Los Angeles Times: Biden Picks California Atty. Gen. Becerra As Health Secretary 
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra to be the next Health and Human Services secretary, a historic choice that would make the former Los Angeles congressman the first Latino to hold the office, according to sources familiar with the decision. Becerra, 62, a rising star in California politics, has become one of the most important defenders of the Affordable Care Act, leading the fight to preserve the landmark law against efforts by the Trump administration and conservative states to persuade federal courts to repeal it. (Levey, Halper and McGreevy, 12/6)

Politico: Biden Selects Becerra To Lead Health And Human Services 
A veteran of Washington, [Becerra] spent nearly 25 years in the House of Representatives culminating in a stint as chair of the Democratic caucus. Becerra also sat on the powerful House Ways and Means subcommittee overseeing health issues. Yet unlike earlier contenders to be Biden’s HHS secretary, he has not held a top health policy position before. Then-California Gov. Jerry Brown tapped Becerra to be attorney general in 2017, replacing Kamala Harris after she was elected to the Senate. (Pager, Cancryn and Ollstein, 12/6)

CNN: Xavier Becerra: California Attorney General Expected To Lead Health And Human Services
One of Becerra's highest-profile health care roles recently has been chief defender of the Affordable Care Act in court. With the Trump administration joining a coalition of Republican state attorneys general fighting to invalidate the landmark health reform law, Becerra has led a group of Democratic attorneys general arguing why the law remains valid. At issue is whether Congress' reducing the penalty for not having health insurance to zero rendered the individual mandate unconstitutional, which would cause the entire law to fall. (Zeleny, Sullivan and Luhby, 12/6)

The New York Times: Biden Picks Xavier Becerra To Lead Health And Human Services 
“The A.C.A. has been life-changing and now through this pandemic, we can all see the value in having greater access to quality health care at affordable prices,” Mr. Becerra said in June, when he filed a brief with the Supreme Court in defense of the health care law. “Now is not the time to rip away our best tool to address very real and very deadly health disparities in our communities.” (Gay Stolberg and Shear, 12/6)

NPR: Biden Picks California Attorney General Xavier Becerra For Top Health Post
Becerra is the second high-profile Latino who Biden plans to nominate for a cabinet position, joining Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's intended nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Biden had been under pressure to name more people of color to top posts. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, New Mexico Senator-elect Ben Ray Luján, said he was happy about Mayorkas but wanted to see more. (Ordoñez and Keith, 12/6)

AP: Biden Picks Calif. AG Becerra To Lead HHS, Pandemic Response
Becerra has been jokingly known in Democratic legal circles as the man who sued Trump more than anyone else. Beyond health care, the California attorney general’s lawsuits centered on issues from immigration to environmental policies. (Alonso-Zaldivar, Balsamo and Lemire, 12/7)

Boston Globe: Biden Picks MGH Infectious Diseases Chief Rochelle Walensky To Oversee CDC
Massachusetts General Hospital infectious diseases chief Rochelle Walensky has been picked by President-elect Joe Biden to be the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a person familiar with the decision. Walensky will replace Dr. Robert Redfield and be charged with rebuilding a troubled federal agency that has been widely regarded as ineffectual in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and President Trump’s efforts to downplay it. (Freyer and Hilliard, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden To Select Rochelle Walensky To Lead The CDC 
Like Dr. Redfield and many others leading the federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Walensky draws her expertise from an extensive background in HIV. She is a widely respected policy researcher known for her work showing the cost-effectiveness of HIV testing, care and prevention strategies, and an outspoken advocate for HIV patients. She has served on several federal advisory panels. (McKay, 12/6)

The Hill: Biden Picks Infectious Diseases Specialist To Lead CDC: Report 
As part of her work, Walensky has studied the effectiveness of a potential coronavirus vaccine. She recently completed a study in partnership with Yale University looking at the efficacy rates of the coronavirus vaccines on a general population. Using a model they developed, the research team found that regardless of a vaccine’s effectiveness, the timing of its distribution was just as important to combating the pandemic. (Choi, 12/6)

Politico: To Rebuild CDC, Biden Picks Rochelle Walensky 
Health care leaders celebrated Walensky’s appointment after the news broke on Sunday night. “In selecting @RWalensky, Biden has chosen one of the most respected infectious disease docs in the world,” Jen Kates, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, wrote on Twitter. “She has a long history working on HIV and has, in the past year, become a tour de force in addressing COVID. She’ll take the helm of CDC at perhaps its most critical moment.” (Pager, 12/6)

Los Angeles Times: With Nearly 20,000 Dead, California Faces Treacherous Pandemic Phase 
The pandemic that has killed nearly 20,000 Californians and brought a once-booming economy to its knees entered a treacherous phase Sunday as much of the state began a new stay-at-home order and coronavirus cases soared to unprecedented highs that show no signs of slowing down. The Department of Public Health in Los Angeles County, a hot spot of the coronavirus in California, reported more than 10,500 new cases on Sunday, a staggering number for a single day that underscores fears that the virus spread rapidly during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 neared 3,000 — and L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that number could rise dramatically in the next few weeks as the full toll of the holiday comes into view. (Wigglesworth, Dolan and Lin II, 12/7)

NPR: Nearly 85% Of California Residents To Be Under Stay-At-Home Orders Through Christmas
With coronavirus cases surging and capacity inside intensive care units rapidly nearing dangerously low levels, nearly 85% of California residents will soon be under sweeping new restrictions as part of the state's latest salvo to bring the pandemic under control. Residents in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will be under a stay-at-home order through the Christmas holiday beginning at 11:59 Sunday evening. The order will mean strict new closures for many businesses and a ban on gathering with anyone outside of your household in two regions of the state that are collectively home to some 27 million people. The order will be in effect for at least three weeks. (Breslow, 12/6)

USA Today: Most Of California Will Be Home For Christmas Under Gov. Gavin Newsom's Stay-At-Home Orders
Most Californians will be home for Christmas whether they like it or not under new, restrictive mandates going into effect Sunday night across much of the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom said stay–at–home orders and business shutdowns for regions where hospital intensive care unit capacity falls below 15% can flatten the spiking curve in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, reducing stress on the state's overburdened health care system until vaccines ride to the rescue. (Bacon, 12/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nearly One In 10 Coronavirus Tests In California Is Positive, The Highest Rate Yet
Almost one out of every 10 Californians who got tested last week for coronavirus received a positive result, according to an analysis of state data by The Chronicle. It’s a chilling benchmark that does not bode well for the state, as several regions brace for strict stay-at-home orders.California’s positivity rate jumped to 9.7% for the week ending Dec. 5, up from 6.2% the previous week. (Gafni, 12/6)

Also —

AP: As Virus Slams Rural California, Many Still Pan Restrictions
Brenda Luntey is openly violating California’s order to close her restaurant to indoor dining. But she wants her customers and critics to know she isn’t typically a rule-breaker. It’s a matter of survival. “This is my first episode of civil disobedience in my entire life. My whole family is in law enforcement. I’m a follow-the-rules kind of person,” said Luntey, owner of San Francisco Deli, a popular sandwich shop in Redding, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of the restaurant’s namesake city. (Gecker and Pedroncelli, 12/7)

CNN: Los Angeles Restaurateur Says Politicians Are 'Living In La-La Land' As Covid Measures Hit
A besieged California restaurateur is accusing politicians of "living in la-la land" after anti-Covid measures forced her to shut her business and lay off staff despite investing thousands to make her business safe to operate. California is experiencing record numbers of new case and hospitalizations and the state has a new stay-at-home order coming into effect on Sunday evening that limits restaurants to takeout and delivery service. (Vercammen and Moshtaghian, 12/7)

NPR: 'Extraordinary Acceleration': Takeaways From The Pandemic Last Week
With the arrival of December, it's now clear the winter surge of the pandemic is materializing in many of the ways that the country's top scientists and health care leaders feared. On all fronts — cases, hospitalizations and deaths — the U.S. toppled records this week. For the first time, new infections soared above 200,000 cases in a single day. (Stone, 12/5)

CNN: As Daily Case Average Nears 200,000, Experts Say 'Behavior And Cold Weather' Are Behind Covid-19 Surge
As the US nears an average of 200,000 Covid-19 cases a day, experts say "behavior and cold weather" are behind the current surge gripping American communities. "People are going indoors, they're not minding the three W's," Health and Human Services secretary, Alex Azar, told Fox News's Chris Wallace Sunday. "Our advice is always the same. Wash your hands, watch your distance, wear face coverings." (Holcombe, 12/7)

Albuquerque Journal: Governor Weighs Plans To Possibly Ration Care
Faced with an explosion of seriously ill coronavirus patients in New Mexico hospitals, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has taken the first step toward the grim possibility of rationing care. In an executive order issued Friday, the governor said she wants her medical advisory team to recommend “if and when” the state should activate “crisis care” standards. (Heild, 12/6)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa., N.J. Set New Daily COVID-19 Infection Records
Pennsylvania and New Jersey tallied new daily records for coronavirus infections over the weekend, as the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 surpassed 280,000 nationwide on Sunday. New Jersey on Sunday reported 6,046 confirmed new COVID-19 cases, an increase of 13% over Saturday and the highest total since the pandemic took hold in March, the state Health Department said. (Maykuth, 12/6)

Courier-Journal: Kentucky Surpasses 200,000 COVID-19 Cases Sunday, Marking Another Record Week
With Sunday's report of 2,567 new coronavirus cases, Kentucky has now seen more than 200,000 cases since the start of the pandemic. The commonwealth hit another tragic milestone earlier this week: 2,000 deaths caused by COVID-19. Gov. Andy Beshear announced 10 more deaths Sunday, bringing Kentucky's total to 2,072. (Austin, 12/6)

The Hill: States Expecting Fewer Vaccine Doses Than Promised: Report 
The federal government has downgraded the quantity of coronavirus vaccine it projects it will distribute in December from 300 million to closer to 40 million doses, the Washington Post reported Saturday. Drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna are slated to receive hearings for Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations in the weeks ahead. The government has since announced it will distribute the vaccine on a staggered scale to ensure state supplies do not run short before the second dosage, which comes 21 days after the initial dosage. (Budryk, 12/6)

KHN: Demand For COVID Vaccines Expected To Get Heated — And Fast
Americans have made no secret of their skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines this year, with fears of political interference and a “warp speed” timeline blunting confidence in the shots. As recently as September, nearly half of U.S. adults said they didn’t intend to be inoculated. But with two promising vaccines primed for release, likely within weeks, experts in ethics and immunization behavior say they expect attitudes to shift quickly from widespread hesitancy to urgent, even heated demand. (JoNel Aleccia, 12/7)

The Hill: State, Local Officials Plead For Vaccine Distribution Funds 
Public health experts say state and local governments are underfunded and unprepared for what is expected to be the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. While the Trump administration has spent more than $10 billion supporting the development of COVID-19 vaccines, just $340 million has been allocated to agencies below the federal level to help with distribution efforts that will cost anywhere from $6 billion to $13.3 billion, according to various estimates. (Hellmann, 12/5)

Also —

Des Moines Register: Iowa's COVID-19 Vaccine Plan Includes Teachers After Nursing Homes
After Iowa vaccinates nursing home residents and critical health care workers against the coronavirus, the state is likely to focus on protecting Iowans living in other kinds of group settings, people with chronic health problems and workers in certain professions — such as teachers, first-responders and food-production workers — the state’s draft vaccination plan says. (Leys, 12/4)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan's Top Doctor: COVID-19 Brings 'the Most Massive Vaccination Effort In A Century'
While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared last week that "hope is on the horizon" with two COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna, the state's chief medical executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said she knows there will be challenges in the enormous job of vaccinating Michigan's 10 million people. From prioritizing who should get vaccinated first to finding enough trained health care workers to both care for sick COVID-19 patients in Michigan's hospitals and run vaccine clinics, Khaldun called it "the most massive vaccination effort in a century" in a Friday interview with the Free Press. (Shamus, 12/6)

The Hill: Operation Warp Speed Chief Predicts Spring Return To Normality 
Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui predicted Sunday that things will start to return to normal after the pandemic by April or May after a coronavirus vaccine likely is widely available. “I think we may start to see some impact on the most susceptible people probably in the month of January and February, but on a population basis, for our lives to start getting back to normal, we're talking about April or May,” Slaoui said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Budryk, 12/6)

The Hill: Slaoui On Minority Skepticism Of Vaccine: 'Nobody's Being Used As A Guinea Pig' 
The Trump administration’s vaccine czar, Moncef Slaoui, addressed minority skepticism of the coronavirus vaccine, saying, “Nobody’s being used as a guinea pig.” CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Slaoui on Sunday to react to minority populations’ hesitation with the COVID-19 vaccine, noting that the U.S. “has an ugly, racist history when it comes to science and medicine and Black Americans.” (Coleman, 12/6)

The Washington Post: Moncef Slaoui Says Vaccine Will Lead To ‘Significant Decrease’ In Deaths Among Elderly By End Of January
The leader of the White House’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine has predicted that by the end of January, there will be a “significant decrease” in deaths among the nation’s elderly, as high-risk populations in the United States receive vaccinations. Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser to Operation Warp Speed, said he expects independent advisers to the Food and Drug Administration to recommend emergency authorization for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech when the panel meets Thursday. The FDA is expected to issue the authorization soon after that. Pfizer’s vaccine is the first in line for approval in the United States. (Firozi, Whalen and Sonmez, 12/6)

Bloomberg: HHS Chief Sees Vaccine For All Americans By Second Quarter
All Americans who want to get a Covid-19 vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of next year, Health and Human Services Alex Azar said. With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to decide as early as Thursday on emergency authorization for a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, Azar and Moncef Slaoui, the head of the government’s program to accelerate a vaccine, expressed confidence that the FDA would clear the way. (Decker, 12/6)

In other COVID vaccine news —

The Hill: FDA Vaccine Adviser Says Approval Decision Could Come Within The Week 
A top vaccine adviser at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the decision on whether to approve a coronavirus vaccine candidate from Pfizer could come within the week. James Hildreth, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, said that the agency will vote Thursday on whether to provide emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer vaccine and that distribution of the shot could begin the next day. (Axelrod, 12/5)

Stat: How Key Decisions Slowed FDA’s Review Of Covid-19 Vaccine
In September, as Pfizer and partner BioNTech were quickly advancing a study of their Covid-19 vaccine, dozens of well-known academics sent an open letter to Pfizer’s CEO with a simple plea: Please slow down and collect more data... Now, as the FDA prepares to convene a group of outside advisers on Thursday to review the data, and recommend whether the vaccine should be broadly used, many experts are voicing the opposite opinion. What, they ask, is taking so long? (Herper and Florko, 12/4)

Stat: Pledge To Vaccinate 20 Million In December Seems Unrealistic 
Hospitals across the United States are preparing for a Covid-19 vaccine distribution timeline that’s well behind official government targets as they face ongoing confusion about the process for inoculating frontline employees. (Goldhill, 12/7)

Also —

NPR: Pence Says It's A 'Season Of Hope,' While CDC Officials Warn Of COVID-19 Surge
Vice President Pence traveled to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday for a briefing, saying America is "in a season of hope" and "help is on the way" with emergency use authorization for the first coronavirus vaccine potentially less than two weeks away. But what Pence heard from some of the nation's top public health officials was a grim assessment of the current state of the pandemic. (Keith, 12/6)

Politico: UK To Start Coronavirus Vaccinations On Tuesday 
The U.K.’s National Health Service will begin the first Western mass immunization program against coronavirus on Tuesday, with the elderly and care home workers first in line for the jab. Following approval on December 2 by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the first doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine have arrived in the U.K. from Belgium and 50 vaccination “hubs'' at hospitals have been set up. The NHS says that people over 80 who are attending hospital as outpatients as well as those being discharged from hospital will be among the first to receive the vaccine.  (Furlong, 12/6)

And other nations rev up their COVID vaccination plans —

AP: Bahrain Now 2nd Nation To Grant Pfizer Shot Emergency Use
The island kingdom of Bahrain said it has become the second nation in the world to grant an emergency-use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. The state-run Bahrain News Agency made the announcement on Friday night, following an earlier announcement by the United Kingdom on Wednesday, making Britain the first in the world. “The confirmation of approval by the National Health Regulatory Authority of the kingdom of Bahrain followed thorough analysis and review undertaken by the authority of all available data,” the kingdom said. (Gambrell, 12/4)

Bloomberg: Indonesia Gets First Batch Of Vaccine From China’s Sinovac
The first batch of Covid-19 vaccine ordered from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. arrived in Indonesia, marking a new phase in the country’s fight against Southeast Asia’s worst outbreak. As many as 1.2 million doses of the vaccine arrived late on Sunday and the government expects to receive another shipment of 1.8 million in early January, according to Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Sinovac will also ship raw material for 45 million doses, which Indonesia’s state pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma will process locally, Widodo said in a statement. (Sipahutar and Aditya, 12/6)

AP: China Prepares Large-Scale Rollout Of Coronavirus Vaccines
Provincial governments across China are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country’s 1.4 billion people. Developers are speeding up final testing, the Chinese foreign minister said during a U.N. meeting last week, as Britain approved emergency use of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine candidate and providers scrambled to set up distribution. (Wu, 12/7)

AP: Moscow Opens Dozens Of Coronavirus Vaccination Centers
The city of Moscow opening 70 vaccination facilities where thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups had signed up to receive COVID-19 vaccines starting Saturday, a precursor to a sweeping Russia-wide immunization effort. The centers in the capital started giving shots to willing recipients three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale” COVID-19 immunization campaign even though a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete the advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety in line with established scientific protocols. (Isachenkov, 12/5)

AP: The Latest: Germany Says Vaccinations To Start In Early Jan.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff says he expects coronavirus vaccinations to start in Germany “in the very first days” of the new year. The trained doctor says he’s prepared to help vaccinate people himself. European Union authorities are expected to make a decision by Dec. 29 on approving the first vaccine for use. Germany is getting special vaccination centers ready. The news comes as Britain gears up to start coronavirus vaccinations on Tuesday. (12/7)

The Hill: Birx Says It's 'Frustrating' To Hear Public 'Parrot Back' False COVID-19 Claims 
Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, said Sunday that it’s “frustrating” to hear the public “parrot back” false claims about COVID-19, including that masks do not work. Birx told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that when she travels to meet with state and local government officials, she also meets with community members who sometimes repeat “myths” about the pandemic. (Coleman, 12/6)

AP: Health Officials Warn Americans Not To Let Their Guard Down
With a COVID-19 vaccine perhaps just days away in the U.S., most of California headed into another lockdown Sunday because of the surging outbreak and top health officials warned Americans that this is no time to let their guard down. “The vaccine’s critical,” Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But it’s not going to save us from this current surge. Only we can save us from this current surge.” (Groves, 12/6)

Newsweek: Fauci's Timeline For When He Thinks America Will Beat COVID
The U.S. COVID-19 outbreak will "get worse before it gets better" and the country won't see "dramatic changes" until the third quarter of next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Newsweek. Speaking to Newsweek, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and member of the White House COVID-19 task force said: "I think the decreases are going to start as we get into April and as more of the general population gets vaccinated. (Kim, 12/5)

Also —

HuffPost: A Day In The Life Of Dr. Anthony Fauci 
[Dr. Anthony] Fauci has kept a relentless pace trying to correct the country’s coronavirus course. “Each day is different,” Fauci, who turns 80 this month, told HuffPost in an interview on the day before Thanksgiving. “It’s just, you know, drinking out of a firehose trying to keep ahead of everything that’s going on.” The night before, he’d been awake until around 11 p.m. sorting through a mountain of email until he was too tired to continue. “I get like over a thousand emails a day and when they screen it, they screen it down to those few hundred that I have to deal with,” he said. “Then you have a day that is wall-to-wall, literally.” (Young, 12/5)

WBRC: ‘Fauci Effect’ Encourages More Medical And Nursing School Applicants
It’s known as the “Fauci Effect,” the influx of applications to medical and nursing schools as a result of the pandemic and some schools in Alabama are seeing an increase in interest. ... According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the increase in medical school applications is unprecedented, up 18% over last year. (Maxie, 12/4)

AP: Fauci's Plea 'Wear A Mask' Tops List Of 2020 Notable Quotes
A plea from Dr. Anthony Fauci for people to “wear a mask” to slow the spread of the coronavirus tops a Yale Law School librarian’s list of the most notable quotes of 2020.The list assembled by Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the library, is an annual update to “The Yale Book of Quotations,” which was first published in 2006. Also on the list is “I can’t breathe,” the plea George Floyd made repeatedly to police officers holding him down on a Minneapolis street corner. Several quotes from the presidential campaign appear including Joe Biden telling a student: “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.” (12/7)

Politico: Biden's 100-Day Mask Plan 'A Good Idea,' Trump's Vaccine Chief Says 
The head of the Trump administration's efforts to speed up a coronavirus vaccine on Sunday endorsed President-elect Joe Biden's plan to ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100-days of his administration. "I think it's a good idea," Moncef Slaoui, the scientific head of Operation Warp Speed, said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "It's never too late." (O'Brien, 12/6)

In other news about President-elect Joe Biden —

Reuters: Biden Transition, U.S. Coronavirus Vaccine Teams To Meet Amid Surge, Distribution Questions
The chief adviser for U.S. efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine said on Sunday he planned to meet with President-elect Joe Biden’s team this week to discuss the program before the expected first round of vaccinations this month. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed initiative, said he has not yet met with Biden, who last week criticized the Trump administration’s vaccine distribution plan. “We really look forward to it because actually things have been really very appropriately planned,” Slaoui said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Chiacu, 12/6)

Politico: Biden's Criticism Of Vaccine Rollout 'Just Nonsense,' Azar Says 
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar shot back at President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday after he criticized the Trump administration's plan for rolling out a coronavirus vaccine. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Azar defended the Trump administration's vaccine plans and said distribution could begin in a matter of days pending approval by the FDA. (O'Brien, 12/6)

Politico: Biden Says Inauguration Likely To Emulate DNC's Virtual Proceedings 
President Donald Trump may soon be able to boast about the relative size of his inauguration crowd, albeit on a technicality, after President-elect Joe Biden said Friday his swearing-in will likely be a scaled-down affair due to the ongoing pandemic. Biden sketched out his plans for Jan. 20, saying they are likely to mirror the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was conducted almost entirely remotely, rather than have participants descend on one central location. Biden said members of his transition team are in contact with those who helped organize the virtual convention, though many of the details are still in flux. (Niedzwiadek, 12/4)

USA Today: 'Getting Great Care': Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized After Testing Positive For COVID-19
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, has tested positive for COVID-19. Trump delivered the news by tweet, writing “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Giuliani, 76, was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center on Sunday, two people who were aware of his condition but not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY. (Brown, 12/6)

NPR: Rudy Giuliani Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Trump Says
No further details were immediately released, and it's unclear how the former New York City mayor became infected. Giuliani has spent recent weeks traveling to lead failed legal challenges in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. On Wednesday, Giuliani was in Lansing, Mich., where he did not wear a mask while speaking to Michigan lawmakers at a hearing lasting more than four hours. On Thursday, he was in Atlanta, where he talked to Georgia state senators without a mask. (Schwartz, 12/6)

The New York Times: Giuliani Has Tested Positive For The Coronavirus, Trump Says
Mr. Giuliani, at age 76, is in the high-risk category for the virus. Later Sunday, he wrote on Twitter: “Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes. I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.” His son, Andrew H. Giuliani, a White House adviser, said on Nov. 20 he had tested positive for the virus. He had appeared at a news conference with his father the day before. (12/7)

CNN: Rudy Giuliani Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Trump Says 
The news immediately raised concerns about the extent to which Giuliani, who has frequently appeared maskless while crisscrossing the country in recent weeks to advance Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, may have spread the virus among public officials. Sunday night, it was announced that the Arizona state legislature -- where Giuliani had appeared at the beginning of last week -- would be closed for the upcoming week over Covid-19 concerns. Giuliani's diagnosis, the latest positive test for a prominent member of Trump's inner circle, also further undercuts the President's frequently repeated and misleading claim that the US is "rounding the corner" in its fight against the coronavirus. (Diamond, Fossum and Stracqualursi, 12/7)

In related news —

The Hill: Arizona Legislature Shuts Down After Giuliani Tests Positive For Coronavirus 
The two chambers of the Arizona state legislature will suspend their work this week after former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tested positive for the coronavirus less than a week after spending hours testifying in front of Republican legislators in a futile bid to overturn the state’s election results. Spokespeople for the state House and Senate confirmed to The Hill Sunday that the two chambers would cancel their planned meetings this week because of concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. (Wilson, 12/6)

The Hill: Supreme Court To Hear Case On Trump's Push For Medicaid Work Requirements 
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case over the Trump administration’s push for Medicaid work requirements, though the issue could be moot when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The Trump administration earlier this year had appealed lower court rulings that found the requirements adopted by New Hampshire and Arkansas to be unlawful. (Williams, 12/5)

Stat: BIO To File Lawsuit Today To Block Trump International Drug Pricing Policy
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization will file a lawsuit today to block implementation of President Trump’s new policy to lower drug prices, the organization tells STAT. The “most favored nations” policy, which was unveiled late last month, would peg what Medicare pays for 50 pricey injectable drugs to the lowest price paid in countries like Japan and Belgium. The change could cut reimbursement for some of the best-selling drugs in America, in half, or more. (Florko, 12/4)

In other news from the Trump administration —

CNN: More Than 1,000 Migrant Children In US Government Custody Have Tested Positive For Covid-19 
More than 1,000 migrant children in US government custody have tested positive for coronavirus since March, according to the federal agency charged with their care. In total, there have been 1,061 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases among unaccompanied migrant children in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federal agency run by the Department of Health and Human Services. (Alvarez, 12/4)

KHN: Trump Rule Gives Small Companies A New Tool To Help Workers Buy Health Coverage
Until October, Andrea LaRew was paying $950 a month for health insurance through her job at the Northwest Douglas County Chamber & Economic Development Corp. in the metro Denver area. Her company didn’t contribute anything toward the premium. Plus, LaRew and her husband had a steep $13,000 deductible for the plan. But the coverage and the premium cost were in line with other plans available to the company since options for such a small work group — just LaRew and another employee wanted to enroll — weren’t plentiful. (Andrews, 12/7)

Bloomberg: Pandemic Relief Details Set For Release As Congress Seeks Deal
Bipartisan negotiators on a $908 billion pandemic relief package are planning to unveil more details of their proposal on Monday, aiming to settle on language that can satisfy enough Republicans and Democrats to secure passage of one final tranche of Covid-19 aid before Congress breaks for the year. The outline of the plan spurred a flurry of optimism last week when it won the endorsement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and a number of Republican senators as a basis for fresh talks after a half-year of stalemate. (Wasson and Litvan, 12/7)

CNN: Stimulus Update: Senators Express Optimism About A Second Covid-19 Package Coming Early This Week 
A bipartisan group of senators on Sunday appeared optimistic that lawmakers would put forward a proposal for another coronavirus stimulus package, saying details about the piece of legislation would likely come early this week. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, who is part of a bipartisan group of senators hashing out a compromise on a stimulus bill, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" that they are close to an agreement and that it could come as early as Monday. (Royce and Cole, 12/6)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The New York Times: Anti-Vaccine Scientist Has Been Invited To Testify Before Senate Committee 
A doctor who is skeptical of coronavirus vaccines and promotes the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment will be the lead witness at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, prompting criticism from Democrats who say Republicans should not give a platform to someone who spreads conspiracy theories. Dr. Jane M. Orient is the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group that opposes government involvement in medicine and views federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights. (Gay Stolberg, 12/6)

The Hill: Manchin Slams Trump For 'Dangerous' Political 'Posturing' During Pandemic 
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) blasted President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic Sunday, saying the president has not taken the virus seriously due to his “political posturing.” Manchin, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noted that in West Virginia alone more than 800 people have died from the virus. The state is reporting more than 1,000 new cases per day. (Budryk, 12/6)

The Advocate: Will The New Coronavirus Wave Halt Surgeries And Other Procedures? Not Yet, Local Hospitals Say
When the coronavirus outbreak intensified in the spring, Louisianans diagnosed with diseases or needing surgeries had to wait weeks for follow-up care as hospitals were forced to push back certain surgeries and procedures. But now, unlike the early stages of the viral outbreak, hospitals say they plan to balance their resources and ability to provide elective procedures — like joint replacements and heart and cancer surgeries, among others that aren't considered an emergency. (Rddad, 12/6)

In other health industry news —

AP: Computer Systems Down At Greater Baltimore Medical Center
A spokesman for the Greater Baltimore Medical Center says the medical center’s computer system has experienced a disruption. WBAL-TV reported it happened early Sunday. The medical center’s spokesman tells the station the network disruption affected information technology systems. John Lazarou says while many of the systems are down, GBMC HealthCare has processes in place to maintain safe and effective patient care. (12/6)

Stat: CommonHealth, Android Health Data App, Expands To 230 Health Systems
A cohort of researchers and developers announced Friday that the Android app CommonHealth — which lets users see and share health data such as lab test results, immunizations, and medications from their records — is now connected to 230 U.S. health systems. (Brodwin, 12/4)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Sues To Block Hackensack Meridian-Englewood Deal
Federal regulators sued to block Hackensack Meridian Health's acquisition of Englewood Health, claiming that it would tip the competitive scales in an already concentrated acute-care market in Bergen County, N.J. The combined health system would control three of the six acute-care hospitals in the county, eliminating otherwise close competitors in the process, the Federal Trade Commission said in its complaint on Thursday. Hackensack would be able to demand higher rates from insurers, which may lead to higher insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket costs, regulators said, adding that the deal would also reduce incentives to improve quality. (Kacik, 12/4)

Modern Healthcare: Sanford Ends Merger Talks With Intermountain After CEO's Abrupt Departure
The merger talks are off between Sanford Health and Intermountain Healthcare, just a month after an agreement was announced and just over a week after Sanford's CEO abruptly stepped down. Former Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft left Nov. 24 in what the board called a mutual decision after making the controversial claim that he didn't need to wear a mask because he can't transmit COVID-19 after contracting the coronavirus. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford cited the leadership change in its decision to pause current merger and acquisition activity while they address other needs. (Bannow, 12/4)

Also —

The Washington Post: Oregon Doctor Steven LaTulippe, Who Derided Masks, Has Medical License Suspended 
Deriding mask-wearing, Steven LaTulippe has touted his credentials as a “practicing physician.” Last month, he urged Trump supporters gathered in Salem, Ore., to “take off the mask of shame” — though hardly a covered face was in sight — and said proudly, to claps and cheers, that none of his clinic staff wore the simple accessories shown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “And how many problems did we have in our clinic from that?” he asked. “Zero! Absolutely none.”LaTulippe’s license to practice medicine has now been suspended. (Knowles, 12/5)

AP: Gene-Editing Treatment Shows Promise For Sickle Cell Disease
Scientists are seeing promising early results from the first studies testing gene editing for painful, inherited blood disorders that plague millions worldwide. Doctors hope the one-time treatment, which involves permanently altering DNA in blood cells with a tool called CRISPR, may treat and possibly cure sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. Partial results were presented Saturday at an American Society of Hematology conference and some were published by the New England Journal of Medicine. (Renault, 12/5)

Stat: CRISPR Treatment For Blood Diseases Shows Sustained Benefit 
Ten patients treated with a CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy for the inherited blood disorders sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia have shown a consistent and sustained response with manageable side effects, according to interim results from two clinical trials reported Saturday. (Feuerstein, 12/5)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

Stat: J&J's CAR-T Drug Effective Against Myeloma, Shaded By Neurotoxicity
More than three-quarters of the multiple myeloma patients treated with an experimental CAR-T therapy from Johnson & Johnson are alive at least one year without their cancer worsening, according to updated clinical trial results presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. (Feuerstein, 12/5)

Stat: Constellation's Myelofibrosis Drug Shows Improved Benefit 
More patients and an improved response rate might once again shift the sentiment on Constellation Pharmaceuticals and its contentious drug for myelofibrosis — this time in a positive direction. With 63 myelofibrosis patients now treated and evaluable in the company’s mid-stage study, the 24-week spleen response rate to its oral drug, CPI-0610 — when used on top of Jakafi, Incyte’s market-leading drug — stands at 67%. The new data were presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. (Feuerstein, 12/6)

Stat: Kura's Genetically Targeted Drug Induces Remission In AML Patients 
Kura Oncology presented early clinical trial results Saturday showing for the first time that its genetically targeted cancer drug can induce responses — including complete remission — in patients with advanced leukemia. (Feuerstein, 12/5)

Also —

Stat: CDC May Have Claims On Remdesivir Patents Held By Gilead
Six years ago, a team of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began researching dozens of compounds supplied by Gilead Sciences for use in combating different viruses. And they discovered that one compound, in particular, appeared effective in treating Ebola. (Silverman, 12/7)

Stat: FTC Says The Number Of Pay-To-Delay Cases Remains Low, But Vows To Keep Watch 
Although more drug makers are settling patent infringement lawsuits, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission found that the number of so-called pay-to-delay settlements — which the agency argues unfairly robs Americans of lower-cost alternatives to their prescription medicines — remain very low. (Silverman, 12/4)

AP: Despite Promise, Few In US Adopting COVID-19 Exposure Apps
Six months ago, Apple and Google introduced a new smartphone tool designed to notify people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus, without disclosing any personal information. But for the most part, Americans haven’t been all that interested.Fewer than half of U.S. states and territories — 18 in total — have made such technology widely available. And according to a data analysis by The Associated Press, the vast majority of Americans in such locations haven’t activated the tool. (Anderson and O'Brien, 12/6)

360Dx: Testing Of Asymptomatic Patients Becomes More Prevalent And Useful
Some 10 months into the pandemic, testing for individuals who may be infected with COVID but who may not show symptoms remains a hodgepodge of methods, modalities, and technologies, many of which have not been authorized by regulators specifically to test asymptomatic patients. Some insiders emphasize the importance of doing rapid turnaround testing of asymptomatic people at the point of care enabled by either antigen or molecular assays, while others contend that laboratory-based tests ─ whether molecular- or antigen-based ─ ought to be the modalities of choice. (O'Connor, 12/6)

The Columbus Dispatch: COVID-19 Surges Can Be Predicted By Sewage Water, Days Before Cases
It has been about four months since the Ohio Department of Health rolled out a sewage wastewater monitoring program to help predict the spread of coronavirus in Ohio's communities. And since then, the surge of COVID-19 cases has risen exponentially, enveloping almost every community in the state, large and small, urban and rural. The basis for testing wastewater is to look for ribonucleic acid (RNA) fragments from human feces, which can help predict hot spot communities where individuals have the coronavirus. (Narciso, 12/7)

Also —

Bay Area News Group: Why Are There So Few COVID-19 Drugs?
When future historians recount the medical advances of the 21st century, a crowning achievement will surely be the swift development of COVID-19 vaccines to prevent the disease. So why is it so hard to deliver drugs that can treat it? Despite more than 14 million infections and 281,000 deaths, the United States has struggled to channel its expertise, energy, focus and resources into clinical trials for medicines that could reduce misery and save lives. “We need better drugs. We want this to be an entirely curable disease,” said Dr. Annie F. Luetkemeyer, an infectious disease physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. (Krieger, 12/6)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Treatment Protocol Developed In The Field Helps Patients Recover
Motivated to give patients remedies, a team at DuPage began looking into the recent data on hospitalized coronavirus patients to see if something could be offered to patients that may improve their chances of recovery. The result was a new treatment protocol involving aspirin and supplements such as vitamin D, zinc and iron. “Generally in healthcare, we wait for all the data to be perfect before incorporating it, but now in the midst of this pandemic, we needed to take bold action with courage to try to do something to help patients during this terrible time,” said Dr. Mathew Philip, internal medicine physician and medical director of clinical innovation at DuPage. (Castellucci, 12/5)

The New York Times: ‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Is Not Safer Than A Vaccine 
On the heels of last month’s news of stunning results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s experimental Covid-19 vaccines, Senator Rand Paul tweeted a provocative comparison. The new vaccines were 90 percent and 94.5 percent effective, Mr. Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said. But “naturally acquired” Covid-19 was even better, at 99.9982 percent effective, he claimed. (Mandavilli, 12/5)

In other science and research news —

The Washington Post: Atypical Forms Of Dementia Are Being Diagnosed More Often In People In Their 50s And 60s 
After 20 years of marriage, after raising two kids, after building a farm in Kentucky and tending horses and dogs, Laura Prewitt knew this much about her husband: He was tenderhearted, fun-loving and never let stress land too long on his shoulders. But in 2014, old Ted somehow morphed into a new guy, one who is not so communicative. A guy who lost his social edge and seemed unable to read faces or feelings. Who is tired and withdrawn. “He’s just not the same guy,” she says. “I want him back.” (Talan, 12/6)

The Washington Post: Are More People Freezing Their Eggs During The Pandemic? 
When it became clear that initial stay-at-home orders would last awhile, speculation began about a looming covid-19 baby boom. It certainly made sense at the time: a bunch of couples stuck at home, little to do. Instead, procreation plans were put on literal ice. Even as New York City’s businesses — restaurants, bars, gyms, retail — have been slammed by the pandemic, New York University’s Langone Fertility Center has seen a 41 percent increase in women freezing their eggs compared with the same time period in 2019. And that number might have been even higher if not for the Langone center’s three-month pandemic-induced closure. (Glass, 12/4)

AP: Citing Low Virus Rates In Schools, NYC Again Reopens Schools
It’s back to school again for some New York City schoolchildren, weeks after the schools were closed to in-person learning because of rising COVID-19 infections. The city’s public school system, which shut down in-person learning earlier this month, will bring back on Monday preschool students and children in kindergarten through fifth grade whose parents chose a mix of in-school and remote learning. Special education students in all grades who have particularly complex needs will be welcomed back starting Thursday. (12/7)

Houston Chronicle: COVID Spread Remains Minimal In Texas Schools Despite State Surge
As COVID-19 cases have risen dramatically in Texas and across the country, there is one place where the coronavirus seems to spread less than others: the classroom. While Texas public school districts report about 41,000 students and 24,600 staff members testing positive since the start of the school year — equal to slightly less than 2 percent of those on campuses, according to state estimates — health experts said only a small share of those cases stem from in-classroom transmission. (Harris and Carpenter, 12/5)

Crain's Chicago Business: Why The Pandemic Is Hurting Chicago's Top Children's Hospital More Than Its Rivals
Lurie Children's Hospital has long been recognized as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the country, in part because of its laser focus on treating kids. But that focus is making it harder for Lurie, the area's dominant pediatric provider, to weather COVID-19. Patient volumes are down sharply as families fearing infection delay medical care and kids spend more time at home, avoiding many of the childhood ailments and injuries that would bring them to Lurie. Unlike general acute care hospitals, pediatric facilities can't offset such declines with large numbers of COVID-19 cases. The virus isn't as prevalent in children, and only a small number of kids that become infected require hospitalization. (Goldberg, 12/6)

The New York Times: Youth Sports After Covid-19: New Pediatric Guidelines 
The American Academy of Pediatrics posted updated guidance Friday on young people and sports in the pandemic, making a strong recommendation that participants should wear face masks for all indoor sports. It made exceptions only while swimming and diving, since it’s harder to breathe through wet masks; during gymnastics and cheerleading, where masks could get caught or obstruct vision; and during wrestling contact, where they could be a choking hazard. (Klass, 12/4)

Politico: Spring Surge Of College Students Will Challenge Covid Defenses 
Hundreds of the nation’s colleges and universities plan to bring thousands of students back to campus next semester even though most of the schools are unprepared or unequipped for the volume of testing needed to keep Covid-19 infections in check. The lack of robust campus testing plans comes despite growing scientific consensus that colleges should include frequent Covid-19 scans to help stop and prevent outbreaks. And a vaccine will not eliminate the need to test students, an expert panel said last week. (Perez Jr. and Quilantan, 12/7)

KHN: Fear And Loathing As Colleges Face Another Season Of Red Ink 
When the University of California’s Board of Regents got a close look at the numbers in September, it was the visual equivalent of a thunderclap. The massive university system, with 10 campuses and more than 285,000 students, was hemorrhaging money — $2.2 billion in lost revenue and additional costs, mostly due to the pandemic. While some of those losses came from medical centers that temporarily gave up high-paying elective procedures in order to treat COVID patients, the bigger picture was as vexing as it was simple: In the age of pandemic-induced remote learning, the campuses were largely deserted. And when students aren’t living on campus, schools stop making money. Fast. (Kreidler, 12/7)

In related pediatric news —

AP: ER Visits, Long Waits Climb For Kids In Mental Health Crisis
When children and teens are overwhelmed with anxiety, depression or thoughts of self-harm, they often wait days in emergency rooms because there aren’t enough psychiatric beds. The problem has only grown worse during the pandemic, reports from parents and professionals suggest. With schools closed, routines disrupted and parents anxious over lost income or uncertain futures, children are shouldering new burdens many are unequipped to bear. And with surging numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, bed space is even scarcer. (Tanner, 12/5)

USA Today: Police Had An Hour To Stop A Mom And Her COVID-Positive Son From Boarding A Flight. They Found Them Just In Time
A mother and her child were stopped from boarding a flight to Puerto Rico before Thanksgiving after Maryland officials learned the child tested positive for COVID-19. The Wicomico County Health Department notified Maryland State Police on Nov. 24 that a 9-year-old boy tested positive for the novel coronavirus and informed them that he and his mother were scheduled to depart from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Puerto Rico, Maryland State Police Sgt. Travis Nelson told USA TODAY. (Ali, 12/5)

The Wall Street Journal: The Covid Risks In The Workplace Break Room 
Lunch breaks have become a drag for Jason Alfonso. Due to the pandemic, the steel mill where he works in Pittsburg, Calif., has reduced the capacity of break rooms from six to two people, mandated wearing masks at all times and encouraged employees to spray down tables with a bleach mixture after they eat. Not the most relaxed place to take a break after spending hours in an indoor warehouse. “Usually there’s only one person in there at a time. If there is someone else, we don’t sit together, definitely 6 feet apart. To me it’s the same as eating by myself,” he says. (Varagur, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Should Star Athletes Get The Covid Vaccine Early? 
Sports teams have faced intense blowback since the spring over the perception that they have received special treatment in a pandemic. Now some public health experts are weighing a counterintuitive idea for how they could help end it. They are suggesting that athletes get earlier access to the coronavirus vaccines. The process of injecting 330 million Americans with a vaccine for a disease that wasn’t identified one year ago began as a marvel of science and medicine. Soon it will be a daunting logistical challenge. And then it will be a vexing behavioral problem. There are too many people who want the vaccine right now and too many people who don’t want the vaccine at all.  (Radnofsky and Cohen, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Avocados Are The ‘Pandemic-Proof’ Crop In Lockdown Health Craze
Health-conscious consumers are eating avocados like never before during the pandemic. After a brief drop in demand at the start of the Covid crisis, European and U.S. consumption are hitting record highs, according to Xavier Equihua, chief executive officer of the World Avocado Organization, a trade group. “Consumption is off the charts,” Equihua said in an interview from California. “People want to eat healthy. The new luxury post-pandemic is going to be eating healthy, and wellness. Even the fashion industry is saying that.” (Perez, 12/4)

CNN: How To Enjoy A Holiday Cookie Exchange During Covid-19 
There is no crowding into a small kitchen this year, waiting for your turn with the stand mixer or the oven, and grabbing handfuls of warm treats off a buffet platter. Like so many other 2020 events, holiday cookie swaps will look a little different in the time of social distancing. (Barber, 12/5)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Obamacare Alum Andy Slavitt Takes Stock Of The COVID Pandemic — So Far 
Andy Slavitt has spent much of 2020 talking with almost everybody who knows anything about the COVID-19 pandemic — and sharing what he learns in real time, first on Twitter, then on his pandemic podcast, “In the Bubble.” To do our own podcast episode about what we’ve learned so far and what we might expect next, Slavitt was the person to speak with. (Weissmann, 12/7)

In obituaries —

AP: Mail Carrier Who Died Of COVID-19 Is Honored By Customers
Residents in a Chicago suburb set up a condolence box at the police station to honor their mail carrier who recently died of COVID-19.Victor Fajardo was a letter carrier for more than 20 years and last worked in Deerfield. “It’s a really sobering reminder that nobody is immune to this, even if you’re healthy and you walk a five-hour route every day and people love you,” Cara McGowan told WBBM-TV. (12/6)

The Washington Post: David Lander, Squiggy On TV's 'Laverne & Shirley,' Dies At 73 
David Lander, the actor who played Squiggy on ABC’s “Laverne & Shirley” in the 1970s and 1980s, died Dec. 4 at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 73. His wife, Kathy Fields Lander, confirmed the death to the Los Angeles Times. He had battled multiple sclerosis for more than 36 years. (Vankin, 12/6)

Burlington Free Press: Vermonters Urged To Seek Help For COVID Fatigue
Pandemic fatigue is real. And it's something we can all relate to, said Vermont Gov. Phil Scott. "This is an incredibly uncertain time and it's OK to admit it's taking a toll on you — it would be strange if it wasn't," he said. "But please know, help is there if you need it." Scott's struck a tone of understanding and shared experience in remarks Friday at one of his twice-weekly news conferences, speaking at length about the mental health demands brought on by the coronavirus pandemic that's dominated 2020. (Danforth, 12/4)

Boston Globe: With No New COVID-19 Restrictions From The State, Public Health Experts And Some Boston-Area Mayors Urge More Action
Governor Charlie Baker is facing growing pressure from public health experts and local mayors for a stronger response to Massachusetts’ quickly rising wave of COVID-19 cases, with some municipal officials considering regional rollbacks of their own if the state doesn’t act. Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, aired his frustration with the governor on Twitter Saturday night, writing that he used to think Baker was doing a good job controlling the virus but over the past six weeks has become “aghast at lack of action.” In an interview, Jha said he wants to see the state close more activities such as casinos and indoor dining. (Leung, Logan and Hilliard, 12/6)

The Hill: Wyoming Health Official Decries COVID-19 Pandemic As Communist Plot
An official with the Wyoming Department of Health who is working on the state’s coronavirus response said last month that the pandemic and vaccine candidates were part of communist plots to hurt the U.S. Igor Shepherd, the manager of the department’s readiness and countermeasures, referred to the coronavirus as the “so-called pandemic” and said the illness and efforts to bring a vaccine to market are part of a scheme by Russia and China to spread communism around the globe. (Axelrod, 12/4)

In other news from New York, Pennsylvania and California —

The New York Times: After Defying Virus Rules, Bar Manager Drives Car Into Sheriff’s Deputy 
The manager of a Staten Island bar who has repeatedly and flamboyantly defied New York’s coronavirus restrictions hit a sheriff’s deputy with his Jeep early Sunday as he unsuccessfully tried to escape arrest, the sheriff’s office said. The bar, Mac’s Public House, was ordered closed by the state on Wednesday, but deputies said they found several patrons being served there on Saturday night. When deputies confronted the manager, Daniel Presti, he fled to his Jeep and drove into one of the deputies, throwing him onto the hood, according to the sheriff’s office. (Zaveri, 12/6)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia May Be On The Way To A Record For Fatal Drug Overdoses In 2020, Another COVID-19 Consequence
Fatal overdoses in Philadelphia rose through the first six months of 2020, and health officials now fear that the city is on track to surpass the death toll from 2017, the worst year for fatal overdoses on record. In addition, the city’s overdose crisis is undergoing an alarming demographic shift. In the first quarter of the year, white residents — as they have been for some time — were most likely to die of overdoses in Philadelphia. But between April and June, Black Philadelphians’ share of the city’s fatal overdoses nearly doubled, surpassing that of white Philadelphians. (Whelan, 12/6)

KHN: California Lawmakers To Newsom: Give All Immigrants Health Coverage
California Democratic lawmakers so far have failed to convince Gov. Gavin Newsom that the state can afford to spend an estimated $2.6 billion a year to expand its Medicaid program to all unauthorized immigrants. Now, they’re trying a new strategy. (Hart, 12/7)

The New York Times: The Sacklers’ Last Poison Pill
The opioid crisis remains one of America’s deadliest public health disasters. Victims demand answers about how it happened and who was responsible. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform seemed poised to address a facet of the crisis with a hearing this coming Tuesday on the role of Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, “in fueling the opioid epidemic.” The committee invited Purdue’s president and chief executive, Craig Landau, and four members of the Sackler family who were longtime company directors and were, according to the committee, “closely involved in Purdue’s efforts to grow the market share for OxyContin and other opioids.” Now, we have learned that the committee, pressured by the Sackler legal team, has postponed the hearing to January. But January may be too late. (Jonathan C. Lipson and Gerald Posner, 12/5)

USA Today: Cops Shouldn't Be First At Mental Health Call. NYC Program Needed Nationwide.
Last month, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the pilot of a new program that would end the city's de facto police response to mental health emergencies. The city's health department and hospitals will help train new mental health teams and provide case conferencing. Mental health professionals will be the responders for a person in crisis. The program will be piloted in two high-need precincts.As a mental health provider, I am encouraged and relieved by this new initiative. It will allow New Yorkers, and perhaps the entire country, to reimagine how to address the mental and physical safety of those who are frequently put in danger by insufficiently trained officers. (Amanda Flalk, 12/2)

CNN: A Mother's Fragile Recovery Reminds Us That The Opioid Crisis Is Still Here 
It is February 12. Ebony Clancy's tight townhome in Dayton, Ohio, is crowded with a film crew, "This Is Life" host Lisa Ling and myself, all there to understand the damage the opioid crisis has inflicted upon American families. As we visited her home, Clancy shared what she wanted above all else: to be reunited with her three-month-old baby girl Merceades. To do that, she would have to stop using heroin, a drug that had killed her brother and mother, and led Clancy to relinquish custody of her first two daughters at age 19. (Daniel Heimpel, 12/5)

The Providence Journal: The Criminalization Of Mental Illness
This holiday season, many families are missing loved ones who are incarcerated for the crime of having an untreated serious mental illness. In Rhode Island, 15% to 20% of inmates have schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, brief psychotic disorder and substance use disorder. Mental illness itself is not predictive of criminal behavior. In fact, it increases the likelihood of being victimized. (Laurie-Marie Pisciotta, 12/6)

Stat: A New Rule Protects VA Clinicians Who Practice Across State Lines 
Amid the pandemonium of a turbulent election and a resurgent virus, the Department of Veterans Affairs quietly released in mid-November what could be a groundbreaking new policy. The interim final rule allows VA health providers to “practice their health care profession consistent with the scope and requirements of their VA employment, notwithstanding any … State requirements that unduly interfere with their practice,” such as state licensing, credentialing, and registration. (Eli Cahan, 12/7)

Stat: Covid-19 Vaccine Safety: Lessons From Paul Meier And Polio 
Early results of the Covid-19 vaccine trials sponsored by Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are welcome news. We appreciate the urgency of getting these newly developed coronavirus vaccines out to millions of Americans and potentially billions of people around the world. We also know all too well the tragic story of a rushed polio vaccine. (Diane E. Meier, R. Sean Morrison and Chris Barker, 12/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Who’ll Get The Covid Vaccine First?
A remarkable achievement is at hand: the introduction of two vaccines that have been shown in trials to be highly effective at preventing symptomatic Covid disease. These vaccines will arrive less than a year after the initial sequencing of the virus. For several months the demand will outstrip the supply. Doses will have to be rationed. What’s the most equitable way to allocate this scarce resource? (Scott Gottlieb, 12/6)

The Washington Post: We’ve Worked Hard To Achieve A Covid-19 Compromise Package. We Can’t Afford Inaction. 
As the country stared into the abyss of a once-in-a-generation health and economic crisis earlier this year, Congress responded by passing five bills totaling approximately $3 trillion in relief to stave off disaster. Most economists agree that this prompt action kept millions out of poverty and prevented small businesses across the country from shuttering permanently. But nearly nine months since the pandemic began, at least 280,000 Americans have died, funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has run dry, and up to 12 million people could lose jobless benefits by year’s end, portending a miserable Christmas season unless Congress once again acts. (U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Susan Collins, 12/6)

Stat: Women Are Often Overlooked In Media Coverage Of Covid-19 
As media coverage of Covid-19 continues 24/7, it routinely ignores an important dimension of the crisis: its impact on women. Writers — journalists, as well as opinion and commentary writers — have largely excluded women’s perspectives, their critical expertise, and the mounting evidence about how the pandemic is affecting women from Covid-19-related articles. (Nandini Oomman, Kathryn Conn and Elizabeth O'Connell, 12/5)

The New York Times: It’s Time To Scare People About Covid
Forget that. Mister Rogers-type nice isn’t working in many parts of the country. It’s time to make people scared and uncomfortable. It’s time for some sharp, focused terrifying realism. ... I’m not talking fear-mongering, but showing in a straightforward and graphic way what can happen with the virus. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Mask Wars Revisited 
It’s to be expected that many who spent four years unproductively obsessing about President Trump now believe his ambivalent mask messaging is responsible for every infection and death in the U.S. The mask issue is not nearly so simple. Mask compliance has actually been pretty good around the U.S. and in Europe regardless of Donald Trump and it didn’t stop the current, worst-yet surge. In frustration, the CDC’s Robert Redfield insisted in midsummer that if everybody wore a mask for several weeks, the virus could be controlled. What he really might have liked to say: “It doesn’t matter how many of us wear masks if the young, who have the least to fear from Covid and are most likely to spread it unwittingly, aren’t wearing them.” ...My advice from July still stands: If you need a mask to participate in an activity, consider not participating in that activity. Much of life and business can proceed normally while keeping 6 feet away from those we love and those we don’t. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., 12/4)

The New York Times: Covid-19 Came For The Dakotas
Under normal circumstances, I would have flown to one or both of the Dakotas to write this column, but the whole point is that these aren’t normal circumstances. And I don’t have a death wish. Too much? Probably. But how else to convey the proper timbre of outrage, the right pitch of grief, over what happened there? Deep into the coronavirus pandemic, when there was no doubt about the damage that Covid-19 could do, the Dakotas scaled their morbid heights, propelled by denial and defiance. They surged to the top of national rankings of state residents per capita who were hospitalized with Covid-related symptoms or whose recent deaths were linked to it.As of Friday afternoon, South Dakota led the country in the average daily number of recent Covid-associated deaths per capita, with three for every 100,000 people, according to a New York Times database. North Dakota was second, with 1.5. (Frank Bruni, 12/5)

The Detroit News: We Need More COVID-19 Testing, Not Lockdowns
With COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths climbing, policymakers understandably want a response that protects lives and livelihoods. Many have resorted to an old playbook of blunt mandates, including late-night curfews and travel restrictions as well as school and business closures. And while we wait at home, our leaders have pinned hopes on a vaccine that remains months away from being widely available.Unfortunately, these are public health tools predicated on the assumption that it is impossible to know who has the virus. Therefore, we must treat everyone as infected. (12/6)

Hartford Courant: To Stop The Second Wave Of Coronavirus In Connecticut, We Need To Suspend Indoor Dining
Government has provided some emergency help for small businesses, but in an ideal world, it would continue to support small businesses hurt by the pandemic with funds to keep them afloat until vaccines arrive and it becomes safe again for people to congregate. But in any case, business considerations must be secondary when lives are at stake. Governments should shut indoor eating establishments immediately and keep them closed until they are genuinely safe to reopen. Encourage takeout instead. No business, nor any meal, is worth losing a friend or loved one to COVID-19. (Heide K. Lang and Mark D. Siegel, 12/7)

The Star Tribune: It's Time To Shut Down The Big Ten Football Season
COVID-19 is surging in Big Ten football locker rooms and in the states that the conference’s universities serve. Conference officials should cancel what’s left of the 2020 season not just to protect student-athletes and staff but to prevent team outbreaks from spreading to the broader community. This week, the University of Minnesota announced that 47 Gophers football players and staff have tested positive for the virus since Nov. 19, causing the team to cancel a second consecutive game. The number infected is about 30% of the program’s personnel. This appears to be the biggest Big Ten football outbreak so far, but that could change rapidly without responsible action by conference officials. (12/3)