Politico: Trump Officials Pressured CDC To Change Virus Testing Guidelines 
Top Trump administration officials involved with the White House coronavirus task force ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Protection to stop promoting coronavirus testing for most people who have been exposed to the virus but aren't showing symptoms, according to two people with knowledge of the process. Federal testing czar Brett Giroir denied those allegations Wednesday, telling reporters that the CDC ultimately decided to narrow the recommendations for who should be tested. (Lim and Cancryn, 8/26)

CNN: CDC Was Pressured 'From The Top Down' To Change Covid-19 Testing Guidance, Official Says
A sudden change in federal guidelines on coronavirus testing came this week as a result of pressure from the upper ranks of the Trump administration, a federal health official close to the process tells CNN. "It's coming from the top down," the official said of the new directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new guidelines raise the bar on who should get tested, advising that some people without symptoms probably don't need it -- even if they've been in close contact with an infected person. (Valencia, Murray and Holmes, 8/26)

The New York Times: Top U.S. Officials Told C.D.C. To Soften Coronavirus Testing Guidelines 
Adm. Brett P. Giroir, the administration’s coronavirus testing czar, called it a “C.D.C. action,” written with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert R. Redfield. But he acknowledged that the revision came after a vigorous debate among members of the White House coronavirus task force — including its newest member, Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a frequent Fox News guest and a special adviser to President Trump. “We all signed off on it, the docs, before it ever got to a place where the political leadership would have, you know, even seen it, and this document was approved by the task force by consensus,” Dr. Giroir said. “There was no weight on the scales by the president or the vice president or Secretary Azar,” he added, referring to Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services. (Gay Stolberg, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Controversial CDC Change In Coronavirus Testing Guidelines Came From The White House 
The new guidance — introduced this week, without any announcement, on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website — replaces advice that everyone who has been in close contact with an infected person should get tested to find out whether they had contracted the virus. Instead, the guidance says those without symptoms “do not necessarily need a test.” Several leading infectious-disease experts predicted that, after months of public health exhortations encouraging people to get tested, the turnaround could heighten public confusion, impede contact tracing and lead to more cases. The CDC estimates that 40 percent of those who test positive for the coronavirus have no symptoms but may be highly infectious and spread it to other people. (Goldstein and Sun, 8/26)

CNN: Fauci Says He Was In Surgery When Task Force Discussed CDC Testing Guideline 
White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was undergoing surgery and not in the August 20 task force meeting for the discussion on updated US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that suggest asymptomatic people may not need to be tested for Covid-19, even if they've been in close contact with an infected person. "I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations" at that meeting, Fauci told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. (Diamond, Holmes and Gupta, 8/27)

Other health experts react —

AP: New Federal Virus Testing Advice Sparks Criticism, Confusion
Across the country, public health experts called the change bizarre. They noted that testing contacts of infected people is a core element of public health efforts to keep outbreaks in check, and that a large percentage of infected people — the CDC has said as many as 40% — exhibit no symptoms. “The recommendation not to test asymptomatic people who likely have been exposed is not in accord with the science,” said John Auerbach, president of Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit that works to improve U.S. preparedness against disease. (Stobbe, 8/26)

NPR: CDC's Changed Testing Guidelines Could Lead To Less Testing, Experts Fear
The Trump administration has stirred confusion and concern by rewriting its guidelines for coronavirus testing. Public health experts fear the revised guidelines will lead to less testing – something the president has repeatedly asked for — but the administration denies that. Part of the concern stems from the way the new guidelines were unveiled. There was no press release or announcement in advance, but instead on Monday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly updated the website that provides guidance for coronavirus testing. Journalists discovered the change. (Harris, 8/26)

Stat: New Covid-19 Testing Guidelines, Crafted At The White House, Alarm Public Health Experts 
Public health experts reacted with alarm Wednesday to new Covid-19 testing guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, guidance that they said will make it harder to find and isolate people spreading the SARS-2 virus early and will undermine efforts to control transmission. The guidance recommends against testing people who have been in contact with confirmed Covid-19 cases but who don’t yet have symptoms — even though such people can be infectious. It was crafted not by the CDC but by the White House coronavirus task force, and the nation’s best-known infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, didn’t sign off on it. (Branswell and Sheridan, 8/26)

USA Today: ‘This Change In Policy Will Kill’: Experts Troubled By CDC Changes To COVID-19 Testing Guidelines
Infectious disease experts are not only confused but also troubled by a change in testing guidelines made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said people without symptoms may not need a test – even if they’ve been exposed to the coronavirus. “Our work on the ‘silent’ spread underscored the importance of testing people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms,” tweeted Alison Galvani, director for the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale School of Medicine. “This change in policy will kill.” (Rodriguez, 8/26)

CIDRAP: Experts Question CDC Changes To COVID-19 Testing Guidance
The change, made without any rationale or explanation, further erodes the scientific community's confidence in the CDC. For months, the story has been more—not less—testing could only help control the world's worst outbreak of the virus. "If this is coming from HHS, it really undermines the CDC," said Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. (Soucheray, 8/26)

Some lawmakers push back —

The Hill: GOP Lawmaker Calls Asymptomatic Testing Crucial After CDC Revises Guidance 
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said Wednesday that asymptomatic testing for COVID-19 would be “paramount” to addressing the pandemic in the coming months. The remarks by Burgess, the top Republican and the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health, contrast with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which said asymptomatic people do not need to be tested for COVID-19, even if they have been in close contact with an infected person. (Bikales, 8/26)

Financial Times: New York Pushes Back Against Changes To CDC’s Covid-19 Test Guidance
New York’s governor said the state would not follow national coronavirus testing guidelines, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed them to recommend that people who have been in close contact with an infected person but do not exhibit symptoms should not get a test. (Stacey, 8/26)

Los Angeles Times: California At Odds With CDC Over Looser COVID-19 Protocols 
New guidance on coronavirus testing and travel issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drew strong pushback from California officials Wednesday. The CDC is no longer recommending a 14-day quarantine for travelers. After the government issued a mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving in the U.S. from Wuhan, China, in February, the guidance that travelers isolate for two weeks was adopted by several states and encouraged by local officials as a key tool in mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus — especially among people who may be asymptomatic. (Shalby and Willion, 8/26)

CNBC: CDC Proposes Guidelines For Distributing Coronavirus Vaccine In The U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday proposed guidelines for distributing a coronavirus vaccine in the United States if and when one is approved for public use. The guidelines, unveiled during a presentation at the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting, would prioritize health-care workers, essential personnel and vulnerable Americans, such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. (Lovelace Jr., 8/26)

The New York Times: What If The First Coronavirus Vaccines Aren’t The Best? 
Dozens of research groups around the world are playing the long game, convinced that their experimental vaccines will be cheaper and more powerful than the ones leading the race today. (Zimmer, 8/27)

NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine May Pit Science Against Politics
Under normal circumstances, it could take years — if not decades — to bring a new vaccine to market. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all that. In May, the Trump Administration launched Operation Warp Speed with the goal of delivering initial doses of a safe and effective vaccine by January, 2021 --shortening the development time from years to months. Some worry that to meet that ambitious schedule, the Administration might cut important scientific corners. They fear that President Trump could announce an "October surprise"-- declaring that a vaccine works before it has passed scientific muster in order to enhance his reelection chances. (Palca, 8/27)

In developments on specific vaccines —

Reuters: Novavax CEO Expects Filing For COVID-19 Vaccine Approval In December: Paper 
Novavax Inc expects filing for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the United States in December, Chief Executive Stanley Erck said in an interview for Czech daily Hospodarske Noviny, released on Thursday. The company plans to produce part of the vaccine at its Czech plant, which will give the country access to the product once it is approved, the paper cited Erck as saying. (8/27)

Politico: Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine Shows Strong Immune Response In Older Adults 
Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate appears to be safe and produce a strong immune response in older adults, according to new data from an early trial presented by the company at a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meeting today. The study of 20 adults over the age of 55 found that almost two months after receiving the second of two vaccine doses, participants had antibody levels higher than those of people who have recovered from Covid-19. (Brennan and Wheaton, 8/26)

CNBC: Moderna Says Its Coronavirus Vaccine Shows Promising Results In Small Trial Of Elderly Patients
The company tested its vaccine on 10 adults between the ages of 56 and 70 and 10 elderly adults aged 71 and older, Moderna said. Each participant received two 100 microgram doses of the vaccine 28 days apart. The volunteers produced neutralizing antibodies, which researchers believe are necessary to build immunity to the virus, and T-cells, Moderna said in its results, which have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Additionally, the antibodies that were produced were higher than those seen in people who have recovered from Covid-19. (Lovelace Jr. , 8/26)

AP: Rapid $5 Coronavirus Test Doesn't Need Specialty Equipment
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the first rapid coronavirus test that doesn’t need any special computer equipment to get results. The 15-minute test from Abbott Laboratories will sell for $5, giving it a competitive edge over similar tests that need to be popped into a small machine. The size of a credit card, the self-contained test is based on the same technology used to test for the flu, strep throat and other infections. (Perrone, 8/27)

Politico: FDA Gives Go-Ahead To Fast $5 Coronavirus Test That Doesn't Require Lab Equipment 
Abbott's test is designed for use within seven days of the onset of symptoms. It gives results on a card reminiscent of the stick used in many over-the-counter pregnancy tests. If one line appears on the card, the patient is negative for the coronavirus; two lines indicates a positive result. Health care providers still must administer the test but it can be done in point-of-care settings like offices. (Lim, 8/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Abbott’s $5 Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Test Gets Emergency-Use Status From FDA 
Some public-health officials and lab executives say lower-cost rapid tests that can be produced at scale are an important factor in the country’s ability to return to work and school. Abbott’s new test, called the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card, searches for virus proteins and is intended to be used for patients within seven days of feeling coronavirus symptoms. It involves a nasal swab administered by a health-care professional such as a doctor, school nurse or pharmacist. The swab is inserted into the card-like test. (Krouse, 8/26)

Reuters: Abbott Wins U.S. Authorization For $5 Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Test 
The portable test is about the size of a credit card, requires no additional equipment to operate, and can be conducted using a less invasive nasal swab than traditional lab tests, Abbott executives said on a call with reporters. Abbott expects to ship tens of millions of tests in September, ramping to 50 million tests a month from the beginning of October. (O'Donnell and Roy, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Hurricane Laura Makes Landfall As Coronavirus Complicates Evacuation And Shelter Plans
Ahead of Hurricane Laura’s landfall, evacuation plans had hit roadblocks as social distancing limited shelters in Texas and Louisiana. Officials in coastal states most affected by the hurricane season have had months to prepare for the summer’s storms. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced shelters and buses would be stocked with hand sanitizer and face masks and shelters would be spaced appropriately. Abbott also said 200,000 hotel rooms would shelter evacuees from Southeast Texas, effectively isolating groups rather than gathering people in a large shelter. (8/27)

The Washington Post: A Hurricane In The Middle Of A Pandemic: Medical Facilities Say They’re Ready 
With years of experience dodging major hurricanes and months of practice fending off the novel coronavirus, medical officials in the path of Hurricane Laura said Wednesday they are prepared for the Category 4 storm despite the trying circumstances of a pandemic. Evacuations were more cumbersome with the added requirements of social distancing and masks because of the coronavirus. But critically ill patients have been transferred from hospitals and frail patients are out of nursing homes in Jefferson County, Tex., where Laura is expected to make landfall with winds that could reach 150 miles per hour. (Bernstein, 8/26)

The Advocate: How Is Louisiana Safely Evacuating People For Hurricane Laura Amid Coronavirus? Hotels, Buses, More
As Louisiana officials implore thousands of people in southwest Louisiana to flee ahead of Hurricane Laura, they are faced with a daunting task: Safely transport potentially hundreds of residents infected with COVID-19 to other parts of the state. With the pandemic still raging in Louisiana, hotels and motels have emerged as a lifeline for tens of thousands who are fleeing the southwest corner of the state, and they have become the linchpin of the government’s preparation for the hurricane. (Karlin and McAuley, 8/26)

Texas Tribune: As Hurricane Laura Heads For Southeast Texas, Officials Scramble To Evacuate And Shelter People During A Pandemic
With Hurricane Laura approaching the Southeast Texas coast during a pandemic, local and state officials are looking to house evacuees in government-paid hotel rooms instead of large, often clustered emergency shelters. The state said it has been preparing for this since March, but as early as Wednesday morning and into the evening, rooms were filling up in refuge regions as Texans left cities and counties that have issued mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders. (McCullough and Pablo Carnham, 8/26)

In FEMA news —

CNN: FEMA Braces For Hurricane Laura Amid Coronavirus Response 
Before Hurricane Laura made landfall, emergency management responders were already facing unprecedented demands as they juggled wildfires, hurricanes, and ongoing disaster and recovery efforts amid a nationwide pandemic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, is among those assisting with the response on all fronts. (Santiago and Alvarez, 8/27)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Could Trump's Decision To Take Money For Jobless Workers Strap FEMA? Former Official Says No But Others Disagree
President Trump’s decision to take up to $44 billion from FEMA for extra payments to unemployed workers has sparked concern that the agency might run short of money for its emergency response to Hurricane Laura and other disasters around the country. Trump is using the money from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to pay $300 per week in unemployment benefits that will supplement what states give jobless workers. (Louisiana pays up to $247 per week, one of the stingiest rates across the country.) Congress added $70 billion to FEMA’s fund in March to cover additional disaster costs related to the coronavirus. (Bridges, 8/26)

Politico: ‘Nation Of Miracles’: Pence Pledges Coronavirus Vaccine By Year’s End
Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday called the United States a “nation of miracles” and said Americans would see the development of a successful coronavirus vaccine before the end of the year. In his headliner address on the third night of the Republican National Convention, Pence hailed the Trump administration’s management of the pandemic and repeatedly sought to paint Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, as a pessimist who could not realize the country’s potential. (Forgey, 8/27)

Reuters: A Handshake And A Dearth Of Masks At Pence's Republican Convention Speech 
When U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump greeted supporters at an outdoor venue on Wednesday night for the Republican National Convention, there were few masks in sight - and Pence exchanged at least one handshake. The scene provided a stark contrast to last week’s nearly all-virtual Democratic convention, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris scrapped plans to travel to Wisconsin because of the coronavirus and instead delivered speeches in a mostly empty event center. (Mason, 8/27)

Politico: Pence, Virus Task Force Leader, Mingles With Largely Mask-Free Audience After Convention Speech 
But just moments after presenting himself as a reassuring authority on the raging virus, the maskless vice president, along with President Donald Trump, walked over to greet the mostly mask-free members of the audience, who crowded close to each other on the grounds of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The lack of masks and social distancing served as a jarring contrast. And it reaffirmed that while Trump and Pence belatedly accepted public health experts’ recommendations on face coverings and distancing, they are still eager to embrace their base’s skepticism of such precautions. (Oprysko, 8/27)

Also —

Politico: How Mike Pence Slowed Down The Coronavirus Response 
Mike Pence had just accepted the biggest assignment of his political life, overseeing the nation’s response to the emerging Covid-19 virus, when White House officials confronted the vice president with an urgent question: what to do about the cruise ships? It was the last weekend of February, and the nation’s top health officials had concluded that cruise lines were a major factor in spreading the virus — each vessel a potential hothouse of invisible infections. Hundreds of passengers already had been sickened on cruises; efforts to evacuate Americans from two virus-infested ships had become logistical nightmares; and in the health experts’ emerging consensus, the Centers for Disease Control needed to issue an immediate “no-sail” order, keeping ships in port. (Diamond and Cancryn, 8/26)

The New York Times: With Wisconsin Unrest As Backdrop, Republicans Intensify Law-And-Order Message 
Republicans used the third night of their convention on Wednesday to amplify warnings of violence and lawlessness under Democratic leadership, trying to capitalize on the worsening unrest in Wisconsin to reclaim moderate voters who might be reluctant to hand President Trump a second term. The party also made appeals to social conservatives with attacks on abortion and accusations that the Democrats and their nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., were “Catholics in name only.” And they intensified their effort to lift Mr. Trump’s standing among women with testimonials vouching for him as empathetic and as a champion of women in the workplace — from women who work for him, a number of female lawmakers and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. (Martin and Burns, 8/26)

Axios: Kayleigh McEnany Shares Personal Story At RNC About Preventative Mastectomy
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night that she had a preventative mastectomy in 2018, and received support from President Trump even though she did personally not know him at the time. (8/26)

Time: Watching The GOP Convention, You Might Think COVID-19 Was Over
Listening to the speakers at the Republican National Convention, you might be forgiven for thinking that the coronavirus pandemic is over. Many have largely ignored the virus that has killed nearly 180,000 Americans, despite the fact that it continues to seriously disrupt life in the United States, including their own event. Others, like White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, referred to the pandemic in the past tense: “It was awful,” Kudlow said on August 25. (Berenson and Bennett, 8/27)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The RNC Puts A Spotlight On Sen. Ron Johnson's 'Right To Try' Health Care Law. What You Need To Know.
The Republican National Convention has put in the spotlight an issue championed by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin: a law giving patients the "right to try" experimental treatments. (Oppenheim, 8/26)

Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact: Republican Convention, Day 2: Pomp, The Pandemic And Planned Parenthood 
The Republican National Convention offered Americans a picture Tuesday night of a compassionate White House in action. But not a lot was said about the biggest health crisis in a century that has killed more than 170,000 people in this country. First lady Melania Trump wrapped up the evening with a speech from her redesigned Rose Garden, acknowledging to audience members — almost all without masks — that, “since March, our lives have changed drastically.” She also said her husband’s administration has been relentless in its effort to find a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19. “Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic,” she said. (8/26)

In other election news —

The Hill: Trump Calls For Drug Tests Before Debate With Biden 
President Trump is calling for drug tests to be administered before his first presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden next month. Trump made the demand in an Oval Office interview with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday, saying he noticed a sudden improvement in Biden’s primary debate performance against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in March. He offered no evidence to support his suggestion that the improvement could have been the result of drugs. (Axelrod, 8/26)

The Hill: Poll: Serious Concerns About Coronavirus Drop In Six Battleground States 
Serious concerns about the coronavirus pandemic are on the decline in some of the nation’s most critical battleground states, while approval of President Trump’s handling of the outbreak is rising, according to a new CNBC-Change Research poll released on Wednesday. Across six battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the number of likely voters who expressed serious concern about the coronavirus dropped 4 points since earlier this month, dipping from 69 percent to 65 percent. (Greenwood, 8/26)

AP: Judge Orders Tennessee To Mention Virus On Mail Voting Form
A judge has ordered Tennessee election officials to clearly communicate on absentee ballot applications that people can vote by mail if they believe they or someone in their care face a higher risk of COVID-19. State officials promised the Tennessee Supreme Court this month that they would inform voters about that eligibility, asserting for the first time that underlying health conditions could qualify someone to vote absentee under their plan. Days later, the justices overturned a vote-by-mail option for all eligible voters that Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ordered in June. (Mattise, 8/26)

NPR: FBI Says It's Seen No Evidence Supporting Trump's Mail Ballot Fears 
The FBI says it has no evidence of any coordinated fraud schemes related to voting by mail this year, undercutting repeated claims by President Trump and his camp about what they've called security problems. That disclosure was made in an election security briefing for reporters on Wednesday by high-ranking officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (Parks, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Election Security Officials See No Sign Of Foreign Threat To Mail-In Voting 
Foreign governments such as Russia and China continue to try to interfere in the upcoming U.S. election, but officials have seen no evidence of countries trying to manipulate or manufacture mail-in ballots, officials said Wednesday. With less than 70 days left until Election Day, federal authorities are ramping up their efforts to keep state and local election systems secure, particularly in light of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, which led to criticism that the government had been slow and soft in its response. (Barrett, 8/26)

Politico: Don Jr. Robocall Urges Supporters To Vote By Mail 
Donald Trump Jr. is urging voters to cast absentee ballots in robocalls detected across the nation Wednesday — even as his father continues to rail against widespread mail-in voting. The robocalls, which reference this week's Republican National Convention have been deployed in 13 states — Arizona, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, Texas and Maine — all states the Trump campaign is targeting. They indicate that either the Trump campaign or Republican National Committee has already mailed absentee-ballot requests to those being called. (Kumar, 8/26)

Politico: Mark Meadows Predicts No Covid-19 Relief Bill Until After September 
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday he is not optimistic about reaching a new coronavirus relief deal before the end of September, predicting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will use the government funding cliff at the end of next month as leverage to strike a deal on pandemic aid. Speaking with POLITICO's Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, Meadows said his staff had reached out to Pelosi's office Tuesday but added that he does not anticipate a response. The White House chief of staff said lawmakers from both parties have privately expressed to him a desire to make progress on coronavirus relief. The hold up, Meadows said he suspects, is that Pelosi is holding back her party's rank and file in order to secure more Democratic priorities in any legislation. (Choi, 8/26)

The Hill: Meadows 'Not Optimistic' About Quick End To Stalemate On Coronavirus Deal 
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday warned he did not expect a quick breakthrough on stalled coronavirus relief talks, floating the possibility that they could drag into an end-of-September government funding fight. Meadows, during a live interview with Politico, said he hadn't had any recent conversations with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), beyond his staff reaching out to hers on Tuesday. "I don't anticipate that we'll actually get a phone call," he said. (Carney, 8/26)

The Washington Post: White House Chief Of Staff Says Additional Executive Actions Are In The Works As Airline Furloughs Loom 
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday that the administration is eyeing executive action to prevent airline furloughs in absence of a deal with Congress on new coronavirus relief legislation. Meadows’s comments in a Politico Live event came a day after American Airlines said it would furlough or lay off some 19,000 workers starting in October unless the federal government steps in with billions more in relief for struggling airlines. Delta Air Lines also intends to furlough nearly 2,000 pilots effective Oct. 1, according to the pilots’ union. (Werner, Aratani and Stein, 8/26)

In other news about COVID-relief funds —

Politico: Judge Blocks DeVos Plan To Send More Pandemic Relief To Private School Students 
A federal judge in California on Wednesday halted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ effort to boost emergency coronavirus relief for private school students. The court ruling blocks DeVos from implementing or enforcing her rule in at least eight states and some of the nation’s largest public school districts. The secretary's policy requires public school districts to send a greater share of their CARES Act, H.R. 748 (116), pandemic assistance funding to private school students than is typically required under federal law. (Stratford, 8/26)

The Hill: DOJ Asks Governors About Coronavirus Orders That May Have Resulted In Nursing Home Deaths 
The Justice Department (DOJ) on Wednesday requested data from four governors on their orders requiring nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients. “Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband said in a statement. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk," he added. (Budryk, 8/26)

Detroit Free Press: DOJ Requests Michigan Data On COVID-19 Deaths At Nursing Homes
The U.S. Department of Justice wants Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and three other states governed by Democrats to turn over data related to nursing homes and COVID-19 deaths. The governor agreed to provide the data, but blasted the request, labeling it a partisan stump aimed at helping President Donald Trump's re-election bid. In a news release Wednesday, the department said the requests were sent to states "that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents." (Boucher, 8/26)

In related nursing home news —

The Washington Post: These Nursing Homes Failed To Isolate Covid-19 Patients. Now They Face Six-Figure Fines
Maryland has levied six-figure fines against three nursing homes in Montgomery County for infection control deficiencies that inspectors say placed residents in “immediate jeopardy” during the coronavirus pandemic. Collingswood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center and Potomac Valley Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, both in Rockville, were penalized $275,000 and $120,000, respectively, following covid-19 surveys conducted by state inspectors in June, according to documents released to The Washington Post. Kensington Healthcare Center was fined $294,000 following an inspection in July. (Tan and Chason, 8/26)

ABC News: More Scrutiny Needed Of Florida Coronavirus Isolation Centers, Seniors' Advocates Say 
Advocates for nursing home residents have raised concerns that some facilities being used by Florida officials as isolation units for those who test positive for the coronavirus have a checkered history of citations. Despite official assurances that the facilities have been fully vetted, it's a move they say could further endanger those who are already highly vulnerable. (Romero and Mosk, 8/26)

The Oklahoman: Officials Say More Must Be Done To Address Visitation In Nursing Homes During COVID-19 Pandemic
Long-term care officials told Oklahoma lawmakers Wednesday that more needs to be done to allow in-person visitation at nursing homes and other facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During an interim study on COVID-19’s impact on residents in long-term care facilities hosted by the House of Representatives subcommittee on health services, officials said residents are facing increased depression, anxiety and symptoms of dementia because of the prolonged isolation. (Branch, 8/27)

The Hill: Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court To Reinstate Abortion Pill Rule 
The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a rule mandating that abortion-inducing drugs be taken in the presence of a doctor after a lower court lifted the requirement amid the coronavirus pandemic. The request comes after a federal district judge in Maryland last month suspended the longstanding Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule in response to a lawsuit from the American College Of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as doctors and patients. (Kruzel, 8/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Asks High Court To Reinstate Mandate That Women Obtain Abortion Pill In-Person 
The Trump administration Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to reimpose regulations requiring women seeking medication abortions to obtain prescribed pills in-person from a medical facility rather than by mail. The coronavirus pandemic prompted the Food and Drug Administration to relax similar requirements for other drugs beginning in March, along with encouraging telemedicine rather than office visits to reduce the spread of Covid-19. But the Trump administration, which opposes abortion rights, didn’t suspend the in-person pickup requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone. (Bravin, 8/26)

In other news about abortion —

The Hill: US Rejects UN Panel's Accusation That States Restricted Abortion Access 
The U.S. government on Wednesday denied a United Nations panel's accusation that states have restricted abortion access during the COVID-19 pandemic, and rejected the notion that there is an assumed “right to abortion.” “The United States is disappointed by and categorically rejects this transparent attempt to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to assert the existence of such a right,” the U.S. mission in Geneva said in a letter to the U.N. Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls. (Weixel, 8/26)

Reuters: U.S. Rejects U.N. Rights Panel Upholding Access To Abortions During Pandemic 
The United States on Wednesday hit back at a U.N. women’s rights panel that said some U.S. states limited access to abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting its interference and the notion of “an assumed right to abortion.” “The United States is disappointed by and categorically rejects this transparent attempt to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to assert the existence of such a right,” the U.S. mission in Geneva said in a release posted on Twitter. (Nebehay, 8/26)

Also —

AP: At RNC, Nun Lauds Trump For Being Anti-Abortion
A Washington nun who is also a surgeon and retired U.S. Army officer says, “Donald Trump is the most pro-life President that this nation has ever had.” Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary focused her remarks Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention on abortion.S he says the president’s “belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics.” (8/27)

Modern Healthcare: Regulators Delay Final Updates To Self-Referral Law
Federal regulators pushed back an update to the self-referral law to August 2021, HHS and CMS announced Wednesday. The agencies delayed the finalization of the Stark law proposed rule that aims to facilitate more data sharing between providers and suppliers, incentive pay under CMS-approved care models and donations of cybersecurity technology, among other provisions that were slated for final action this month. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the process, and CMS and HHS are still "working through the complexity of the issues raised by comments received on the proposed rule," they wrote in a notice sent Wednesday. CMS and HHS did not say whether the Anti-Kickback Statute rulemaking process was also delayed. (Kacik, 8/26)

Bloomberg Law: Deadline For Physician Self-Referral Rule Changes Extended
The Medicare agency gave itself extra time to finalize a rule that would change how an anti-fraud law is carried out. The rule is aimed at easing restraints on health-care providers and improving care. Modifications to the rules under the Stark law, which prohibits physician self-referrals, were proposed Oct. 9, 2019, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. They would provide new exceptions for value-based arrangements, which help doctors and other providers coordinate care among shared patients. (8/26)

In other Medicare news —

Modern Healthcare: CMS To Require COVID-19 Test Results For 20% Medicare Add-On Payment
Starting next week, CMS is requiring hospitals have positive COVID-19 laboratory tests in patients' records to qualify for Medicare's 20% add-on payment. The new rule, which CMS said seeks to address "potential Medicare program integrity risks," applies to admissions beginning Sept. 1. Until now, CMS guidance has said a provider's documentation—but not necessarily a positive test result—is sufficient to receive the 20% higher Medicare reimbursement for inpatient COVID treatment. (Bannow, 8/26)

CNBC: Medicare Open Enrollment Is Coming Up. Three Steps To Save Money
Medicare open enrollment is less than two months away, and if you want to save some money next year, now’s the time to act. Open enrollment for Medicare and Part D prescription coverage runs each year from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. It’s a critical period for seniors, as this is when they can shop around for plans that will do a better job of meeting their needs next year. Changes you can make include swapping from original Medicare (Part A hospital insurance and Part B medical coverage) to a private Medicare Advantage plan. (Mercado, 8/26)

AP: Red Cross Chief: Cyber Attacks Increasing On Hospitals
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Wednesday that the frequency of sophisticated cyber attacks against hospitals, electricity and water supplies, and other critical civilian infrastructure is increasing. Peter Maurer said the ICRC is increasingly concerned about the destructive effects of cyber operations that cut off electricity supplies and water systems in war-affected countries and halted hospital services in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as “an attempted attack against a petrochemical plant and especially alarmingly, cyber-attacks against nuclear facilities.” (Lederer, 8/26)

Modern Healthcare: Cyberattack At Dynasplint Systems Exposes Data On 102,800 Customers
A data breach at Dynasplint Systems, a company that manufacturers splint systems for range of motion rehabilitation, may have compromised personal data on more than 100,000 patients, including names and some medical information. The data breach affected up to 102,800 people who purchased or attempted to purchase the company's devices, according to a report the company submitted to HHS' Office for Civil Rights. The HHS agency publicly posted the report to its online database of healthcare data breaches in an update Wednesday, although the company submitted its report on Aug. 6. (Cohen, 8/26)

In telehealth news —

Boston Globe: Telehealth Company Amwell Files To Sell Shares To Public, Google
American Well Corp., a Boston telehealth company known as Amwell, said it plans to sell shares to the public and Google, amid a surge in demand for remote health services. The company, founded by brothers Ido and Roy Schoenberg in 2006, didn’t disclose the number of shares or target price for its initial public offering. In a registration statement filed Monday with securities regulators, it listed a placeholder value of $100 million. (Edelman, 8/26)

Boston Globe: Two Boston Deals Underscore Investors’ Surging Interest In Telehealth During The Pandemic 
Like many people, investors were once slow to embrace the promise of telemedicine. Not anymore. Two Boston deals involving companies that offer virtual medical care were announced this week. The deals are quite different. But they underscore the surging interest in this sector, thanks to the suddenly widespread use of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic. (Chesto, 8/26)

In other industry news —

The Hill: GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill Clamping Down On Hospital Consolidation
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at increasing hospital competition to help drive down health care costs. The bill — the Hospital Competition Act of 2020  — would authorize $160 million for new staff at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure hospital mergers don’t lead to monopolies. It also includes provisions designed to disincentivize consolidation in high-population areas by requiring hospitals in cities to accept Medicare Advantage, with exemptions for hospitals in rural areas that have less than 15 percent market share. (Brufke, 8/26)

Modern Healthcare: StoneBridge Bids $475 Million For Erlanger Health System
A new private equity-backed hospital turnaround firm made a $475 million bid for Erlanger Health System, the organizations announced Wednesday. StroneBridge Healthcare, which was formed earlier this year, would pay $200 million for Erlanger's six acute Tennessee hospitals and affiliated operations and commit $275 million for capital improvements and to fully fund the $80 million employee pension fund shortfall. (Kacik, 8/26)

Modern Healthcare: Renown Health, University Of Nevada Reno School Of Medicine Plan Partnership
Reno-based Renown Health and the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine on Wednesday announced plans to develop a partnership that will focus on medical education and clinical research.The two organizations signed a letter of intent and expect to finalize an agreement by the end of the year. (Christ, 8/26)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Associated Builders And Contractors Of Georgia Partners With Grady Health System
As the shortage of personal protective equipment has swept through the healthcare system, many groups in the Atlanta community pivoted from their usual business to helping protect our community from COVID-19. One of those groups is the Associated Builders and Contractors of Georgia (ABC) in partnership with the Grady Health System.Grady is a Level I trauma center serving north Georgia and the region’s largest safety net hospital, and ABC is a network of companies and professionals within the develop-design-build industry. (Dominy, 8/26)

The New York Times: A Woman May Have Been Cured Of H.I.V. Without Medical Treatment 
A woman who was infected with H.I.V. in 1992 may be the first person cured of the virus without a risky bone-marrow transplant or even medications, researchers reported on Wednesday. In an additional 63 people in their study who controlled the infection without drugs, H.I.V. apparently was sequestered in the body in such a way that it could not reproduce, the scientists also reported. The finding suggested that these people may have achieved a “functional cure.” (Mandavilli, 8/26)

Science: How ‘Elite Controllers’ Tame HIV Without Drugs 
A tiny fraction of the 38 million HIV-infected people in the world have what seems like a superpower. Without the help of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, they keep the AIDS virus at undetectable levels in their blood, sometimes for many years, even though they still have HIV genes woven into their chromosomes. Now, the most in-depth genomic analysis of these rare individuals, who account for less than 0.5% of all HIV infections, reveals a clue to their success, which scientists hope will ultimately lead to new strategies to corral the virus in others. (Cohen, 8/26)

Read the research article here: Distinct viral reservoirs in individuals with spontaneous control of HIV-1

In other research and science news —

NPR: From Southern Hemisphere, Hints That U.S. May Be Spared Flu On Top Of COVID-19
This year's flu season in the Southern Hemisphere was weirdly mild. A surprisingly small number of people in the Southern Hemisphere have gotten the flu this year, probably because the public health measures put in place to fight COVID-19 have also limited the spread of influenza. That makes public health experts hopeful that the U. S. and other northern countries might be spared the double whammy of COVID-19 and a bad flu season this winter. (Greenfieldboyce, 8/26)

Stat: Foundation Medicine Wins FDA Approval For Liquid Biopsy Able To Detect Mutations In Multiple Cancers
he Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a comprehensive “liquid biopsy” platform that can detect multiple kinds of cancer and genomic alterations from pieces of tumor DNA circulating in a patient’s blood. The Foundation Medicine test, designed to identify specific types of cancer and match patients’ mutations to genetically targeted therapies, joins one approved earlier this month developed by Guardant Health. The FDA has previously approved liquid biopsy tests for individual cancers and as so-called companion diagnostics, which identify whether patients are likely to benefit from a specific targeted drug. Foundation Medicine, a Cambridge, Mass., unit of Swiss biopharma Roche, has won the agency’s second nod for a pan-cancer blood assay, which combines liquid biopsy with other kinds of testing to find more diagnostic and genomic biomarkers. (Cooney, 8/26)

Stat: Scientists Create A Synthetic Intestinal Lining To Make Delivering Drugs Easier
Scientists have created a synthetic small intestinal lining designed to treat certain digestive diseases or make it easier for the body to absorb certain drugs — all contained in a solution that one day be could be gulped down in a single drink. The small intestine is involved in a wide range of health conditions — from lactose intolerance to parasitic infections — and also plays a part in processing drugs. The new solution sticks to the lining of the small intestine and can be loaded up with drugs. (Gopalakrishna, 8/26)

CNN: Artificial Pancreas Helps Children As Young As 6 With Type 1 Diabetes Better Control Blood Sugar Levels, Study Finds 
An artificial pancreas system is safe and helped children as young as six with type 1 diabetes better control blood sugar levels, according to a new study from researchers at four pediatric diabetes centers in the United States. The study was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Erdman, 8/27)

CIDRAP: Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome Tied To Risk Of COVID Infection, Severity
Three new studies describe the link between obesity and elevated risk of COVID-19 infection and poor outcomes. The first study, published yesterday in Diabetes Care, shows that predominantly black hospitalized COVID-19 patients with metabolic syndrome (a combination of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and/or abnormal cholesterol levels that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease) were nearly five times more likely than their peers to require intensive care and a ventilator or experience respiratory distress and 3.4 times more likely to die from their infections. (Van Beusekom, 8/26)

CNN: Obesity Increases Risk Of Complications From Covid-19 
Obesity increases the risk of contracting the coronavirus, of landing in the hospital and intensive care unit, and the risk of death from Covid-19, according to a new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers say there's also concern a vaccine could be less effective for people with obesity due to a weakened immune response. (Erdman, 8/26)

In news about transmission of the virus —

CIDRAP: Household Case Contacts At 10 Times The Risk Of COVID-19, Review Finds
Household contacts of people infected with COVID-19 are 10 times more likely than non-household contacts to contract the virus, a systematic review and meta-analysis published yesterday in the Journal of Infection shows. Chinese researchers who analyzed data from 24 published retrospective cohort, prospective, and case ascertainment studies from China, South Korea, the United States, and Germany conducted from Jan 1 to Mar 31 also concluded that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is much more easily spread in households than SARS-CoV-1 (severe acute respiratory syndrome virus, which causes SARS) and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, which causes MERS), which complicates home isolation of COVID-19 patients. (8/26)

CNN: Woman May Have Caught Coronavirus In Airplane Toilet, Researchers Say 
Researchers say they have evidence that a woman caught coronavirus on a flight -- perhaps in the jet's restroom. The 28-year-old woman was among about 300 South Koreans evacuated from Italy at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in Milan last March, the researchers wrote in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. "On the flight from Milan, Italy, to South Korea, she wore an N95 mask, except when she used a toilet," they wrote. (Fox, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Chemical Experts Question EPA’s Decision Monday To Approve A New Disinfectant For The Coronavirus 
With great fanfare, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday gave emergency approval to a disinfectant it said would kill the coronavirus on surfaces for up to a week. Calling it “a major game-changing announcement,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the first to use the solution would be American Airlines and two sports clinics in Texas. But health and chemical experts say the cleanser might actually harm passengers and flight attendants and do little to protect against the virus, which is mainly transmitted through the air in closed spaces. (Mufson and Kornfield, 8/26)

Time: COVID-19 Is Transmitted Through Aerosols. We Need To Adapt 
The evidence in favor of aerosols is stronger than that for any other pathway, and officials need to be more aggressive in expressing this reality if we want to get the pandemic under control. (Jimenez, 8/25)

AP: Washington University Spit Test Approved By FDA For Virus
A Washington University saliva test for the coronavirus has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Wednesday. The St. Louis-area university worked with biotechnology company Fluidigm to develop the test, which allows people to collect their own testing samples by spitting into small tubes. Test results are available in a few hours. (Ballentine, 8/26)

Detroit Free Press: Oakland County Offers Free COVID-19 Tests For School-Age Kids
As children prepare to go back to classrooms in the midst of a pandemic, one metro Detroit county is offering free COVID-19 testing to school-age kids. Oakland County announced Wednesday that it will expand its free drive-thru COVID-19 testing to include kids ages 4-17 beginning Aug. 31. The children must have symptoms to qualify, and must be residents of Oakland County or attend school in the county.  (Shamus, 8/27)

In testing news from California —

The Hill: California Signs Deal To Double Coronavirus Testing Capacity, Provide Cheaper And Faster Tests 
California has inked a deal with Massachusetts-based diagnostics company PerkinElmer worth about $1.4 million to provide cheaper coronavirus tests that will allow the state to eventually more than double its overall testing capacity to about 250,000 people per day. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) discussed the contract during a press briefing Wednesday, The Associated Press reports. The governor confirmed that California currently averages around 100,000 tests daily, and the state absorbs the $100 cost per test. Results tend to take about five to seven business days to come back. (Kelley, 8/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Counter To ‘Misdirected’ CDC Guidance, Bay Area Experts Say Exposed People Without COVID-19 Symptoms Should Still Get Tested 
Contrary to recent guidelines put forth by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bay Area health experts are encouraging people with possible coronavirus exposure to still seek testing, even if they do not have any symptoms. Because a large portion of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, or pre-symptomatic, skipping testing for these people would be counterproductive to efforts to contain the virus, local health officials and epidemiologists said. (Ho, 8/26)

Stat: Catalyst Takes Its Fight Over A Rare Disease Drug To Canada
An unusual battle between two small companies over the market for a rare disease drug has now spread to Canada, where Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) has gone to court in hopes of blocking a rival medicine sold by Jacobus Pharmaceuticals, a small, family-run company, from reaching patients. At issue is the small, but potentially lucrative market to treat people with a rare neuromuscular disorder called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS. (Silverman, 8/26)

CNN: China Covid-19 Vaccine: Inside The Company At The Forefront Of China's Push To Develop A Coronavirus Vaccine 
Inside the white, sterile walls of a new building on the southern outskirts of Beijing, two employees donning masks and rubber gloves are busy pipetting a clear, colorless liquid into rows of small vials. In some areas, the interior fit-out is still underway. Outside, construction vehicles are digging up dirt. (Culver and Gan, 8/26)

Also —

Stat: Trump Has Launched An All-Out Attack On The FDA. Will Its Integrity Survive?
President Trump has instigated an all-out crusade against the Food and Drug Administration at a critical point in the federal government’s fight against Covid-19. Three senior FDA officials and several outside experts told STAT that Trump’s attacks threaten to permanently damage the agency’s credibility — especially when combined with a disastrous series of public misstatements on Sunday from Stephen Hahn, the cancer doctor who became FDA commissioner in December. (Facher, 8/27)

CIDRAP: Fraudulent COVID-19 Posts On Social Media Sites Rise In Pandemic
A study yesterday in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Public Health and Surveillance shows that fraudulent posts advertising fake cures, questionable medical advice, and unapproved testing kits for COVID-19, have flourished on Twitter and Instagram in the last several months. Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine identified 1,271 tweets and 596 Instagram postings that included fraudulent COVID-19 product, testing, and other scams from February through May. All the postings were deemed as having significant risk to the consumer and were identified using big data and machine learning. (8/26)

The Washington Post: Maine Sleep-Away Camps Prevented Coronavirus Spread Among More Than 1,000 People, CDC Report Finds 
As school and public health officials look for ways to reopen classrooms safely throughout the country, a potential road map emerges from the experience of four sleep-away camps and the extensive measures they adopted to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus among more than 1,000 campers and staff members. Their experience, described in a federal study published Wednesday, shows the measures necessary to keep the virus at bay. The four camps in Maine conducted virus testing before and after campers arrived and made them quarantine. Campers and counselors were kept in the same groups while at the camp. Face masks and physical distancing were employed, extensive cleaning and disinfection were frequent, and activities were conducted outdoors as much as possible, according to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Sun, 8/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Go Outside. Stay Indoors. Alameda County’s Health Advice Perplexes Businesses 
Alicia Orabella wanted action from her government. Instead, the Oakland hair salon owner got a riddle. Starting Friday, she and other Alameda County businesses could start serving customers outdoors. As long as they stayed inside. On that day, many in the beauty industry can resume operations, but only outside. This includes hair salons and barbershops, nail salons, waxing services, skin care and non-medical massages, but not tattoos, piercings, electrolysis or anything that involves removing a face covering. (Simmons, 8/26)

ABC News: Homeless Essential Workers Face Greater Risk Of COVID-19 
At the beginning of the pandemic, Tiffany Cordaway’s biggest struggle was finding a place to shower. She worked two jobs in northern California, disinfecting medical equipment during the day and caring for an elderly couple overnight. When she finally clocked out, she just wanted to clean off. But she had nowhere to do that. Cordaway, 47, was homeless, sleeping in a friend’s car between her two eight-hour shifts. (Lupo, Abdaladze, Bohannon, Garg, Fields and Surma, 8/26)

Kaiser Health News: Another COVID Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, But Linger In A Coma 
Leslie Cutitta said yes, twice, when clinicians from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston called asking whether she wanted them to take — and then continue — extreme measures to keep her husband, Frank Cutitta, alive. The first conversation, in late March, was about whether to let Frank go or to try some experimental drugs and treatments for COVID-19. The second call was just a few days later. Hospital visits were banned, so Leslie couldn’t be with her husband or discuss his wishes with the medical team in person. So she used stories to try to describe Frank’s zest for life. (Bebinger, 8/27)

Also —

The Washington Post: Child-Care Center In Maryland With Covid-19 Case Closes For Two Weeks
A child-care center in Prince George’s County closed for two weeks following notice that a staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Officials at Georgetown Hill Early School at Greenwood said in a letter to parents Tuesday that while they could not identify the positive employee because of health privacy laws, it was best to “assume that all staff and children have had some form of exposure.” (St. George, 8/26)

Kaiser Health News: They Cared For Some Of New York’s Most Vulnerable Communities. Then 12 Died. 
Dr. Reza Chowdhury didn’t charge copays when his patients were low on cash. He gave them his home phone number and answered their medical questions at all hours. Once, when Chowdhury’s daughter, Nikita Rahman, struck up a conversation with a New York taxi driver, it turned out that he was from Bangladesh and knew her dad: “Dr. Reza? He’s my doctor — he’s the best doctor!” she recalled. (Renwick, 8/27)

Explore The 'Lost On The Frontline' Interactive Database: Over 1,400 U.S. health care workers have died fighting COVID-19. KHN and The Guardian count them and investigate why.

AP: SUNY Plattsburgh Punishes 43 Students After Packed Party
SUNY Plattsburgh officials suspended 43 students Wednesday after a party on Lake Champlain, becoming the latest school to clamp down on students violating rules designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. College officials said the students violated campus health and safety policies when they gathered at the closed Sailor’s Beach park in Plattsburgh on Friday. Police said students failed to socially distance and very few, if any, wore face coverings. (8/27)

ABC News: University Of Notre Dame Changes 'Battle Plan' After Rise In COVID-19 Cases 
Before arriving on campus at the University of Notre Dame earlier this month, nearly all undergraduate and graduate students took COVID-19 tests. More than 11,800 tests yielded 33 positive cases, for a positivity rate of 0.28%. By Aug. 18, eight days after classes started, the campus had 147 confirmed cases and a positivity rate of nearly 16%. The cases had overwhelmed the school's testing and isolation measures and put the remainder of the fall semester in jeopardy, school officials said. That day, the university announced that undergraduate students would be going virtual for at least two weeks. (Deliso, 8/27)

The Washington Post: Virginia Tech Football Season Opener Against North Carolina State Postponed Due To Coronavirus 
Virginia Tech’s football game against North Carolina State, originally the season opener for both schools, is being moved following 22 new positive cases in the Wolfpack’s athletic department amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The game had been set for Sept. 12 in Blacksburg, Va., but will be played Sept. 26, previously an open weekend for both schools, meaning the Hokies open the season against Virginia on Sept. 19 at Lane Stadium. (Wang, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Cornell Students Petition For TikTok Star Jessica Zhang's Expulsion For Flouting Covid Rules 
[At] Cornell University, it’s the students who are becoming the most vocal enforcers of coronavirus-era rules. “Jessica Zhang has shown that she does not care to comply to public safety measures and wants to put other citizens at risk for the sake of her own entertainment,” reads an online petition from a “Concerned Student Coalition” that had gathered nearly 2,000 signatures by Wednesday night. It says Zhang — a freshman who happens to be a TikTok star with more than half a million followers — should be expelled for flouting coronavirus precautions while partying. (Knowles, 8/26)

The New York Times: Tracking Coronavirus Cases At U.S. Colleges And Universities 
As college students and professors return to campus in the midst of a pandemic, coronavirus cases are turning up by the thousands. A New York Times survey of more than 1,500 American colleges and universities — including every four-year public institution, every private college that competes in N.C.A.A. sports and others that identified cases — has revealed at least 26,000 cases and 64 deaths since the pandemic began. (8/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: When Is It OK To Go Outside If It’s Smoky In The Bay Area? How To Assess Your Air Quality Risk 
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, people were told to shelter inside. Slowly, outdoor activities were encouraged and became a source of sanity for many Californians. But now with wildfires burning across the Bay Area and beyond, plumes of smoke have spread everywhere, making outdoor activities difficult and even dangerous at times. Even people without preexisting health conditions might wonder what really is safe for them to do outside at any given time. (Hwang, 8/26)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Drug Overdose Deaths Showed A One-Year Decline In 2018. But There’s More To The Story. 
Detective Ryan Holets, whose personal story includes the adoption of an infant born to a drug-addicted mother, addressed the Republican National Convention on its second night. He praised President Donald Trump’s efforts in addressing drug and opioid abuse and noted “drug overdose deaths decreased in 2018 for the first time in 30 years.” (Appleby, 8/27)

Dallas Morning News: Shingle Mountain Still Stands, But Activists Are Adding Pressure As Residents’ Health Continues To Decline
More than a year after a judge ordered the removal of Shingle Mountain, Marsha Jackson is still coughing up black “gunk.” She can’t let her granddaughter play outside. She sees a pulmonologist and has to wear long sleeves in the hot Dallas summers because walking the dog leaves rashes on her skin. The dumping ground remains behind her home of 25 years on Choate Street in southeastern Dallas, despite what appeared to be progress on its removal in March. (Tatum, 8/26)

Stateline: Fight Against Fraud Slows Payments To Unemployed
As workers grow desperate for unemployment benefits, criminals filing fraudulent claims are clogging state unemployment systems, making legitimate claimants wait even longer for help. States that were generous and quick to help workers were also quick to be targeted by scammers. In response, states have had to slow down the processing of claims and even claw back some money, delaying payouts to people supposed to be getting them. (Henderson, 8/27)

In news from Massachusetts and Georgia —

WBUR: Judge Declines To Immediately Stop Mass. Evictions Ban 
A Superior Court judge has refused to end the state’s ban on evictions, arguing any harm to landlords is “far outweighed” by the potential harm that would be caused by putting an end to the evictions moratorium.In his ruling Wednesday, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Paul Wilson declined to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the moratorium while the case proceeds. Wilson said the pause on evictions not only protects public health, but also the economic wellbeing of the commonwealth. (Rios, 8/26)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: COVID-19 Cases Among Children Surge In Georgia
The number of Georgians under the age of 18 diagnosed with COVID-19 has jumped 65% in the past month, with more than 21,000 testing positive since March. And, as more children are diagnosed with the illness, doctors are encountering more with complications than they have so far in the 6-month-old pandemic, experts say. (Oliviero, 8/26)

In news from Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Idaho and Hawaii —

AP: Kansas Reports Highest 7-Day Spike In New COVID-19 Cases
Kansas officials on Wednesday reported the highest seven-day jump in new COVID-19 cases since the state confirmed its first positive case, albeit with a declining death rate. The state Department of Health and Environment reported 1,536 new cases since Monday, an increase of 4%, to bring the total to 39,937. The department reported an additional 11 COVID-19-related deaths, to put the pandemic total at 437. (Tsubasa Field, 8/26)

AP: Oklahoma Health Department Developing New Virus Alert Plan
The Oklahoma State Department of Health is working to revise the state’s COVID-19 alert system, which some state health officials have said is not “helpful” for areas at high risk due to the coronavirus pandemic, health department spokesperson Rob Crissinger said Wednesday. Planned changes in the alert system, first reported by the Tulsa World, are being made so local and state health officials can work more closely, according to Crissinger. (Miller, 8/26)

ABC News: Multiple States Report COVID-19 Cases Linked To Sturgis Rally 
Health experts' fears about the hundreds of thousands of bikers who descended on South Dakota for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the middle of a pandemic are coming true. At least 100 coronavirus cases in eight states are believed to be linked to the 10-day motorcycle event earlier this month, according to The Associated Press. South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington state health departments all have reported cases. (Schumaker, 8/26)

ABC News: Ammon Bundy Arrested 2nd Straight Day For Violating Idaho Statehouse Ban 
For the second time in 24 hours, Idaho state troopers arrested and physically removed state rights leader Ammon Bundy from the Boise statehouse after he violated the chamber's rules. Bundy, who joined several maskless protesters in three days of action against the state legislature over its coronavirus restrictions, showed up at the statehouse around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, soon after he posted bond for his arrest during a legislative hearing Tuesday, the Idaho State Police said. (Pereira, 8/26)

AP: Hawaii Says 11% Of People Taking COVID-19 Test Are Positive
More than 10% of people tested for COVID-19 in Hawaii have been found to have the disease in the past 24 hours, new data showed Wednesday, underscoring that coronavirus was becoming more widespread in the community. “It’s basically telling us we’re in a very serious situation from a public health point of view,” Tim Brown, a senior fellow at the research program of the East-West Center in Honolulu, said in a telephone interview. (McAvoy, 8/26)

AP: Moscow Announces Advanced Trials For New COVID-19 Vaccine
The mayor of Moscow invited residents Wednesday to join trials of a coronavirus vaccine that Russia approved for use earlier this month, in what officials described as a breakthrough on par with the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite in 1957. The world’s first vaccine against the coronavirus to receive a government go-ahead has caused unease among international medical experts, who called Russia’s fast-tracked approval and failure to share any data supporting claims of the vaccine’s efficacy a major breach of scientific protocol. (Isachenkov, 8/26)

AP: Mexico To Donate Mexican-Made Ventilators To 8 Countries
Mexico is not only making its own ventilators now to treat COVID-19 patients, it announced Wednesday that it will donate the machines to other countries. The foreign relations department said the Mexican ventilators would go to nations around the Caribbean. (8/27)

Reuters: China's Offer Of Coronavirus Tests For All In Hong Kong Meets With Public Distrust 
A Chinese government offer to test all Hong Kong residents for the novel coronavirus is meeting scepticism from the city’s medical community and public and is emerging as a politically charged issue ahead of the launch of the plan next week. A 60-person mainland Chinese team will carry out tests and build temporary hospitals in the first direct help from Chinese health officials for the semi-autonomous city in its battle with the epidemic. (Master, 8/27)

AP: Germany To End Mandatory Tests For Travelers, Bans Protests
Germany will end mandatory coronavirus tests for travelers returning from high-risk areas abroad and again focus its testing strategy on people with symptoms or possible exposure to COVID-19 patients, the country’s health minister said Wednesday. Health Minister Jens Spahn said that over the summer vacation period the number of virus tests performed in Germany nearly doubled, to 900,000 per week, in part to identify people who caught the virus during trips abroad. (Grieshaber and Jordans, 8/26)

AP: Asia Today: Virus Surge Makes S. Korean Lockdown More Likely
South Korea reported 441 new cases of the coronavirus, its highest single-day total in months, making lockdown-like restrictions look inevitable as transmissions slip out of control. The country has added nearly 4,000 infections to its caseload while reporting triple-digit daily jumps in each of the past 14 days, prompting health experts to warn about hospitals possibly running out of capacity. (8/27)

AP: The Latest: India Reports Record 75,000 New Virus Infections
India has recorded another single-day record of new coronavirus cases, reporting 75,760 new confirmed infections in the past 24 hours. The Health Ministry on Thursday also reported 1,023 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 60,472. (8/27)

JAMA Pediatrics: Prevalence Of SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Children Without Symptoms Of Coronavirus Disease 2019
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, determination of prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among children without symptoms of COVID-19 is critical to guide infection control policy. While estimates have been reported in children undergoing emergency surgery1 and oncologic care,2 these small studies have limited generalizability to large populations of children without symptoms. When children's hospitals resumed elective medical and surgical care in April and May 2020, many implemented routine SARS-CoV-2 testing for children presenting for care not associated with suspicion of COVID-19. Here, we report the prevalence of positive SARS-CoV-2 test results in children without symptoms at 28 children's hospitals across the US. (Marija Sola et al, 8/25)

The Journal Of Pediatrics: Pediatric SARS-CoV-2: Clinical Presentation, Infectivity, And Immune Responses  
This study reveals that children may be a potential source of contagion in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in spite of milder disease or lack of symptoms, and immune dysregulation is implicated in severe post-infectious MIS-C. (Yonker et al, 8/19)

American Diabetes Association: Metabolic Syndrome And COVID-19 Mortality Among Adult Black Patients In New Orleans
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality is high in patients with hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. We examined the association between hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, individually and clustered as metabolic syndrome (MetS), and COVID-19 outcomes in patients hospitalized in New Orleans during the peak of the outbreak. (Xie et al, 8/1)

Also —

CIDRAP: Antibiotic Resistance Likely Not A Major Driver Of Gonorrhea Spread In NYC
An analysis of gonococcal isolates collected in New York City in 2012 and 2013 showed that all large transmission clusters were susceptible to current gonorrhea therapies. In their analysis of genome sequences, antibiotic susceptibility, and patient data from 897 gonococcal isolates cultured by the New York City Public Health Laboratory from January 2012 through June 2014—a convenience sample that represents 1.5% of total gonorrhea infections in New York City during the period—the researchers found that the New York City gonococcal phylogeny reflected global diversity, with isolates from 22 of the 23 global Neisseria gonorrhea lineages.They also observed that the isolates clustered on the phylogeny by sexual behavior (P < 0.001), with one lineage significantly associated with isolates from men who have sex with men (MSM) and another associated with isolates from heterosexuals. They also clustered based on race and ethnicity (P < 0.001). (8/24)

CIDRAP: CMS Sepsis Bundle Linked To Increased Use Of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics
Implementation of a core measure sepsis bundle by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was associated with an immediate and long-term increase in the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for hospital-onset multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms, researchers reported late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. In the study, a team led by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University evaluated monthly antibiotic data for four categories of antibiotics at 111 US hospitals before and after the 2015 implementation of the Sepsis Bundle Core Performance Measure for hospitals participating in Inpatient Quality Reporting (SEP-1). One element of the bundle is initiation of broad-spectrum antibiotics within 3 hours of sepsis diagnosis. The four antibiotic categories evaluated included antibiotics for surgical prophylaxis, broad-spectrum agents for community-acquired infections, broad-spectrum antibiotics for hospital-onset/MDR organisms, and anti–methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus agents. (8/24)

The Wall Street Journal: The Left’s Covid Memory Hole 
Last week’s Democratic convention sought to make four points: Joe Biden is a decent man, Donald Trump is horrible, the president bungled the pandemic and Mr. Biden would have handled it better because he grasped the threat from the start. Whatever you think of the first three, the last is a fabrication. But the former vice president likes to say it anyway. In June he claimed President Trump “did not listen to guys like me back in January saying we have a problem, a pandemic is on the way.” In May Mr. Biden said, “If he had listened to me and others and acted just one week earlier to deal with this virus, there’d be 36,000 fewer people dead.” The early comments of Mr. Biden and his advisers, however, show little evidence he was on top of anything. (Karl Rove, 8/26)

The New York Times: ‘We Did The Exact Right Thing,’ Says Our Glorious Leader
What a relief! I’d worried about the coronavirus, but we’re fine! I’ve been watching the Republican National Convention, and it turns out that while everyone else stood helpless before the pandemic, our national lodestar, President Trump, stepped up and saved millions of lives. Whew! “From the very beginning, Democrats, the media and the World Health Organization got the coronavirus wrong,” according to a G.O.P. propaganda film shown at the convention. Fortunately, “one leader took decisive action to save lives: President Donald Trump.” “We did the exact right thing,” Trump said in his speech on Monday. “We saved millions.” (Nicholas Kristof, 8/26)

The Washington Post: Mike Pence Appears To Be Living In A Fantasyland
What 176,000-plus deaths from covid-19? What devastating shutdown and recession? What double-digit unemployment? What mass uncertainty over whether and how to open the schools? What shocking police killings of African Americans? What long-overdue reckoning with systemic racism? Let me put it another way: What country does Vice President Pence live in?During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, Pence sounded as though he lived in some kind of fantasyland that perhaps had encountered a few tiny little bumps in the road. (Eugene Robinson, 8/27)

The New York Times: Republican Convention: Best And Worst Moments From Mike Pence Night 
Nicole Hemmer: After detailing her harrowing experiences with preventive mastectomy, Kayleigh McEnany delivered a fierce defense of the Affordable Care Act, explaining how vital it is that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions. Weird that she did it at the Republican Convention, though, given that Trump is still trying to gut the A.C.A. Wajahat Ali: It takes a remarkable degree of chutzpah and shamelessness to trot out Black speakers to attack Black Lives Matter and promote Trump as the heir of Lincoln and steward of civil rights, while a Trump supporter, Kyle Rittenhouse, was arrested and charged with shooting and killing two people in Kenosha, Wis. People of color were brought out to launder Trump’s cruelty and racism and paint an upside-down version of reality that I thought only existed in the Twilight Zone. (8/27)

The Washington Post: Hurricane Laura Looms, And Trump Is Again The Man Without A Plan
All presidents are tested by disasters, man-made and natural. Trump’s response seems always to be the same: denial. He pretends the virus will go away. He pretends the economy will come back like a “rocket.” He pretends climate change is a hoax. Among the busiest purveyors of such nonsense is Larry Kudlow, Trump’s economic adviser, who told the convention on Tuesday that the pandemic and the recession were history. “It was awful,” he said. “But presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the covid virus.” He claimed a booming economy and “a V-shaped recovery.” (Dana Milbank, 8/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Kansas Democrats’ Covid Chart Masks The Truth
But Democrats and their public health experts often manipulate data, and their dishonesty is more insidious because it gets a pass in the press. A case in point is a chart created by Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s Department of Health and Environment that purported to show her July 3 face-mask mandate has been a viral success. (Allysia Finley, 8/26)

New England Journal of Medicine: Why Counting Black Lives Matters
The U.S. Census is broken. In the midst of a massive health crisis and a national equity crisis, the infrastructure behind the count that affects how much health-related funding is distributed has been suspended until various dates over the summer, with no guarantee that counts will approach previous levels of completeness or accuracy. But even before Covid-19, the chronically underfunded and underappreciated census was already undercounting disadvantaged groups. This year’s undercount, with implications spanning the entire coming decade, will most likely be worse. And now, more than ever, we need a complete and accurate census. (Mark A. Schuster, Artem Osherov, and Paul J. Chung, 8/27)

Los Angeles Times: Shooting Deaths In Kenosha Seemed Inevitable
The tragedy unfolding in Kenosha, Wis., worsened overnight in ways that are at once shocking but also seemingly inevitable. Two people were shot dead and another wounded as protesters and self-styled militiamen faced off during a third night of street demonstrations after police on Sunday shot and gravely wounded yet another apparently unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake. Details of the latest violence remain sketchy Wednesday morning, but videos and photographs show verbal confrontations between protesters and heavily armed volunteers who said they were trying to protect a gas station in the area racked by vandalism, theft and arson the previous night. “They’re a militia,” Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told reporters. “They’re like a vigilante group.” (8/26)

The Washington Post: The CDC’s Covid-19 Advice Is Wrong. If You’ve Been Exposed, You Should Be Tested. 
Without explanation, and in contravention of common sense, federal officials have issued new guidance against testing asymptomatic individuals — specifically, those who have been exposed to someone diagnosed with covid-19. The recommendations, issued without fanfare on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pose a danger to public health, and contradict what we know about how to stem the spread of the pandemic. The numbers tell the story. The CDC itself estimates that 40 percent of people with covid-19 don’t have symptoms. (Leana S. Wen, 8/26)

The New York Times: More Of Your Coronavirus Testing Questions, Answered 
In an editorial earlier this month, we asked readers to submit their questions about coronavirus testing. A selection follows, edited for clarity and length, with some answers to keep in mind as you continue to navigate the morass. (Jeneen Interlandi, 8/26)

Bloomberg: New USDA Alcohol Dietary Guidelines: One Drink A Day, Really? 
Timothy Naimi, an alcohol researcher at Boston University and head of the committee charged with updating the guidelines, says even moderate alcohol has been shown to raise the risk of some cancers — especially breast cancer, which goes up 10% for every daily drink. That’s not a huge increase, but it’s worth noting. According to the American Cancer Society, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is 12.8%, so a 10% increase would raise the risk to about 14.1%. Alcohol also raises the risks of esophageal, stomach, liver, and head and neck cancers, though these are relatively rare in both abstainers and moderate drinkers. (Note that we’re talking here about getting cancer, not dying from it.) Naimi says alcohol guidelines are just guidelines — not orders. He’s a doctor, not a police officer. He believes the evidence shows that for people who drink, it’s better for our health to drink less. (Faye Flam, 8/26)

CNN: Rushing A Covid-19 Vaccine Before We Get Full Data Would Be An Enormous Mistake  
On Monday, the Financial Times reported that the White House may bypass standard Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations to fast-track the use of the so-called Oxford coronavirus vaccine. The possible shortcut seems similar to the administration's decision on Sunday to circumvent the same regulatory body to, as the President said, break "the logjam over the last week" by granting emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma treatment. (Kent Sepkowitz, 8/26)

Stat: Telehealth Can Speed The Diagnosis Of Rare Diseases 
For a person living with a rare disease, it can take five years or longer to receive an accurate diagnosis. With more than 40% of patients initially misdiagnosed, this “diagnostic odyssey” can have serious and long-term health consequences for the 300 million individuals affected by rare diseases and their families. It is also incredibly frustrating. (Wolfram Nothaft, Gregory Moore and Yann Le Cam, 8/27)

Boston Globe: Navigating A Health Care Crisis Under Extreme Duress And Without A Map 
It’s a crisis that will come to us all, sooner or later, and yet we keep acting as if it won’t. Instead of having a consistent comprehensible federal system that will help each of us and all of us when the time comes, we leave each family stranded, as if the frightening dependencies of old age and illness were a brand-new individual emergency. (Joan Wickersham, 8/27)

Houston Chronicle: Expand Medicaid To Help Latino Students Through Stress Of COVID-19 
My parents came to the United States to escape the civil war in El Salvador. They often dismissed my childhood experience with anxiety by saying, “You worry too much. At least there aren’t bullets flying past your house.” Other first-generation Latinos I know have similar stories, and the message has always been clear: mental health issues are a sign of weakness or many believe they don’t exist. Now, even in the Latino community, which has a deep-rooted stigma around discussion of mental health, parents are voicing their concerns. My organization, Latinos for Education, recently surveyed hundreds of Latino parents across Houston, and we found that 46 percent cite a decline in their children’s mental health as a result of COVID-19. (Andy Canales, 8/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: Spotty Mental Health And Addiction Care Worsens COVID Pandemic’s Impact 
Even before the pandemic swept through California, a person needing help with depression or a recurring addiction could face a glaring loophole with insurance coverage. Insurers would only cover a few sessions, obliging patients to switch to state-paid Medi-Cal to find care. Put another way, taxpayers were stuck with the bill when private plans balked. Those looking for help were left scrambling for a new doctor or professional in the switch-over. The paper chase and additional worries compounded the stress. (8/27)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Republican Support For Local Control Fades Over Reopening Schools
"Local control" has long been the mantra of Republican leadership: the idea that decisions affecting communities are best left to their immediate governing bodies, which understand local conditions, rather than dictated from higher up. It's written into Republican Party platforms. But Iowa's recent Republican governors have had trouble letting go of control when they saw an advantage. That's the situation Iowa school boards and superintendents now find themselves in as the governor insists every school district surrender its independent judgment to her mandate that schools physically reopen in the midst of a pandemic, unless she grants an exception. Reynolds has also not only refused to require masks in public places to limit the spread of COVID-19, but has blocked Iowa municipalities from requiring them in their own communities. (Rekha Basu, 8/26)

The Houston Chronicle: Houston-Area Schools Ignoring COVID Warnings Must Prepare For Outbreak
The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidance to note that children older than 10 may spread COVID-19 as efficiently as adults and “many schools where the virus is widespread will need to adopt virtual lessons. ”According to the Harris County Public Health color-coded threat level system, schools should not be open for any in-person activities at COVID-19 Level Red, when there are more than 400 new cases a day. All of Harris County is now at level Red. There were 784 new cases in the county on Monday, 881 on Tuesday and 906 on Wednesday. (8/27)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Beshear Delaying Kentucky Schools Due To COVID-19 Is Paranoia
Gov. Andy Beshear's recent recommendation to delay school reopening is not rooted in science. Closing classrooms, as numerous other states across the country have done, marks peak pandemic paranoia of a virus that one expert estimates kills 0.13% of those it infects outside nursing homes. "I don't believe that we gamble or experiment with our kids," Beshear said in justifying his decision. While much about COVID-19 is still unknown, overwhelming evidence suggests that schools can safely reopen. Keeping them closed overlooks dramatic associated consequences, including to mental health and academic progress. (Molly Rutherford, 8/26)