The New York Times: Governors, Facing Pressures On All Sides, Weigh Reopening Their States 
Facing the same competing pressures between keeping people safe in a pandemic and reviving some elements of a more functioning society, governors around the country Sunday made their case for steps they were taking — or not taking — to begin reopening. Their efforts reflected the halting patchwork of attempts by several states to begin moving past severe restrictions in the face of the coronavirus, as a cascade of stay-at-home orders began to expire. (Dewan and Swales, 4/26)

Reuters: Next Wave Of U.S. States Set To Reopen As Coronavirus Could Push Jobless Rate To 16%
Another wave of states prepared to ease coronavirus restrictions on U.S. commerce this week, despite health experts warning there is still too little diagnostic testing, while the White House forecast a staggering jump in the nation’s monthly jobless rate. (Brown and O'Brien, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Reopening Of America Accelerates As States Prepare To Relax Coronavirus Restrictions
Ready or not, America is opening back up. The process that began in recent days with back-in-business nail salons and unbarred sandy beaches in a scattering of states is poised to accelerate over the coming week across wide swaths of the country. After shutting down much of American life in March and keeping people home throughout April, governors are preparing to lift restrictions as the calendar turns to May — and cross their fingers that the novel coronavirus doesn’t come roaring back. (Witte, Stanley-Becker, Wootson and Eger, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Debates How Quickly It Can Reopen
The moves in the U.S. come as the rate of growth in infections in some parts of the country appeared to slow, according to some health and state officials. Still, the number of confirmed infections neared 1 million in the U.S., according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. Public-health officials warned social-distancing measures would likely continue through the summer and a return to normalcy could prove fitful. (Calfas, Ansari and Khan, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Social Distancing Could Last Months, White House Coronavirus Coordinator Says
Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday — the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies. It was the latest instance of conflicting signals coming not just from state and federal leaders but also from within the Trump administration in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that so far has claimed the lives of more than 54,000 Americans. (Sonmez, Winfield Cunningham and Kornfield, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Social Limits Needed Through Summer, Birx Says
States including Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska and Georgia have begun allowing businesses previously deemed nonessential, such as beauty salons and gyms, to reopen. Scott Gottlieb, who was the Food and Drug Administration commissioner early in the Trump administration, added to the widespread criticism that Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, in particular, was moving too fast. (King, 4/26)

The New York Times: As States Push To Reopen, Business Leaders Say Not So Fast
Companies in a handful of states have begun taking tentative steps to reopen stores, offices and factories that were closed by the coronavirus. Yet as the first employees and customers return, interviews with roughly 30 major employers show that businesses are confronting deep uncertainty, and many say it is simply too soon to come back. Across the country, businesses are confronting a patchwork set of regulations that vary from state to state, and industry to industry. Government officials are sending mixed messages about who should open. (Gelles, Kelly and Yaffe-Bellany, 4/26)

The Washington Post: ‘Quarantine Fatigue’: Researchers Find More Americans Venturing Out Against Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Orders
Researchers tracking smartphone data say they recently made a disturbing discovery: For the first time since states began implementing stay-at-home orders in mid-March to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, Americans are staying home less. The nationwide shift during the week of April 13 was relatively slight. However, any loss of momentum, particularly when stay-in-place orders remain in effect across most of the country, has some public health experts worried about “quarantine fatigue.” (Shaver, 4/25)

Politico: Colorado Governor Defends Move To Reopen
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Sunday defended his decision to lift some restrictions imposed to fight the spread of the coronavirus and permit some businesses to reopen. In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Polis, a Democrat, said the state had to move forward "with the information we have." (O'Brien, 4/26)

The Washington Post: As Covid-19 Deaths Mount, Md. Gov. Hogan Promises Caution As He Looks To Reopen The Economy
A day after Maryland had its worst day of covid-19 deaths — and as fatalities and cases continued to mount — Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vowed that he would proceed with caution as he looks to reopen the state’s economy. During a Sunday morning appearance on ABC News’s “This Week,” Hogan promised all his decisions in the next few months would be based on science. (Natanson, Cox and Jouvenal, 4/26)

The Washington Post: A Georgia Coroner On Reopening The State Amid Mounting Deaths
I’m always driving, going back-and-forth between nursing homes, the hospital, and the morgue. All these roads should be empty if you ask me. But now I see people out running errands, rushing back into their lives, and it’s like: “Why? What reason could possibly be good enough?” Sometimes, I think about stopping and showing them one of the empty body bags I have in the trunk. “You might end up here. Is that worth it for a haircut or a hamburger?” (As told to Eli Saslow, 4/25)

The New York Times: Serving Wings And A Prayer: It’s Back To Business For Fairbanks Restaurants
Most of America now eats at the dining room table, or at the kitchen table, or on the couch, or in bed, or out on the front stoop. But in Alaska, at a place called the Roundup Steakhouse and Saloon, something remarkable happened in this age of infection. The place was open! People weren’t sitting at home! Food could be ordered and served, and it wasn’t in a takeout box! (Black and Johnson, 4/25)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Begins Process Of Re-Opening State With Bans On Nonessential Surgeries, Farmers' Market Lifted
Gov. Kim Reynolds is lifting Iowa’s ban on nonessential surgeries and allowing farmers' markets to open again starting Monday as she prepares to make further announcements about easing restrictions on businesses imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. Representatives from several markets, including the Des Moines Farmers' Market, are reviewing the requirements for opening and considering their options. (Gruber-Miller, 4/24)

Stateline: Will Child Care Be There When States Reopen?
Child care centers, home daycares and after-school programs nationwide are struggling to stay open as families stay home to avoid spreading the coronavirus. As some governors prepare to lift stay-at-home orders, child care advocates warn that if businesses like Alvarez’s cannot survive, it’ll be harder for parents to return to work. (Quinton, 4/27)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coronavirus In Wisconsin: Protesters At Capitol Criticize Restrictions
More than a thousand people cheering "USA" and "open up" gathered on the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol on Friday to protest Gov. Tony Evers' restrictions on their daily lives, rallying in close quarters on a day the state saw its highest daily increase in positive cases of coronavirus. The crowd stood shoulder to shoulder — physically and in solidarity — in defiance of the Democratic governor's order to keep businesses and schools closed, and people apart, in an effort to limit the spread of highly contagious virus for which there is no vaccine. (Beck and Glauber, 4/24)

The New York Times: Reopening Of New York Could Begin Upstate After May 15, Cuomo Says
With promising indications that the coronavirus contagion has passed its peak, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York laid out a broad outline on Sunday for a gradual restart of the state that would allow some “low-risk” businesses upstate to reopen as soon as mid-May. The governor’s announcement, coming as the state recorded its lowest death daily toll in nearly a month, was filled with caveats, but nonetheless offered the clearest outline yet for recovery in New York, the national center of the outbreak, with nearly 17,000 dead. That human devastation has largely been confined thus far to New York City and its sprawling suburbs. (McKinley, 4/26)

Politico: Cuomo Eyes Construction, Manufacturing For Regional Reopen In New York
New York is under a sweeping stay-home order until at least May 15. After that date, regions that have seen the CDC-recommended 14-day decline in hospitalizations could begin to open some parts of the construction and manufacturing sectors, Cuomo said. On Sunday, New York’s statewide hospitalizations dropped to 12,839 — it's the first time the number has been fewer than 13,000 since March 31. After at least two weeks of monitoring the effects of the first phase, the second portion of business openings will be based on how “essential” their services are and how able they are to operate with social distancing for customers and employees. (Gronewold, 4/26)

NPR: New York's Daily COVID-19 Deaths Below 400 For First Time In April
For the first time this month, New York's daily death toll from COVID-19 has dropped below 400, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Speaking at his briefing Sunday, Cuomo said that 367 New Yorkers died from the respiratory illness the day before — less than half of where it was at the height of the outbreak. New hospitalizations also dropped to about 1,000 on Saturday. (Slotkin, 4/26)

ABC News: Last COVID-19 Patient Leaves USNS Comfort 
It arrived at the U.S. epicenter of the novel coronavirus greeted with the fanfare reserved for the cavalry coming to the rescue and after treating 182 people the USNS Comfort discharged its last patient in New York City on Sunday as it prepares to set sail on its next life-saving mission. The sole remaining patient aboard the hulking 894-foot-long floating military hospital left the ship on Sunday, a spokesperson for Northwell Hospital, which is assisting in clinical operations in New York, told ABC News. It was not immediately clear if the patient will be transferred to another hospital or discharged from treatment altogether. (Hutchinson, 4/26)

The New York Times: Can Antibody Tests Help End The Coronavirus Pandemic?
A survey of New Yorkers last week found that one in five city residents carried antibodies to the new coronavirus — and in that, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo saw good news. If so many had been infected and survived, he reasoned, the virus may be far less deadly than previously thought. But many scientists took a darker view, seeing instead a vast pool of people who are still very vulnerable to infection. Like the leaders of many states, Mr. Cuomo has been hoping that the results of large-scale antibody testing may guide decisions about when and how to reopen the economy and reintegrate society. (Madavilli, 4/26)

NPR: Antibody Tests Go To Market Largely Unregulated, Warns House Subcommittee Chair
Coronavirus antibody tests have garnered attention from officials as a potential tool to evaluate people's immunity to the illness. But the majority of companies creating the tests have had little to no regulatory oversight, according to the chair of the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy. Antibody tests, when accurate, can detect if someone has been exposed to the coronavirus in the past. (Hagemann, 4/26)

Politico: Unreliable Antibody Tests Flood The Market As FDA Waives Quality Reviews
The Food and Drug Administration is dealing with a flood of inaccurate coronavirus antibody tests after it allowed more than 120 manufacturers and labs to bring the tests to market without an agency review. The tests, which look for antibodies that reveal whether a person has been exposed to the virus, have been eyed as a tool to help reopen the country by identifying people who may have immunity. Antibody data could also help determine the true size of the U.S. outbreak by finding cases that were never formally diagnosed. (Brennan and Lim, 4/27)

The Associated Press: Answers To Questions About New Coronavirus Antibody Studies
Studies have begun to emerge that try to determine how many Americans have been infected by the new coronavirus. But are they accurate? The results depend on where and how the research is done, and it can be difficult to draw firm conclusions from the early findings, experts said. For instance, a study in New York state, one of the nation’s most infected, estimated that the true number of infections is about 10 times the official count. (Stobbe, 4/24)

Stat: Many States Short Of Covid-19 Testing Levels Needed For Reopening 
More than half of U.S. states will have to significantly step up their Covid-19 testing to even consider starting to relax stay-at-home orders after May 1, according to a new analysis by Harvard researchers and STAT. The analysis shows that as the U.S. tries to move beyond its monthslong coronavirus testing debacle — faulty tests, shortages of tests, and guidelines that excluded many people who should have been tested to mitigate the outbreak — it is at risk of fumbling the next challenge: testing enough people to determine which cities and states can safely reopen and stay open. Doing so will require the ability to catch reappearances of the coronavirus before it again spreads uncontrollably. (Begley, 4/27)

The Associated Press: Many States Fall Short Of Mandate To Track Virus Exposure
As more states push to reopen their economies, many are falling short on one of the federal government’s essential criteria for doing so — having an efficient system to track people who have been physically near a person infected with the coronavius. An Associated Press review found a patchwork of systems around the country for so-called contact tracing, with many states unable to keep up with caseloads and scrambling to hire and train enough people to handle the task for the months ahead. The effort is far less than what public health experts say is needed to guard against a resurgence of the virus. (Cassidy and Dearen, 4/25)

The Hill: Fauci Confident US Will Double Coronavirus Testing Capacity Over Next Several Weeks 
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Saturday that he is confident the U.S. will be able to double its coronavirus testing capacity over the next several weeks, something he stressed is needed to safely reopen portions of the economy. Fauci said in a webcast hosted by the National Academy of Sciences that the U.S. is currently averaging between 1.5 million and 2 million tests per week. "We probably should get up to twice that as we get into the next several weeks, and I think we will," Fauci said. (Wise, 4/26)

NPR: Slavitt, Gottlieb Seek Money For Contact Tracing, Self-Isolation
Two leading former federal health officials, who served in recent Republican and Democratic administrations, are spearheading a call for a $46 billion public health investment in a next coronavirus aid package in order to safely reopen the economy. Andy Slavitt, former director of Medicare and Medicaid in the Obama administration, and Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration chief for President Trump, say that Congress needs to devote funding to help states track down people who have been exposed to the coronavirus, and to offer resources to infected and exposed individuals who wish to self-isolate. (Ordonez, 4/27)

Reuters: Investors Bet On Testing, Treatments For Restart Of U.S. Economy
Investors are pinning their hopes for the reopening of the U.S. economy on the potential for wider availability of testing for COVID-19 cases and on drug trials for treatments of the deadly disease but said, until there is concrete progress in these areas, further stock market gains may be limited. (Carew, 4/26)

Modern Healthcare: National COVID-19 Testing Plan Needs To Address Cost Concerns, Experts Say
Public health experts welcomed Congress’ decision to allocate billions for COVID-19 testing, but cautioned that money alone won’t solve the challenges states and providers face in expanding access. "We remain concerned that hospitals and small communities may be left behind,” said Blair Holladay, CEO of the American Society for Clinical Pathology. “The money is there, but we will need to work tirelessly to ensure that these resources are distributed adequately to the communities that need them.” (Johnson, 4/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Walmart, State To Open New COVID-19 Test Center To Serve Rural Georgia
Walmart, a federal health contractor and the state are partnering to bring a new drive-through coronavirus testing service to sites in South, central and east Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp’s office on Sunday announced Walmart and contractor eTrueNorth will operate drive-through testing sites that will rotate between the cities of Tifton, Milledgeville and Hephzibah, a small town near Augusta. (Trubey, 4/26)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Walmart, Costco, Smith’s, Target Juggle Privacy, Safety Under Virus 
As more test positive for the coronavirus, companies now face daunting decisions about how best to protect sick employee identities under privacy laws while revealing critical health information that could protect other workers. Within the past month, COVID-19 cases have turned up in Las Vegas among workers at Albertsons, Vons, Costco, Target and Smith’s Food & Drug stores. At Walmart, at least four employees in one North Las Vegas store tested positive. (German, 4/24)

Oklahoman: Coronavirus Pandemic Complicates Medicaid Expansion Efforts In Oklahoma
Oklahoma is on track to expand Medicaid on July 1, but legislators still don’t know how to pay for the state’s share of the expansion. And the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the situation. Skyrocketing unemployment claims mean the expansion, and costs for the state’s current Medicaid program, could be about $100 million more than previously anticipated. (Forman, 4/27)

The New York Times: California Lifts Ban On Plastic Bags Amid Virus Concerns
Retailers in California can once again hand out free single-use plastic bags under an executive order announced on Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the latest turn away from reusable bags amid the coronavirus outbreak. The order permits stores to provide customers with disposable plastic bags for the next 60 days. “It is critical to protect the public health and safety and minimize the risk of Covid-19 exposure for workers engaged in essential activities, such as those handling reusable grocery bags,” it states. (Murphy, 4/24)

CNN: People Crowd Southern California Beaches Despite Coronavirus Concerns
Seeking relief from a heat wave, thousands of people crowded beaches in Southern California this weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, despite a statewide stay-at-home order implemented by the governor last month. While beaches in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties remained closed, they were open in Ventura and Orange Counties. However, beachgoers still had to adhere to a patchwork of guidelines and restrictions, including keeping parking lots closed to discourage outside visitors and limit crowds. (Andone and Vercammen, 4/27)

KQED: California Community Clinics Struggle To Survive During Coronavirus Pandemic 
La Clínica de La Raza has cared for generations of Bay Area patients since its inception nearly 50 years ago. With dozens of clinics in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties, the nonprofit sees roughly 90,000 mostly low-income patients per year. But many people are no longer seeking routine care since local stay-at-home orders began in mid-March, and La Clínica is losing $3 million in revenue per month, said its chief executive Jane Garcia. (Romero, 4/24)

KQED: Private Clinics At Risk Of Closing – Or Raising Patient Costs
At private practices and small clinics across the state, independent physicians are worried their businesses won’t survive the current crisis, forcing them to either close their doors or sell their practices, which could lead to higher patient costs. In either case, experts worry that will leave the health care system vastly diminished at a time when the state is facing skyrocketing costs and a shortage of doctors. (Hwang, 4/26)

WBUR: LA Reaches Legal Settlement With Company For 'False Advertising' Of COVID-19 Test 
In late March, the California company RootMD started advertising "at-home Covid-19 exposure and immunity tests" for consumers worried about the coronavirus. For $249, the company said it would mail out a test kit — including a "lancet" that buyers could use to prick their finger and collect a blood sample. Then, the company promised, consumers could mail that sample back to "certified MD immunologists" to test for antibodies to the coronavirus, and get results within 48 hours. (Dreisbach, 4/25)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Could More Louisiana Deaths Be Attributed To Coronavirus? New Data May Shed Light, But It's Murky 
As the coronavirus pandemic has ripped through Louisiana, the ever-increasing tally of deaths has become a sad but familiar statistic. But new data raises questions about whether there could be secondary effects of the pandemic that have cost the lives of Louisianans beyond the 1,644 whose deaths have been directly attributed to the virus. (Adelson, 4/25)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: As Death Count Grows, Louisiana Prisons And Jails Grapple With Coronavirus Spread
Jail and prisons in Louisiana initially responded to the pandemic with extra soap and temperature checks, but the coronavirus has crept into nearly every major detention center in the state regardless. Hundreds of Louisiana inmates and correctional employees have now tested positive for coronavirus, and wardens across the state are entering a new phase of their response: hoping to limit the death toll. (Sledge and Skene, 4/25)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Awaiting Trial, Federal Defendants In Parish Jails Mostly Stay Put Despite Pleas For Release 
Federal defendants awaiting trial in parish jails across the New Orleans area are having little luck convincing judges to send them home based on the threat of a coronavirus spread, even as U.S. Attorney General William Barr has expanded early release of some convicts from COVID-19-plagued federal pens. (Simerman, 4/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia, Other States Could Go Through Reserve Funds Quickly
Georgia and many other states have spent the past decade building up savings since the Great Recession for just the kind of downturn they now likely face because of the coronavirus pandemic. Georgia has about $2.7 billion banked, and nationally, states have put away about $75 billion to pay for everything from teacher salaries to prisons, roads to universities, public heath programs to food safety inspections. (Salzer, 4/26)

WBUR: For Boston Homeless Shelter Workers On The Coronavirus Front Line, Importance Of Universal Testing Gets Personal
Marte is the community engagement and safety manager at St. Francis House. He's one of hundreds of homeless shelter workers who will now be eligible for coronavirus testing, under a plan announced by city officials. The city has secured 1,000 additional coronavirus test kits, and its goal is to test the rest of the homeless population and front-line homeless service workers. (Joliocoeur, 4/24)

Boston Globe: Mass. Reports 196 New Coronavirus Deaths, While Case Tally Surpasses 50,000; Baker Says State Won’t Reopen Until Numbers Improve 
Governor Charlie Baker said Friday that it was too soon to say whether he will extend the restrictions he imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic that are set to expire on May 4, telling reporters that he’s continuing to monitor data on infection and hospitalization rates. (Andersen adn Finucane, 4/24)

WBUR: After Hundreds Of Patients In Somerville COVID-19 Clinic, A Turning Point Comes Clear
The Cambridge Health Alliance clinic opened just over a month ago and sees about 100 confirmed and suspected-COVID-19 patients a day, from a community that’s mostly working class, with many immigrants.The staffers help scared patients feel safer, they say, enabling many to stay home under supervision and getting those who need more care to the hospital. And as the clinic treats them, it is also quickly accumulating knowledge, including about what appears to be a pivotal point in how COVID-19 develops. (Goldberg, 4/24)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Sunrise Hospital Celebrates Discharging Coronavirus Patients 
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center celebrated a milestone Saturday — the discharge to date of more than 50 COVID-19 patients. Employees marked the occasion by clapping and cheering as patient David Reifer was pushed down a hallway and out of the Las Vegas hospital in a wheelchair. Reifer waved to the health care workers as he passed them. (Wootton-Greener, 4/25)

Indianapolis Star: Coronavirus In Indiana: 4 Pieces Of Data The State Doesn't Release
Every weekday, Gov. Eric Holcomb and Indiana State Health Commissioner Kristina Box update the public on the coronavirus situation in the state. The health department also updates an interactive website dedicated to coronavirus data every day. We know how many new cases are reported each day, how many new deaths, testing rates, race, gender and age demographics, ventilator counts, ICU capacity and some hospitalization data. But there are some things Indiana State Health Department doesn't release. Here's what's missing, and what kind of information other states provide. (DePompei, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Tamps Down Azar Departure Speculation
President Trump told Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in a call on Sunday that he wants to keep him in his post, after learning of discussions under way in the White House about replacing the secretary, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported on Saturday that administration officials were discussing replacing Mr. Azar following criticism of his management of the early response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Trump was frustrated by the reports and wanted to push back, another person familiar with the matter said. (Armour and Ballhaus, 4/26)

Reuters: Trump Rejects Reports That He Will Fire HHS Chief Azar
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected reports that he was planning to fire Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, saying he was doing an “excellent job.” On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal and Politico reported that the Trump administration was considering replacing Azar, because of early missteps in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (4/26)

Politico: Trump Rejects Reports Of Azar Firing, Says Health Secretary ‘Doing An Excellent Job’
The tweet — which was swiftly retweeted by Azar himself — came less than a day after POLITICO and the Wall Street Journal first reported on Saturday night that White House officials were weighing a plan to replace Azar. Other news outlets, including CNN and the Washington Post, confirmed the story. Trump also spent much of Sunday attacking news outlets, including the New York Times and Fox News, for their coverage of his presidency. White House officials have been frustrated with Azar’s management style after clashes with his deputies. Some have blamed him for months for fumbling the handling of the coronavirus crisis, including the rollout of coronavirus testing across February. But they have worried about replacing the HHS secretary in the middle of a global pandemic. (Diamond, 4/26)

The Washington Post: White House Officials Weigh Replacement Of HHS Secretary Azar
Five aides familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation told The Post the president had not yet weighed in. Trump did that publicly on Sunday evening. “Reports that H.H.S. Secretary @AlexAzar is going to be “fired” by me are Fake News,” he tweeted at 5:53 p.m. “The Lamestream Media knows this, but they are desperate to create the perception of chaos & havoc in the minds of the public.” (Abutaleb and Dawsey, 4/26)

Bloomberg: Trump Calls HHS Chief Azar After Reports Cast Him As Imperiled
High-level people at the White House have told Azar he’s not about to be removed. But some officials believe that Azar’s adversaries in the administration are trying to undermine him by promoting a narrative that he’s in trouble. (Sink and Jacobs, 4/26)

The Associated Press: No, Don't Inject Disinfectant: Outcry Over Trump's Musing
President Donald Trump’s raising of unproven, even far-fetched ideas for fighting COVID-19 -- including his latest musing about injecting disinfectants into people -- triggered an outcry from health officials everywhere. It also highlighted his unconventional approach to the special responsibility that comes with speaking from the presidential pulpit. Trump readily admits he’s not a doctor. Yet with the reported U.S. death toll from the virus topping 50,000, he continues to use the White House podium to promote untested drugs and float his own ideas for treatment as he tries to project optimism. (Riechmann and Madhani, 4/26)

CNN: Trump Blames Press For Furor Over Disinfectant Comments As Birx Defends Him 
The furor over President Donald Trump's toxic suggestion that the coronavirus might be treated with an injection of disinfectant mounted Sunday as the President avoided the briefing room and one of his top medical advisers insisted his remarks were misinterpreted. After several days in which state public health officials have rushed to issue urgent warnings to Americans about the dangers of ingesting disinfectants, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, sidestepped the opportunity to amplify that message Sunday. (Reston, 4/27)

The Hill: Calls To Poison Control Centers Spike After Trump Disinfectant Comments 
Poison control centers in a number of states have reported a rise in calls about exposure to household cleaners since President Trump made remarks suggesting that disinfectants should be looked into as a possible treatment for the coronavirus. New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirmed to NPR that the poison control center saw a rise in calls specifically pertaining to exposure to household cleaners within 18 hours of Trump’s remarks on Thursday. (Folley, 4/26)

The Hill: Birx: 'It Bothers Me' Trump Comments On Injecting Disinfectant 'Still In The News Cycle' 
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that news coverage of President Trump's comments about light, heat and disinfectants as potential treatments for the coronavirus is overshadowing important information the public needs. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if Trump’s comments from the Thursday White House briefing bothered her, Birx said, “I think it bothers me this is still in the news cycle.” “I think we're missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people to continue to protect one another,” Birx said. (Klar, 4/26)

CNN: Donald Trump Is Driving Debroah Birx's Balancing Act To The Limit 
Dr. Deborah Birx's balancing act between science and President Donald Trump's disinformation may be reaching the point of no return.The coronavirus task force official has been caught in an unenviable spot, juggling her public health mission and reputation with the need to stay in the good graces of Trump, who has shown both a penchant for touting unproven therapies and a willingness to show his critics the exit. Birx, a physician and diplomat, came under scrutiny Thursday when she failed, in real time, to correct Trump's assertion at the White House briefing that injecting disinfectant into the body might combat the virus. (Collinson and Reston, 4/27)

The New York Times: How Do You Sign ‘Don’t Drink Bleach’?
“Coronavirus” is one fist nestled against and behind the other, then opened, fingers spread like a sunburst or a peacock tail. Rorri Burton demonstrates via FaceTime, her sturdy hands and bare nails even cleaner than she usually scrubs them. The gesture is almost pretty compared to, say, “serological testing,” which, as she translates it, goes: “Pricked finger, test, analyze, see. Person before had coronavirus inside body? Doesn’t matter. Feels sick? Not feels sick? Doesn’t matter.” (Hubler, 4/27)

Politico: How Overly Optimistic Modeling Distorted Trump Team’s Coronavirus Response
As coronavirus cases climbed daily by the thousands and the nation entered its second month of an economic standstill, President Donald Trump latched onto a sign of hope: A pandemic model closely followed by political leaders and public health specialists projected the virus would kill as few as 60,000 Americans, a figure far below what officials previously feared. The new April forecast signaled the worst would soon be over, with some states effectively ending their bout with coronavirus as early as the end of the month. (Cancryn, 4/24)

Politico: Trump Skips Briefing Amid Fears Of Overexposure
President Donald Trump skipped his daily coronavirus briefing on Saturday, amid concerns among Republicans and White House advisers that his near-constant presence on television is diminishing his standing and could sabotage his reelection campaign. Trump, who has been criticized for a series of missteps in his handling of the coronavirus crisis, has seen public approval of his performance during the pandemic drop in recent weeks and his poll numbers slip in key battleground states. (Murray, 4/25)

The New York Times: 260,000 Words, Full Of Self-Praise, From Trump On The Virus
At his White House news briefing on the coronavirus on March 19, President Trump offered high praise for the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn. “He’s worked, like, probably as hard or harder than anybody,” Mr. Trump said. Then he corrected himself: “Other than maybe Mike Pence — or me.” On March 27, Mr. Trump boasted about marshaling federal resources to fight the virus, ignoring his early failures and smearing previous administrations. “Nobody has done anything like we’ve been able to do,” he claimed. “And everything I took over was a mess. It was a broken country in so many ways. In so many ways.” (Peters, Plott and Haberman, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Trump Fills Briefings With Attacks And Boasts, But Little Empathy
President Trump strode to the lectern in the White House briefing room Thursday and, for just over an hour, attacked his rivals, dismissing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a “sleepy guy in a basement of a house” and lambasting the media as “fake news” and “lamestream.” He showered praise on himself and his team, repeatedly touting the “great job” they were doing as he spoke of the “tremendous progress” being made toward a vaccine and how “phenomenally” the nation was faring in terms of mortality. (Bump and Parker, 4/26)

Politico: The Noble Art Of Sarcasm: Trump Replaces Coronavirus Briefing With Tweets
The day of his wife’s birthday, President Donald Trump decided to forgo a coronavirus briefing — but he didn’t log out of his Twitter account. Sunday was the second straight day Trump had not participated in a White House coronavirus briefing — the task force held a meeting Saturday but no briefing — amid speculation that his extended appearances in those daily events were taking a toll on his approval ratings. The president has clashed with members of the press during those briefings, and, as he had Saturday, he offered stinging rebukes via Twitter of the media for its coverage of the current crisis and his presidency. (Dugyala, 4/26)

Politico: Trump Looks To Hope Hicks As Coronavirus Crisis Spills Over
Returning to the West Wing just a month after impeachment, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers found a presidency in crisis: a deadly disease outbreak, a tumbling stock market and a White House struggling to form a clear message about how it was confronting a quickly escalating threat. For Hope Hicks, it marked a challenge unlike any other — trying to develop a communications strategy for the president to carry with a wartime footing in an election year. (Cook and McGraw, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Trump Expands Battle With WHO Far Beyond Aid Suspension
President Trump and his top aides are working behind the scenes to sideline the World Health Organization on several fronts as they seek to shift blame for the novel coronavirus pandemic to the world body, according to U.S. and foreign officials involved in the discussions. Last week, the president announced a 60-day hold on U.S. money to the WHO, but other steps by his top officials go beyond a temporary funding freeze, raising concerns about the permanent weakening of the organization amid a rapidly spreading crisis. (Hudson, Dawsey and Mehennet, 4/25)

Reuters: U.S. Response To Virus Splinters Into Acrimony And Uncertainty
Six weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the spreading new coronavirus, the United States is deeply divided over the correct economic and health response. (Schneider, 4/26)

NPR: Americans Are Generally Skeptical Of Government, But Want It To Intervene In A Crisis
Americans are generally skeptical of too much government intervention. Over the last three decades, the number of people saying they want the government to do less usually outnumbers those saying they want it to do more, according to Gallup. The times when that hasn't been true or when that gap has shrunk have roughly coincided with times of national crisis. However, over the last several years, those saying government should do more to solve the country's problems has crept up to almost being on par with those saying government is doing too much. (Montanaro, 4/27)

ABC News: Amid Pandemic, Country Lacks National Leadership: Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the country is suffering from a lack of national leadership in the White House, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has been actively campaigning for former Vice President Joe Biden. "Like every state in the country, George, we are suffering from one important thing, and that is a lack of national strategy," Klobuchar told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. "You know, we can tune out this president’s rants about chugging bleach, but we can't tune out the fact that we have a lack of protective equipment, that we do not have enough testing." (Cunningham, 4/26)

Politico: USDA Let Millions Of Pounds Of Food Rot While Food-Bank Demand Soared
Tens of millions of pounds of American-grown produce is rotting in fields as food banks across the country scramble to meet a massive surge in demand, a two-pronged disaster that has deprived farmers of billions of dollars in revenue while millions of newly jobless Americans struggle to feed their families. While other federal agencies quickly adapted their programs to the coronavirus crisis, the Agriculture Department took more than a month to make its first significant move to buy up surplus fruits and vegetables — despite repeated entreaties. (Evich, 4/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Forces Farmers To Destroy Their Crops
Farmer Carl Grooms has been planning harvests for decades but now he is getting ready to plow under his nearly ripe peppers and beans because there is no market to buy them—and he doesn’t want to watch them rot. As the coronavirus pandemic disrupts supply chains, American farmers are dumping milk, throwing out eggs and plowing under healthy crops. Produce suppliers are especially vulnerable to surpluses because fruits and vegetables are perishable and can’t be stored. (Kesling, 4/26)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia’s Dairy Farmers And Kroger Partner To Provide Milk To Health Care Workers
Georgia’s dairy farmers, along with Kroger Atlanta Division plan to deliver 24,000 half-gallons of local Georgia milk to first responders and healthcare workers across the metro Atlanta area. The partnership is a part of the new Great Georgia Give campaign, led by Milk on My Mind. The four-week campaign will kick-off this Friday, April 24 at Centennial Farms in Atlanta. (Villarreal, 4/23)

CNN: Tyson Foods Warns That 'The Food Supply Chain Is Breaking' As Plants Close 
Tyson Foods (TSN) is warning that "millions of pounds of meat" will disappear from the supply chain as the coronavirus pandemic pushes food processing plants to close, leading to product shortages in grocery stores across the country. "The food supply chain is breaking," wrote board chairman John Tyson in a full-page advertisement published Sunday in The New York Times, Washington Post and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (McLean, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Inside Smithfield, JBS And Tysons Food Meat Plants, Fears Grew Of Employees Working Sick, Without Protective Gear
Three of the nation’s largest meat processors failed to provide protective gear to all workers, and some employees say they were told to continue working in crowded plants even while sick as the coronavirus spread around the country and turned the facilities into infection hot spots, a Washington Post investigation has found. (Telford and Kindy, 4/25)

The New York Times: Closed Hospitals Leave Rural Patients ‘Stranded’ As Coronavirus Spreads
Michael Nuzum had spent weeks fighting coronavirus-like symptoms — a wracking cough, terrible chills, an exhausting fever — before collapsing at his home in rural West Virginia. Mr. Nuzum, a 54-year-old animal control worker, was already in cardiac arrest when the emergency workers arrived on April 3. That left them with a difficult decision: Should they transport their patient to the nearest hospital, 30 minutes away? “There’s only so much one paramedic can do in the back of an ambulance,” said Michael Angelucci, who leads the Marion County rescue squad that cared for Mr. Nuzum. (Kliff, Silver-Greenberg and Kluish, 4/26)

The New York Times: Where Americans Live Far From The Emergency Room
As the coronavirus outbreak spreads into rural parts of the United States, more people who live far from a hospital are increasingly likely to need one. That poses challenges for communities where hospitals are scarce and I.C.U. beds are in short supply — even a relatively small outbreak there could overwhelm medical resources, with potentially grim consequences for public health. Research shows people are less likely to seek health care, even emergency care, when they need to travel farther to get it, especially when they are more than about 30 minutes from a hospital. (Koeze, Patel and Singhvi, 4/26)

The New York Times: One Rich N.Y. Hospital Got Warren Buffett’s Help. This One Got Duct Tape.
It has been hours since the 71-year-old man in Room 3 of the intensive care unit succumbed to Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. His body has been cleaned, packed in an orange bag and covered in a white sheet, but the overextended transport team from the morgue has yet to arrive. The nurses on duty have too many other worries. University Hospital of Brooklyn, in the heart of the city hit hardest by a world-altering pandemic, can seem like it is falling apart. The roof leaks. The corroded pipes burst with alarming frequency. On one of the intensive care units, plastic tarps and duct tape serve as flimsy barriers separating patients. Nurses record vital signs with pen and paper, rather than computer systems. (Schwirtz, 4/26)

The Washington Post: States Scale Back Army Corps Makeshift Hospitals As Beds Go Unfilled
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has sprung into action in response to the coronavirus, fanning out across the country to convert dozens of conference centers, dorms and hotels into makeshift hospitals in a herculean aid effort for American cities. (Sonne and Ryan, 4/25)

Modern Healthcare: Some Of $50 Billion CARES Act Provider Grants Went To Closed Hospitals
In a rush to get money to providers in desperate financial situations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HHS sent some of providers' $50 billion in general grant funds to facilities that have closed. HHS' first $30 billion grant distribution was sent automatically based on 2019 Medicare fee-for-service reimbursement. It is unclear exactly how much grant money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act's provider relief fund was erroneously sent out, and how much has been recovered. HHS said the department prioritized getting funds out quickly and is working to claw back improperly sent funds and fix future distributions. (Cohrs, 4/26)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Suspends Advance Loans To Suppliers, Reevaluates Accelerated Payments
Following Congress' allocation of an additional $75 billion in COVID-19 provider relief grants, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Sunday suspended advance payments to Medicare Part B suppliers and will reevaluate new and existing applications for Medicare accelerated payments to Part A providers. President Donald Trump on Friday signed Congress' latest COVID-19 relief bill, which includes an additional $75 billion for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act's $100 billion grant fund for providers and suppliers. (Cohrs, 4/26)

Boston Globe: Hospitals Are Using Special Protective Booths To Test Patients For Coronavirus 
After attending to COVID-19 patients at Massachusetts General Hospital’s intensive care unit Tuesday evening, Dr. Paul Currier set down his stethoscope and picked up some power tools. Director of the Respiratory Acute Care Unit at Mass. General, Currier is part of a team of doctors, designers, and engineers called to action to develop and produce protective safety barriers to be used at hospitals throughout the Partners HealthCare system. (Annear, 4/24)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Could Cause $650 Billion In Direct Medical Costs
Researchers estimate there will be $163 to $654 billion in direct medical costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study. If 80% of the U.S. population comes down with COVID-19, it will create $654 billion in direct costs resulting from almost 45 million hospitalizations, 6.5 million ventilators in-use and nearly 250 million hospital bed days, Health Affairs found. (Brady, 4/24)

Boston Globe: When COVID-19 Patients Need To Recuperate At Home, But Have No Home 
Stephen Clark was shocked to learn last week that he tested positive for COVID-19. He felt fine — no fever, no cough, nothing. Most people in his situation go home to isolate, resting there for seven days if they continue to feel well, or calling their doctor if they develop symptoms. But Clark, a 49-year-old former restaurant worker, went straight to Boston Medical Center, one of the city’s busiest COVID-19 hospitals. He is among hundreds of Bostonians with COVID-19 who can’t recuperate at home, because they lack a home to return to. (Freyer, 4/26)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit Medical Center CEO Details Coronavirus Response, Struggles
The Detroit Medical Center's CEO Audrey Gregory, Ph.D., spoke to the Detroit Free Press on Thursday about how the health system — which operates eight hospitals in some of the Detroit neighborhoods hardest-hit in the coronavirus outbreak — has managed in the pandemic Gregory, who took over leadership at the DMC in January, has had a trial by fire in her first few months on the job. (Shamus, 4/24)

Politico: Trump Called PPE Shortages 'Fake News.' Health Care Workers Say They're Still A Real Problem.
President Donald Trump often opens his evening news briefings on the pandemic by rattling off a list of actions his administration has taken to secure protective gear for frontline health workers, claiming dire shortages have been resolved. But hospitals, nursing homes and caregivers across the country tell POLITICO they are still struggling to obtain medical masks, gloves and gowns, undercutting Trump’s assertions. (Doherty and Ehley, 4/26)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Emory Tests Sterilization To Reuse Disposable Protective Gear
Emory University and its health care system are acquiring seven sophisticated sterilization machines to extend the life of single-use protective gear such as respirator masks as hospitals across the country fighting the coronavirus grapple with shortages of critical supplies. The new Bioquell machines use vaporized hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate medical equipment in about two hours. Emory is first using the machines to decontaminate so-called powered air-purifying respirator hoods (PAPR) and is testing the machines to decontaminate N95 masks, isolation gowns and disposable stethoscopes. (Trubyey, 4/24)

The New York Times: ‘Possible Covid’: Why The Lulls Never Last For Weary E.M.S. Crews
For seven and a half hours, the two New York City paramedics had worked a surprisingly normal shift: a few people with difficulty breathing, one trip to the hospital — and, miraculously it seemed, no clear cases of coronavirus. They were about to head back to their station when an urgent call flashed over their dispatch screen: cardiac arrest, with a patient who had been feeling sick for a week. “Heads up,” a radio barked. “Possible Covid.” (Watkins, 4/27)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Volunteer Emergency Responders Face A Dilemma: Save Lives Or Stay Safe
In Teaneck, N.J., half of the town’s volunteer ambulance corps is out sick, in quarantine or staying home to avoid potential exposure to the coronavirus. The remaining 25 are responding to double the usual number of daily calls, racing from one high fever or respiratory distress emergency to the next. In Rockville, a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., hit hard by the virus, more than 10 percent of the 160-member volunteer ambulance force has stopped taking shifts, either because they tested positive for the virus or because underlying health conditions have forced them indoors. (Levin, 4/26)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Health Care Providers Ask Mills For Legal Immunity During Coronavirus Emergency 
More than a dozen Maine health care industry groups representing hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and others are asking Gov. Janet Mills for civil and criminal immunity during the civil state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Andrews, 4/25)

The Associated Press: 'You Are A Miracle': Home Care Is New Front In Virus Fight
Ruth Caballero paused outside an unfamiliar apartment door, preparing to meet her new patient. She covered the knob with a plastic bag. Put on a surgical gown, then a heavy-duty N95 mask, a lighter surgical mask on top. Cap, face shield, shoe covers. Hand sanitizer between each step of the process. Finally, the nurse donned two sets of gloves and knocked on the door with her elbow, ready to care for her first coronavirus patient. (Peltz, 4/26)

Boston Globe: This Nurse’s Friends Were Skeptical About Coronavirus. Then She Drove North To Work At MGH 
Travel nurses are accustomed to being thrown into unfamiliar and unsteady situations. In normal times, the profession entails a string of three-month assignments at the hospitals experiencing surges or staffing shortages. Ski towns, for example, take on surplus emergency department nurses in the winter to help with broken bones and dislocations, while metropolitan hospitals may hire a travel nurse to temporarily fill the spot of a staffer on medical leave. (Krueger, 4/24)

Boston Globe: ‘They Fought This And They Won’: Hospital Workers Applaud, Play Songs As Coronavirus Patients Finally Go Home 
The upbeat songs are played over the hospital intercoms. The applause can be heard from far-off hallways. These are the sounds of celebration, of relief, of hope .In recent weeks, hospitals across the region have launched joyous sendoffs for recovered coronavirus patients as they leave the hospital — a celebration both for the patients and for the health care workers who treated them. It’s a trend that seemed to initially take hold in New York and has spread to Massachusetts. (Gams. 4/24)

PBS NewsHour: Revisiting A Doctor On The Front Line Of The Pandemic 
Back in March, as the United States was just beginning to experience a steep rise in coronavirus cases, NewsHour Weekend spoke with Dr. Alexis Langsfeld, who works in the emergency department of a New York City hospital, now in the epicenter of the pandemic. (Murthy, 4/26)

 Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Health Care Workers Demand OSHA Hospital Inspections 
State investigators must inspect hospitals before resolving workplace safety complaints during the coronavirus pandemic, Nevada’s largest health care union formally demanded Friday. In a two-page letter sent to the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Nevada chapter of Service Employees International Union outlined hazards it alleges are still ongoing at a swath of large hospitals across the state. (Davidson, 4/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Stanford Hospital System To Cut Pay 20%, Furlough Workers During Coronavirus Pandemic 
At perhaps the worst possible time, the Stanford hospital system is cutting pay and staff as the medical field around the country deals with the coronavirus pandemic and the mounting fears and stresses of their employees. (Simmons, 4/26)

Reuters: Special Report: Countries, Companies Risk Billions In Race For Coronavirus Vaccine
In the race to develop a vaccine to end the COVID-19 pandemic, governments, charities and Big Pharma firms are sinking billions of dollars into bets with extraordinarily low odds of success. They’re fast-tracking the testing and regulatory review of vaccines with no guarantee they will prove effective. They’re building and re-tooling plants for vaccines with slim chances of being approved. They’re placing orders for vaccines that, in the end, are unlikely to be produced. (Steenhuysen, Eisler, Martell and Nebehay, 4/25)

Politico: Ousting Vaccine Chief ‘Is Going To Set Us Back,’ Former FDA Head Says
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the ouster of a top vaccine expert at the Department of Health and Human Services would likely set back efforts to quickly roll out a vaccine for the coronavirus. Asked in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether forcing out Rick Bright as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority would have an impact, Gottlieb responded, "It's hard to say it doesn't." (O'Brien, 4/26)

CIDRAP: WHO, Partners Unveil Massive COVID-19 Vaccine, Treatment Effort
The World Health Organization (WHO)—backed by several world leaders and global health groups— launched an initiative to fast-track the development and scale-up of COVID-19 vaccines and drugs and make them available to nations who need them the most. With several continents continuing to report hefty daily case totals—and notable surges in Russia and India, for example—the global COVID-19 total reached 2,783,512 cases today in 185 countries, according the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. So far, at least 195,313 people have died from their infections. (Schnirring, 4/24)

Stat: STAT's Covid-19 Drugs And Vaccines Tracker
In the months since the novel coronavirus rose from a regional crisis to a global threat, drug makers large and small have scrambled to advance their best ideas for thwarting a pandemic. Some are taking a cue from older antivirals. Some are tapping tried-and-true technologies, and others are pressing forward with futuristic approaches to human medicine. Here’s a guide to some of the most talked-about efforts to treat or prevent coronavirus infection, with details on the science, history, and timeline for each endeavor. (4/27)

CNN: Famotidine: New York Hospitals Studying Heartburn Drug As Covid-19 Treatment 
Hospitals in New York are giving Covid-19 patients heartburn medicine to see if it helps fight the virus, according to the doctor who initiated the trial. Preliminary results of the clinical trial of famotidine, the active ingredient in Pepcid, could come out in the next few weeks, said Dr. Kevin Tracey, president of Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, which runs 23 hospitals in the New York City area. So far, 187 patients have enrolled in the clinical trial, and Northwell eventually hopes to enroll 1,200, he said. (Cohen, 4/27)

ABC News: Popular Heartburn Medicine Being Studied As Treatment For Coronavirus 
Since March 13, researchers at Northwell Health, a network of hospitals in New York, have been enrolling patients hospitalized with COVID-19 into their study of famotidine, which is being delivered through an IV in megadoses nine times greater than the typical over-the-counter dose. The drug is being given in combination with the much-touted antimalarial hydroxychloroquine. Researchers said some data on safety will be available "in a few weeks," but did not say when data will be available showing whether the drug combination is effective. (Kagan and Salzman, 4/26)

WBUR: FDA Warns Against Wide Use Of The Drugs Trump Hailed As 'Game Changers' 
"We understand that health care professionals are looking for every possible treatment option for their patients and we want to ensure we're providing them with the appropriate information needed for them to make the best medical decisions," FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said. "While clinical trials are ongoing to determine the safety and effectiveness of these drugs for COVID-19, there are known side effects of these medications that should be considered," he added. "We encourage health care professionals making individual patient decisions closely screen and monitor those patients to help mitigate these risks." (Dwyer and Neel, 4/24)

The New York Times: Prescriptions Surged As Trump Praised Drugs In Coronavirus Fight
It was at a midday briefing last month that President Trump first used the White House telecast to promote two antimalarial drugs in the fight against the coronavirus. “I think it could be something really incredible,” Mr. Trump said on March 19, noting that while more study was needed, the two drugs had shown “very, very encouraging results” in treating the virus. By that evening, first-time prescriptions of the drugs — chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — poured into retail pharmacies at more than 46 times the rate of the average weekday, according to an analysis of prescription data by The New York Times. (Gabler and Keller, 4/25)

The Associated Press: U.S. States Build Stockpiles Of Malaria Drug Touted By Trump
State and local governments across the United States have obtained about 30 million doses of a malaria drug touted by President Trump to treat patients with the coronavirus, despite warnings from doctors that more research is needed. At least 22 states and Washington, D.C., secured shipments of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, according to information compiled from state and federal officials by The Associated Press. (McCombs and Whitehurst, 4/26)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Veterans Affairs Chief Plugs Unproven Drug
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is taking advocacy of an unproven drug for the coronavirus even farther than President Donald Trump, claiming without evidence that it’s safe and that it has been effective for young and middle-aged veterans in particular. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an alert warning doctors against prescribing the drug for COVID-19 outside of hospitals and research settings because of the risks of serious side effects and death. (Yen, 4/24)

The New York Times: F.T.C. Warns 10 Companies About Virus-Related Health And Business Claims
The Federal Trade Commission has warned 10 companies to stop making health claims about treating and preventing the coronavirus or pitching business opportunities amid the pandemic, the agency announced on Friday. The group of letters represent the first time the F.T.C. has issued warnings about claims of potential earnings related to the economic fallout from the pandemic. The commission and the Food and Drug Administration have previously sent warning letters about unapproved health products related to the coronavirus. (Diaz, 4/25)

The New York Times: Could The Power Of The Sun Slow The Coronavirus? 
Will summertime slow the virus that causes Covid-19, as it has done with many other viruses that sow flu, colds and pneumonia? A new study finds that it may, though not enough to wipe out the pathogen or keep the pandemic from resurging in the fall. The study, done by ecological modelers at the University of Connecticut, understands the main natural weapon against the novel germ to be ultraviolet light — an invisible but energetic part of the sun’s electromagnetic spectrum that’s well-known for damaging DNA, killing viruses and turning healthy human skin cells into cancerous ones. (Broad, 4/24)

The New York Times: Can Estrogen And Other Sex Hormones Help Men Survive Covid-19?
As the novel coronavirus swept through communities around the world, preying disproportionately on the poor and the vulnerable, one disadvantaged group has demonstrated a remarkable resistance. Women, whether from China, Italy or the U.S., have been less likely to become acutely ill — and far more likely to survive. Which has made doctors wonder: Could hormones produced in greater quantities by women be at work? Now scientists on two coasts, acting quickly on their hunches in an effort to save men’s lives, are testing the hypothesis. The two clinical trials will each dose men with the sex hormones for limited durations. (Rabin, 4/27)

The Washington Post: WHO Says No Evidence Recovery Prevents Second Infection As Deaths Surpass 200,000 Worldwide
The World Health Organization on Saturday said there was not enough evidence that a person who has recovered from covid-19 is immune from a second infection. This comes as the known coronavirus death toll worldwide surpassed 200,000, though the true figure is unknown. (4/26)

CNN: Pulse Oximeters: What To Know About Whether You Need One 
Many patients with severe cases of Covid-19 have been shown to have extremely low levels of oxygen in the blood. Others who have tested positive find themselves experiencing shortness of breath. Perhaps that's why people are so interested lately in pulse oximeters, medical devices that measure the saturation of oxygen in red blood cells. (Kaur, 4/26)

The Associated Press: Invisible Virus, Invisible Fear: How To Navigate The Unseen?
Back in the early 20th century, the baseball pitcher Walter Johnson confounded opposing batters by throwing the fastest fastball they’d ever seen. “You can’t hit what you can’t see,” they would say. A century later, it’s an apt saying for those navigating this unusual moment. The surreptitious and the invisible are defining the human landscape during these weeks in ways we are only barely beginning to understand. (Anthony, 4/27)

The Washington Post: New D.C. Hospital Numbers Suggest Kids Do Face Some Risk Of Coronavirus Hospitalization 
An analysis by doctors at Children’s National Hospital in Washington calls into question the commonly held — and comforting — assumption that children seem to escape the novel coronavirus’s more serious impacts. “We have been ready, but frankly, surprised,” Roberta DeBiasi, the hospital’s infectious disease division chief, said Friday. “We are actually having a significant number of admissions and critical care admissions.” (Swenson, 4/25)

Politico: First Recorded Covid Death In U.S. Was From Massive Heart Attack, Autopsy Says
A Santa Clara County woman who is the earliest recorded death from Covid-19 in the United States died of a massive heart attack, according to an autopsy conducted by the county's medical examiner and obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. The 57-year-old woman, who died Feb. 6, had evidence of the coronavirus infection in her heart, trachea, lungs and intestines, according to an autopsy report posted Saturday by the Chronicle that was completed Feb. 7, but not signed until April 23. (Kahn, 4/25)

ABC News: In The 'Epicenter Of The Epicenter,' Were Early Heart Attacks A Missed Coronavirus Warning? 
New York City officially earned the grim distinction of becoming the nation's coronavirus epicenter on March 20, but city records analyzed by ABC News suggest a crisis swelling far earlier, signaled by a sudden uptick in cardiac arrest cases that experts now say were likely linked to the virus. Emergency calls for cardiac arrest began to climb in mid-February, in close-knit neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens, some of the same local areas that would soon form the "epicenter of the epicenter" of America's coronavirus pandemic. (Pezenik, Katersky, David and Dastmalchi, 4/27)

ABC News: 9 Ways Coronavirus Changed Treating Patients 
The precipitous climb of COVID-19 has led to substantial changes in both the art and the science of medicine. Amid a global pandemic, doctors and nurses are learning how to practice medicine differently -- adjusting the way they use resources, perform procedures, interact with patients and families, utilize technology, and work with public health and scientific communities for a common mission. (Taghipour and Kumar, 4/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut Plans To Relocate Patients Recovering From Coronavirus, And The First Arrive In A Small Town
The rural town of Sharon, Conn., is the state’s first test of a plan to relocate older nursing-home residents recovering from the new coronavirus. More than 50 patients recovering from the virus who were discharged from hospitals in cities such as Hartford and Danbury moved into Sharon Health Care Center, the town’s 88-bed nursing home, this past week. To make room, the center moved out all of its regular residents, except for eight who tested positive for Covid-19. (De Avila, 4/26)

The New York Times: Nursing Homes In Some States Told To Take Patients Infected With Coronavirus 
Neal Nibur has lived in a nursing home for about a year, ever since he had a bad bout of pneumonia. Now, the 80-year-old man has not only his own health to worry about but that of his neighbors at the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., residence. Four new patients recently arrived from the hospital with Covid-19. They were admitted for one reason, according to staff members: A state guideline says nursing homes cannot refuse to take patients from hospitals solely because they have the coronavirus. (Barker and Harris, 4/24)

ProPublica: Nursing Homes Violated Basic Health Standards, Allowing The Coronavirus To Explode
One by one, toward the end of March, residents of Enumclaw Health and Rehabilitation Center outside of Seattle started coming down with symptoms of COVID-19. On March 22, residents in Rooms 503 and 522 were moved to a wing for COVID-19 patients. Another resident began showing symptoms, too, and was also moved. In all three cases, their roommates were left in their rooms and staff were given no instructions about using any added precautions to care for them. (Ornstein and Sanders, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Can Nursing Homes Dedicated To Virus Patients Stop Spread?
A few states may have found a way to help slow the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes by converting some of them into “recovery centers” set aside mostly for residents who have left the hospital but still might be contagious or lack immunity. Critics worry about harming frail, elderly residents by transferring them to make room in repurposed nursing homes. (Haigh, 4/26)

ProPublica: “Did I Mess This Up?” A Father Dying From Coronavirus, A Distraught Daughter And A Midnight Rescue.
The voice on the message started out calm but soon faltered. Natasha Roland wanted to report what happened to her father at the Queens Adult Care Center, a home for some 350 low-income elderly and mentally ill adults that I’d described as an epidemiologist’s nightmare in a story the previous week. “They had been telling me since March that they didn’t have any virus cases,” Roland said, her words quickening. “They were telling me that my father was OK. When I went there to get my dad, he hadn’t eaten in a week. My dad was dying. He couldn’t move.” (Sapien, 4/25)

WBUR: COVID-19 Hits Elder Care Facilities In Mass. The Hardest, With More Than 1,300 Now Dead
COVID-19 has killed 2,360 people in Massachusetts to date, and the hardest-hit group has been seniors living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. According to state data, more than a third of these facilities have at least one person who's tested positive, and the list grows by the day. (Wasser and Oakes, 4/24)

WBUR: 49 Residents — More Than One-Third — Of Belmont Manor Have Died From The Coronavirus 
Forty-nine residents who tested positive for the coronavirus in a Belmont nursing home have died. Another 67 residents and 73 staff also have the virus. The Belmont Manor nursing home is licensed for 135 beds, and according to a spokeswoman, the facility was near capacity when the pandemic began. This means that in a matter of weeks, more than a one-third of all residents have died, and all but a dozen or so have the virus. (Wasser, 4/24)

Boston Globe: Assisted-Living Sites Struggle With Coronavirus In Shadow Of Nursing Home Crisis
As the coronavirus sweeps through Massachusetts nursing homes, leaving a trail of deaths that now tops 1,600, a parallel crisis has been playing out with far less scrutiny in another setting housing vulnerable seniors: assisted living. Massachusetts officials have been quietly tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state’s 260 assisted-living facilities — many of which contain memory care units — since last month. Word had trickled out of outbreaks at Boston-area residences, such as Sunrise of Arlington, The Falls at Cordingly Dam in Newton, and Goddard House in Brookline. (Weisman, 4/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Doesn’t Disclose Coronavirus Deaths At Nursing Homes 
As deaths from the coronavirus rise, topping 1,500 across California, families are left in the dark about how many of those occur in the nursing homes, where their ill parents and others they love remain isolated, because the state Department of Public Health has so far declined to say. In Santa Clara County, which does disclose the data, nearly 30% of all coronavirus deaths have occurred in nursing homes. Now, advocates for residents say the lack of data on nursing home deaths hides how widespread and deadly the virus is in those settings, and withholds critical information from people who have to decide whether to move into a facility or remain in one. (Ravani, 4/24)

Detroit Free Press: See The Nursing Homes Reporting Current COVID-19 Cases In Michigan
For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Michigan health department released the names of dozens of nursing homes impacted by the pandemic and the number of current COVID-19 cases in facilities across the state. Nine out of the 10 largest current outbreaks in the state are at facilities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The tri-county area accounts for 75% of all the state's current cases.  (Hall, Anderson and Tanner, 4/24)

The New York Times: How Las Vegas Became Ground Zero For The American Jobs Crisis
When Valicia Anderson starts to count the people she knows in Las Vegas who have lost their jobs, she runs out of fingers fast. Her husband, the breadwinner of her family and a restaurant worker in the Rio casino. All 25 of his co-workers. Her grown son, in a temp agency. The technician who does her nails. The barber who cuts her husband’s hair. Her best friend, a waitress. The three servers and a manager at the TGI Friday’s that is her family’s favorite treat. (Tavernise, 4/26)

The Associated Press: AP-NORC Poll: Most Losing Jobs To Virus Think They’ll Return
One out of every four American adults say someone in their household has lost a job to the coronavirus pandemic, but the vast majority expect those former jobs will return once the crisis passes, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The economic devastation writ by COVID-19 is clear: 26.4 million people have lost their job in the past five weeks, millions of homeowners are delaying mortgage payments and food banks are seeing lines of cars that stretch for miles. (Boak and Swanson, 4/24)

The Hill: Coronavirus Exposes Scars Of Great Recession 
The coronavirus and the desperate economic measures used to fight it are exposing some of the wounds inflicted during the Great Recession. While some Americans may be able to recover quickly when the pandemic subsides, the outbreak poses bigger threats to vulnerable communities that didn’t benefit as much as others from the past 10 years of economic growth. (Lane, 4/26)

The New York Times: A Survey Of Essential Workers Shows A Political Divide
Democrats and Republicans differ on attitudes toward coronavirus risks and in workplace behaviors meant to reduce them, according to a new survey. This partisanship has the potential to hurt efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The data from Gallup’s Covid-19 tracking panel shows that people deemed essential workers are generating large numbers of close contacts with other people, putting themselves and those they live with at risk. Recognizing this, most workers have changed how they do their jobs to reduce the risk of viral transmission. (Rothwell, 4/27)

The New York Times: ‘Risking My Life’ To Truck In Milk, Wine And Hand Sanitizer 
Joseph Morales puts on a mask and gloves whenever he is delivering truckloads of wine, vodka and gin to a thirsty city. But he can do nothing about the person who coughs or comes too close in cramped stores. “I’m basically risking my life,” said Mr. Morales, 41, a truck driver for a liquor distributor. “If that person has it, I’m doomed because I’m right there.” (Hu, 4/27)

The New York Times: Needing At-Home Workers, Call Centers Turn To People With Disabilities
A workplace injury two decades ago when she was newly pregnant left Robin Irvin with neuropathy in her left leg and without a functioning bowel or bladder. She has been living on disability benefits since. Now as the coronavirus pandemic upends the economy, Ms. Irvin, 48, has found a way to get back into the work force: She is answering customer service calls for a regional retail chain. (Peiser, 4/26)

The Washington Post: ‘We’re Basically Ill-Prepared’: Hobbled House Majority Frets About Its Effectiveness Amid Pandemic
House Democrats have blasted President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as inept and dangerous. Party leaders insisted on the creation of a special committee to root out abuse in the nearly $3 trillion of federal aid flowing to shuttered businesses and unemployed workers. And they have called for a robust national strategy for mass testing and tracing of the illness that has claimed more than 53,000 U.S. lives. Yet amid the biggest national crisis in generations, the one branch of government where Democrats hold power has largely sidelined itself, struggling so far to adopt remote voting, Zoom video hearings or any of the other alternative methods that have become standard for most workplaces in the age of covid-19. (DeBonis and Kane, 4/26)

Politico: Backlash Grows As Pandemic Relief Stumbles
Congress’ mad dash to shovel nearly $3 trillion into the economy and rescue failing industries met little resistance as the coronavirus crisis overwhelmed communities across the country. But now the hangover has set in. The sprawling CARES Act, and its similarly rushed companion bills, has fueled rising angst for lawmakers. They’ve been bombarded with complaints about breakdowns in the small business lending program, loopholes that have allowed large companies to snatch cash meant for smaller operations and administrative failures that have delayed stimulus checks to struggling American households. (Cheney and Ferris, 4/27)

The Washington Post: McConnell’s Rejection Of Federal Aid For States Risks Causing A Depression, Analysts Say
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would rather see states declare bankruptcy than give them federal aid to deal with the economic collapse triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a recipe for turning a potentially short recession into a prolonged depression, according to officials and analysts. (McCartney, 4/27)

The Hill: McConnell, Democrats Feud Over State Aid Amid Coronavirus 
A fight over funding for state and local governments is emerging as an early flashpoint in talks over another coronavirus relief bill. The clash — which pits Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) — is raising fresh questions about the ability to keep Congress’s response to the coronavirus bipartisan. (Carney, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Tensions Emerge Among Republicans Over Coronavirus Spending And How To Rescue The Economy
The economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic is opening up a rift in the Republican Party — as the Trump administration and some GOP senators advocate for more aggressive spending while senior party leaders say now may be the time to start scaling back. President Trump is promoting costly ideas such as infrastructure investment and a payroll tax cut as his top economic official plays down the impact of additional virus spending on the national debt. (Kim, 4/25)

Politico: Big-Government Conservatives Mount Takeover Of GOP
Crises nearly always create political upheaval. In recent history the catastrophes of 9/11 and the Great Recession both defined American politics for the decade that came after each event. The crisis of Covid-19, which has already killed far more Americans than the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were waged in response, seems likely to have a similar effect. (Lizza, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: At Least 13 Public Companies Give Back $170 Million In Small-Business Stimulus Money. Others Say They’ll Keep It.
At least 13 of the public companies that received coronavirus hardship loans said they would return the money amid mounting scrutiny, while some of the smaller public companies said they needed the money to keep employees from losing their jobs. The decisions are the latest twists in the rushed and turbulent rollout of the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, a portion of last month’s $2 trillion stimulus package intended to help small businesses and limit layoffs through the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers and independent business owners have criticized public companies for tapping a program that quickly ran out of funds. (Pacheco and Davis, 4/26)

The Hill: US Capping How Much Banks Can Lend As Part Of Coronavirus Emergency Program
The Trump administration will impose limits on how much individual banks can lend under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) due to the program's high demand among businesses seeking relief from effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Reuters reported Sunday that the Small Business Administration (SBA) will limit individual banks and lenders to 10 percent of the program's overall funding, or $60 billion, and direct financial institutions to slow the pace of applications for the program. (Bowden, 4/26)

The Wall Street Journal: IRS Recalling Thousands Of Workers
The Internal Revenue Service is bringing thousands of employees back to agency offices on Monday to deal with a growing backlog of work amid the coronavirus pandemic. The IRS is recalling some people who do work that must be done in person, according to an internal email released by Reps. Richard Neal (D., Mass.) and John Lewis (D., Ga.). In that email, IRS executives told workers they would be required to wear cloth face coverings and bring their own in case the government couldn’t provide them yet. (Rubin, 4/26)

NPR: Science Becomes A Dividing Issue In Year Of Election And Pandemic
It now seems apparent that COVID-19 will dominate American life for months to come, quite possibly through the national election in November. That means the disease, and efforts to respond to it, will likewise dominate the 2020 campaign and make it largely about something it has never been about before. That something is science. (Elving, 4/26)

Politico: Biden Wants A New Stimulus 'A Hell Of A Lot Bigger' Than $2 Trillion
Joe Biden wants a more progressive approach to economic stimulus legislation than Washington has taken so far, including much stricter oversight of the Trump administration, much tougher conditions on business bailouts and long-term investments in infrastructure and climate that have so far been largely absent from congressional debates. In a fiery half-hour interview with POLITICO, the presumptive Democratic nominee sounded a bit like his angrier and less moderate primary rivals, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, though in unexpurgated Biden style. (Grunwald, 4/25)

The Hill: Biden Takes Back Seat To Pelosi, Schumer In Coronavirus Response 
Presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden is mostly watching from the sidelines as fellow Democrats in Congress and at the state level clash with President Trump over the federal government’s response to the coronavirus. With the election just a little more than six months away, the Democrats making headlines almost every day are Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and governors such as Andrew Cuomo of New York. (Bolton, 4/26)

Stateline: At County Level, Many In GOP Favor Mail-In Voting
Despite opposition from President Donald Trump, many local Republican election officials across the country are continuing to push for expanding mail-in voting ahead of November’s election. The novel coronavirus outbreak has made voting in person a health hazard: Wisconsin health officials have linked at least 19 new COVID-19 cases to the state’s primary election earlier this month. (Vasilogambros, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanders Camp Argues Against Canceling New York Presidential Primary
Bernie Sanders’s campaign and its supporters are urging New York’s election officials not to cancel its June presidential primary, even though the Vermont senator has suspended his campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination to face President Trump. Democratic commissioners of the New York State Board of Elections will meet Monday to consider a resolution that would scrap the primary. Mr. Sanders endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden on April 13, but Mr. Sanders said when he suspended his campaign that he hoped to keep amassing delegates to influence the Democratic Party’s platform and rules. (Vielkind, 4/26)

The New York Times: Nervous Republicans See Trump Sinking, And Taking Senate With Him
President Trump’s erratic handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the worsening economy and a cascade of ominous public and private polling have Republicans increasingly nervous that they are at risk of losing the presidency and the Senate if Mr. Trump does not put the nation on a radically improved course. The scale of the G.O.P.’s challenge has crystallized in the last week. With 26 million Americans now having filed for unemployment benefits, Mr. Trump’s standing in states that he carried in 2016 looks increasingly wobbly: New surveys show him trailing significantly in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he is even narrowly behind in must-win Florida. (Martin and Haberman, 4/25)

The Hill: Poll: 69 Percent Of Voters Support Medicare For All 
Support for Medicare for All has remained consistently strong over the past two years, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll. Sixty-nine percent of registered voters in the April 19-20 survey support providing medicare to every American, just down 1 percentage point from a Oct. 19-20, 2018 poll, and within the poll's margin of error. (4/24)

The Washington Post: ‘For Black Folks, It’s Like A Setup: Are You Trying To Kill Us?’
Sheryl Means already has lost so much to the invisible virus burning through her hometown. Her mother and her aunt died within days of each other. Her sister has been on a ventilator for weeks in a hospital miles away, and there are no visitors allowed in the covid-19 isolation unit. She has this tightness in her chest, and she’s scared she might be next. But Means can’t get a test. Even now, six weeks into a national emergency, with the death toll still climbing in southwest Georgia, and her kin sick from the novel coronavirus. (Thebault, Ba Tran and Williams, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Is Ravaging One Of The Country’s Wealthiest Black Counties
The intensive care unit at Inova Alexandria Hospital has empty beds, and doctors are prepared for a rush of coronavirus patients that has yet to hit the largely white suburb. A dozen miles away at Adventist HealthCare Fort Washington Hospital Center, the ICU is full, and employees treat coronavirus patients in medical tents in the parking lot. Paramedics across Prince George’s County are summoned daily to help people struggling to breathe, and funeral home directors are searching for more places to store bodies. (Chason, Wiggins and Harden, 4/26)

In other news on health care disparities highlighted by the pandemic —

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Forces Poor Americans To Wait In Long Lines For Basic Services
The sun had barely risen over East 149th Street in the South Bronx when Edward Halls, 70, got in line. He had seen how long the line was the day before and realized that life now required a plan.“I passed by and said, ‘I’m not going to drink any water. I’ll bring the chair. I’ll leave early. I was going to leave at 7:30 but my sister said, ‘No, you better leave at 7.’ ” (McCrummen, 4/26)

ABC News: Fewer Domestic Violence Calls During COVID-19 Outbreak Has California Officials Concerned 
Since the beginning of COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders, police and advocacy groups across the country have warned that domestic violence calls could increase with people being cooped up at home, tempers more likely to flare, abusers more likely to lash out. And although data in a few of America's largest cities initially suggests otherwise, multiple agencies told ABC News that may be an even bigger reason for concern. "We're having 10 fewer crime reports each day for instances of domestic violence," Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said. "That's going in the wrong direction with what we believe is actually happening behind closed doors." (Stone, Mallin and Gutman, 4/25)

GMA: Sexual Assaults Have Not Stopped During Coronavirus Pandemic: Here's How To Get Help 
A person is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds in the United States, and every nine minutes the victim is a child, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an anti-sexual violence organization. Those incidents of sexual violence do not stop while the nation is under stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, and experts said they fear cases may be getting even worse due to stress and isolation caused by the pandemic. (Kindelan, 4/27)

The New York Times: 32 Days On A Ventilator: One Covid Patient’s Fight To Breathe Again 
“Is he going to make it?” Kim Bello asked, clutching her phone, alone in her yard. She had slipped outside so her three children, playing games in the living room, could be shielded from a wrenching conversation with a doctor treating her husband, Jim. For two weeks, he had been battling the coronavirus at Massachusetts General Hospital, on a ventilator and, for the past nine days, connected to a last-resort artificial heart-lung machine as well. (Belluck, 4/26)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Claims Data Shows Declines In Hospitalizations For Serious Conditions
Hospitals aren't just seeing reductions in elective procedures, like knee and hip replacements, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also reporting significant drop offs in acute conditions that require immediate care, including heart attacks and appendicitis, raising concerns about whether people are avoiding necessary care for fear of becoming infected by coronavirus. (Livingston, 4/24)

The New York Times: Americans Abroad Ask Whether To Stay, And Risk Infection, Or Fly Home, And Risk Infection
The travel plan was as exhausting as it was risky for the 77-year-old cancer survivor wondering how to leave self-isolation in Ecuador and return home to New Hampshire without catching the coronavirus. “It’s not for the faint of heart and promises to be very grueling, but we wanted to gauge interest,” the American Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, wrote in a notice last month to Americans looking to get back to the United States as the deadly pandemic spread. (Jakes, 4/25)

PBS NewsHour: How The Coronavirus Is Delaying Life-Altering Surgeries
The coronavirus is reshaping the way some Americans live and even how they receive healthcare. One challenge that has emerged from this crisis is which patients get life-changing surgeries that have been deemed elective medical procedures during the pandemic and which ones wait. (Booker and Kargbo, 4/26)

WBUR: Doctors Try Out Curbside Vaccinations For Kids To Prevent A Competing Pandemic
There is no way to prevent the coronavirus, but there are vaccines for a dozen-plus diseases that threaten children, in particular. And if kids delay or skip their measles, tetanus, whooping cough and rubella vaccinations, communities in Massachusetts and beyond could find themselves dealing with more than one epidemic. (Bebinger, 4/24)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: When Should I Wear A Facemask? Here's What Health Experts Say About Coronavirus Guidelines
Wearing a face mask or a face covering is the going to be the new normal during the coronavirus pandemic, experts say. But do you have to wear them all the time? It's voluntary to wear one, but local and federal health officials strongly recommend covering your nose and mouth in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19. (Wells, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Italy To Reopen Gradually Starting On May 4
Italy announced a timetable for reopening its economy and daily life beginning on May 4, marking a milestone in the hard-hit country’s struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the government will end the lockdown on industry, services and social contacts in stages, but he warned that a resurgence in virus infections could force a return of restrictions. (Walker, 4/26)

The Associated Press: Many Failures Combined To Unleash Death On Italy's Lombardy
As Italy prepares to emerge from the West’s first and most extensive coronavirus lockdown, it is increasingly clear that something went terribly wrong in Lombardy, the hardest-hit region in Europe’s hardest-hit country. Italy had the bad luck of being the first Western nation to be slammed by the outbreak, and its official total of 26,600 fatalities lags behind only the U.S. in the global death toll. (Winfield, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Wuhan Was The World's Fentanyl Capital. Then Coronavirus Hit
For drug traffickers interested in getting in on the fentanyl business, all roads once led to Wuhan. The sprawling industrial city built along the Yangtze River in east-central China is known for its production of chemicals, including the ingredients needed to cook fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids. (Linthicum, 4/24)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Strikes Prisons, Hundreds Of Thousands Are Released
Prisons across the world have become powerful breeding grounds for the coronavirus, prompting governments to release hundreds of thousands of inmates in a mad scramble to curb the spread of the contagion behind bars. The pandemic has also set off prisoner rebellions as angry inmates have called new attention to chronic problems in corrections systems in many countries, including overcrowding, filth and limited access to health care. (Landono, Andreoni and Casado, 4/26)

The Washington Post: A Pandemic Of Corruption: $40 Masks, Questionable Contracts, Rice-Stealing Bureaucrats Mar Coronavirus Response
When officials in his home state began giving food boxes to families hit by Colombia’s coronavirus lockdown, lawmaker Ricardo Quintero was struck by the exorbitant prices being paid to the vendors. So he armed himself with pictures of the coffee, pasta and other goods and went down to his local grocery store. (Faiola and Herrero, 4/26)

The Wall Street Journal: As Poorer Nations Ease Coronavirus Curbs, Risks Of New Infections Grow
Some developing countries are easing restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the new coronavirus, sparking concern that cases could surge as shops and some industries open to provide desperately needed food and jobs. Many of these countries—including India, Pakistan, Ghana and South Africa—are encouraged by the relatively low number of infections they have seen compared with global hotspots in China, southern Europe and the U.S. (Shah and Parkinson, 4/27)

Stat: Gilead Sues U.S., Claiming It 'Secretly' Obtained Patents On HIV Research That Led To Truvada 
Gilead Sciences has accused the U.S. government of breaching several contracts and “secretly” obtaining patents stemming from research that led to the ground-breaking Truvada HIV-prevention pill. In a lawsuit filed late Friday, the drug maker claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the terms of a 15-year-old collaboration by failing to notify the company of patents that were later sought and awarded on the research. (Silverman, 4/26)

Stat: Sanofi MS Drug Reduced Brain Lesions In Preliminary Study 
An experimental multiple sclerosis pill the drug giant Sanofi has touted as one of its big research hopes reduced the number of lesions in a 130-patient study. The drug, known as SAR442168, works by inhibiting a cellular signal called Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), which is also the target of the best-selling cancer drug Imbruvica. Unlike other BTK inhibitors, the Sanofi drug can get through the so-called blood-brain barrier into the brain, making it potentially useful in MS. (Herper, 4/23)

Stat: Custom Cell Therapy Shrinks Lung Tumors In Advanced Cancer Cases 
Tumors shrank in one quarter of patients with advanced lung cancer who received a bespoke cell therapy made by doctors at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. In two patients, the researchers found, lung tumors disappeared completely. Though the study was small, the results are impressive because the patients had tumors in their lungs that were not responding to Opdivo, one of the checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapies that are now standard of care. That makes these patients particularly difficult to treat effectively. (Feuerstein, 4/27)

Boston Globe: Can We Hold On To The Lesson Of Communal Responsibility That The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Teaching? 
Today we are just beginning to grasp the dislocations COVID-19 will wreak upon the nation. If a single untimely death like my grandfather’s can derail a family for decades, it’s stunning to think how painfully tens of thousands of COVID-19 fatalities will ripple through society. The anguish of lost jobs, the corrosive worry about falling ill or paying the rent, the deferred medical appointments, the disrupted educations, the social dislocation, the psychological toll of isolation and despair — these echoes of the coronavirus will be with us long after a vaccine is found. (Renée Loth, 4/24)

Stat: Adolescents Are Paying A High Price For Covid-19 Prevention 
“How can he be so stupid?” a dad asked me in a telehealth visit. His voice shook with fear and rage as he described his adolescent son sneaking out to meet friends against legal and family orders to stay at home. As a child psychiatrist, I’ve been fielding many such calls. (Lisa Jacobs, 4/27)

The Hill: People Have Increased Anxiety And Depression From Covid-19 — Telehealth Can Help 
Fears about the novel coronavirus, the economic meltdown, and prolonged self-isolation are taking an emotional toll on Americans. Calls to the federal mental health crisis hotline are 900 percent greater than this time last year. In normal times, one in five American adults deals with mental health issues. (Arielle Kane, 4/26)

Boston Globe: A New Chance To Close The Digital Divide 
Susan Morley runs the behavioral health clinic at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, a nonprofit agency that serves poor people in Framingham. When the COVID-19 stay-at-home advisory began last month, preventing people from coming into the clinic for their therapy sessions, Morley and her staff struggled to keep tabs on their clients. Many of the clients can’t check in over video chat, because they don’t have broadband Internet at home and can’t go to the libraries where they sometimes get online. (4/26)

The Hill: It's Time To Address The Unprecedented Grief Surrounding The COVID-19 Pandemic
Three times as many people have died in the United States from COVID19 than died on September 11, 2001, and we are not yet to the peak in most states. According to recent estimates, more Americans are likely to die in the coming weeks than in World War I, the Korean War or the Vietnam War — a scale of death many of us have never seen, and certainly not on American shores. (Wendy Cadge, 4/26)                                        

Modern Healthcare: Protecting The Unsung Healthcare Heroes During COVID-19
Telehealth has stolen the spotlight as the new way to deliver patient care following the overnight disruption of COVID-19. While the CMS and providers have encouraged broader use of telehealth tools to maintain regular visits and contain spread of the virus, many beneficiaries use another favorite handoff in the continuum of care—home health. (Aurora Aguilar, 4/25)

The New York Times: I Never Planned To Face The Coronavirus As A Worker At Dollar General
I’ve been working at Dollar General here for more than two years. My manager is wonderful, and I have a great relationship with my customers. But when I took this job I never planned to become a worker on the front line of a pandemic. I close the register many nights, so I know my store’s revenue has practically doubled since the coronavirus hit. But we workers haven’t gotten any extra money, even though we’re risking our health, and our families’ health, to keep the stores running. Louisiana’s governor is expected to lift parts of the stay-at-home order soon. I don’t think our state is ready for that and I know my co-workers aren’t. (Kenya Slaughter, 4/26)

CNN: Disinfectants' Dark Medical History
Pandemics, even as they cause untold suffering, do more than create new problems. They reveal long-held cultural attitudes, approaches to faith in governance and differing beliefs about individual rights and trust in science. Historically speaking, these myriad responses reemerge from pandemic to pandemic in recycling patterns of seemingly historical truisms. We ignore, we deny, we blame. (Jennifer Le Zotte and Jacob Steere-Williams, 4/26)

Stat: Remembering UpToDate Creator Burton 'Bud' Rose 
Ask any doctor, nurse, or other clinician about UpToDate and you’ll get some version of this answer: I use it all the time to stay current, and often pull it up when I’m talking with patients. For clinicians around the world, UpToDate is essentially Google for medicine, but smarter and based on evidence. The creator of this invaluable and now-omnipresent resource, Dr. Burton “Bud” Rose, a brilliant kidney specialist, entrepreneur, and our friend and colleague, died on Friday from complications of Covid-19 at age 77. (Martin Pollak, Mark Zeidel and Theodore Steinman, 4/25)

Boston Globe: Poverty Wages In Nursing Homes Have Accelerated The Coronavirus Outbreak 
These figures will continue to rise, because although the virus can affect anyone, the residents of long-term care facilities are particularly susceptible to COVID-19, given dynamics such as age, underlying illnesses, and their proximity to one another (including shared rooms and bathrooms) and to their caregivers. But these commonly accepted factors are not the only reason COVID-19 is proliferating in our nursing homes: The poverty wages paid to caregivers and the understaffing of our long-term care facilities are also to blame. (Chas Walker, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Governors Need More Than Hopes And Dreams To Reopen States 
The daily increase in reported U.S. coronavirus cases — now approaching 1 million all told, with more than 54,000 fatalities — has not begun to fall, but some states’ governors are already trying to reopen businesses and relax restrictions. In making this life-or-death decision, these governors are running ahead of the science and just hoping for the best. On “Fox News Sunday,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) defended his new plan to reopen the state, beginning with personal care businesses such as salons and expanding soon to restaurants and sports venues. In making his case, Stitt leaned heavily on the fact that covid-19 hospitalizations in the state peaked on March 30. But he left out that on Tuesday the state’s health department reported the largest one-day total of cases since early April. “Even without widespread testing,” the president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association told the Oklahoman newspaper last week, “Oklahoma has seen an ongoing growth in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the past week alone” — contrary to White House guidelines for reopening. When host Chris Wallace showed Stitt that quote, though, the governor replied, “I don’t know exactly who that is” — an incredible dismissal. (James Downie, 4/26)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Gov.’s Reopening Plan May Compound Georgia's Pandemic Risk
Last Monday, April 20, Gov. Brian Kemp announced the limited reopening of sectors of Georgia’s economy, effective April 24. The rationale includes the fact that documented cases of COVID-19 appear to have flattened, leading people to wonder: has the danger passed? The answer is simple: no. Georgia is familiar with the risk associated with natural disasters. About two weeks ago, a string of tornadoes passed through the state causing multiple fatalities and significant property damage. We understand that when a tornado has passed on in a fast-moving storm front, the danger has passed. But this is not how it works for a respiratory virus spreading in an immunologically naive population. (Joshua S. Weitz, 4/25)

The New York Times: There’s Really Only One Way To Reopen The Economy
The way forward in the coronavirus crisis keeps getting framed as a choice between saving lives or saving the economy. It’s a false choice. The only way to save the economy is to take the steps that will also save lives. A number of states are declaring that their economies are open for business. What they’re really doing is saying that it is permissible for many businesses that were closed by regulation to achieve adequate social distancing to open once again. It’s likely that many will. Small businesses have been devastated by this lockdown, and they’re eager to get going once again. (Aaron E. Carroll, 4/26)

The Wall Street Journal: America Needs To Win The Coronavirus Vaccine Race
The first nation to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 could have an economic advantage as well as a tremendous public-health achievement. Doses will be limited initially as suppliers ramp up, and a country will focus on inoculating most of its own population first. Even with extraordinary international collaboration among multiple companies, it could be years before a vaccine is produced at a scale sufficient to help the entire world. The first country to the finish line will be first to restore its economy and global influence. America risks being second. (Scott Gottlieb, 4/26)

Stat: The Covid-19 Pandemic Could Be The Start Of The 'Biotech Century' 
If you had infinite foresight and knew a pathogen like Covid-19 was coming, what would you do to prepare? You’d certainly stockpile N95 masks and ventilators. But you’d also invest billions of dollars, or perhaps even trillions, in biopharma research and development to get ready to fight back. (Michael Mandel, 4/27)

The Washington Post: Nursing Homes During Coronavirus Deserve Our Prayers — And Serious Reforms
In the aftermath of the pandemic, aging in America may never be the same. The spiraling death toll in the nation’s patchwork of nursing home facilities has revealed just how broken the system already was — understaffed, unevenly regulated and economically challenged. And it has underscored the urgency of reexamining and improving the prevailing model of senior care. More than 10,000 residents and staff have died from covid-19 infections in long-term care facilities across the United States, according to an analysis of state data by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The actual death toll among nursing home residents is certainly higher because not all states release data. We will soon get a clearer picture with new federal rules that require weekly disclosure of coronavirus cases and a commitment to alert patients and families within 12 hours if a resident in a facility has tested positive. (Michele L. Norris, 4/27)

ABC News: More Than A Disease, COVID-19 Exposes Health Risk Of Food Insecurity
Maria suffers from diabetes, asthma, hypertension and depression. She needs to eat healthy to keep her glucose level stable and enhance her immune system. But she doesn't want to venture out to the grocery store. She lives alone, her husband passed away several years ago. Her son lives thousands of miles away and talks to her on FaceTime, fearful to visit and endanger her. (Jay Bhatt, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Discrimination Soon May Be Based On Coronavirus Immunity
Antibody tests that aim to show whether a person has been exposed to the coronavirus and presumably has immunity are expected to flood the market very soon. Such tests, if accurate, could help us understand the spread of the virus and the extent of immunity in the society as well as determine who can safely go back to work. Much is still unknown about the level of antibodies needed to make a person immune and most blood tests have not been reviewed by the government for accuracy. (Turley, 4/24)

CNN: Covid-19: Researchers Should Study How It Affects Women
As the Covid-19 pandemic overwhelms communities across the US, many of us in the scientific and medical fields can't help but remember the early days of the AIDS epidemic. In the 1980s, HIV was a mysterious, deadly new virus spreading quickly across our country. Fear and misinformation fueled outbreaks. Hotspots cropped up in New York City and California. (Susan Blumenthal, 4/26)

The New York Times: Trump’s Contempt For The Ex-Presidents Is Costing Us Right Now
About a year ago, in an interview in the Oval Office, I asked President Trump if his years behind the storied Resolute desk had made him empathize with his predecessors. In the very room where most of them had called on one another in times of crisis for years —  and well before the novel coronavirus pandemic changed the country, and the world — Mr. Trump was dismissive of the men who came before him. He answered my question without hesitation: “No, no.” His attitude toward his predecessors has apparently only hardened over time. The chaos of the pandemic has shined a spotlight on his contempt for the living presidents. (Kate Andersen Brower, 4/27)