The New York Times: Tulsa Braces For Trump Rally’s Health Threat As Virus Cases Rise
The message from Tulsa’s top government officials on Wednesday was not comforting. Just days before President Trump was set to hold an enormous indoor rally expected to bring tens of thousands of people to the city, the officials announced 96 new cases of the coronavirus, the largest single-day increase in Tulsa since March. And they offered little in terms of reassurance to residents worried about holding a large, charged, political gathering in the midst of a pandemic and on a weekend when demonstrations are planned across the country to honor Juneteenth. (Karni, 6/17)

The Hill: Tulsa Officials Warn Vulnerable People To Stay Home From Trump Rally 
Officials in Tulsa, Okla., said coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging and advised people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 to stay home rather than attend President Trump's campaign rally on Saturday. Tulsa Health Department Director Bruce Dart and Mayor G.T. Bynum (R) said people who attend any large gathering, including the Trump rally and the city's Juneteenth celebration, will likely be at risk, especially if they don't wear masks. (Weixel, 6/17)

Reuters: COVID-19 Cases Surge In Oklahoma, Other States Ahead Of Trump's Tulsa Rally
Several U.S. states including Oklahoma reported a surge in new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, days before a planned campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa that would be the nation’s largest indoor social gathering in three months. An uptick in coronavirus cases in many states over the past two weeks, along with rising COVID-19 hospitalizations, reflected a troubling national trend that has seen daily U.S. infection numbers climbing after more than a month of declines. (Shumaker and Schwartz, 6/17)

The Washington Post: Tulsa Mayor Calls Trump’s Visit An ‘Honor’ Despite Requests To Cancel Or Postpone Campaign Rally
The mayor of Tulsa said Wednesday that it was “an honor” to welcome President Trump for a campaign rally this weekend despite a recommendation from the city’s health director to postpone the event because of coronavirus concerns and calls by city leaders to cancel it. G.T. Bynum, a Republican, told a news conference that “I’m not positive that everything is safe” and urged residents who planned to attend Trump’s Saturday night gathering to wear masks and take other precautions. Bynum said he would not be attending the rally but would greet Trump at the airport. He added that the company managing the venue has “sole discretion” on whether to host the event and that “it’s not my decision to make.” (Partlow, Gowen and Brown, 6/17)

Politico: White House Says Trump Rally Attendees ‘Assume A Personal Risk’
Supporters attending President Donald Trump’s rallies “assume a personal risk” related to coronavirus, The White House said on Wednesday. “When you come to the rally, as with any event, you assume a personal risk. That is just what you do,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing, while noting there would be temperature checks at Trump’s rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla., as well as distribution of hand sanitizers and masks. (Cohen, 6/17)

The Associated Press: 'Literally Incomprehensible': Bernie Condemns Trump Rally
Former presidential contender Bernie Sanders on Wednesday blasted President Donald Trump’s decision to host a large rally in Oklahoma this weekend, accusing the Republican president of jeopardizing the health of thousands of people and defying science during a pandemic simply “to hear cheers from his supporters.” Sanders, who is also known for drawing large crowds and has promised to help presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said he would not be willing to host any large indoor events of his own until medical professionals deem it safe. (Peoples, 6/17)

The New York Times: How The Trump Campaign Missed The Signals On Juneteenth 
Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign manager, needed to find a host city for the president’s triumphant return to the campaign trail, and he didn’t have much time. Reviewing a list of potential locations over the past few weeks, Mr. Parscale quickly settled on Tulsa, Okla., people familiar with the planning said in interviews, mostly because it seemed easy. A deep red state President Trump carried by 36 percentage points four years ago, Oklahoma wasn’t in play for the November election. But it was the furthest along of any state in the country in terms of reopening, and it had seen fewer than 400 Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. (Karni, Haberman and Epstein, 6/18)

CNN: Trump's Tulsa Rally And Biden's Social Distancing Show Differences In Campaigning Amid A Pandemic 
Meanwhile, Biden, his presumptive Democratic opponent, has made a much more methodical return to the trail -- wearing masks while near others and practicing social distancing as he follows the guidance of public health officials and a team of doctors and experts his campaign has assembled, while forgoing in-person events that are open to the public. (Bradner, Daenz and Mucha, 6/17)

Reuters: Trump Says U.S. Will Not Lock Down Again Amid Rising Coronavirus Cases
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would not close businesses again as several states reported rising numbers of new coronavirus infections. “We won’t be closing the country again. We won’t have to do that,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel. Trump’s comments come after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both said the United States could not shut down the economy again. (6/17)

The Associated Press: Poll: Americans Not Buying White House Spin On Coronavirus
Vice President Mike Pence says the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic is “a cause for celebration,” but a new poll finds more than half of Americans calling it fair or poor. The Gallup and West Health survey out Thursday found that 57% of U.S. adults rated the national response to COVID-19 as fair or poor, particularly in light of the fact that America has the world’s most expensive health care system. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Long Voting Lines Are Latest Hurdles For Officials Prepping For November Polls
State and local election officials already scrambling to handle an expected surge in mail-in ballots for November’s general election also face challenges dealing with in-person voting during the pandemic. Hourslong waits to vote in primary elections in Georgia and Nevada last week showed that many people will need or want to vote in person even if states offer the option of voting by mail, some elections experts said. In Las Vegas, one of the last to vote—around 3 a.m.—was Elvis impersonator Steve Connolly, who said he waited for eight hours at a voting center after not receiving an absentee ballot in the mail. (Corse, 6/18)

Politico: L.A. County Has Found The Cause Of Its Hourslong Poll Lines. It Wasn’t The New Voting Machines.
The hourslong wait times that snarled the March 3 primary in Los Angeles County stemmed from malfunctions in the electronic tablets used to check in voters at the polls, according to an unpublicized county report that adds to questions about the nation’s readiness for November. The report concludes that these devices — known as electronic poll books — and not the county’s new $300 million voting machines were the source of those delays. Although the voting machines also had problems, the report faults inadequate planning, testing and programming of the poll books that workers used to check in voters and verify that they’re registered — technology that has also been implicated in this month’s meltdown at the polls in Georgia’s primary. (Zetter, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Minnesota Waives Absentee Ballot Witness Signature Mandate
Minnesota will waive its witness requirements for absentee ballots for the statewide primary election in August under the settlement of two lawsuits sparked by the health threat from the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuits were filed by political arms of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans. A Ramsey County judge signed off on the consent decree with the retirees Wednesday while a federal judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the league’s case. (Karnowski, 6/18)

NPR: Delaware Widely Offered A Controversial Online Voting Option. Now It's Backing Away
Delaware briefly deployed a controversial internet voting system this summer but scrapped it amid concerns about security and public confidence. Before the online option was shuttered, voters returned more than 2,700 ballots electronically — and those votes still will be counted, according to the state, along with conventional votes in the upcoming July primary. (Schmidt and Parks, 6/18)

Politico: Next Testing Debacle: The Fall Virus Surge
The U.S is now conducting more than 3 million coronavirus tests a week, a big improvement over the shortages and failures that worsened the pandemic this spring. But the country risks another dangerous testing deficit this fall when schools and businesses try to reopen. Safely reopening schools and businesses could require up to 30 million tests per week, rather than the current three million, certain experts say. And if surging coronavirus cases collide with flu season, the demand could be even higher. “We could have a situation that would stretch us,” said Nate Smith, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Health. “We’re likely to see people who are infected with both at the same time. No one knows exactly how that’s going to look.” (Lim and Ollstein, 6/17)

The New York Times: Lessons On Coronavirus Testing From The Adult Film Industry
As more states open up and people return to work, companies are looking for guidance on how to keep workers safe from infection. Some experts suggest looking to what may seem an unlikely model: the adult film industry. It survived a different pandemic — an outbreak of H.I.V. infections in the late 1990s that almost shuttered the multibillion-dollar industry. “We can actually learn a lot about safety guidelines by listening to producers of porn,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the School of Public Health at Rutgers University. “Thinking back to the H.I.V./AIDS crisis, the adult film industry had to learn how to keep their workers safe.” (Hollow, 6/18)

The Associated Press: US Warns 3 Companies Over Illegal At-Home COVID-19 Tests
U.S. health regulators are cracking down on three companies for selling at-home blood tests for coronavirus, warning that the products have not been shown to safely and accurately screen for COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to the companies Wednesday, saying their products are illegal because they have not been reviewed by the agency for home use. While the FDA has OK’d a handful of tests that allow patients to collect saliva samples at home, the agency has not cleared any tests for use completely at home. (Perrone, 6/17)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Trump’s Take On COVID Testing Misses Public Health Realities
President Donald Trump sought to downplay the numbers associated with COVID-19 in the United States — which have passed 2 million confirmed cases and are nearing 120,000 lives lost — by arguing that the soaring national count was simply the result of superior testing. “If you don’t test, you don’t have any cases,” Trump said at a June 15 roundtable discussion at the White House. “If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” (Luthra, 6/17)

Meanwhile, states are still struggling to build up their armies of contact tracers, another key component of reopening —

NPR: As States Reopen, Do They Have Enough Staff To Do Contact Tracing?
An NPR survey of state health departments shows that the national coronavirus contact tracing workforce has tripled in the last six weeks, from 11,142 to 37,110 workers. Yet, given their current case counts, only seven states and the District of Columbia are staffed to the level public health researchers say is needed to contain outbreaks. Contact tracers are public health workers who reach out to each new positive coronavirus case, track down their contacts, and connect both the sick person and those who were exposed with the services they need to be able to safely isolate themselves. This is an essential part of stamping out emerging outbreaks. (Simmons-Duffin, 6/18)

Reuters: New York Has Lowest U.S. Coronavirus Infection Rate, Cuomo Says
New York, once the U.S. epicenter of coronavirus infections, now has the country’s lowest rate of virus spread as the state’s death toll and number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 continue to decline, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. “We once again have demonstrated that we’ve gone from the worst infection rate in the country to the best infection rate in the county,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing. Fewer than 1% of some 60,000 New York residents tested on Tuesday were positive for the virus, he said. (6/17)

The Associated Press: Cuomo: NYC Is On Track For Next Phase Of Virus Reopening
New York City is on track to open more businesses and could enter the second phase of reopening Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. Cuomo, a Democrat, said the state Department of Health reported 17 coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals and nursing homes Tuesday. He also pointed to the gradual decline in rates of individuals testing positive: fewer than 1% of results for roughly 60,000 individuals tested Tuesday for COVID-19 were positive. (Villeneuve, 6/17)

The New York Times: The Pandemic Isn’t Over. New Yorkers Are Acting As If It Were.
Three sisters from three different boroughs shared the same bench on the Coney Island boardwalk and toasted with cups of beer — together again at last. Teenagers with baseball gloves and a bat sneaked through a hole in a fence at a closed-off diamond. A manager at a Brooklyn clothing store insisted to a reporter that no, they’re not open, since that’s not allowed, even as customers browsed inside. Officially, New York City is still in Phase 1 of the long reopening process, a land of curbside pickups and closed playgrounds and takeout cocktails that aren’t supposed to be consumed in public. (Wilson, 6/18)

ABC News: 100 Days In ‘Hell’: Gov. Andrew Cuomo On His Pandemic Performance 
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the federal government's early coronavirus tracking a "terrible blunder" in an interview with "Good Morning America," said he would not accept a cabinet position in a Joe Biden administration and insisted that his gradual but disciplined approach to shutting down New York state was the best course -- then and now. "We went from the worst infection rate [in the nation] to the best infection rate," Cuomo told ABC News' Amy Robach in an illuminating interview on Tuesday in Albany, New York, about the first 100 days of New York's response to COVID-19 – which began with New York's first confirmed case on March 1 and ended on a small note of triumph June 8, with the partial re-opening of New York City. (Francescani, Leuci and Thompson, 6/17)

NPR: Cuomo To End Daily COVID-19 Briefings That Drew National Attention
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he'll end the popular daily briefings on the coronavirus pandemic that began more than three months ago, as New York state faced a "tsunami" of coronavirus cases that threatened to overwhelm hospitals. The last regular briefing will be held Friday. The change reflects the steep decline in infections and hospitalization rates in New York. (Mann, 6/17)

The New York Times: With The Federal Health Megaphone Silent, States Struggle With A Shifting Pandemic
The federal government’s leadership in the coronavirus crisis has so faded that state and local health officials have been left to figure out on their own how to handle rising infections and to navigate conflicting signals from the White House. About 800 Americans a day are still dying of Covid-19, a pace that, if sustained over the next few months, would yield more than 200,000 dead by the end of September. Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Oregon and Texas all reported their largest one-day increases in new cases on Tuesday. (Stolberg, Weiland, Mervosh and Sanger, 6/17)

ABC News: Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’ Debate ‘Misses The Whole Point,’ Experts Say 
As a succession of states have noticed a troubling rise in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has become more vocal in countering claims that the nation needs to brace for a so-called "second wave." Last week, Larry Kudlow, the White House economic adviser, proclaimed on Fox News that the uptick in cases "is no emergency and there is no second wave." This week, Vice President Mike Pence echoed that sentiment in a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, "There Isn't a Coronavirus 'Second Wave." (Bruggeman, 6/18)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Sees Jump In Virus After Lifting Restrictions
Mississippi reported one of its largest single-day increases in cases of the new coronavirus on Wednesday, more than two weeks after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves lifted most of the restrictions he had put on businesses because of the pandemic. “I’m concerned that people are losing interest in the effort to keep each other safe,” Reeves said Wednesday on Twitter. “We are all tired and ready to be done, but the virus doesn’t care. Please be on your guard — small efforts have a big impact!” (6/17)

The Hill: Rising COVID-19 Cases Start Political Brawl In Arizona 
An alarming rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Arizona is setting off a political brawl in a key swing state. Democrats have accused the state’s GOP governor, Doug Ducey, of failing to take sufficient action to halt the spike in cases. Public health experts are also warning about the trajectory of the state and say hospital capacity could be exceeded if trends continue. (Sullivan, 6/17)

Reuters: Facing Arizona Surge, Navajos Reimpose Virus Curfew
The Navajo Nation has reimposed 57-hour weekend curfews to protect citizens from a surge in coronavirus cases in neighboring Arizona after the largest Native American reservation managed to flatten its own COVID-19 curve. A month ago the coronavirus was tearing through the nation, with daily cases spiking above 170 among a population of around 174,000. That gave the Navajo Nation, which straddles parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the highest per-capita infection rate in the country if it were a state. (Hay, 6/17)

ABC News: New Data Shows Young People Need To Take Social Distancing Seriously 
New data from across the globe shows young people who are tested for COVID-19 have a higher rate of positive results and could be spreading the virus among each other -- and to older or more vulnerable people. In the United States, the increase in new infections in some states is being blamed on young people not observing social distancing rules, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott saying the rising cases in Hays County mostly are people younger than 30. (Farber and Johnson, 6/17)

NBC News: Florida, Arizona And Texas Set Records For New COVID-19 Cases
Florida, Texas and Arizona set records for new COVID-19 cases, and more than a dozen other states are also reporting big jumps in the number of cases as much of the country reopens after months of quarantine. Are the governors in the worst-hit states considering another shutdown? Not a chance, if you ask them. (Siemaszko, 6/17)

CNN: Coronavirus Cases Are Spiking Across The US And Experts Say Florida Has The Makings Of The Next Epicenter 
Ten states saw a record number of new Covid-19 cases this week, and one of them could be the next epicenter of the pandemic. Florida has "all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission," and risks being the "worst it has ever been," according to Wednesday's projections from a model put together by a team of scientists at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. (Holcombe, 6/18)

WBUR: Infectious Disease Expert Urges 'Humility' As Coronavirus Cases Rebound In Some States 
Nine states reported record highs for new coronavirus cases on Tuesday — and Dr. Michael Osterholm says infectious disease experts like himself don’t understand why. As states across the U.S. relax restrictions on movement and reopen their economies, 20 areas are showing an increase in cases, according to data from The New York Times. But at the same time, 11 states have remained flat for 14 days and 20 areas are seeing substantial decreases. (Hobson and Hagan, 6/17)

ABC News: As Texas Coronavirus Cases Rise, San Antonio Finds Loophole To Mandate Masks 
San Antonio announced Wednesday it will mandate residents wear face coverings even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused calls for stricter coronavirus precautions as coronavirus cases rise in the state. The executive order signed by Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff says that residents over 10 years old must wear a face covering in public if they cannot maintain 6 feet of social distancing. The order, which will last until June 30, does not violate an executive order issued by Abbott that prevents local municipalities from fining or criminalizing people. (Pereira, 6/17)

KQED: What's Behind A COVID-19 Spike In Imperial County
In late March, Imperial County had just nine confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the head of the largest hospital there thought his community had dodged a bullet. But Dr. Adolphe Edward soon realized his assessment was premature.“All of a sudden, we had 65 patients with COVID,” Edward recounted during a recent interview, “which was over 70 percent of my hospital admissions.” (Small, 6/17)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Reports Record 413 New Coronavirus Cases, 9 Deaths
Dallas County reported a record 413 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, a significant increase from the county’s previous one-day high and the first time it has crossed the 400-case threshold. Officials said an increasing number of outbreaks are being reported from large social gatherings that have taken place this month. The county also reported nine additional deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday. (Jones and Steele, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Hospitalizations Rise In Orange, Ventura Counties
Officials across Southern California are grappling with whether to temper reopening efforts in the face of rising coronavirus hospitalizations, a move that seems likely to spark public outcry. Statewide, hospitalizations among COVID-19 patients have been relatively flat for the last six weeks, even as officials have allowed myriad businesses to open their doors and a number of residents have resumed daily routines. (Fry, Lin, Money and Lee, 6/17)

Politico: ‘It’s Just Way Too Much To Take On’: School Systems Struggle With The Politics Of Reopening
School superintendents and principals are staring at an impossible equation. Governors are promising to put kids back in classrooms in a matter of weeks, but it’s mostly school officials stuck navigating the messy details of how to keep students and teachers safe and win over skeptical parents, while dealing with a budget crisis that is forcing layoffs and other cuts. In California, six major school districts warned state lawmakers that proposed budget cuts could delay the fall semester. And in New Jersey, superintendents are trashing the state’s “inappropriate” guidance for in-person summer programs. (Gaudiano and Goldberg, 6/17)

The Washington Post: D.C. Looking To Enter Next Phase Of Coronavirus Recovery Monday, Mayor Says
The District will be the last holdout in the Washington region’s move to the next phase of coronavirus recovery, but the city expects to enter Phase 2 next week. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the city could begin to lift more restrictions Monday — a step that will permit indoor dining and the reopening of retail, camps, swimming pools, worship services without singing and gatherings of up to 50 people. (Zauzmer, Davies and Hedgpeth, 6/17)

NPR: Amid Confusion About Reopening, An Expert Explains How To Assess COVID-19 Risk
Across the country, states are loosening the restrictions that had been put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 — with varying results. New cases are decreasing in some states, including New York, Michigan and Colorado, while case numbers and hospitalizations have swelled recently in several states, including Texas, Arizona and Florida. "Since the very first day of this pandemic, I don't think [we've been] in a more confused position about what's happening," epidemiologist Michael Osterholm says. "We just aren't quite sure what [the coronavirus is] going to do next." (Gross, 6/17)

Kaiser Health News: The Costs Of Safely Reopening A High-End Restaurant
Like countless other restaurateurs across California and the nation, Alex and Charity Prestifilippo have been caught in a precarious health-and-safety limbo. Beginning in March, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered their popular Gourmet Italia restaurant in Temecula, a wine-growing community of 115,000 southeast of Los Angeles. Dozens of employees were laid off; food stocks quickly became outdated. (Glionna, 6/18)

NPR: Montana Is Open, But For Now The Blackfeet Nation Is Closed
Montana has one of the country's lowest coronavirus infection rates and is welcoming tourists back again. Earlier this month, it dropped a two-week quarantine requirement for out-of-state visitors put in place in March. But not everyone is on board with the decision. The Blackfeet Nation, whose reservation borders Glacier National Park, is maintaining a two-week quarantine order and lodging restrictions for non-residents. Restrictions are set to expire at the end of the month, but tribal leaders have already extended them once and could do so again. That uncertainty has businesses dependent on the roughly $110 million local tourism economy looking for ways to survive until next season. (Bolton, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: Irish Pub Owner Charged For Opening On St. Patrick's Day
A South Pasadena Irish pub opened up on St. Patrick’s Day in defiance of coronavirus shutdown orders. Now its owner could face up to 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine. Griffin’s of Kinsale in South Pasadena welcomed patrons in green inside on March 17, just two days after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an order prohibiting restaurants from serving dine-in food. (Sheridan, 6/17)

The Washington Post: U-Va. Students To Return In Fall Amid Pandemic
Wear masks. Keep your distance. Now comes another edict: Use your assigned sink. Students heading to college in the fall know they will face unprecedented pandemic rules meant to safeguard the campus from the spread of the novel coronavirus. Among them is this one spelled out by the University of Virginia on Wednesday: Those who live in residence halls “will be assigned to specific sinks, stalls and showers.” (Anderson, 6/17)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Health Officials Failed To Safeguard Trust In Pa.’s Coronavirus Data, Sowing Confusion
Since March, data about the coronavirus has played a profound role in Pennsylvania, underpinning sweeping decisions to close schools, restrict businesses, and separate loved ones. Now, in the early days of the state’s reopening, accurate data is critical to detecting a resurgence. (Simon, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Washington Removes Homicides, Suicides From COVID-19 Deaths
Washington health officials on Wednesday removed seven deaths from the state’s official COVID-19 mortality count, including three homicides. The Department of Health said it had been counting as coronavirus deaths all people who died and tested positive for the disease. Authorities say they have now removed deaths from the count that weren’t caused specifically by COVID-19. (6/18)

Boston Globe: Governor Wants Some Rhode Islanders Without Symptoms To Get Tested For The Coronavirus
Governor Gina M. Raimondo on Wednesday urged Rhode Islanders who don’t have COVID-19 symptoms to get tested for the coronavirus if they have attended protests or work in “close contact” businesses such as barbershops and gyms. As part of an “early warning” system, health officials are trying to get a handle on how widespread the virus is in Rhode Island. (Fitzpatrick, 6/17)

Billings Gazette: Montana Continuing To Test For COVID-19, Offering Loan Deferment For Businesses 
Montana businesses affected by COVID-19 will be able to defer loans for up to a year, and counties and cities will continue to host snapshot testing sites in the upcoming weeks. Gov. Steve Bullock made these announcements Wednesday during a press conference in which he also addressed a recent uptick in cases within Montana’s more rural counties and the state’s testing goals. Despite Montana maintaining its comparably low number of recorded cases of COVID-19 compared to the rest of the country, Bullock said that was no excuse for complacency. (Hamby and Sukut, 6/17)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Homeless In New Parkway Encampment In Danger Of Coronavirus, And Being Used Like ‘Pawns’ By Activists, Advocate Charges
Declaring an encampment of more than 100 homeless people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway “a pandemic waiting to happen,” a leading advocate for the homeless in Philadelphia condemned the formation of the tent city by local activists last week as an “irresponsible” and “stupid” act in the time of COVID-19. (Lubrano and Rushing, 6/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Amid $1.7 Billion City Deficit, SF Health Department May Face ‘Hard Choices’ 
San Francisco’s Department of Public Health says it may be able to make it through the upcoming fiscal year without making cuts to core services — like treatment programs for mental health and drug addiction — despite the 10% budget reduction it had to propose to Mayor London Breed this week. But if the economy continues spiraling downward amid the coronavirus pandemic, Greg Wagner, the department’s chief financial officer, said public health officials likely will have to make some “hard choices.” (Thadani, 6/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Consumers May Have To Pick Up Tab For Infection Control
As Georgia businesses attempt to recover from the financial shock of the pandemic and cover the skyrocketing prices of infection-control measures, consumers may be hit with additional fees or higher charges. So far, the separate infection-control charges tend to be concentrated among health care providers. (Berard, 6/17)

NBC News: Hampered By The Pandemic, The Movement To Recall Alaska's Governor Adapts
Last summer, Alaska's famous bright nights had dimmed for many residents. The state's governor, Mike Dunleavy, a Republican and a Trump ally in office a little more than six months, had campaigned on restoring the state's annual oil wealth dividend, a decades-old stipend given to Alaskans off the state's oil and gas surplus that had been cut back in recent years as oil prices declined. But to do so, Dunleavy maintained that he had to veto 182 line-items from the state budget, totaling more than $440 million. Residents of the state were aghast: The suggested cuts would gouge primary and university education, Medicaid, services for the homeless, addiction treatment and public transportation, including a ferry that connects Alaskans in remote areas to essential services. (Kesslen, 6/17)

The New York Times: ‘There Is No Work Here’: Migrants, Some Sick, Move North
Inside her tidy house, a modest patio apartment wedged in a neighborhood of itinerant farmworkers, Angelina Velásquez packed. A half-filled travel bag lay on the couch, surrounded by clothes to be folded. The annual harvest was over in Immokalee, the country’s winter tomato capital, and it was time to head north. Ms. Velásquez, a 52-year-old single mother of two, did not want to go. Not on the long ride in a loaded van up eight states to New Jersey. Not into the crammed living quarters she will share with her daughters, 11 and 15, and other laborers like herself who will spend the summer picking blueberries. Not on a journey whose every step puts them at risk of contracting the coronavirus. (Mazzei, 6/18)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Pushing Officials To Speed Up Coronavirus Vaccine Development
President Trump, faced with multiple crises and falling poll numbers less than five months before the presidential election, is prodding top health officials to move faster on a historically ambitious timeline to approve a coronavirus vaccine by year’s end. The goal is to instill confidence among voters that the virus can be tamed and the economy fully reopened under Trump’s stewardship. In a meeting last month with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar — who is overseeing the effort called Operation Warp Speed, along with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper — Trump pushed Azar repeatedly to speed up the already unprecedented timeline, according to two senior White House officials familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. (Abutaleb, Dawsey, McGinley and Johnson, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Race For Virus Vaccine Could Leave Some Countries Behind
As the race for a vaccine against the new coronavirus intensifies, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunized first — leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccine before the pandemic ends. Earlier this month, the United Nations, International Red Cross and Red Crescent, and others said it was a “moral imperative” that everyone have access to a “people’s vaccine.” But such grand declarations are unenforceable, and without a detailed strategy, the allocation of vaccines could be extremely messy. (Cheng and Larson, 6/18)

Reuters: EU Calls For Global Alliance To Buy COVID-19 Vaccines Up Front
The European Commission called on Wednesday for global leaders to cooperate to buy bulk quantities of potential COVID-19 vaccines, to avoid “harmful competition” in the race for a shot and ensure any future vaccine is available for poor countries. (6/17)

Boston Globe: Another Potential COVID-19 Vaccine With Boston Ties To Enter Clinical Trials 
A third potential COVID-19 vaccine with ties to Massachusetts will soon enter clinical trials.CureVac, a German company with about 20 employees at its US hub in Boston, said Wednesday it has gotten permission from regulators in Germany and Belgium to begin clinical trials of its experimental vaccine in those two countries. (Saltzman, 6/17)

The Washington Post takes a look at the little-known biodefense company that's secured a coveted contract to manufacture the vaccine —

The Washington Post: Before The Pandemic, Emergent BioSolutions Received Billions From Government To Help Prepare The Nation For Biowarfare
As it races to create a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the Trump administration this month announced that one of its largest pandemic-related contracts would go to a little-known biodefense company named Emergent BioSolutions. “Emergent’s manufacturing capabilities will pave the way,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. The $628 million deal to help manufacture an eventual vaccine cemented Emergent’s status as the highest-paid and most important contractor to the HHS office responsible for preparing for public health threats and maintaining the government’s stockpile of emergency medical supplies. (O'Harrow, Swaine and Davis, 6/17)

Reuters: Steroid Should Be Kept For Serious Coronavirus Cases, WHO Says
A cheap steroid that can help save the lives of patients with severe COVID-19 should be reserved for serious cases in which it has been shown to provide benefits, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said research was at last providing “green shoots of hope” in treating the virus, which has killed more than 400,000 people worldwide and infected more than 8 million. (Kelland and Farge, 6/17)

Reuters: WHO Sees 'Green Shoots' Of Hope In COVID-19 Pandemic
Signs of hope are starting to show in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, but it added that countries must continue to work on prevention measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. While cases are “still rapidly rising” in many regions of the world, there are “green shoots of hope”, the WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an online media briefing. (6/17)

NBC News: WHO To Update COVID-19 Clinical Guidance, Stresses That Steroids Should Not Be Used As Prevention
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the findings "very welcome news" during a media briefing Wednesday, but stressed that the drug should only be used in severe cases under close clinical supervision. "We will update our clinical guidance to reflect how and when dexamethasone should be used," Tedros said. (Miller, 6/17)

CIDRAP: WHO Halts Malaria Drug Study, Eyes Steroid For COVID-19
"We need more therapeutics that can be used to tackle the virus, including those with milder symptoms," he said. Based on the findings, he said the WHO is coordinating a meta-analysis to pool data from several clinical trials involving the steroid to increase its overall understanding of the intervention and will update its guidance on how and when dexamethasone should be used to treat COVID-19. In other comments during the briefing, he noted that the WHO and its partners have developed a new roadmap for neglected tropical diseases that moves single disease programs into a more integrated prevention, diagnosis, and treatment approach, with an eye toward universal health coverage. (Schnirring, 6/17)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Here’s How Louisiana Doctors Are Using The Drug That U.K. Scientists Tout For Coronavirus
Based on his own experience, Denson was excited when scientists at the University of Oxford in England announced this week that a clinical trial showed the steroid cut the death rate for hospitalized coronavirus patients by as much as a third. But Denson had reservations and questions as well. While the researchers announced promising results for the inexpensive and widely available drug, they have yet to release their full study and underlying data in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Amid the pandemic, many studies have been unveiled in a similarly hasty fashion. (Gallo, 6/17)

Reuters: WHO Halts Trial Of Hydroxychloroquine In COVID-19 Patients
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that testing of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in its large multi-country trial of treatments for COVID-19 patients had been halted after new data and studies showed no benefit. WHO expert Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo said investigators leading the so-called Solidarity Trial testing the drug - which had been promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump - had reviewed recent evidence and decided to stop recruiting new patients. (Kelland and Farge, 6/17)

Politico: WHO Ends Hydroxychloroquine Study
The decision to remove the drug from its Solidarity trial came following several events, Restrepo noted. A review of the evidence suggested there was “no apparent beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine” to treat Covid-19. In addition, the results coming out of the U.K. last Friday indicated that there was no apparent effect on mortality or ventilation during a hospital stay. Finally, there was the Solidarity trial’s own evidence. (Furlong, 6/17)

NBC News: World Health Organization Halts Hydroxychloroquine Study
Hydroxychloroquine gained attention as a potential COVID-19 treatment in February, when small studies suggested it might be useful against the virus. But subsequent research concluded that it was not beneficial. What's more, hydroxychloroquine is known to cause side effects, including abnormal heart rhythm, in some people. (Edwards, 6/17)

Stat: Many Americans Fear Pharma Will Use Covid-19 To Raise Prices
Amid a race to find therapies and vaccines to combat Covid-19, a new poll finds that nearly 9 in 10 Americans are concerned that drug makers will take advantage of the pandemic to raise prices. In all, 55% percent reported they are very concerned about price hikes and another 33% said they are somewhat concerned. And reactions were similar regardless of sex, race, or household income, according to the survey from the polling firm Gallup and West Health, a research and policy organization. (Silverman, 6/18)

Stat: Many Covid-19 Trial Sponsors Have Failed To Report Data On Other Studies
A new analysis warns that some trials are being run by universities and companies in Europe that either have no track record filing any trial results with a European database or have failed to do so in the past. As a result, there is a risk that past performance might undermine the ongoing search for safe and effective treatments, according to the advocacy group that conducted the analysis. (Silverman, 6/17)

The Associated Press: A Look At Dueling Policing Proposals Considered By Congress
As Americans protest racial inequality and the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police, their pleas are being heard in the chambers of the U.S. Capitol. Both Democrats and Republicans have introduced legislation to reform policing in America, but they diverge on some issues. The far-reaching legislative proposal from Democrats, the Justice in Policing Act, would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force encounters and ban police chokeholds, among other changes. (Balsamo, 6/18)

The Washington Post: House Panel Approves Expansive Policing Bill To Ban Chokeholds And Make It Easier To Prosecute Officers For Misconduct
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have tentatively scheduled votes on their respective proposals late next week, at which point the two sides could begin the first substantive bipartisan talks on racial justice since George Floyd’s Memorial Day death at the hands of Minneapolis police. (Kane, Kim and Wagner, 6/17)

Politico: House Judiciary Panel Advances Police Reform Bill After Emotional Debate
After nearly 12 hours of tense debate, the committee approved the bill along party lines with all Republicans voting in opposition. The Democrats’ plan, which will go to the House floor next week, would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, limit officers’ immunity from prosecution and establish a national database of police misconduct. (Ferris, Cheney, Caygle and Bresnahan, 6/17)

The Associated Press: AP-NORC Poll: Sweeping Change In US Views Of Police Violence
A dramatic shift has taken place in the nation’s opinions on policing and race, as a new poll finds that more Americans today than five years ago believe police brutality is a very serious problem that too often goes undisciplined and unequally targets black Americans. The new findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggest the death of George Floyd and the weeks of nationwide and global protests that followed have changed perceptions in ways that previous incidents of police brutality did not. (Stafford and Fingerhut, 6/18)

Politico: Antifa, Big Tech, And Abortion: Republicans Bring Culture War To Police Brutality Debate
The House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday approved a major police reform bill on a party-line vote, the first step by Congress to address a crisis that has roiled the country since George Floyd died in police custody on May 25. Yet for much of the day, the panel was ensnared in acrimonious cultural and political quarrels that had little to do with the underlying issue of police brutality, which the legislation is supposed to address. (Bresnahan and Ferris, 6/17)

In other new on police tactics and violence —

Reuters: Atlanta Police Officer Charged With Murder In Shooting Death Of Rayshard Brooks
The death of Brooks - the latest in a long line of unarmed African Americans whose fatal encounters with law enforcement have been documented on video - further heightened U.S. social tensions at a time of national soul-searching over police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. An Atlanta police officer was charged on Wednesday with murder for the shooting death last week of Rayshard Brooks in a fast-food parking lot, while a fellow officer facing lesser charges has agreed to testify against his colleague. (McKay and Layne, 6/17)

The New York Times: De Blasio, Pressured On Policing, Acts To Toughen Discipline
Under immense pressure to overhaul Police Department tactics and curb the department’s authority, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced a series of significant changes in the way the nation’s largest police force will discipline its officers. The changes include the creation of a database next month that will track the roughly 1,100 pending cases involving allegations of police abuse and will include the officers’ names and the charges. The city will also publish all internal trial decisions and eventually make all disciplinary records, past and present, accessible online. (Rubinstein, 6/17)

The New York Times: N.Y. Protesters Say The Police Attacked Them: 'It Felt Like Warfare' 
One protester said a police officer used a baton to pin him by his neck against a squad car. Another said she was tackled by an officer who then drove his knee into her back so hard she could not breathe. A third — a registered nurse — was tending to a young man with a head wound, but claimed the police would not allow an ambulance to drive through a crowd to fetch him. A fourth described rushing through a line of police with batons to help a sobbing teenage girl, then escaping with her just before an officer tried to grab them. (Feuer, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: Sheriff's Deputies Fatally Shoot Rosamond Man At Home
The half brother of Robert Fuller, a young Black man who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale last week, was shot dead by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during a shootout Wednesday afternoon in Kern County, according to law enforcement sources and an attorney for the family. The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in a parking lot in Rosamond, a community about 20 miles north of Palmdale. The killing came as activists and community members have been openly critical of how Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies handled the investigation into Fuller’s death. (Ormseth, Winton, Hamilton and Lau, 6/17)

ABC News: New York City Mom Plans $10 Million Lawsuit Against Police After Arrest For Improperly Wearing Face Mask 
A New York City mom who believes she was wrongfully arrested for not properly wearing a face mask while on the subway platform, intends to file a $10 million notice of claim against the city for excessive force, her attorney says. Kaleemah Rozier, 22, said she was on her way home with her 5-year-old son inside the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station in Brooklyn on May 13 when she was approached by several unidentified NYPD officers. (Carrega, 6/17)

The New York Times: Race Is Used In Many Medical Decision-Making Tools
Unbeknown to most patients, their race is incorporated into numerous medical decision-making tools and formulas that doctors consult to decide treatment for a range of conditions and services, including heart disease, cancer and maternity care, according to a new paper published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The unintended result, the paper concludes, has been to direct medical resources away from black patients and to deny some black patients treatment options available to white patients. (Kolata, 6/17)

Stat: Racial Bias Skews Algorithms Widely Used To Guide Patient Care 
It is the latest evidence that algorithms used by hospitals and physicians to guide the health care given to tens of millions of Americans are shot through with implicit racism that their creators are often unaware of, but which nevertheless often result in Black people receiving inferior care. The new findings cut across more medical specialties than any previous study of race and algorithm-driven patient care. (Begley, 6/17)

Reuters: Black Patients With COVID-19 In Atlanta More Likely To Be Hospitalized: CDC 
A study of coronovirus patients in Atlanta has found that black patients are more likely to be hospitalized than white patients, highlighting racial disparities in the U.S. healthcare system, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday. About 79% of black patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, against 13% of white patients, according to the study here across six metropolitan hospitals and outpatient clinics in Atlanta, Georgia, between March and April 2020. (6/17)

The Hill: Black COVID-19 Patients In Atlanta More Likely To Be Hospitalized Than White Patients: CDC 
Obesity, hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and a history of smoking cigarettes were more prevalent among hospitalized patients, suggesting a relationship between the severity of illness and underlying illness, the CDC authors wrote. (Hellmann, 6/17)

Reuters: Mothers As 'Trauma Surgeons:' The Anguish Of Raising Black Boys In America
The death of George Floyd, a 46-year old black man who died in May after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has triggered widespread protests in the United States and around the world against police brutality and racism. It has also been a painful reminder to black mothers in the U.S. how vulnerable their children, and especially their sons, are to police brutality, at least five women Reuters interviewed said. (Moore, Caspani and Washington, 6/17)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Just Make It Home’: The Unwritten Rules Blacks Learn To Navigate Racism In America
Speak in short sentences. Be clear. Direct but not rude. Stay calm, even if you’re shaking inside. Never put your hands in your pockets. Make sure people can always see your hands. Try not to hunch your shoulders. Listen to their directions. Darnell Hill, a pastor and a mental health caseworker, offers black teenagers these emotional and physical coping strategies every time a black person is fatally shot by a police officer. That’s when parents’ worries about their sons and daughters intensify. “They’re hurting,” Hill said. “They’re looking for answers.” (Anthony, 6/18)

The Hill: Dallas County Declares Racism A Public Health Emergency 
Dallas County Commissioners have voted unanimously to pass a resolution declaring racism “a public health crisis affecting our entire country,” according to The Dallas Morning News. The measure’s passage comes as legislators in a number of municipalities and counties across the country have passed similar measures declaring racism to be a public health emergency, including Boston and counties in Ohio, Nebraska and Michigan. (Folley, 6/17)

CBS News: Black Doctor Goes Viral After Pleading With People To Respect Him In Both His Hoodies And His Scrubs 
A black doctor is going viral on Tik Tok for calling out racist stereotypes about clothing. He showed himself in his hospital scrubs and a hoodie, pleading with people to respect him in both — and now, other doctors are following suit. (Lewis, 6/17)

NPR: Oakland Mayor Launches Hate Crime Investigation Into Nooses Found At Park
Nooses found at a public park in Oakland, Calif., will be removed and investigated as hate crimes, according to Mayor Libby Schaaf. The news follows the hanging deaths of two black men that were originally ruled suicides, in Palmdale and Victorville. The FBI and the California Department of Justice have launched investigations into the deaths. (Hagemann, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: Malcolm Harsch Victorville Hanging: Protesters Seek Justice
The hanging death of a Black man in Victorville has sparked community outrage about larger racial issues in the high desert city and calls for a full investigation into whether Malcolm Harsch was the victim of foul play. Harsch was found hanging from a tree on the morning of May 31 near the city’s library. Authorities have said there is no evidence of foul play, but the man’s family and others are skeptical and are demanding an independent investigation. (Vives and Campa, 6/17)

ABC News: Why I Talk About Bias I've Faced When Reporting On Coronavirus-Related Hate: Reporter's Notebook 
Being a victim of coronavirus-related discrimination is traumatic enough. But telling your story -- to raise awareness or seek justice and change -- can be an especially fraught prospect as a member of a minority group where, culturally, speaking out is not the norm and even frowned upon. That's why during my reporting on the virus of hate towards Asian Americans during the pandemic, I choose to share my personal experiences with xenophobia. While doing so isn't the traditional role of a journalist, it's a way of adapting to the changing storytelling landscape and it empowers others to know they're not alone and share their own stories. (Lim, 6/17)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Business Owners Hardest
The coronavirus pandemic will shutter many small businesses. And early evidence shows it is disproportionately hurting black-owned small businesses. More than 40 percent of black business owners reported they weren’t working in April, when businesses were feeling the worst of the pandemic’s economic consequences. Only 17 percent of white small business owners said the same, according to an analysis of government data by Robert Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz. (Leatherby, 6/18)

The Associated Press: As Racism Protests Roil US, Florida Revisits Dark Past
On Election Day a century ago, a white mob swept through a tiny Florida citrus town after a black man showed up at the polls to vote. Over two days of terror, the mob set fire to homes and drove black residents from their community. It was one of the bloodiest days in American political history, with the number of deaths remaining in question — some estimates as high as 60. (Calvan, 6/18)

Reuters: 'Medicaid Best Price' Changes Aimed At Value-Based Gene Therapy Contracts: U.S. Agency
Proposed changes to requirements that state-run Medicaid programs are given the best drug prices would clear the way for commercial health insurers to enter into “value-based” payment schemes, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Wednesday. Drug manufacturers by law must give Medicaid their “best price,” meaning the lowest price they negotiate with any other buyer. But health plans have expressed concerns that the requirement prevents them from linking drug prices to patient outcomes - a practice known as “value-based” pricing. (Beasley, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposed Rule Aims To Encourage Value-Based Drug Pricing
The CMS wants to make it easier for private insurers, state Medicaid programs and prescription drug manufacturers to strike up value-based payment arrangements tied to clinical outcomes. The agency issued a proposed rule late Wednesday designed to overhaul regulations that hinder such payment arrangements, with the goal of expanding access to new, high-cost drugs, such as gene therapies. (Livingston, 6/17)

Stat: New Trump Proposal Seeks To Encourage ‘Value-Based' Drug Pricing Deals 
The Trump administration wants to revamp certain Medicaid rules about drug prices in hopes of encouraging major insurers and pharmaceutical companies to make better deals for pricey drugs. The proposal is an arcane Medicaid tweak, but it’s meant to open up a way to lower drug costs for far more Americans than just those in the federal insurance program. Drug makers have long complained that certain Medicaid rules get in the way of so-called value-based pricing arrangements, where insurers pay for drugs only when they work. (Florko, 6/17)

Los Angeles Times: The $600 Unemployment Benefit Ends July 31. What's Next?
For many out-of-work Americans, an extra $600 a week in federal unemployment insurance is providing some stability during an otherwise shaky economic period. But how long might that benefit last? When the coronavirus pandemic first flared up in mid-March, causing a domino effect of immediate event cancellations and business closures, spending vanished almost overnight. In a swift move to flush cash through the economy, the federal government approved the $2-trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. (Pinho, 6/17)

The New York Times: Lack Of Transparency Could Hinder Virus Bailout, Oversight Board Warns
The new federal oversight board responsible for tracking how $2.4 trillion in bailout money is being spent warned on Wednesday that a lack of transparency and feeble reporting requirements could hamper its efforts to ensure that the funds are being deployed properly. In its inaugural report, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a panel of inspectors general, laid out an array of obstacles facing the country’s largest-ever economic relief effort. The concerns come as the White House has taken steps to curb the power of inspectors general throughout the federal government and as Treasury refuses to disclose where small business loan money is going. (Rappeport, 6/17)

Politico: Democrats Accuse SBA Of Illegally Blocking Oversight Of Lending Program
The Small Business Administration is illegally stonewalling Congress' watchdog agency from reviewing its handling of a massive coronavirus relief program, House Democrats alleged Wednesday. In a letter to SBA administrator Jovita Carranza, five Democratic committee and subcommittee chairs said the Government Accountability Office — Congress' independent oversight arm — has been rebuffed in its attempts to interview top SBA officials and access key documents about the implementation of the small business program, known as the Paycheck Protection Program. (Cheney and Warmbrodt, 6/17)

The Washington Post: 1.5 Million Workers Filed For Unemployment Insurance Last Week
Another 1.5 million workers filed for unemployment insurance for the first time last week, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on the economy. The numbers remained at historic levels: the previous record before the coronavirus was 695,000 in 1982. Since the coronavirus began earlier this year, there have been 13 straight weeks where more than a million people have filed for unemployment for the first time. (Rosenberg, 6/18)

Politico: 1.5M New Unemployment Claims Filed Last Week
On top of that, more than 760,000 people applied for benefits under the new temporary Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program created for those ineligible for traditional unemployment benefits. While economists caution that there is likely overlap, added together, the number of new claims filed last week could be higher than 2.1 million. (Rainey, 6/18)

Reuters: U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain High, Second Wave Of Layoffs Blamed
A second wave of layoffs amid weak demand and fractured supply chains is likely keeping new U.S. applications for unemployment benefits elevated, supporting views that the economy faces a long and difficult recovery from the COVID-19 recession. (Mutikani, 6/18)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Edge Down To 1.5 Million In Latest Week
A historically high number of workers continue to seek unemployment benefits each week, but applications have decreased substantially since an early spring peak amid signs the labor market and broader economy are recovering from the coronavirus-induced shock. New jobless claims have eased as states allowed businesses to reopen and employers recalled workers. Others signs of economic growth have emerged, including a May rebound in retail spending. But with the economy having slipped into recession this year, many firms have remained cautious about rehiring, leaving millions of people out of work since the pandemic hit. (Morath, 6/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Federal Judge In Oakland Orders Financial Aid Restored To Undocumented Immigrant Students 
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to restore financial aid included in the latest coronavirus relief legislation to hundreds of thousands of community college students in California whom she disqualified because they are not U.S. citizens. The $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the Cares Act, signed by President Trump on March 27, included $14 billion in federal funding for college students suffering economic hardships because of the pandemic. DeVos’ Education Department announced rules in late April denying aid to students, mostly noncitizens, who were ineligible for other types of federal funding. (Egelko, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Governor Seeks To Revive Health Insurance Exchange
Reversing his Republican predecessor, Kentucky’s Democratic governor announced plans to bring back a health insurance program his father started that was credited with signing up hundreds of thousands of people for coverage before it was dismantled. Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that he sent a letter to federal officials notifying them of his plans to revive the state’s health insurance exchange at the start of 2022. The program was an outgrowth of the landmark Affordable Care Act championed by then-President Barack Obama. (Schreiner, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: Texas Hospitals Seek Reimbursement Reform
Texas healthcare providers have asked state lawmakers to close loopholes in payment policies to ensure they are reimbursed promptly. The Knox County Hospital District, which filed a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance for an alleged $12 million in outstanding claims from Aetna (now CVS Health) dating back to mid-2018, submitted a proposal to TDI to amend the state's Prompt Pay Act. The hospital district, much of which are rural hospitals, asked for administrative changes related to an insurance company's retaliation against doctors who have filed a complaint against the payer, communication between providers and insurers, and managing audits. (Kacik, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: Advocate Aurora, Beaumont Merger Would Create $17 Billion System
Advocate Aurora Health and Beaumont Health announced Wednesday the not-for-profit health systems plan to combine to form a $17 billion system with hospitals in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The resulting system would have 36 hospitals and employ more than 100,000 people. With about $17 billion in annual revenue, it would be the country's seventh-largest not-for-profit health system by revenue, behind Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. (Bannow, 6/17)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Pandemic Shifts Health Care And It May Be Hard To Get Genie Back In Bottle
Julie Rovner, KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, on Wednesday joined Jeremy Hobson, the host of “Here & Now,” a show produced by NPR and WBUR. They discussed key changes in health care delivery triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, including the increased use of telemedicine; fears of increased consolidation, as small private medical practices face revenue shortfalls; financial strain among some hospitals; and the pressure to return drug manufacturing to the U.S. (6/17)

The New York Times: Why The Sickest Workers May Be Among The First Back On The Job
Last month, Patti Hanks faced a wrenching decision: go back to her job, or lose her health insurance.Ms. Hanks, 62, recently had ovarian cancer treatment. With her immunity low, she was nervous about returning to her workplace, a store where she would be drawing up financing plans and taking cash payments from customers buying furniture and large appliances. But she was even more worried about losing her health coverage if she didn’t go back. Finding a job with health benefits that allowed her to work from home felt like a pipe dream in the midst of an economic downturn. (Kliff, 6/18)

The New York Times: How Housekeepers And Domestic Helpers Can Safely Return To Work
Around the world, millions of domestic workers were abruptly sent away when coronavirus shutdowns and social distancing orders were imposed. Now as communities begin to reopen, many people are wondering when it will be safe to open their houses again to domestic helpers. If you are an employer worried about the health risks of letting house cleaners, nannies and health aides back into your quarantined home, remember that it’s the worker who faces the biggest risk of being exposed to your germs and those of the other households where they work. (Parker-Pope, 6/18)

The Associated Press: Is It Safe To Stay In Hotels As Reopenings Get Underway?
Is it safe to stay in hotels as reopenings get underway? It depends on the precautions both you and the hotel take. It’s best to call ahead to see how the place you’re considering is working to minimize the risk of COVID-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests asking if the staff is wearing face coverings, for example, and whether cleaning practices have been stepped up. (6/18)

GMA: 83-Year-Old Beats COVID-19 After 75 Days In Hospital 
An 83-year-old Florida man is now home after battling COVID-19 at a hospital for 75 days. Lorenzo Rodriguez tested positive for novel coronavirus back in March after coming down with a fever. Three days later, he was rushed to a Baptist Health South Florida hospital once his conditioned worsened. Doctors immediately put Rodriguez under a medically induced coma and used a ventilator to support his failing lungs. (Brooksbank, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Youth Sports Return With Coronavirus Distancing Restrictions
Fifteen-year-old softball player Riley Diedrick wanted nothing more than to race alongside her friends. She and her teammates in South Florida are thrilled to be back together playing the sport they love, even with health-related adjustments: Players aren’t wearing masks on the fields or in the dugouts, but they stand apart at practices, use hand sanitizer and bring their own sheets, covers and pillowcases to hotels during road games. (McAvoy, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Trump Plan To Stem Vet Suicides Focuses On Public Awareness
President Donald Trump released a long-awaited plan Wednesday to address the persistently high number of suicides by veterans, with initiatives including firearm safety, wellness programs at workplaces and new barriers near railroads and bridges. As part of the $53 million, two-year effort, a public messaging campaign starting in the coming weeks is intended to raise awareness about suicide at a time of increased social distancing and isolation during a pandemic. (Yen, 6/18)

ABC News: Trump Rolls Out National Plan To Address Veteran Suicides
Among 10 recommendations the 68-page report makes are creating a national public health campaign, prioritizing suicide surveillance and research, promoting changes to the way research on suicides is conducted and developing partnerships inside and outside government, according to a copy of the plan obtained by ABC News. (Gittleson, 6/17)

The Associated Press: As Soldiers Deploy Amid Pandemic, They Fight 2 Battles
Edward Brown has always found a way to deal with his husband’s military deployments in the past, but the most recent one felt different. Instead of an endless parade of family visits and last-minute errands, Brown and Staff Sgt. James Clyde were holed up inside their Fayetteville, North Carolina, apartment watching Netflix and making TikTok videos. When his mandatory two-week quarantine ended last Friday, Clyde made the short drive to Fort Bragg and boarded a plane for a nine-month deployment in the Middle East. (Morgan, 6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Cyberattacks On Health-Care Industry On The Rise, Official Says
Federal prosecutors are looking at false statements made by applicants for coronavirus relief loans. They also are seeing a rise in cyberattacks on the health-care industry, an official said Wednesday. Those are some of the coronavirus-related enforcement issues facing the U.S. Department of Justice, according to criminal division chief Brian Benczkowski. (Tokar, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Health Chair Lays Out Two COVID-19 Telehealth Changes He Wants Permanent
Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on Wednesday that he wants to make permanent two telehealth changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic: nixing the so-called originating site rule and expanding the scope of reimbursable services. Alexander laid out his wishlist at a hearing on the issue scheduled weeks before lawmakers are expected to begin negotiations on another COVID-19 relief package. (Cohrs, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: Community Health Systems Beats EHR False Claims Lawsuit
A federal judge last week tossed a lawsuit alleging that Community Health Systems had made false claims about its electronic health record software. Two whistleblowers in 2018 had sued Community Health Systems and its EHR vendor Medhost in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, accusing the Franklin, Tenn.-based system of submitting hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims to HHS for federal incentive payments for meaningfully using EHR software. (Cohen, 6/17)

Modern Healthcare: Health Care Service Corp. Inks Epic Contract
Health Care Service Corp. has signed a contract with Epic for a data platform that links its health plans with provider organizations, the health insurance giant said Wednesday. With the new platform, HCSC's health plans will be able to share and receive health data from provider organizations that use Epic Systems Corp.'s electronic health record software and treat their members. (Cohen, 6/17)

The Washington Post: Hundreds Of Health-Care Workers Lost Their Lives Battling The Coronavirus
There is no official tally of their deaths. More than 77,800 have tested positive for the coronavirus, and more than 400 have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which acknowledges that’s a significant undercount. The nation’s largest nurses union, National Nurses United, puts the total much higher: 939 fatalities among health-care workers, based on reports from its chapters around the country, social media and obituaries. Nurses represent about 15 percent of those deaths, the union said. (Babb, Shammas and Cha, 6/17)

'Lost On The Frontline' Special Report: For more on this story, KHN & The Guardian profile over 100 health care workers who died of COVID-19. Read their stories.

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Hospital Workers Exposed To Coronavirus Want More Testing For Themselves 
More than two dozen Napa hospital workers are growing increasingly worried about the availability of coronavirus testing at Queen of the Valley Medical Center, the county’s largest health care provider. While the hospital contends it’s doing the best it can to protect its workers, many employees feel differently. The issue recently came to a head after seven workers, not wearing adequate personal protective gear, were exposed to a coronavirus patient. More health care workers who interacted with that patient, along with others who tested positive, contend that management did not respond with the proper level of care and testing, according to their labor union. (Moench, 6/17)

Boston Globe: Mass. General Brigham Cuts Executive Salaries, Freezes Pay For Others 
Mass. General Brigham, the state’s largest network of hospitals and doctors, said Wednesday it would temporarily cut executive compensation and freeze pay for thousands of employees after losing $800 million in revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. The company, formerly known as Partners HealthCare, also said it would suspend contributions to employee retirement plans. (Edelman, 6/17)

The Washington Post: Why Does Coronavirus Kill Some People And Spare Others?
The novel coronavirus can be a killer — or no big deal. It can put a person in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, isolated from family, facing a lonely death — or it can come and go without leaving a mark, a ghost pathogen, more rumor than reality. Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people globally, scientists are still trying to understand the wildly variable nature of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. (Achenbach, Brulliard and Cha, 6/17)

Reuters: Tiny Sponges May Soak Up Coronavirus; Old Steroid Dexamethasone Saves Lives In COVID-19 Study
Scientists have developed microscopic sponges - a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair - they hope might be used inside the body to attract and neutralize the coronavirus. The "nanosponges" are coated with membranes from lung cells or from immune cells known as macrophages, study co-leader Liangfang Zhang of the University of California, San Diego told Reuters. These cell membranes have the same receptor proteins on their surfaces that the virus uses to break into cells in the body. In test tube experiments, the nanosponges successfully acted as decoys to attract and inactivate the virus, Zhang's team reported on Wednesday in the journal Nano Letters. (Lapid, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Study Ties Blood Type To COVID-19 Risk; O May Help, A Hurt
A genetic analysis of COVID-19 patients suggests that blood type might influence whether someone develops severe disease. Scientists who compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less likely. Wednesday’s report in the New England Journal of Medicine does not prove a blood type connection, but it does confirm a previous report from China of such a link. (Marchione, 6/18)

CBS News: What Are "Super" Antibodies? Doctor Explains Cells Found In Less Than 5% Of COVID-19 Patients 
Researchers in California have identified what they are calling a super-strength antibody that blocks the coronavirus' most infectious elements. The discovery comes amid an international race to find a vaccine, which internal medicine specialist Dr. Neeta Ogden warns "may not be perfect" in terms of immunity from the disease. (Elkind, 6/17)

ABC News: Pregnant Women Not More Susceptible To COVID-19, Current Data Suggests 
Like many pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaleah Metz worries about becoming infected with the virus and potentially putting her pregnancy at risk. "I am being exposed to COVID every week at this point, when I visit my doctor in the hospital," said Metz, a recently married health auditor in her third trimester and expecting her first child. (Adigun, 6/18)

Stat: How Likely Are Kids To Get Covid-19? Scientists See A ‘Huge Puzzle’
In January, when it became clear that a new coronavirus was transmitting with ease among people in central China, one of the top questions scientists who study disease dynamics wanted answered was this: What role are children playing in the spread of the new disease, now known as Covid-19? Five months later, they and the rest of us would still like to know. (Branswell, 6/18)

CIDRAP: No Symptoms In 37% Of COVID-19 Nursing Home Patients, Research Finds
A study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that more than a quarter of the residents of a Chicago nursing home were infected with COVID-19, 37% of them never had symptoms, 37% were hospitalized, and 28% died. University of Illinois at Chicago researchers and public health officials investigating the facility's outbreak found that 33 of 126 residents tested had confirmed COVID-19, and another 2 who developed symptoms over 30 days of follow-up later tested positive. (Van Beusekom, 6/17)

The Associated Press: US Virus Outbreaks Stir Clash Over Masks, Personal Freedom
When the coronavirus flared in China’s capital this week, Beijing canceled flights, suspended reopenings and described the situation as “extremely grave.” But with cases rising in some U.S. states, local officials have balked at even requiring people to wear masks. In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths in the world, authorities wrestled Wednesday with balancing demands for constitutional rights and personal freedom with warnings from health officials that being lax will have deadly consequences. (Tang, Moritsugu and Pane, 6/18)

NBC News: Necessary Or Needless? Three Months Into The Pandemic, Americans Are Divided On Wearing Masks
Sarah Curran was at a grocery store last week, browsing the soup aisle with a mask on, when a shopper without a face covering approached her and shook his head. "You know COVID is a hoax," the man said, according to Curran. "I don't understand why people are still wearing masks." Curran, 28, a nurse with the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan, could think of plenty of reasons — including the dozens of coronavirus patients admitted to her hospital, about a fifth of whom have died. (Chuck, 6/17)

The Washington Post: Masks Get Credit For Protecting A Conservative Community From Coronavirus
Clay Goddard wasn’t religious about wearing a face mask in public, despite being the director of the health department in Springfield, Mo., and the head of the region’s response to the novel coronavirus. He doubted a face covering — even his favorite Kansas City Chiefs-pattern mask — offered much protection. “You’d probably have better luck stopping the wind,” Goddard said. (Frankel, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Texas County Orders Use Of Face Masks To Fight COVID-19
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday local governments can require businesses to mandate customers and workers to wear face masks after one the state’s most populous counties ordered such a measure amid record numbers of new cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations. The order for Bexar County, which includes the San Antonio area, takes effect Monday and businesses could face fines up to $1,000 for failing to comply. (Coronado and Vertuno, 6/18)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Control Board Requires Masks At Casino Table Games
The state Gaming Control Board late Wednesday ordered Nevada casinos to require players and spectators of most casino table and card games to wear protective face coverings. (Velotta, 6/17)

Reuters: Requiring Masks 'Political Hazard' As COVID-19 Surges In California Breadbasket
The first wave of COVID-19 came slowly to San Joaquin County in the heart of California’s breadbasket, but the much-feared second surge is roaring through, sickening as many people in the two weeks since Memorial Day as in March and April combined. (Bernstein, 6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: How Strict Are Airlines About Face Masks In Flight?
Airlines are coming face to face with a problem that may crimp the nascent rebound in travel: who wears a mask and who doesn’t. Some airlines are trying to strictly enforce face coverings during flights. Others have given it cursory attention. As with the question of blocking middle seats—some carriers are doing it and some aren’t—the inconsistency worries passengers concerned about virus exposure in tight confines. (McCartney, 6/17)

CNN: An American Airlines Passenger Was Removed From A Flight For Refusing To Wear A Face Mask 
Tension over wearing face masks led to a passenger's removal from an American Airlines flight Wednesday as airlines enforce stricter safety measures. Passenger Brandon Straka was asked to get off a flight from New York to Dallas after he refused to wear a face covering as required by American Airlines policy, the airline confirmed in a statement. This is the first known incident of this type since the airlines announced plans to more strictly enforce mask wearing. (Zdanowicz and Hunter, 6/18)

The Hill: Bruce Springsteen To Trump: 'Put On A F---Ing Mask' 
Bruce Springsteen knocked President Trump on his show this week over Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people in the U.S. Springsteen told the president to “put on a f---ing mask.” In the latest episode of his “From My Home to Yours” program on SiriusXM, the “Born in the U.S.A.” singer remarked on the climbing death toll. (Folley, 6/17)

Stat: CAR-T Cells Show Promise Against Aging In Lab Mice 
Scientists are still trying to get CAR-T cells to work as well in solid tumors as they do in blood cancers, but the genetically engineered immune cells just might have a superpower beyond oncology. In mice, researchers reported on Wednesday in Nature, CAR-T cells can eliminate the senescent cells partly responsible for many diseases of aging. (Begley, 6/17)

Stat: BioMarin’s Hemophilia Gene Therapy Still Prevents Bleeding At Four Years
BioMarin’s experimental hemophilia gene therapy, which is expected to be approved by U.S. regulators in August, has continued to prevent bleeding in patients treated four years ago. However, levels of the key clotting protein the treatment helps produce, Factor VIII, continued to slowly decline, potentially leading to questions as to how long-lasting the benefits might be. (Herper and Garde, 6/17)

Stat: California AG Says FTC Fell Short On Approving AbbVie-Allergan Deal
Arguing that the Federal Trade Commission did not follow “best practices” in approving AbbVie’s recent acquisition of Allergan, the California Attorney General is urging the agency to study the extent to which product divestitures relieve anti-competitive concerns in pharmaceutical mergers. In arguing for a study, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra contended the FTC disregarded its own rules and principles for approving the $63 billion merger, which prompted concerns from some lawmakers and consumer groups that such large deals contribute to rising drug prices. In doing so, he picked up on objections voiced by one FTC commissioner who dissented when the deal was approved in May. (Silverman, 6/17)

NBC News: Honduras' President Hospitalized With COVID-19 As Latin America Becomes Virus 'Epicenter'
The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was hospitalized for pneumonia on Wednesday, after revealing the previous day that he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19. Doctors determined he had pneumonia after reviewing lab work and x-rays and recommended he be hospitalized, according to a spokesperson for the Honduran health agency SINAGER. The spokesperson said during a news conference that Hernández was receiving intravenous medicine that had to be administered at the military hospital and is in good condition. (Sesin, 6/17)

The Associated Press: Honduras President Hospitalized With Pneumonia, COVID-19
The hospitalization of Honduras’ president with COVID-19 and pneumonia Wednesday has drawn attention to another country struggling under the pandemic’s strain as cases rise sharply in the capital. President Juan Orlando Hernández announced late Tuesday that he and his wife had tested positive for the virus. Just hours later he was hospitalized after doctors determined he had pneumonia. (Gonzalez and Sherman, 6/18)

The Associated Press: Kremlin Installs Special Antiseptic Tunnels To Protect Putin
The Russian government built special tunnels to protect President Vladimir Putin from the coronavirus at home and at work, Putin’s spokesman said Wednesday. Reports about tunnels where anyone passing through gets sprayed with germ-killing antiseptics appeared in Russian media on Tuesday night. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that one tunnel was installed at the president’s home outside Moscow and two at the Kremlin. (6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Germany Sees Largest Local Covid-19 Outbreak Since Lifting Lockdown
Germany has recorded its largest local Covid-19 outbreak since it started reopening its economy in early May, with more than 600 employees of a slaughterhouse testing positive for coronavirus this week, authorities said on Wednesday. The announcement highlighted the risk of a new spike in infections even as the pace of the coronavirus pandemic is slowing across Europe. The outbreak was by far the largest in a string of similar so-called superspreading events at meat-processing plants across the country. New infections in Germany have fallen to around 300 a day in recent weeks. (Pancevski, 6/17)

The Associated Press: China's New Outbreak Wanes As US Calls For Answers On Virus
A new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing saw a decline in daily cases Thursday while the United States increased pressure on China’s leaders to reveal what they know about the pandemic. The outbreak first detected at a wholesale market in the capital last week has infected at least 158 people in China’s biggest resurgence since the initial outbreak was brought under control in March. The city reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, down from 31 on Wednesday. City officials said close contacts of market workers, visitors and other connections were being traced to locate all possible cases as quickly as possible, with testing and prevention measures being taken. (Moritsugu and McGuirk, 6/18)

Reuters: Beijing Residents Rush Coronavirus Test Clinics As Emergency Rules Expand
China’s capital has mandated coronavirus tests for hundreds of thousands of people as it widens measures against a new outbreak of the disease that has sent anxious residents flooding to clinics for voluntary tests, putting a strain on the system. (Cadell and Tian, 6/18)

The Washington Post: Video Evidence Of Anti-Black Discrimination In China Over Coronavirus Fears
In the face of an invisible and deadly enemy, fears and deep-rooted biases often take over. This bore out in the reaction of some communities to the coronavirus, a swift and highly contagious disease. In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the African population — one of the largest in Asia — and black residents said that they became the targets of a crackdown from local officials over unfounded fears that Africans were a high-risk population for the spread of the disease. (Cahlan and Lee, 6/18)

The New York Times: Contact Tracing To Tackle Coronavirus In England Off To A Slow Start
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain unveiled last month a “world beating” operation to track down people who had been exposed to the coronavirus, giving the country a chance to climb out of lockdown without losing sight of where infections were spreading. As with much of the government’s response to the pandemic, however, the results have fallen short of the promises, jeopardizing the reopening of Britain’s hobbled economy and risking a second wave of death in one of the countries most debilitated by the virus. (Mueller and Bradley, 6/17)

Reuters: From Asia To Africa, 'Sesame Street' Special Tackles Coronavirus Pandemic
Elmo, Cookie Monster and Muppets from Asia and the Middle East are joining forces for a special episode of “Sesame Street” aimed at helping kids cope with a world turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. (6/18)

Los Angeles Times: These Countries Tamed Coronavirus. Why They're Keeping Social Distancing In Place
It was 91 degrees, and Hans Hsu, clad in shorts, sat on a bench waiting to catch the bus home, a surgical mask dangling from his arm. The face covering made him sweat, but without it he wouldn’t be allowed to board. “Of course, it’s kind of hot, but it’s necessary,” said Hsu, a 51-year-old interior designer. “We have no control over how long the outbreak itself will last.” In Taiwan, masks are required in order to ride public buses and trains. People in Hong Kong still have their temperatures scanned as they enter buildings. (Jennings and Bengali, 6/17)

Reuters: Amazon Forest Fires Could Increase Risk Of Serious Coronavirus Infections
An intense season of fires in the Amazon rainforest this year could overwhelm health systems and lead to unnecessary deaths, including of coronavirus, as pollution worsens respiratory conditions, public health experts said on Wednesday. Forest fires destroy many thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest across Latin America each year. As peak burning season approaches, experts say intense fires and the particles they give off could exacerbate coronavirus infections. (6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Files Charges Against Chinese Mask Manufacturer
Federal prosecutors accused a Chinese manufacturer of selling 140,000 defective masks to a U.S. distributor, the latest case brought against a company for allegedly selling substandard products that could put wearers at risk amid the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped the masks for inspection at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in early May, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey. (Hufford, 6/17)

American Academy Of Pediatrics: Epidemiology Of COVID-19 Among Children In China
Children of all ages appeared susceptible to COVID-19, and there was no significant sex difference. Although clinical manifestations of children’s COVID-19 cases were generally less severe than those of adult patients, young children, particularly infants, were vulnerable to infection. The distribution of children’s COVID-19 cases varied with time and space, and most of the cases were concentrated in Hubei province and surrounding areas. Furthermore, this study provides strong evidence of human-to-human transmission. (Dong et al, 6/1)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Association Between Healthy Eating Patterns And Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease
In 3 large prospective cohorts with up to 32 years of follow-up, greater adherence to various healthy eating patterns was consistently associated with lower risk of CVD. These findings support the recommendations of the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that multiple healthy eating patterns can be adapted to individual food traditions and preferences. (Shan et al, 6/15)

Urban Institute: One In Five Adults In Immigrant Families With Children Reported Chilling Effects On Public Benefit Receipt In 2019
In 2018, the Trump administration proposed sweeping changes to the “public charge” rule that would make it more difficult for applicants to obtain green cards or temporary visas if they have used noncash public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, or housing assistance. Though the rule was not implemented until February 2020, research indicates that “chilling effects,” whereby immigrant families avoided programs specified in the rule as well as other public programs out of fear of immigration-related consequences, were widespread even before implementation. (Haley, Kenney, Bernstein and Gonzalez, 6/18)

CIDRAP: High Antibiotic Prescribing Rates Found In Lower-Resource Nations
A new review and meta-analysis of studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) shows that on average, more than half of all patients seeking healthcare for any reason at primary care facilities receive an antibiotic, researchers reported yesterday in PLOS Medicine. The review, which examined 48 studies reporting on the use of prescription medications in primary care in LMICs over the last decade, found that the pooled prevalence of antibiotic prescribing in primary care was 52%—far higher than the 30% recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). (Dall, 6/17)

Stat: Scientists As Heroes: Let's Keep That Image In The Public Eye
“You truly have emerged as a personal hero for me,” Julia Roberts tells Dr. Anthony Fauci in an interview broadcast on YouTube. Calling the U.S. infectious disease expert “maybe the coolest man on the planet,” the Oscar-winning actress is clearly star-struck during their conversation, part of an initiative by an advocacy group to raise the profile of medics, scientists, and experts. (Marja Makarow, 6/18)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Is Surging And People Are Worried About Facemasks?
Even as deaths from COVID-19 decline nationwide, there’s been an upswing in cases in a number of states, including California, as more businesses reopen and more people go back to work. Nine states have hit new highs for daily or weekly infections reported, a sign that the first wave of the pandemic is still well underway. Under other circumstances, this kind of increase might not be cause for alarm. The number of cases naturally rises as testing expands and picks up mild infections that might have otherwise gone undetected. Same with the reopening of closed businesses. There’s no way to avoid some additional spread of the virus with more people out and about in hair salons, bars, beaches and stores. (6/18)

The Washington Post: Mike Pence Is A Case Study In Irresponsibility
Every handbook for a public health crisis emphasizes that open, transparent communication is extremely important. Officials must maintain credibility and public trust. They must not “over-reassure” and should be candid about risks and unexpected events. By this measure, Vice President Pence, who heads the White House task force on the coronavirus pandemic, has been a case study in irresponsibility. His op-ed published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal rightly called attention to some progress in fighting the virus, but also included a burst of happy talk. Mr. Pence declared, “We are winning the fight against the invisible enemy” and took the media to task for worrying about a second wave. (6/17)

CNN: Trump And Pence: A Two-Man Covid-19 Gaslighting Act 
If you were hoping for the coronavirus threat to come down significantly in the United States any time soon, you should lower your expectations. The prospect of a meaningful nationwide drop in the number of new infections looks like a distant dream right now. To a large extent, that is the fault of the President of the United States. (Frida Ghitis, 6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: What Covid Models Get Wrong
Here we go again. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has issued a new forecast that Covid-19 fatalities would spike over the summer in states that have moved faster to reopen. Cue the media drumbeat for another lockdown. Maybe someone should first explain why the models were wrong about so much the last time.Take New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo locked down the state in mid-March based on dire warnings. His public health experts projected the state would need as many as 140,000 hospital beds and 40,000 intensive care units—two to three times more regular hospital beds and 10 times more ICU beds than were available. The UW model forecast that 49,000 regular beds and 8,000 ICU beds would be needed at the peak. (6/17)

The Washington Post: Stop Scolding The Coronavirus Partiers. They Aren’t The Problem. 
New York City’s East Village went viral this past weekend, after a local blogger posted a 45-second video of Friday night revelers on St. Mark’s Place, complete with a jazz band. The armchair epidemiologists of Twitter took the partyers to task: “I hate these people,” one woman wrote. Even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo got involved in the online smackdown: “Don’t make me come down there …” he tweeted; he has since threatened to reimpose shutdowns in Manhattan and the Hamptons. It’s easy to understand the Twitter rage over all this. We’re living through a global pandemic, one that has taken more than 100,000 lives in the United States in a little over three months. People are scared. But the attacks on the revelers are less about coronavirus than they are about expressing a flawed moral judgment. We are asking people to sacrifice in a way that’s clearly unsustainable, and then dumping hate on them when they fail to live up to an inhuman ideal. (Helaine Olen, 6/17)

The Hill: Looming Confusion As COVID-19 State Emergency Orders Begin To Expire 
As the COVID-19 emergency continues to spread across the country, governors and executive agencies across the United States have taken actions to loosen cross-border licensing restrictions for health care professionals. However, in the absence of a unifying statement of suggested action from the federal government, these actions are a patchwork of disparate state emergency orders. (Julia F. Costich and Danielle N. Scheer, 6/17)

WBUR: 12 Million People A Year Are Abused By Their Partners. The Pandemic Is Making That Much Worse  
Decades after my mother’s battle with intimate partner violence, I’m newly disturbed by the surge of intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 crisis. With staggering unemployment numbers, families sequestered in their homes and physical distancing measures interrupting social networks, intimate partner violence is putting more people at risk than ever. (Nancy Rappaport, 6/18)

USA Today: Coronavirus Run On Guns Highlights Need For More Gun Safety Research
Shortages of toilet paper at neighborhood grocery stores have become a symbol of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 virus, but recent reports suggest that people also reacted to the pandemic by purchasing firearms and ammunition in massive numbers. Year over year, estimates of gun sales increased 85% in March, the highest level ever recorded in the United States, followed in April by a 71% increase. Eventually, the pandemic will recede, scientific rigor will lead to treatments or a vaccine, and life will start to return to a new normal — but those new firearms aren’t going anywhere. What does this mean for public safety? (Andrew R. Morral and Jeremy Travis, 6/17)

The Wall Street Journal: State Taxes Shouldn’t Be Another Pandemic Worry
As New York struggled with tens of thousands of coronavirus cases, medical professionals from across the U.S. traveled to the city to help. Their work was crucial to the city’s effort to contain the pandemic and undoubtedly helped save lives. And in May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced their reward: tax bills from the state of New York. That’s right: tax bills. Doctors and nurses who voluntarily crossed state lines to come help, in some cases sacrificing vacation time to do so, are now being informed that they will owe New York’s substantial income tax on any money they made there. (John Thune, 6/17)

The Birmingham News: Shhh. Anyone Hear Gov. Ivey Yet On Coronavirus Spike, Police Reform, Confederate Memorials, Health Disparities?
Shhhh. I’m trying to hear the governor. She must be saying something. Something about the recent staggering spike in coronavirus infections in the state. Something about police reform, which leaders across the nation are publicly addressing. Something about growing defiance of the state’s law protecting “memorials." Something about a plan to attack Alabama’s racial health disparities, about African American residents dying at twice the rate of white residents. (Roy S. Johnson, 6/16)