The Washington Post: Pfizer’s Coronavirus Vaccine Is More Than 90 Percent Effective In First Analysis, Company Reports 
A front-runner coronavirus vaccine developed by drug giant Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech was more than 90 percent effective at protecting people compared with a placebo saline shot, according to an interim analysis by an independent data monitoring committee that met Sunday. The early look at the ongoing trial provides a decisive initial glimpse of the real-world performance of one of the four coronavirus vaccines in the last stages of testing in the United States. It is the strongest signal yet that the unprecedented quest to develop a vaccine that could help bring the pandemic to an end might succeed, breaking every scientific speed record. (Johnson, 11/9)

CNBC: Pfizer, BioNTech Say COVID Vaccine Is More Than 90% Effective—‘Great Day For Science And Humanity’
The announcement comes as drugmakers and research centers scramble to deliver a safe and effective vaccine to help bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 1.25 million lives worldwide. Scientists are hoping for a coronavirus vaccine that is at least 75% effective, while White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has said one that is 50% or 60% effective would be acceptable. (Meredith, 11/9)

AP: Pfizer Says Early Data Signals COVID-19 Vaccine Is Effective
Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries. Pfizer Inc. did not provide any more details about those cases, and cautioned the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. Even revealing such early data is highly unusual. (Johnson and Neergaard, 11/9)

The New York Times: Pfizer’s Early Data Shows Vaccine Is More Than 90% Effective 
Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, after it has collected the recommended two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 to 20 million people, company executives have said. (Thomas, Gelles and Zimmer, 11/9)

Bloomberg: Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine Prevents 90% Of Infections In Study 
The findings are based on an interim analysis conducted after 94 participants contracted Covid-19. The trial will continue until 164 cases have occurred. If the data hold up and a key safety readout Pfizer expects in about a week also looks good, it could mean that the world has a vital new tool to control a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide. (Langreth, Kresge and Griffin, 11/9)

The New York Times: U.S. Surpasses 10 Million Coronavirus Cases As Global Cases Top 50 Million 
The United States reported its 10 millionth coronavirus case on Sunday, with the latest million added in just 10 days, as most of the country struggled to contain outbreaks in the third and most widespread wave of infection since the pandemic began. More than 103,600 new cases were announced on Sunday, the fifth-highest total of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database, and the fifth day in a row the country exceeded 100,000 cases in a single day. (11/9)

ABC News: Number Of COVID-19 Infections Reaches Daily Record In US 
New daily COVID-19 cases in the United States hit a record 128,000 on Saturday as multiple states reported the highest number of positive infections since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Saturday marked the fourth straight day new COVID-19 cases surpassed 100,000 in the country, according to the data. In just the past week, 715,000 people nationwide have tested positive for the virus, the data shows. (Hutchinson, 11/8)

USA Today: US Sets Another Record With 126,742 New Cases; World Surpasses 50 Million Cases
The U.S. set another daily record for coronavirus cases and the world surpassed 50 million total cases Sunday as President-elect Joe Biden promised to do what President Donald Trump could not: "Get this virus under control." The U.S. recorded 126,742 cases Saturday, the third day in a row the total exceeded 120,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins. The United States, with about 4.3% of the world population, has about 20% of the cases. (Tucker, Aretakis and Bacon, 11/8)

Stat: As Covid-19 Cases Spiral, Leaders Around U.S. Lose Urgency On Prevention
More than a dozen states have seen record-high Covid-19 infections in the past five days, as the country experiences case counts never seen before anywhere in the world and, once again, surging hospitalizations and deaths. But public health experts around the country told STAT they were deeply worried that there has not been a correspondingly urgent response from federal, state, and local leaders. As a result, they warned, the country is set on an even more dire course as it moves deeper into the fall and holiday season. (Joseph, 11/9)

In global news on the COVID surge —

AP: Global Coronavirus Case Total Tops 50 Million
The coronavirus has hit another sobering milestone: more than 50 million positive cases worldwide since the pandemic began. Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker reported more than 50.2 million COVID-19 cases globally as of Sunday. There have been more than 1.2 million deaths from the disease worldwide since the pandemic started. (11/8)

ABC News: Biden And Harris Launch Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris rolled out their transition COVID-19 advisory board Monday morning, naming the people in charge of making the rubber of the duo’s COVID policy hit the road as they prepare to take office in just 72 days. “Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in the release announcing the board. (Nagle, 11/9)

Stat: With Murthy, Nunez-Smith, And Kessler, Biden Leans On Experience To Steer Covid-19 Task Force
President-elect Joe Biden has turned to three prominent physicians to lead his coronavirus task force who have collectively signaled that they will approach the pandemic far differently than the Trump administration, which they have criticized for mixing politics with science. A top Biden aide on Sunday announced the two co-chairs of the incoming administration’s task force: Vivek Murthy, the former U.S. surgeon general, and David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. (Facher, 11/8)

Politico: Rick Bright, Atul Gawande On Biden’s Covid Task Force
The Biden team also will tap high-profile surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande, who worked at HHS during the Clinton administration and recently led a health care joint venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan known as Haven. Other members of the advisory group include Luciana Borio, who served as the FDA’s acting chief scientist and on the National Security Council during the Trump administration, and University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist Michael Osterholm. (Diamond, 11/9)

CNN: Biden Transition Team Announces Coronavirus Advisers, Including Whistleblower Rick Bright
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team announced the group of public health experts that will make up his coronavirus advisory board, which includes Rick Bright, a whistleblower from the Trump administration who alleged that his early warnings about the pandemic were ignored and ultimately led to his removal. The inclusion of Bright, who said that he was met with skepticism by Trump administration officials when he raised concerns in the early throes of the pandemic about critical supplies shortages, is a clear signal of the contrasted direction that Biden intends to take his administration when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. (Mucha, 11/9)

In related news about Biden's task force —

Reuters: Biden Team Held COVID-19 Talks With Operation Warp Speed Drugmakers Before Election 
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s healthcare advisers have held talks with drugmaker executives on the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program to accelerate development of a possible COVID-19 treatment, a Biden spokesman said on Sunday. ... Biden’s advisers met with companies that have COVID-19 vaccines or therapies in late-stage clinical trials in September and October, Bloomberg News had reported earlier. (11/8)

But Biden's transition team may have to keep waiting —

The Washington Post: A Little-Known Trump Appointee Is In Charge Of Handing Transition Resources To Biden — And She Isn’t Budging
A Trump administration appointee is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week, in another sign the incumbent president has not acknowledged Biden’s victory and could disrupt the transfer of power. The administrator of the General Services Administration, the low-profile agency in charge of federal buildings, has a little-known role when a new president is elected: to sign paperwork officially turning over millions of dollars, as well as give access to government officials, office space in agencies and equipment authorized for the taxpayer-funded transition teams of the winner. (Rein, O'Connell and Dawsey, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Biden Plans Immediate Flurry Of Executive Orders To Reverse Trump Policies
President-elect Joe Biden is planning to quickly sign a series of executive orders after being sworn into office on Jan. 20, immediately forecasting that the country’s politics have shifted and that his presidency will be guided by radically different priorities. He will rejoin the Paris climate accords, according to those close to his campaign and commitments he has made in recent months, and he will reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. He will repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and he will reinstate the program allowing “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country, according to people familiar with his plans. (Viser, Min Kim and Linskey, 11/7)

Stat: Biden’s Ready To Start His Pandemic Response Immediately 
Never, in the country’s nearly 250-year history, has a president inherited a pandemic on the scale of Covid-19. President-elect Joe Biden, who the Associated Press projected as the winner of the 2020 election on Saturday, will assume office on Jan. 20. He will likely do so amid surging coronavirus cases and increased deaths, and with no end in sight. (Facher, 11/7)

NBC News: Biden To Reach Out To State And Local Officials On Mask Mandates
President-elect Joe Biden in the coming days will begin calling governors and the mayors of major cities from both parties to encourage them to institute mask mandates as the coronavirus pandemic enters a potentially deadlier phase with winter arriving, according to a senior Biden adviser who briefed NBC News. "If a governor declines, he'll go to the mayors in the state and ask them to lead," the official said. "In many states, there is the capacity of mayors to institute mandates." (Przybyla, 11/7)

USA Today: Biden's Approach To Tackling COVID-19 Will Be Dramatically Different, And Quickly Apparent
The day President Donald Trump turns the White House over to Joe Biden, COVID-19 will remain just as big a threat to Americans. But the strategy for tackling it will change dramatically. ... The shift is expected to be swift once Biden takes office. "The public will immediately notice a vast change in science messaging from the White House," said Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. "The Biden administration will both convey pro-science messages and model the best behavior from among all White House and Cabinet staff." (Weintraub and Weise, 11/8)

FierceHealthcare: Biden To Turn To Executive Authority To Invoke Healthcare Priorities In Face Of Divided Congress 
There are some areas that Biden could find common ground with Republicans in the Senate, chiefly on drug prices. “I know there are members in the Senate who really want to do something on drug prices and frustrated efforts did not go anywhere,” said Stephanie Kennan, healthcare policy advisor for the consulting firm MacGuireWoods. One area of consensus could be on changes to Medicare Part D. (King, 11/7)

Politico: Meet The Contenders For Biden’s Cabinet
The Biden transition team has been vetting potential candidates for months and will present the president-elect with potential choices in the coming days. Biden is expected to focus first on posts involving public health and the economy, including the secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, along with West Wing personnel. The former vice president intends to be deliberative and is not likely to announce Cabinet nominations in the first week, according to an official close to the Biden team. The president-elect will face incoming on several fronts, including from Democrats who expect him to nominate the most diverse Cabinet in history. That goal is not always compatible with the push from the party's vocal left wing to nominate the most progressive Cabinet since Franklin D. Roosevelt. (11/7)

USA Today: Biden Cabinet Picks: Who May Be Tapped For Leadership Roles
Here are some of the choices Biden faces in filling his Cabinet: ... Health and Human Services: Ezekiel Emanuel, the white vice provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania who served as a health adviser to Biden's campaign. He was a special adviser for health policy in the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration; Vivek Murthy, a trustee of the Rand Corp. and health adviser to Biden's campaign. Murthy, whose parents are from India, was surgeon general during the Obama administration; New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whom Biden considered as vice president, is the first Latina Democrat to the post, previously was a state Cabinet secretary for the Department of Aging and Long-term Services from 2002 to 2004 and the Department of Health from 2004 to 2007. (Jansen, 11/8)

WCNC.com: Dr. Mandy Cohen In The Running To Lead Biden Administration's Department Of Health And Human Services, POLITICO Reports
Dr. Mandy Cohen, current Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, is among the top contenders to lead the incoming Biden administration's U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to new reporting from POLITICO. The New York native has experience in medicine, advocacy, and government - and also became a household name in North Carolina for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic (a man in Burlington even wrote her a tribute song). (Smart, 11/8)

AP: Biden Seeks To Move Quickly And Build Out His Administration
Biden senior adviser Ted Kaufman said the transition team will focus on the “nuts and bolts” of building the new administration in coming days. Biden may not make top Cabinet choices for weeks. But he built his presidential run around bipartisanship and he has spent the days since Tuesday’s election pledging to be a president for all Americans. That suggests he could be willing to appoint some Republicans to high-profile administration positions. Many former Republican officeholders broke with Trump to endorse Biden’s campaign. Biden’s selection of some of them to join the new government could appease Senate Republicans, who may have to confirm many of Biden’s choices for top jobs. The GOP could retain control of the chamber after two special elections in Georgia on Jan. 5. (Weissert, Jaffe and Madhani, 11/8)

Politico: Californians Eye Biden Jobs After Years Of Trump Attacks
California is about to come in from the cold. After almost four years of President Donald Trump's taunts as a state that's "going to hell,'' California is poised to be powerhouse with a Biden administration. ... California is home to some of the nation's leading universities and the globe's most-recognized tech firms, and the stars of its biotech, alternative energy and environmental policy scenes had clout in Democratic administrations under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. (Marinucci, 11/8)

The New York Times: What Are Joe Biden's Policies? 
Progressives think President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s policies do not go far enough. President Trump and his administration have called Mr. Biden a Trojan horse for the radical left. Since the primary, Mr. Biden has shifted leftward on issues including health care, climate change and education. But even then, he has hardly embraced the bold agenda of progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Here is where Mr. Biden actually stands on several key issues: the coronavirus, health care, the economy, taxes and climate change. (Ember, 11/8)

KHN: Biden Wins, But His Health Agenda Dims With GOP Likely To Hold Senate 
Former Vice President Joe Biden secured the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House on Saturday, major news organizations projected,  after election officials in a handful of swing states spent days in round-the-clock counting of millions of mail-in ballots and early votes. The Democrat’s victory came after the latest tallies showed him taking an insurmountable lead in Pennsylvania, a state both Biden and President Donald Trump had long identified as vital to their election efforts.  Trump has signaled he will fight the election results in several states, filing a number of lawsuits and seeking recounts. (Rovner, 11/7)

Vox: President-Elect Joe Biden’s Health Care Plan, Explained In 800 Words 
Joe Biden has proposed a health care plan that could cover 25 million uninsured Americans. The question now that he’s won the White House is whether he can pass it. The Democratic president-elect has put forward a plan that would build on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). That means much of the existing US health care system would remain in place: Most working people would continue to get their health insurance through their employer, Medicare and Medicaid would be preserved, and the ACA would be expanded. (Scott, 11/6 )

And more specifics on his plans to combat the coronavirus —

CNN: How Biden Plans To Change The US Covid-19 Pandemic Response 
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris say they will move the US Covid-19 pandemic response in a dramatically different direction. "The pandemic is getting significantly more worrisome all across the country," Biden said on Friday. "I want everyone to know on day one, we're going to put our plan to control this virus into action." (Christensen, 11/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s How Joe Biden’s Victory Will Change Coronavirus Strategy
There’s not a lot that President-elect Joe Biden can do to quell the rising swell of coronavirus cases now crashing across much of the United States, but he is already planning his response for what will surely be a tough winter. In his victory speech on Saturday, Biden pledged to name a coronavirus advisory group on Monday. The group, he said, would consist of scientists and other experts, and would take a COVID plan formulated during the campaign and convert it into a “blueprint” that can be immediately implemented when he takes office Jan. 20. (Allday, 11/8)

NPR: President-Elect Biden Has A Plan To Combat COVID-19. Here's What's In It
Biden's plan calls for empowering scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help set national, evidence-based guidance to stop outbreaks as well as making significant investments in vaccine distribution, testing and the creation of a public health workforce to carry out contact tracing and other services. (Aubrey, 11/8)

USA Today: Joe Biden Will Walk Into The Oval Office Facing A Litany Of Weighty Issues. Here's What They Are.
Throughout the campaign, Biden has laid out some things he would do to combat COVID-19.He has said he would contact governors to help implement a mask mandate. If they refuse, the former vice president has said he would turn to local officials. Biden also said he would launch a national plan to expand testing for the virus, implement national guidelines for states to reopen at the guidance of scientists and said the coronavirus vaccine would be free once it’s available. (Morin, 11/8)

The New York Times: A ‘Terrifying’ Coronavirus Surge Will Land In Biden’s Lap 
Hours after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. declared the coronavirus a top priority, the magnitude of his task became starkly clear on Sunday as the nation surpassed 10 million cases and sank deeper into the grip of what could become the worst chapter of the pandemic yet. The rate of new cases is soaring, and for the first time is averaging more than 100,000 a day in the United States, which has reported more Covid-19 cases than any other country. An astonishing number — one in 441 Americans — have tested positive for the virus just in the last week. (Mervosh, Smith and McDonnell Nieto del Rio, 11/8)

Stat: Before Biden Takes Office, A Precarious 10 Weeks For Covid-19
Even many public health experts who celebrated President-elect Biden’s win this week turned their immediate focus to the crisis it might create: A 10-week transition period during which Covid-19 cases and deaths skyrocket, and the outgoing Trump administration doesn’t take additional action to stop the surge. From a public health standpoint, the presidential election could not have come at a worse time. (Facher, 11/7)

The Hill: Experts Warn Of Worsening Pandemic Unless Trump Takes Action 
Health experts are warning that the current surge in coronavirus cases will get far worse unless the Trump administration takes aggressive action in the next few months. Significant time and money will need to be invested to ensure states are ready to widely distribute a vaccine as soon as one becomes available, and to build trust back into a public health system that's been scarred by politicization. (Weixel, 11/8)

The New York Times: Can Joe And Mitch Get It Done? 
Unless Democrats pick off two Senate seats in Georgia to be decided in runoff elections on Jan. 5, Mr. Biden will have to navigate a Senate narrowly controlled by [Sen. Mitch] McConnell, who has happily turned the chamber into a graveyard for Democratic legislation. The likelihood of a Senate under Republican rule severely constrains Mr. Biden’s legislative and personnel agenda from the start, dashing the hopes of those anticipating a post-Trump opening for bold initiatives on health care, taxes and the environment and an administration populated by progressive icons. (Hulse, 11/8)

The Hill: Democratic Hopes On Health Care Rest With Georgia Senate Races 
Democrats are hinging their hopes of fulfilling Joe Biden's health care agenda on runoff elections in Georgia, where voters are expected to decide next month if they want to send two Democrats to the Senate and give the party unified control of the government. It's an uphill climb, as Democrats in both races will be seen as slight underdogs in the race, though the party’s hopes have been lifted by what they believe will be a win in the state for Biden's presidential campaign. (Hellmann, 11/8)

Also —

The Washington Post: Lame-Duck Congress And Trump Face Huge Challenges In Coming Weeks 
Lawmakers return to Washington on Monday for Congress’s lame-duck session confronting a number of major problems but lacking clear signals from President Trump — even as President-elect Joe Biden and his team are poised to begin engaging with congressional Democrats on their priorities. Congress faces a government shutdown deadline and crucial economic relief negotiations at a moment of extraordinary national uncertainty, with Trump refusing to concede the presidential election and with coronavirus cases spiking nationwide. (Werner, Kane and Abutaleb, 11/8)

The Hill: Senate Democrat: Trump Could Show 'Some Graciousness' By Backing Pandemic Relief Package In Lame Duck Session 
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close ally of President-elect Joe Biden, said on Sunday that President Trump could “show some graciousness” by backing another coronavirus relief package between now and the end of his term. “One way that President Trump can show some graciousness in the next 73 days during the transition is to publicly support a significant pandemic relief bill,” Coons said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We’ve had record new cases all this past week, it’s past time for us to come together and deliver the relief the American people are waiting for. (Budryk, 11/8)

The Hill: Buttigieg: McConnell Will Have To Decide If He'll Stand In The Way Of Health Care, Tax Plans 
Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told Fox News on Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden faces an adversarial Senate should it remain Republican-controlled. “Mitch McConnell's gonna have a decision to make,” Buttigieg told host Chris Wallace. “Is his purpose in Washington to defy the American people who along with the president and the House of Representatives will believe in expanding, not taking away, health care, ensuring that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes instead of slashing their taxes no matter what, raising wages, treating climate change as real?” (Choi, 11/8)

Politico: Forget Medicare For All — Even A Public Option Will Be Tough To Pass 
For President-elect Joe Biden, creating a public option to compete with private health insurance may be no easier to pass than it was a decade ago. His promise to lower Medicare’s eligibility age and advance a robust public option to compete with private health insurance was seen as an olive branch to progressives agitating for a total government overhaul like “Medicare for All.” But Biden’s more incremental approach still will face opposition from Republicans and powerful health care lobbies, which have spent the past two years preparing a furious assault against further expansion of government coverage if a Democrat took back the White House. (Luthi, 11/7)

HuffPost: Biden Campaign Urges Supporters To Follow COVID-19 Guidelines While Celebrating
President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign is urging its supporters to practice social distancing and wear masks while celebrating his election victory after crowds flooded the streets of some cities a day earlier to revel in the historic moment. “I know folks are excited,” Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we’re imploring folks across the country to be safe, wear your mask, social distance. This virus is very real and it’s deadly.” (Miller, 11/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Celebrations For Biden, Harris Probably Spread Coronavirus, Bay Area Health Experts Warn 
The impromptu celebrations for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after the marathon presidential election could very well have harmed the new president’s goal of taming the coronavirus pandemic, Bay Area epidemiologists said. Corks popped in the Bay Area and across the nation after the two ended President Trump’s four-year reign, but it was pretty clear from television crowd shots that social distancing was not foremost on the minds of the shouting, chanting, singing revelers, some of whom even snuck in hugs and kisses. (Fimrite, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Crowds Celebrating Biden Win Prompt Warnings And Accusations Of Hypocrisy
The gleeful celebrations of victory that spontaneously erupted in cities from Portland to Philadelphia this weekend over media announcements of Joe Biden’s win prompted warnings from wary health officials — and raised eyebrows among conservatives. “As a reminder, public celebrations where people are close to each other, unable to stand 6ft apart, cheering & shouting, especially without face coverings is high risk for transmission of COVID-19,” the Los Angeles County Public Health Department warned residents on Saturday afternoon, as U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a reminder that “the virus doesn’t care about why you are gathering.” (Farzan, 11/9)

Also —

AP: Trump's Election Night Party Adds To Virus Scrutiny
It was supposed to be a scene of celebration. Instead, the Trump campaign’s election night watch party in the White House East Room has become another symbol of President Donald Trump’s cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 people a day. Polls suggest that attitude was a serious drag on the president’s reelection bid as voters chose to deny Trump a second term in favor of his Democratic rival, now President-Elect Joe Biden. And the party — with few masks and no social distancing — is now under additional scrutiny after the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, became the latest top White House official to contract the virus, which has now killed more than 237,000 people in the U.S. alone. (Colvin, 11/8)

Politico: Missouri Senator Says ‘Normal Inauguration’ Planned Despite Coronavirus Spikes
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Sunday morning that the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is planning for a normal inauguration ceremony, despite the spikes in coronavirus cases across the country in the past week. “The six-person committee — three senators, three House members — that I chair, we're moving forward anticipating an outside full-scale inauguration,” Blunt told George Stephanoplous on ABC’s “This Week.” (Bice, 11/8)

The New York Times: When Is Joe Biden's Inauguration Ceremony? 
Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to be sworn in as the 46th commander in chief of the United States on Jan. 20 at an outdoor inauguration ceremony, though the coronavirus pandemic might cause the plans to be scaled back. “We are moving forward, anticipating an outside, full-scale inauguration,” Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, said on Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” But Mr. Blunt, who chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, was still hedging about which candidate he expected to be placing his hand upon a Bible that day. (Diaz, 11/9)

Washingtonian: Will There Even Be A Regular Inauguration Ceremony On January 20? 
But in pandemic-shaken Washington, the spectacles that looked improbable for political reasons now look difficult for epidemiological ones: It’s hard to imagine would-be spectators cramming into the Metro in order to jam the mall together. It’s harder to imagine party faithful crowding indoor event spaces for inaugural balls (or city regulators allowing such violations of quarantine rules). And, in the event of a transfer of power, it’s possibly hardest of all to imagine any two pols, let alone Donald Trump and Joe Biden, agreeing to coop themselves up in a bulletproof limo for the traditional ride to the Capitol. (Mullins, 11/3)

The Washington Post: How Trump’s Erratic Behavior And Failure On Coronavirus Doomed His Reelection 
Air Force One was descending into Detroit when President Trump posed a question that would come to define his entire approach to the deadly coronavirus pandemic: “Do you think I should wear a mask?” he asked the aides and advisers gathered in the plane’s front cabin. Trump was headed to visit a Ford Motor plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., which by May was already a coronavirus hot zone, with more than 5,000 dead, thousands more sickened — and cases still spiking — in the critical Midwest battleground state. But the responses were nearly unanimous, with senior White House officials arguing that wearing a mask was unnecessary and would send a bad signal to the public about the magnitude of the crisis. You’re the leader of the free world, they told him, and the leader of the free world doesn’t need a mask. (Parker, Dawsey, Viser and Scherer, 11/7)

Time: How Donald Trump Lost The 2020 Presidential Election
His prospects for re-election were dragged down by a pandemic that exposed his weaknesses along with ours. Chief among them was his reckless approach to a virus that landed him in the hospital at the peak of the campaign. “If the President never gets COVID, he wins the election. Our polling showed a significant dip when that happened, particularly with suburban, college-educated, non-liberal men,” says GOP strategist Brad Todd. “Trump getting COVID sent a signal to those people that his management style had consequences even for him personally and was therefore unlikely to change.” (Bennett and Berenson, (11/7)

Mother Jones: How Trump Lost 
Since Biden did not win in a landslide, it’s easy to think that the result could have been different if the country were not enduring a global pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans and battered the economy in the span of just eight months. Once it arrived, it was inevitable the coronavirus would shape the 2020 contest. But it didn’t have to be a drag on Trump’s reelection. If he had responded responsibly, it could have been his golden ticket to a second term by proving his leadership skills to voters already slipping from his grasp.  (Levy, 11/7)

Politico: Inside Donald Trump’s 2020 Undoing 
Brad Parscale was on the phone with President Donald Trump and top White House officials in mid-February when someone on the line asked the campaign manager what worried him the most. Parscale, speaking from his Arlington, Va., apartment, had just told the president how good his internal poll numbers looked. But now he had an urgent message: The coronavirus was a big problem — and it could cost him reelection. (Korecki, Isenstadt, Kumar, Orr, Cadelago and Caputo, 11/7)

The New York Times: Six In White House, Including Trump’s Chief Of Staff, Have The Coronavirus 
Six White House aides and a Trump campaign adviser — including Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff — have contracted the coronavirus, officials said, raising fears of another outbreak sweeping through the ranks of the nation’s top officials as cases surge to record levels in the country. Mr. Meadows, who routinely shrugged off the need to wear masks and embraced Mr. Trump’s strategy of playing down the threat from the coronavirus over the summer, informed a small group of White House advisers that he had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, a senior administration official said late Friday. (Haberman and Shear, 11/6)

Politico: White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Tests Positive For Covid-19 
It’s unclear when Meadows was diagnosed. He appeared mask-less at campaign headquarters with Trump and advisers on Election Day. He was with the president, first family, Cabinet secretaries and other high-profile guests in the White House residence that night. Then he was at the president’s speech in the East Room just after 2:30 a.m., interacting with dozens of aides and allies. Later Wednesday, Meadows huddled with campaign advisers to plot a path forward at the Trump 2020 headquarters in Virginia. A top aide to the chief of staff, special assistant to the president for legislative affairs Cassidy Hutchinson, was among those in the White House who tested positive, according to a White House official. The Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategy, Nick Trainer, also tested positive, according to three people familiar with the matter. Campaign aides who were in contact with Meadows and other aides have been asked to take Covid-19 tests on Saturday. (McGraw and Lippman, 11/6)

Bloomberg: Trump Aides Frustrated After Meadows’s Silence on Infection
Some of Donald Trump’s White House and campaign aides are frustrated that the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, didn’t issue a statement after he tested positive for coronavirus this week, instead informing only a close circle of advisers. ... He spent time upstairs in the White House residence on Tuesday with Trump’s family, including all of his adult children, according to people familiar with the matter. He helped persuade Trump to deliver brief remarks to the country at 2:30 a.m. from the White House East Room. Meadows attended the speech, where the president claimed he had won the election before races had been called in key battleground states where votes were still being counted. Meadows returned to campaign headquarters on Wednesday, again without wearing a mask, two people familiar with the situation said. (Jacobs, Pager and Parker, 11/6)

Also —

Politico: Gaetz Tests Positive For Coronavirus Antibodies
Two more Florida Republican members of Congress have tested positive for Covid-19, including Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz, a close ally of President Donald Trump, said he tested positive for the virus antibodies on Election Day, a likely sign he previously contracted the virus. (Dixon, 11/7)

Quartz: How To Clean A Covid-19 Infested White House For The Next Resident
Even though the Covid-19 virus only survives outside the body for a limited amount of time (28 days in lab conditions, much less in regular ones), it would be understandable if Joe Biden, his family, and staff wanted to make sure the White House was completely sanitized before they moved in. Luckily, that isn’t hard to do. According to Juan Ventura, who runs Paracas Group, a large Milan-based professional cleaning service that has been sanitizing private and corporate spaces during northern Italy’s devastating Covid-19 outbreaks, all it takes it a little time and some hydrogen peroxide. (Merelli, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Affordable Care Act Faces Latest Test In Supreme Court 
A week after President Trump’s electoral defeat, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on one of the principal goals of his 2016 campaign—eliminating the Affordable Care Act—in the midst of an intensifying pandemic. The president and Senate Republicans never found a path to repeal or replace the Obama-era health-care law. But by reducing to zero the penalty for failing to maintain health insurance, they effectively removed the piece they found most objectionable. (Bravin and Armour, 11/8)

The Washington Post: The Affordable Care Act Returns To The Supreme Court In The Shadow Of A Pandemic
When the Supreme Court hears a case Tuesday that could abolish the Affordable Care Act, the stakes will be higher than ever, coming amid a historic health and economic crisis that has deprived millions of Americans of insurance and cast a neon light on health care’s importance. A decision this term to strike down the entire ACA — unlike when justices upheld the law on different grounds in 2012 and 2015 — would upend the health-care system in ways that touch most people in the United States. (Goldstein, 11/7)

Poynter: Obamacare Will Be In Front Of The Supreme Court Tomorrow. What You Need To Know. 
The Supreme Court will make a decision on the future of Obamacare on Tuesday. The justices will begin hearing arguments and later decide the case, likely in the spring of 2021. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, the outcome might be less consequential than it might have been with Donald Trump in the White House, given his long opposition to the Affordable Care Act.At the center of the case before the court — California v. Texas (known as Texas v. U.S. in the lower courts) — is whether if one section of the Affordable Care Act is deemed unconstitutional, can the rest of it stand? (Tompkins, 11/9)

Also —

USA Today: Ten Years After Passage, Affordable Care Act Seems Likely To Survive Latest Supreme Court Challenge
When the Supreme Court rescued the Affordable Care Act five years ago from the second concerted effort to have it struck down, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia mused, "We really should start calling this law 'SCOTUScare.'" The quip from the leader of the court's conservative wing, who died the following year, was in response to his colleagues' dual rulings in 2012 and 2015 upholding President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, which came to be known as Obamacare. (Wolf, 11/8)

AP: Without Ginsburg, High Court Support For Health Law In Doubt
Until six weeks ago, defenders of the Affordable Care Act could take comfort in some simple math. Five Supreme Court justices who had twice preserved the Obama-era health care law remained on the bench and seemed unlikely votes to dismantle it. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in mid-September and her replacement by Amy Coney Barrett barely a month later have altered the equation as the court prepares to hear arguments Tuesday in the third major legal challenge in the law’s 10-year existence. (Sherman and Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/7)

KHN: What To Know As ACA Heads To Supreme Court — Again
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a case that, for the third time in eight years, could result in the justices striking down the Affordable Care Act. The case, California v. Texas, is the result of a change to the health law made by Congress in 2017. As part of a major tax bill, Congress reduced to zero the penalty for not having health insurance. But it was that penalty — a tax — that the high court ruled made the law constitutional in a 2012 decision, argues a group of Republican state attorneys general. Without the tax, they say in their suit, the rest of the law must fall, too. (Rovner, 11/9)

And states are keeping close watch on the case —

The Baltimore Sun: If US Supreme Court Dumps Obamacare Health Coverage, Maryland Could Get Massive Headache
There will be some “very big numbers” at stake when the U.S. Supreme Court considers Tuesday the latest challenge to the federal Affordable Care Act, especially in Maryland, which lawmakers, experts and observers say has embraced the law more than most. Among Marylanders with health insurance, one in five plans would be wiped out or significantly changed if the law, also known as Obamacare, was not upheld. Millions more with work-related insurance likely would lose benefits and see rate increases. Overall, the state would lose about $4 billion in federal funding. (Cohn, 11/9)

Boston Globe: With Supreme Court To Hear ACA Case, 422,000 Massachusetts Residents Could Lose Coverage
The percentage of people without health insurance would soar and Massachusetts would lose billions in critical federal funding if the US Supreme Court rules to overturn the Affordable Care Act, a new report warns. The latest legal challenge to the decade-old law known as Obamacare goes before the court Tuesday. A new analysis from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation estimates that 422,000 Massachusetts residents would lose their coverage in the extreme scenario that the law is struck down. These people are insured through subsidized private plans on the Massachusetts Health Connector, or through MassHealth, the state Medicaid program that serves low-income individuals. (Dayal McCluskey, 11/9)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Premiums To Rise Slightly In 2021
Seniors with traditional Medicare plans will see a slight increase in their 2021 monthly premiums, CMS said Friday. Monthly premiums for Medicare Part B will rise 2.7% to $148.50 in 2021 from $144.60 in 2020. Those fees cover doctors' appointments, and outpatient hospital care as well as other services. Deductibles will see a similar 2.5% rise, from $198 to $203. (11/6)

AP: Medicare's 'Part B' Outpatient Premium To Rise By $3.90
Medicare’s ‘Part B’ monthly premium for outpatient care will go up by $3.90 next year to $148.50, officials announced late Friday afternoon. For most retirees, the health care cost increase will claim a significant slice of their Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. It works out to nearly 20% of the average retired worker’s COLA of $20 a month next year. (11/7)

CNBC: Medicare Part B Premiums Will Rise By 2.7% In 2021
The $3.90 increase is 2.7% more than the 2020 figure of $144.60, according to information released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The deductible for Part B, which covers outpatient care, durable equipment and some other services, will be $203 next year, up $5 from $198 in 2020. Meanwhile, the deductible for Medicare Part A (hospital coverage), which is per benefit period (which generally starts when you are admitted to the hospital) will be $1,484 in 2021, up $76 from this year’s $1,408. (O'Brien, 11/6)

In other Medicare news —

Palm Beach Post: Residents Say They - And Medicare - Were Duped By COVID Testing
In early August, Kerr received an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from Medicare. She was shocked to see that unauthorized blood work had been done that included testing for sex hormones and venereal disease. Medicare was charged $10,368; it paid $895. Both figures are about 10 times what a company would have billed and received from Medicare for COVID and antibody testing. (Diamond, 11/7)

MarketWatch: How To Compare Medicare Advantage Plans
You may have heard of Medicare Advantage Plans, but do you know how to shop for one (or how they fit into the Medicare universe)? Medicare Advantage Plans are an “all-in-one” alternative to Original Medicare — meaning they replace Medicare Part A (hospital coverage), Medicare Part B (medical insurance) and often Medicare Part D (drug coverage). Also known as Medicare Part C or MA Plans, they’re offered by private insurers that have been approved by Medicare. Most plans offer additional benefits that aren’t covered under Original Medicare, which may include dental, hearing and vision coverage. You’ll probably be required to stick with doctors in the plan’s network, but out-of-pocket costs may be lower. (Ashford, 11/9)

NPR: HHS Released More Coronavirus Vaccine Contracts As Election Results Unfolded
While the country was focused on the outcome of the election Saturday, the Department of Health and Human Services released a trove of new Operation Warp Speed documents. The newly released contracts include the crash program's $1 billion agreement with Johnson & Johnson, which was issued through a third-party firm and lacks some customary protections against potential future price-gouging. (Lupkin, 11/8)

NPR: Federal Supply Deal For COVID-19 Antibody Treatment Lacks Some Customary Protections
Regeneron, maker of the experimental coronavirus antibody treatment President Trump received, released on Thursday its $450 million federal contract to supply up to 300 million doses of the medicine to the government for national distribution. The contract, which the government hasn't made public, includes weaker than usual protections for taxpayers' interests. Drug policy experts said that could make it more difficult for the government to restrain pricing if Regeneron were to engage in price gouging down the road. (Lupkin, 11/6)

Stat: Lucrative Federal Contract For Regeneron Lacks Usual Taxpayer Protections
A $450 million federal contract that calls for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) to supply its Covid-19 treatment contains weaker than usual protections for taxpayers. And consumer advocates complain the agreement could make it harder for the U.S. government to constrain pricing should the drug maker attempt to engage in price gouging. (Silverman, 11/6)

And other developments in the search for a COVID vaccine —

Fox News: Aspirin Being Tested In Coronavirus Patients For Potential Treatment
A common painkiller is being tested as a potential treatment for hospitalized coronavirus patients to see if it reduces the risk of blood clots, according to researchers. Aspirin, a known blood thinner, will be given to patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial in the U.K., according to a news release. The researchers plan to give aspirin to about 2,000 patients in the trial in addition to standard-of-care treatment. The results will be compared with 2,000 patients who only receive standard-of-care treatment and assess for mortality after 28 days, as well as the impact on hospital stay and need for ventilation. (Hein, 11/7)

Stat: Humanigen Touts Analysis Of Drug, But Experts See Inappropriate Disclosure
Humanigen, a small company whose stock has more than quadrupled this year because of hopes about its potential treatment for Covid-19, said Friday that the drug is performing well in a clinical trial and that it has begun a research partnership with Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s effort to speed the development of Covid drugs and vaccines. But two experts in clinical trial statistics say that they do not think Humanigen’s claims about its drug’s effectiveness are appropriate — and that the company should not have any knowledge about the efficacy of the drug in the ongoing study at all. (Herper, 11/6)

KHN: Search For A Snakebite Drug Might Lead To A COVID Treatment, Too 
Dr. Matthew Lewin, founder of the Center for Exploration and Travel Health at the California Academy of Sciences, was researching snakebite treatments in rural locations in preparation for an expedition to the Philippines in 2011. The story of a renowned herpetologist from the academy, Joseph Slowinski, who was bitten by a highly venomous krait in Myanmar and couldn’t get to a hospital in time to save his life a decade earlier, weighed on the emergency room doctor. (Robbins, 11/9)

ABC News: Why A Vaccine Distribution Plan Is Key To Saving The US From COVID-19 
Early in April, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top United States infectious disease expert, said that inability to quickly and efficiently test for COVID-19 was a failure early on. Now, months into the pandemic, what's holding us back is the lack of a working vaccine and an effective vaccine distribution plan. (Bhatt and Collins, 11/9)

Stat: How Should People Of Color Get Priority For A Covid-19 Vaccine? 
As the U.S. edges closer to approving a vaccine for Covid-19, a difficult decision is emerging as a central issue: Should people in hard-hit communities of color receive priority access to it, and if so, how should that be done? (St. Fleur, 11/9)

Stat: Expert Panel Votes Down Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Drug, And Rebukes FDA
A panel of outside experts resoundingly concluded Friday that clinical data did not support the approval of Biogen’s much-watched Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab, while providing a rebuke to the Food and Drug Administration, whose reviewers had given the medicine a glowing appraisal. (Herper, Feuerstein and Garde, 11/6)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Panel Declines To Endorse Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug 
In a seven-hour virtual meeting on Friday, the panel showed pointed skepticism, which contrasted markedly with a presentation by Dr. Billy Dunn, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s office of neuroscience, who said that “the evidence supporting its approval appears strong.” Overwhelmingly, the panel members disagreed. (Belluck, 11/6)

In other pharmaceutical news —

CIDRAP: Experts Say COVID-19-Affected Drug Market Rebounding
As the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic hit in the spring, the headlines began heralding the need for more robust and secure supply chains and warning about critical drug shortages. At that point, there was only so much that pharmaceutical companies could do, but a recent analysis by the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, the national organization representing primary pharmaceutical distributors, provided a positive perspective on the industry's performance during the pandemic's first 90 days. The report, titled "The First 90 Days: US Biopharmaceutical Finished Goods Supply Chain Response to COVID-19," was prepared by Deloitte and highlighted the shift of drug distributors' operations owing to COVID-19. It called the supply chain "resilient and effective." Even so, the report acknowledges that more actions are needed by the industry to address the next ripple effect from the pandemic. (McLemon, 11/6)

FiercePharma: AstraZeneca's Brilinta Won Its Coveted Stroke-Prevention Nod. Will It Be Enough To Boost Long-Term Sales? 
A few months ago, AstraZeneca’s Brilinta added a new U.S. indication to reduce the chance of a first heart attack or stroke in certain high-risk patients. Now, the blood thinner has won a green light to prevent another stroke in patients who already suffered a mild-to-moderate one. Specifically, the FDA approved Brilinta alongside aspirin to reduce the risk of another stroke in two groups of stroke patients: those with acute ischemic stroke who score at or below 5 on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and those with a high-risk transient ischemic attack, also known as mini-stroke, AstraZeneca said Friday. (Liu, 11/6)

The Washington Post: Alex Trebek, Quintessential Quizmaster As ‘Jeopardy!’ Host For Three Decades, Dies At 80 
Alex Trebek, who became known to generations of television viewers as the quintessential quizmaster, bringing an air of bookish politesse to the garish coli­seum of game shows as the longtime host of “Jeopardy!,” died Nov. 8 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 80. The official “Jeopardy!” Twitter account announced the death without further details. Mr. Trebek had suffered a series of health reversals in recent years, including two heart attacks and brain surgery, and he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019. He continued to host new episodes of his show until production was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, and then filmed socially distanced episodes that began airing Sept. 14. (Langer, 11/8)

USA Today: Alex Trebek Dead At 80: Why Pancreatic Cancer Is So Deadly
About 47,050 people will die this year from pancreatic cancer, according to the American Society of Cancer, and among them will be Alex Trebek, the beloved "Jeopardy!" host. ... Fewer than 10 percent of people live five years after being diagnosed, according to American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). A lack of cost-effective screenings that can reliably detect cancer for people without symptoms make it difficult to diagnose. As a result, most cases are diagnosed at advanced stages — often Stage 4, when the cancer has spread to other parents of the body. (Peter, 11/8)

In other celebrity news —

Yahoo Entertainment: Al Roker Has Been Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer, Says ‘It’s A Little Aggressive’
Al Roker has revealed he has prostate cancer. The Today show weatherman, 66, made the announcement Friday on the morning show. He said he will be undergoing surgery next week to have his prostate removed. “After a routine checkup in September, turns out I have prostate cancer,” Roker shared. “It’s a good news, bad news kind of thing. Good news is, we caught it early. Not great news is that it’s a little aggressive.” (Byrne, 11/6)

In sports news —

New York Post: Notre Dame Fans Storm Field After Clemson Win Amid COVID-19 Spike
Notre Dame’s double-overtime upset over No. 1-ranked Clemson ended on a frightening note on Saturday evening. Pandemonium broke out moments after the No. 4-ranked Fighting Irish secured a 47-40 victory, as thousands of students in the stands rushed onto the field in a scary mob scene with many either not wearing masks properly or not wearing them at all. The Tigers were already playing shorthanded with quarterback Trevor Lawrence sidelined while recovering from COVID-19.Attendance at the game in South Bend, Ind. was 11,011 and was limited to students, faculty, university personnel and families of players. (Previte, 11/8)

The State: Notre Dame Fans Stormed Field During COVID-19. Here’s What Dabo, Kelly Said About It
“When they stormed the field you got a sense of a special moment at Notre Dame,” [Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly] said. “I told our team in our walk-thru today, I said, ‘Listen, when we win this thing, the fans are going to storm the field. With COVID being as it is, we’ve gotta get off the field and get to the tunnel.’ Now I beat them all to the tunnel, so that didn’t go over so good.” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, who was shown on TV trying to navigate his way off the field, said he didn’t have a problem with the celebration that came as new COVID-19 case counts are surging across the United States. (Connolly, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Cases Are Surging In America—And The NFL 
When the NFL returned to play in the middle of a pandemic, it could control how often its players were tested and when they had to wear masks. But there was one thing it had absolutely zero power over: the state of the pandemic in the U.S. Now Covid-19 cases are rapidly rising in America. They are rising in America’s most popular sport, too. (Beaton, 11/6)

AP: Tigers, Lugnuts Open Ballparks For Flu Shot Clinics
Take me out to the ballpark — for a flu shot. Flu shots will be available Monday and Tuesday at Comerica Park in Detroit and Jackson Field in Lansing. The doses will be provided by the state of Michigan and administered by Meijer pharmacy teams. The clinics are for everyone, including people who are uninsured or have limited health insurance. (11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Restaurants Defend Dining Rooms As Covid-19 Spreads 
Restaurant chains are setting long-term plans to keep dining rooms open whenever and wherever possible as the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of relenting. ... McDonald’s and Starbucks say they aren’t shutting dining rooms across the board this time. Instead they are fine-tuning plans that they say allow them to serve customers inside safely in some restaurants where possible, even as the virus continues to circulate across the U.S. (Haddon, 118/)

KQED: Visiting Family Over The Holidays? Here's How To Lower Your Risk For COVID-19
It’s been months of quarantine and the urge to see friends and family is real, especially as the holidays approach. But as people are considering traveling to spend Thanksgiving or Hanukkah with loved ones, COVID-19 cases are again surging across the U.S. While doctors say there’s no way to completely eliminate the risk of catching or spreading the novel coronavirus when venturing out, there are things you can do to reduce the risk. (Arcuni, 11/9)

Fox News: Teleworking May Drop Coronavirus Infection Rates By Nearly 50%, CDC Finds 
Looking to go back into the office anytime soon? Evidence is starting to mount against it, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data released Friday revealed that, in July, of 248 people, those who worked from home for two weeks before developing symptoms of any sort were less likely to be infected with coronavirus. (Rivas, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: What Rights Do Furloughed Employees Have? 
What rights do furloughed employees have? A furlough generally means workers’ hours have been cut or eliminated temporarily, or requires that they take a certain amount of unpaid time off. Furloughed workers are still considered active employees and eligible for some benefits. While furlough doesn’t have a technical legal meaning, employers—especially since the onset of the pandemic—are using the term to signal that it’s a status where employees can expect to maintain their health care benefits and eventually be called back to work. Still, a furlough can lead to termination. (Steele, 11/8)

In other public health news —

CNN: 'Magic Mushroom' Ingredient Could Work As Mental Health Treatment 
While magic mushrooms are known for their hallucinogenic effects, they may also have a role to play in the treatment of some mental health treatment. Or they might, if they weren't illegal in most states. Oregon has become the first US state to make psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, legal for mental health treatment in supervised settings. (Hunt, 11/7)

AP: AEA: Doctors Letting Quarantined Kids Return Early To School
An organization for Alabama teachers is expressing concern that children are being allowed to return to school before completing required COVID-19 quarantine periods, potentially putting the health of students and school employees at risk. The Alabama Education Association sent a Thursday to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners. The educator organization said they learned some doctors are writing excuses for students to return to school before mandated quarantine periods expired. (11/8)

AP: Indiana Seeks Retired Health Care Workers For COVID-19 Help
State officials are renewing their call for retired health care workers to help relieve staff in Indiana’s hospitals and long-term care facilities as the number of hospitalizations and new infections across the state continue to spike at record highs. Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said Wednesday that hospitals and healthcare workers in Indiana are swamped, “needing support now more than ever.” (11/7)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: FCC Opens Applications For Its $100M Telehealth Pilot
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday released plans to open applications for a $100 million pilot program to promote telehealth services. Applications for the FCC's Connected Care Pilot Program open Friday and will close Dec. 7. The Connected Care program will distribute up to $100 million over three years to not-for-profit and public healthcare providers to help defray broadband costs related to bringing telehealth to low-income Americans and veterans. The program will cover 85% of the cost of select services and network equipment, such as internet access for patients. (Cohen, 11/6)

Houston Chronicle: Telemedicine Moves From Niche Service Into Health Care Mainstream
Telemedicine, once regarded as a niche in medical care, has moved into the mainstream. Since the pandemic forced its widespread adoption during spring shutdowns, telemedicine has established itself as an vital tool for patients, particularly older ones and people with chronic illnesses that put them at high-risk of complications from COVID-19. The use of telemedicine is down from its peaks in the spring, when up to 90 percent of non-emergency visits were conducted virtually, but still far above prepandemic levels. At Kelsey-Seybold, 15 percent of visits as of early October were conducted over telemedicine, compared to less than 1 percent in October 2019. (Wu, 11/8)

FierceHealthcare: Healthcare Employment Up 58K In October But Recovery Remains Sluggish  
The healthcare industry added 58,000 jobs in October but employment in the healthcare sector has cooled since this summer, according to the latest job numbers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report released on Friday showed some gains for hospitals and physician offices. But nursing and assisted living facilities continued to lose jobs, shedding 9,000 positions last month. (King, 11/6)

FierceHealthcare: CVS Health CEO Merlo To Retire, Aetna Chief Lynch Tapped As Successor  
Larry Merlo, who has served as CEO of CVS Health for a decade, is stepping down from the role in February. CVS announced the news alongside its third-quarter earnings Friday morning. Karen Lynch, who is currently the president of the Aetna business segment, will take over as CEO effective Feb. 1. (Minemyer, 11/6)

Stat: A Public Scorecard Can Help Hold Safety-Net Providers Accountable 
California regulators announced last month plans to evaluate whether safety-net patients face improperly long waits to see medical specialists in Los Angeles County, the nation’s second-largest public health system. That investigation — which aims to determine whether these wait times violate managed-care standards — raises fundamental questions about the quality of care for safety-net patients nationwide, in the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people. (Hochman and Levander, 11/6)

The Washington Post: Anti-Racist Education Sought In Medical Schools 
Faculty members and student activists around the country have long called for medical schools to increase the number of students and instructors from underrepresented backgrounds to improve treatment and build inclusivity. But to identify racism’s roots and its effects in the health system, they say, fundamental changes must be made in medical school curriculums. (Lawrence, 11/8)

Fox News: Utah Governor Orders Statewide Mask Mandate, Other Coronavirus Restrictions 
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, declared a new state of emergency and issued a statewide mask mandate on Sunday amid a recent surge in coronavirus cases. The mask mandate was a step the governor had resisted for months, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. It comes after Utah saw a total of 16,111 new cases and 46 deaths from the virus over the past seven days. "Due to the alarming rate of COVID infections within our state, tonight I issued a new state of emergency with several critical changes to our response," Herbert said. "These changes are not shutting down our economy, but are absolutely necessary to save lives and hospital capacity." (Aaro, 11/9)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Governor Orders Statewide Mask Mandate, New Coronavirus Restrictions 
Utah’s governor declared a new state of emergency late Sunday after the state’s most devastating week of the pandemic, as COVID-19 infections skyrocketed and deaths hit new highs. ...Unlike other restrictions, the governor intends to extend the mask mandate “for the foreseeable future.” Businesses that fail to comply will face fines. (Gonzalez and Canham, 11/8)

Residents and businesses struggle with the COVID surge —

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Officials And Health Experts Disagree On COVID-19 Data — And New Business Restrictions 
As Utah’s coronavirus case counts soar and hospitals warn that rationing care is all but inevitable, health experts say that state officials for weeks have rejected their recommendations for more severe restrictions to prevent further spread. “Given the trajectory we’re on, we need — at a minimum — a two-week stay-at-home order to interrupt this transmission,” said Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an infectious disease physician with Intermountain Healthcare. (Alberty and Rodgers, 11/8)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Should Learn From These Places That Have Beat Back Huge Coronavirus Spikes 
Some patients are being treated in hallways of Utah hospitals. Others say when they call for a nurse, there’s not one available to assist for a half hour. And while there are still some empty ICU beds, there are so many nurses who can’t work due to their own infection or exposure to COVID-19, further exacerbating the problems. (Larsen, 11/8)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Salt Lake City Bar Sues County Health Department Over COVID-19 Restrictions 
The owners of a Salt Lake City nightclub — which has received two warnings for failing to follow Utah’s COVID-19 guidelines — is suing the health department. Button Up Holdings, the owners of Echo at 134 W. Pierpont say they have been subject to “unsupported” and “unnecessary” requirements and “illegal regulatory enforcement” by the Salt Lake County Department of Health. (Stephenson, 11/8)

Axios: Defense Department Sends Medical Teams To El Paso As COVID-19 Cases Surge 
The Department of Defense has deployed three U.S Air force Medical Specialty Teams to El Paso to help officials cope with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday. Why it matters: El Paso currently has 23,702 active COVID-19 cases, including 1,300 new cases reported on Friday, per the city's health department. At least 1,049 coronavirus patients have been hospitalized, including 311 who are in the ICU. (11/7)

Fox News: Young People Driving Coronavirus Spike In Austin, Texas Officials Say
Younger people are behind a rise in coronavirus illnesses in the Austin area, Texas officials said, noting that the county now has the highest number of active cases since August. More than half of the 1,034 active cases in Austin-Travis County involve adults between 20 and 39 years old, according to Austin Public Health. (Hein, 11/7)

In news from New York, Maryland, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Utah—

The Washington Post: New York Quashes Coronavirus With Hyper-Local Lockdowns
New York officials have embraced a new strategy to quash coronavirus spikes — shutting down schools and businesses with almost surgical precision, using block-by-block infection data while also boosting testing and contact tracing in those communities. The idea is to stamp out virus sparks quickly, before adjacent areas catch flame, while avoiding the devastation of citywide lockdowns. (Guarino, 11/8)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Orders Restaurants To Close Early, Bars Without Food To Shut Down As Coronavirus Cases Rise 
Baltimore became the first jurisdiction in the region to announce it would reinstate more strict coronavirus restrictions Friday, including tightening capacity restrictions, shutting down bars that don’t serve food, and requiring masks in all public spaces, indoors and out. The limits come as the region enters the so-called second wave of the virus, with leaders warning they would take further action in a few weeks if cases continue to rise. (Tkacik, 11/6)

The Hill: Top Wisconsin Health Official Resigns Amid Spike In Coronavirus Cases 
The top public health official in Wisconsin resigned Thursday amid an alarming surge in coronavirus cases across the Badger State. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed to The Hill on Friday that interim Division of Public Health Administrator Stephanie Smiley resigned from her post and will officially leave on Nov. 11. (Axelrod, 11/6)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Bucking Latest Coronavirus Trends As New Wave Slams US; Experts Still 'Very Concerned'
There are no firm theories on why Louisiana, the only state with cases spiking at the same time as the national numbers in the spring and summer, has seen only a slow rise this time. Adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines, and the still-warm fall temperatures in the state, might be factors. Alternatively, some worry that small increases in new cases and hospitalizations might portend the state is moving toward another outbreak, one concealed by a reduction in testing. (Adelson, 11/8)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Promontory Point Landfill Again Seeks Permit To Take Out-Of-State Waste 
A landfill facility on the tip of Promontory Point, and only a few hundred yards from the Great Salt Lake, has indicated it will again apply for a Class V permit that will allow it to receive waste from other states. The Promontory Point Resources, or PPR, landfill became controversial in 2017 after it submitted its first Class V permit application and associated documents which made clear its plans to take toxic coal ash from other states. (Larsen, 11/8)

In nursing home news —

AP: Nursing Home COVID-19 Cases Rise Four-Fold In Surge States
Despite Trump administration efforts to erect a protective shield around nursing homes, coronavirus cases are surging within facilities in states hard hit by the latest onslaught of COVID-19.An analysis of federal data from 20 states for The Associated Press finds that new weekly cases among residents rose nearly four-fold from the end of May to late October, from 1,083 to 4,274. Resident deaths more than doubled, from 318 a week to 699, according to the study by University of Chicago health researchers Rebecca Gorges and Tamara Konetzka. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/7)

Philadelphia Inquirer: After COVID-19, Nursing Homes Are In Need Of Long-Term Care
In the Philadelphia region and nationally, the coronavirus pandemic has sharply reduced the number of nursing home residents, both because so many elderly have died and because families are warier than ever of placing loved ones in the facilities. This dramatic drop has plunged the industry into an era of uncertainty over its future. Even before the pandemic, Medicare and Medicaid, which pay for the majority of nursing home care, were pushing more care into the patients’ homes to save money, but the pandemic is expected to hasten the reshaping of the industry, as some locations close and others get smaller or specialize. (Brubaker, 11/9)

The Oklahoman: Pandemic Deaths At Oklahoma Nursing Homes And Other Long-Term Care Facilities Hit 'Painful Milestone'
The COVID-19 death toll at Oklahoma nursing homes and other long-term care facilities has surpassed 500 as the second surge of the pandemic intensifies in the state. Health officials reported in the latest epidemiology report that 516 residents from such facilities and four staff have died so far due to the coronavirus. More than 100 of the resident deaths have been since Oct. 1. (Clay, 11/9)

The New York Times: Avoid The Coronavirus, Forget Winter Weather: Socialize Outside
I don’t have any new solutions for the pandemic or for the politics, I’m afraid, but take it from someone who grew up in northern England: Terrible weather does not mean you don’t get to socialize outdoors. (Oliver Burkeman, 11/7)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Reinfection Is Extremely Rare As Are Other Outlier Cases
The most attention-grabbing scare stories about the pandemic often revolve around individual cases — someone who got the disease twice; a young, fit person who died; an older person who was likely infectious for more than two months. The fear is that these phenomena could be widespread, but scientists who study infectious disease say it’s normal to see extreme variability in the human reaction to any virus. (Faye Flam, 11/8)

Stat: Covid-19 Will Boost Inappropriately Prescribed Antibiotics This Winter 
Winter is coming. With the end of Covid-19 nowhere in sight, the U.S. must brace for the annual surge of influenza, bronchitis, sinusitis, bronchiolitis, and other acute respiratory illnesses. Last winter, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were 38 million cases of influenza alone. (Jowa (Zhou) Shi and Ateev Mehrotra, 11/9)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Is Whipping Up A Cold Russian Winter Far From Moscow 
Coronavirus infections are hitting records again in Russia, the world’s fifth hardest-hit nation in absolute terms. This time, the provinces are bearing the brunt, with nearly three-quarters of new cases registered outside of Moscow. Worrying reports suggest some areas are running out of beds, doctors and even oxygen.Even going by official numbers that may understate the toll, this latest wave is turning into a serious test for President Vladimir Putin’s administration. The Kremlin delegated the handling of the pandemic to local authorities ill-equipped for it and now the caseload is straining a system that has centralized power and resources for much of the past two decades. At the same time, Russia’s first approved Covid-19 vaccine, a public relations coup, has hit production hiccups. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 11/9)

The New York Times: Republicans And Democrats Agree: End The War On Drugs
One of America’s greatest mistakes over the last century was the war on drugs, so it’s thrilling to see voters in red and blue states alike moving to unwind it. The most important step is coming in Oregon, where voters easily passed a referendum that will decriminalize possession of even hard drugs like cocaine and heroin, while helping users get treatment for addiction. The idea is to address drug use as a public health crisis more than as a criminal justice issue. (Nicholas Kristof, 11/7)

Stat: Survey Sets A Baseline For Diversity In Digital Health Companies 
"You’re a unicorn,” the investor said. The first time she called me that, I responded with a nervous laugh and downplayed her comment. But that didn’t stop her. She went on to explain that she called me a unicorn because I’m a physician, I’ve had a successful academic career, and I’ve been in the C-suite of a venture-backed digital health company that scaled and recently had an IPO. She didn’t even add the obvious: I am also a Black woman. (Ivor Horn, 11/9)

USA Today: Alex Trebek: Jeopardy Host Remembered By First Blind Contestant
As the first totally blind contestant in the show’s history, I neither wanted nor needed much in the way of special treatment. But Alex did have to be told that I’d need a verbal review of the scores when a daily double was uncovered. Also, I might not pick a specific dollar amount from the board every time but might just say, “Next in the category,” or words to that effect. (Eddie Timanus, 11/8)

The Washington Post: The U.S. Must Brake The Runaway Pandemic Train
Out of control, the coronavirus pandemic has already earned a place in the history books as one of the most devastating and deadly events in U.S. history. With more than 237,000 deaths, it has taken four times the number of U.S. military lives that were lost in the Vietnam War. It has taken twice the death toll of Americans in World War I. It has killed 79 times the number of people who died in the 9/11 terrorism attacks. And, judging by the past week, it will go on doing so. The virus is spreading uncontrolled in every region of the United States and in almost every state. (11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: The States Are Laboratories For Covid Control
The U.S. is poised to get a new president amid a worsening crisis: The country is logging more than 100,000 new Covid cases a day, and this probably only represents one-fifth of total infections. Hospitalizations and deaths are rising, including in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, which recorded at least 19,000 infections this week and about 1,800 deaths. But President-elect Joe Biden can look to some states as a model for handling the pandemic. It will be essential during the transition to take steps to preserve life and liberty. Covid-19 is highly contagious, and spread was inevitable. But it didn’t need to be this bad in America. (Scott Gottlieb, 11/8)

Stat: Making A Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence Project Job No. 1 
President-elect Joe Biden faces many grave challenges. The one we believe to be paramount is that the lack of coherent, national leadership to date in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic has left Americans to respond to it in their own ways instead of responding together in a logical, coordinated fashion. By letting individuals’ decisions revert to America’s “red versus blue” mold, we imperil our strongest national strategic asset in this fight: safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19. (David Bluestone, John Garrett and David Beier, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: Jobs Are Going Up. So Are Coronavirus Cases. Coincidence? No
The October jobs report released Friday shows that 2.2 million more people were employed last month compared with September.That might help to explain the other increase reported this week — the one in new coronavirus infections, which hit a record high in the United States on Thursday and show no sign of abating. (Jon Healey, 11/6)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Time To Test, Trace And Isolate
We have foolishly pretended that it was government overreach that has shut down businesses and schools, when all along it has been the virus, not the state, that is causing people to avoid restaurants and classrooms. The state and the business community have been encouraging responsible behavior through websites and ad campaigns, but just encouraging clearly isn’t enough. If we are not willing to shut down all businesses and all schools, and there are very strong reasons not to, then a much more aggressive testing and tracing regimen must be put into place a soon as possible. (11/8)

Des Moines Register: Congress Needs To Pass Stimulus For Rural America Right Away
Rural businesses and communities have been waiting for Congress to pass a second stimulus package for months. With Election Day behind us, Congress should not delay in passing another stimulus bill. Two bipartisan proposed bills should be included, because they offer common-sense solutions to help rural economies weather the pandemic. One bill is the Rural Equal Aid Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill led by Rep. Cindy Axne, Democrat of Iowa, that would offer support to rural entrepreneurs. The second is the Strengthening Local Processing Act from Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska), which would strengthen rural economic opportunity by supporting small meat processors. (Anna Johnson, 11/9)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Leaders Must Deliver Relief To Poor Families Now
While everyone is suffering at some level, the suffering isn’t equal. This new normal of our economy, with its dramatic challenges, isn’t new to many working families in Massachusetts, especially those living below the poverty line. Families everywhere see the deck stacked against them, and our historically marginalized neighbors and friends feel this most acutely. We know that struggling to afford food, housing, and other necessities puts children and families’ health at risk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the stakes couldn’t be higher. (Lynn Margherio, Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, and Kate Barrand, 11/7)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: As Area Hospitals Fill Up, Pandemic Precautions Are More Urgent Than Ever.
“We’re starting to see our resources being depleted, whether it’s nursing labor, physician labor, the bed capacity in our hospitals,” said Dr. Aamina Akhtar, infectious disease specialist at Mercy Hospital South. “We’re scared of what’s coming.” Already, some hospitals are limiting elective procedures. “I think we’re all concerned about the potential to have enough [coronavirus] cases that reducing elective care is not enough,” said Dr. Clay Dunagan, chief clinical officer at Barnes Jewish Hospital. The point wasn’t to dismay or scare people but to implore the public to start consistently doing the two simple things that could have already saved untold thousands of lives had they been taken seriously sooner: practice social distancing and wear masks in public. (11/8)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Must Close Treatment Gap For People Suffering From Addiction
One side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and response is a reported increase in opioid mortality from states across the country. An Oct. 5​ issue briefing from the American Medical Association validated what many of us have seen in our Kentucky practices: Substance abuse trends are heading in the wrong direction following promising, pre-COVID-19 declines. Whether due to isolation, stress, job loss, barriers to health care or some combination of them all, a half-year of COVID clearly is associated with increases in substance abuse. (Marvin Bishop, 11/9)