the observance of World Patient Safety Day. The global total climbed to 29,976,621 cases, and 942,758 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 9/17)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Testing Guidance Was Published Against Scientists’ Objections
A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times. The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of Covid-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a C.D.C. product and had been revised with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield. (Mandavilli, 9/17)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Testing Guidance Was Published Against Scientists' Objections: NYT
The agency’s previous position recommended testing all people who have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. The reversal shocked doctors and politicians and prompted accusations of political interference. Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - the CDC’s parent - at the time said the goal was “appropriate testing”, not more testing for its own sake, and that there had been no political pressure. (9/17)

The Hill: Controversial CDC Guidelines Were Written By HHS Officials, Not Scientists: Report 
Administration officials had told the Times at the time that the guidance came from the CDC and was edited by CDC Director Robert Redfield. But officials told the newspaper this week that HHS staff rewrote the document and published it on the CDC’s website without going through the traditional review process. The review would typically require 12 to 20 people to approve the document. “That was a doc that came from the top down, from the HHS and the task force,” a federal official with knowledge of the matter told the Times, referring to the White House coronavirus task force. “That policy does not reflect what many people at the CDC feel should be the policy.” (Coleman, 9/17)

Politico: ‘More Dire Than We Think’: Health Officials Brace For Trump Diatribes 
For months, Michael Caputo worked vigorously behind the scenes to shape the health department’s pandemic messaging by contradicting career scientists, disputing coronavirus research and prioritizing President Donald Trump’s electoral fortunes. But within hours of Caputo’s abrupt departure for medical leave on Wednesday, Trump went out and did much the same thing – only in public and from the White House briefing room. (Cancryn, 9/17)

The Hill: Trump's Sharp Words Put CDC Director On Hot Seat 
President Trump’s latest broadside against one of his administration’s public health officials has shined a spotlight on his distrust of experts and placed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield in a potentially untenable position. The president on Wednesday contradicted Redfield’s congressional testimony on vaccine distribution and the efficacy of masks, telling reporters he phoned the CDC director to inform him he was mistaken. (Samuels and Weixel, 9/17)

Stat: Trump’s Attacks Highlight CDC’s Stumbles On Public Health Messaging
Robert Redfield’s statement was unambiguous: A Covid-19 vaccine, he said, might not be available to much of the American public until mid- or late 2021. But in the next 10 hours, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came under attack from President Trump, attempted to walk back his prior statement by plainly mischaracterizing his own words, and then, inexplicably, retracted his own reversal. (Facher, 9/17)

AP: Gulf Between White House's Words, Trump's Actions On Masks
White House officials insist that President Donald Trump strongly supports face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus and always has. But the president’s own words and actions tell a very different — and sometimes puzzling — story. That’s created a gulf between Trump and public health officials that keeps widening six months after the virus took root in the U.S., with the president undercutting medical experts who say consistent face covering is one of the best tools to fight the pandemic. (Superville and Maadhani, 9/17)

Politico: Trump’s Allies Back Up His Attacks On CDC Chief 
President Donald Trump’s congressional allies and White House aides backed his rebuke of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield on Thursday, insisting they trusted the president over the nation’s top public health official on matters of face masks and vaccine development. “If I just take the words of the CDC and the president, the president is right,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said at a news conference, pledging that the U.S. would “have a safe and effective vaccine this year.” (Forgey, 9/17)

The Guardian: US Health Official Laments ‘Politicization’ Of CDC After Trump And Redfield Spat 
A prominent public health official on Thursday lamented the politicization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after a public spat a day earlier between Donald Trump and the CDC director, Dr Robert Redfield, a medical doctor, over masks and a Covid-19 vaccine. The president said Redfield was “confused” about the timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and attacked Redfield over his assertion that masks are “the most important, powerful public health tool we have” to combat coronavirus. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday that there was no doubt about which man was confused. “The doctor is right” about masks, Jha said. (McCarthy, 9/17)

In related news —

ABC News: Trump Called 'Demented' After Blaming 'Blue States' For Coronavirus Death Toll 
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after blaming blue states for the coronavirus death toll during a press briefing at the White House on Wednesday. "So we’re down in this territory," Trump said, pointing to a graph that the White House first unveiled in the spring which showed two estimated ranges of possible death tolls depending on efforts to slow the spread of the virus. "And that’s despite the fact that the blue states had had tremendous death rates. If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at. We’re really at a very low level. But some of the states, they were blue states and blue state-managed." (Thomas and Pecorin, 9/17)

The Hill: Trump Coronavirus Adviser Threatens To Sue Stanford Researchers 
Scott Atlas, one of President Trump’s coronavirus advisers, is threatening to sue a group of Stanford doctors and researchers after they penned a public letter calling out “falsehoods” and “misrepresentations” of science around COVID-19. Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who has questioned the science of wearing masks to stop the spread of COVID-19, has made claims that “run counter to established science” and undermines public health authorities by doing so, 78 researchers and doctors wrote in the Sept. 9 letter posted on Stanford's website. (Hellmann, 9/17)

The Hill: Azar To Testify Before House Coronavirus Subcommittee 
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will appear in front of the House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as his agency faces a whirlwind of controversies. The panel’s chairman, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) announced Thursday that Azar will appear in front of the committee on Oct. 2 to testify on the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Axelrod, 9/17)

NBC News: Trump Administration Scrapped Plan To Send Every American A Mask In April, Email Shows
The White House scrapped an effort to send hundreds of millions of cloth masks to every U.S. household in April, choosing instead to distribute the masks to nonprofit organizations and state and federal agencies, according to an internal email from a senior Trump administration official obtained by NBC News. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told NBC News that 600 million masks have been distributed around the country to nonprofits and state and federal agencies through the means the Trump administration ultimately chose. The mask distribution program was called Project America Strong. (Strickler and Bennett, 9/17)

ABC News: Postal Service's Plan To Send 650M Face Masks To Americans Allegedly Nixed By White House 
According to the draft release, the agency, working with the Department of Health and Human Services, would first send masks to areas with high COVID-19 transmission rates at the time -- including Louisiana's Orleans and Jefferson parishes; King County, Washington; New York; and Wayne County, Michigan. "Our organization is uniquely suited to undertake this historic mission of delivering face coverings to every American household in the fight against the COVID-19 virus," the then-postmaster general and CEO, Megan J. Brennan, said in the prepared release. (Siegel and Bruggeman, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Newly Revealed USPS Documents Show An Agency Struggling To Manage Trump, Amazon And The Pandemic 
The documents, which mostly span March and April, depict an agency in distress, as its deteriorating finances collided with a public-health emergency and a looming election that would be heavily reliant on absentee ballots. ... The frantic emails began reaching the Postal Service leadership in March, mere weeks after the coronavirus is believed to have arrived in the United States. Mail carriers and, in some cases, their spouses practically pleaded with then-Postmaster General Megan Brennan and her top aides for help in protecting themselves on the front lines. (Romm, Bogage and Sun, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Read The Scrapped USPS Announcement To Send 5 Masks To Every American Household 
The document comes from watchdog group American Oversight, that obtained thousands of internal USPS documents through the Freedom of Information Act. This announcement, which includes quotation from top USPS officials and other specifics, never was sent. It illustrates the government’s initial interest in tapping the Postal Service as part of its broader pandemic response may have been far more advanced than initially reported this spring. (9/17)

In related news —

ProPublica: Poorly Protected Postal Workers Are Catching COVID-19 By The Thousands. It’s One More Threat To Voting By Mail.
More than 50,000 workers have taken time off for virus-related reasons, slowing mail delivery. The Postal Service doesn’t test employees or check their temperatures, and its contact tracing is erratic. (Jameel and McCarthy, 9/18)

The Washington Post: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks USPS Operational Changes Amid Concerns About Mail Slowdowns, Election 
A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday granted a request from 14 states to temporarily block operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service that have been blamed for a slowdown in mail delivery, saying President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are “involved in a politically motivated attack” on the agency that could disrupt the 2020 election. (Viebeck and Bogage, 9/17)

The Hill: Trump Announces Another $13B In Aid To Farmers Affected By COVID-19 
President Trump announced another $13 billion in aid for farmers, who've financially suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic, during his Wisconsin rally on Thursday. "I'm proud to announce that I'm doing even more to support Wisconsin farmers," Trump said during the rally in Mosinee, Wis. (Coleman, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Announces A New Round Of Farm Aid In Battleground Wisconsin
The newly announced aid would be the second tranche of money issued as part of the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. In April, the administration unveiled $19 billion in relief for the agriculture sector, including $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers and $3 billion in mass purchases of dairy, meat and produce. The funds came from coronavirus-relief legislation passed by Congress earlier this year as well as from the Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corp., a Depression-era program designed to stabilize farm incomes. (Restuccia and Newman, 9/17)

Kaiser Health News: Election Gift For Florida? Trump Poised To Approve Drug Imports From Canada 
Over the objections of drugmakers, the Trump administration is expected within weeks to finalize its plan that would allow states to import some prescription medicines from Canada. Six states — Colorado, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Vermont — have passed laws allowing them to seek federal approval to buy drugs from Canada to give their residents access to lower-cost medicines. (Galewitz, 9/18)

Time: How Donald Trump Is Trying To Change His Health Care Record
On Sunday, the President issued a new executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, an issue dear to many voters, and boasted on Twitter that “prices are coming down FAST.” The reality is more complicated. Trump’s new executive order, which revokes and replaces a different executive order on drug prices that he signed in July, directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to start testing how it would work to require Medicare to pay the same price for certain prescription drugs as other developed nations, which often pay less for the same medications. In a made-for-2020 twist, the order relies on the HHS secretary invoking an office established under the Affordable Care Act, the bête noire of the Trump Administration. (Abrams, 9/17)

USA Today: Trump To Skip In-Person Trip For United Nations General Assembly
President Donald Trump will not attend the United Nations General Assembly in person next week, a White House official said Thursday – the latest display of how the coronavirus pandemic is upending U.S. diplomacy. The annual meeting usually draws world leaders to New York for several days and Trump has often used his address to frame his foreign policy in domestic terms. Last year, for instance, Trump asserted that the "future does not belong to globalists." (Fritze, 9/17)

And first lady Melania Trump visits New Hampshire —

AP: First Lady Promotes Trump's Approach To Opioid Crisis In NH
First lady Melania Trump used her first solo trip outside Washington since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic to showcase a piece of her “Be Best” youth well-being initiative on Thursday in a state her husband is hoping to win in November. The first lady toured Concord Hospital in New Hampshire’s capital city with James Carroll, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in an effort to highlight the hospital’s treatment programs for babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Mrs. Trump, who has focused many of her public efforts on health issues such as the nation’s opioid crisis, tweeted earlier in the day that the appearance was a nod to Recovery Month. (Whittle, 9/17)

AP: At Town Hall, Biden Blasts Trump's 'Criminal' Virus Response
Joe Biden on Thursday went after President Donald Trump again and again over his handling of COVID-19, calling Trump’s downplaying of the pandemic “criminal” and his administration “totally irresponsible.”“You’ve got to level with the American people — shoot from the shoulder. There’s not been a time they’ve not been able to step up. The president should step down,” the Democratic presidential nominee said to applause from a CNN drive-in town hall crowd in Moosic, outside his hometown of Scranton. (Jaffe and Weissert, 9/18)

The Hill: Biden Says Trump Should Step Down Over Coronavirus Response 
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said President Trump should step down over his coronavirus response during a town hall just outside of Scranton, Pa., on Thursday evening. "This is all about one thing, the stock market. He doesn't want to see anything happen," Biden said, answering a question about how he would get the right messaging out to Americans on how to protect themselves amid the pandemic. (Manchester, 9/17)

Reuters: Biden Rejects Trump Claim That COVID-19 Vaccine Is Imminent 
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday bluntly contradicted President Donald Trump’s suggestion that a coronavirus vaccine may be only weeks away, warning Americans they cannot trust the president’s word. “The idea that there’s going to be a vaccine and everything’s gonna be fine tomorrow - it’s just not rational,” Biden said during a CNN town hall in Moosic, Pennsylvania. (Ax, 9/17)

The Hill: Biden Rips Barr's Comments On Coronavirus Restrictions As 'Sick' 
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed Attorney General William Barr's recent comments about coronavirus restrictions on Thursday, calling the remarks "sick" during a town hall. Barr said Wednesday in northern Virginia that coronavirus restrictions are the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" since slavery. (Manchester, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Joe Biden’s CNN Town Hall: An Occasional Whopper 
A Joe Biden town hall does not hit the Pinocchio meter as much as a Donald Trump town hall. Biden tends to stick close to the facts but occasionally gets carried away with some over-exuberance. Here are five claims that caught our attention during his CNN town hall in Moosic, Pa., moderated by Anderson Cooper. (Kessler and Rizzo, 9/17)

And a former aide for Vice President Mike Pence says she'll vote for Biden —

NBC News: Ex-Pence Covid Aide Denounces Trump's Pandemic Response, Plans To Vote For Biden
A former GOP aide to Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday she is choosing “country over party” and voting for Democratic nominee Joe Biden because of the administration’s Covid-19 response in a new ad released by a political action committee against President Donald Trump. Olivia Troye, who worked as homeland security and counterterrorism aide to Pence for two years and served as his adviser on the Coronavirus Task Force, which he's helmed, said Trump showed indifference at the beginning of the pandemic and the administration’s response cost lives. (Clark, 9/17)

In other campaign news —

Modern Healthcare: Democrats Persist With Healthcare Ads As Other Issues Loom
Healthcare is still a top policy issue in recent campaign advertising in key states, even as other issues loom large on voters' minds. The Biden campaign, Democrats' Senate campaign arm, and a drug pricing-focused political action committee have in recent days come out with new ads attacking Republicans on supporting legislation that would have eliminated protections for people with preexisting conditions and for opposing bipartisan drug-pricing legislation. The latest push comes as new polling finds healthcare is the fifth-most important issue for registered voters. (Cohrs, 9/17)

Roll Call: House Postpones Vote To Decriminalize Marijuana Until After Election
House Democrats’ plan to vote on legislation decriminalizing marijuana before the November election went up in smoke Thursday, as leadership decided to postpone consideration of the measure amid concerns about the political optics. Some of the more moderate Democrats in the caucus, including ones considered vulnerable for re-election in November, had expressed reservation about voting on the marijuana bill this month when Congress still had not passed another coronavirus relief package. (McPherson, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: House Democrats Postpone Vote On Decriminalizing Marijuana 
The bill, originally set for a vote next week, would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, leaving it up to states to determine its legality. The legislation would also expunge some criminal records and impose a 5% federal tax on cannabis products to help fund programs in communities impacted by the war on drugs. The vote would have been the first measure to decriminalize marijuana to have come up on the House floor. It wasn’t expected to proceed to the Senate or become law. (Ngo and Andrews, 9/17)

Politico: Democrats Lose Control Of Marijuana Messaging 
Removing federal penalties for marijuana looked like an easy win for Democrats two weeks ago, but the momentum has stalled. Democrats have been scared off by Republicans' use of the marijuana bill to bludgeon Democrats on the lack of a coronavirus deal, and moderates in tight races worry it will be linked to hits they’re already taking over the “defund the police” movement. So instead of embracing the progressive messaging of this bill as an election win, House leaders are now thinking about punting marijuana until after November 3. (Fertig, 9/17)

Politico: Congress Starts Its Weekend No Closer To A Coronavirus Deal 
Democrats and Republicans appeared even further away from a coronavirus relief deal on Thursday, despite mounting calls from rank-and-file lawmakers — and even President Donald Trump — for action. With no mood for deal-making in either party, the House and Senate are leaving for the weekend with no progress on an agreement, casting further doubt that Congress can muster the political will to adopt another massive economic stimulus measure before the November election. (Ferris, Caygle and Bresnahan, 9/17)

The Hill: Pelosi: 'Hard To See' Democrats Supporting Less Than $2.2T In COVID-19 Aid 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said that she's hopeful the parties will reach an agreement on the next round of coronavirus relief but suggested Democrats aren't prepared to accept anything less than her last offer — $2.2 trillion — on a deal. "When we go into a negotiation it's about the allocation of the resources," she told reporters in the Capitol. "But it's hard to see how we can go any lower when you only have greater needs." (Lillis, 9/17)

Roll Call: Deal Elusive On Stopgap Funding As Deadline Nears
There's no agreement on how long the continuing resolution will extend current funding levels, for starters, while tricky policy issues like upcoming redistricting-related census deadlines remain unresolved. What's more, there's even some talk among rank-and-file House Democrats about withholding their votes on the CR unless the House takes up coronavirus relief, despite a White House-leadership deal to keep the two issues separate. It wasn't clear how much traction that push was gaining. (Shutt, 9/17)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: McConnell Focuses On Confirming Judicial Nominees With COVID-19 Talks Stalled
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) turned the Senate's focus to confirming a slate of judicial nominees as talks over a fifth coronavirus package are stuck at an impasse. The Senate confirmed a total of eight judges this week: three on Tuesday, three on Wednesday and two on Thursday. (Carney, 9/17)

NBC News: House Passes Resolution To Denounce Covid-19 Racism Toward Asian Americans
The House passed a resolution Thursday to denounce the racism toward Asian Americans that has risen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The measure demands the condemnation of all forms of racism and scapegoating and calls on public officials to denounce any anti-Asian sentiment. While the legislation won heavy Democratic support, it also got some Republican backing, passing 243-164. Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., the resolution's main sponsor, said the vote showed that "the House said, 'Enough.'" (Yam, 9/17)

The New York Times: Many Hospitals Charge More Than Twice What Medicare Pays For The Same Care 
Hospitals across the country are charging private insurance companies 2.5 times what they get from Medicare for the same care, according to a new RAND Corporation study of hospital prices released on Friday. In a half-dozen of 49 states in the survey, including West Virginia and Florida, private insurers paid three or more times what Medicare did for overnight inpatient stays and outpatient care. (Abelson, 9/18)

Modern Healthcare: Gap Between What Private Insurers And Medicare Pay Hospitals Is Growing
A new study suggests that hospitals' market power may have a bigger influence on prices than oft-touted factors like compensating for Medicare and Medicaid losses and providing high-quality care. It's the third and largest iteration of not-for-profit think tank RAND Corp.'s deep dive into how much private insurers pay for inpatient and outpatient hospital services. It found private insurers paid hospitals on average 247% what Medicare would have for the same services in 2018, a gap that's creeped up in recent years and varies widely across states. (Bannow, 9/18)

Read the Rand Corp. study:

Prices Paid to Hospitals by Private Health Plans Are High Relative to Medicare and Vary Widely

In other Medicare updates —

NerdWallet: Are Medicare Advantage Plans Worth The Risk?
About 1 in 3 people 65 and older in the U.S. enroll in Medicare Advantage, the private insurance alternative to traditional Medicare. It’s not hard to see why: Medicare Advantage plans often cover stuff that Medicare doesn’t, and most people don’t pay extra for it. But Medicare Advantage can be more expensive if you get sick because copays and other costs can be higher, says Katy Votava, president of Goodcare.com, a health care consultant for financial advisors and consumers. (Weston, 9/17)

MarketWatch: Medicare Enrollment: How To Sign Up If You’re A New Member  
You’ve already done the legwork. You know you’re eligible for Medicare and you already know which Medicare plan to enroll in based on your needs after examining and comparing all the available Medicare health insurance options.But now you’re faced with a bigger task — going through the complex process of Medicare enrollment. (9/17)

Also —

USA Today: Social Security Cost-Of-Living Increase Likely To Raise Benefits By Modest 1.3% In 2021
Older Americans already struggling financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic probably won’t find much solace in their Social Security checks next year. The 68 million people – including retirees, as well as disabled people and others – who rely on Social Security are likely to receive a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment next year because of paltry inflation, according to an estimate by the Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. For the average retiree who got a check of $1,517 this year, that would mean an additional $19.70 a month. (Davidson, 9/15)

ABC News: Feds Unveil Plan To 'Reduce Suffering' For Nursing Home Residents And Staff Amid COVID-19 Pandemic 
An independent commission set up by the Trump administration has unveiled a host of recommendations it says could help nursing homes "reduce the suffering and to save the lives of residents and staff" as they continue to wage a deadly battle against the coronavirus, though some critics say the commission didn't go far enough to help America's most vulnerable because it does not address enforcement of federal quality of care standards. (Romero, 9/17)

AP: Report: Much Needs Doing To Shield Nursing Homes From Virus
The Trump administration is claiming “resounding vindication” from an independent commission’s report on the coronavirus crisis in nursing homes, but some panel members say that’s a misinterpretation of their conclusion that much remains to be done to safeguard vulnerable residents. People in long-term care facilities represent less than 1% of the U.S. population but more than 40% of the coronavirus deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project, which has tallied 77,000 deaths among residents and staff. Those harsh numbers are a sensitive political issue for President Donald Trump, who is trying to hang on to support from older voters. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/17)

In other nursing homes news —

CIDRAP: High Ratings, More COVID Tests Tied To Fewer Nursing Home Outbreaks
Three studies on COVID-19 prevention in nursing homes published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report suggest that regular testing of residents and staff to identify asymptomatic infections may help contain outbreaks and that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) star ratings could serve as a proxy for coronavirus outbreak risk. (Van Beusekom, 9/17)

Dallas Morning News: Families To Be Allowed Into Texas Nursing Homes, But State Hasn’t Set All The Rules Yet
The state will allow family members back inside nursing homes for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic closed the facilities to visitors six months ago, officials announced Thursday. Nursing homes can choose whether to open their doors to certain visitors starting Sept. 24. The state has not laid out all the rules yet, however, leaving facilities with many unanswered questions, industry leaders said. (Morris, 9/17)

Also —

Kaiser Health News: A Pandemic Upshot: Seniors Are Having Second Thoughts About Where To Live 
Where do we want to live in the years ahead? Older adults are asking this question anew in light of the ongoing toll of the coronavirus pandemic — disrupted lives, social isolation, mounting deaths. Many are changing their minds. Some people who planned to move to senior housing are now choosing to live independently rather than communally. Others wonder whether transferring to a setting where they can get more assistance might be the right call. (Graham, 9/18)

Fox News: Holocaust Survivor Beats Coronavirus After 81 Days On Ventilator 
An 80-year-old Holocaust survivor who spent 81 days on a ventilator in a Pennsylvania hospital as he battled coronavirus is thrilled to be home in time to celebrate Rosh Hashana with his family. “I feel happy to [have] another Rosh Hashana in my life,” said Avram Woidislawsky, who was born in the Siberian mountains after his family fled the Nazi invasion in Poland. “It’s great.” (Hein, 9/18)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Vaccine: Moderna And Pfizer Reveal Secret Blueprints Trials 
Two drug companies that are leading the race to develop coronavirus vaccines bowed to public pressure on Thursday, abandoning their traditional secrecy and releasing comprehensive road maps of how they are evaluating their vaccines. The companies, Moderna and Pfizer, revealed details about how participants are being selected and monitored, the conditions under which the trials could be stopped early if there were problems, and the evidence researchers will use to determine whether people who got the vaccines were protected from Covid-19. (Grady and Thomas, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Vaccine Companies Reveal Their Study Designs, Even As Trump Sows Confusion
President Trump stood before a televised audience Wednesday and proclaimed that “results are very good” for vaccines targeting the novel coronavirus. A day later, Moderna and Pfizer, two front-runner drug companies developing a shot, released the full rule books for their studies, revealing that no one yet knows conclusively whether a vaccine is safe and effective — not even company executives. Trump’s imprecise, extemporaneous comments about vaccines have frequently clashed with messages from government officials, outside scientists and companies. That discord has intensified concerns that political pressure will force a vaccine to be prematurely approved but also has sown public confusion as important public health messages have become entangled with politicians’ appeals to voters and companies’ communications to shareholders. (Johnson, 9/17)

The Hill: Moderna Releases Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Plan As Enrollment Pushes Toward 30,000 
Biotechnology company Moderna released a coronavirus vaccine trial plan Thursday as enrollment in their final trial pushes toward 30,000 people. The top vaccine candidate said the trial has now enrolled 25,296 of an expected 30,000 volunteers, and more than 10,000 of them have received two doses of the vaccine. (Moreno and Bowden, 9/17)

In more news from Moderna —

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Vaccine Study Results Could Come Late October, Moderna CEO Says 
A large, pivotal study of Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine could yield a preliminary answer about whether the shot works safely as early as October, though it’s more likely to be November, the company’s leader said. Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in an interview the timing will depend on rates of infection in the U.S. locations where the trial is being conducted, because the study is comparing whether fewer vaccinated people come down with symptomatic Covid-19 than unvaccinated people. (Loftus, 9/17)

The Hill: Congressman Who Denounced Mask Wearing Overseeing The Trial Of A Drug To Treat COVID-19 
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) is overseeing the trial for a drug to potentially treat COVID-19 after denouncing wearing masks and stay-at-home orders, Politico reported on Thursday. Harris, a medical doctor, took on the unpaid job of joining the data and safety monitoring committee for a drug trial handled by NeuroRx, whose CEO and founder Jonathan Javitt has connections to the representative. (Coleman, 9/17)

CNN: US Coronavirus: America Doesn't Have To Wait For A Vaccine To Get Covid-19 Under Control, Nation's Top Doctor Says 
With the timeline of a widely available vaccine still unknown, the nation's top doctor says the US doesn't have to wait to get Covid-19 under control. "We can do it right now," US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Thursday. "The tools to stop this virus are already in our communities." (Maxouris, 9/18)

Fox News: Fauci Would Bet On Effective And Safe Coronavirus Vaccine By November Or December
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Wednesday that he would bet on a coronavirus vaccine to be proven safe and effective before the end of 2020.‘‘ I would still put my money on November/December,” he said, during a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute panel on global pandemics. (Aaro, 9/18)

In other vaccine news —

PBS NewsHour: Is The U.S. Government Paying Twice For Coronavirus Vaccine? 
COVID-19 vaccine development continues to be the subject of political jostling, with President Trump contradicting top U.S. health officials regarding timeline and efficacy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they expect to distribute vaccines publicly at no cost to the patient. But what will the government pay, and how much could drug companies profit? (Solman, 9/17)

Politico: Vaccine Distribution Isn’t As Easy As Trump Wants People To Think
President Donald Trump is suggesting a coronavirus vaccine can be delivered widely in a matter of weeks. But states ultimately tasked with leading the distribution effort are already confronting a host of logistical and supply chain challenges that could dash the Trump administration’s hopes of quickly distributing a vaccine once it’s approved. State and federal officials must ensure providers are equipped to administer a vaccine that needs to be kept at extremely cold temperatures, as one of the leading vaccine candidates would require. States are also missing out on desperately sought federal funding to hire and train staff to administer the shots, as they’re also trying to amass basic supplies. Some states may also rely on a new, untested federally designed system to track who’s getting shots and manage supplies. (Roubein and Goldberg, 9/17)

The Hill: Americans' Willingness To Take COVID-19 Vaccine Down 21 Points Since April: Poll 
As the race to get a COVID-19 vaccination to market is heating up, public sentiment surrounding the vaccine is conversely cooling down. New data from Morning Consult suggests that only 51 percent of the U.S. population would receive a COVID-19 vaccine if one became available — a sizable decline from the 72 percent of Americans who said they would take a dose of a future vaccine back in April. (Kelley, 9/17)

CNN: Two HBCU Presidents Joined Covid-19 Vaccine Trials To Highlight The Importance Of Black Participation 
When the presidents of two historically Black colleges announced they were participating in a Covid-19 vaccine trial, they hoped to encourage other African Americans to do the same to ensure that an eventual vaccine has been tested on -- and is effective for -- people of color. Instead, they've been met with widespread skepticism from people who point to the United States' history of unethical medical experiments on Black people. (Andone, 9/18)

Harvard Business Review: Why The U.S. Still Has A Severe Shortage Of Medical Supplies
It may be hard to believe after all these months, but the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical health care supplies for dealing with the pandemic in the United States still haven’t been solved. Instead, they continue and some have gotten worse. Hospitals, nursing homes, and medical practices routinely have to waste time and heighten their disease exposure by decontaminating disposable masks and gloves for reuse. Many organizations must still forage for critically needed equipment through back channels and black markets. And while the supply of ventilators is no longer an issue, shortages of ICU medications and test-kit reagents remain.The reason is that a slew of glaring supply-chain deficiencies have yet to be fixed. (Finkenstadt, Handfield and Guinto, 9/17)

The Hill: Democratic Senator Calls For 'More Flexible' Medical Supply Chain To Counter Pandemics 
The U.S. needs a “more flexible” medical supply chain that balances a reliance on trade partners and domestic reserves to successfully tackle the pandemic and prepare for future ones, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Thursday. “I think we have to be most worried about China these days, especially given the way in which our relations are deteriorating on a daily basis,” Murphy said at The Hill’s “Lessons from a Pandemic: Reliable Access to Affordable Medicines” event. (Bautista, 9/17)

In testing and tracing news —

Modern Healthcare: Quest Diagnostics' At-Home COVID-19 Test Is Self-Pay Only
Quest Diagnostics has launched an at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19 that individuals can order online, but the out-of-pocket cost for the test could get in the way of widespread use. The test, which is a nasal swab test permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under an emergency use authorization, enables customers to take a sample at home using a collection kit mailed by Quest and send the sample to the lab through FedEx. (Livingston, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Testing In Children Limited By Several Factors 
It is a nightmare repeatedly playing in parents’ minds: Their child is welcomed back to their classroom, but in the excitement the kids get too close to one another, sharing germs. The children may not have coronavirus symptoms or be able to express that they are not feeling well, unwittingly spreading the virus as they continue to go to school or come into contact with adults. (Kornfield, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Contact-Tracing Challenges Hurt D.C.’s Efforts To Control Virus’s Spread, Health Officials Say
A lack of information from some D.C. residents who test positive for the novel coronavirus is hurting the city’s efforts to corral the virus’s spread, officials said Thursday.Six months after the first confirmed case in the nation’s capital, the city released new statistics demonstrating challenges in contact tracing and containing the coronavirus. While infections in D.C. are far below their peak, officials say those who become infected are sometimes hesitant to provide details that could prevent future transmissions. (Nirappil and Wiggins, 9/17)

Fox News: Scientists May Know Where Coronavirus Originated, Study Says 
Months into the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still investigating the actual event where the crossover of the novel coronavirus from animals to humans occurred. A team of scientists may have discovered the answer to the question many have been asking for months, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology. The group of scientists from the United States, China, and Europe compared mutation patterns of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to other viruses, and created an evolutionary history of the related viruses. They discovered the lineage responsible for producing the virus that created the COVID-19 pandemic has been present in bats, according to the study. (McGorry, 9/17)

ABC News: How Did Coronavirus Get Transferred From Animals To Humans? Scientists May Have An Answer 
Nine months into the global pandemic, scientists are still piecing together the mystery of the first crossover event, in which the coronavirus moved from bats to an intermediary animal, and eventually, to humans. By comparing the patterns of mutations from the new coronavirus to other known viruses, researchers have been able to create an evolutionary history of the related viruses, and found a "single lineage responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic." (Amin, 9/17)

Stat: What The U.S. Did Wrong On Covid-19 — And What Others Did Right
Some governments have been praised for being forthright about being science-driven in the way they’ve communicated about the Covid-19 pandemic. Other countries, most notably the U.S. and the U.K., have been hit with criticism for public health messages that are confusing or not based in science. (Robbins, Garde and Feuerstein, 9/18)

The Guardian: US Reinfection Case Raises Question: How Long Does Covid Immunity Last? 
Virologists largely expected reinfection could occur. But experts said the US reinfection case highlights the enduring mysteries of the coronavirus, including how long a person’s immune system protects against the virus after an infection and the virus’s interaction with individual biology. Reinfection cases are important also for the development of vaccines and assessing their impacts as the world’s medical community races to develop them. (Glenza, 9/17)

Fox News: Over Half Of Coronavirus-Infected Pregnant Women Showed No Symptoms, CDC Report Says 
While data is limited around birth outcomes and COVID-19, two new federal reports found that more than half of pregnant women infected with the virus were asymptomatic, or showed no symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday published an early release for two reports relating to pregnancy and COVID-19. (Rivas, 9/18)

The New York Times: Coronavirus May Increase Premature Births, Studies Suggest 
Pregnant women who are infected with the coronavirus and hospitalized are at risk for developing serious complications, and may face an elevated risk for delivering their babies prematurely, according to new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They may also be at greater risk of losing the pregnancy or having a stillbirth. The troubling findings are consistent with some earlier reports that pregnant women may be at increased risk for severe illness when they become infected with the new coronavirus. But some experts warned that the findings, drawn from relatively small numbers of patients, including many hospitalized because of Covid-19, may not be representative of all pregnant women who are infected. (Rabin, 9/17)

Also —

GMA: Pine Sol Now Approved To Kill Coronavirus On Surfaces: EPA 
Clorox wipes are still in short supply due to increased demand as Americans continue to clean off frequently used surfaces to combat the spread of coronavirus, but another household cleaner has been added to the list of effective products. Pine-Sol Original Multi-Surface Cleaner received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "for kill claims against SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on hard non-porous surfaces," the Clorox Company announced in a press release about its cleaning product. (McCarthy, 9/17)

The Hill: Eyeglasses May Help Protect Against Coronavirus: Study 
Eyeglasses could offer additional protection against transmission of coronavirus, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology. Researchers found that of 276 patients admitted to a Wuhan, China hospital over 47 days, only 16 wore glasses. The city was the original epicenter of the virus, which is believed to have originated in a so-called "wet market" there. Researchers hypothesized glasses may reduce susceptibility to the virus by discouraging wearers from touching their faces or helping block transmission of the virus through the tear ducts. (Budryk, 9/17)

CIDRAP: High COVID-19 Viral Load In Hospital Patients Tied To Higher Risk For Death
High SARS-CoV-2 viral load at hospital admission may place patients with and without cancer at higher risk for death, a new multicenter observational study published in Cancer Cell suggests. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine used surrogate markers to measure the viral load of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, in 100 cancer patients and 2,914 patients without cancer admitted to one of three New York City hospitals from March 15 to May 14. (9/17)

Stat: State Treasurers Urge Gilead To Lower The Price Of Remdesivir
Nearly a dozen state treasurers are asking Gilead Sciences (GILD) to lower the price of its experimental remdesivir treatment for Covid-19, arguing the company is attempting to market an “old drug at prices that are disconnected from economic reality.” In a letter to Gilead chief executive Daniel O’Day, the state officials cautioned that Gilead should not take “financial advantage” of the pandemic to pursue “unreasonable profits” because it “sets a dangerous precedent for future treatments in development.” (Silverman, 9/17)

ABC News: 11 State Treasurers Call On Gilead To Reduce Remdesivir Pricing 
As the U.S. approaches 200,000 coronavirus deaths, a coalition of 11 state treasurers is calling on drugmaker Gilead Sciences to reduce the price of remdesivir, its promising treatment for some patients of COVID-19. In a letter to the California-based drugmaker on Wednesday, the state treasurers, led by Pennsylvania's Joe Torsella and Ohio's Robert Sprague, asked the company to "responsibly commit to being a part of our nation's recovery from COVID-19, both medically and economically, by repricing this drug more affordably." (Bruggeman, 9/17)

In other pharmaceutical and biotech updates —

Boston Globe: After Expanding Its IPO, Amwell Is Set To Start Trading
Taking advantage of a pickup in demand for new stocks, American Well Corp. expanded its initial public offering Wednesday, locking in a price that valued the Boston telehealth technology company at $4.1 billion. The company, also known as Amwell, said it raised $742 million by selling 41.2 million class A shares at $18 apiece, after increasing the price and number of shares offered. Amwell had planned to sell 35 million shares at $14 to $16 a share, according to a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Edelman, 9/17)

Stat: 5 Takeaways From Venture Capital's Growing Focus On Mental Health
Research suggests that only half of the tens of millions of people in the U.S. with mental health conditions receive treatment in a given year. The venture capital world is increasingly viewing that as an opening. (Runwal, 9/18)

Stat: Three Lessons From Covid-19 On Accelerating Biopharma Innovation 
The health care research ecosystem has shifted into overdrive in response to Covid-19, sparking unprecedented speed and agility. The economic and public health burdens it has generated demand that we rethink our approach to developing new vaccines and therapies. Researchers are now examining what we can learn from these experiences and more broadly apply this innovation to research and development in the future. (White, 9/18)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Children’s Patient And Donor Information Compromised In Cyberattack 
The personal information of roughly 2,000 Texas Children’s Hospital patients and donors has been compromised as a result of a cyberattack against a third-party cloud software provider used by institutions around the country. Texas Children’s this week mailed letters advising the individuals of the ransomware attack involving Blackbaud, a company that hosts fundraising databases of hundreds of universities, health-care systems, charities and other institutions. The attack reportedly has exposed the information of hundreds of thousands of people. (Ackerman, 9/17)

AP: Health Care Patient, Donor Data May Have Been Breached
Patients and donors to at least four different health care providers in Minnesota are being notified that their personal information may have been compromised. The potential data breach involves hundreds of thousands of patients and donors at Children’s Minnesota, Allina Health, Regions Hospital and Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. (9/17)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: Nearly 60% Of Physicians Report Burnout Since COVID-19
Physicians are reporting feelings of burnout at high levels as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey from the not-for-profit Physicians Foundation. The survey, which involves responses gathered last month from more than 2,300 U.S. doctors, shows 58% of physicians report often feeling burned out, representing a 45% increase from two years ago when 40% of physicians reported often or always feeling burned out in another Physicians Foundation survey. The survey results were gathered in late-August and most questions were specific to physicians' emotional well-being in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Castellucci, 9/17)

AP: 300 Chiropractic Office Visitors Urged To Quarantine
Public health officials are urging nearly 300 people who visited a chiropractic office in southwestern Washington last week to quarantine immediately because they may have been exposed to COVID-19 by an infected worker. Clark County took the unusual step of publicly announcing the case Wednesday in an effort to quickly reach those visitors. Officials expect it will take contact tracers a few days to speak to everyone who had been there, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. (9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Did Covid Overwhelm Hospitals? A Yearslong Drive For Efficiency 
Banner Health had figured out how to get ahead in the modern health-care industry.The Phoenix-based nonprofit hospital system relentlessly focused on costs. It trimmed labor, the largest expense for any hospital. Last year, it carried 2.1% fewer employees for every bed filled, compared with the year before. It also moved away from pricey hospital settings. Visits at free-standing clinics and surgery centers grew 12% in 2019, while its hospital emergency rooms were flat. The result was a financial powerhouse with $6.2 billion in cash and investments and a bond rating that is the envy of corporate financial officers. But when the pandemic hit, the strategies that had helped it become a model for other hospital systems suddenly became weaknesses. (Gold and Evans, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Schools Delay In-Person Instruction For Second Time 
Just days before New York City schools were supposed to start, families faced another curveball Thursday as officials delayed opening for in-person classes—for the second time. While many educators were relieved to get more time to prepare, parents rushed to rearrange child care and work schedules. Principals held emergency meetings to update families, with emotions already running high as a result of the new coronavirus pandemic. (Brody and Honan, 9/17)

AP: N.C. Elementary Schools May Offer Full In-Person Classes
North Carolina elementary schools will soon be allowed to return to daily, in-person classes, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Thursday. The decision on whether to return to full in-person instruction will be left up to individual districts. Those choosing to go forward with the Plan A reopening option starting on Oct. 5 won’t be limited in the number of students who can be inside a classroom. They would, however, be required to screen kids for coronavirus symptoms, make sure they wear face coverings and offer remote options for parents concerned about their kids bringing the virus back home. (Anderson, 9/17)

Dallas Morning News: More Than 4,500 Students And Staff In Texas Schools Have Tested Positive For COVID-19 Since The Start Of The School Year
There have been 4,519 documented cases of COVID-19 in Texas public schools since the start of the 2020-21 school year, according to new state data released by the Texas Education Agency and the Department of State Health Services. Thursday’s announcement, which only included a statewide aggregate, is the first attempt to track novel coronavirus cases in Texas schools. A district-level breakdown will be available next week, TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky said. The new dashboard is available on the DSHS website. (Smith, 9/17)

AP: Pierre High School Cancels Classes Due To New COVID-19 Cases
One of South Dakota’s largest school high schools has called off classes for Friday and postponed activities because of an increase in COVID-19 cases. Pierre High School Superintendent Kelly Glodt said Thursday there were an estimated 15 cases of the coronavirus among students and 150 students have been asked to quarantine for 14 days. (9/17)

The New York Times: As School Returns, Kids With Special Needs Are Left Behind
When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the Education Department stressed that all public schools that would be providing virtual or online education during the pandemic must continue to serve their students with disabilities. But a survey released at the end of May by the advocacy group ParentsTogether, found that 40 percent of kids in special education hadn’t received any support at all, and only 20 percent received all the services they were entitled to. Over a third were doing little to no remote learning, compared with 17 percent of their general education peers. (Levine, 9/16)

CNN: As Many As 51% Of All School Employees Are At Increased Risk Of Covid-19 Infection, Study Finds 
School districts across the country are navigating how to reopen safely amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic, and the results of a new study could make those decisions more difficult. Between 42% and 51% of all school employees in the US met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's criteria for either having an increased risk or potentially increased risk for Covid-19 infection, researchers with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found. (Erdman, 9/18)

In higher-education news —

AP: Infection Rates Soar In College Towns As Students Return
Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University last month, the surrounding county had become Indiana’s coronavirus epicenter. Out of nearly 600 students tested for the virus, more than half have been positive. Dozens of infections have been blamed on off-campus parties, prompting university officials to admonish students. (Smith, Hwang and Binkley, 9/17)

AP: UVA Discovers Cluster Of Coronavirus Cases At Residence Hall
The University of Virginia says it’s increasing testing of students after it identified a cluster of coronavirus cases in a residence hall. The Daily Progress reports that the school in Charlottesville reported five cases on Wednesday that were identified through wastewater and individual testing programs. (9/17)

Los Angeles Times: UC Should Prepare For Online Classes, Limited Dorms Beyond Fall 
The University of California’s top health executive has told UC officials to prepare to continue online learning and limited access to campus beyond the fall as the COVID-19 pandemic will probably cause at least another year of disruption to university operations.“ This is not something that will go away quickly,” Dr. Carrie L. Byington, who heads UC Health, told regents during their two-day online meeting this week. The university’s $13-billion health enterprise includes 19 health professional schools and six health systems, five of them academic medical centers. (Teresa Watana, 9/17)

Boston Globe: Providence College Issues Stay-At-Home Order After 84 Students Test Positive For COVID-19
After seeing 84 students test positive for the coronavirus in just two days, Providence College has issued a stay-at-home order to all students and is moving to full remote learning until at least Sept. 26, College President Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard said Thursday. In a message to students and faculty, Sicard said a “large concentration” of the positive cases involve students who live off campus. Providence College is located in the residential Elmhurst neighborhood. (9/17)

ABC News: As Big Ten Decides To Return, 42 Wisconsin Players And Staff Have Tested Positive For COVID, Officials Say 
A day after the Big Ten decided to resume the football season, local officials announced University of Wisconsin, Madison has had over 40 football players and staff test positive for COVID-19 so far. On Wednesday, the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors announced that the conference's football season will resume next month, after previously voting to postpone it until the spring. That same day, officials in UW-Madison's county released a statement advising students and people living in Dane County, where the university sits, not to gather to watch Badger football games. (Deliso, 9/17)

AP: 42 Badger Players, Staff Test Positive For Coronavirus
Forty-two players and staff with the Wisconsin football team have tested positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten makes plans to get the season started. Public Health Madison & Dane County says the 42 people tested positive since June when athletes and staff returned to campus. Twenty-nine of the positive tests were from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15. (9/17)

The New York Times: With Football Returning, Big Ten Cities Brace For More Covid Outbreaks 
To the Big Ten Conference’s leaders and medical advisers, the announcement Wednesday that the league would play football this autumn was a scientific masterstroke and an athletic triumph. In some Big Ten cities, however, public health experts worried it could create an off-the-field epidemiological crisis. (Minsberg and Blinder, 9/17)

In other sports news —

The Washington Post: Fan At Chiefs-Texans NFL Season Opener Tests Positive For Coronavirus, 10 Quarantined 
A fan who attended the NFL’s season-opening game last week at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., tested positive for the novel coronavirus the following day, leading the Kansas City Health Department to direct 10 people to quarantine for potential exposure to the virus. The positive test and quarantines were announced Thursday by the city’s health department. The account was confirmed by the Kansas City Chiefs, who hosted the Houston Texans in the game Sept. 10. (Maske, 9/17)

The Hill: University Of Georgia Defends Decision To Allow Football But Not Voting On Campus 
The University of Georgia is defending a decision to go ahead with football but not on-campus voting. “Those comparing this matter to a football game should be able to recognize that football games will be played outdoors but we will still require social distancing by substantially reducing capacity in the stadium,” the university said in a statement on Wednesday. (Budryk, 9/17)

BBC News: Football Team Loses 37-0 In Socially Distanced Match 
A German football team lost 37-0 to their local rivals after fielding only seven players who socially distanced throughout the match. Ripdorf fielded the minimum number of players on Sunday because their opponents SV Holdenstedt II came into contact in a previous game with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. Their team tested negative but Ripdorf said the conditions were not safe. If Ripdorf had not played, they would have faced a €200 (£182) fine. They had asked for the match - in the 11th tier of German football - to be postponed, but the local association refused. (9/17)

CNBC: Facebook Cracking Down On Groups That Give Health Advice
Facebook on Thursday announced new policies that will limit the spread of groups on its social network that focus on giving users health advice, as well as groups with ties to violence. The company will no longer show health groups in its recommendations, saying a blog post that “it’s crucial that people get their health information from authoritative sources.” In the past, closed groups have been used by Facebook users to spread misinformation about vaccines and Covid-19. (Rodriguez, 9/17)

Kaiser Health News: In Face Of COVID Threat, More Dialysis Patients Bring Treatment Home 
After Maria Duenas was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about a decade ago, she managed the disease with diet and medication. But Duenas’ kidneys started to fail just as the novel coronavirus established its lethal foothold in the U.S. On March 19, three days after Duenas, 60, was rushed to the emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure and blood sugar, Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order. (de Marco, 9/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Does An SF House With 11 Roommates Navigate The Coronavirus? It’s Complicated 
At 5 p.m on a Tuesday in August, the members of the Manor of Being, an 11-person intentional community in San Francisco, gathered in the living room for their weekly coronavirus meeting. The member leading the meeting took out a whiteboard and read the agenda to his housemates, who sprawled on a couch, over some chairs and on the floor. The first action item was to discuss whether the house felt comfortable trying out a new mathematical system to stay safe from the coronavirus: a calculator designed to assess risk and help protect the group. It was supposed to make their day-to-day decisions feel more rational, to make dealing with the pandemic feel less exhausting. (Vainshtein, 9/18)

PBS NewsHour: ‘We Need To Catch Up.’ How The U.S. Fell Behind On Child Vaccines 
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, top American pediatricians could see another crisis looming: a swarm of mini-epidemics of childhood diseases returning as families withdrew from regular medical care, including vaccinations. For months, many in the United States stayed home as scientists worked to understand how COVID-19 spread and who was most at risk of dangerous outcomes. Without much definitive information about the new virus, parents were scared their children might be exposed if they sat in clinic waiting areas or exam rooms. (Santhanam, 9/17)

Also —

AP: AP Exclusive: More Migrant Women Say They Didn’t OK Surgery
An Associated Press review of medical records for four women and interviews with lawyers revealed growing allegations that Amin performed surgeries and other procedures on detained immigrants that they never sought or didn’t fully understand. Although some procedures could be justified based on problems documented in the records, the women’s lack of consent or knowledge raises severe legal and ethical issues, lawyers and medical experts said. (Merchant, 9/18)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: People Alleging Sex Abuse By New Orleans Clergy Must Come Forward By March 1, Judge Rules 
A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday set a March 1 deadline for purported victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy to make claims against the Archdiocese of New Orleans, resolving months of legal arguments over how much time to allow before they are barred from seeking compensation. (Vargas, 9/17)

WBUR: Mental Health And Police Violence: How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing 
Nationwide protests over police accountability and racial justice have reenergized longstanding efforts to fundamentally change how police departments respond to someone in a mental health emergency. Many are calling for removing or dramatically reducing law enforcement's role in responding to those crisis calls unless absolutely necessary. (Westervelt, 9/18)

AP: California Governor Signs Laws To Protect Workers From Virus
California companies must warn their workers of any potential exposure to the coronavirus and must pay their employees workers compensation benefits if they get sick with the disease under two laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday. Newsom, a Democrat, signed the laws over the objections of business groups, who have said they are “unworkable.” (Beam, 9/17)

Dallas Morning News: Bars Still Closed In Texas, But Abbott Eases COVID Limits On Businesses, Elective Surgeries And Nursing Home Visits
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday eased his coronavirus restrictions on many businesses and allowed a resumption of elective surgeries in North Texas and most other parts of the state. He also announced that, starting next Thursday, the state will allow more visitors at nursing homes that meet certain protocols. The Republican governor, though, did not reopen bars. They’ve been closed since late June, when a spike in COVID-19 cases forced Abbott to backtrack on relaxing restrictions. (Garrett, 9/17)

AP: COVID-19 Outbreak Reported At South Dakota Women's Prison
More than 100 inmates have tested positive at a minimum-security women’s prison in Pierre, according to the Department of Corrections. Mass testing of inmates resulted in the Department of Corrections found 102 active cases at a women’s prison called the Pierre Community Work Center, according to an update released late Wednesday. There were 140 women held at the prison, according to an Aug. 31 count. Four staff members have also tested positive, with one fully recovered. (9/18)

WBUR: About 1 In 5 Households In U.S. Cities Miss Needed Medical Care During Pandemic
A poll of households in the four largest U.S. cities by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health finds roughly one in every five have had at least one member who was unable to get medical care or who has had to delay care for a serious medical problem during the pandemic (ranging from 19% of households in New York City to 27% in Houston). (Neighmond, 9/17)

CNN: Idaho Pastor, Paul Van Noy, Skeptical Of Masks Lands In The ICU For Covid-19 
A pastor in Idaho who called himself a "no-masker" during a service and repeatedly questioned the veracity of coronavirus case reporting is in the ICU after contracting Covid-19. Paul Van Noy, senior pastor at Candlelight Church in Coeur d'Alene, has spent two weeks in the hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis, ministry coordinator Eric Reade confirmed to CNN. Five other church staff were infected with coronavirus, too, but they've all recovered, he said. (McNabb and Andrew, 9/17)

In wildfire news —

NPR: Agricultural Workers In Oregon Harvest Wine Grapes Through Fire Smoke 
Wildfires are ravaging large swaths of the West in the middle of the wine grape harvest, sending hazardous smoke through picturesque vineyards. It's forcing many agricultural workers to make a stark choice: Should they prioritize their health or earn badly needed money? "The truth is that I have to work," said Maricela, 48, a team leader at a vineyard near Medford in southern Oregon. There are multiple fires blazing close to the town. (Penaloza, 9/17)

Kaiser Health News: Wildfires’ Toxic Air Leaves Damage Long After The Smoke Clears  
When researchers arrived in this town tucked in the Northern Rockies three years ago, they could still smell the smoke a day after it cleared from devastating wildfires. Their plan was to chart how long it took for people to recover from living for seven weeks surrounded by relentless smoke. They still don’t know, because most residents haven’t recovered. In fact, they’ve gotten worse. (Houghton, 9/18)

In news about policing and public health —

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Police Use Of Tear Gas Is Now Restricted In New Orleans, But What Cases Are The Exceptions? 
In response to widespread rage over the New Orleans Police Department's use of tear gas to move protesters off the Crescent City Connection in June, the City Council on Thursday approved a proposal aimed at severely restricting use of the chemical irritant. The council also asked the department to bar officers from serving a warrant on a home without first announcing themselves, an action that led to the now-infamous police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. (Adelson, 9/17)

NBC News: Colorado Officer Who Pointed Gun At Doctor's Head On His Own Property Suspended 1 Week
A police officer in Aurora, Colorado, who pointed a gun at an Indian American doctor trying to park at a refugee center he owns and operates has been suspended for 40 hours without pay. Officer Justin Henderson will also be required to attend de-escalation training, Aurora Police Department spokesman Matthew Longshore said Thursday. (Griffith, 9/17)

In other news —

Houston Chronicle: Houston Residents Pursue Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Union Pacific Where Cancer Cluster Identified 
Regina Martin-Morgan, 51, has spent the last decade taking care of her family. First, it was her mother: colon cancer diagnosed in 2011. Then, her father: prostate cancer. Her brother: Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She has been the primary caretaker — driving family members to chemotherapy appointments, making end-of-life arrangements and all the while, maintaining the house she grew up in on Russell Street. (Douglas, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Overlooked In Flawed 911 Response To Drowning: A Precise Map
As authorities in two D.C.-area counties investigate a flawed emergency response to a June drowning, new documents show the 911 center in Montgomery County had an automatically generated map that showed precisely where the call for help had come from. Emergency dispatchers in Maryland sent firefighters to the Potomac River after a teen called to say her friend had slipped underwater while the group was swimming in a “river.” The caller went on to say her group had been in an “inlet” off the river and that they were in Virginia. (Morse, 9/17)

AP: Big Wedding In Fictional Home Of 'The Godfather' Fuels Virus
The Sicilian town of Corleone, made famous by the fictional Mafia clan in “The Godfather,” has ordered schools closed and a limited lockdown after a spate of coronavirus infections were tied to a big wedding there last week. The city administration told all 250 guests at the Sept. 12 wedding and anyone who lives with them to self-isolate and inform their doctors and city health authorities while awaiting virus tests. In a Facebook post, Mayor Nicolò Nicolosi said he expected “maximum cooperation to overcome the current crisis.” (9/18)

AP: UN Food Chief Urges Rich To Help Keep Millions From Starving
The World Food Program chief warned Thursday that millions of people are closer to starvation because of the deadly combination of conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic and he urged donor nations and billionaires to help feed them and ensure their survival. The U.N. program’s chief David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council that the response to his warning five months ago of a potential “hunger pandemic” had averted famine and kept people alive but the work wasn’t done. (Lederer, 9/18)

The Washington Post: Churches Have Become South Korea's Coronavirus Battleground 
In South Korea, Christians find themselves at the center of pandemic controversy after places of worship and Christian communities were blamed by President Moon Jae-in for two waves of coronavirus infections.The ensuing dispute has mixed religion, epidemiology and politics in a nation where more than 1 in 4 people identify as Christian and where those who do often lean conservative, putting them at odds with Moon’s center-left government. (Joo Kim, 9/17)

AP: Asia Today: India's Coronavirus Cases Jump By Another 96K
India’s coronavirus cases jumped by another 96,424 infections in the past 24 hours, showing little sign of leveling. The Health Ministry on Friday raised the nation’s total past 5.21 million, 0.37% of its nearly 1.4 billion people. It said 1,174 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 84,372 fatalities. Experts say India’s death toll may be a significant undercount. (9/18)

ProPublica: New Research Shows Disproportionate Rate Of Coronavirus Deaths In Polluted Areas 
The industrial plants in the riverside Louisiana city of Port Allen have worried Diana LeBlanc since her children were young. In 1978, an explosion at the nearby Placid oil refinery forced her family to evacuate. “We had to leave in the middle of the night with two babies,” said LeBlanc, now 70. “I always had to be on the alert.”LeBlanc worried an industrial accident would endanger her family. But she now thinks the threat was more insidious. LeBlanc, who has asthma, believes the symptoms she experienced while sick with the coronavirus were made worse by decades of breathing in toxic air pollution. (Younes and Sneath, 9/11)

The New York Times: Is Staying Home Harming Your Child’s Immune System? 
The coronavirus pandemic has come with a few silver linings. The clear winner for me has been the delightful dearth of snot: My kids haven’t had a cold since March, and neither have I, and I haven’t missed those crusty red noses one little bit. Yet I know it can be good for kids to encounter bacteria and viruses, because microbial exposure shapes the development of the immune system. This is one of the reasons we have vaccines — when we inject our bodies with little bits of pathogens, or dead ones, they learn how to better recognize and fight these same (live) pathogens down the line. (Wenner Moyer, 9/10)

ProPublica: Hundreds Of Children Are Stuck In Psychiatric Hospitals Each Year Despite The State’s Promises To Find Them Homes 
Two years ago, officials from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services vowed to rescue the children they called “stuck kids” — those in state care who had languished in psychiatric hospitals for weeks and sometimes months after doctors had cleared them for release because the agency could not find them proper homes. But children continue to be held at psychiatric hospitals long after they are ready for discharge, a practice our reporting showed leaves them feeling isolated and alone, falling behind in school and at risk of being sexually and physically abused during prolonged hospitalization. (Eldeib, 9/11)

USA Today: Thousands Of Messages Show What It Really Means To Help Someone Who’s Suicidal
A little over a decade ago, Deena Nyer Mendlowitz and Susan Messing began a conversation on Facebook Messenger that would grow to more than 5,000 chats and reveal the complexity of suicidal suffering. Their conversations – the kind that typically happen in hushed tones, if they happen at all – are full of violent fantasies and fragments of undelivered goodbyes, reflections on the limits of psychic pain and the capacity to heal. There is frustration and discomfort and desperation, but also encouragement, acceptance, optimism. (Dastagir, 9/14)

The Wall Street Journal: What Happened When A CEO Came Out As Transgender 
One May morning in 2017, just weeks after her 56th birthday, Bradley & Parker Chief Executive Wynne Nowland hit ‘send’ on an email to the insurance broker’s workforce. It was no routine memo. “I am writing to tell you about a matter that is essentially personal but will result in some changes at work,” she began. After a lifetime living as a man named Wayne but hiding her true self, she wrote, “I will be transitioning my gender.” (Fuhrmans, 9/13)

AP: After Beirut Blast, A Young Surgeon Finds New Sense Of Duty
It was a night Dr. Bassam Osman says changed his life. At around 6 p.m. on Aug. 4, the 27-year-old surgical resident was about to leave his daily hospital shift. Then a massive explosion shook Beirut. The floodgates opened and hundreds of wounded poured into the American University of Beirut Medical Center, one of Lebanon’s best hospitals. (El Deeb, 9/16)

The 19th: Violence Against Women Act Is In Limbo As COVID Fuels A Domestic Violence Surge
As COVID-19 appears to be fueling spikes in domestic violence, the Violence Against Women Act — the landmark legislation that enshrined federal protections and support for survivors — has emerged as a focal point of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. But for now, the law remains in a legislative limbo that could have severe health impacts — particularly during the pandemic. This weekend marked 26 years since the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed into law. Biden and his campaign surrogates have touted the law, which Biden sponsored when he was a Delaware senator as a centerpiece of his commitment to women. Between 1994 and 2010, intimate partner violence has dropped by more than 60 percent, according to the Department of Justice, a precipitous decline that experts at least partially attribute to the law’s passage. (Luthra, 9/16)

Politico: The Children Of 9/11 Are About To Vote 
Twins Arie and Aidan Hiester were born in Indianapolis right around 9 a.m. ET, on September 11, 2001, in between the first crash at the World Trade Center and the moment that a second airliner roared onto TV screens across the country and hit the South Tower. “I’m the second twin, and I was born the same time that the second Twin Tower got hit,” Aidan recalls. ... Across the country, the 13,238 Americans born on September 11, 2001, represented the few rays of hope and happiness on the country’s darkest day. Now, 19 years later, many graduated from high school this spring and are beginning their adult lives—either jobs, if they can find them, or college—in the midst of a world-altering pandemic. (Graff, 9/11)

Stat: How The CDC And Others Are Failing Black Women During Childbirth 
The alarming number of deaths of Black women during childbirth and soon afterward once gained little national attention. That changed, partly because of the high-profile deaths of Dr. Shalon Irving and Kira Johnson, and and the delayed response to Serena Williams’ request for treatment of a post-delivery complication. (Leslie Farrington, 9/18)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Lockdowns May Have Saved Kids’ Lives 
Covid-19 the disease has mostly spared children’s lives, but it is widely expected that the measures taken to slow its spread and the economic dislocation that has followed in its wake will have all sorts of negative consequences for them. A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health projected in May that pandemic-induced disruptions to health care and food provision in developing countries will result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children — possibly causing the first annual increase in the global child mortality rate in at least 60 years. Another group of researchers from Johns Hopkins, the International Food Policy Research Institute and elsewhere forecast in July that Covid-related malnutrition would claim the lives of 128,605 children under 5 around the world — mostly in Africa — this year. Even in rich countries where malnutrition is unlikely to be a major issue, the pandemic’s mental health consequences for young people could be dire. (Justin Fox, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Playing ‘Would You Rather’ In The Covid Age 
Sometimes the dice seem extra-loaded. Our son-in-law tested positive just as he and our daughter welcomed their second child. We’re fairly certain he’d been infected back in March—so chances are good that the dead virus lingering in his nasal passages was responsible for his getting kicked out of the hospital maternity ward and told to quarantine. He still had no sense of smell well into summer. But the what-if factor has been hard to shake. Should my wife and I really not visit our daughter, or our new grandson? If this were March or April we would have stayed away, but now? Then again, New York is still reporting hundreds of new cases daily. How could we, a couple of compromised 60-somethings, defy the most basic protocol? What would Dr. Fauci say? We took the leap and met our 7-pound grandson, Oliver, with his parents right beside him. (Allan Ripp, 9/17)

USA Today: College Football Celebrates COVID-19 Outbreaks At LSU, Texas Tech
The truth about what has gone on at college football programs over the past few months in pursuit of playing this fall has started to dribble out into public view. It’s not a flattering picture. (Dan Wolken, 9/15)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Has Exposed The Urgent Need For A National Patient Safety Authority
For this year's World Patient Safety Day (Sept. 17), we must acknowledge what the pandemic has exposed: the U.S. fails in using its extraordinary technology and information system capabilities to keep its patients and healthcare workers safe. The current crisis only emphasizes what our annual death rate from preventable medical error—upwards of 250,000 people a year—reveals. We are not resilient, resourceful or prepared to protect patients or workers. The problems could be addressed with a strong national agency that can, at once, overcome a lack of preparedness for a pandemic as well as reduce our annual death toll from medical errors. (Karen Wolk Feinstein, 9/17)

The Guardian: I Volunteered To Be A Human Guinea Pig For A Covid Vaccine. Now I'm Having Second Thoughts
In May, I volunteered to be deliberately exposed to the coronavirus to quickly test vaccines in a potential “human challenge trial”. I am not alone: more than 37,000 people from 162 countries have volunteered through 1 Day Sooner, a non-profit advocating on behalf of these volunteers. The risks in such a trial are real and uncertain, but I felt ethically compelled to take that risk if it could save others. But now, I’m having second thoughts. (Thomas Gokey, 9/17)

Stat: 'Most Favored Nation' Reference Pricing For Drugs: A Scam For Seniors 
The White House announced a most favored nations executive order on Sunday, its latest attempt to lower prescription drug costs in the U.S. The new policy, which relies on international price competition, promises to provide Americans with “the same low prices” for prescription medications available in other countries. (Susan Peschin, 9/16)

The Washington Post: American Exceptionalism Has Become A Hazard To Our Health
What explains why some countries have handled the covid-19 pandemic well and others have done poorly? It’s a complicated question, but if we look at the place that has arguably had the greatest success, the answer is failure. Taiwan gets the gold medal for its coronavirus strategy. It has close ties with mainland China, where the disease originated, receiving almost 3 million visitors from there in a typical year. It is a densely populated land, and Taipei, the capital city, has crowded public transit. And yet, with a population of nearly 24 million, Taiwan has had just seven deaths. New York state, with a smaller population, has had 33,000. Taiwan’s greatest asset turns out to be its failed response to a pandemic in 2003, SARS, which taught it many important lessons. (Fareed Zakaria, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid Puts The ‘I’ In The High Holy Days 
Future historians will look back on this time and wonder how it came to be that Britain and America, the two greatest defenders of liberty in the 20th century, subsequently abandoned the foundational belief that society is held together by a covenant that commits everyone to collective responsibility for the common good. In its place, they substituted one of the most absurd ideas ever entertained by intelligent minds, that morality is whatever anyone chooses it to be. The “I” won over the “we.” Self-interest triumphed over the common good. The result couldn’t be other than what it is: good for the winners, very bad for the losers, disastrous for families, ruinous for communities, and disintegrative of a sense of shared belonging that transcends economic and political differences. No wonder society has fissured. (Jonathan Sacks, 9/17)

CNN: Rosh Hashanah: Finding Meaning Amid A Pandemic  
Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once said, "When we are no longer able to change a situation... we are challenged to change ourselves." This had been a theme of the Jewish people long before Frankl so beautifully articulated it, and the events of 2020 have proven it so once again. (Joshua M. Davidson, 9/17)

Nature: Study The Role Of Hubris In Nations’ COVID-19 Response
Just last year, the United States was considered one of the countries best equipped to confront a virus such as SARS-CoV-2. Others included the United Kingdom, Brazil and Chile — nations ranked by the comprehensive Global Health Security (GHS) Index as being among the world’s most prepared. Yet since the pandemic began, these countries have delivered some of the worst outcomes. The United States leads the world in both total cases and total deaths; Brazil’s fatalities are second. Chile’s per-capita cumulative case rate is the second-highest in Latin America, and the United Kingdom has the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths per capita of all the G7 countries. What might explain these staggering failures? One thing these countries have in common is ‘exceptionalism’ — a view of themselves as outliers, in some way distinct from other nations. (Martha Lincoln, 9/15)

The New York Times: What Is It With Trump And Face Masks?
In other words, we know what works. Which makes it both bizarre and frightening that Donald Trump has apparently decided to spend the final weeks of his re-election campaign deriding and discouraging mask-wearing and other anti-pandemic precautions. Trump’s behavior on this and other issues is sometimes described as a rejection of science, which is true as far as it goes. (Paul Krugman, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Olivia Troye's Devastating Account Of Trump's Coronavirus Response
President Trump faces reelection in about a month and half, with his coronavirus response dragging him down and a growing number of former aides and allies speaking out against him in extraordinary ways. But none of them combines those two things like the latest person to speak out, which makes her easily one of the most significant witnesses to date. Olivia Troye is Vice President Pence’s recently departed homeland security adviser, and as The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reports, she’s stepping forward to make her case against Trump. She does so from a unique vantage point: She was involved in many of the White House’s internal discussions on the coronavirus pandemic. (Aaron Blake, 9/17)

Bloomberg: Trump Bullies The CDC, FDA And HHS To Rush A Vaccine 
We are still mired in a pandemic. A new record for daily cases globally — 307,930 — was set on Sunday. At least 196,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, and winter is coming. Yet the guidance from leading federal officials overseeing the push for a vaccine continues to be dangerously inconsistent. On Wednesday, Paul Mango, the deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, told Bloomberg News that the Food and Drug Administration will “approve shots before the end of the year.” That timetable, he said, along with existing contracts with pharmaceutical companies to deliver adequate supplies, means that the government can “vaccinate every American before the end of first-quarter 2021.”Really? (Timothy L. O'Brien, 9/17)

Axios: Biden Beats Trump On Health Care, But It's Not The Top Issue 
Swing voters in three swing states prefer Joe Biden over President Trump on health care and the coronavirus — but those aren't their most important issues, according to the latest KFF-Cook Political Report poll. The big picture: The economy is the most important issue to these voters, and they give the advantage there to Trump. But Biden dominates the next tier of issues in this poll of swing voters in Arizona, Florida and North Carolina. (Drew Altman, 9/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Europe’s Covid Lockdown Lessons 
America’s Democrats often say they want to emulate Europe, and given their fondness for coronavirus lockdowns we can only hope this time they mean it. Parts of Europe, like parts of the U.S., are experiencing surges in new Covid-19 cases. Unlike many in the U.S., European leaders have learned from their earlier experiences with the virus. The uptick in cases, as measured by positive tests, is noticeable across the Continent—with one exception we’ll come to in a moment. The renewed outbreak is worst in Spain and France, whose seven-day rolling average of new cases per million residents are about 215 and 130, respectively, from lows of about eight during the June lull. The rise elsewhere is less severe but still pronounced. Germany is up to 20 or so cases per million residents, from four earlier in the summer. (9/17)