The New York Times: Is America’s Pandemic Waning Or Raging? Yes
In the weeks since America began reopening on a large scale, the coronavirus has persisted on a stubborn but uneven path, with meaningful progress in some cities and alarming new outbreaks in others. A snapshot of the country on a single day last week revealed sharply divergent realities. As the United States marked the tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the contrasting picture was unmistakable — a murky, jumbled outlook depending on one’s location. Around Chicago, Wednesday was one of the most lethal days of the pandemic, with more than 100 deaths. Among the dead: a woman in her 30s, and four men past their 90th birthdays. (Bosman and Smith, 6/1)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Reports Total Of 1,761,503 Coronavirus Cases, 103,700 Deaths
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported a total 1,761,503 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 23,553 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 915 to 103,700. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. EDT on May 30 versus its previous report released on Saturday. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states. (5/31)

ABC News: Doctor Warns There Could Be 100,000 More American COVID-19 Deaths By Labor Day, But Models Vary Widely 
Infectious disease experts from the Emory University School of Medicine are warning that given the current rate of deaths per day, it is possible the U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus could double by September as restrictions are lifted throughout the summer, and Americans begin to congregate again. "Yesterday we passed over 100,000 deaths in this country. We are currently at a rate of about 1,500 deaths per day in the U.S. That means that by Labor Day, there will be another hundred thousand deaths in our country. That is a very sobering number," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine and global health at Emory, during a virtual video briefing conducted on Thursday, as he urged people to be careful and practice social distancing. (Mitropoulos, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Navajo Nation Reports 105 New COVID-19 Cases, 10 More Deaths
The Navajo Department of Health has reported 105 new cases of coronavirus on the Navajo Nation and 10 more known deaths. That pushes the numbers to 5,250 positive COVID-19 cases and 241 known deaths as of Saturday night. (5/31)

CIDRAP: Global COVID-19 Total Passes 6 Million
The global COVID-19 total topped 6 million cases today, as Brazil's cases hit new daily highs and as large numbers continue to be reported in other large countries such as the United States, Russia, and India. It took only 9 days for illnesses to rise from 5 million to 6 million, which is 3 days less than it took for totals to rise from 3 million to 4 million, and from 4 million to 5 million. The global total is at 6,014,117, and 367,627 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 5/30)

The New York Times: Will Protests Set Off A Second Viral Wave?
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people out of their homes and onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. More than 100,000 Americans have already died of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. People of color have been particularly hard hit, with rates of hospitalizations and deaths among black Americans far exceeding those of whites. (Rabin, 5/31)

The Washington Post: Crowded Protests Spark Concerns About Fresh Outbreaks Of The Deadly Coronavirus
Outside Brooklyn's Barclays Center, thousands of protesters churned this weekend in tightly packed crowds, casting aside social distancing to express their rage and grief. In Minneapolis, ungloved demonstrators held hands as they marched. In Las Vegas, demonstrators roared their anger into the faces of police lined up just a few feet away. And in nearly two dozen U.S. cities, police grappled physically with more than 2,500 people arrested during often-violent protests over the death of a black man, George Floyd, in the custody of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. (Bernstein, 5/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Protests Over Death Of George Floyd Threaten A Jump In Coronavirus Cases
“It’s a triple whammy of protests, plus raging pandemic, plus economic instability. Those three things together make for a perfect storm of viral transmission,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. He said he expects there will be a spike in cases due to protests. That would mirror patterns seen around the world after governments started lifting lockdown restrictions, but this time on a larger scale, he said, because the protests are happening across the country, often in hot spots of transmission, like the South and West. (Hernandez and Abbott, 5/31)

The Associated Press: Mass Gatherings, Erosion Of Trust Upend Coronavirus Control
Protests erupting across the nation over the past week — and law enforcement’s response to them — are threatening to upend efforts by health officials to track and contain the spread of coronavirus just as those efforts were finally getting underway. Health experts need newly infected people to remember and recount everyone they’ve interacted with over several days in order to alert others who may have been exposed, and prevent them from spreading the disease further. But that process, known as contact tracing, relies on people knowing who they’ve been in contact with — a daunting task if they’ve been to a mass gathering. (Stobbe, 6/1)

The Associated Press: US Heads Into A New Week Shaken By Violence And Pandemic
With cities wounded by days of violent unrest, America headed into a new week with neighborhoods in shambles, urban streets on lockdown and shaken confidence about when leaders would find the answers to control the mayhem amid unrelenting raw emotion over police killings of black people. All of it smashed into a nation already bludgeoned by a death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surging past 100,000 and unemployment that soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression. (Khalil, Morrison and Vertuno, 6/1)

NBC News: Protests Could Cause Catastrophic Setback For Controlling Coronavirus, Experts Say
Within the last few days, careful social distancing has been overturned by demonstrations against social injustice — as thousands of Americans congregate in cities across the country protesting the death of George Floyd. The large gatherings, infectious disease experts said, could cause a catastrophic setback for controlling COVID-19 in the U.S. as cities and states try to reopen. (Edwards, 5/31)

The Washington Post: May Brought A Glaring Accrual Of Trauma And Grief To Black Communities
The whole city still smelled like fire, but Yvonne Passmore wanted to survey the damage wrought by days of violent protests. So she stood beside three neighbors in South Minneapolis, all of them black, all of them trying to process what had happened the past few days, and months, and years.“ First, we had the coronavirus, which is wiping us out,” said Passmore, 65, pushing down her mask so she could breathe a little better. “And now it’s this.” (Bailey, Gowen, Williams and Del Real, 5/31)

The Hill: Gottlieb: Need To Resolve 'Underlying Problems' Of Racial Inequity To Stop Coronavirus Pandemic
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the “underlying problems” of racial inequity in the U.S. need to be addressed in order to stop the coronavirus pandemic which is impacting communities of color at disproportionate rates. “I think it's a symptom of broader racial inequities in our country that we need to work to resolve,” he said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Gottlieb said the issue needs to be addressed at two levels: why there are higher rates of COVID-19 and higher death rates from the coronavirus among black Americans. (Klar, 5/31)

CBS News: Ex-FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb Warns Of Uptick In Coronavirus Infections After Widespread Protests 
"There's going to be a lot of issues coming out of what's happened in the last week, but one of them is going to be that chains of transmission will have become lit from these gatherings," Gottlieb said on "Face the Nation," adding that Minnesota, the epicenter of the protests, was already experiencing an uptick in coronavirus infections. "This country isn't through this epidemic," Gottlieb said. "This is continuing to expand but at a much slower rate. But it's still expanding, and we still have pockets of spread in communities that aren't under good control." (Quinn, 5/31)

CNN: In Huntington Beach, A George Floyd Protest Was Deemed An Unlawful Assembly. A Stay-At-Home Protest One Month Ago Was Not 
In Huntington Beach, California, on Sunday, hundreds demonstrated over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man who died at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Protesters held signs that read "End Racism" and "Black Lives Matter," according to CNN affiliate KTLA. Police deemed the gathering an unlawful assembly, and asked the hundreds of protesters to disperse, police officials said in a statement. One month ago, a different protest in the same Orange County community, which has a large Republican community, was left mostly alone. (Hamedy and Meeks, 6/1)

The Hill: Hogan Concerned About Coronavirus Spike After Protests 
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Sunday he is a “little bit concerned” about protests sparked by the death of George Floyd potentially leading to a spike in coronavirus cases. “Well, we're a little bit concerned about that,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when asked if he’s worried the protests could be spreading the coronavirus. “Right now, the immediate concern is to lower the temperature, stop the looting, and potentially keep our citizens safe from the riots that are going on,” he added. (Klar, 5/31)

The Washington Post: D.C. Area Leaders Fear Virus Surge After Protests, But Md. Suburbs Continue To Prepare For Reopening
Washington-area leaders on Sunday raised alarms that widespread protests against police brutality could lead to a new wave of coronavirus infections, wiping out progress as the region began reopening over the weekend. “When you put hundreds or thousands of people together in close proximity, when we’ve got this virus all over the streets, it’s not healthy,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There’s about a 14-day incubation period, so, two weeks from now, across America, we’re going to find out whether this gives us a spike and drives the numbers back up or not.” (Nirappil, 5/31)

Reuters: Retailers Already Hit By Coronavirus Board Up As U.S. Protests Rage
Target Corp and Walmart said on Sunday they shuttered stores across the United States as retailers already reeling from closures because of the coronavirus pandemic shut outlets amid protests that included looting in many U.S. cities. (Resnick-Ault, 5/31)

NPR: George Floyd's Death At The Hands Of Police Is A Terrible Echo Of The Past
The last few weeks have been filled with devastating news — stories about the police killing black people. At this point, these calamities feel familiar — so familiar, in fact, that their details have begun to echo each other. In July 2014, a cellphone video captured some of Eric Garner's final words as New York City police officers sat on his head and pinned him to the ground on a sidewalk: "I can't breathe." On May 25 of this year, the same words were spoken by George Floyd, who pleaded for release as an officer knelt on his neck and pinned him to the ground on a Minneapolis street. (5/31)

Stat: When Did The Coronavirus Start Spreading In The U.S.? Likely In January, CDC Analysis Suggests
How early did local transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus begin in the United States? For the second time this week, scientists have proposed a new estimate. This one, from scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggests that transmission likely began in late January or early February on the West Coast and that the virus spread undetected for more than a month. (Branswell, 5/29)

The Washington Post: CDC Chief Defends Failure To Spot Early Coronavirus Spread In U.S.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday defended the agency’s failure to find early spread of the coronavirus in the United States, noting that surveillance systems “kept eyes” on the disease.“ We were never really blind when it came to surveillance” for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, CDC chief Robert R. Redfield said. Even if widespread diagnostic testing had been in place, it would have been like “looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said. (Sun and Achenbach, 5/29)

NPR: CDC Chief Says Coronavirus Testing Delay Didn't Hinder Response
The CDC has come under intense criticism for botching the rollout of testing for the new virus. The agency's first test was flawed, delaying the availability of wide-scale testing. Many public health experts said that delay squandered a crucial window of opportunity to keep the virus from spreading in the United States. (Stein, 5/29)

NBC News: Coronavirus Started Spreading In The U.S. In January, CDC Says
"Information from these diverse data sources suggests that limited community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States occurred between the latter half of January and the beginning of February, following an importation of SARS-CoV-2 from China," the authors wrote. SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness. The virus then came into the U.S. from Europe, the CDC reported. "The findings do show that in late February, early March, there were several importations of the virus from Europe to California and northeastern United States and possibly elsewhere," Redfield said. (Edwards, 5/29)

HealthDay: Coronavirus Was Already Spreading In U.S. In January: Study
Genetic analysis of the early Washington state strains of coronavirus also indicate that they sprang from a common ancestor, estimated to have existed between mid-January to early February, the researchers reported. That sequence is consistent with the first known travel-related U.S. case of COVID-19, which occurred in a man who arrived in Seattle from Wuhan, China on Jan. 15, and fell ill four days later, the study authors noted.However, the contact tracing that public health officials conducted in that case was very thorough and the Seattle man did not wind up causing other documented cases of COVID-19, the researchers believe. (Thompson, 5/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Health Department Identifies 13 Coronavirus Cases In 8 Counties From January
The Ohio Department of Health is now estimating a January onset of coronavirus symptoms for at least 13 cases in eight counties, evidence that the virus arrived earlier and more widely than originally could be confirmed. Two weeks ago, on May 11, Dr. Amy Acton, director of the health department, first discussed five cases the state had identified going back to January - moving the earliest estimates up by weeks and well ahead of the confirmation of the first cases on March 9. (Exner, 5/29)

The Atlantic: How Many People Had The Coronavirus In January?
Of all the things we still don’t know about SARS-CoV-2—How far can it travel through the air? What treatments can tame it? How many people will it kill?—the number of people who might have been infected with the virus in January has held a special allure. A reliable estimate could help determine just how bad the United States’ botched early response to the pandemic was. We already know that the government failed to detect as many as 28,000 infections by March 1, so just how late to the game were we? (Gutman, 5/8)

The New York Times: Blaming China For Pandemic, Trump Says U.S. Will Leave The W.H.O.
After spending weeks accusing the World Health Organization of helping the Chinese government cover up the early days of the coronavirus epidemic in China, President Trump said on Friday that the United States would terminate its relationship with the agency. “The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government,” Mr. Trump said in a speech in the Rose Garden. “Countless lives have been taken, and profound economic hardship has been inflicted all around the globe.” In his 10-minute address, Mr. Trump took no responsibility for the deaths of 100,000 Americans from the virus, instead saying China had “instigated a global pandemic.” (McNeil and Jacobs, 5/29)

Reuters: Trump Cutting U.S. Ties With World Health Organization Over Virus
The move to quit the Geneva-based body, which the United States formally joined in 1948, comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak. The virus first emerged in China’s Wuhan city late last year. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Chinese officials “ignored their reporting obligations” to the WHO about the virus - that has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally - and pressured the agency to “mislead the world.” (Holland and Nichols, 5/29)

The Washington Post: Trump Says U.S. To Withdraw From World Health Organization And Announces New Broadsides Against Beijing
The president later issued a proclamation to protect sensitive American university research from Chinese spying and to bar an unspecified number of Chinese nationals from entering the United States for graduate study. He also directed an administration working group headed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to evaluate Chinese corporations listed on U.S. financial markets as potential targets of future restrictions. (Lynch and Rauhala, 5/29)

Stat: Trump: U.S. Will Terminate Relationship With WHO Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
Some congressional Republicans have echoed Trump’s attacks on the agency, but in a statement Friday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chair of the Senate’s health committee, said he disagreed with Trump. “Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it,” said Alexander (R-Tenn.). “Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States.” (Joseph and Branswell, 5/29)

Politico: Trump Announces U.S. Withdrawal From The World Health Organization
Trump's announcement was quickly panned by health experts, who claimed it would set back global efforts to track and defeat a virus that's already killed more than 360,000 people and sickened nearly 6 million. But the move has been cheered by Trump's base, which is distrustful of international bodies. The U.S. has relied on its partnership with the WHO and other countries to share crucial data and information, including on treatments and potential vaccine development for the coronavirus, as well as other public health threats including HIV and Ebola. (Ehley and Ollstein, 5/29)

Stat: Experts Warn Of Dire Global Consequences If U.S. Withdraws From WHO
An American withdrawal from the World Health Organization could wreak profound damage on the global effort to eradicate polio and could undermine the world’s ability to detect and respond to disease threats, health experts warned. The experts, from the United States and beyond, are aghast at President Trump’s announced intention to leave the organization, which he publicly blames for not being tougher on China in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic — at a time when he himself was praising China’s unprecedented efforts to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (Branswell, 5/30)

Reuters: WHO, 37 Countries Launch Alliance To Share Tools To Battle COVID-19
Thirty-seven countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed on Friday for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies. (5/29)

Stat: The WHO Launched A Covid-19 Product Pool. What Happens Next?
After weeks of planning, the World Health Organization formally launched a voluntary pool to collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that could be shared for developing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to combat Covid-19. The effort reflects rising concern that some Covid-19 medical products may not be accessible for poorer populations – in any country. By establishing a voluntary mechanism under the auspices of the WHO, the goal is to create a pathway to attract numerous governments, as well as industry, universities and nonprofit organizations. (Silverman, 5/29)

The New York Times: As Virus Toll Preoccupies U.S., Rivals Test Limits Of American Influence
With the United States preoccupied by the sobering reality of more than 100,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus, China has pushed in recent weeks to move troops into disputed territory with India, continue aggressive actions in the South China Sea and rewrite the rules of how it will control Hong Kong. At roughly the same time, Russian fighter jets roared dangerously close to American Navy planes over the Mediterranean Sea, while the country’s space forces conducted an antisatellite missile test clearly aimed at sending the message that Moscow could blind U.S. spy satellites and take down GPS and other communications systems. Russia’s military cyberunits were busy, too, the National Security Agency reported, with an innovative attack that may portend accelerated planning for a strike on email systems this election year. (Sanger, Schmitt and Wong, 6/1)

Politico: Trump’s National Security Adviser Attacks World Health Organization
White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien repeatedly slammed the World Health Organization as “corrupt” on Sunday after the U.S. withdrew from the agency late last week. O’Brien stressed in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the United States would continue to spend the same amount on public health but was opting to divert the funds to organizations that would better use them. (Semones, 5/31)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S.-China Disputes Growing Harder To Solve
President Donald Trump’s decision to downgrade relations with Hong Kong shows how his clashes with China increasingly feature ideological differences that are harder to resolve than the trade dispute that has primarily defined the administration’s approach to the relationship with its biggest rival. The president on Friday said China’s decision to impose a national security law was “absolutely smothering Hong Kong freedoms” and made it impossible for the U.S. to continue treating the city with a special status. (Areddy and Deng, 5/31)

The Washington Post: Trump’s May Days: A Month Of Distractions And Grievances As Nation Marks Bleak Coronavirus Milestone
As the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic climbed toward the bleak milestone of 100,000 and nearly one-sixth of the nation’s workers were unemployed, President Trump’s mind on May 18 was elsewhere. He welcomed two of his 2016 political soldiers, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, to the White House for a nostalgia tour reminiscing about how he had vanquished Hillary Clinton. (Costa, Rucker, Abutaleb and Dawsey, 5/31)

Politico: White House Divided On Trump Addressing Racial Tensions
As protests continue to flare across the country, President Donald Trump and his top aides cannot settle on the next steps the White House should take to ease tensions after the latest death of an African American man detained by a white police officer. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been pushing for the president to deliver a formal address to the nation to emphasize his support for law and order and police officers, a familiar trope for the Republican Party and one that typically plays well with its base. (Cook, 5/31)

The Washington Post: Trump Postpones G-7 Until September After Merkel Declines Invitation, Citing Pandemic
President Trump says he will postpone until September the annual Group of Seven meeting of world leaders. The president had wanted to hold the gathering in-person by the end of June at the White House. But earlier Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined his invitation, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. (Hawkins, Adam, Berger, Buckner and Pell, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Access To Coronavirus Testing Can Depend On Who You Know
Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., is known as a summer haven for jet-setters, but its year-round residents have struggled along with other working-class communities to break the pandemic’s stranglehold. Now, though, one of its part-timers is helping out by making coronavirus tests available to any resident who wants one. After a conversation with his landscaper—a town politician—about testing availability, Stephen Rusckowski, the chief executive of lab giant Quest Diagnostics Inc., said his company would provide expanded access to diagnostic testing on the island. (Krouse and Abbott, 5/31)

The New York Times: Testing Is Key To Beating Coronavirus, Right? Japan Has Other Ideas
As the world tries to get a handle on the coronavirus and emerge from paralyzing lockdowns, public health officials have repeated a mantra: “test, test, test.” But Japan went its own way, limiting tests to only the most severe cases as other countries raced to screen as many people as possible. Medical experts worried that the approach would blind the country to the spread of infection, allowing cases to explode and swamping hospitals. It hasn’t happened. (Dooley and Inoue, 5/29)

The Washington Post: Why Aren't More People Seeking Covid-19 Tests In D.C.? 
On a recent morning at a free walk-up coronavirus testing site in the District of Columbia, blue-gowned workers wearing face shields and masks often stood by with nothing to do. They mostly outnumbered those seeking tests. Between the District’s public lab and those associated with hospitals and other care providers, officials say there is capacity to test about 5,500 people a day. But the number of people asking for tests hasn’t reached anywhere near that figure. (Thompson, 5/30)

NPR: Coronavirus Testing: Should I Go For It Even If I Have No Symptoms?
Earlier in this pandemic, the shortage of tests for the coronavirus was a major problem in fighting the spread of COVID-19. The shortage was such that many hospitals and clinics would test only someone who had traveled to a country with an outbreak, had a known exposure to a positive case or showed symptoms of the disease. But access to tests has improved significantly, and in some places, people can now get tested without having to show any symptoms at all. So if you can get tested, should you? The answer is a little complicated. (Wamsley, 5/31)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: The $7,000 COVID Test And Other Lessons From SEASON-19
Host Dan Weissmann spoke with three people who have very different reflections on what the COVID-19 pandemic is costing us. (Weissmann, 6/1)

CNN: Covid-19: Sewage Could Hold The Key To Stopping New Coronavirus Outbreaks 
The vast brown rivers of sludge that gush into the sewage treatment plants across Germany may hold a key to early detection of any new wave of the coronavirus, scientists tell CNN. The Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research is leading a trial that's sampling wastewater from plants serving some of the largest urban areas and trying to find evidence of the coronavirus. The ultimate goal is for almost all sewage plants to install these coronavirus early warning systems so as to track the spread of Covid-19. (Pleitgen, 6//1)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: CDC Issues Accuracy Warning As Nevada Ramps Up Antibody Testing 
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week that some coronavirus antibody tests are inaccurate and cautioned that even the better tests should not be used to determine who can safely return to work or school. “Suffice to say, CDC is adequately worried about all the junk (antibody) tests that FDA let out on the market,” Mark Pandori, the director of Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, said in an email, responding to questions from the Review-Journal. (Hynes, 5/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Companies Grapple With Challenges Of Work-Site Testing 
As some of the 250 Bay Area employees at Sequoia Consulting Group prepare to return to their San Mateo office, probably this month, they’ll be part of a grand experiment that millions of U.S. workers may soon join: having to get a coronavirus diagnostic test, and test negative, before going back to work. (Ho, 6/1)

Boston Globe: Virus Testing In Towns Across State A Mixed Bag. Eight Of Every 100 People Have Been Tested. 
The new data offered a glimpse of where testing has been most intensive, which includes cities that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, such as Chelsea and Brockton. The breakdown also showed testing has varied significantly from town to town, though the data made it hard to draw concrete conclusions. (Ryan, 5/30)

The Associated Press: US Sends Brazil Malaria Drug Unproven For COVID-19 Treatment
No large, rigorous scientific studies have found the drug, hydroxychloroquine, safe or effective for preventing or treating COVID-19, and some smaller studies have indicated worse outcomes from those taking the drug. Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country, continues to see a surge in virus cases, and last week Trump announced that the U.S. was restricting travel from the country to prevent travelers from spreading the virus in the U.S. (5/31)

Axios: U.S. Sends Brazil 2 Million Doses Of Hydroxychloroquine And 1,000 Ventilators
The big picture: The situation in Brazil, which has reported over 498,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 28,000 deaths, is threatening to spiral out of control as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faces mounting criticism for downplaying the severity of the virus. (Perano, 5/31)

Reuters: U.S. Sends Brazil 2 Million Doses Of Hydroxychloroquine, Drug Touted By Trump 
The two countries will also conduct a joint research effort that will include “randomized controlled clinical trials,” the statement said, adding that the United States would soon send 1,000 ventilators to Brazil. Brazil reported a record 33,274 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, its Health Ministry said, and the death toll surpassed that of France and now ranks only below the United States, Britain and Italy. (Spetalnick, 5/31)

Reuters: U.S. Hospitals Slash Use Of Drug Championed By Trump As Coronavirus Treatment
U.S. hospitals said they have pulled way back on the use of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment, after several studies suggested it is not effective and may pose significant risks. (Erman and Beasley, 5/29)

Reuters: Exclusive: Sanofi Stops Enrolling COVID-19 Patients In Hydroxychloroquine Trials
Sanofi has temporarily stopped recruiting new COVID-19 patients for two clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine and will no longer supply the anti-malaria drug to treat COVID-19 until concerns about safety are cleared up, it said on Friday. The moves come after the World Health Organization paused its large trial of hydroxychloroquine, prompting several European governments to ban the use of the drug, also used in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. (Blamont, 5/29)

Reuters: Exclusive: Russia, After Approving Japanese COVID-19 Drug, To Roll Out 'Game Changer' Next Week
Russia will start administering its first approved antiviral drug to treat coronavirus patients next week, its state financial backer told Reuters, a move it described as “a game changer” that should speed a return to normal economic life. (Osborn, 6/1)

Reuters: Scientists Hunt Pandemic Hotspots In Race To Test Vaccines
The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may be waning. For vaccine developers, that could be a problem. Scientists in Europe and the United States say the relative success of draconian lockdown and social distancing policies in some areas and countries means virus transmission rates may be at such low levels that there is not enough disease circulating to truly test potential vaccines. They may need to look further afield, to pandemic hotspots in Africa and Latin America, to get convincing results. (Kelland and Steenhuysen, 6/1)

The Hill: Some Worry 'Operation Warp Speed' Plays Into Anti-Vaccination Movement's Hands 
President Trump’s rapid push for a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year may be playing into the hands of the anti-vaccine community, which has already used the coronavirus crisis to further its conspiracy claims about the safety of vaccines. The Trump administration is racing to get a vaccine to the market quickly with “Operation Warp Speed.” The project’s goal is to have 300 million vaccine doses available by January, an accelerated version of the administration’s previous projections of needing 12 to 18 months to get a vaccine ready for the public. (Weixel, 5/31)

Reuters: Moderna Starts Dosing Patients In Mid-Stage Coronavirus Vaccine Study
Moderna Inc said on Friday it had started dosing patients in a mid-stage study with its experimental coronavirus vaccine and eventually plans to enroll 600 patients for the trial. There are currently about 10 coronavirus vaccines being tested in humans and experts have predicted that a safe and effective vaccine could take 12 to 18 months from the start of development. Earlier this month, Moderna had released here early-stage data that showed the vaccine, mRNA-1273, was safe and produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers. (5/29)

Reuters: Chinese Vaccine Could Be Ready By Year-End, Government Body Says
A Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine could be ready for market as early as the end of this year, China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said in a social media post. In trials, more than 2,000 people have received vaccines developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products. (Harney and Liu, 5/30)

CIDRAP: Pharma Execs Say Several COVID Vaccine Options Needed
Claiming not to be in competition with each other but rather with time and the coronavirus, top executives from the world's leading pharmaceutical companies said yesterday they're working as fast as they can to develop, scale up, and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine. At a media briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), executives from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer also said they were committed to making coronavirus vaccines safe and ensuring equitable access. (Dall, 5/29)

Stat: Anthony Fauci On Covid-19 Reopenings, Vaccines, And Moving At ‘Warp Speed’
Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has seen the photos of bars packed with mask-less patrons. He was not impressed. He was similarly unenthused about a decision by the biotech company Moderna to issue snippets of early data from the vaccine trial his agency has been conducting — without waiting for fuller results. That said, these days, Fauci sees reason for cautious optimism about Moderna’s vaccine, and others. The idea of having a vaccine by the end of the year is “aspirational, but it’s certainly doable,” he told STAT in a wide-ranging interview. (Branswell, 6/1)

Politico: Roberts Joins Court's Liberals To Deny California Church's Lockdown Challenge
A sharply divided Supreme Court late Friday turned aside a church's urgent plea that California's coronavirus lockdown orders are putting an unconstitutional burden on religious freedom. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service. (Gerstein, 5/29)

NPR: Supreme Court Rejects Church's Challenge To California's Coronavirus Rules
"Although California's guidelines place restrictions on places of worship, those restrictions appear consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment," Roberts said, in an opinion that denied a request by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church for relief from the rules. The Chula Vista-based house of worship sued Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, over an order limiting congregations to 25% capacity or 100 attendees, whichever is lower. The plaintiffs told the court its services typically attract 200 to 300 congregants. (Dwyer, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Rejects Church Challenge To California’s Limits On In-Person Services During The Pandemic
While churches faced fewer restrictions than other gatherings, the order “exempts or treats more leniently only dissimilar activities, such as operating grocery stores, banks, and laundromats, in which people neither congregate in large groups nor remain in close proximity for extended periods,” the chief justice wrote. “The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted during the pandemic is a dynamic and fact-intensive matter subject to reasonable disagreement,” he wrote, but the Constitution principally assigns such judgments “to the politically accountable officials of the States.” (Bravin, 5/30)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Pushing Churches To Open. Black Pastors In Hard-Hit St. Louis Are Preaching Caution.
On any given Sunday, the soaring sanctuary of St. Louis’s Church of God in Christ echoes with thundering sermons, joyful music and ecstatic professions of faith. Just not this week. Or next. Silent since March, the church will stay that way until Bishop Elijah H. Hankerson III deems it safe — even though local authorities have authorized places of worship to reopen and President Trump has prodded them to do it fast. (Witte, 5/31)

The New York Times: Amid Riots And A Pandemic, Church Attendance Resumes In ‘A Very Broken World’
With their most vulnerable members at home, their community in the streets, and their nation wracked by a pandemic, riots and political polarization, Pastor Samuel Rodriguez’s congregation went to church here on Sunday, at times violating state health rules in the interest of unity. “Outside the confines of these walls we hear the sound of a very broken world,” preached Mr. Rodriguez, an evangelical minister. “Outside these corridors of worship we hear the sound of desperation. Throughout America today we hear the sounds of a nation torn apart by the devil of racism.” (Hubler and Rojas, 5/31)

The Washington Post: On This Pentecost, Christians Who Came To Church Were Wary And Grateful
Andre Kuhner and his family used to go to Mass every day. So when the Army logistics expert figured out Sunday morning that the Catholic Diocese of Arlington was reopening and that their 2½ -month Communion drought was over, he was like a shot out of a cannon. “I ran around the house and said: ‘Get dressed, we’re going to Mass!’ ” he said Sunday, with his wife, Renata, and two young sons all beaming outside the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, where they’d just gone back to in-person services. (Boorstein, 5/31)

Los Angeles Times: Churches Plan Big Pentecost Services Despite Orders
The three pastors planned to meet at church on a weekday morning in early May. Two months after shutting down all in-person gatherings to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, their houses of worship were still closed — and the men were determined to bring the word of God to their parishioners in need. But news of the meeting spread like sparks from kindling, and more than 40 representatives of roughly 1,500 California churches showed up. They sat six feet apart, masks covering their mouths and noses. (Parvini, 5/31)

Boston Globe: Some Clergy Voice Caution About Reopening As COVID-19 Cases Continue To Drop In Massachusetts
As Massachusetts continued its recovery Saturday from the coronavirus pandemic, some clergy voiced caution about opening their doors too soon, while protesters at the State House blasted Governor Charlie Baker for moving too slowly in restarting the state’s economy. The coronavirus has claimed the lives of 6,768 people in Massachusetts, according to the state Department of Public Health, which reported 50 new deaths on Saturday. The agency also reported 789 new cases, bringing the total number of people with COVID-19 to 96,301. (Hilliard and Jungreis, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Plexiglass Is The New Hot Commodity As Businesses Try To Reopen
Manufacturers are racing to crank out the hand sanitizer, masks and clear plastic dividers that are emerging as integral elements for reopening the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. Stepped-up production has sent prices for materials soaring: The alcohol used in sanitizer has tripled in price since January. Wait times for plexiglass-style sheeting are now measured in months rather than weeks. Scores of companies are hunting for fabrics that block virus-laden particles to supply their employees with masks. All told, the $5 billion U.S. market for personal-protection equipment is expected to grow nearly 15% this year from 2019, according to IBISWorld, a market research firm. (Terlep and Hufford, 5/31)

The Washington Post: Social Distancing Strictures Fall Away As Crowds Gather To Party And Protest
Melissa Shapiro, 26, sat in the sun under a sign suggesting social distancing at the Redhead Lakeside Grill on Saturday, as dozens stood shoulder-to-shoulder in waist-deep water before her. “We’re not in L.A. or New York,” she observed. “We’re at Lake of the Ozarks, and if there were as many people here as there was last weekend, we’d leave.” Besides, Shapiro said, “we’re millennials, we’re healthy,” and she and her friends planned to isolate themselves for 14 days after returning home to St. Louis. (DeYoung, James, Schneider and Farwell, 5/30)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus-Battered D.C. And Northern Virginia Reopen, But Normalcy Remains Scarce
Beneath a gray-sky morning, the nearly 4 million people of Washington and its Northern Virginia suburbs woke up Friday in communities where, for the first time in 60 days, they were not ordered to stay home — though many did anyway. In the nation’s capital, rush-hour roads were still empty and stores were still shuttered. Apologies still hung in windows, promising everyone would be back “soon.” (Cox, Jamison, Stein and Zauzmer, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Prisons To Reopen To Visitors
State prisons in Oklahoma will reopen for inmate visitation starting next weekend, but with precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the state Department of Correction. Visitors must remain in their vehicle until called, wear a mask provided by the facility, complete a health-screening, show no symptoms of the virus and maintain social distancing, the department said Friday. Visitors will be allowed to carry only an identification card, car key, and baby care items if a young child is present. (5/30)

The New York Times: Can 8 Million Daily Riders Be Lured Back To N.Y. Mass Transit? 
As New York City prepares to reopen after enduring one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, officials are scrambling to avoid a new disaster — the gridlock that could result if many people continue to avoid public transportation and turn to cars instead. Before the crisis, eight million people in the region each weekday — including over 50 percent of the city’s population — used a complex network of subways, buses and railways that has long been a vibrant symbol of the largest metropolis in the United States. After the outbreak hit, though, ridership plummeted as workers stayed home to slow the spread of the virus. (Goldbaum, 6/1)

ABC News: Lack Of Guidance Inspires Improvised Reopening Plans For Schools 
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott this month offered up a plan: Public schools could reopen for summer classes starting June 1, provided they follow the state education agency's guidelines like meeting in small groups and spacing desks 6 feet apart. But since that May 18 announcement, Texas has become an example of just how difficult returning to school can be. Some teachers in Texas now say they are worried about returning and getting sick, while administrators have said they need more guidance before making any definitive calls about what might happen in the fall. (Tatum, 5/31)

ABC News: Hesitancy To Resume Activities Marks Reopening Challenges: POLL 
With two-thirds of Americans worried about a second wave of the coronavirus, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds nearly 6 in 10 people are unready to resume their pre-pandemic activities, underscoring continued public unease as the nation seeks a return to normalcy. Impacts of the pandemic are vast. Seventy-nine percent in this national survey say their lives have been disrupted. Fifty-nine percent report severe economic impacts in their community -- up from 43% two months ago. Among those employed before the pandemic began, 24% have been laid off or furloughed. (Langer and Sparks, 6/1)

Los Angeles Times: In Reopening Restaurants And Hair Salons, L.A. County Tests Whether It Can Prevent Second Wave Of Coronavirus
Despite having the most serious coronavirus outbreak in California, Los Angeles County on Friday was given the go-ahead to reopen restaurants for in-person dining, and resume services at barbershops and hair salons in the biggest test of whether the state can reopen the economy without causing COVID-19 to spread more rapidly. Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a request by L.A. County leaders to begin the next phase of reopening and businesses could be up and running this weekend. (Wigglesworth, Shalby and Chang, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Hits Small-Town Summer: No Riverfront Days, No Little League World Series
For the first time since it began 41 years ago, the Riverfront Days summer festival won’t take place in Decatur, Neb., a double whammy for the small farming town, which counts on the economic boost and cherishes the civic togetherness. The coronavirus pandemic forced the town to cancel the event on Father’s Day weekend. There will be no street dances or puppet shows, no kids’ fishing tournament, no out-of-towners filling Pop-n-Doc’s restaurant, no community play with a cast ranging from first-graders to great-grandparents. (Calvert, 5/30)

The Associated Press: Virus-Proofing Sports Facilities Presents A Big Challenge
The jersey-wearing camaraderie. The scent of sizzling sausages. The buzz before a big game. The distinctive atmosphere of live sports, that feeling in the air, will return in time as pandemic restrictions are eased. But will that very air be safe in a closed arena with other fans in attendance? The billions of dollars spent on state-of-the-art sports facilities over the last quarter-century have made high-efficiency air filtration systems more common, thanks in part to the pursuit of green and healthy building certifications. (Campbell, 6/1)

Detroit Free Press: US Department Of Justice Joins Businesses Fighting Whitmer Orders
The U.S. Justice Department put the weight of its office Friday behind a business lawsuit seeking to overturn some of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. The governor said the development was a White House move that "seeks to undermine the health and safety of Michigan residents." (Egan, 5/30)

The Associated Press: Many States Scrambling To Update Hurricane Plans For Virus
Officials across the U.S. South are still scrambling to adjust their hurricane plans to the coronavirus. The big unknown: Where will people fleeing storms go? The Associated Press surveyed more than 70 counties and states from Texas to Virginia, with more than 60% of coastal counties saying as of late May that they’re still solidifying plans for public hurricane shelters. They’re also altering preparations for dealing with the sick and elderly, protective equipment and cleanup costs. (Borenstein, 5/31)

Politico: States Brace For Disasters As Pandemic Collides With Hurricane Season
Officials from Florida to Missouri are hurriedly rewriting their disaster plans, worried that crowding large groups of evacuees in shelters could spread coronavirus during what’s expected to be a busy hurricane and tornado season. Firefighters in Colorado are working social distancing into their strategy for tackling long-duration wildfires. And New York City is spending $55 million on air conditioners for low-income seniors in public housing, to keep them away from cooling centers that draw hundreds during heat waves. (Goldberg and Ehley, 6/1)

NPR: Hurricane Evacuation Plans Create New Worries During Coronavirus Pandemic 
Robin Rokobauer doesn't like to chance it. When there's a hurricane, she almost always evacuates. Rokobauer lives in Cocoa Beach, Fla., on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and 153-mile-long Indian River Lagoon. Her mother is 93. "She's got to have flushing toilets," Rokobauer says of her mother. "She's got to have fresh water. She's just got some physical needs that require that." (Bruggers and Green, 6/1)

The New York Times: States Warn That Virus May Doom Climate Projects
Connecticut is preparing to build a first-of-its-kind underground flood wall. Virginia has planned an intricate system of berms, pump stations and raised roads to keep the flood-prone city of Norfolk dry. Louisiana has broken ground on a new community for people forced to flee a village on its sinking coast, the country’s first government-resettled climate migrants. Projects in 13 cities and states, which were part of the Obama administration’s push to protect Americans from climate change after the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, are now in jeopardy because of the coronavirus pandemic, state and local officials warn. And they need Republicans in Congress to save those projects. (Flavelle, 6/1)

ProPublica/New Mexico In Depth/ The News & Observer: Nursing Homes Fought Federal Emergency Plan Requirements For Years. Now, They’re Coronavirus Hot Spots.
On Dec. 15, 2016, the nation’s largest nursing home lobby wrote a letter to Donald Trump, congratulating the president-elect and urging him to roll back new regulations on the long-term care industry. One item on the wish list was a recently issued emergency preparedness rule. It required nursing homes to draw up plans for hazards such as an outbreak of a new infectious disease.Trump’s election, the American Health Care Association, or AHCA, wrote, had demonstrated that voters opposed “extremely burdensome” rules that endangered the industry’s thin profit margins. (Furlow, Brosseau and Arnsdorf, 5/29)

ABC News: Family Sues Nursing Home Over Death Of Army Veteran From Coronavirus 
A grieving family has filed a lawsuit against Hollywood Premier Healthcare Center, a skilled nursing home in California, after their loved one died from COVID-19. Vincent Martin, an 84-year-old Army veteran, died on April 4 and his daughters, Elizabeth Gagliano and Kathryn Sessinghaus, and his wife, Emma Martin, are alleging in a lawsuit that the facility mishandled the novel coronavirus outbreak, leading to Martin's death. (Chen, 5/31

Stat: When Her Mom's Time Came, Covid-19 Kept Them Apart 
When Sharon Levine picked up, the person on the other end was sobbing. It was the nurse practitioner at her mother’s nursing home outside of New York. She had to be calling with some sort of news, but she was too overwhelmed: Covid-19 had entered the facility and residents were dying and staff members were getting infected and they were out of coronavirus tests and they didn’t seem to have enough protective gear and everyone was just so sick — and for a moment, the roles were reversed, and it wasn’t clear who was caring for whom. (Boodman, 6/1)

Detroit Free Press: 3 Metro Detroit Nursing Homes Report More Than 100 Coronavirus Cases
New answers about which nursing homes have been most severely impacted by COVID-19 came Friday when Michigan officials released cumulative case data on facilities that house the state’s most vulnerable population. But the accuracy of some of the numbers has been called into question by previous Free Press reporting. After the state's release, some said they don't trust the counts. (Anderson, Hall and Tanner, 5/29)

Reuters: Workers Living In Mexico Helping California's Pandemic Health Response
Hundreds of Mexicans and Americans who live south of the border enter southern California’s hospitals every day. But these are not the patients — they are medical workers and support staff keeping a saturated healthcare system running amid the coronavirus pandemic. Over a thousand nurses, medical technicians, and support workers who live in the Mexican border towns of Tijuana, Tecate and Mexicali work in the United States, Mexican census data shows. They staff emergency rooms, COVID-19 testing sites, dialysis centers and pharmacies. (Gottesdiener, 5/31)

ABC News: Lake Of The Ozarks Memorial Day Partygoer Tests Positive For COVID-19 
Health officials in Missouri are alerting those who attended Memorial Day weekend parties at the Lake of the Ozarks that a partygoer there has tested positive for the novel coronavirus." Camden County Health Department has been notified of a Boone County resident who has tested positive for COVID-19 after being in the Lake area on May 23 and 24," according to a statement issued on Friday. Over the holiday weekend, photographs and videos were posted on social media that showed dozens of people in public pools and inside businesses not practicing social distancing or wearing masks or gloves. (Carrega, 5/30)

Boston Globe: Thanks To A Startup And An Investor, 100,000 Gowns Are Being Sent To Mass. Hospitals
A Boston greeting-card startup has revised its approach, adding the machinery and personnel necessary to produce and distribute personal protective equipment. Now, thanks to one of its investors, 100,000 medical gowns are being donated to Massachusetts hospitals. Lovepop, which makes three-dimensional popup greeting cards, is using its engineering know-how to make gowns and face shields, with guidance from the Massachusetts Manufacturing Emergency Response Team, a group helping businesses retool to meet the demand for PPE. (Gardizy, 5/31)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Record Requests Often Subject To Long Delays Or Denials 
Did Nevada have the required amount of personal protective gear stockpiled for the COVID-19 pandemic? Was the state’s emergency plan sufficient? Were prisons well-equipped for virus testing? The answers are still unknown as Review-Journal journalists are told to wait weeks, sometime months, to receive key public records from state officials. (Davidson, 5/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Outbreak Could Speed Cashless Gaming In Las Vegas 
A coronavirus carrier may be as close as your back pocket or your purse. It’s cash. The dollars that gamblers pursue in high denominations at casinos across the land could harbor lots of icky germs. (Velotta, 5/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada’s Native American Tribes To Get Health Care Funds 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday it will be sending more than $6.3 million to Native American health care providers in Nevada as part of $500 million in national relief for the Indian Health Service during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Appleton, 5/29)

The New York Times: The Virus Ravaged Parents At P.S. 315. They Found A Way To Fight Back.
The parent interpreter committee at Public School 315 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, came together late last year to translate school materials for families who were not fluent in English. Soon, as the coronavirus tore through the city, the group found itself navigating life and death. One of the committee’s founding members got so sick she feared she would die. A second member ended up in the emergency room, short of breath, and then lost his sister to the virus. A third lost her job. Two others members coped with death and illness in their families. When the school closed in mid-March, the committee fielded calls about securing computers for children who had none. (Sengupta, 6/1)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians
Shirley Madden, 83, relies on a caregiver and her two grown daughters to remain living at home — and not in a nursing home. Her daughters, 55-year-old Carrie and 60-year-old Kristy Madden, both use wheelchairs and need a second caregiver to help them navigate their own daily lives. But that critical caregiving support, along with other health care benefits for millions of Californians, could be scaled back to help plug a massive budget deficit triggered by the coronavirus. (Young, 6/1)

NPR: Justice Department Says Maine's 2-Week Quarantine Rule Discriminates Against Tourists
The U.S. Department of Justice is siding with campground and restaurant owners in Maine who sued the state over a two-week self-quarantine policy for out-of-state visitors. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills imposed the restriction as part the state's response to the ongoing pandemic. Several other states have imposed similar measures. (Sharon, 5/29)

WBUR: S.C. Hospital System Tells Non-COVID-19 Patients It's Safe To Return 
Hospitals lost millions of dollars preparing for a surge of COVID-19 patients. Some were swamped, but others only saw a handful of coronavirus cases. Now many are struggling to survive. (Vanek Smith, 5/29)

Boston Globe: States With Medical Marijuana Laws Saw 20 Percent Drop In Some Opioid Prescriptions 
States with active medical marijuana laws saw certain opioid prescription rates drop nearly 20 percent compared to states without medical marijuana programs, according to a first-of-its-kind study out of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center. Authors said the findings underscore the importance of providing patients with pain management alternatives, such as cannabis, in efforts to reduce opioid use. (Adlin, 5/29)

Boston Globe: ‘My God, This Thing Is Really Contagious.’ Charlie Baker Reflects On The Coronavirus Crisis 
Globe reporter Bob Hohler interviewed Governor Charlie Baker on April 25, 2020. (Hohler, Swidey and Allen, 5//30)

Modern Healthcare: Beaumont Health Calls Off Deal With Summa Health
Southfield, Mich.-based Beaumont Health called off its acquisition of Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health, the health systems announced Friday. The regional combination would have added four hospitals and a health plan to Beaumont's eight hospitals, creating a $6.1 billion system. The organizations signed a letter of intent in December and planned to close the deal on April 1. (Kacik and Bannow, 5/29)

Science Times: Coronavirus May Not Be A Respiratory Disease After All And That Could Change Everything, A Study Claims
A group of researchers reveals in their study that the coronavirus might not be a respiratory virus. Instead, it might be causing a toll on endothelial cells, affecting blood vessels. Many unexpected symptoms of COVID-19 started to arise in April, including blood clotting, strokes, and painful red or purple toes. Scientists later discovered that new symptoms related to cardiovascular complications. Months after the pandemic started, experts began to see sense behind the mysterious symptoms. (Simmons, 5/29)

The New York Times: It’s Not Whether You Were Exposed To The Coronavirus. It’s How Much.
When experts recommend wearing masks, staying at least six feet away from others, washing your hands frequently and avoiding crowded spaces, what they’re really saying is: Try to minimize the amount of virus you encounter. A few viral particles cannot make you sick — the immune system would vanquish the intruders before they could. But how much virus is needed for an infection to take root? What is the minimum effective dose? A precise answer is impossible, because it’s difficult to capture the moment of infection. Scientists are studying ferrets, hamsters and mice for clues but, of course, it wouldn’t be ethical for scientists to expose people to different doses of the coronavirus, as they do with milder cold viruses. (Madavilli, 5/29)

Reuters: New Coronavirus Losing Potency, Top Italian Doctor Says
The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television. (5/31)

Reuters: Coronavirus Infection Rate May Shift Toward Younger Ages; Death Risk Higher In Cancer Patients
Coronavirus infection burden may shift to younger age groups. As the coronavirus infection rate in Washington State passed its peak, cases in people over age 60 fell 10%, while infections among younger age groups rose steadily, researchers say. The nation's first known major outbreak took place at a nursing home in the state. Later in the outbreak, however, infections rates among those under age 40 increased from 20% to 40% of total cases, according to a report posted on Thursday without peer review on the medRxiv preprint server. (Lapid, 5/29)

CIDRAP: Study: 11% Of Diabetics Die Within 1 Week Of Hospitalization For COVID-19
The first major study of diabetics hospitalized with COVID-19 shows more than 1 in 10 die within 7 days of admission, and about 1 in 5 is intubated within 1 week. The study appears today in Diabetologia. The analysis, named the CORONADO study, was conducted across 53 French hospitals from Mar 10 through 31 and included 1,317 patients diagnosed as having COVID-19 and diabetes.  The vast majority (89%) had type 2 diabetes, and 3% had type 1. Men constituted 69% of the patients. Twenty-nine percent of patients either died (140 patients, 10.6%) or were mechanically ventilated by day 7. Only 18.0% of patients were discharged by day 7. (5/29)

USA Today: As States Reopen, Medical Experts Recommend Pregnant Women Stay Vigilant Against COVID-19
Cherie Smith's been outside her Highlands Ranch, Colorado, home and car just once since March 26. That was for an April 16 appointment with her obstetrician. The office's "super caring" nurses take turns trying to convince Smith to come in for more in-person appointments because a surgery last year puts her at higher risk of premature labor. She's more worried about COVID-19 though, and is on track for a June 20 cesarean section. (O'Donnell, 5/30)

The New York Times: Do Runners Need To Wear Masks?
Jane Rosen began yelling sometime in April. By May, it had become routine. The incidents usually occur near her minivan, which she parks alongside Central Park in New York City. As she attempts to enter or exit the vehicle, a cyclist or a runner will whiz by, so close she can practically smell them. “I scream, ‘Where is your mask?’” said Ms. Rosen, 73. Her daughter warned her that these confrontations could end badly. (Murphy, 5/30)

The Hill: COVID-19 Shows Signs Of Long-Term Harm In Some Recovered Patients 
The disease caused by the coronavirus may do lasting harm to some people who contract it, even if they only exhibit mild symptoms. There are growing signs that COVID-19 may have lingering effects, called sequelae in medical terminology. Early studies have found decreased lung function that might not be reversible, and damage to the heart, kidneys, gut or liver. (Wilson, 5/31)

ABC News: USDA Says Testing ‘Unable To Verify Infection’ In Dog Presumed To Have COVID-19 
The first dog in the U.S. presumed to have COVID-19 may not have been infected with the virus after all, according to test results recently confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA tests completed last week could not confirm signs of infection from the virus that causes COVID-19 or antibodies in his system that would indicate a prior infection in Winston, a pug in North Carolina. (Ebbs, 5/29)

Politico: McConnell And Pelosi's Next Battle: How To Help The 40 Million Unemployed
The debate over whether Congress will approve a new round of pandemic aid is over. Now it’s just a question of what’s in the package. After brushing off Democrats’ demands for more relief, Senate Republicans now say the next major coronavirus package is likely to move in the coming weeks. And a key conflict ahead will be over how to help the 40 million Americans out of work. (Levine and Ferris, 5/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Stick With Tax-Rise Policies As They Make Plans For 2021 Majority
The coronavirus pandemic shook the U.S. economy. It hasn’t shaken Democrats’ fervor for trillions of dollars in tax increases, and significant income redistribution is still likely as soon as 2021 if Joe Biden wins the White House and Democrats control Congress. Democratic lawmakers and policy aides worry little that planned tax increases on corporations and high-income households would hinder the economic recovery. If anything, they argue that economic disparities evident during the pandemic make these tax increases more necessary. (Rubin, 5/31)

The Associated Press: States, Cities Plead For Virus Aid As Congress Faces Crises
One small-town Oklahoma mayor testified before Congress she’s worried the city’s 18-bed hospital can’t handle a second Covid-19 wave. Many counties are slashing sizable chunks of their government work force. States are staring down red ink as the fiscal year comes to a close. As local leaders are pleading for more federal aid — even before protests over police violence erupted in almost every corner of the country — the Senate resumes session Monday with no immediate plans to consider a fresh round of relief. (Mascaro, 6/1)

Reuters: House Democrats Launch Inquiry Into Medicare Stimulus Payouts
Two U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Friday launched an inquiry into whether the Health and Human Services Department misdirected billions of dollars in coronavirus stimulus money to healthcare providers facing criminal or civil fraud investigations. (Lynch and Taylor, 5/29)

The New York Times: Grateful For Aid, But Worried About What Comes Next
The Paycheck Protection Program, the federal government’s ambitious effort to keep workers at small businesses off the unemployment rolls through the worst of the pandemic, has provided a financial safety net to more than four million companies. For many, the money was a lifeline. It let a trucking company keep paying drivers who would otherwise have been laid off and gave a group of therapists time to adjust to telemedicine and connect with new clients. But the pandemic’s devastation continues. (Cowley, 5/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Policy Makers Aim To Ensure Underserved Communities Have Access To PPP Loans
Policy makers are trying to ensure that communities underserved by traditional banks are getting access to a small-business coronavirus loan-relief program, but it has turned out to be more of an art than a science. When the Small Business Administration released the application form for the forgivable loan program, there was no instruction for lenders to collect optional demographic information. The agency’s inspector general in a recent report noted that omission and said “it is unlikely that SBA will be able to determine the loan volume” to borrowers in underserved and rural markets. (Omeokwe, 5/31)

The Associated Press: Primaries Become Test Run For Campaigning During Coronavirus
Tuesday’s primaries in eight states are the biggest test to date of campaigning during the coronavirus era, a way for parties to test-drive new ways of getting out the vote during a time when it can be dangerous to leave your home. Voters from Pennsylvania to Iowa to New Mexico will cast ballots in both the Democratic presidential contest, where former Vice President Joe Biden is the only contender with an active campaign, and a host of down-ballot primaries for everything from governors to state representatives. (Riccardi and Levy, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Voting By Mail To Face Biggest Test Since Pandemic Started
States voting Tuesday have taken varied approaches. Indiana announced that it would temporarily allow any voter to request an absentee ballot without a specific reason. Maryland pledged to send all voters a ballot, skipping the application process. And states are grappling with how to safely open at least some in-person polling sites. Many local officials said they saw a flood of ballot requests. A Pennsylvania law passed last year allows any registered voter to vote by mail, but the pandemic created a surge of requests that outstripped officials’ expectations. More than 1.8 million voters have applied for a mail ballot, more than 18 times the number in the 2016 primary election. (Corse, 6/1)

NPR: Mail-In Voting Legal Fights Amid Pandemic Focus On Ballot Signatures
With the widespread expansion of vote-by-mail this year in response to the pandemic, both major political parties and their allies are waging an intense legal battle to shape the rules around absentee and mail-in voting. The details matter a lot and could affect the outcome in November. (Fessler, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Election Officials Expect Surge In Absentee Ballots For Primary
Election administrators in New York are bracing for a crush of paper ballots for the state’s June 23 primary contests as voters avoid the polls to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order in April allowing any state voter to apply for an absentee ballot, and then told county officials who administer elections that they had to mail an application for an absentee ballot to every voter with an active contest on the ballot. (Vielkind, 5/31)

NBC News: America Pulled Off An Election During The Spanish Flu, But Not Without Paying A Price
President Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats were fiercely fighting to maintain control of Congress during the 1918 November midterm elections. With much of the nation hunkered down under quarantine orders with social distancing and mandatory masks, conducting an election was proving to be daunting. But with World War I still raging on, a heightened sense of patriotism swept the country. Despite the strict orders in place, voting was considered essential at the time. (Clark, 6/1)

In other election news —

The New York Times: In Seeking To Hold Michigan, Trump Can Be His Own Worst Enemy
A day before his visit in May to Michigan, where unemployment has climbed to 23 percent and flooding had grown severe enough to make national headlines, President Trump threatened to “hold up funding” for a state he almost certainly must carry to win re-election. The rationale behind this extraordinary warning and apparent act of self-sabotage? Two years after Michigan residents overwhelmingly approved no-excuse absentee voting, the secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said she would send absentee ballot applications to all voters. (Martin and Gray, 5/31)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Democratic Super PAC Uses Familiar Political Play To Hit Trump On Medicare
Priorities USA Action, a Democratic super PAC, announced a new digital and TV ad series criticizing President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the ads is a 15-second spot, titled “Pause,” that alleges Trump is trying to cut Medicare during the global health emergency.“ Our lives are on pause. We’re worried about our health. So why is Trump still trying to cut our Medicare? $451 billion in cuts in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Trump is putting us at risk,” the commercial’s narrator says. (Knight, 6/1)

ProPublica: The Secret, Absurd World Of Coronavirus Mask Traders And Middlemen Trying To Get Rich Off Government Money
It was 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and I was watching footage of secret stockpiles of N95 masks, so-called proof-of-life videos sent to me by strangers, when Tim, the juicer salesman, called. “My name is Tim, and I heard you’re looking into VPL,” the man said in a squeaky, nervous timbre. “I distanced myself from the company because they weren’t delivering what they said.” (McSwane, 6/1)

ABC News: CDC And WHO Offer Conflicting Advice On Masks. An Expert Tells Us Why. 
The World Health Organization issued new guidance this week that may seem confusing to Americans, who have been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wear cloth face masks in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19. "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19," the newly updated WHO guidelines read. Both organizations are considered to be reliable, authoritative sources of public health information. So why are they offering conflicting guidance on wearing masks during the pandemic? (Schumaker, 5/29)

CBS News: Facemasks Through The Ages, From Medical Aid To Fashion Statement 
Mark Honigsbaum, a medical historian and author of books like "The Pandemic Century," knows from face masks, going back to their first known medical use, during the Black Death – the bubonic plague of the middle ages that killed roughly half of Europe's population. And those were some masks. "Everybody probably is familiar with the classic image of the beaked physician, the plague doctor," Honigsbaum said. (5/31)

The Associated Press: US Food Prices See Historic Jump And Are Likely To Stay High
As if trips to the grocery store weren’t nerve-wracking enough, U.S. shoppers lately have seen the costs of meat, eggs and even potatoes soar as the coronavirus has disrupted processing plants and distribution networks. Overall, the cost of food bought to eat at home skyrocketed by the most in 46 years, and analysts caution that meat prices in particular could remain high as slaughterhouses struggle to maintain production levels while implementing procedures intended to keep workers healthy. (Pitt, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Meat Plants Reopen, But Burgers Stay Pricey
A national meat-supply crunch driven by the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to ease, though meat and grocery suppliers expect the effects to linger for months. Even as meatpacking plants reopen and some supermarkets reduce limits on meat purchases, consumers are paying more for ground beef and other staples across the country as meat production remains hampered by Covid-19, and grocery distributors struggle to get some orders filled. (Bunge and Kang, 5/31)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Pork Packing Saved Milan, Mo. Now Some See Plant As A Threat
The fortunes of this small northern Missouri town squarely are tied to meat. Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., runs a slaughterhouse and processing plant in the rolling hills here, where more than 10,000 hogs typically are butchered in a single eight-hour shift. The plant is the local economic anchor and has brought new residents — many of them immigrants — to Milan, helping the 2,000-person town last, even as other rural communities fade. (Gray, 5/30)

Reuters: Special Report: In Oklahoma Pork-Packing Town, COVID Stirs Fear, Faith And Sorrow
Over 25 years, the massive pork plant that dominates this small city brought jobs, new residents and an economic lifeline to a slowly shrinking farming community. Attracted by relatively good wages at Seaboard Foods, immigrants like Felix and Pilar Jimenez arrived by the hundreds to slaughter hogs and process meat for shipment all over the world. The Mexican couple started work in Guymon, on the vast plains of Oklahoma’s panhandle, about a year after the plant opened, followed in time by their sons Michael, now 26, and Anthony, 22. (Hay and Sullivan, 5/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Spreads Deportation Fears Among Immigrant Doctors In U.S.
Anupam Kumar, a critical-care doctor who specializes in treating damaged lungs, sees about a dozen extremely sick patients with Covid-19 on a typical shift. Like most doctors, he is anxious he could become infected with the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and carry it home to his family. But unlike most other U.S. health-care providers, he has another worry: Infection could also lead to the deportation of him and his family. (Gold and Hackman, 5/30)

Modern Healthcare: CDC Underestimates COVID's Toll On Healthcare Workers, Experts Say
Experts fear the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's surveillance of COVID-19 cases and deaths among healthcare workers are under-counting the impact on the front lines, which could obscure the scope fo the pandemic as it hits the front lines. According to CDC numbers, more than 63,000 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 and 307 have died from the virus as of Friday. But those figures are based on information received from a relatively small pool of test reports. The vast majority of the data collected lacks key information about the occupational status of those getting tested for the coronavirus. (Johnson, 5/29)

NPR: Fired Doc Who Criticized ER During Pandemic Suing Old Hospital
An emergency medicine physician from Washington state has filed a lawsuit to get his job back at a hospital. He was fired in late March after criticizing his hospital's response to the coronavirus pandemic. "This is about people on the front line being given the opportunity to speak out without being terminated and being reprimanded," says Dr. Ming Lin.Since 2003, Dr. Lin had worked in the ER at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash., owned by health system PeaceHealth. (Stone, 5/29)

ABC News: Front-Line Doctors Face A Mental Health Crisis Amid Coronavirus. Can Medicine Overcome The Culture Of Stoicism? 
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the American psyche, with a third of Americans now showing signs of clinical depression or anxiety, a rate twice as high as before the pandemic, according to Census Bureau data. Those grim statistics are likely even more dire for the health care workers on the front lines of the crisis, experts say. While it's too early to truly quantify the effect that treating patients under combat-like conditions will have on doctors in the coming months or years, preliminary research out of China highlights the mental health risk that American health care workers potentially face. (Schumaker, 5/31)

Bridge Magazine: Coronavirus Sickened Them, But Docs, Nurses Return Humbled, Smarter
Michigan health care workers have been on the front lines of the war against COVID-19 since March. And, as in any war, there have been casualties. Some health care workers died. Among those who’ve survived, some are still recovering, while others have returned to work, holding the hands of patients still battling the potentially deadly virus. (Erb, 5/29)

ProPublica: Overdose Deaths Have Skyrocketed In Chicago, And The Coronavirus Pandemic May Be Making It Worse
As COVID-19 kills thousands in Chicago and across Illinois, the opioid epidemic has intensified its own deadly siege away from the spotlight, engulfing one public health crisis inside another. More than twice as many people have died or are suspected to have died of opioid overdoses in the first five months of the year in Cook County, when compared with the same period last year, according to a ProPublica Illinois analysis of medical examiner’s office death records. There have been at least 924 confirmed or suspected overdose deaths so far in 2020; there were 461 at this time last year. And much like the coronavirus outbreak, the opioid epidemic has disproportionately affected African Americans on Chicago’s West and South Sides. (Sanchez and Eldeib, 5/30)

NPR: Coronavirus Pandemic Disrupts Opioid Addiction Treatments In Philadelphia
Before Philadelphia shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Ed had a routine: most mornings he would head to a nearby McDonald's to brush his teeth, wash his face and — when he had the money — buy a cup of coffee. He would bounce between homeless shelters and try to get a shower. But since businesses closed and many shelters stopped taking new admissions, Ed has been mostly shut off from that routine. He's still living on the streets. "I'll be honest, I don't really sleep too much," says Ed, who's 51 and struggling with addiction. "Every four or five days I get a couple hours." (Feldman, 5/29)

NPR: Pandemic Escalates Domestic Abuse And Reduces Chances To Flee
During lockdown, Kiesha Preston has heard from many people facing physical, psychological and/or sexual abuse that the violence against them is escalating without reprieve. Stress and isolation create combustible tensions. A lack of privacy subjects many victims to closer surveillance by their abuser, making it difficult to call crisis hotlines, for example. And Preston worries that high unemployment will make it harder to afford moving out — though she hopes that this won't stop anyone who is being abused from reaching out. There are resources available to help you, she says. (Noguchi, 6/1)

The Wall Street Journal: As Children Spend More Time Online, Predators Follow
Jennifer Gross had warned her 12-year-old daughter about the potential dangers of socializing with strangers online, but said the message had often fallen on deaf ears. Now the preteen understands the concern. Since mid-March, the daughter has received several flirtatious messages from accounts that appeared to be from adult men on Instagram, Mrs. Gross said. (Needleman, 5/31)

The Washington Post: Visiting Grandchildren During Covid-19 Means Risk Calculation
Before the pandemic, Bethesda, Md., residents Nancy Chasen, 75, a retired public interest lawyer, and her husband, Don Spero, 80, a retired businessman, regularly drove the nearly 300 miles to Chapel Hill, N.C., to visit their grandchildren, ages 8, 5 and 4. “We’d go every month or so for at least a few days to consistently build those relationships,” Chasen says. “We didn’t want to be just faces in an electronic box.” (Cimons, 5/31)

The Washington Post: A Woman’s Feelings On Passing The Coronavirus To Her Mother, Who Later Died 
They keep telling me it’s not my fault, and I’d give anything to believe that. The doctor called after my mom went to the hospital and said: “Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong.” The pastor said basically the same thing at her funeral. “Let it go. You had nothing to do with this.” (As told to Eli Saslow, 5/30)

The Associated Press: New Drugs Make Headway Against Lung, Prostate, Colon Cancers
Doctors are reporting success with newer drugs that control certain types of cancer better, reduce the risk it will come back and make treatment simpler and easier to bear. Gentler drugs would be a relief to patients like Jenn Carroll, a 57-year-old human resources director from New Hartford, Connecticut, who had traditional IV chemotherapy after lung cancer surgery in 2018. (Marchione, 5/29)

Reuters: FDA Approves Roche Immunotherapy Cocktail In Liver Cancer
Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its immunotherapy Tecentriq in combination with its drug Avastin for the most common kind of liver cancer. The Tecentriq-Avastin mix for unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma was approved under the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review pilot and Project Orbis initiative aimed at speedier access for patients, Roche said. The American Cancer Society estimated that more than 42,000 Americans will be diagnosed with liver cancer this year. (5/29)

Stat: Allogene's Off-The-Shelf CAR-T Cells Produce Responses In Patients
Allogene on Friday released updated results from the first study of its off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapy for an aggressive form of B-cell lymphoma. More patients are now responding, including additional patients experiencing complete remissions. The new study results, updated from the initial disclosure two weeks ago, remain preliminary but important because they represent potential progress for the CAR-T field. If successful, the Allogene treatment, called ALLO-501, could be widely available and allow patients with advanced blood cancer to be treated on demand. (Feuerstein, 5/29)

The Associated Press: After Criticism, Russia Expands Stats On Virus-Linked Deaths
The Russian government on Friday presented more detailed mortality figures for last month that include more deaths linked with the coronavirus, in a bid to dispel suspicions from some Russian and Western experts that authorities were trying to lower the toll for political reasons. But officials also defended the way they register deaths, which only includes people confirmed to have died of COVID-19, and not those who succumbed to other causes — even if they also tested positive for the virus. (Isachenkov, 5/29)

The Associated Press: South Africa Has Virus Testing Backlog Of Nearly 100,000
South Africa says it has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed tests for the coronavirus, a striking example of the painful shortage of testing kits and reagents across Africa as cases steadily rise. “This challenge is caused by the limited availability of test kits globally,” the health ministry said in a statement overnight, putting the backlog at 96,480 as of Monday. Priority is given to processing tests from patients admitted to hospitals and health workers, it said. (Anna, 5/29)

Reuters: British Nursing Homes In Crisis As Deaths Mount In Coronavirus Pandemic
More than 43,000 people have suffered deaths linked to COVID-19 across the United Kingdom, underlining the country’s status as the worst-hit in Europe. At least 13,500 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus — nearly 1 in 3 — have occurred in British nursing and residential homes, known as care homes in the United Kingdom. Care homes are places where elderly or vulnerable people live for short or long periods of time and can receive nursing care. But that is only a part of the pandemic’s tragic impact inside care homes across the United Kingdom. (McNeill and Ovaska, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Disease That Began Among Rich Shifts To Latin America's Poor
The passenger from Spain that Sonia Sanchez picked up at the airport in Colombia’s capital in March did not seem well. He coughed during the Uber ride in her small, red Chevrolet Spark, as he sat next to her, a precaution many of the app’s drivers use to avoid attracting the attention — and harassment — of police. A few days later, the mother of two had a soaring fever, her relatives say. Within three weeks, she was dead — the first coronavirus patient to die in Bogota’s working-class Kennedy neighborhood, now a hot spot of infections. (Armario, 5/29)

Reuters: China Reports 16 New COVID-19 Cases, Highest In Nearly Three Weeks
China reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in nearly three weeks with 16 new infections discovered on May 31, as the number of so-called imported cases jumped in southwestern Sichuan province. (5/31)

Reuters: Hong Kong Reports First Local COVID-19 Cases In Two Weeks
Hong Kong has confirmed its first locally transmitted coronavirus cases in more than two weeks, fuelling concerns over its spread as restrictions on movement are relaxed. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Sunday it was investigating two confirmed cases of coronavirus, taking the number of cases so far to 1,085. Four people have died of the disease in Hong Kong. (5/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Hong Kong Police Ban Tiananmen Massacre Vigil
Police denied an application by organizers of an annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, amid concerns over civil liberties after China said it would impose national-security legislation on the city. Citing health concerns and social-distancing regulations to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, police said in their letter of objection Monday that they couldn’t allow the vigil to be held this year, and that anyone who violated their decision could be subject to imprisonment and fines. (Khan, 6/1)

The Associated Press: India's Cautious States Open Up Even As Virus Cases Rise
More states opened up and crowds of commuters trickled onto the roads in many of India’s cities on Monday as a three-phase plan to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown started despite an upward trend in new infections. Businesses and shops reopened in many states and the railways announced 200 more special passenger trains. Some states also opened their borders, allowing vehicular traffic. (6/1)

The Associated Press: Nepal Volunteers Become Local Heroes During Virus Pandemic
When the new mother died in the hospital last month — the first person to succumb to COVID-19 in Nepal — her days-old baby was moved to an isolation ward. But the woman’s body remained. Ambulance drivers and hospital workers, fearful of the contagion, refused to move the corpse from the hospital morgue to the crematorium, where it could be burned in keeping with Hindu tradition. (Gurubacharya, 6/1)

The Washington Post: From Peru To Ecuador To Bolivia To Tibet, Few Coronavirus Cases At High Altitudes
When tourists from Mexico, China and Britain became the first covid-19 fatalities in Cusco, Peru, it seemed as if the onetime capital of the Inca Empire might be headed for a significant outbreak. Nestled in a picturesque Andean valley, the high-altitude city of 420,000 residents, the gateway to the cloud forest citadel of Machu Picchu, receives more than 3 million international visitors per year — many from pandemic hot spots, including the United States, Italy and Spain. (Tegel, 5/31)

Reuters: Missouri's Only Abortion Clinic Wins Licensing Battle Against State Health Department
Missouri’s only abortion clinic on Friday won its legal fight to stay open, as an independent arbiter found the state’s health department was unjustified in denying the clinic’s application to renew its license. The Midwestern state’s health officials last year declined to renew the license of the St. Louis clinic, operated by women’s healthcare provider Planned Parenthood, on the grounds that it failed to meet their safety standards. They threatened to close the clinic and make Missouri the only U.S. state without legal abortion services. (Borter, 5/29)

NPR: Missouri's Only Clinic That Provides Abortions Allowed To Remain Open
"Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that it provides safe and legal abortion care," Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi wrote. "In over 4,000 abortions provided since 2018, the Department has only identified two causes to deny its license," Dandamudi explained, adding that the organization has "substantially complied with pertinent statutes and regulations." After exhaustive analysis, Rao said "the Department has failed to raise an affirmative defense sufficient to justify this denial." (Romo, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Ruling Means Missouri's Last Abortion Clinic Stays Open
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the state would ask a court to overturn the decision. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, which is defending the health department’s decision in court, said the office was “reviewing the ruling and deciding on next steps.” An email message seeking comment from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services was not immediately returned. Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, said in a statement that the ruling “is vindication for Planned Parenthood and our patients who rely on us.” (Salter and Ballentine, 5/29)

The Washington Post: Missouri Planned Parenthood That Is State's Last Abortion Clinic Can Remain Open, Ruling Says
The dispute between the state and its sole clinic began last May, when Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services announced that it wouldn’t renew Planned Parenthood’s license. The clinic sued, accusing the agency of shifting the goal posts of its oversight and carrying out an antiabortion political agenda. But health officials said they uncovered “serious and extensive” problems during the clinic’s annual inspection. (Thebault and Wax-Thibodeaux, 5/29)

In other abortion-related news —

WBUR: More Patients Seek Abortion Pills Online During Pandemic, But Face Restrictions
During the coronavirus pandemic, more healthcare is moving online — including abortion. In many states, abortion pills can be prescribed remotely, and abortion providers are reporting a growing number of women seeking medication abortions through telemedicine. But others are finding obstacles in their way. (McCammon, 5/28)

The New York Times:  The Top U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spots Are All Indian Lands
The Navajo Nation is a vast, awe-inspiring land of desert crags and canyons, the largest reservation in the country, but today it reverberates with grief and fear. The Navajo have had more people infected with the coronavirus per capita than any state in the country. Decades of neglect, exploitation and discrimination mean that even before this pandemic, Navajo here had a shorter life expectancy (72) than people in Guatemala (74) — and now Covid-19 is hitting Native Americans with particular force. (Nicholas Kristof, 5/30)

Stat: Don't Use 'Deaths Of Despair' As Rationale For Premature Reopening 
Following congressional testimony last week about frontline workers’ experiences during the Covid-19 epidemic, members of the U.S. House of Representatives raised the specter of a rise in “deaths of despair” due to Covid-19 shutdowns. They implied that the country had a moral obligation to reopen quickly, if only to avoid current and future deaths from suicide, homicide, opioids, and alcohol. A comment by a trauma physician in California that his hospital had seen “a year’s worth of suicide attempts in four weeks” went viral this week, picked up by Fox News and presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway to support the argument to reopen the country, even though the remark was incorrect and there’s been no rise in suicide deaths in his county this year. (Megan L. Ranney and Jessica Gold, 5/31)

The Hill: Senior Citizens Deserve Better Than To Be Left In Isolation 
On March 4, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and later the Los Angeles County Health Department, declared a state of emergency, which included mandatory lockdowns of all senior living centers and nursing homes...  Similar orders were soon promulgated all over the country, by most states and counties. Though the rest of society is now opening up, there is still little interest in lifting or modifying these senior care facility lockdown orders. Government seems determined to prevent any senior in a residential community from dying of COVID-19. That is a noble goal, but has unintended adverse consequences. (Dr. Thomas W. Lagrelius, 5/31)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Tragedy Of 100,000 Deaths Could Have Been Worse. The Fight Must Continue.
Last week’s grim milestone of surpassing 100,000 U.S. pandemic deaths represents both a tragedy and a victory. As sobering as that six-figure body count is, it’s a small fraction of the deaths that might have occurred by now had the nation not taken the unprecedented step of shutting down the economy. But there are troubling indications that much of the country is letting up on the fight to save lives, either in mistaken confidence that the worst has passed, or in resignation that many thousands more deaths are inevitable. Both ideas should be resisted. (5/30)

CNN: A 30-Year-Old Teacher's Covid-19 Death Tells Us Volumes
Last month, Covid-19 claimed the life of a 30-year-old Brooklyn schoolteacher named Rana Zoe Mungin. After weeks on life support, she died on April 27. Her story has sparked widespread outrage in the media and beyond. It is one of systemic failures and missed opportunities, and all the more shocking because of her youth and promise. (Paula A. Johnson, 5/31)

The New York Times: What It’s Like To Wear A Mask In The South
I bought four face masks from Etsy early on in this pandemic, anticipating the day when my husband’s 91-year-old father would need to flee his retirement community. Papa saw no reason to leave his apartment while it was coronavirus-free, and we needed to make sure our home was a safe place for him to come to when the virus took hold there. We figured it was just a matter of time. So far not one resident of my father-in-law’s retirement community has tested positive, and contrary to all predictions, including my own, Tennessee has successfully flattened the curve: Barely more than 350 Tennesseans have died of the coronavirus so far, and the expected run on emergency rooms and intensive care units never happened. (Margaret Renkl, 6/1)

Stat: Earlier Diagnosis Would Have A Big Impact On Global Breast Cancer 
Covid-19 news could be nudged out of the spotlight this weekend as the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual scientific meeting, this year being held virtually, mobilizes 40,000 people around the world across industry, academia, and government. Breakthroughs will almost certainly be announced. Among the nearly 5,300 scientific abstracts being presented at the ASCO meeting, only about 10 focus on breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries, even though the death rate from breast cancer in those countries is almost double that of the U.S. (Maura McCarthy, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: A Fast Coronavirus Vaccine, Without Cutting Corners 
Can America reopen without a major resurgence of Covid-19? We’ve learned a great deal about controlling the virus. In the summer people will spend time outdoors, which can reduce the risk. Yet a second wave could come in the fall as schools open and businesses try to return to normal. Americans will feel more confident—or simply tired—and may take fewer precautions. Getting the threat behind us will require a vaccine cleared for general use. There are ways to accelerate that process, but it is important not to cut corners, lest the public lose confidence and refuse a vaccine. The urgent public-health need demands speed. But that doesn’t mean compromising robust data to prove safety and efficacy. (Luciana Borio and Scott Gottlieb, 5/31)

Stat: Cutting Ties With The WHO Endangers Global Public Health 
President Trump’s announcement on Friday that the United States will cut ties with the World Health Organization was, he said, aimed at punishing China, which he claimed influenced the WHO to “mislead the world” about the Covid-19 pandemic. Cutting ties with the WHO is exactly the wrong move, at the wrong time. It adds fuel to the public health fire we have been collectively dealing with over the past several months. (Sandro Galea, 5/31)

CNN: The Real Cost Of Trump's WHO Pullout 
Without waiting for the end of the 30 day-grace period he had given the World Health Organization (WHO), President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was "terminating" the US relationship with the organization. This decision comes just 11 days after he threatened to permanently revoke US funding in a letter he had addressed to the WHO leadership. By not giving the WHO time to consider some improvements, Trump demonstrates bad faith and a desire to scapegoat an international organization. (Hajer Naili, 5/31)

Stat: Resident Physicians Should Have A Say In Their Working Conditions
In Chicago’s South Loop, the nightly salutation to health care workers begins at 8 p.m., first with a few flashing lights from old holiday decorations, followed by a cacophony of car horns, boomboxes blaring ’90s rock, and metal railings being transformed into percussion sets.. A high-rise apartment building in Chicago’s South Loop is illuminated as part of the nightly appreciation of health care workers on the frontline of caring for patients with Covid-19. The nightly celebration has become a source of comfort for us, two oncology fellows, as we nervously watch Chicago’s daily Covid-19 numbers. As thoughtful as the ritual is, though, it feels inadequate. (Ajay Major and Garth Strohbehn, 6/1)

The Washington Post: A Corona Corps Could Fight The Virus — And Youth Unemployment
Among its many victims, the covid-19 pandemic has left a generation of young Americans adrift and without options. After a spring spent peering at pixelated approximations of their instructors on Zoom, 75 percent of college students are unhappy with the quality of e-learning and 1 in 6 high school seniors are considering deferring college for a semester or a full year. Meanwhile, unemployment among 18- and 19-year-olds stands at an astounding 34 percent. With jobs scarce and social opportunities all at a distance, how can we prevent a year of Fortnite and TikTok for the most fortunate, and a slide into poverty for the rest? I propose a United States Corona Corps: an organization in the long tradition of youth service, from Mormon missionaries to Teach for America to the Peace Corps, but one laser-focused on the crisis at hand. (Scott Galloway, 5/29)

The New York Times: Hurricane Season Collides With The Coronavirus 
Here in Gainesville, when an evacuation order is issued we flock to the back roads or the interstate highways that flow north. Others drive to Atlanta and cram into the city’s hotels. Some open their homes, businesses and neighborhoods to people fleeing from the storms projected to hit the state’s southern coasts. Now, we must also weigh those factors against the risk of potentially contracting the coronavirus and spreading it to others. Should we stay home and in the path of a storm that could potentially demolish it, or shelter in a building crammed with people who could be carrying the virus that has killed hundreds of thousands of people? Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admit this is a tough prediction game. How will our elder neighbors fare in a shelter that is not equipped to isolate or treat those who could fall ill with Covid-19? (Darlena Cunha, 5/31)

Los Angeles Times: As Businesses Open And Life Tries To Return To Normal, Will We? 
As everyday life reopens for business, the early returns may surprise you. Restaurants in Georgia have seen a mere 20% of expected activity. Shopping malls in Minnesota have reported only a handful of customers. Downtowns up and down the coasts are lighting up to empty streets. At long last, after months of itching for an end, we’re being invited back out. Where is everybody?Psychologists aren’t so surprised. As the world out there attempts to safely resume operations, the inner world of its inhabitants will likely be slower to follow. Plan to see more bust than boom for the immediate future. (Ed O'Brien, 6/1)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: The Golden Rule Is Dying Of Covid-19
As the coronavirus forced the western world into lockdown in March, humans were confronted with a moral test. Drawing on centuries of philosophical thought that produced the world’s competing modern value systems, each person had to decide which measures were justified to limit the medical and economic carnage. There was plenty of possibility for discord. Initially, people and leaders coalesced around a version of the biblical philosophy of the “golden rule” — that we should not do to others what we wouldn’t want done to ourselves. That was the basis for asking everyone to make personal and economic sacrifices to limit the death and suffering of the weakest and oldest. Governments of the left and the right made that choice, strongly supported by religious leaders up to and including the Pope. (John Authers, 5/31)

The Hill: Don't Move The COVID-19 Goalpost 
In March, Americans came together for a specific goal: COVID-19 wasn't going to make us ration ventilators or let anyone die without health care. We are winning that battle. Those now reacting to daily body counts and projections are forgetting the goal. (Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, 5/28)