ABC News: Global COVID-19 Cases Top 16 Million, Was 15 Million Only 4 Days Ago 
The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 646,000 people worldwide. Over 16 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations' outbreaks. (Haworth and Deliso, 7/26)

The Hill: US Surpasses 1,000 COVID-19 Deaths For Fourth Straight Day 
The U.S. tallied over 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths Friday for the fourth straight day this week, yet another sign of the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases across the country. There were 1,178 new deaths Friday alone, according to the COVID Tracking project, compared with 1,038 Tuesday, 1,117 Wednesday, and 1,039 Thursday. Over 137,000 people have died in the U.S. and over 4 million people have contracted the virus in the country since the outbreak began. (Axelrod, 7/25)

NPR: U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spots: Mid-Atlantic And Northeast Could Backslide
For weeks the U.S. coronavirus pandemic has largely been driven by spiraling outbreaks in the South and West. But some forecasters say Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states could soon be in deep trouble again, too. The warning comes from researchers at the PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which has built a model to provide four-week forecasts for every U.S. county. NPR spoke to David Rubin, PolicyLab's director, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. (Aizenman, 7/24)

Time: Florida Now Has More Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Than New York 
As of yesterday more than 414,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Florida, according to a tracker maintained by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Florida’s number passes the 411,000 cases recorded so far in New York. California, the nation’s most populous state, has had the most coronavirus cases since last week; as of Saturday, it had more than 446,000 cases. While COVID-19 cases surged in the northeast early this spring, Florida appeared to have missed the worst impact of the pandemic. However, the state’s fortunes appeared to shift after the state rapidly ended its lockdown in May. (Law, 7/26)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Coronavirus Cases Show Little Sign Of Slowing As State Surpasses New York
The number of infections and deaths tied to the novel coronavirus in Florida showed little sign of slowing Sunday as the state surpassed New York for the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the United States. Only California, with a population nearly twice as high as Florida’s, has more cases. Florida’s Department of Health reported 9,344 infections and 78 fatalities. The overall caseload is 423,855 since March 1, and the number of deaths tied to the virus is 5,972. (Dawson, 7/26)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Ravaged Florida, As Ron DeSantis Sidelined Scientists And Followed Trump
As Florida became a global epicenter of the coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis held one meeting this month with his top public health official, Scott Rivkees, according to the governor's schedule. His health department has sidelined scientists, halting briefings last month with disease specialists and telling the experts there was not sufficient personnel from the state to continue participating. (Wootson Jr., Stanley-Becker, Rozsa and Dawsey, 7/25)

Florida Today: COVID-19 In Florida: DeSantis In National Spotlight For Bungling Pandemic
Florida — long a national running joke since the 2000 presidential election debacle — took hit after hit on Sunday in the national media for the handling of the coronavirus that made it the new epicenter of the pandemic.Most of the news reports focused on how Florida on Saturday usurped New York in the number of coronavirus cases and now only trails California, a far more more populous state with nearly twice the population. (Pacenti, 7/26)

Also —

New York Post: Cuomo Blames NY Post For Florida And Arizona's Coronavirus Surges
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday blamed The Post for Florida and Arizona’s surging coronavirus cases. “The Wall Street Journal, New York Post — they continue to beat a horse that is dead: ‘We should reopen the economy faster in New York,’ ‘The infection rate is low; re-open faster,'” Cuomo ranted to reporters during an early-morning conference call. “The infection rate is low because we have done an intelligent, phased reopening. What they are advocating has been demonstrated to be wrong and to be a failure,” the governor continued. (Meyer, 7/26)

Stat: Trump Unveils Four Executive Orders Aimed At Lowering Drug Prices
The Trump administration unveiled four executive orders on Friday aimed at bringing down pharmaceutical prices, a last-ditch effort by the White House to cut drug costs before the November election. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration is capable of finalizing many of the actions by Election Day — and whether it intends to do so. (Florko and Facher, 7/24)

Politico: Trump Signs Limited Drug Pricing Orders After Last-Minute Debate
"The four orders I'm signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market," Trump said in a speech, hearkening back to his 2016 campaign promise to slash costs. But the ambitious plans are rife with limitations. The rebate order comes with a caveat that any plan cannot increase seniors' premiums, the unworkable problem that led the adminstration to kill its original rebate rule last year. (Owermohle, Cancryn and Luthi, 7/24)

NPR: Trump Signs Executive Orders On Drug Prices
The most radical order involves requiring Medicare to pay the same price for some drugs — the ones patients receive in the hospital as part of Medicare Part B — that other countries pay. However, Trump said he is giving the pharmaceutical industry until Aug. 24 to make a deal with him before he implements it. "We may not need to implement the fourth executive order, which is a very tough order," he said. (Lupkin, 7/24)

The Hill: Trump Signs Executive Orders Aimed At Lowering Drug Prices 
The orders signed by Trump would move towards allowing states to develop plans to import cheaper drugs from Canada, eliminate a system of drug discounts known as rebates in a bid to simplify the system, and seek to make EpiPens and insulin more affordable for patients of community health centers. It is unclear, though, when the moves can be finalized and take effect. (Sullivan, 7/24)

In related news —

The Hill: Group Launches Ad Against Potential White House Plan To Address Drug Prices Through International Price Indexing 
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) unveiled an ad campaign on Friday criticizing a potential Trump administration plan to lower drug prices by tying them to prices in other countries. The six-figure television and digital ad campaign was launched as President Trump is set to sign an executive order on the matter on Friday. (Gangitano, 7/24)

Politico: Trump Administration Invests $472M More In Moderna Vaccine Candidate
The Trump administration is going to pump another $472 million into expanding Moderna’s clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine candidate. What happened: Moderna announced Sunday that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known as BARDA, is pouring the additional dollars the day before the phase three trial of the vaccine candidate is slated to start. (Roubein, 7/26)

Reuters: Moderna Gets Further $472 Million U.S. Award For Coronavirus Vaccine Development 
The U.S.-based drug maker said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 study of Moderna’s vaccine candidate. In April, Moderna had received $483 million from the U.S. federal agency that funds disease-fighting technology, when the experimental vaccine was in an early-stage trial conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. (7/26)

In related news —

The Hill: Meadows Says White House Is 'Hopeful' It Can Announce New Coronavirus Therapies 'In The Coming Days' 
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the administration is “hopeful” it can announce new therapies to treat the coronavirus “in the coming days.” Meadows told ABC’s “This Week” that the White House has been “working around the clock,” with a focus on COVID-19 therapeutics, vaccines and mitigation therapies. “The president has been very clear — whatever amount of money and whatever amount of time needs to be invested, we’re doing that,” the White House chief of staff said. (Coleman, 7/26)

CNN: Trump's National Security Adviser Tests Positive For Covid-19
President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to an official familiar with what happened. O'Brien's diagnosis marks the highest-ranking Trump administration official known to have tested positive. It's unclear when O'Brien last met with Trump. Their last public appearance together was over two weeks ago during a visit to US Southern Command in Miami on July 10. (Collins, Liptak and Klein, 7/27)

The Hill: Ex-CDC Director On US, COVID-19: 'We Are A Laggard' 
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden on Sunday said the U.S. had been a “laggard” in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, specifically pointing to lack of centralized information. “I’ll be frank, we are a laggard,” Frieden said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We are one of the top in the world in terms of the cumulative death rate unlike many other countries that have high death rates, ours is continuing to increase.” (Budryk, 7/26)

The Hill: Fauci Defends Past Recommendations Following Conservative Attacks 
America's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Friday defended some of his past recommendations on the coronavirus, arguing that science changes over time. Fauci's remarks about the pandemic and guidance on steps Americans should take to help limit infection have shifted since the beginning of the outbreak as experts learn more about COVID-19. But Fauci has faced criticism in recent weeks as President Trump, administration officials and Trump allies in the media attempt to deflect blame from the White House response to the pandemic. (Weixel, 7/24)

ABC News: Senate GOP, White House Poised To Unveil Their Next Coronavirus Relief Plan 
Senate Republican leaders and the White House appear to have overcome their differences and are poised to introduce their next coronavirus relief plan on Monday afternoon. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows spent the weekend on Capitol Hill working through details of the proposal with Senate GOP leadership staff. (Turner, 7/26)

Politico: Meadows, Mnuchin Push For Narrow Coronavirus Relief Bill
Even before Senate Republicans roll out a proposal on the next coronavirus relief package, top Trump administration officials are already pushing a backup plan in case negotiations stall. During media appearances Sunday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested Congress could take an issue-by-issue approach to coronavirus relief, an idea House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has already rejected. (Levin and McCaskill, 7/26)

The Hill: Mnuchin: It 'Wouldn't Be Fair To Use Taxpayer Dollars To Pay More People To Sit Home' 
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took a hard line Sunday against the $600 increase in unemployment benefits that was a part of the last coronavirus relief measure, saying, “It just wouldn’t be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home than they would working and get a job.” GOP lawmakers have taken a hard line against the enhancement as they negotiate with the White House over a new relief measure. The initial bill won blowback from Republicans who said some people would make more money not working than going to work. (Budryk, 7/26)

The New York Times: Trump Officials Float Idea Of Narrow Bill To Extend Unemployment Benefits 
Top Trump administration officials proposed on Sunday potentially short circuiting free-ranging stimulus talks with Democrats to rush through a much narrower bill prioritizing an extension of federal unemployment benefits that are set to expire this week for millions of Americans. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said he would now like to see lawmakers act this week to extend and alter the unemployment program, give tax credits to businesses to help ease reopening costs and grant employers new liability protections — while setting aside a long list of other objectives, including Democrats’ priorities. (Fandos and Cochrane, 7/26)

And the Democrats' response —

The Hill: Pelosi, Schumer Knock GOP Over 'Disarray' Ahead Of Unemployment Cliff 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) knocked Republicans on Friday, blaming their "disarray" for a looming expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits. “This weekend, millions of Americans will lose their Unemployment Insurance, will be at risk of being evicted from their homes, and could be laid off by state and local government, and there is only one reason: Republicans have been dithering for months while America’s crisis deepens," the congressional Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. (Carney, 7/24)

Politico: Trump’s Talking Health Care Again, With 2020 In Mind
President Donald Trump is suddenly talking about health care again. He signed several executive orders on drug pricing on Friday. He vowed to unveil some new health plan by the end of next week, although he hasn’t provided specifics or an explanation of how he’ll do it. His aides are touting a speech in which Trump will lay out his health care vision. White House counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway has been calling Trump “the health care president.” (McGraw and Ehley, 7/26)

AP: AP-NORC Poll: US Course At Record Low, Trump Sinks On Virus
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds Trump’s approval for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic falling to a new low, with just 32% of Americans supportive of his approach. ... Even as he tries to refocus his contest with Biden on divisive cultural issues and an ominous “law and order” message, Trump’s reelection prospects are likely to be inextricably linked to his handling of the pandemic and whether voters believe the country will head back in the right direction under his leadership. The AP-NORC poll makes clear the challenge ahead for Trump on that front: 8 in 10 Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction. (Pace and Fingerhut, 7/26)

Politico: ‘Make America Normal Again’: Trump Backers Plead For A Virus Plan 
President Donald Trump restarted the White House coronavirus briefings. He urged Americans to wear masks. He even scrapped his party’s convention. To many of his own allies, it’s still not enough. Trump’s political allies, alarmed by his sinking poll numbers, are warning that the president’s best chance to get reelected is to outline more detailed plans to conquer the coronavirus he keeps trying to wish away. They are advising him to offer people something concrete they can look to as the pandemic surges in dozens of states, eroding months of progress. (Kumar, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Virus Vaccine Put To Final Test In Thousands Of Volunteers
The world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine study got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race. There’s still no guarantee that the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will really protect. (Neergaard, 7/27)

Stat: Covid-19 Vaccines May Cause Mild Side Effects, Experts Say
While the world awaits the results of large clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines, experts say the data so far suggest one important possibility: The vaccines may carry a bit of a kick. In vaccine parlance, they appear to be “reactogenic,” meaning they have induced short-term discomfort in a percentage of the people who have received them in clinical trials. This kind of discomfort includes headache, sore arms, fatigue, chills, and fever. As long as the side effects of eventual Covid-19 vaccines are transient and not severe, these would not be sources of alarm — in fact, they may be signals of an immune system lurching into gear. (Branswell, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: A Big Unknown In Covid-19 Vaccine Development: How Long Will Protection Last? 
If any of the most-advanced Covid-19 vaccines prove to work safely, they may protect people for months or years rather than the rest of their lives, according to emerging science and health experts. Only a handful of vaccines generate lifetime immunity for most people, such as the ones for measles, a viral infection that naturally produces lifelong immunity. Experts caution against expectations of such longevity for Covid-19, citing experience with other respiratory viruses plus emerging data on the longevity of the antibodies that can prevent the virus from entering human cells and replicating. (Hopkins, Hernandez and Loftus, 7/26)

San Jose Mercury News: COVID Vaccines: Here's How We'll Beat Coronavirus
This past week’s vaccine news gives us reason to hope. Scientists are increasingly optimistic that COVID-19 will someday join the ranks of smallpox, yellow fever, polio, mumps, measles and other near-vanquished diseases. What will it take to get there? The challenges — in science, manufacturing, distribution and citizen participation — are formidable. Vaccines, alone, don’t save people; vaccinations do. To make this nightmare truly go away, forever, we need to inoculate nearly 330 million Americans and, ultimately, all 7.6 billion people on the planet. (Krieger, 7/26)

In related news —

Kaiser Health News: The Color Of COVID: Will Vaccine Trials Reflect America’s Diversity?
When U.S. scientists launch the first large-scale clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines this summer, Antonio Cisneros wants to make sure people like him are included. Cisneros, who is 34 and Hispanic, is part of the first wave of an expected 1.5 million volunteers willing to get the shots to help determine whether leading vaccine candidates can thwart the virus that sparked a deadly pandemic. “If I am asked to participate, I will,” said Cisneros, a Los Angeles cinematographer who has signed up for two large vaccine trial registries. “It seems part of our duty.” (JoNel Aleccia, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Aim To Include The Black And Hispanic Communities 
Each fall, the Rev. Rob Newells urges the congregation at Imani Community Church in Oakland, Calif., to get a flu shot. He builds bridges everyday between the country’s most vulnerable, marginalized communities and the medical system, defusing suspicion about HIV prevention treatments and educating people about medical research. He prods health-care leaders to think harder about their messengers: Don’t send a white doctor to tell black people what they “need” to do for their own good. But with the first massive coronavirus vaccine trial in people set to start Monday, Newells finds himself in an unfamiliar place: on the fence about what to tell his colleagues, his community, his cousins. Biomedical research, Newells knows, is a long and painstaking process — and he is concerned about a vaccine campaign that seems so narrowly focused on speed. (Johnson, 7/26)

Politico: U.S. Testing Czar: Everyone Who 'Needs' A Covid-19 Test Can Get One 
Admiral Brett Giroir, the Trump administration coronavirus testing czar, said that anyone who “needs” a coronavirus test can get one but he acknowledged that the average turnaround time for tests is too long as states smash records for numbers of cases. Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," he pushed back at former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who earlier this month called his family’s difficulties obtaining tests promptly “inexcusable" this many months into the pandemic. (Roubein, 7/26)

The Hill: Coronavirus Testing Czar: Nobody On Task Force 'Afraid To Bring Up Anything' To Trump 
Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services who is leading the administration’s coronavirus testing efforts, said Sunday that nobody on the White House coronavirus task force is afraid to press President Trump on the need to expand testing. “Everyone at the administration understands the importance of testing. Nobody in the task force is afraid to bring up anything either to the vice president or president,” Giroir said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” (Klar, 7/26)

Politico: Azar Blames Testing Delays On States
HHS Secretary Alex Azar Sunday blamed the current delays in coronavirus testing on the states, which he said have been too slow to spend federal dollars to boost the country’s testing amid the virus's spread. The Trump administration has frequently sought to put the responsibility for the coronavirus response on governors and local officials, even as many public health officials as well as governors have called for a coordinated national emergency response. (Roubein, 7/26)

In other testing news —

San Francisco Chronicle: Richer, Whiter Bay Area Cities Got Coronavirus Testing Quickly. Low-Income Areas Didn’t
As the coronavirus dug into the Bay Area’s low-income Latino and Black neighborhoods this spring, doctors and community leaders pleaded for more testing sites. But even as access to testing grew in wealthier, whiter parts of several Bay Area counties, community testing sites lagged or offered only limited hours in communities of color where the virus was spreading fastest, according to a Chronicle analysis of test-site data from March through mid-July. (Dizikes and Palomino, 7/26)

Sacramento Bee: Testing Delays A New Hurdle For CA Contact Tracing Teams
A surge in COVID-19 cases and a shortage of contact tracers has for weeks hampered Sacramento County’s efforts to contact and warn people exposed to coronavirus. Now, an additional hurdle is inhibiting the county’s contact tracing: testing slowdowns. Delays to get test appointments and longer waiting periods while labs turn around results mean cases land on investigators’ desks long after a person should have been told to start quarantining. (7/26)

ABC News: Falling Through The Cracks: Overwhelmed System Leads To Coronavirus Tests Mishandled, Delayed 
Two hours after getting in line, with the Atlanta sun beating down on the hood of her car, Andrea S. Mitchell pulled up at the drive-thru test site. Rolling down the window, she took her uniquely barcoded kit from a volunteer. But there was someone else's name on the bag. (Pezenik and David, 7/26)

USA Today: Walmart Mask Incident In Minnesota: Pair With Swastikas Banned A Year
A Minnesota man and woman who wore face masks with swastikas on them in an incident captured on video have been banned from Walmart stores nationwide for at least a year. The video, posted to Facebook on Saturday by Raphaela Mueller, shows a man and woman in a Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, wearing red face coverings with swastikas. The woman flips off the camera while the man checks out groceries. (Culver, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Major Truck-Stop Chains Will Require Drivers To Use Face Masks 
The biggest U.S. truck-stop operators will require customers to wear masks starting next week, joining major retailers, restaurants and airlines in rolling out policies aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus. Pilot Co., which operates 780 travel centers under the Pilot Flying J and other brands, said its mandate will take effect July 28. Similar policies kick in July 29 at Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. and TravelCenters of America Inc. sites. (Smith, 7/24)

Kaiser Health News: Employers Require COVID Liability Waivers As Conflict Mounts Over Workplace Safety
After spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers, Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back. What’s more, she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there. Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine, but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable, although it stipulated that staff members would be masked. At 23, she has a compromised immune system and was also worried that she could pass the coronavirus on to her fiancé and other family members. (Meyer, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Rages In County That Dismissed Farmworker Risk 
As coronavirus cases began to grow in San Joaquin County in June, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs proposed requiring citizens to wear a mask in his city in the center of the fertile valley, where agriculture is king and poverty pervasive. The response he received from the county emergency services director, a key figure in coordinating the pandemic response, was disquieting, he said. “Stay in your lane,” wrote Shellie Lima in a June 9 email to Tubbs obtained by The Times, days before the county allowed card rooms, hotels and day camps to open. “I am against the proposed mask ordinance for Stockton ... Why would our elected officials feel that they have the medical understanding to do so?” (Chabria, 7/25)

The New York Times: FEMA Sends Faulty Protective Gear To Nursing Homes Battling Virus 
Expired surgical masks. Isolation gowns that resemble oversize trash bags. Extra-small gloves that are all but useless for the typical health worker’s hands. Nursing home employees across the country have been dismayed by what they’ve found when they’ve opened boxes of protective medical gear sent by the federal government, part of a $134 million effort to provide facilities a 14-day supply of equipment considered critical for shielding their vulnerable residents from the coronavirus. (Jacobs, 7/24)

In more mask news from the Trump administration and local governments —

The Hill: Azar: If We Wear Masks, We Can Avoid Further Shutdowns 
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday that widespread social distancing and mask usage would eliminate the need for resuming shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. “If we wear our masks we can avoid further shutdowns but if we don’t that will be the consequence,” Azar said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Budryk, 7/26)

CNN: US Coronavirus: Some Local Leaders Say They Won't Enforce Mask Mandates As Country Tops 4 Million Cases 
The US has a fourth of global coronavirus cases and as officials work to slow its rampant spread, face coverings remain a point of contention with some local authorities declining to enforce mandates. Police in Miami, Florida — what experts call the country's coronavirus epicenter — issued more than 300 citations in 10 days to individuals and businesses that aren't abiding by the local mask order. (Maxouris, 7/27)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Georgia Police Departments Report Zero Citations For Face Mask Violations
The legal requirement to wear face coverings is a key part of Kemp’s lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms that contends the mask mandate and other coronavirus restrictions are unenforceable and too restrictive, and the case could determine whether other cities are allowed to keep the requirements on their books. But the AJC analysis shows that the requirements to wear a mask, which top public health experts agree is a leading way to stem the disease outbreak, is largely symbolic. The AJC contacted 15 police departments and law enforcement agencies in the cities, suburbs and small towns that enacted the restrictions. Not a single citation was reported. (Stevens and Bluestein, 7/27)

Seattle Times: Seattle City Council Members Oppose Order Blocking Crowd-Control Weapons Ban, As Police Chief Promises No Tear Gas Use
The president of the Seattle City Council and police watchdogs expressed concern Saturday that a judge’s decision to block a new ban on tear gas, blast balls and other crowd-control weapons could escalate tensions or chill free speech amid protests this weekend. Seattle police Chief Carmen Best, meanwhile, said Saturday the department “promised” it wouldn’t use tear gas. (Groover, 7/25)

The New York Times: Fires And Pepper Spray In Seattle As Police Protests Widen Across U.S.
Weeks of violent clashes between federal agents and protesters in Portland, Ore., galvanized thousands of people to march through the streets of American cities on Saturday, injecting new life into protests that had largely waned in recent weeks. One of the most intense protests was in Seattle, where a day of demonstrations focused on police violence left a trail of broken windows and people flushing pepper spray from their eyes. At least 45 protesters had been arrested as of early evening, and both protesters and police officers suffered injuries. (Baker and Bogel-Burroughs, 7/25)

Also —

AP: Police And Protesters Clash In Violent Weekend Across The US
Protests took a violent turn in several U.S. cities over the weekend with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles in California and Virginia. A protest against police violence in Austin, Texas, turned deadly when a witness says the driver of a car that drove through a crowd of marchers opened fire on an armed demonstrator who approached the vehicle. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said. (Martin, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Sinclair Postpones Controversial Show About Coronavirus 
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the owner of 191 television stations across the U.S., delayed the airing of an interview about the alleged origins of the coronavirus pandemic that drew widespread criticism on social media. An episode of “America This Week,” which was slated to air over the weekend, features an interview with medical researcher Judy Mikovits, who has claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, helped manufacture the coronavirus and spread it to China. Dr. Mikovits’s claims have previously attracted attention in the documentary “Plandemic,” which was earlier pulled from major online platforms including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube. (Rizzo, 7/26)

USA Today: Diabetes And COVID: Coronavirus Highlights America's Health Problems
Dr. Anne Peters splits her mostly virtual work-week between a diabetes clinic on the west side of Los Angeles and one on the east side of the sprawling city. Three days a week she treats people whose diabetes is well controlled. They have insurance, so they can afford the newest medications and blood monitoring devices. They can exercise and eat well.  Those generally more affluent West LA patients who've gotten COVID-19 have developed mild to moderate symptoms – feeling miserable, she said – but treatable, with close follow-up at home. ... On the other two days of her work week, it's a different story. (Weintraub, 7/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: They Defied Health Rules For A Storybook San Francisco Wedding. The Virus Didn’t Spare Them
San Francisco’s city attorney had warned Catholic leaders to stop holding illegal indoor events only days earlier. Yet the leadership of SS Peter and Paul’s helped organize the wedding ceremony, the city said. The celebration included a rehearsal dinner and reception with invitations extended to large groups from multiple households, at a time when such gatherings remain heavily restricted in much of the Bay Area. In the days following, the newlywed couple and at least eight attendees tested positive for the coronavirus, two guests told The Chronicle. The potentially exposed guests flew back to Nashville, Arizona and San Diego, hot spots of the pandemic, potentially spreading the virus and providing a textbook example of health officials’ biggest fears about such large gatherings. The event showed the challenges authorities face in enforcing health orders. (Gafni, 7/26)

Philadelphia Inquirer: What It’s Like To Be A Server During The Pandemic: ‘The Things That I Loved About My Job — They Were Gone.’
Those who have returned describe a transformation in the nature of waiting tables. Restaurants that follow — and enforce — city and state health guidelines have become, for some, politically charged environments, confronting servers with another choice: to appeal to cavalier clientele to respect rules, or say nothing and take on even more risk. “I don’t know why wearing a mask is politicized,” said one server. “If you don’t want to wear a mask, don’t come in. That’s also your choice.” In turn, many restaurant workers are reevaluating their current jobs and their futures in the hospitality industry, which employs roughly two in 10 Philadelphians. (Ladd, 7/26)

AP: Workers Praise Disney Virus Safety, But Will Visitors Come?
Every week, it seems, Kaila Barker, her husband and their five children change their minds about whether to travel from their home in Connecticut to Florida’s Walt Disney World as planned in September. On the one hand, the lack of crowds means more opportunities to go on rides without long waits. On the other hand, Connecticut and Florida have implemented pandemic-related quarantines for each other’s residents and visitors, and the Barkers worry whether the Disney “magic” will get lost with mandatory mask-wearing for visitors and workers, temperature checks and no parades, fireworks shows or up-close “meet-and-greets” with costumed characters. (Schneider, 7/26)

Philadelphia Inquirer: New Rules For Day Camp In A COVID-19 Summer: Kids In Masks, Gallons Of Sanitizer, No Tag
Throughout Philadelphia and its suburbs, harried local officials and private camp directors have had to make nearly impossible decisions about how many fewer kids to bring in, or whether to just shut their gates, as the pandemic has bent, twisted, or full-on wrecked the season for children stuck at home, hungering for experience. In many cases, camp owners must balance the survival of their businesses with the health of employees and other people’s kids. Meanwhile, a multitude of uneasy parents have had to weigh coronavirus fears against their kids’ need to have a non-virtual summer. (Lubrano, 7/27)

The New York Times: Tailors Know New Yorkers’ Pandemic Secret: ‘Everybody Got Fat!’ 
With weddings postponed and offices shut, business was bleak at Woodside Tailor Shop in Queens during the long months of pandemic lockdown. There was no need for party dress alterations, or any pressure for slacks to be hemmed. But about three months in, things started picking back up in June, with one particular service in sudden demand: People needed a bit more breathing room in their clothing. “Everybody got fat!” said Porfirio Arias, 66, a tailor at Woodside. “It’s not only in New York. It’s all over the world that people got fat.” (Maslin Nir, 7/25)

Kaiser Health News: ‘It’s About Love And Solidarity’: Mutual Aid Unites NYC Neighbors Facing COVID
Nancy Perez, a 45-year-old resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, contracted COVID-19 in March. She stayed quarantined in her room for a month to isolate from her two sons and grandson. A few days before she got the virus, she’d met a volunteer with Bed-Stuy Strong — one of the many mutual aid groups around the country that have rallied to provide help in the face of the pandemic. Bed-Stuy Strong assembled an army of volunteers to help vulnerable neighbors with food deliveries and basic supplies. While Perez was in isolation, volunteers regularly delivered cooked food for her sons, ages 17 and 20, and her 4-year-old grandson. (Lawrence, 7/27)

Kaiser Health News: Last Thing Patients Need During Pandemic: Being Last To Know A Doctor Left Network 
As the coronavirus spread silently through New York City early this year, Deborah Koeppel had an appointment with her cardiologist and two visits with her primary care doctor. Both physicians are members of Concorde Medical Group, a practice in Manhattan with an office conveniently located a few blocks from where Koeppel works. She soon received notices telling her — after the fact — that those doctors were not in her health plan’s network of providers. According to the notices, she was on the hook for $849 in out-of-network cost sharing for three visits, which typically would cost her nothing from in-network providers. (Andrews, 7/27)

The New York Times: In Era Of Sickness, Doctors Prescribe Unusual Cure: Voting 
The sign is easy to miss in the waiting room of the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital, next to the reception desk and a hand sanitizer pump. “Register to vote here,” it says, above an iPad attached to a podium. The kiosk has stood there since November, before the pandemic began and stayed there through the worst weeks of April, when 12 gasping patients were put on ventilators during a single grueling 12-hour shift. Now, as the number of coronavirus patients has slowed to a trickle, Dr. Alister Martin, the 31-year-old emergency room doctor who built the kiosk, is determined to keep trying to register voters. (Stockman, 7/25)

In other news —

The Hill: CDC Investigating Salmonella Outbreak In 23 States 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating an outbreak of salmonella across 23 states, with reports of hundreds of people being sickened. The federal agency announced in a release on Friday an additional 87 illnesses, and eight new states had been affected since the last update on the matter Tuesday. (Deese, 7/25)

The Washington Post: ADHD Video Game Treatment Approved By FDA 
Can a video game help children struggling with ADHD? That question inspired hopeful headlines last month after the Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing of the first digital game that may be prescribed to treat children ages 8 to 12 who have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In EndeavorRx, designed for iPhones and iPads, children guide an avatar surfing through molten lava and an icy river, dodging fires and icebergs while grabbing flying objects. The game is not yet available for purchase, nor has a price been released, but its Boston-based developer, Akili Interactive Labs, may now feature its unique status in ads and pursue coverage by insurance plans. (Ellison, 7/26)

AP: TV Reporter Credits Viewer With Noticing Cancerous Lump
A television news reporter in Florida is crediting an eagle-eyed viewer for noticing a lump on her neck and emailing her that she should get it checked out. Victoria Price, a reporter for WFLA in Tampa, followed the advice and was diagnosed with cancer. Price tweeted that she is undergoing surgery on Monday to remove the tumor, her thyroid and a couple of lymph nodes. (7/26)

The Washington Post: References To White Men Still Dominate College Biology Textbooks, Survey Says 
Charles Darwin. Carolus Linnaeus. Gregor Mendel. They’re all men. They’re all white. And their names appear in every biology book included in a new analysis of college textbooks. According to the survey, mentions of white men still dominate biology textbooks despite growing recognition in other media of the scientific contributions of women and people of color. The good news, the researchers say: Scientists in textbooks are getting more diverse. The bad news: If diversification continues at its current pace, it will take another 500 years for mentions of black/African American scientists to accurately reflect the number of black college biology students. (Brookshire, 7/26)

AP: Amid Virus, Uncertainty, Parents Decide How To School Kids
Joshua Claybourn is leaning toward sending his kindergarten daughter to in-person classes at a private school next month. Holly Davis’ sixth-grade daughter will learn online, though the family has not yet decided what to do for school for a teenage daughter who requires special accommodations for hearing problems and dyslexia and another who’s starting college. As they decide how their children will learn this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, parents are anxiously weighing the benefits of in-person instruction against the risks that schools could shut their doors again or that their children could contract the virus and pass it on. (Webber and Groves, 7/26)

KQED: COVID-19 Risk In Schools: What You Should Know
KQED's Brian Watt last Thursday spoke with Dr. Naomi Bardach, associate professor of pediatrics and health policy at UCSF, about the risk involved in bringing back classrooms for the upcoming school year, and the differences between how kids and adults both catch and spread the virus. (7/27)

ABC News: 3 Cities Kept Schools Open During The 1918 Pandemic. Experts Say 2020 Is Different. 
When the influenza pandemic struck America in 1918, most cities responded with measures that included closing schools. Yet three cities — New York, Chicago and New Haven, Connecticut — vowed to remain open. The schools had extensive public health programs in place and argued that keeping students in school was "an opportunity to implement the public health strategies of school medical inspection and intensified disease surveillance," according to a public health report published in 2010. (Torres, 7/26)

Also —

The Hill: McEnany Likens Schools To 'Essential Places Of Business' In Push For Reopening 
The White House would support sending children back to school even if future studies showed kids transmit COVID-19 at a higher rate than currently known, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday, arguing schools are "essential places of business." McEnany fielded multiple questions from reporters about President Trump's push for a return to in-person learning this fall even as he cancels some events for the Republican National Convention due to concerns about holding a mass gathering during the pandemic. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, also said Friday it's "an open question" how rapidly children under the age of 10 spread the virus. (Samuels, 7/24)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: COVID-19 Schooling: Do ‘Pandemic Pods’ Threaten Equity Efforts?
Fears are growing that COVID-19 could widen inequities in an already inequitable education system. The threat to equity from the pandemic was a major theme at last week’s virtual 73rd Education Writers Association National Seminar. Marquee seminar speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times writer and creator of the 1619 Project, which re-examined how slavery shaped American history, took aim at “pandemic pods.” (Downey, 7/26)

San Jose Mercury News: Bay Area College Students Trapped In Pre-Coronavirus Leases
Bay Area college students, already disrupted by the pandemic, are also struggling to renegotiate tightly-drawn leases signed before the crisis. Lawyers and renter advocates say students at universities in San Jose, San Francisco and Berkeley — expensive markets where high demand often forces students into making quick and early decisions on apartments — are being squeezed to pay rent for rooms they may never set foot in. (Hansen, 7/26)

Boston Globe: Dorm Rooms At The Westin? Hotels And Universities Are Teaming Up To Offer Socially Distanced Student Housing
As Boston’s universities and hotels both find themselves wrestling with the realities of life with coronavirus, some of them are teaming up to house students in a socially distanced fashion. Three schools — Northeastern, Suffolk, and the New England Conservatory — have asked the Walsh administration for approval to lease floors of hotels and ― in some cases ― entire hotels for use as dorms. And Boston University wants to take over a Commonwealth Avenue apartment building that has been used as temporary student housing for several years to supplement its dorm space. (Logan, 7/26)

The Hill: COVID-19 Testing At Universities Threatens To Strain Nationwide Capacity 
Demand for COVID-19 testing could soar in the fall with the reopening of some universities and schools, threatening to overburden an already strained system. Many schools and universities are planning to regularly test students and staff in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 on their campuses. But public health officials and experts worry there is not enough capacity and supplies to test thousands of people who aren’t showing any symptoms of the disease. (Hellmann, 7/26)

AP: Colleges Plan For Virus Testing, But Strategies Vary Widely
For students heading to Colby College in Maine this fall, coronavirus testing is expected to be a routine part of campus life. All students will be required to provide a nasal swab every other day for two weeks, and then twice a week after that. All told, the college says it will provide 85,000 tests, nearly as many as the entire state of Maine has since the pandemic started. Colby, a private school of 2,000 students, joins a growing number of colleges announcing aggressive testing plans to catch and isolate COVID-19 cases before they spread. Harvard University says all students living on campus will be tested when they arrive and then three times a week. Boston University plans to test most students at least once a week. (Binkley, 7/26)

The Washington Post: Trump Bows Out Of Throwing First Pitch At Yankees Game, Says He Will Do It Later In Season 
Trump said on Twitter that he cannot make it to New York on Aug. 15 because of his “strong focus on the China Virus, including scheduled meetings on Vaccines, our economy and much else.” At a White House coronavirus briefing Thursday, the president told reporters that he accepted an invitation from Yankees President Randy Levine to perform the pregame ceremony. The team subsequently confirmed that Trump would throw the ceremonial pitch at some point this season, according to ESPN. (Bieler, 7/26)

The Washington Post: Marlins Delay Return To Miami After Apparent Coronavirus Outbreak Among Players
The Miami Marlins on Sunday delayed their departure from Philadelphia by a day and now will fly home to Miami only hours before their home opener Monday amid concerns over a novel coronavirus outbreak among several members of their team.The Marlins reportedly had three players receive word of positive tests Sunday morning. Rather than fly home Sunday following their win over the Phillies, the Marlins planned to stay overnight in Philadelphia and fly home Monday morning — although the players who tested positive would remain under quarantine in Philadelphia, according to Manager Don Mattingly. (Sheinin, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: We Had Sports Questions. Dr. Fauci Had Answers. 
Dr. Fauci has encouraged the return of sports and publicly endorsed the plans of some professional leagues, but he’s also offered pleas for caution that have clashed with the White House’s push to reopen and occasionally put him at odds with President Trump. A high-school athlete who religiously follows the Washington Nationals—he opened their season on Thursday with a regrettable first pitch—Dr. Fauci shared his thoughts about sports with The Wall Street Journal. (Cohen, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: As The NBA Restarts, Fewer Reporters Get Sent To Cover It 
The handful of reporters moving near Orlando to cover the restart of the National Basketball Association season will have to make a few adjustments: eating all meals in their room the first week, taking coronavirus tests daily and having to wear an electric-fence-like tag keeping them away from one another. The reporters are among many people whose health is key to the resilience of the already abridged NBA season. Play could come to an abrupt end if the virus were to make it inside the bubble that the league has built at Walt Disney Co. ’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in an effort to insulate players, employees and media outlets from the outside world. (Mullin, 7/26)

NPR: LGBTQ Youth Mental Health Survey: 40% Have Considered Suicide In The Past Year 
Forty percent of young LGBTQ people have considered suicide in the last year; that rises to more than half for trans and non-binary youth. That's according to the second annual survey on LGBTQ youth mental health by The Trevor Project. The non-profit organization provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ people under the age of 25. (Scott and Leeds, 7/24)

CNN: Benefits Of Crying: It's Good For Your Mind And Body 
Grab a tissue. It's all right to cry. Really. Although it's often seen as a sign of weakness, crying can be just what the doctor ordered for sorting through muddied emotions and wading out anew. Our disapproval of emotional expression generally and crying specifically stems from childhood, said Stephen Sideroff, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. (Rogers, 7/24)

NPR: How Solitude Can Help You Regulate Your Mood
This year has given many of us a whole new understanding of solitude — whether we wanted it or not. That's been one of the odd side effects of the coronavirus: Between the shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines issued across the world, many of us have spent weeks at a time seeing no one in person but our local grocery store clerk. Or perhaps cramped among family or working at a busy hospital or grocery store — just dreaming of a lot more alone time. (Dwyer, 7/27)

CNN: Boys May Be Hiding Their Feelings Less Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic
School had been challenging for Kimmi Berlin's 7-year-old son. Already at his age, he felt pressure to conform: to play more physically with other boys, to emote less and subvert his own happiness or pain, said Berlin, co-founder of Build Up Boys. The nonprofit group's mission is to teach pre-K through eighth grade boys and their caregivers social and emotional skills to combat gender pressure. (Selin Davis, 7/27)

AP: US Agency Vows Steps To Address COVID-19 Inequalities
If Black, Hispanic and Native Americans are hospitalized and killed by the coronavirus at far higher rates than others, shouldn’t the government count them as high risk for serious illness? That seemingly simple question has been mulled by federal health officials for months. And so far the answer is no. But federal public health officials have released a new strategy that vows to improve data collection and take steps to address stark inequalities in how the disease is affecting Americans. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress that the disproportionately high impact on certain minority groups is not driven by genetics. (Stobbe, 7/25)

Undark: Artificial Intelligence, Health Disparities, And Covid-19
And over the past few years, a steady stream of evidence has demonstrated that some of these AI-powered medical technologies are replicating racial bias and exacerbating historic health care inequities. Now, amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, some researchers are asking whether these new technologies might be contributing to the disproportionately high rates of virus-related illness and death among African Americans. African Americans aged 35 to 44 experience Covid-19 mortality rates that are nine times higher than their White counterparts. Many African Americans also say they have limited access to Covid-19 testing. (McDullom, 7/27)

Los Angeles Times: They Made A Home Under L.A.’s Freeways. But Soon They Could Be Forced To Move
The 105 Freeway roared overhead as homeless outreach worker Daniel Ornelas knelt to speak with Genia Hope.Hope’s home has been, for years, a sprawling complex of tents beside a tangle of freeways in southeast Los Angeles County. Like many homeless people, she has chosen to live under or near a freeway because it affords some measure of safety compared with other spots where homeless people bed down. (Oreskes, 7/26)

AP: Medical Clinic To Serve Homeless People In Grand Rapids Area
Six organizations in the Grand Rapids area are teaming up to provide free medical services for homeless people. They will operate a clinic at the downtown location of Mel Trotter Ministries, one of the participants. The others are Grand Valley State University’s Kirkhof College of Nursing; Mercy Health Saint Mary’s; Metro Health–University of Michigan; Michigan State University–College of Human Medicine; and Spectrum Health. (7/26)

Also —

The New York Times: Beyond The Law’s Promise: 30 Years Since The Passage Of The Americans With Disabilities Act
This series explores how the Americans With Disabilities Act has shaped modern life for people with disabilities in the 30 years since it was passed. (7/26)

NPR: ADA At 30: 'We Are Not The Ones That Need To Change' 
Before the Americans with Disabilities Act granted people with disabilities greater protection and accessibility, a little-known law set the groundwork. In 1977, Judy Heumann helped lead a peaceful protest that forced the government to follow through with Section 504. As part of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the law would force hospitals, universities and other public spaces that received federal money, to remove barriers to accessibility for all Americans. But its implementation was long delayed over the costs necessary to retrofit buildings to comply with the law. (Shapiro and Bowman, 7/26)

CIDRAP: Pilot Study Evaluates Use Of Dogs For SARS-CoV-2 Detection
A small pilot study suggests trained scent-detection dogs have the potential to be used for mass detection of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, German researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases. In the study, eight dogs were trained for 1 week to detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva or tracheobronchial secretions of patients infected with the virus. During the training, dogs were presented with positive and negative samples (confirmed by RT-PCR tests) using a device with seven scent holes with tubes leading to metal containers that held the samples. Only one hole had a container with a positive sample, and the other six had containers with control samples. After a week, the researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. (7/24)

The New York Times: Your Coronavirus Antibodies Are Disappearing. Should You Care? 
Your blood carries the memory of every pathogen you’ve ever encountered. If you’ve been infected with the coronavirus, your body most likely remembers that, too. Antibodies are the legacy of that encounter. Why, then, have so many people stricken by the virus discovered that they don’t seem to have antibodies? Blame the tests. (Mandavilli, 7/26)

The Hill: CDC: Even Mild Coronavirus Symptoms Can Persist For Weeks 
COVID-19 can result in prolonged illness even in people with mild symptoms, including young adults, according to a new analysis released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It has been known that people severely ill after contracting COVID-19 can stay sick for several weeks. But less has been known about the effects of the disease on people with milder symptoms who don’t require hospitalization. (Hellmann, 7/24)

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Transmission Of COVID-19 From Moms To Newborns
A study yesterday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health found no evidence of COVID-19 transmission between 120 babies born to mothers with COVID-19, even after 2 weeks of breastfeeding with appropriate hygiene precautions. The findings led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to change its guidance on infants and COVID-19–positive mothers. The guidelines now recommend that newborns "room-in" with infected others after delivery if proper hygiene precautions are taken, including wearing a mask when appropriate and practicing hand hygiene. (7/24)

Boston Globe: Could A Century-Old Technology Zap Coronavirus In Schools And Offices? 
One approach to battling such airborne-spread of coronavirus that’s capturing attention is a century-old technology, known as germicidal ultraviolet air disinfection, or GUV, that zaps harmful airborne germs. In modern use, the lights are tucked inside air conditioning systems or mounted high above people’s heads near ceiling fans that draw the air up so the lights can disarm the germs. (Lazar, 7/26)

In other news —

CNN: Flu And Pneumonia Vaccines May Reduce Risk For Alzheimer's, Studies Find 
It turns out that flu and pneumonia shots may be good for more than what their names suggest. Not only does getting a shot reduce your chances of coming down with a nasty infection, but getting vaccinated may also reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in the future, according to two separate abstracts presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Monday. (Kane and LaMotte, 7/27)

NPR: Could A Flu Shot Reduce Your Alzheimer's Risk? 
For years, public health officials have been trying to dispel the myth that people who get a flu shot are more likely to get Alzheimer's disease. They are not. And now there is evidence that vaccines that protect against the flu and pneumonia may actually protect people from Alzheimer's, too. The evidence comes from two studies presented Monday at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference, which is being held as a virtual event. (Hamilton, 7/27)

NPR: Gene Therapy Sees Encouraging Success In Child With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy 
This is the story of a fatal genetic disease, a tenacious scientist and a family that never lost hope. Conner Curran was 4 years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disease that causes muscles to waste away. Conner's mother, Jessica Curran, remembers some advice she got from the doctor who made that 2015 diagnosis: "Take your son home, love him, take him on trips while he's walking, give him a good life and enjoy him because there are really not many options right now." (Hamilton, 7/27)

Stat: Covid-19 Surge Helps AI Researchers Amass Lung Scans 
At first, the images of lungs infected by the novel coronavirus were hard to come by. It was early in the pandemic, and Joseph Paul Cohen, a researcher at the University of Montreal, was trying to stockpile radiology scans to train an artificial intelligence model to recognize warning signs of severe illness. With so few images available, the work was next to impossible. But in recent weeks, the resurgence of Covid-19 in the U.S. and other hotspots has solved that problem, allowing him to amass hundreds of lung scans from clinical reports published around the world. (Ross, 7/27)

The New York Times: Hurricane’s Choice For Texans: Shelter From The Virus Or The Storm 
Bartt Howe’s boat was his refuge from the pandemic. Battling diabetes and H.I.V., he knew that catching the coronavirus as well could kill him, so he had been living alone on the docked boat for three months. Then Hurricane Hanna began to slam the Texas coast on Saturday, forcing Mr. Howe to trade one deadly menace for another: To avoid injury or death in the hurricane, he had to risk infection ashore. “I had managed to stay safe all this time, but the storm kicked me out of my boat,” he said with a hint of resignation. “Now here I am, back on land, on borrowed time.” (Sandoval, 7/26)

AP: Tropical Storm Hanna Drenches South Texas Amid Virus Crisis
A day after roaring ashore as a hurricane, Hanna lashed the Texas Gulf Coast on Sunday with high winds and drenching rains that destroyed boats, flooded streets and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Downgraded to a tropical storm, Hanna passed over the U.S.-Mexico border with winds near 50 mph (85 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. It unloaded more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain on parts of South Texas and northeastern Mexico. Border communities whose health care systems were already strained by COVID-19 cases — with some patients being airlifted to larger cities — found themselves under siege from the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season. There were no immediate reports of any deaths on either side of the border. (Mone and Merchant, 7/26)

Also —

The New York Times: Coronavirus In Texas: ‘You Do The Right Things, And Still You Get It’ 
Elaine Roberts, a longtime bagger at a supermarket, tried to be so careful. She put on gloves and stopped riding the bus to work, instead relying on her father to drive her to keep their family safe. She wore masks — in space-themed fabrics stitched by her sister — as she stacked products on shelves, helped people to their cars and retrieved carts from the parking lot. But many of the customers at the Randalls store in a Houston suburb did not wear them, she noticed, even as coronavirus cases in the state began rising in early June. Gov. Greg Abbott, who had pushed to reopen businesses in Texas, was refusing to make masks mandatory and for weeks had blocked local officials from enforcing any mask requirements. The grocery store only posted signs asking shoppers to wear them. (Fink, 7/26)

Politico: Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church Plea To Allow Larger Congregation
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Nevada church's request to block the state's cap on attendees for religious services amid the coronavirus pandemic. The court voted 5 to 4 against the request, filed by Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberal-leaning justices. The decision keeps in place a limit of 50 people in houses of worship due to the pandemic. The church had argued the cap was an unfair attack on its First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion. (Choi, 7/24)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Denies Plea From Nevada Church That It Is Hurt While Casinos Reopen
But the court’s four most consistent conservatives made their objections clear in three lengthy dissents. “The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges,” Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote. “But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.” (Barnes, 7/24)

Colorado Public Radio: Angered By ‘Unfair’ COVID-19 Prevention Measures, Colorado Bar Owners Sue Polis, Health Department
Bar owners are pushing back against government mandates enacted to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Colorado Tavern League, which represents over 200 bars and restaurants across the state, is suing Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to block an order to stop selling alcohol at 10pm. The group is also seeking to overturn limits on capacity. (Mulholland, 7/23)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: ‘COVID Doesn’t Care About Your Age’: Georgia’s Virus Deaths Soar
[Kyle] Gregory is one of about 3,500 Georgians who have died so far from the coronavirus. Amid a sustained spike in new cases and hospitalizations in Georgia, health experts have been guarding for the inevitable rise in deaths. That rise, those experts said, appears to have arrived. Georgia reported 327 deaths in the seven days ended Saturday, a weekly record, and an increase of 90% from the week of July 12. (Trubey, 7/26)

The Hill: DC To Require Those Traveling From Hot Spots To Quarantine For 14 Days 
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Friday announced that all visitors arriving in the District on nonessential business from hotspot areas will now need to quarantine for 14 days, as the country continues to see a surge in COVID-19 cases. The restriction goes into effect Monday and affects D.C. residents who are traveling to places that are a hotspot for the virus as well as non-D.C. residents traveling from such an area. (Johnson, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Firefighter Dies From Complications Of COVID-19 
A Los Angeles firefighter died Saturday from complications of COVID-19, the first in the department to die from the disease, fire officials said. Firefighter-paramedic Jose J. Perez was 44 and had been with the LAFD for more than 16 years, officials said. (7/25)

AP: Two Arkansas Inmates Being Treated For Coronavirus Die
Two state prison inmates have died while being treated for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction. One inmate, a man in his 80s serving a sentence at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern for sexual assault, died at a Hot Springs hospital and the second, a man in his 40s serving a burglary sentence at the East Arkansas Regional Unit at Brickeys died at a hospital in North Little Rock, the department said Friday. Both men, whose names were not released, died Friday, the department said. (7/25)

AP: Jackson-Area Authorities Bring Cooler In To Store Bodies
After a surge in coronavirus deaths in the Jackson [Miss.] area, officials are now bringing in a refrigerated cooler to help store bodies awaiting autopsies. Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said told the Clarion Ledger earlier this week that the area is facing an influx of not only coronavirus patients, but victims of homicides, car crashes and other fatalities. Both hospital morgues and private facilities are at capacity, the coroner said. (7/25)

AP: More Than 2 Dozen NJ Lifeguards Test Positive For Virus
More than two dozen lifeguards from two New Jersey beach towns have tested positive for the coronavirus after having been together socially, authorities said. Officials said the lifeguards are from Harvey Cedars and Surf City, neighboring boroughs on Long Beach Island. (7/26)

In other news —

AP: South Dakota Records First West Nile Virus Case Of 2020
South Dakota has recorded its first case of human West Nile virus of 2020.The state Health Department said Friday the virus was detected in a McCook County resident. State epidemiologist Joshua Clayton says South Dakotans need to protect themselves against the mosquito-borne virus, especially during evening outdoor activities. (7/25)

AP: Arizona Reports 1,973 New Coronavirus Cases, 19 More Deaths
Arizona heath officials report 1,973 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 19 additional deaths. That increases the state totals to 162,014 positive COVID-19 cases and 3,305 known deaths as of Sunday. Arizona Department of Health Services had reported 3,748 new cases and 144 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday. (7/26)

AP: Nevada Reports 1,018 New Coronavirus Cases, 2 More Deaths
Nevada health officials report 1,018 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths around the state as of Sunday. The numbers released by the state Department of Health and Human Services pushes the total number of known deaths to 734 with 42,843 coronavirus cases. (7/26)

AP: Oklahoma Reports 1,204 New Coronavirus Cases, No New Deaths
Oklahoma reported 1,204 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday as the number of deaths in the state from the virus remained unchanged from the day before. The Department of Health reported at least 31,285 people have tested positive for the virus, an increase from the from the 30,081 confirmed cases the state reported Saturday. The state reported an additional 645 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total to 24,698. (7/26)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports 69 New COVID-19 Cases, But No Deaths
Navajo Nation health officials report 69 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 but no additional deaths. The total number of people infected on the reservation now stands at 8,837 with 434 known deaths as of Saturday night. Tribal health officials said 76,902 people have undergone testing and 6,525 have recovered from the virus. (7/26)

In news from the Midwest —

AP: North Dakota Active COVID-19 Cases Exceed 1,000
North Dakota health officials report the state has exceeded 1,000 active cases of COVID-19 for the first time. According to state data reported Sunday, North Dakota has 1,025 active cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus after another 141 people tested positive. (7/26)

AP: South Dakota Reports 105 New Cases Of COVID-19, No Deaths
South Dakota health officials reported 105 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday but no deaths. The state has recorded more than 8,300 cases of the coronavirus, but about 88% of them have recovered. A total of 122 people have died over the course of the pandemic. (7/25)

AP: Illinois Confirms 1,541 Additional Cases Of Coronavirus
More than 1,500 additional cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Illinois and one person has died of the virus, state health officials said Sunday. The 1,541 confirmed cases bring the total statewide to 171,424 cases since the start of the pandemic. State officials estimate that 95% of people have recovered. The Illinois Department of Public Health has reported 7,398 deaths total. (7/26)

AP: Indiana Reports 860 New Confirmed COVID-19 Cases, 8 Deaths
Indiana reported 860 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and eight deaths on Sunday, a day ahead of a statewide mask mandate. The Indiana State Department of Health said Sunday that overall 62,372 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19. Over 2,706 people have died from it. (7/26)

AP: Michigan Reports No New COVID-19 Deaths But Adds 1,041 Cases
Michigan reported no new deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, but added 1,041 new confirmed cases, health officials said. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Sunday’s case count is higher that previous days because there was a delay in processing laboratory results from Friday evening through Saturday morning. That rolled cases that should have been included in Saturday’s total of 437 confirmed cases into Sunday’s tally. (7/26)

ABC News: Missouri Health Officials Call For 'Aggressive Actions' As COVID-19 Cases Rise 
Missouri health officials are urging residents to take "aggressive actions" following nearly a week in which daily COVID-19 cases have reached four figures. On Sunday, the state had its sixth straight day of more than 1,000 new cases, with 1,218. A four-day streak of record-breaking numbers of new cases peaked at 1,652 on Friday. (Deliso, 7/26)

And news from the Southeast —

AP: Arkansas Reports 642 New Coronavirus Cases, 2 More Deaths
Arkansas reported 642 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Sunday and two more deaths from the illness caused by the virus. The Department of Health said at least 38,623 people in the state have tested positive for the virus, an increase from the 37,981 confirmed cases reported Saturday. The department said 6,600 of the cases are active, meaning they don’t include people who have died or recovered. (7/26)

AP: Confirmed COVID-19 Cases, Deaths Continue Climb In Louisiana
Louisiana reported 3,800 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 48 new deaths related to the disease Sunday. The state health department figures showed a total of 107,574 confirmed cases and 3,651 deaths. Hospitalizations dropped since Friday — the last day figures were released — from 1,600 to 1,557. That would be good news, if it continues. Hospitalizations have been trending upward since sinking to 542 on June 13. (7/26)

AP: Mississippi Reports, 1,207 More Confirmed COVID-19 Cases
Mississippi’s health department reported 1,207 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, and 15 more deaths related to the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The Health Department said that brought the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 51,639, with at least 1,458 deaths. (7/26)

AP: Alabama Cases Up By 1,000; Town's Police Chief Hospitalized
Alabama’s health department reported just over 1,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday. That brought the total of confirmed cases in the state to 77,351. The number of deaths related to the disease caused by the new coronavirus was 1,428 as of Sunday. (7/26)

The New York Times: Quarantine Order Blindsides Britons Returning From Spain 
Often criticized for a slow response to the coronavirus, the British government moved quickly this weekend to impose a quarantine on anyone arriving from Spain, after a spike in Covid-19 cases there. But this time speed brought disarray to thousands of Britons, blindsiding those who have already gone to Spain and embarrassing Britain’s transportation secretary, Grant Shapps. He is responsible for aviation policy but learned of the quarantine while on his own vacation. In Spain. (Castle and Minder, 7/26)

Reuters: Spain Is Safe, Minister Insists As British Quarantine Move Sows Dismay
Spain is safe for tourists and Spaniards, the government insisted on Sunday after Britain abruptly imposed a two-week coronavirus quarantine on travelers returning from there, a decision that filled holidaymakers with dismay. Last year, Britons made up over a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies on heavily on tourism revenues, meaning the UK move could deal a hard blow to efforts to restart the Mediterranean country’s economy after months of lockdown. “Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters. (Melander and Allen, 7/26)

In other news from Britain —

Reuters: Citing His Own Weight Battle, PM Urges Britain To Get Fit 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his own struggle with weight on Monday to urge the British to get fitter and tackle widespread obesity that could heighten coronavirus risks. New government measures to help people shed weight include banning TV and online adverts for junk food before 9.00 p.m., ending “buy one get one free” deals on such foods, and flagging calories on menus of large restaurants plus possibly on alcohol. (Piper and Faulconbridge, 7/26)

The Washington Post: North Korea Locks Down Kaesong Amid Coronavirus Fears 
North Korea locked down the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea after finding what could be the country's first official coronavirus case there, state media reported Sunday. North Korea’s state-controlled Central News Agency announced “a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country” after a suspected patient returned from South Korea by illegally crossing the border last week. Coronavirus test results were described as “uncertain,” but the person was still put under quarantine while health officials launched an investigation into those who might have come in contact with the individual in Kaesong, the state media reported. (Joo Kim, 7/26)

Reuters: Mexican State Health Minister Dies After Being Hospitalized For COVID-19
The health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Dr. Jesus Grajeda, has died, Chihuahua’s governor said on Sunday, nearly two weeks after Grajeda was hospitalized with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “I have no words to express all my feelings in this moment, except for profound sadness,” Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning, saying Grajeda had died of heart failure. (Gottesdiener, 7/26)

AP: German Cruise Ship Sets Sail, Hopes Short Trip Thwarts Virus
A German cruise ship is gingerly testing the water amid the coronavirus pandemic, setting sail for the first time since the industry was shut down months ago and using strict precautions to keep passengers and crew as safe as possible. The TUI cruise ship “Mein Schiff 2” — literally “My Ship 2” — set sail for a weekend cruise in the North Sea late Friday night, the dpa news agency reported .Occupancy was limited to 60% so passengers could keep their distance from one another, but even that level was not reached. The ship sailed off with 1,200 passengers on board compared to its normal 2,900 capacity. It was not reported how many crew were also on board. (7/25)

Reuters: Bavaria To Set Up COVID-19 Test Centres At Border Crossings, Train Stations 
Bavaria is setting up voluntary coronavirus test centres at border crossings and railway stations and urged the federal government to make tests for returning holidaymakers mandatory as soon as possible, its state premier said on Monday. “We need mandatory testing at airports and we need it as soon as possible,” Bavaria’s State Premier Markus Soeder told a news conference. (7/27)

Also —

AP: Vietnam Bans Wildlife Imports, Markets Amid New Health Fears
Vietnam announced Friday that it was banning wildlife imports and would close wildlife markets in response to renewed concerns about the threat from diseases that can jump from animals to humans, such as the virus that causes COVID-19. An order signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday bans all imports of wildlife dead or alive and includes eggs and larvae. It also merits tougher penalties for crimes involving the trade in wildlife. (Dinh, 7/25)

AP: Luck? Genetics? Italian Island Spared From COVID Outbreak
Stranded on a tiny Italian island, a cancer researcher grew increasingly alarmed to hear that one, and then three more visitors had fallen ill with COVID-19. Paola Muti braced for a rapid spread of the coronavirus to the 800 closely-knit islanders, many of whom she knows well. Her mother was born on Giglio Island and she often stays at the family home with its charming view of the sea through the parlor’s windows. (D'Emilio, 7/26)

AP: South Africa Warns COVID-19 Corruption Puts 'Lives At Risk'
South Africa’s COVID-19 response is marred by corruption allegations around its historic $26 billion economic relief package, as the country with the world’s fifth highest number of COVID-19 cases braces for more. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a wide-ranging investigation into claims that unscrupulous officials and private companies are looting efforts to protect the country’s 57 million people. (Magome, 7/26)

CIDRAP: Plague Outbreak In DRC Sickens 45, Some With Pneumonic Symptoms
A plague outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that began on June likely involves all three types, including pneumonic, and has so far resulted in 45 cases, 9 of them fatal, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in a statement. Plague is endemic in Ituri province, and since the first of the year, officials have reported 64 cases and 14 deaths across five of its health zones, including Rethy. Disease levels this year are up sharply from the 10 cases and 5 deaths that were reported in all of 2019, with only one affected health zone. (7/24)

Updates on COVID cases across the globe —

Bloomberg: China Reports Biggest Virus Spike Since End Of Wuhan Outbreak
China reported the most domestic coronavirus infections in more than four months as it battles outbreaks in its western and northeastern regions, raising fears of a serious resurgence. The jump in cases is the worst flareup since China contained its first epidemic in March, which centered on Wuhan in Hubei province where the virus first emerged last year. (Bloomberg News, 07/26)

Reuters: Second Wave Of Coronavirus In Asia Prompts Fresh Lockdowns 
Countries around Asia are confronting a second wave of coronavirus infections and are clamping down again to try to contain the disease, with Australia recording a record daily rise in cases and Vietnam locking down the city of Danang. Mainland China is battling the most aggressive return of COVID-19 in months, confirming 57 new locally transmitted cases on Sunday, the highest level since early March, driven by fresh infections in the far western region of Xinjiang. In the northeast, Liaoning province reported a fifth straight day of new infections and Jilin province reported two new cases, its first since late May. (Coates, 7/27)

Bloomberg: India’s Coronavirus Epidemic Is Now The World’s Fastest Growing 
India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 1.4 million confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker. Infections in the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people have reached 1.43 million, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the U.S. and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest. (Pradhan, 7/27)

Reuters: Israel Coronavirus Cases Top 60,000 As Infections Jump
The number of people to test positive for coronavirus in Israel topped 60,000 on Saturday as the government struggles to contain a resurgence in infection rates.The latest daily tally showed 1,770 new infections, bringing the total number of cases to 60,496, the country’s health ministry reported.With a population of 9 million, Israel has reported a total of 455 fatalities from the pandemic. (7/25)

Reuters: Latin America Leads World In Coronavirus Cases, Reuters Count Shows 
Coronavirus cases in Latin America for the first time have surpassed the combined infections in the United States and Canada, a Reuters tally showed on Sunday, amid a surge of infections in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Argentina. The quickly growing number of cases make Latin America the region most impacted by the pandemic globally, with 26.83% of worldwide cases. (Desantis and Leira, 7/26)

Reuters: Tokyo Confirms 239 New Coronavirus Cases On Sunday
Tokyo officials confirmed 239 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, Japanese media reported, as the capital struggles with a resurgence in cases after the government lifted a state of emergency. The total marks the sixth straight day new cases in the city have exceeded 200. While Japan was spared the kind of surge in infections that have killed tens of thousands in other countries, Tokyo has raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level after a series of new cases. (7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid Shows The Need For A Diagnostic Stockpile
Similarly, Washington could contract with commercial labs and point-of-care test manufacturers to develop and maintain diagnostic capacity for a crisis. Think of it as part of the national stockpile. Under such contracts, companies would build more labs and sprinkle them throughout the country so capacity could be available wherever it’s needed. Labs usually run very efficiently at 70% or 80% of capacity. Under this arrangement, a facility with 5,000 testing machines might run each of them at 60% capacity, building in room for a surge. The federal government would pay the labs for maintaining the extra equipment and materials. (Former FDA Commissioners Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: Will A Coronavirus Vaccine Be Distributed Fairly?
The United States’ largely uncoordinated and haphazard response to COVID-19 raises a crucial question: Even if we do develop a successful vaccine, is the government even capable of getting it to the people in time? (Daniel L. Liebman and Nisarg A. Patel, 7/27)

Stat: To Beat The Pandemic, We Need Outreach About A Covid-19 Vaccine 
Americans anxiously await two key benefits that a Covid-19 vaccine will deliver: freedom from fear and a return to normal. No single vaccine is likely to offer a panacea for this pandemic. And even if it did, it might not accomplish its job if we don’t deal with hesitance to get vaccinated and counter vaccine disinformation. By failing to do these things, we risk a perpetual cycle of infectious disease coupled with persistent economic decline. (Brill Frist, Richard Pan and Max G. Bronstein, 7/27)

The Washington Post: A Top HHS Aide’s Last Job Was ‘Labradoodle Breeder.’ He’s One Of Many Unqualified Appointees.
Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar assigned a top aide to run the day-to-day U.S. response. The aide’s occupation before his ascension to his prominent post? Labradoodle breeder. That is only one of the absurd and alarming examples of unqualified or otherwise dangerous political appointees carrying out critical duties in the Trump administration — and the worst part is, the public isn’t even aware of many of them. (7/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Americans Are Waking Up To The First Wave
This column has been nearly alone in mentioning the advice that graced a CDC webpage for months and then mysteriously disappeared, warning that most Americans would eventually be exposed to the virus. The “open too soon” talk is nonsense in light of a disease that was guaranteed still to be circulating whenever a restive humanity began to interact again. When and how its circulation manifests in dramatic increases in local health-care demand could use some sorting out, but here’s betting a relatively small subset of social activities plays a big role. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., 7/24)

CNN: The Cure For Covid-19 Is Trust
As the number of Covid-19 cases goes up, another trend line is going down -- dramatically. The number of Americans who approve of President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic is plummeting. In late March, according to an ABC News poll, 51% of Americans approved. Today, only 38% do. The number of Americans who trust what President Trump tells them about Covid-19 is even lower: only 34% put a great deal or good amount of trust in what he says on the subject. Sixty-four percent trust him only a little or not at all. (Ben Sherwood, 7/24)

The Washington Post: With Trump On The Sideline, Nation’s Governors Must Put Aside Political Differences And Lead On Coronavirus
So, in the current crisis, it is up to the nation’s governors to set aside political differences and forge a collective response. They should work together, and with the private sector, to increase testing capacity and coordinate distribution of testing supplies and medical gear. If things get bad enough, they could call for a national mask mandate or even a shutdown. At the least, they should present a united front to the White House and Congress in demanding more forceful federal action, including fresh aid to state and local governments. (Robert McCartney, 7/27)

CNN: Trump's Team Dodges Virus Blame While Jobless Benefit Cuts Loom
The new administration drive to absolve Trump of responsibility and to speed up economic activity by encouraging people to go back to work follow the President's previously misjudged gamble to goad states that are now suffering terribly from the pandemic to open before they had properly suppressed the virus. It also coincides with his demands that all schools open while ignoring concerns of parents and teachers. (Stephen Collinson, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Republicans’ Pandemic Blunders Keep Piling Higher
But when it comes to desperately needed aid for millions of Americans, Republicans are taking deadlines just as seriously as they’ve taken health experts’ guidance during this pandemic. That is to say: Not at all. Already cutoff dates are coming and going. The federal ban on rental evictions expired Friday (though White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow promised it would be extended). The extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits under the Cares Act expire this coming Friday; the last checks have already gone out. And most small businesses that received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program have exhausted that money. (James Downie, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: No, U.S. Isn’t 'Winning' At Coronavirus Testing. But We Can
Capacity for diagnostic tests varies wildly from state to state. Organized contact tracing and isolation of infected people isn’t happening in a meaningful way. It’s a mess. Winning is still an option — if Congress and the president commit now to spending billions of dollars to accelerate testing across the nation, to generate test results in a matter of hours rather than days, and to support state and local efforts to trace and isolate infected people. If we don’t do this soon, more states are likely to be caught alongside California in a cycle of closures, reopenings and re-closures that could continue through the months, maybe years that it will take to have a reliable and widely available COVID-19 vaccine. (7/26)

The New York Times: What America’s Coronavirus Response Looks Like Abroad
The United States leads the world in Covid-19 deaths, nearing 150,000 lost lives. The unemployment figures brought on by the pandemic are mind-boggling. The Trump administration’s slow and haphazard response has been widely criticized. But what does it look like to young people around the world, whose governments moved quickly and aggressively to contain the coronavirus? We wanted to know, so we reached out to quite a few and showed them charts, facts, photos and videos illustrating the U.S. response. Spoiler: They were not impressed. (Brendan Miller and Adam Westbrook, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: The Challenge Of Disseminating Best Science During A Pandemic
Doctors treating COVID-19 patients face the greatest medical challenge since HIV/AIDS. Remdesivir shortens hospital stays for some, but evidence that it prevents death is, like the drug itself, in short supply. That leaves front-line clinicians scrambling to steadily improve the supportive care they provide seriously ill patients, whose ranks are growing rapidly. The U.S. case count now stands at 4 million—over a quarter of the world’s cases. The death toll is over 143,000 with the pandemic’s end nowhere in sight. (Merrill Goozner, 7/25)

Fox News: Why Did Wealthy 'Green' Groups Receive Coronavirus Relief Funds From Taxpayers?
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Congress’ central economic response to COVID-19, approved $521 billion in loans to help businesses keep workers on their payrolls. Sadly, instead of helping those Americans who need support the most, a significant portion of that money is being used to fuel political agendas. Environmental groups are some of the most well-financed nonprofits in the country. The Sierra Club took in over $129 million in its latest tax filing. The National Resources Defense Council $177 million.  Earth Justice $102 million. Still, despite this massive income, they received $2 million to $5 million each in PPP funding. In total, a group of 43 environmental groups received as much as $49.3 million. (Daniel Turner, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Drug Price Panic
President Trump’s decline in the polls is getting more expensive by the day. The next virus spending bill will cost trillions, and late Friday the President made a pitch for seniors with haphazard executive orders to lower drug prices. His prescription is akin to what Democrats are offering: more government control. (7/26)

The New York Times: We’re 20 Percent Of America, And We’re Still Invisible
Yet just as many of the injustices that the Civil Rights Act aimed to eliminate are still very much with us, and still being resisted, the full promise of the Americans With Disabilities Act has yet to be realized. We are not yet where we need to be. (Judith Heumann and John Wodatch, 7/26)

CNN: The Story Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Is All About Bridges
In remembering disabled activists who were instrumental in the creation of America's disability rights movement and imagining what a more inclusive movement for social justice and full civil rights for the future could look like, we keep coming back to the partnership during the late 1970s between the Black Panther Party and the 504 activists, disability rights advocates who were pushing for implementation of a long-delayed section (section 504) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (Vilissa Thompson and David J. Johns, 7/25)

The Hill: Religious Freedom Is No Reason To Deny People With Disabilities The Right To Equality In The Workplace 
Exactly 30 years ago today, on July 26, 1990, President Bush proclaimed proudly, “With today's signing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, every man, woman, and child with a disability can now pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence, and freedom." But can they? (Arlene S. Kanter, 7/26)

The New York Times: Medical School, Blackness And Blame
A senior white physician stands by silently as a white patient uses a slur to describe a Black nurse. A middle-aged doctor asks a Black student why the lower-income Black patients in the clinic aren’t able to speak and act the way she does. Several young doctors make fun of “Black-sounding” names in a newborn unit and speculate when each infant will later enter the penal system. Instances of racism like these are happening in medical schools across America today, just as they happened when I was a medical student 20 years ago. (Damon Tweedy, 7/27)

Stat: We Need To Forecast Epidemics Like We Forecast The Weather 
Disease-modeling communities around the world have been working tirelessly since January to predict how and where Covid-19 will spread, with some real successes. A host of models have illustrated how, with the right resources, we can create relatively accurate disease forecasts that give communities and public health officials an idea of what to expect — and time to prepare. But what if we could forecast epidemics regularly, before there’s a global crisis? That notion is inching closer to reality. (Sara Del Valle, 7/27)

Fox News: Mayors' Life Or Death Decision – This Is How They Can Stop The Violence
A simple decision by mayors throughout the nation will determine if thousands of people live or die. That decision is whether these cities seek the assistance of the FBI and other federal law-enforcement agencies to combat the growth of violence within their jurisdictions. (Steve Levy, 7/27)

Fox News: Police Face Coronavirus, Riots And Now A Funding Crisis – Congress Must Help In Next Relief Bill
But the risks faced by law enforcement are not limited to the rioters in the street. They are facing a defunding crisis that wasn’t brought on by Antifa, but by the coronavirus and upcoming state and local budget crises. Across the country, law enforcement faces massive budget shortfalls, because “stay at home” orders put people out of work, and blew a hole in the revenue those workers generated. It’s happening in blue and red states, and it should scare all of us. (Bernard Kerik, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: It’s Time To ‘Refresh’ The Healthcare Provider-Vendor Relationship To Ensure Ongoing Innovation
It didn’t take long for COVID-19 to highlight some glaring issues in health information technology. Like most businesses globally, healthcare organizations were largely unprepared. We weren’t adequately prepared to move workforces home; quickly shift to virtual care, and appropriately communicate with patients, families, care teams, and so many others who help deliver the services we provide. We did the best we could, though. We quickly cobbled together solutions and together made them work. (Marc Probst, 7/25)