The Washington Post: Facebook Removes A Coronavirus Misinformation Post From Trump For The First Time Ever 
Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday took extraordinary action against President Trump for spreading coronavirus misinformation after his official and campaign accounts broke their rules, respectively. Facebook removed from Trump’s official account the post of a video clip from a Fox News interview in which he said children are “almost immune” from covid-19. Twitter required his Team Trump campaign account to delete a tweet with the same video, blocking it from tweeting in the interim. (Kelly, 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook, Twitter Take Down Video Of Trump Saying Children ‘Almost Immune’ From Covid-19
The video clip—a portion of an interview aired on Fox News—attracted roughly 450,000 views on Facebook before it was taken down, according to CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned analytics company. It also drew thousands of comments and was reshared nearly 2,000 times. The action marked the first time that Facebook removed Mr. Trump’s posts for violating its coronavirus misinformation rules, a Facebook spokesman said. “This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” the spokesman said. (Seetharaman, 8/5)

The New York Times: Facebook Removes Trump Campaign’s Misleading Coronavirus Video 
The action on Wednesday did not signal a change to Facebook’s fierce defense of free expression. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has said the social network is not an arbiter of truth and that it is in the public’s interest to see what political leaders post — even if they include falsehoods by politicians like Mr. Trump. Mr. Zuckerberg has stood by the position, even as other social media companies like Twitter have ramped up their rule enforcement with regard to the president’s speech. (Kang and Frenkel, 8 /5)

And the Trump administration responds —

Fox News: Facebook Removes Trump Post Over Coronavirus Misinformation Rules; Twitter Also Clamps Down 
Trump campaign spokesperson Courtney Parella told Fox News that President Trump was "stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus.""Another day, another display of Silicon Valley’s flagrant bias against this President, where the rules are only enforced in one direction," she added. "Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth.” (Manfredi, 8/5)

Center For Public Integrity: White House Warns 10 Local Areas About Coronavirus Numbers In Private Call
The White House Coronavirus Task Force sees troubling coronavirus numbers in 10 local areas across the country, even as its data shows improvement in Sunbelt states, according to a private call between task force leader Dr. Deborah Birx and state and local officials Wednesday. "We are seeing encouraging signs across the South,” Birx said on a recording of the call obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. “We are concerned that both Baltimore and Atlanta remain at a very high level — [also] Kansas City, Portland, Omaha [and] of course what we talked about in the Central Valley [of California].” Birx then pointed to four additional cities that are doing relatively well — Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C.  — and yet are seeing small increases in the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests, according to White House data. Those areas need to “get on top of it,” she said. (Essley Whyte, 8/6)

CNN: The World May Never Eradicate Coronavirus, But It Can Get It Under Control, Fauci Says
Covid-19 may never be eradicated completely, but states' efforts to enforce measures against the virus and the race to a vaccine could keep it from drastically disrupting life in the United States again. With 4.7 million cases and 158,249 deaths across the US alone, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that the "highly transmissible" virus isn't likely to be eradicated from the planet. The conclusion drawn by the nation's leading infectious disease expert contrasts with that of President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday said the virus will "go away." (Holcombe, 8/6)

The Hill: Fauci Says Family Has Faced Threats, Harassment Amid Pandemic 
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he and his family are getting death threats because people don’t like what he says about COVID-19. “Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it’s amazing,” Fauci said during an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on Wednesday. (Hellmann, 8/5)

The Hill: CNN's Burnett Presses Navarro On Hydroxychloroquine In Combative Interview: 'You're An Economist, Not A Scientist' 
CNN’s Erin Burnett pressed White House trade adviser Peter Navarro over his support for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus despite public health experts, including several within the White House, stating that the anti-malaria drug is not effective at treating COVID-19. In the combative Wednesday interview, Navarro continued to push the drug as a coronavirus treatment, dismissing contradictory comments made by the nation’s top public health expert and White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci. (Klar, 8/5)

In other administration news —

ABC News: China's Ambassador To US Slams Trump For COVID-19 Blame 
Warning that tensions with China have reached "unprecedented" levels, China’s ambassador to the United States on Tuesday chastised President Donald Trump’s use of the phrase "China virus" and fiercely disputed accusations that the Chinese government withheld potentially life-saving information about COVID-19 in the earliest days of the pandemic. "We have to base ourselves on real facts, and … the timeline is very clear," Ambassador Cui Tiankai said. "Everybody knew [early on] this is very dangerous." (Levine, 8/5)

AP: Seeking Refuge In US, Children Fleeing Danger Are Expelled
When officers led them out of a detention facility near the U.S.-Mexico border and onto a bus last month, the 12-year-old from Honduras and his 9-year-old sister believed they were going to a shelter so they could be reunited with their mother in the Midwest. They had been told to sign a paper they thought would tell the shelter they didn’t have the coronavirus, the boy said. The form was in English, a language he and his sister don’t speak. The only thing he recognized was the letters “COVID.” (Merchant, 8/6)

The Washington Post: Trump Threatens Executive Actions As Coronavirus Relief Deal Remains Elusive On Capitol Hill 
President Trump on Wednesday threatened to take executive action to extend an eviction moratorium, suspend collection of the payroll tax and boost unemployment benefits unless a coronavirus relief deal can be reached quickly with Democrats on Capitol Hill. And in a sign the White House could be preparing to act, the Trump administration has asked federal agencies to identify all of the money they have not yet spent from the $2 trillion Cares Act, which passed in March, according to two people briefed on the effort. White House officials are trying to determine whether this money could be redirected and used for other purposes, such as temporary unemployment benefits or the eviction moratorium. (Werner, Demirjian and Stein, 8/5)

Stateline: As COVID-19 Tanks The Economy, Eviction Moratoriums Expire 
It’s the beginning of the month, rent is due, the $600 in federal unemployment relief has lapsed and Congress seems far from agreeing on another coronavirus aid package. Meanwhile, the federal moratorium on evictions has ended, and similar mandates in many cities and states have expired or soon will. This week, as pressure mounts on localities and protesters draw attention to a #CancelRent movement, President Donald Trump announced that he is considering a federal ban on evictions, which he said are “a big deal.” (Wiltz, 8/6)

In related news —

AP: Many More Likely Sought Jobless Aid Amid Resurgence Of Virus
With the nation still gripped by an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases, the U.S. government will provide its latest snapshot Thursday of the layoffs that have remained elevated at a weekly pace above 1 million since the pandemic erupted in March. The rate of applications for unemployment benefits has stalled at roughly twice the record high that had existed before the virus sent the economy spiraling into a recession. With many states and localities having re-imposed lockdowns in response to the spreading virus, businesses face renewed struggles that have forced some to impose further job cuts or to shut down. (Wiseman, 8/6)

Los Angeles Times: California Legislative Leaders Seek To Delay Lifting Eviction Ban 
California’s legislative leaders are asking the state’s Judicial Council for more time before renter evictions resume during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they are facing “an impossible decision” between rushing legislation and leaving millions of tenants unprotected. Most evictions in the state were suspended in April after California courts stopped processing nearly all cases. Gov. Gavin Newsom gave the court system the power to stop evictions in an emergency order in late March, intended to allow “maximum flexibility” in responding to the pandemic. At the time, the Legislature was on an extended break to reduce the spread of coronavirus in the state Capitol. (Gutierrez, 8/5)

AP: Capitol Negotiators Still Stuck, Still Trying On Virus Aid
After more than a week’s worth of meetings, at least some clarity is emerging in the bipartisan Washington talks on a huge COVID-19 response bill. Negotiators are still stuck but still trying. A combative meeting Wednesday involving top Capitol Hill Democrats and the postmaster general and a souring tone from both sides indicate that a long slog remains Thursday and beyond. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows threatened that President Donald Trump is exploring options to use executive authority to extend a partial eviction ban and address unemployment benefits. (Taylor, 8/6)

ABC News: White House Officials Signal Coronavirus Relief Negotiations Will Cease If An Agreement Is Not Reached By Friday 
White House officials told Senate Republicans on Wednesday that if a deal is not reached with Democrats on coronavirus relief by Friday, negotiations will likely stop. "I think at this point we're either going to get serious about negotiating and get an agreement in principle," Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Wednesday. "I've become extremely doubtful that we'll be able to make a deal if it goes well beyond Friday." (Pecorin and Turner, 8/5)

The Hill: Negotiators Remain Far Apart On Coronavirus Deal As Deadline Looms 
The two sides entered the talks with vastly different price tags, with Senate Republicans offering a $1 trillion package and House Democrats passing a $3.4 trillion bill in May. And they faced a litany of policy differences including how to address the $600-per week federal unemployment plus-up, money for state and local governments with the GOP package only offering flexibility for the $150 billion already appropriated by Congress, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) red line of liability protections. (Carney, 8/5)

Politico: ‘I Want To Get An Outcome’: McConnell Defends Strategy As He Faces GOP Grumbling 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell knows where he needs to take his fellow Republicans on coronavirus relief — but he’s not sure how many will follow him there. Facing a deeply divided Senate GOP conference just three months before an election that could cost Republicans their majority, McConnell is struggling to hold his members together as the White House and Democratic congressional leaders negotiate a new coronavirus relief package. There are complaints about the plan pushed by McConnell, as well as questions over whether any deal can get done this close to Nov. 3. For the first time in a while, Republicans are questioning McConnell’s choices. (Bresnahan, Levine and Desiderio, 8/5)

The Hill: Duckworth: Republican Coronavirus Package Would 'Gut' Americans With Disabilities Act
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), the first disabled woman elected to the Senate, slammed Senate Republicans’ coronavirus relief proposal in a floor speech Wednesday evening, saying it would “gut” the Americans with Disabilities Act. Duckworth invoked the “Capitol Crawl” by wheelchair users lobbying for the 1990 legislation, including eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan, who was heard to say “I’ll take all night if I have to.” “Thirty years ago this legislative body said people like me mattered, but last week the Republicans in this chamber proposed a bill that said that we don’t,” Duckworth said. (Budryk, 8/5)

In related news —

The New York Times: Postal Service Funding Dispute Complicates Impasse Over U.S. Virus Stimulus 
Top lawmakers remained nowhere close to an agreement on Wednesday for a new economic rescue package amid the recession, and appeared to be growing increasingly pessimistic that they could meet a self-imposed Friday deadline. A dispute over funding for the United States Postal Service has joined expanded unemployment benefits and aid to state and local governments on the list of issues dividing Democratic leaders and the Trump administration. (8/5)

The Washington Post: Democrats Demand Postal Service Reverse New Rules That Have Slowed The Delivery Of Absentee Ballots 
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill told negotiators for President Trump on Wednesday that preserving funding for the U.S. Postal Service and removing new rules that have slowed delivery times are essential ingredients of a new coronavirus relief bill in a year when millions of Americans plan to vote by mail. “Elections are sacred,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), told reporters after a meeting with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “To do cutbacks when ballots, all ballots, have to be counted — we can’t say, ‘Oh, we’ll get 94 percent of them.’ It’s insufficient.” (Gardner and Bogage, 8/5)

In other legislative news —

Politico: 'It's Whiplash': Dead People May Yet Get Their Stimulus Checks 
Dead people could end up eligible for economic stimulus checks after all. A little-noticed provision in Senate Republicans’ latest coronavirus relief package would partially overturn the Treasury Department’s much-publicized ban on sending stimulus money to the departed. So long as someone died this year, they would be eligible for the $1,200 payments included in the plan. Not just that, Senate Republicans would also make them retroactively eligible for the previous round of stimulus checks. (Faler, 8/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia House Speaker Asks U.S. Senate For $500 Billion Aid Package For States
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston this week became the latest state official to urge Congress to provide a $500 billion relief package to states as governments across the country shed workers and cut programs because of the coronavirus recession. “The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge us on the state level regarding the delivery of services,” Ralston wrote in a letter to U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both Georgia Republicans. (Salzer, 8/5)

Politico: Rep. Rodney Davis Diagnosed With Covid Days After Warning Lawmakers About Safety 
Days after delivering a presentation on office safety in dealing with Covid-19, Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, announced he has tested positive for the virus. In a letter posted on his website, Davis said he tested positive Wednesday morning. He submitted to the test after one of his twice-daily temperature checks “clocked in at 99 degrees Fahrenheit, which is higher than normal for me,” he wrote. (Kapos, 8/5)

The Hill: Illinois Republican Tests Positive For Coronavirus 
“Having consulted with the Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) of Congress and local county health officials, our office is contacting constituents I have met with in-person within the previous 48 hours,” he said in a statement, citing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Davis said he takes COVID-19, which data shows has killed more than 150,000 people in the U.S., “very seriously” and that his wife “is a nurse and a cancer survivor, which puts her in an at-risk category like so many Americans.” (Folley, 8/5)

In other legislative news, 4 people test positive at the Missouri Capitol —

AP: 4 Test Positive For Virus As Missouri Lawmakers Resume Work
Four people tested positive for the coronavirus following open testing at the Capitol in advance of lawmakers returning to work, the state health department announced Wednesday. The agency offered free testing to lawmakers, staffers and others who work at the Capitol at the request of Senate Democratic Minority Leader John Rizzo. A health department spokeswoman said 228 people were tested. (Ballentine, 8/5)

AP: Trump Considering Giving Convention Speech From White House
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’ll probably deliver his Republican convention acceptance speech from the White House now that plans to hold the event in two battleground states have been foiled by coronavirus concerns and restrictions. Such a move would mark an unprecedented use of public property for partisan political purposes, and congressional leaders in both parties publicly doubted Trump could go ahead with the plan. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said flatly that he “can’t do that.” (Superville, 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Joe Biden Won’t Travel To Milwaukee For Democratic National Convention
Former Vice President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Milwaukee to accept the Democratic presidential nomination later this month because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and will instead address the nation from his home state of Delaware. The convention will now be entirely virtual, according to a person familiar with the plans, something unprecedented in American political history. (Thomas and McCormick, 8/5)

The New York Times: Biden’s Milwaukee Trip Is Canceled, And So Is A Normal Presidential Campaign 
The decision to cancel major in-person appearances at the Democratic National Convention 90 days before the election, at the recommendation of health officials, was the final blow to the prospect that the fall campaign would resemble anything remotely like a traditional presidential contest, as the country confronts more than 150,000 deaths from the virus and cases continue to rise in parts of the country. “The conventions as we traditionally have known them are no more,” said Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who oversaw the party’s 2000 and 2004 conventions. “They will be more interactive and more digital, with more on social media.” (Epstein and Glueck, 8/5)

In other election news —

CIDRAP: Experts: Not All States Ready To Hold Safe Elections In Pandemic 
Many US states don't offer the policies and flexibility that voters will need to avoid COVID-19 infection during the upcoming general election on Nov 3—and don't have much time to correct the deficiencies, according to two Rand Corp studies published today to inform state lawmakers and election officials on mitigating health risks and ensuring election integrity. (Van Beusekom, 8/5)

Politico: The World Has Shown It's Possible To Avert Covid-Caused Election Meltdowns. But The U.S. Is Unique.
With less than six weeks before early voting starts in the U.S. presidential election, the risk of an electoral meltdown is rising along with the country’s coronavirus caseload. As they scramble to avert disaster, American officials may want to look overseas for guidance. Since the pandemic shut down daily life around the globe in March, 17 countries have managed to pull off successful nationwide elections, albeit on a far smaller scale than the U.S. one scheduled for Nov. 3. (Heath, 8/6)

Time: How COVID-19 Changed Everything About The 2020 Election
But in the 2020 that’s actually happening, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything–from how the campaign is conducted to how we vote to what we value. It has canceled conventions, relegated fundraising and campaigning to the digital realm, and forced many states to rapidly change how people get and submit their ballots, with unpredictable and potentially disastrous results. The acute crises have refocused the nation’s attention, bringing issues like public health and economic and racial inequality to the fore and prompting the public to revisit what characteristics it wants in its leaders. (Ball, 8/6)

Kaiser Health News and KCUR: Missouri Voters Approve Medicaid Expansion Despite GOP Resistance
Despite strong opposition from Republicans and rural voters, Missouri on Tuesday joined 37 states and the District of Columbia in expanding its Medicaid program. Voters in Missouri approved creating a state constitutional amendment that will open Medicaid eligibility to include healthy adults starting July 1, 2021. Voters approved expansion by a margin of 6.5 percentage points. (Smith, 8/5)

The Tennessean: Fear Of COVID-19 Will Not Be Reason To Vote Absentee In November, Tennessee Supreme Court Rules
Fear of COVID-19 will not be a reason to vote by mail in the November general election, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. Absentee ballots filed for Thursday's primary will remain valid, according to the court. (Timms, 8/5)

The Associated Press: Judge Questions Wisconsin Election Changes Due To Coronavirus As Gov. Tony Evers Calls Up National Guard To Help Amid Poll Worker Shortage
A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether it would be right to order an easing of Wisconsin’s absentee voting regulations ahead of the November presidential election, saying the coronavirus might pose less of a threat to in-person voting by then. (Richmond, 8/5)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Mandate Requiring Better Coronavirus Protections For Orange County Inmates
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday freed Orange County jails from a federal judge’s order that required social distancing among inmates, regular testing and distribution of cleaning supplies and hand sanitizers. Acting by a 5-4 vote, the justices granted an emergency appeal from the county’s lawyers and put on hold an order issued in late May by U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal. As usual, the justices in the majority did not explain their decision. (Savage, 8/5)

Orange County Register: U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Judge’s Order That OC Jail Must Take Better Care Of Inmates Exposed To Coronavirus
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg offered a dissenting opinion Wednesday. “This Court normally does not reward bad behavior, and certainly not with extraordinary equitable relief,” they wrote. “The injunction’s requirements are not remarkable. In fact, the Jail initially claimed that it had already implemented each and every one of them.” The dissenting opinion noted that the 3,000-inmate jail system had recently reported 15 new cases in a single week. (Saavedra, 8/5)

In other news about treatment at jails —

AP: Feds Propose Consent Decree To Ensure Care At Virginia Jail
The Justice Department proposed Wednesday that a Virginia jail comply with a consent decree requiring officials to improve medical treatment for inmates, marking one of the first times the department has proposed such a resolution in the Trump administration. The rare action follows a multiyear investigation into the practices at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia, which prosecutors said uncovered unlawful conditions for the inmates housed there. Federal officials allege, in part, that the jail “fails to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care to prisoners,” according to court documents. (Balsamo, 8/5)

The Marshall Project: A State-By-State Look At Coronavirus In Prisons
Since March, The Marshall Project has been tracking how many people are being sickened and killed by COVID-19 in prisons and how widely it has spread across the country and within each state. Here, we will regularly update these figures counting the number of people infected and killed nationwide and in each prison system until the crisis abates. (7/30)

The Hill: Moderna To Charge $32 To $37 A Dose For Its COVID Vaccine 
Moderna will charge between $32 and $37 a dose for its experimental coronavirus vaccine for some "low volume" customers, the company's CEO said Wednesday. The company will be using a tiered pricing system, and will charge less for higher volume orders. The company considers a small order to be "in the millions" of doses, CEO Stéphane Bancel said on a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly earnings. (Weixel, 8/5)

The Hill: US Reaches $1B Deal For Doses Of Potential Johnson & Johnson Vaccine 
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a deal worth approximately $1 billion for the manufacturing of 100 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson that the federal government would then own. The move is the latest in a series of agreements the Trump administration has made with several companies making potential coronavirus vaccines. The goal, through the Operation Warp Speed program, is to make bets on a wide array of vaccine candidates with the hope that at least one and maybe more will end up proving safe and effective through clinical trials. (Sullivan, 8/5)

CNN: These 3 Covid-19 Vaccines Have Been In The News. Here's What You Need To Know About Them 
The US government is pouring billions into Covid-19 vaccines, and candidates from three companies are moving along quickly: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax. Here's what you need to know about them. (Waldrop, 8/6)

Detroit Free Press: First Michigan Patients Get COVID-19 Vaccine Through Henry Ford Study
Ashley Wilson rolled up her left sleeve early Wednesday morning and made history. The 24-year-old research assistant from Taylor became among the first people in Michigan to potentially get a COVID-19 vaccine. That's potentially because there's a chance Wilson got a placebo instead of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine when the needle went into her upper arm. (Shamus, 8/6)

Kaiser Health News: America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness Of Any COVID Vaccine 
For a world crippled by the coronavirus, salvation hinges on a vaccine. But in the United States, where at least 4.6 million people have been infected and nearly 155,000 have died, the promise of that vaccine is hampered by a vexing epidemic that long preceded COVID-19: obesity. Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that COVID-19 vaccines will be any different. (Varney, 8/6)

In related vaccine news, people express concerns about conflicts of interest —

Reuters: Exclusive: Fauci Says Regulators Promise Politics Will Not Guide Vaccine Timing
U.S. regulators have assured scientists that political pressure will not determine when a coronavirus vaccine is approved even as the White House hopes to have one ready ahead of the November presidential election, the country’s leading infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday. “We have assurances, and I’ve discussed this with the regulatory authorities, that they promise that they are not going to let political considerations interfere with a regulatory decision,” Dr. Fauci told Reuters in an interview. (Mason and Erman, 8/5)

ABC News: Health Care Execs Have Made Millions During COVID, More Scrutiny Needed: Critics 
Lawmakers and legal experts are calling on the Security and Exchange Commission to investigate the trading activity of a number of health care executives, some of whom have already made millions of dollars in stock trades during the period that their companies were working as part of a mad dash for coronavirus cures and treatments. "I think the SEC needs to be on full alert at this moment," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, in an interview with ABC News. "It's important as we move quickly to develop a vaccine we make sure the public's interests are protected. That's their job. They're supposed to be the watchdog for the public interest here." (Bruggeman, Rubin and Mosk, 8/5)

NBC News: Coronavirus Vaccines Speed Ahead — But Scientists Stress Safety First
With the world waiting for a coronavirus vaccine, scientists know the stakes couldn't be higher. Three vaccines are in phase 3 of human clinical trials, which ensure effectiveness but also safety — a crucial element as an accelerated timeline, mounting numbers of cases and deaths and no shortage of misinformation have added enormous pressure to the process. (Chow, 8/5)

NBC News: Work On Hydroxychloroquine Delayed Promising Studies Of Convalescent Plasma
Robust scientific studies on convalescent plasma, a potentially promising COVID-19 treatment, have gotten off to a slow start in the U.S., in part because some researchers were more focused on enrolling their sickest patients in other trials, including some for hydroxychloroquine. "You always have that hindsight and say, oh man, we should have put our efforts into something else," said Dr. Todd Rice, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (Edwards, 8/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Pandemic Lays Bare U.S. Reliance On China For Drugs 
The shortage of a simple, over-the-counter painkiller shows how dependent the U.S. has become on China for vital pharmaceutical supplies. ... Acetaminophen is one of a slew of life-or-death ingredients for medicines now produced in significant amounts by China. Many of these are commodity chemicals that U.S. makers found unprofitable to produce. China makes about 70% of the acetaminophen used in the U.S., the Commerce Department and analysts estimate. (Yap, 8/5)

Boston Globe: Racing The Clock To Stop Drug-Resistant Superbugs 
Today, it’s estimated superbugs kill almost three-quarters of a million people around the globe annually; by 2050 that could grow to 10 million every year if the trend isn’t slowed. And that has brought us to a crisis that nests inside the larger catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic: The world needs new antibiotics more than ever — for resistant infections, and now also for coronavirus patients developing pneumonia and other infections as they endure long hospital stays. Yet the problem of how to pay for the development of a new antibiotic — which can cost about $1 billion — has deprived us of the drugs just when we need them most. (McKenna, 8/5)

In other news —

Stat: Teladoc Health Reaches Agreement To Buy Livongo In A $18.5 Billion Deal
Telemedicine provider Teladoc Health has reached an agreement to buy the diabetes coaching company Livongo in an $18.5 billion deal that will create the first true health tech giant — in an era in which demand for virtual care is surging. The merger agreement, announced on Wednesday morning, is expected to create a combined company on track to bring in $1.3 billion in revenue this year, up 85% over last year. (Robbins, 8/5)

Stat: 10 Burning Questions About Teladoc's $18.5 Billion Deal To Buy Livongo
It’s hard to recall a deal that scrambled the dynamics of the health tech industry more than Teladoc Health’s proposed $18.5 billion buyout of Livongo. The agreement, announced on Wednesday, is expected to create a digital health behemoth that combines Teladoc’s telemedicine platform with Livongo’s chronic disease coaching programs — and brings in a huge number of patient users and insurer and employer customers in the process. (Robbins, Ross and Brodwin, 8/5)

Stat: Blackstone Agrees To Buy Ancestry In $4.7 Billion Deal
Investment firm Blackstone announced on Wednesday that it was buying a majority stake in the direct-to-consumer genetics company Ancestry from its former equity holders for $4.7 billion. The firm will take the reins from global firms including Silver Lake, GIC, and Spectrum Equity, but GIC will retain a significant minority stake in the company, according to a press release. Ancestry was last valued at roughly $3 billion in 2017, according to PitchBook, and had eyed an IPO in 2017 and 2019, when the personal genetics business was booming. (Brodwin, 8/5)

Dallas Morning News: This North Texas Biotech Startup Just Raised A Whopping $95 Million Amid The Pandemic
Dallas-based Taysha Gene Therapies has raised $95 million in new funding for development of its treatments for rare childhood diseases. The financial boost from investors such as Fidelity Management & Research, BlackRock and GV (formerly Google Ventures) marks the startup’s second big investment this year. In April, Taysha wrapped up a $30 million seed round that was the North Texas region’s largest funding haul in the second quarter, despite funding for startups slowing amid the pandemic. (DiFurio, 8/5)

Reuters: Virginia Touts Nation's First Contact Tracing App With Apple-Google Tech 
Virginia on Wednesday launched the first contact tracing app for the novel coronavirus in the United States that uses new technology from Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O). The state is betting that the app, COVIDWISE, can help it catch new cases faster, though long delays in getting test results must be overcome in order for it to be effective. (Dave, 8/5)

Stat: This Company Has A Better Version Of A Simpler, Faster Covid-19 Test
In some parts of the U.S. right now, it can take weeks to get results for a simple Covid-19 test, a delay that renders the results largely useless. So a handful of city governments and schools are turning to an entirely different type of Covid-19 test that they say is simpler, easier, and most importantly faster — and therefore more meaningful. (Sheridan, 8/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘A Harrowing Black Hole Of Information’: Some Nursing Homes Leave Families In The Dark About Coronavirus 
Nearly five months into the pandemic, many nursing homes continue to leave families in the dark about their relatives’ test results or the prevalence of the virus in the facility. The state requires nursing homes and assisted living facilities to notify family members immediately after a positive test anywhere in the facility. But families and nursing home experts say that doesn’t always happen. (Ravani, 8/6)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Test Issues Skew California Results, Slow Response 
A breakdown in the electronic collection of coronavirus test data is hampering California’s pandemic response, with some public health officials resorting to counting results by hand and a growing number of counties warning the public that statistics provided by the state on infection rates are unreliable. The ongoing technical problems with the electronic system for gathering and analyzing COVID-19 infection rates affect the state’s ability to track the spread of the virus and could be resulting in significant undercounts of infections across the state. (Shalby, 8/5)

ABC News: In Communities Of Color, One Organization Is Helping To Fill The COVID-19 Testing Gap 
In a predominantly Latino neighborhood in the Bronx, New York, doctors working through the non-profit group SOMOS Community Care have spent months on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, those same doctors are traveling to other cities around the country that have been seeing surges in new COVID-19 cases in an effort to get free testing to communities of color, which have already been hit disproportionately hard by the virus and face scarcities in access to testing as well. (Rios, Pedersen, Kim and Rivas, 8/5)

How other nations are tackling the issue —

The New York Times: Welcome Back To Germany. Now Take Your Free Coronavirus Test. 
When she returned to Germany last week from a vacation in Serbia, one of the first things Snjezana Kirstein did was to stop at a pop-up coronavirus testing center at Berlin’s Tegel Aiport. Whereas such tests can be hard to find in the United States, with unpredictable costs and results two weeks in coming, Ms. Kirstein was on her way in a matter of minutes after having her nose and throat swabbed. She expected an answer in 24 to 48 hours. The test was not only swift, it was free. (Eddy, 8/5)

State House News Service: Blue Cross Delivering $101 Million In Refunds, Rebates
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts customers and members will receive $101 million in premium refunds and rebates due to lower than anticipated health care costs during the COVID-19 emergency, the big insurer announced Wednesday. "Since many elective procedures and routine visits have been deferred during the pandemic, our medical costs during the second quarter were lower than we originally anticipated," said Andrew Dreyfus, president and CEO of Blue Cross. "We're giving money back to our customers and members to help provide financial relief during what we know is an incredibly challenging and uncertain time." (Norton, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Lower Healthcare Utilization Bolsters CVS Health Q2 Profit
A dramatic drop in healthcare utilization among Aetna members during the COVID-19 crisis bolstered CVS Health's bottom line in the second quarter of 2020. The company said the deferral of non-urgent healthcare services during the pandemic contributed an estimated $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion to its healthcare benefits segment's operating income. That unit comprises the Aetna business that CVS bought in late 2018. That business reported adjusted operating income of $3.1 billion for the three months ended June 30, an increase of nearly 188.7%. (Livingston, 8/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We Get Inundated’: Bay Area Health Care Workers Demand More Staffing, Gear In National Coronavirus Rally 
Robin Watkins had spent a 12-hour overnight shift caring for coronavirus patients at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center on Wednesday, but the nurse didn’t go straight home after work. Instead, he rallied in the morning mist to demand more staffing and protective gear. At least 40 nurses decked in red California Nurses Association shirts and masks marched in front of the hospital, hoisting signs that said “Save Lives” and chanting, “Mighty, mighty nurses, fighting for our patients.” The same cries echoed at two dozen Bay Area hospitals, part of a national movement of unionized workers protesting at 200 U.S. locations Wednesday. (Moench, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Government Funds, Expense Cuts Behind For-Profit Hospitals' Q2 Profit Growth
Despite more than a month-long suspension in high-margin surgeries due to the pandemic, the country's four largest investor-owned hospital chains managed to increase their cumulative profit 69% during the second quarter to $1.5 billion, surprising analysts and others who follow the industry. The higher profits were largely due to the combined $2 billion in federal stimulus grants the four companies, HCA Healthcare, Community Health Systems, Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Universal Health Services, recorded during the quarter that ended June 30, money they don't have to repay. If not for those grants, some of the companies may have lost money in the quarter without more significant operating changes. (Bannow, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Anthem Sues Former Executive Who Leads Fla.-Based Ultimate Health Plans
Anthem has sued a former senior executive for allegedly poaching more than a dozen Anthem employees and using confidential information to benefit a competing health plan. Indianapolis-based Anthem accused former executive Nancy Gareau, who is now the CEO of small, Spring Hill, Fla.-based Medicare Advantage insurer Ultimate Health Plans, of leading a "full-on raid" on Anthem's workforce. (Livingston, 8/5)

In news from the Justice Department —

Modern Healthcare: DOJ Accuses Cigna Of Medicare Advantage Fraud
The U.S. Justice Department joined a lawsuit alleging Cigna Corp. exaggerated the illnesses of its Medicare members in order to obtain higher payments from the federal government. The Justice Department claimed that Cigna and its Medicare Advantage business HealthSpring violated the False Claims Act by submitting improper diagnostic codes for payment that were based on health conditions that did not exist or were not found in any medical records. As a result, CMS overpaid Cigna by more than $1.4 billion, DOJ alleged. (Livingston, 8/5)

Modern Healthcare: Feds Move To Block Geisinger Hospital Acquisition
The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Geisinger Health to prevent it from acquiring part of a competing hospital in central Pennsylvania. While Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and Evangelical Community Hospital, an independent hospital in Lewisburg, Pa., have categorized their deal as an "agreement" rather than an acquisition, the Justice Department said the providers won't have the same incentive to compete with each other, and that could raise healthcare prices in the area. (Teichert, 8/5)

Kaiser Health News: Health Care Workers Of Color Nearly Twice As Likely As Whites To Get COVID-19 
Health care workers of color were more likely to care for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, more likely to report using inadequate or reused protective gear, and nearly twice as likely as white colleagues to test positive for the coronavirus, a new study from Harvard Medical School researchers found. The study also showed that health care workers are at least three times more likely than the general public to report a positive COVID test, with risks rising for workers treating COVID patients. (Jewett, 8/6)

GMA: 20-Year-Old Med Student Hopes His Book Helps Doctors Identify Conditions On Dark Skin 
Upon arriving at medical school at St. George's, University of London, 20-year-old Malone Mukwende was often taught to look for symptoms that only pertain to white skin. For instance, Kawasaki disease, which is inflammation of the body's arteries and is mostly found in children, is often associated with a red rash. But as Mukwende, who is originally from Zimbabwe, sat in class, he was disturbed by the fact that a simple red rash was not how the symptom would appear on his own dark skin. (Priluck, 8/4)

WBUR: Parks In Nonwhite Areas Are Half The Size Of Ones In Majority-White Areas, Study Says
In the midst of another hot summer and an ongoing pandemic, public parks are vital refuge. But a new study has found that access to parks in the U.S. differs sharply according to income and race. A study published by The Trust for Public Land found that parks serving primarily nonwhite populations are, on average, half the size of parks that serve majority-white populations, and are potentially five times more crowded. (Wamsley, 8/5)

In news from Michigan and Nevada —

Detroit Free Press: Gov. Whitmer Declares Racism A Public Health Crisis In Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday declared racism a public health crisis, ordered implicit bias training for all state employees, and created a state advisory council to focus on issues affecting Black people in Michigan. She said Black residents in Michigan are four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white residents because of unequal economic and health care treatment and racism. (Egan, 8/5)

AP: Nevada Senate Declares Racism A Public Health Crisis
Nevada lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday that declares racism a public health crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic and months of protests around the nation over police brutality. The resolution urges lawmakers to revisit issues related to racism and public health when they reconvene next year. It was introduced on the fifth day of the Legislature’s special session, which Gov. Steve Sisolak convened to address coronavirus-related issues and calls for criminal justice reform. (8/6)

CNN: People Are Dying After Drinking Hand Sanitizer, CDC Says 
People are getting sick and even dying after swallowing hand sanitizer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Four died and others have suffered impaired vision or seizures, the CDC says. Hand sanitizer is everywhere and is useful for cleaning the hands during the coronavirus pandemic. But it's not safe to swallow, the CDC cautions. "Alcohol-based hand sanitizer products should never be ingested," the CDC said in a new report. (Howard, 8/5)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Warns Of The Dangers Of Drinking Hand Sanitizer After Fatal Poisonings 
From May 1 to June 30, 15 people in Arizona and New Mexico were treated for poisoning after they swallowed alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Three of the patients sustained visual impairments, according to the C.D.C., which said that drinking hand sanitizer can cause methanol poisoning. Methanol is a type of alcohol commonly found in fuel products, antifreeze, industrial solvents and in some preparations of hand sanitizer that federal health officials said is harmful and should not be used. (Vigdor, 8/5)

Also —

USA Today: Some Hospital Infections Up As Feds Waived Safety Oversight, Reporting
When the Trump administration waived most federal hospital inspections and suspended hospital infection reporting in March during the coronavirus pandemic, patient safety advocates warned it could lead to big increases in hospital-acquired infections. Jumps in infections at two hospitals in New York and St. Louis – up to five times higher – suggest they may have been right. (O'Donnell, 8/5)

CNN: Best Friends, Married For 35 Years, Die From Coronavirus Just 11 Days Apart 
Keith and Gwendolyn Robinson, of California, were just like Noah and Allie from the famous Nicholas Sparks romance novel-turned-movie "The Notebook," according to their son. The only difference is they didn't pass away in the same bed while holding hands, Delon Adams told CNN, referring to the last few minutes of the 2004 romantic drama. The Robinsons, who were married 35 years, died 11 days apart after battling coronavirus. (Johnson, 8/5)

Politico: The Summer Of Spread Is Here
New Jersey went from being one of the country’s worst Covid-19 hot spots to a model of how to flatten the curve. Now, two months into the first summer of the pandemic, it’s backsliding. New cases are way up and the state's rate of spread nearly doubled in the past four weeks as keggers, house parties and packed-to-the-gills vacation rentals became infection hubs. (Sutton and Ehley, 8/5)

The Atlantic: The Pandemic Could Be Worse In The Winter Of 2020-21 
Throughout the pandemic, one lodestar of public-health advice has come down to three words: Do things outside. For nearly five months now, the outdoors has served as a vital social release valve—a space where people can still eat, drink, relax, exercise, and worship together in relative safety. Later this year, that precious space will become far less welcoming in much of the U.S. “What do you do when nobody wants to go to the beach on some cold November day?” Andrew Noymer, a public-health professor at UC Irvine, said to me. “People are going to want to go to bowling alleys and whatnot, and that’s a recipe for disaster, honestly—particularly if they don't want to wear masks.” (Pinsker, 8/5)

The New York Times: The Many Symptoms Of Covid-19 
For a Texas nurse, the first sign that something was wrong happened while brushing her teeth — she couldn’t taste her toothpaste. For a Georgia attorney, it was hitting a wall of fatigue on a normally easy run. When a Wisconsin professor fell ill in June, he thought a bad meal had upset his stomach. But eventually, all of these people discovered that their manifold symptoms were all signs of Covid-19. Some of the common symptoms — a dry cough, a headache — can start so mildly they are at first mistaken for allergies or a cold. In other cases, the symptoms are so unusual — strange leg pain, a rash or dizziness — that patients and even their doctors don’t think Covid-19 could be the culprit. (Parker-Pope, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Struggling U.S. Manufacturers Pivot To One Product Where Sales Are Actually Booming: Masks
For nearly a century, Steele Canvas has been churning out industrial goods from its workshops near Boston, lately housed in a brick factory in Chelsea, Mass. The family-owned manufacturer built a booming business making canvas-and-steel storage carts that customers use to stash tools, construction materials and other wares. As the economy started locking down in March, those orders dried up, pushing the company toward crisis and forcing it to consider furloughing its 70 employees. But then it found a way out — making masks. (Whalen, 8/5)

Los Angeles Times: Houses Hosting Big Parties Could Have Utilities Shut Off, Mayor Says 
Following reports of large parties that violate health orders aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that he will authorize the city to shut off water and power services to residents who hold such gatherings. Beginning Friday night, if Los Angeles Police Department officers respond to and verify that a large party is occurring at a property, and there’s evidence that the venue has repeatedly engaged in such behavior, the department will request that the city shut off water and power services within 48 hours. (Miller, Winton and Money, 8/5)

AP: Mayor Of North Dakota's Largest City Backing Blues Festival
The mayor of the city that was once the hot spot for the coronavirus in North Dakota is supporting an annual outdoor music festival set to go on as planned this weekend. The 25th Fargo Blues Festival is scheduled Friday and Saturday at Newman Outdoor Field, where officials have had plenty of preventative practice by hosting home baseball games for both the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association. (Kolpack, 8/5)

CNN: Ohio Governor Says 91 People Got Coronavirus After Infected Man Went To Church 
A man with Covid-19 went to church in mid-June, then 91 other people got sick, including 53 who were at the service, according to Ohio's governor. "It spread like wildfire, wildfire. Very, very scary," Gov. MIke De Wine said Tuesday. "We know that our faith-based leaders want nothing more than to protect those who come to worship." To illustrate how one infected person can spread the virus, state health officials released a color graphic showing how the cases radiated to some who weren't even at the service. (Almasy, 8/6)

The Hill: North Carolina Warns Funeral Attendees They May Have Been Exposed To Coronavirus 
County officials warned people who attended a North Carolina funeral in July that about 10 mourners with the novel coronavirus were present at the memorial. The infected people attended a July 25 memorial service at Bonlee Recreational Park in Chatham County, as well as a July 27 funeral service at Pittsboro’s Emmaus Baptist Church, health officials said. "Our understanding is that between 70 to 100 people were at the memorial service and more than 200 were at the funeral," Chatham County Health Department spokesman Zachary Horner told NBC News. (Budryk, 8/5)

CNN: Over 100 Students Quarantined In Mississippi School District After Several Individuals Tested Positive For Covid-19
Several students in the Corinth School District in Mississippi have been infected with Covid-19 a little over a week after in-person classes resumed. Taylor Coombs, spokesperson for the Corinth School District, told CNN that six students and one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. According to Coombs, 116 students that have been considered in "close contact" of a positive case have been sent home to quarantine for 14 days.(Lynch, 8/5)

ABC News: Students At School Touted By Pence For Reopening Must Quarantine Due To COVID-19 
Fourth graders at a school in North Carolina have been asked to quarantine for 14 days after a student there tested positive for COVID-19. The school, a Thales Academy in Wake Forest, said it was notified on Monday that the student became infected after having contact with an infected family member. (Torres, 8/5)

GMA: This Teacher Resigned Over COVID-19 Concerns. Then He Was Fined $2,000. 
An Arizona teacher has left his job during the novel coronavirus pandemic after his district required all educators to return to the classroom for virtual learning. Tavious Peterkin, from Surprise, Arizona, was scheduled to begin his first year at Dysart Unified School District. Peterkin has been teaching for 15 years and was hired to teach band and choir. (Pelletiere, 8/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Jefferson Parish Teachers Test Positive For Coronavirus Just Days Ahead Of 1st Week Back In Person 
A "handful" of Jefferson Parish schoolteachers have tested positive for COVID-19 since returning to their classrooms Monday to prepare for the opening of in-class instruction next week, a development the Jefferson Parish public school district said it has been anticipating and will deal with in accordance with state guidelines. (Calder, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Blount County Tennessee Schools Bringing Students Into Classrooms 
It was just before 7:30 a.m. when the line of Blount County Schools buses grumbled into the parking lot of Heritage High School and began dropping off students — some wearing masks, others barefaced — into the fraught new world of in-school education during a pandemic. At the flagpole in front of the school, two unmasked teens hugged before sitting down in a small group to chat until the bell rang. The scene of students reuniting could have been from any other first day of school in any other year. But over their shoulders, an early August thunderstorm brewed above the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains — an almost-too-perfect metaphor for what many parents and teachers here, and across the country, worry is coming. (Shilton and Heim, 8/5)

Schools continue to draft reopening plans —

WBUR: Boston Public Schools Issues First Draft Of Reopening Plans, Outlining Hybrid Learning Groups 
With about a month until classes begin and amid a pandemic churning up endless questions, Boston parents got their first detailed peek at what the school week might look like this fall. Officials with Boston Public Schools (BPS) publicly released a first draft of its state-required reopening plan Tuesday night. "The upcoming school year will look and feel different than any we have previously experienced," said BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius in a memo included in the plan. (Jung, 8/5)

AP: Inslee: Most Schools Should Go Online-Only, Cancel Sports
Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that he’s strongly recommending most schools offer online-only learning for students this fall due to COVID-19, and canceling or postponing sports and all other in-person extracurricular activities. “This pandemic will continue to grow unless something changes,” Inslee said, adding if every school district brought all students back “I believe we would see a dangerous increase of COVID activity.” (Ho, 8/5)

Reuters: Chicago Says Students Will Stay Home, New York Erects COVID-19 Checkpoints
Chicago will teach online only when school resumes in September, the mayor said on Wednesday, and New York City announced checkpoints at bridges and tunnels to enforce a quarantine on travelers from 35 states on a list of coronavirus hot spots. The teachers’ union and many parents in Chicago had objected to a plan to allow students the option of attending class in pods of 15 pupils twice a week. (Caspani and O'Brien, 8/5)

The Washington Post: America Is About To Start Online Learning, Round 2. For Millions Of Students, It Won’T Be Any Better
America is about to embark on Round 2 of its unplanned experiment in online education — and, for millions of students, virtual learning won’t be any better than it was in the spring. As the start of school inches ever closer — and is already underway in some places — many teachers have yet to be trained how to be more adept with online learning. School district leaders spent so much time over the summer trying to create reopening plans that would meet safety guidelines for classes inside school buildings that they had little time to focus on improving online academic offerings. And millions of students nationwide still lack devices and Internet access. (Natanson and Strauss, 8/5)

Kaiser Health News: With Caveats, Hopeful News For Preschools Planning Young Kids’ Return
Sabrina Lira Garcia is proud to work as a clinical assistant in the COVID-19 ward of a Los Angeles hospital, but sometimes she wishes she could just stay home with her infant son until the pandemic is over. Pulling her child from day care has never been an option for Lira Garcia, however. She can’t let her career lapse. Her husband was born in Mexico and is undocumented. The family pays monthly legal fees to help him get residency papers. If he were ever deported, she’d have to support Jeremiah, born in October, by herself. (Almendrala, 8/6)

In higher-education news —

Houston Chronicle: Bill Proposes $1 Billion For Medical Schools To Encourage Enrollment, Retention Of Black Doctors 
A recently proposed bill would spend $1 billion to provide more resources, and encouragement, to doctors of color. The Expanding Medical Education Act was introduced by Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., on July 30 and aims to "tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline. (Gowdy, 8/5)

Boston Globe: Among Colleges’ Many Fall Worries: Students’ Mental Health
As colleges prepare elaborate plans for socially distanced classrooms and extra cleaning procedures this fall, their students have been stuck at home, already grappling with one major yet invisible effect of the pandemic — the toll on their mental health. Ever since campuses abruptly cleared in March, students’ lives have been upended. In a matter of days, internships were postponed, summer programs cancelled, job interviews paused indefinitely. (Krantz and Fernandes, 8/4)

The Wall Street Journal: UConn Becomes First Major Program To Cancel Football Season 
The University of Connecticut announced Wednesday that it will not play football in 2020, becoming the first major Division I program to forgo competition due to health concerns related to the coronavirus. The move comes as Connecticut, which is an independent, was also having trouble shoring up its schedule. The Huskies have had three games canceled and two others were in jeopardy because major conferences have called off nonconference games. (Higgins, 8/5)

Politico: NCAA Ditches Fall Championships For Hundreds Of Schools 
Athletes at hundreds of colleges and universities won't participate in fall sports championships this year, after the NCAA's second- and third-tier divisions canceled postseason competitions Wednesday. Division II and Division III officials nixed their fall postseasons after the NCAA's governing board announced earlier Wednesday that each division could make its own call on whether to cancel the competitions amid the coronavirus pandemic. But administrators for higher-profile NCAA Division I programs have yet to pull the plug. (Perez Jr., 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Dartmouth Is The Blueprint For NFL Success In 2020. Yes, Dartmouth.
Buddy Teevens came up with a crazy idea because he needed one. Dartmouth’s football team lost every one of its games in 2008. It won only two in 2009. Teevens knew just two things for certain: his team’s injury rate was really high and its success rate was really low. Teevens’s radical plan to turn around an Ivy League football program a decade ago is now the unlikely blueprint for every team in the NFL. Dartmouth eliminated full-contact practices. Injuries plummeted. Success skyrocketed. Rethinking how football teams have practiced for over a century made Dartmouth healthier—and better. (Beaton, 8/5)

AP: NBA Releases Testing Results, No Players Confirmed Positive
The NBA’s bubble is still working. The league released its latest results Wednesday for coronavirus tests performed on players participating in the restarted season at Walt Disney World, and the numbers are still perfect. Of the 343 players tested since results were last announced July 29, none has been confirmed positive. That means no player has tested positive since entering the so-called bubble last month. (Reynolds, 8/5)

In cruise line news —

AP: US Cruises Are Off Through October After Infections Overseas
With new coronavirus clusters sprouting aboard ships overseas, the U.S. cruise industry is extending its suspension of operations through October. The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents more than 50 companies and 95% of ocean-going cruise capacity, said Wednesday that if conditions in the U.S. change, it would consider allowing short, modified sailings. A no-sail order for U.S. waters initially issued by the Centers for Disease Control in March has been extended through Sept. 30. The CLIA has extended its travel suspension twice. (Durbin, 8/5)

AP: The Latest: Virus Cases On Norwegian Cruise Ship Reach 53
The number of people on a Norwegian cruise ship who have tested positive for the coronavirus has reached 53.Following the outbreak on the MS Roald Amundsen, the ship’s owner halted all cruises on Monday and Norway closed its ports to cruise ships for two weeks. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said that during its two journeys last month, a total of 37 crew members and 16 passengers have tested positive. The passengers all registered as living in Norway. (8/6)

Boston Globe: Vitamin D Won’t Reduce Risk Of Depression, New MGH Study Finds 
Think vitamin D improves your mood? As of this week, science doesn’t support that. According to the study from Massachusetts General Hospital released Tuesday, vitamin D, also known as the sunshine supplement, does not protect against depression in middle-age or older adults. This was one of the first studies large enough to show whether vitamin D supplementation could prevent depression in the general adult population. (Bowker, 8/5)

CIDRAP: NIH Awards $19 Million For New Gonorrhea Diagnostic Test
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded $19 million for a new diagnostic test that can detect gonorrhea in under 30 minutes—and determine if the infection is susceptible to a single-dose antibiotic. The test is made by Visby Medical, Inc. The award is part of the NIH's Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, which aims to improve diagnostics for the more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States each year. Those infections kill more than 35,000 people annually, the NIH said in a news release. (8/5)

AP: Lack Of Study And Oversight Raises Concerns About Tear Gas
On June 2, Justin LaFrancois attended a protest against police violence and racism in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, where he planned to livestream the event for his alternative newspaper’s website. Shortly into the march, police, who reported that water bottles and rocks were being thrown at them, unleashed a volley of tear gas on the entire crowd, including those who were marching peacefully. The protesters tried to run. But hemmed in by tall buildings and desperate for an escape route, they tugged at the closed gate of a parking garage, pulling it up just high enough so they could slip inside to escape the pepper balls and exploding flashbangs. (Selsky, 8/6)

In climate news —

The New York Times: How Hot Is Too Hot? 
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Your body avoids overheating by taking advantage of a bit of physics: When water evaporates from a surface, it leaves the surface cooler. When your body gets too hot, it pumps water onto your skin and lets it evaporate, carrying away heat. This effect can actually lower the temperature of your skin to below the air temperature. This allows humans to survive in places where the air temperature is as high as human body temperature — as long as we keep drinking water to produce more sweat. (Munroe, 8/4)

The Hill: US Could Avoid 4.5M Early Deaths By Fighting Climate Change, Study Finds 
The U.S. stands to avoid 4.5 million premature deaths if it works to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degree Celsius, according to new research from Duke University. The same study found working to limit climate change could prevent about 3.5 million hospitalizations and emergency room visits and approximately 300 million lost workdays in America. (Beitsch, 8/5)

Also, how people are dealing with the economy —

The Washington Post: Rising Grocery Prices Are Particularly Painful For The Unemployed 
The cost of groceries has been rising at the fastest pace in decades since the coronavirus pandemic seized the U.S. economy, leading to sticker shock for basic staples such as beef and eggs and forcing struggling households to rethink how to put enough food on the table. Long-standing supply chains for everyday grocery items have been upended as the pandemic sickened scores of workers, forced factory closures and punctured the carefully calibrated networks that brought food from farms to store shelves. Even while some of the sharpest price hikes have eased somewhat, the overall effects are being felt most acutely by the nearly 30 million Americans who saw their $600 enhanced unemployment benefit expire last Friday — exacerbating concerns that the recession’s long tail could worsen food insecurity for years to come. (Siegel, 8/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Prepares For Surge In CalFresh Food Assistance Applications 
San Francisco is preparing for a surge in food assistance applications after increased federal unemployment benefits of $600 per week ended and the coronavirus pandemic worsens. The city has already received more than 25,000 applications for the state’s CalFresh program since the coronavirus was declared a public health emergency in March, said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Disability and Aging Services. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/4)

KQED: First The Pandemic Hit, Then The Recession – Now Debt Collectors Are Calling 
Thousands of Californians are struggling to pay their bills during one of the nation's worst health crises, which has wiped out millions of jobs and left many businesses hobbling. But despite their financial hardships, many are being asked to pay their debts or have their wages garnished in the middle of a global pandemic. Richard Gonzales works as a mechanical engineer in San Jose. Before the pandemic hit, he was using the extra money he made to pay for continuing education classes. But since May, he's been furloughed. (Bandlamudi, 8/4)

The New York Times: Can A Physically Taxing Job Be Bad For Our Brains? 
Regular exercise helps to bulk up our brains and improve thinking skills, numerous studies show. But physically demanding jobs, even if they are being carried out in an office, might have a different and opposite effect, according to a provocative new study of almost 100 older people and their brains and work histories. It finds that men and women who considered their work to be physically draining tended to have smaller memory centers in their brains and lower scores on memory tests than other people whose jobs felt less physically taxing. The study does not prove that physical demands at work shrunk people’s brains. But it does raise interesting questions about whether being physically active on the job might somehow have different effects on our brains than being active at the gym or out on the trails. (Reynolds, 8/5)

Reuters: Two U.S. Senators Seek Ban On Collecting Customer Biometric Data Without Consent 
Two U.S. senators are proposing legislation to prohibit private companies from collecting biometric data without consumers and employees’ consent. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon said this week he is introducing the reform measure along with independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The effort comes after growing concerns about biometric data collection among private companies, including the use of facial-recognition technology. (8/6)

Stat: How A Zoom Forum Is Changing ICU Treatment Of Covid-19 Patients 
It was late April, near the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the big cities in the northeastern U.S., and anesthesiologist Joseph Savino was puzzled. In two months, an unexpectedly high number of coronavirus patients had died in his intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain... So Savino described the dilemma on a virtual forum on Zoom, where dozens of critical-care experts from around the world meet each week to share their experiences with Covid-19 patients. (Winslow, 8/6)

CNN: Healthy Gamer GG Is A Twitch Channel By A Harvard-Trained Psychiatrist That Helps Gamers With Their Mental Health
A Harvard-trained psychiatrist is meeting gamers where they are — on Amazon's livestreaming platform Twitch — to shed light on mental health issues and lessen the stigma around talking about it. Alok Kanojia, 37, is known as "Dr. K" to his fans, 370,000 of whom tune into his monetized Twitch livestream "Healthy Gamer GG" where he discusses issues like online harassment, depression and self-criticism with popular gaming guest stars. He also runs a YouTube channel with the same name that's monetized through ads. (Liao, 8/5)

ABC News: Businesses Embrace Technology To Evolve In A Post-Pandemic World 
In a time of social distancing and contactless encounters, businesses are turning to technology to adapt. Kimbal Musk, CEO and co-founder of The Kitchen Restaurant Group, had closed his restaurants for months after the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States. Now, as they begin to reopen -- he said about half have done so already -- guests will be having a completely reinvented, contactless dining experience, via a new app called Next Door On Demand. (Dunn, Muldowney and Yamada, 8/4)

AP: Kansas Counties With Mask Mandate Show Steep COVID-19 Drop
Kansas counties that have mask mandates in place have seen a rapid drop in cases, while counties that only recommend their use have seen no decrease in cases, the state’s top health official said Wednesday. Dr. Lee Norman, the state health department’s top administrator, said Wednesday that overall statewide the numbers of new cases is favorable, but that the reduction of new cases is entirely in the counties that require masks be worn in public spaces. (Hegeman, 8/5)

Kaiser Health News and KCUR: Missouri Voters Approve Medicaid Expansion Despite GOP Resistance
Despite strong opposition from Republicans and rural voters, Missouri on Tuesday joined 37 states and the District of Columbia in expanding its Medicaid program. Voters in Missouri approved creating a state constitutional amendment that will open Medicaid eligibility to include healthy adults starting July 1, 2021. Voters approved expansion by a margin of 6.5 percentage points. (Smith, 8/5)

Politico: New York City Will Set Up Checkpoints To Enforce Quarantine For Travelers
New York City will set up checkpoints at entry points to the city to find travelers from states with high coronavirus infection rates and order them to quarantine for two weeks, officials said Wednesday. The new checkpoints at bridges and tunnels will stop cars and seek to enforce quarantine orders imposed by New York State, which require people coming from 34 states and Puerto Rico to self isolate for up to 14 days to avoid spreading Covid-19. (Durkin, 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: California Bungles Its Fight Against Covid 
California is trying to control its coronavirus outbreak without going into a second lockdown. It isn’t going smoothly. New Covid-19 infections in July surpassed the state’s total number of cases in the months prior. Deaths have climbed 34% over the past two weeks, hitting their highest daily total of the pandemic on Friday. In the past seven days, new cases hit all-time highs in Los Angeles County and in the agricultural heartland of Merced County. (Lovett, 8/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Coronavirus: Nearly 1,500 Cases Reported; Almost 15,000 Patients Recovered In Last Week
The Louisiana Dept. of Health reported 1,482 more coronavirus cases, 41 more deaths and 16 fewer hospitalizations in its daily noon update Wednesday. Nearly 15,000 more coronavirus patients were listed as 'presumed recovered' over the past week. (Disher, 8/5)

Dallas Morning News: Coronavirus Has Infected About 1 In 50 Dallas County Residents; Tarrant Crosses 400-Death Mark
COVID-19 has been diagnosed in about 1 in 50 Dallas County residents, according to county data. Meanwhile, the county reported 508 new coronavirus cases and four deaths Wednesday. A Dallas man in his 40s who did not have underlying health conditions was among the dead, County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement. (Jones, 8/5)

In news on crime and punishment —

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Prisoner Has COVID-19. Nessel Supports His Bid For Freedom
In a rare move, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Wednesday sent a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressing "strong support" for the commutation of a Flint man serving decades in prison. Nessel's recommendation that 69-year-old Michael Thompson be released comes as he is being treated for COVID-19 at a Michigan Department of Corrections hospital, according to his attorney. (Jackson, 8/5)

Politico: Americans Hunt For Loopholes To Get Into Europe
It's supposed to be almost impossible for American tourists to get into the EU. Don't tell that to one Miami resident happily sunning himself in Spain. He arrived from Florida — the state with the greatest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. — by traveling through the United Kingdom. (Eccles and Hernandez-Morales, 8/5)

CIDRAP: Study: Few COVID-19 Outbreaks, Limited Spread In Australian Schools
Spread of COVID-19 in New South Wales, Australia, schools and childcare centers was low, according to an ongoing observational study published earlier this week in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. The study, which began on Jan 25, involved analysis of virus transmission in 15 schools and 10 childcare facilities with COVID-19 cases. Twelve students and 15 adults tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 633 close contacts tested, 18 secondary cases were detected (attack rate, 1.2%); 5 of them (28%) were asymptomatic (3 infants, 1 teen, and 1 adult). (8/5)

AP: The Latest: Japan Region Declares Coronavirus Emergency
The governor of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture has announced a regional “state of emergency” seeking to curb the coronavirus. Gov. Hideaki Ohmura on Thursday asked businesses to close altogether or close early and urged people to stay home at night. The measures continue through Aug. 24, a period that coincides with the Obon holidays, when schools and many companies close. Aichi includes Nagoya, which is home to Toyota Motor Corp.’s headquarters. (8/6)

AP: Top Court Rules Brazil Must Protect Indigenous In Pandemic
The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration Wednesday to adopt measures to shield Indigenous peoples from the new coronavirus, in a vote that came hours after a prominent Indigenous leader died from COVID-19. The justices voted unanimously in favor of forcing the government to install health checkpoints for all isolated Indigenous villages and to draft and implement a plan for removing outsiders now in protected areas illegally, such as gold miners. (Alvares, 8/6)

Reuters: Chinese Court Sentences Canadian To Death For Making Drugs
A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian to death on Thursday for making drugs, the third Canadian to be sentenced to death for drugs in China since Canada detained a top executive of Chinese company in 2018. The Canadian, identified as Xu Weihong, was sentenced after a trial in the southern city of Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Intermediate Court said in a notice on its website.It did not say what drugs he had been convicted of making, nor give any other details about his crime. The court ordered his property to be confiscated. (Lun Tian, 8/6)

AP: Closed For Vacation: France Faces New Virus Testing Troubles
With virus cases rising anew, France is struggling to administer enough tests to keep up with demand. One reason: Many testing labs are closed so that their staff can take summer vacation, just as signs of a second wave are building. Doctors and experts say the vacation crunch is just part of a larger web of failures in France’s testing strategy – a strategy that even the government’s own virus advisory panel this week called disorganized and “insufficient.” (Charlton and Achoui-Lesage, 8/6)

AP: N. Korea's Escalating Virus Response Raises Fear Of Outbreak
North Korea is quarantining thousands of people and shipping food and other aid to a southern city locked down over coronavirus worries, officials said, as the country’s response to a suspected case reinforces doubt about its longstanding claim to be virus-free. But amid the outside skepticism and a stream of North Korean propaganda glorifying its virus efforts, an exchange between the country and the United Nations is providing new clarity — and actual numbers — about what might be happening in North Korea, which has closed its borders and cut travel — never a free-flowing stream — by outsider monitors and journalists. (Kim, 8/6)

Reuters: Slovakia Daily Coronavirus Case Hits Highest Since April
Slovakia, which has one of Europe’s lowest COVID-19 death tolls, reported its biggest daily rise in new cases in more than three months, saying it had recorded 63 on Wednesday. The central European country of 5.5 million people has fared better than most in containing the spread of the coronavirus, although daily cases have risen since June as Slovakia opened up from lockdowns, mirroring a European trend of rising infections. (8/6)

AP: Lockdown Reimposed In Scottish City Over Virus 'cluster'
Officials in Scotland ordered bars, cafes and restaurants in the city of Aberdeen to close Wednesday, reimposing anti-virus restrictions after a cluster of 54 COVID-19 cases in the area was linked to a single bar. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the new cases raised wider alarm of a “significant outbreak” of the coronavirus emerging in the northeastern port city. (Hui, 8/6)

Also —

The Washington Post: Hiroshima Anniversary: 75 Years On, Nuclear Testing Killed Untold Thousands 
On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and then Nagasaki. The weapons caused unparalleled destruction, snuffing out more than 150,000 lives. But those were not the last people to die as a result of nuclear detonations. The competition among nations to develop stronger nuclear devices took a human toll as governments subjected people at home and abroad to high radiation levels, sometimes with indifference. (Noack, 8/5)

SciTechDaily: COVID-19 Breakthrough: Scientists Identify Possible “Achilles’ Heel” Of SARS-CoV-2 Virus
In the case of an infection, the SARS-CoV-2 virus must overcome various defense mechanisms of the human body, including its non-specific or innate immune defense. During this process, infected body cells release messenger substances known as type 1 interferons. These attract natural killer cells, which kill the infected cells. One of the reasons the SARS-CoV-2 virus is so successful — and thus dangerous — is that it can suppress the non-specific immune response. In addition, it lets the human cell produce the viral protein PLpro (papain-like protease). PLpro has two functions: It plays a role in the maturation and release of new viral particles, and it suppresses the development of type 1 interferons. The German and Dutch researchers have now been able to monitor these processes in cell culture experiments. Moreover, if they blocked PLpro, virus production was inhibited and the innate immune response of the human cells was strengthened at the same time. (Goethe University Frankfurt, 8/2)

JAMA: Determination Of Brain Death/Death By Neurologic Criteria: The World Brain Death Project 
This report provides recommendations for the minimum clinical standards for determination of brain death/death by neurologic criteria in adults and children with clear guidance for various clinical circumstances. The recommendations have widespread international society endorsement and can serve to guide professional societies and countries in the revision or development of protocols and procedures for determination of brain death/death by neurologic criteria, leading to greater consistency within and between countries. (Greer et al, 8/3)

CIDRAP: Trial Evaluates Antibiotic Combination For MRSA Bacteremia, Endocarditis
A randomized phase 3 trial found that the combination of daptomycin and fosfomycin provided higher treatment success than daptomycin alone for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia and endocarditis, but the difference did not reach statistical significance, Spanish researchers reported yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The open-label superiority trial was conducted in 18 Spanish hospitals, with patients randomly assigned to receive either 10 milligrams (mg) of intravenous daptomycin per kilogram daily plus 2 grams of intravenous fosfomycin every 6 hours or 10 mg of daptomycin per kilogram daily. The primary endpoint was treatment success 6 weeks after the end of therapy. Secondary endpoints included microbiological failure, complicated bacteremia, and adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation. (7/30)

CIDRAP: Health Workers, Especially Minorities, At High Risk For COVID, Even With PPE
At the peak of the pandemic in the United States and the United Kingdom, frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) who had adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) were still at more than three times the risk of COVID-19 infection than the general public—even after accounting for differences in testing frequency, according to a study published late last week in The Lancet Public Health. (8/3)

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Race, Postoperative Complications, And Death In Apparently Healthy Children 
Even among apparently healthy children, being AA is strongly associated with a higher risk of postoperative complications and mortality. Mechanisms underlying the established racial differences in postoperative outcomes may not be fully explained by the racial variation in preoperative comorbidity. (Nafiu et al, 8/1)

American Academy Of Pediatrics: International Practice Patterns Of Antibiotic Therapy And Laboratory Testing In Bronchiolitis
The rate of antibiotic use in bronchiolitis was low across networks and was associated with CXR, fever, and apnea. Nonindicated testing was common outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland and varied across networks irrespective of patient characteristics. (Zipursky et al, 8/1)

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Opioids Or Steroids For Pneumonia Or Sinusitis
School-aged children received opioid and steroid prescriptions for pneumonia or sinusitis at a higher frequency in the ED versus the ambulatory setting. (Phang et al, 8/1)

The Atlantic: The Pandemic's Biggest Mystery Is Our Own Immune System
There’s a joke about immunology, which Jessica Metcalf of Princeton recently told me. An immunologist and a cardiologist are kidnapped. The kidnappers threaten to shoot one of them, but promise to spare whoever has made the greater contribution to humanity. The cardiologist says, “Well, I’ve identified drugs that have saved the lives of millions of people.” Impressed, the kidnappers turn to the immunologist. “What have you done?” they ask. The immunologist says, “The thing is, the immune system is very complicated …” And the cardiologist says, “Just shoot me now.” (Ed Yong, 8/5)

Arizona Republic: A Journalist Annihilated Trump's Coronavirus Response In One Sentence
Journalistic fortunes sometimes rise on the misfortune of others. Certainly the COVID-19 pandemic has led to some great journalism. Whether it’s chronicling a day in the life of a state in the grip of the virus, a jaw-dropping interview with President Donald Trump or stories that put you on the front lines of people fighting to save lives, great work is showing up all over the place. Ed Yong, a reporter for the Atlantic, has written a lot of it, and he’s topped his previous best with his latest, “How the Pandemic Defeated America.” It is thorough, exhaustively researched and well-written. (Bill Goodykoontz, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Only A Safe, Effective Vaccine Will Get Our Approval 
Since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, developing a safe and effective vaccine has been an urgent worldwide priority: to save lives, and to bolster the public’s confidence in returning to a semblance of normal life. At the Food and Drug Administration and our parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, we recognize the vital importance of vaccine development. The framework in the United States to support a covid-19 vaccine is now in place. Testing is underway and manufacturing capacity is rapidly expanding. But let’s be clear: The development effort must adhere to standards that will ensure any covid-19 vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. (FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, 8/5)

Bloomberg: Is It Safe To Fly? Here Are The Odds Of Catching Covid On A Plane
If you decide to fly, the odds that you will pick up Covid-19 are low, according to one expert analysis. Despite the known dangers of crowded, enclosed spaces, planes have not been the sites of so-called superspreading events, at least so far. That’s not to say flying is perfectly safe — safety is relative and subjective. But as restrictions continue to change, the only way to move forward through this long pandemic is to start thinking in terms of risk-benefit ratios. Very little is without risk, but perhaps some risks — such as flying — are small enough to warrant taking. (Faye Flam, 8/5)

Stat: Onboarding During Covid-19: Addressing Fear And Anxiety Is Key 
Think back to your first day at a new job. It was probably difficult to remember who was who or the steps for logging into the network, let alone keep track of where the coffee or the printers or the bathrooms were. Now imagine you are a clinician and the new job is taking care of Covid-19 patients using new or refreshed skills in an unfamiliar ward or intensive care unit. (Susan Haas and Rachel Smith, 8/6)

The Hill: COVID-19: Are We Safe From Our Own Trash? 
COVID-19 has had many impacts on the generation and management of solid waste. The shift to mostly working at home translates to increased generation of waste in the residential sector, while commercial waste that is generated at offices, stores, restaurants, stadiums and the like, has decreased... Perhaps most important is worker safety. Is the garbage belonging to people infected with SARS-CoV-2 a potential source of community spread and a threat to sanitation workers? (Morton A. Barlaz and Francis L. De Los Reyes III, 8/5)

Boston Globe: As Bad As The Spread Of The Coronavirus Is, There’s Reason To Believe It Will Get Worse
President Trump was right.On July 21, in the first televised briefing on the coronavirus pandemic held by the White House since April, he projected that America “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.” Unlike some of his prior assessments of the situation, this one is right on the mark. As bad as the situation is right now, it will probably get worse. But whether it will get better is by no means for certain. ( Jennifer Nuzzo, 8/6)

The New York Times: Employers Are Discriminating Against Mothers During The Coronavirus Pandemic
Employers are using the pandemic to get rid of mothers, and our attempts to protect them are failing. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was enacted this spring for the express purpose of providing workers with expanded family and sick leaves for reasons related to Covid-19 and its accompanying school and child care closings. But between April and June, caregiver-related calls to our hotline at the Center for WorkLife Law, which provides legal resources to help workers claim workplace accommodations and family leaves, increased 250 percent compared to the same time last year. We’ve heard from lots and lots of workers, many of them mothers. And the stories they’re sharing make it clear that Families First is falling short. (Joan C. Williams, 8/6)

Bloomberg: Back Pain, Insomnia And Headaches Worsen While Working From Home
A disturbing 71% of those working from home due to Covid-19 have experienced a new or exacerbated ailment caused by the equipment they now must use. According to an online survey of 20,262 people in 10 markets by the technology company Lenovo Group Ltd., the most common symptoms are back pain, poor posture (e.g., hunched shoulders), neck pain, eye irritation, and headaches. Adding fiscal insult to physical injury, their employers aren’t necessarily footing the bill for new equipment: Of the 70% of employees who purchased new technology in order to work remotely, 39% were not fully compensated. The average sum spent in the surveyed countries was $273; the highest country averages were $339 in Great Britain, $340 in Italy, $348 in the U.S. and $381 in Germany. (Ben Schott, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Choice
As negotiations for another giant spending bill proceed in Washington, President Trump faces a choice. Does he do another deal giving Speaker Nancy Pelosi most of what she wants, perhaps splitting the GOP in the process? Or does he press his own economic agenda and, if the Speaker blocks it, take that to the voters in November? On present trend Mr. Trump is headed for the first choice. Mrs. Pelosi’s House passed her $3 trillion spending bill in May, and the President is moving toward her step by step. Even if the final number ends up somewhere between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion, the Speaker would get most of what she wants. (8/5)

USA Today: COVID-19 Has Led To Surge In Child Hunger. Here's How We Can Help.
As a nation, we have a moral and economic obligation to address child hunger, food insecurity and avoid economic collapse in the wake of COVID-19. While we have different political viewpoints, we strongly agree that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of the most effective tools we have to fight the looming health and economic crises facing our great country. The Senate is at a critical decision point as to how we use this tool. That’s why together, we are calling for a temporary 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits, bound to economic indicators, in the next federal coronavirus relief package. (Bill Frist and Mark K. Shriver, 8/5)

Los Angeles Times: Partying Our Way To More Coronavirus Death And Destruction?
After weeks of bad coronavirus news, Californians glimpsed a sliver of hope this week: The average number of people hospitalized or admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 infections has declined over the last two weeks. Infections might have ebbed significantly as well, but we won’t know for sure until the state fixes a data collection foul-up. While there are still problem areas, such as in the Central Valley, the new data suggest that measures taken in June to close down some businesses that had recently reopened and limit others to outdoor operations have succeeded in slowing the resurgence of infections that began around Memorial Day. If this trend continues, it means that the average number of daily deaths, which lags behind the changes in infections and hospitalizations, will also decline. Nationwide, the picture is looking brighter as well, with infection hot spots such as Florida, Arizona and Texas seeing new cases decline after state officials enacted similar restrictions.However hopeful, this is not the time to celebrate the beginning of the end of the pandemic. (8/6)

USA Today: Medicare For All Would Be Better For COVID-19 Patients And America
I’m a family physician who moved to Canada from California 14 years ago, largely because of Canadian Medicare, the country's national health insurance program. I’ve been much happier practicing medicine where my patients have universal coverage. It frees up doctors like me to focus on patient care and frees patients to focus on their health, instead of worrying about how to pay for it. But I have never felt more grateful to work in a universal health care system than during the COVID-19 pandemic. My heart aches for the millions of Americans who have fallen ill and then have had to worry about how they will pay for tests and treatment, who have gone to work while sick for fear of losing their health coverage or who have lost not only their jobs but their insurance, leaving them at risk for financial ruin. (Khati Hendry, 8/5)

The Washington Post: Missouri Shows Us A Lot About Health Care
No matter how hard they tried, Republican politicians and their allies could not stop Missouri’s voters from expanding access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. They tried to rig the timing of the referendum by forcing the vote during a relatively low-turnout primary on Tuesday rather than in November. That failed. They played on racial prejudice and nativism by falsely claiming a yes vote would mean “illegal immigrants flooding Missouri hospitals . . . while we pay for it!” That failed, too. (E.J. Dionne Jr., 8/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Voting With Their Guns 
There’s nothing like nationwide protests and a murder surge in major cities to cause a spurt of new gun sales. Gun controllers may want to rethink their 2020 strategy.The FBI’s most recent gun-sale figures are stunning. They show that in July the bureau carried out 3.6 million background checks, the third highest month on record. Adjusting to reflect checks only for gun purchases, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) says this translates to 1.8 million gun sales for July 2020—a 122% increase over July 2019. The 12,141,032 gun sales through this July is just shy of the 13,199,172 sales for all of 2019. (8/5)

WBUR: There's A New Remedy For The Sick: Voting 
Our country is stuck in a startling paradox: in poll after poll, Americans say healthcare is their single most important issue, yet 51 million forego a considerable amount of power in shaping our nation’s health policy — because they aren’t registered to vote. The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened this paradox: the importance of our health system is startlingly clear, while registering to vote is harder than ever. (Ali S. Raja and Ben Ruxin, 8/6)

Charlotte Observer: N.C. Elder Care Needs Key Reforms
North Carolina knows about hurricanes and how to prepare for them. That awareness makes it especially disturbing that at least six elder-care facilities in Eastern North Carolina failed to evacuate their residents as Hurricane Florence bore down on them two years ago. A story by the News & Observer’s Carli Brosseau published this week gave a harrowing account of what happened next. One facility evacuated residents by boat, some were carried out on backboards covered by sheets in the driving rain. At one home, staff members, unprepared and poorly paid, stopped showing up. Residents were put on buses and delivered to shelters ill-equipped to care for them. At least 200 residents were moved more than once. Some ended up at a shoddy, oft-penalized nursing home. (8/5)

Los Angeles Times: A California Way To Help The Unemployed Even If Washington Won't
State Rep. Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) floated an idea last week: If Washington doesn’t re-up its $600 weekly unemployment boost, California should open a loophole that would allow Sacramento to borrow from the feds and continue the payments regardless.It’s a fitting proposition for a state where belief in government proactively working for the public good has often led to experimentation, rather than mere talk. (See Stockton’s first-in-the-nation universal basic income pilot program — $500 a month paid to 125 people resulting in “really rational” purchases, according to one investigator tracking the project.) Ting’s proposal deserves a go-ahead if Washington doesn’t act. (David L. Ulin, 8/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: The Unemployment Situation In Louisiana Is Desperate. Where's The Help?
With enhanced federal unemployment benefits for roughly 450,000 Louisianans now expired, the pathetic state of affairs in Washington is getting much of the attention.Rightfully so. Senate Republicans and the Trump administration sat on their hands for more than two months after the Democratic House passed a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that extended the $600 weekly federal contribution. Even now, they can’t agree among themselves on a counterproposal, despite some of the worst economic news in decades and amid more difficult but necessary public health restrictions. Meanwhile, the people they represent are facing the reality of relying on what states have to offer. (Stephanie Grace, 8/4)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Needs Federal Unemployment Benefits Extended
Congress has debated for weeks about how to extend federal unemployment benefits as the economy continues to wobble. Republicans and Democrats have larded up their proposals with extraneous requests that have little to do with fighting the economic crisis in real time, including $1.75 billion for a new FBI building and $40 million for environmental surveillance. The politics-as-usual approach won’t cut it. The $600 a week in federal benefits has run out, and the consequences are about to become real — more unemployed workers falling behind on rent, more parents worried about how to feed their children, more people unable to pay for medications. Enough of the partisan sparring. It’s past time for our elected leaders to extend the benefits. (8/5)