The New York Times: Lockdown Delays Cost At Least 36,000 Lives, Data Show
If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers. And if the country had begun locking down cities and limiting social contact on March 1, two weeks earlier than most people started staying home, the vast majority of the nation’s deaths — about 83 percent — would have been avoided, the researchers estimated. Under that scenario, about 54,000 fewer people would have died by early May. (Glanz and Robertson, 5/20)

Los Angeles Times: California Records A New Daily High In Coronavirus Deaths
California recorded 132 new coronavirus-related fatalities Tuesday — the most in a single day since the pandemic began — as counties across the state continue cementing plans to reopen their economies. The highest number of deaths previously reported in a single day statewide was 117 in late April. Tuesday’s rise, which comes on a day when data from the previous weekend is typically released, pushed the state’s death toll past 3,400. The number of confirmed cases statewide has climbed to 83,864, according to data compiled by The Times. (Fry, Lin and Money, 5/20)

Al.Com: Alabama Tops 500 Coronavirus Deaths, 20% From 1 County; 12,701 Cases Statewide
The number of coronavirus deaths in Alabama has topped 500. The May 20 9:30 a.m. numbers from the Alabama Department of Public Health shows 508 deaths, with 104 of those – roughly 20 percent – in Mobile County. The death count grew by 15 overnight.Other counties double-digit death counts are in Jefferson (78); Tallapoosa (57); Lee (32); Montgomery (24); Chambers (22); Shelby (19); and Lowndes, Butler and Etowah, each with 10. (Gore, 5/20)

Boston Globe: Two Months After First Coronavirus Death, Massachusetts Passes 6,000 Fatalities
Hard-hit Massachusetts passed a grim milestone Wednesday with more than 6,000 deaths now linked to the coronavirus, a tally reached two months after an 87-year-old Winthrop man became the state’s first reported victim of the pandemic. But signs of hope can be found amid the losses. Governor Charlie Baker said the seven-day average of positive tests for the virus remained under 10 percent, a statistic he called “a very promising development.” (MacQuarrie and Rosen, 5/20)

WFMZ: NJ Reports 168 More Deaths From COVID-19
In New Jersey the death toll from the virus has climbed to more than 10,700. Governor Phil Murphy says this is after 168 more people died. He also reports that nearly another 1700 people tested positive for the coronavirus within the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the state to almost 150,400.Murphy says self-administered, self-swab COVID-19 tests will be offered at several Walmart stores and Quest Diagnostic locations in the state. (5/20)

Politico: Divergent Death Tolls In New York's Rockaways Show Covid-19's Uneven Reach
On the western end of the Rockaway Peninsula off the southern coast of Queens, a house nestled in a gated community recently sold for $1.2 million, and visitors to a nearby beach club pay up to $5,715 to secure a cabana for the summer. Ten miles east, a shopping center lay vacant for four decades, broadcasting the area’s blight. (Goldenberg and Bocanegra, 5/20)

The New York Times: Trump Makes False Claim About Michigan Secretary Of State And Mail Voting
President Trump on Wednesday escalated his assault against mail voting, falsely claiming that Michigan and Nevada were engaged in voter fraud and had acted illegally, and threatening to withhold federal funds to those states if they proceed in expanding vote-by-mail efforts. The president inaccurately accused Michigan of sending mail ballots to its residents, as his aides later acknowledged, and he offered no basis for his claims of illegal actions by either Michigan or Nevada. The Michigan secretary of state has sent ballot applications — not the ballots themselves — to registered voters, a growing practice among election officials, including in states led by Republicans. (Epstein, Corasaniti and Karni, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Upbraids Michigan, Nevada For Easing Vote By Mail
He also inaccurately said the state was sending out absentee ballots, rather than applications, before later on Wednesday deleting that tweet and correcting the error in another one. “President Donald Trump’s updated statement is also false,’’ said Jake Rollow, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of State. “Absent-voter applications are mailed nearly every election cycle by both major parties and countless advocacy and nonpartisan organizations. Just like them, we have full authority to mail applications to ensure voters know they have the right to vote safely by mail.” (Lucey, 5/20)

The Associated Press: Trump Threatens Funds For States Easing Voting In Pandemic
The president targeted Michigan with an inaccurate tweet on its voting plans and also went after Nevada in the latest — and the most confused — episode in his campaign against mail-in voting. As states have shifted to remote voting, following health officials recommendations on safety, Trump has denigrated the practice and sought to limit access. He has said repeatedly, without evidence, that mailed ballots allow widespread fraud and has worried publicly that wide availability could lead so many people to vote that Republicans would lose in November. His GOP allies, meanwhile, have fought changes to voting in court and opposed funding to expand mail-in voting in Congress. (Riccardi and Miller, 5/21)

Reuters: Trump Slams Michigan, Nevada For Expanding Voting By Mail, But Drops Funding Threat
Numerous studies have found little evidence of voter fraud connected to voting by mail. States have broad authority to set their own rules for voting. Many states have pushed to expand vote-by-mail options as a safer alternative in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, sparking a growing partisan fight with Trump and his Republican allies. (Whitesides, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Threatens Funding For Michigan, Nevada Over Absentee, Mail-In Voting Plans
Democratic strategists pointed to Trump’s tweets targeting battleground or Democratic-controlled states as evidence that he is trying to gain an edge in states that could decide the outcome in November. They noted that many Republican states are similarly expanding mail balloting, yet Trump has not criticized them. “They’re doing this because they think it gives them some sort of political advantage,” said Guy Cecil, a former aide to Hillary Clinton who leads the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action. “They see what Trump’s poll numbers are, and their philosophy is simple: ‘If we can’t win with the electorate we have, then we try to create an environment that gives us an electorate that we can win with.’ ” (Gardner, Dawsey, Stein and Wagner, 5/20)

Politico: Trump Misstates Michigan Mail-In Ballot Policy, Threatens Federal Funding
In a press briefing at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly declined to answer questions about what specifically Trump believed was illegal about Michigan’s efforts. Instead she reiterated Trump‘s unfounded claims, saying he was concerned about “a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail-in voting.“ McEnany wouldn’t say what funding Trump was considering withholding, telling reporters that the tweets were merely “meant to alert Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Vought, head of OMB, about his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states” given his concerns about mail-in voting. (Montellaro and Forgey, 5/20)

NPR: Trump Threatens Funding To Michigan, Nevada Over Absentee Voting
Elections are run by state and local governments, and it's unclear what legal means Trump would have to withhold funds from the states. Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 to allow no-excuse absentee ballots, along with a number of other changes to make access to voting easier. (Neely, 5/20)

CNN: Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Order That Would Allow Texans Afraid Of Catching Coronavirus To Vote By Mail 
A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a lower court judge's ruling that would have allowed all registered voters in Texas afraid of catching the novel coronavirus access to absentee mail-in voting amid the pandemic. The 5th US Circuit of Appeals on Wednesday halted a Tuesday night decision by federal Judge Fred Biery that expanded the "disability" provision in the state's vote-by-mail election code to all registered voters who "lack immunity from Covid-19 and fear infection at polling places." (Mena, 5/20)

The Hill: Trump Takes Pandemic Fight To Michigan 
President Trump on Thursday will visit the 2020 battleground of Michigan as he seeks to contrast his handling of the pandemic with that of the state’s Democratic leaders. Trump’s visit to a Ford plant manufacturing ventilators in Ypsilanti will mark his third trip to a critical swing state in as many weeks. Each time, he has sought to highlight the private sector’s work with the federal government on the coronavirus. (Chalfant, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Asked By Michigan AG To Wear Mask During Ford Plant Visit
Ahead of President Trump’s planned trip Thursday to a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan, the state’s attorney general implored him to wear a face mask on his tour, citing a “legal responsibility.” (Chiu, 5/21)

ABC News: Trump, Yet To Wear Mask In Public, To Visit Michigan Ventilator Facility That Requires Them 
President Donald Trump has yet to publicly wear a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic but is set to tour a Ford plant manufacturing ventilators in Michigan Thursday where masks are required. The Ford policy at the plant couldn't be any clearer: "Face masks are required to be worn by everyone, in all facilities, at all times. This measure of protection will remain in effect until such time as the COVID-19 virus is no longer a critical risk." But Ford officials have signaled they may allow Trump to bend that rule. (Phelps and Gittleson, 5/20)

CNBC: Coronavirus: Trump Required To Wear Mask For Ford Visit, Michigan AG Says
Ford, whose Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti is set to host Trump on Thursday, has a policy of requiring masks there. The company said it has informed the White House about that policy. But Ford also said Tuesday, “The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination” about whether Trump and his party will wear masks during the visit. (Mangan, 5/20)

Reuters: Trump To Visit Ford Plant In Battleground State Michigan Amid Tensions With Governor
Trump has made only a handful of trips out of Washington since the pandemic went into full force. They have focused on politically important states such as Arizona and Pennsylvania and have included campaign-style music and rhetoric despite being official White House visits. Trump’s signature political rallies have been suspended because of the outbreak. Trump and Ford have been at odds for nearly a year over the automaker’s decision in July 2019 to back a deal with California for stricter fuel economy standards than his administration proposed. (Mason, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Visit To A Ford Factory Will Be Fraught With Tension
Even the coronavirus relief effort has been an erratic experience. Ford and General Motors Co. had already committed to building ventilators when Trump lashed out GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra over federal contract negotiations and demanded that the two companies make the devices “FAST!!!!!!” He and members of his administration have praised the carmakers since then. “With or without the president’s urging, the automakers took this upon themselves and created their own network to gather all the various components and to work with the ventilator companies,” said Carla Bailo, the president of the Center for Automotive Research, which consulted with the companies on their shift to making medical equipment. “All of that was ongoing in advance of any kind of executive order or tweets.” (Naughton, 5/21)

The Hill: Ford Temporarily Shuts Down Two Plants After Employees Test Positive For Coronavirus 
Ford temporarily paused production at two assembly plants this week after employees tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The closures, which occurred at plants in Dearborn, Mich., and Chicago, came as Ford resumed operations at its North American factories for the first time in months. The plant in Chicago briefly suspended operations on Tuesday after two employees tested positive for the virus, a spokesperson told The Hill. (Wise, 5/20)

CNN: Ford Forced To Halt Production At Two Plants After Employees Test Positive For Covid-19 
Both plants, as well as other Ford plants across four Midwest states -- restarted production Monday after suspending production for about two months because of health concerns. This week's stoppages were expected to be brief -- the Chicago plant was back in operation Wednesday morning, and the Dearborn plant is expected to resume operations later Wednesday night. Still, the temporary shutdowns are a sign of the difficulty of operating factories while complying with enhanced safety measures put in place to deal with the pandemic. (Isidore, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Ahead Of President’s Visit, Michigan Town Battles Racial Disparities In Coronavirus Deaths
In her two decades on the city council, Lois E. Allen-Richardson recalls using the word “racism” only once during official meetings in the city hall chamber. The 77-year old mayor pro-tem of this liberal, blue-collar town grew up here at a time when she and her neighbors were barred from downtown restaurants and dress shops because of their skin color. Though Allen-Richardson, who is black, walks freely now, she sees racism elsewhere: in the segregated neighborhoods, in the stories about black residents denied coronavirus testing, in the struggle to get a testing site in a neighborhood with among the highest infection rates. (Balingit, 5/20)

Mlive.Com: Washtenaw County Board Of Commissioners Chairman Asks President Trump To Cancel Visit
The chairman of Washtenaw County’s Board of Commissioners has sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to cancel his Thursday visit to the county. In his letter, Jason Morgan said he’s concerned Trump’s May 20 visit will put Washtenaw County residents at risk for further exposure to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. “I respect the Office of the President and generally welcome the opportunity for you to learn about the needs of our community; however, I firmly believe that your recent inaccurate statements and actions cause greater uncertainty, division and harm to our residents,” Morgan’s letter states. (Marowski, 5/20)

Politico: Under Pressure, Trump Administration Weighs Extending National Guard Deployments
Trump administration officials are preparing plans to extend the federal deployment of more than 40,000 National Guard members performing coronavirus relief work across the country, after scores of lawmakers moved to pressure President Donald Trump to keep the Guards in place past June. Four people familiar with the matter said the administration is prepared to extend the deployments through July, which would maintain federal funding for troops administering Covid-19 tests, disinfecting nursing homes and performing other public safety duties in nearly every state and federal territory. (Ollstein and Lippman, 5/20)

The New York Times: For Spy Agencies, Briefing Trump Is A Test Of Holding His Attention
President Trump has blamed many others for his administration’s flawed response to the coronavirus: China, governors, the Obama administration, the World Health Organization. In recent weeks, he has also faulted the information he received from an obscure analyst who delivers his intelligence briefings. Mr. Trump has insisted that the intelligence agencies gave him inadequate warnings about the threat of the virus, describing it as “not a big deal.” Intelligence officials have publicly backed him, acknowledging that Beth Sanner, the analyst who regularly briefs the president, underplayed the dangers when she first mentioned the virus to him on Jan. 23. (Barnes and Goldman, 5/21)

CNN: Trump Said Obama Administration Was Handling Early Days Of Swine Flu Outbreak 'Fine,' Cautioned Not To Overreact 
Donald Trump in April 2009 said the Obama administration was handling the ​early days of the 2009-2010 H1N1 outbreak ​"fine​" and warned against overreacting to the new virus. The comments from Trump, made on a Fox News appearance from April ​24, 2009, ​are at odds with his recent criticisms of the Obama administration, which he has frequently attacked for its pandemic preparations and response to H1N1. In a March tweet, Trump said that "their response to H1N1 Swine Flu was a full scale disaster." (Steck and Kaczynski, 5/20)

The Associated Press: White House Report Blasts Chinese 'Malign Activities'
Beyond its hard-hitting rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus, the White House has issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing’s predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report does not signal a shift in U.S. policy, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the report and spoke only on condition of anonymity, but it expands on Trump’s get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China’s handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. (Riechmann, 5/21)

CNN: Fauci Conspicuously Stops Doing TV Interviews As White House Moves To Reopen Economy 
The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has been conspicuously absent from national television interviews over the last two weeks, as the White House moves ahead with reopening the economy. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, last gave a television interview when he spoke to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on May 4th. Prior to his recent absence from the airwaves, Fauci was regularly appearing on national news programs to update the American people on the country's fight against the coronavirus. (Darcy, 5/20)

Reuters: Trump Says His Hydroxychloroquine Regimen Finishes In The Next Day Or Two 
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the regimen of an anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that he is taking to ward off the coronavirus finishes in the next day or two. Trump revealed this week he was taking the drug despite medical warnings about potential serious side effects and questions about its effectiveness in preventing COVID-19. (5/20)

The Hill: White House Doctor Prescribed Hydroxychloroquine For Trump, McEnany Says 
President Trump's physician prescribed hydroxychloroquine for him as a preventative measure against the coronavirus, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed Wednesday amid criticism and questions about whether Trump is actually taking the drug. "Yes, the doctor did prescribe it for him. And he took it after having several discussions with Dr. [Sean] Conley about its efficacy," McEnany told David Brody of CBN News. (Samuels, 5/20)

The Associated Press: WHO: Drug Trump Taking To Fight COVID-19 Best Left To Tests
The World Health Organization, which has come under repeated fire from U.S. President Donald Trump, says the science is still unclear on an old malaria drug he’s taking to try to defend against the novel coronavirus. It says it recommends the drug’s use for COVID-19 only in controlled clinical trials for now. (Keaten, 5/21)

The Washington Post: Reopening Guidance For Churches Delayed After White House And CDC Disagree
Guidance for reopening houses of worship amid the coronavirus pandemic has been put on hold after a battle between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House, which was resistant to putting limits on religious institutions, according to administration officials. The CDC this week issued a detailed road map for reopening schools, child-care facilities, restaurants and mass transit. On Tuesday night, the agency issued additional guidance in the form of “health considerations” for summer camps, including overnight camps, and youth sports organizations and colleges. (Sun, Dawsey and Boorstein, 5/20)

ABC News: 'Sorrowful': Black Clergy Members And Churches Reeling From COVID-19 Losses 
The novel coronavirus has taken a massive toll on Americans from all walks of life. Communities of faith have paid a heavy price, both in terms of congregations not being able to worship together and religious leaders along with so many of their church members being afflicted with and dying from the disease. The crisis has been felt among a number of religious backgrounds, but particularly acute among leading African American members of the clergy and churches with predominantly black congregations, according to faith leaders. (Carrega and Brown, 5/21)

Los Angeles Times: Defying State Coronavirus Order, A Thousand Pastors Plan To Hold In-Person Services For Pentecost
More than 1,200 pastors have vowed to hold in-person services on May 31, Pentecost Sunday, defying a state moratorium on religious gatherings that Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. In a letter to Newsom, Robert H. Tyler, an attorney representing a Lodi church that has challenged the governor’s order in court, said more than 1,200 pastors have signed a “Declaration of Essentiality,” asserting their churches are as essential as any grocery or hardware store and should be allowed to reopen. (Ormseth, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: New York To Allow Small Religious Gatherings, As Coronavirus Cases Fall
Religious services with 10 or fewer people will be permitted again in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, as restrictions related to the new coronavirus are relaxed. The Democratic governor already had said that Memorial Day celebrations with that number of people could take place in the coming days. Services can resume starting Thursday, Mr. Cuomo said, as long as participants stay apart and wear masks. Drive-in services also are permitted. (Vielkind, 5/20)

Reuters: U.S. Nursing Homes Plagued By Infection Control Issues Pre-COVID-19: Report
U.S. nursing homes have been plagued with infection control deficiencies even before the coronavirus pandemic turned them into hotspots for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, a government report said on Wednesday. Eighty-two percent of all nursing homes had an infection prevention and control deficiency cited in one or more years from 2013-2017, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. (5/20)

NPR: Ideal Nursing Homes Put Quality Of Life Before Profits
The stunning death toll has brought scrutiny to an industry that many believe is due for an overhaul. Questions about the way its paid for, staffing levels, adequate training for staff, effective regulations and oversight all are raging as states battle to control the ravages of the pandemic. "There's lots of hubbub" around nursing homes, says Dr. Louise Aronson, a geriatrician, professor of Medicine at UC San Francisco, and author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Elderhood. And it's important, she says, that the public keep that focus. (Jaffe, 5/21)

The New York Times: The Striking Racial Divide In How Covid-19 Has Hit Nursing Homes 
In the suburbs of Baltimore, workers at one nursing home said they were given rain ponchos to protect from infection. Twenty-seven employees at the facility, where most residents are African-American, tested positive for the coronavirus. One of the many black residents of a nursing home in Belleville, Ill., died in April amid a coronavirus outbreak. But his niece complained that he was never tested for the virus. In East Los Angeles, a staff member at a predominantly Latino nursing home where an outbreak emerged said she was given swimming goggles before professional gear could be obtained. She said she later tested positive for the virus. (5/21)

ABC News: In Nursing Homes, As In Wider Community, Minorities Hit Hardest By COVID, Researchers Say 
Nursing homes serving mostly minority populations are twice as likely to experience a deadly coronavirus outbreak as those with mostly white residents, according to new research on the devastating impact the highly contagious illness is having on vulnerable residential care facilities. “Our biggest predictor was race,” said R. Tamara Konetzka, a professor at the University of Chicago who led the study. “The higher percent white residents in a facility, the less likely that facility has had a single case or a single death.” (Pecorin and Mosk, 5/21)

Nj.Com: 5,368 Dead And Counting: An Investigation Of State Failures As Crisis Rampaged Through N.J. Nursing Homes
The last time Claire Collins saw her family through the glass door of the nursing home in Bergen County, the 87-year-old woman looked weak but happy. As relatives huddled under an umbrella to stay dry, she sang “Singin’ in the Rain.” Three days later, on April 6, she was dead. Her daughter now agonizes over what she said she has learned from emails and other families since her mother died. Eighty percent of the residents of Atrium Post Acute Care at Park Ridge had coronavirus symptoms in mid-April, but only about a dozen had been tested because there were no supplies, Catherine Collins-Mullen said. (Livio and Sherman, 5/20)

Arkansas Online: Arkansas Virus Fight Turning To Nursing Homes, Governor Says
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced plans Tuesday to test every nursing home resident and worker in Arkansas for the coronavirus next month, meaning the state will add at least 40,000 tests - and possibly up to 50,000 - to its ongoing testing efforts in June. “This additional testing will better protect our nursing home residents and our staff,” Hutchinson said at his daily briefing on the spread of covid-19 in Arkansas. “And it will give confidence ... that we’re doing everything we can to make sure there is no spread or contagion in these facilities.” (Lynch, 5/19)

The Star Tribune: Botched Virus Testing At St. Paul Nursing Home Brings Anger, Apologies
A Minnesota National Guard unit botched COVID-19 testing for 300 residents and staff members at a St. Paul nursing home Monday, leaving many with pain, discomfort and bloody noses. In what one health official acknowledged was “a disaster,” the test samples from Episcopal Church Home were later ruined because they were not stored in coolers while being transported to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. (Walsh, 5/20)

The New York Times: A New Entry In The Race For A Coronavirus Vaccine: Hope
In a medical research project nearly unrivaled in its ambition and scope, volunteers worldwide are rolling up their sleeves to receive experimental vaccines against the coronavirus — only months after the virus was identified. Companies like Inovio and Pfizer have begun early tests of candidates in people to determine whether their vaccines are safe. Researchers at the University of Oxford in England are testing vaccines in human subjects, too, and say they could have one ready for emergency use as soon as September. (Zimmer, Sheikh and Weiland, 5/20)

Reuters: Exclusive: A Quarter Of Americans Are Hesitant About A Coronavirus Vaccine - Reuters/Ipsos Poll
A quarter of Americans have little or no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday found, with some voicing concern that the record pace at which vaccine candidates are being developed could compromise safety. While health experts say a vaccine to prevent infection is needed to return life to normal, the survey points to a potential trust issue for the Trump administration already under fire for its often contradictory safety guidance during the pandemic. Some 36% of respondents said they would be less willing to take a vaccine if U.S. President Donald Trump said it was safe, compared with only 14% who would be more interested. (Ax and Steenhuysen, 5/21)

The Washington Post: Vaccine Misinformation Takes Root In Anti-Coronavirus Lockdown Facebook Groups
The question was posed bluntly to the nearly 100,000 members of a Facebook group devoted to ending Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home orders, with a user writing, “if there was a vaccine for coronavirus would you be likely to take it.”“Absolutely not.” “No.”“Never.” The resoundingly negative answers streamed forth, generating 1,700 comments and providing a window into brewing resistance to a potential coronavirus vaccine that experts say offers the surest path back to normal life. (Stanley-Becker, 5/20)

The New York Times: Trump’s Vaccine Chief Has Vast Ties To Drug Industry, Posing Possible Conflicts 
The chief scientist brought on to lead the Trump administration’s vaccine efforts has spent the last several days trying to disentangle pieces of his stock portfolio and his intricate ties to big pharmaceutical interests, as critics point to the potential for significant conflicts of interest. The scientist, Moncef Slaoui, is a venture capitalist and a former longtime executive at GlaxoSmithKline. Most recently, he sat on the board of Moderna, a Cambridge, Mass., biotechnology firm with a $30 billion valuation that is pursuing a coronavirus vaccine. He resigned when President Trump named him last Thursday to the new post as chief adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the federal drive for coronavirus vaccines and treatments. (Kaplan, Goldstein and Stevenson, 5/20)

Stat: The Bizarre Saga Of A Biotech Frozen In Time In The Covid-19 Vaccine Race
Moderna’s work on a vaccine for coronavirus has made its founders into paper billionaires. Gilead Sciences has added $10 billion to its market value since the start of 2020. And a rising tide of Covid-19 speculation has sent one major biotech index to its all-time high. But Sinovac, a Beijing-headquartered company with a coronavirus vaccine already in human trials, has been entirely left out. (Garde, 5/20)

Reuters: Red Cross Aid Agency Warns Against Any Move To Limit Vaccine Access
The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) appealed on Wednesday for the world to work together toward a coronavirus vaccine, warning against any unilateral action that could prevent access for poor countries. “The reality is that there is this risk,” Francesco Rocca, who heads the world’s largest disaster relief network, told Reuters. “Everyone must have access to these lifesaving treatments.” (Nichols, 5/20)

Reuters: AstraZeneca To Make Billion COVID Vaccine Doses If Tests Succeed
AstraZeneca expects to be able to deliver a billion doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine this year and next if tests are successful, adding on Thursday it should shortly get results of an early stage clinical trial. The British drugmaker said it had signed the first agreements to supply at least 400 million doses of the vaccine, which it is developing with Oxford University. (5/21)

Reuters: Top HIV Scientist Says He Wouldn't Count On A Vaccine For Coronavirus Soon
A top U.S. scientist said on Wednesday that governments should not count on a successful vaccine against COVID-19 being developed anytime soon when deciding whether to ease restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic. (Galloni, 5/20)

Boston Globe: ‘This Is Not How You Do Science’: Cambridge Biotech Moderna’s Potential COVID-19 Vaccine Stirs Hope — And Criticism
Eight people. That’s all it took to move the market on Monday. The eight were study participants who received a potential COVID-19 vaccine and produced antibodies that killed the coronavirus in a laboratory dish. Within hours of issuing a press release about this finding, Moderna, the Cambridge-based maker of the experimental vaccine, saw its stock price jump by 20 percent. By day’s end, Moderna was credited with helping drive a 4 percent rise in the stock market. (Freyer and Saltzman, 5/19)

NPR: Why The Race For A Coronavirus Vaccine Will Depend On Global Cooperation
These days, it seems any morsel of good news about a coronavirus vaccine sends hopes — and markets — soaring. The reality is, developing and producing a vaccine is an incredibly complicated process — one that is heavily reliant on global cooperation, says Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Yadav says cooperation is necessary for a number of reasons. For one, "just protecting U.S. population won't be sufficient for us to resume global travel and trade," he says. (Kelly, 5/20)

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: Get Ready For The Vaccine — They’re Never Simple
If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines. To determine whether a vaccine prevents disease, the study’s subjects need to be exposed to the pathogen as it circulates in the population. Reopening the economy will likely result in the faster spread of the coronavirus and therefore more opportunities to test a vaccine’s efficacy in trial subjects. (Allen, 5/21)

ABC News: In Race To Find A COVID-19 Treatment, CEO Of Tiny Biotech Company Is 'Very Optimistic' 
As manufacturers around the world race to find a drug to treat COVID-19, a tiny British-Norwegian company developing a treatment for the illness says it is "very optimistic" for the potential of a new drug that would require a patient to take only one pill a day. BerGenBio, a biotechnology company that employs just 38 people based in Bergen, Norway, and Oxford, England, has developed a drug called bemcentinib, which is currently in phase two of clinical trials. Richard Godfrey, the CEO of BerGenBio, told ABC News that he has high hopes that the drug, which was initially developed to treat cancer, will benefit coronavirus patients. (Davies and Haddou, 5/20)

Reuters: Monkeys Infected With COVID-19 Develop Immunity In Studies, A Positive Sign For Vaccines
Two studies in monkeys published on Wednesday offer some of the first scientific evidence that surviving COVID-19 may result in immunity from reinfection, a positive sign that vaccines under development may succeed, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. (Steenhuysen, 5/20)

The New York Times: Prototype Vaccine Protects Monkeys From Coronavirus
A prototype vaccine has protected monkeys from the coronavirus, researchers reported on Wednesday, a finding that offers new hope for effective human vaccines. Scientists are already testing coronavirus vaccines in people, but the initial trials are designed to determine safety, not how well a vaccine works. The research published Wednesday offers insight into what a vaccine must do to be effective and how to measure that. “To me, this is convincing that a vaccine is possible,” said Dr. Nelson Michael, the director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. (Zimmer, 5/20)

Boston Globe: Two Studies Suggest COVID-19 Antibodies Provide Immunity
Can people who recover from COVID-19 get it again or do they become immune? That’s been one of the most urgent questions raised by health experts during the coronavirus pandemic, because the answer has sweeping implications. If the antibodies that people produce to fight off the virus do make them immune, they can resume their lives after recovery without fear of reinfection. It also increases the likelihood that scientists can create a vaccine to trigger a similar immune response. (Saltzman, 5/20)

Masslive.Com: Pair Of Studies Showed Vaccine Prevented Coronavirus Infection In Monkeys; Produced Antibodies
Dan Barouch, director of the center for virology and vaccine research at Beth Israel, and his colleagues were working on a number of candidate DNA coronavirus vaccines in January. Researchers immunized 25 adult rhesus macaques, while 10 others in a control group received “sham versions.”Three weeks vaccination, all 35 animals were exposed to the virus. In follow-up tests, the monkeys that were vaccinated with the coronavirus showed “dramatically lower viral loads” compared with the control group. (Stening, 5/20)

The New York Times: All 50 States Are Now Reopening. But At What Cost?
In Connecticut, flags that had been lowered during the somber peak of the coronavirus pandemic were raised to full-staff on Wednesday to signal a return to business. In Kentucky, gift shops creaked open their doors. And across Alaska, restaurants, bars and gyms, which have been open to small numbers of customers for weeks, were getting ready to rev back up to full capacity. “It will all be open,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced, “just like it was prior to the virus.” (Mervosh and Harmon, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: All 50 States Have Now Taken Steps To Reopen
The U.S. hit a milestone in the coronavirus pandemic as all 50 states have now begun reopening, working to revive their economies after months of shutdowns designed to curb the contagion. Slight declines in new confirmed cases in some states have prompted governors from New York to Ohio to restart some services, with rules varying from place to place, including restaurants, churches and schools. On Wednesday, Connecticut became one of the last states to loosen restrictions. (Ansari, McKay and Calfas, 5/20)

ProPublica: States Are Reopening: See How Coronavirus Cases Rise Or Fall
Many states are lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on social and business activity that were put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. Questions linger, however, about whether some states meet criteria set by public health experts and the federal government for doing so. Experts are keeping a close eye on whether states that have reopened are seeing an uptick in cases or a worsening in other key metrics. To give people context on state reopenings, and what happens afterward, we are tracking metrics derived from a set of guidelines published by the White House for states to achieve before loosening restrictions. Even if these criteria are met, without a vaccine, reopening may cause an increase in cases. What’s more, some states may meet all of the criteria and still have a high infection rate. (Groeger and Ngu, 5/20)

NPR: All 50 U.S. States Have Now Started To Reopen, Easing COVID-19 Shutdown
Even as thousands of businesses are now allowed to reopen, more than a dozen states remain under stay-at-home orders. And in many areas, arguments are playing out over when it's safe to reopen gyms, movie theaters and hair salons. In the weeks since Georgia became the first U.S. state to reopen a wide swath of its economy on April 24, public health experts have warned that in many cases, states are easing restrictions despite not meeting all of the criteria to do so. (Chappell, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Case Count Tops Five Million World-Wide
In the U.S., there are nearly 1.55 million confirmed infections and the death toll has passed 93,400, according to Johns Hopkins. Globally, more than five million people across 188 countries and regions have been infected by the novel coronavirus and more than 328,000 people have died. (Ping, 5/21)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Second Wave: Parts Of Texas, Florida, Iowa And Nebraska Risk Case Spikes
Dallas, Houston, Southeast Florida’s Gold Coast, the entire state of Alabama and several other places in the South that have been rapidly reopening their economies are in danger of a second wave of coronavirus infections over the next four weeks, according to a research team that uses cellphone data to track social mobility and forecast the trajectory of the pandemic. The model, developed by ­PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and updated Wednesday with new data, suggests that most communities in the United States should be able to avoid a second spike in the near term if residents are careful to maintain social distancing even as businesses open up and restrictions are eased. (Achenbach, Weiner, Brulliard and Stanley-Becker, 5/20)

The Associated Press: Back To Business, But Not Business As Usual As Nations Open
This is what “normal” will look like for the foreseeable future. In Connecticut, restaurants are reopening with outdoor-only dining and tables 6 feet (2 meters) apart. In Beverly Hills, California, the rich and glamorous are doing their shopping from the curb along Rodeo Drive. And preschools around the U.S. plan to turn social distancing into an arts-and-crafts project by teaching kids how to “create their own space” with things like yarn and masking tape. (Crary, Collins and Winfield, 5/21)

Reuters: Michigan Governor Whitmer Faces Mainstream Backlash Against Shutdown
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is facing an increasingly mainstream backlash against her stay-at-home orders, with a growing number of local officials and business leaders arguing the restrictions have outlived their usefulness. (Martina and Klayman, 5/20)

The Associated Press: Lessons From '18: Old Pandemic Is A Murky Guide For Sports
The image is striking: Fans watching a college football game in the midst of a pandemic, wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on row after row of bleacher seats. The photo is 102 years old. The Georgia Tech alumni Twitter feed posted a black-and-white photo of the scene at Grant Field in 1918. (Gelston, 5/21)

The Hill: Support Slips For Stay-At-Home Restrictions In New Poll
A majority of Americans continue to support lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but support has slipped from April, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Sixty percent of Americans are in favor of requiring Americans to remain home except for essential errands, including about a third of Americans who strongly favor it. This is down from 80 percent in favor of stay-at-home orders in April. (Budryk, 5/20)

NPR: Coronavirus Poll: Two-Thirds Say No Normal Life For 6 Months
Two-thirds of Americans do not expect their daily lives to return to normal for at least six months, and as states reopen, three-quarters are concerned that a second wave of coronavirus cases will emerge, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds."There's a great sense that normalcy is not around the corner," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. (Montanaro, 5/20)

The New York Times: Yes, Jersey Shore Beaches Are Reopening. Here’s How They’re Doing It.
One lifeguard will sit perched on a tall wooden chair. Two others, maintaining distance, will stand sentinel on the beach below. All three will wear scarflike masks and carry face shields and respirators equipped with new HEPA filters. They will patrol a beach that a town engineer determined can hold precisely 197 groups in zones roughly 18-feet square, allowing six feet of space in between. (Tully, 5/21)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: MGM, Caesars, Boyd To Begin Testing Employees For COVID-19 Thursday
Three major casino companies will begin testing their Las Vegas employees Thursday for COVID-19 before they return to work. MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming are the latest casino companies to announce an employee testing program as resorts prepare to reopen, according to a joint statement Tuesday. The three are partnering with University Medical Center to administer tests at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Shoro, 5/19)

The Wall Street Journal: When Will Big Concerts Finally Return After Covid? (Think 2021)
Crowd-craving music fans starved for stadium and arena-size live music may need to wait until 2021 before such events return, music executives say. In the short term, concertgoers will encounter smaller theater shows, with reduced audiences to enable social distancing while artists experiment with stopgap measures like drive-in concerts, paid livestreams and virtual tours. (Shah, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Thousands From Coronavirus Hot Spots Flocked To Maryland And Virginia As Parts Of The States Reopened
Nearly 860,000 additional travelers flocked to parts of Maryland and Virginia over the weekend as the states began to reopen Friday, according to researchers tracking smartphone data. Many were from the Washington suburbs, which remained shut down because of their significantly higher coronavirus caseloads, the data shows. The 18 percent jump in travel from previous weekends brought a total 5.83 million trips to those areas between Friday and Sunday, according to an analysis by University of Maryland researchers. (Shaver, 5/20)

The Hill: Pence To Visit Georgia To Discuss State's Reopening Amid COVID-19 
Vice President Pence will visit Atlanta on Friday to discuss Georgia’s aggressive plan to reopen its economy during the coronavirus pandemic. Pence will meet with Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and restaurant executives to dig into the state’s efforts and restaurants’ plans to begin offering dine-in options again. A White House official told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported Pence’s visit, that the trip is part of a series of visits to states across the country to explore how different areas are responding to the pandemic. (Axelrod, 5/20)

Los Angeles Times: California Pushes To Reopen Restaurants, Gyms And Salons
Faced with unemployment rates that in many places top 20%, California counties are eager to reopen their economies as quickly as they can. With Gov. Gavin Newsom loosening requirements for reopening, local officials are racing to submit plans and get approval to allow shuttered businesses to open — all with social distancing restrictions. (Money, Brown, Parvini and Carter, 5/20)

Kaiser Health News: Reopening Dental Offices For Routine Care Amid Pandemic Touches A Nerve
Tom Peeling wanted his teeth cleaned and wasn’t going to let the coronavirus pandemic get in the way. Luckily, his six-month regular appointment was scheduled for earlier this month, just days after dental offices were allowed to reopen in Florida for routine services. In late March the state ordered dentists to treat only emergency cases as part of its efforts to keep residents at home and to preserve limited medical supplies, such as N95 masks, that might be needed to treat COVID-19 patients. (Galewitz, 5/21)

Reuters: U.S. Schools Should Only Reopen With Social Distancing As Benchmarks Met: CDC
U.S. schools shuttered by the coronavirus should pursue a carefully phased reopening only after public health benchmarks are met, and summer camps should be limited largely only to children from the immediate area, federal guidance recommends. The guidelines, released late on Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), come from a set of suggestions for specific settings, including restaurants, mass transit systems and employers with workers at high risk. (Brice, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Exactly What CDC Wants Schools To Do Before Reopening 
As communities consider a gradual scale up of activities toward pre-covid-19 operating practices in centers for learning, such as K-12 schools and summer day camps, CDC offers the following recommendations to keep communities safe while resuming peer-to-peer learning and providing crucial support for parents and guardians returning to work. (Strauss, 5/21)

Politico: California Education Chief Says Schools Can’t Open Without Masks
California has a major goal to meet before schools can reopen: acquiring masks for teachers and more than 6 million students. Local school districts will decide when they will welcome students back to physical classrooms and the state is not mandating a common opening date, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday. But he made one thing clear: Personal protective equipment is a must. (Mays, 5/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus: California School Districts Will Make Own Decision On How, When To Reopen
The decision on how and when to reopen California’s public schools will be made by each school district, but students and teachers will likely be required to wear masks and classrooms will be sanitized several times a day, the state’s top education official said Wednesday. Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond made the announcement in a virtual news conference Wednesday morning, a day before he is scheduled to meet virtually with leaders from the state’s 1,000 school districts and discuss how to resume classes in the fall while continuing to battle the coronavirus outbreak. (Cabanatuan and Serrano, 5/20)

Politico: Europe Learning The Dangers Of Going Back To School After Coronavirus
Europe has two problems when it comes to reopening schools. First, there's weighing the risks of opening the gates again against the potential damage done by keeping them closed, whether to economic recovery or mental health. Even more challenging may be convincing anxious parents that now is the time to send their children back to school. (Furlong, 5/20)

ProPublica/Chicago Tribune: Families Of Special Needs Students Fear They’ll Lose School Services In Coronavirus Shutdown
In Sangamon County in central Illinois, a father whose 10-year-old receives occupational and vision therapy at school was already concerned about how remote learning would affect his son and other students with disabilities. Then he got a letter from his son’s school district that made him worry even more. The letter asked parents to either accept the remote learning being offered, which amounted to a scaled-down version of what was provided when children were at school, or decline and acknowledge that they were “voluntarily waiving” their rights to a “free appropriate public education” and the ability to seek services from the school later. (Cohen and Richards, 5/20)

ABC News: It's Too Soon To Declare Kids 'Less Capable' Of Transmitting COVID-19: Experts
When will it be safe for children to return to the classroom? That is the question being debated from the Oval Office to the dining room table, and the implications of doing so successfully will mark a significant turning point as societies look to emerge from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Bruggeman and David, 5/20)

CNN: At Least 4 States Combined Results From Two Coronavirus Tests 
At least four states combined results from two different tests, possibly providing a misleading picture of when and where coronavirus spread as the nation eases restrictions... Virginia, Texas, Georgia, and Vermont have said they've been adding two numbers to their daily totals: viral test results and antibody test results. Viral tests are taken by nose swab or saliva sample, and look for direct evidence someone currently has Covid-19. By contrast, antibody tests use blood samples to look for biological signals that a person has been exposed to the virus in the past. (Karimi, 5/21)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Latest Data Lapse Inflated Georgia’s Virus Test Count By 57,000
After facing weeks of criticism for not being transparent with data about the coronavirus, state officials on Wednesday acknowledged that a test type that does not measure active cases inflated published test counts by 57,000, or roughly 14% of total tests to date. For weeks now, the Department of Public Health has included antibody tests, which can detect if someone once had the coronavirus, with diagnostic tests that measure active infection in its total tally of about 403,000 tests. (Mariano and Trubey, 5/20)

NPR: Florida Governor Defends Firing Of Top Data Scientist
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending the firing of the state's top data scientist tracking the coronavirus pandemic. Rebekah Jones was ousted from her position with the Department of Health on Monday. She says she was let go for refusing to manipulate data to support the state's reopening. When first asked about Jones' dismissal, DeSantis on Monday called it a "nonissue." He said he understood from an email she sent her supervisor that "she was tired and needed a break." (Allen, 5/20)

Colorado Sun: Why Colorado Likely Won’t Have An Accurate Coronavirus Death Count For Months, Or Even Years
Across Colorado, there is a mystery brewing in mortality. At least 1,200 more people died last month in the state compared to in April 2019, according to official — though preliminary — figures. But only a fraction of that increase is currently being attributed to the novel coronavirus. So, in a time of unprecedented public health crisis and unprecedented restrictions on travel, what else is killing Coloradans? (Ingold and Clark, 5/21)

In other testing news —

ABC News: Milwaukee Targets Testing In Hard-Hit Minority Communities To Try And Tackle COVID-19 Disparity 
Shortly after Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced the launch of two free testing sites in Milwaukee to address the disparities that minority communities are facing during the coronavirus crisis earlier this month, the lines in predominately Latino and African American communities snaked around the block. “We've seen good response in both African-American and Latino communities and really across the board, Nick Tomaro, public health emergency response planning coordinator for the Milwaukee Health Department said of the effort which was facilitated, in part, by the Wisconsin National Guard. (Smith, 5/21)

ABC News: Buyer Beware? What To Know About Direct-To-Consumer Antibody Tests 
You may have heard a lot about COVID-19 antibody testing recently. In fact, your doctor may have even offered you the option of getting the test. Just because you can get an antibody test, should you? Antibody tests are most useful from a public health perspective to estimate how many people have been previously exposed to the virus, experts say. But they admit that for individual people hoping to use the tests to make better decisions about their health, antibody results may be less helpful, at least until questions around their accuracy are resolved and scientists learn more about recovered COVID-19 patients. (David, 5/20)

The New York Times: As The Nation Begins Virus Tracing, It Could Learn From This N.J. City
The Uber driver had lost his sense of smell and taste but otherwise felt fine. He kept driving passengers in this small, industrial city until last week, when he took a test for Covid-19. By Friday, Jean Mugulusi of the Paterson Health Department was on the phone with him, breaking the news that he had tested positive and asking for a list of his recent passengers. He gave her eight phone numbers. “You came into contact with somebody who tested positive for Covid-19, so I need you to self-isolate,” Ms. Mugulusi told one of those passengers, a young man who worked in a factory. (Otterman, 5/21)

The Associated Press: Detective, Nurse, Confidant: Virus Tracers Play Many Roles
Health investigator Mackenzie Bray smiles and chuckles as she chats by phone with a retired Utah man who just tested positive for the coronavirus. She’s trying to keep the mood light because she needs to find out where he’s been and who he’s been around for the past seven days. She gently peppers him with questions, including where he and his wife stopped to buy flowers on a visit to a cemetery. She encourages him to go through his bank statement to see if it reminds him of any store visits he made. (McCombs, 5/21)

In other news about the spread of the virus —

The Wall Street Journal: Superspreader Events Offer A Clue On Curbing Coronavirus
Some scientists looking for ways to prevent a return to exponential growth in coronavirus infections after lockdowns are lifted are zeroing in on a new approach: focus on avoiding superspreading events. The theory is that banning mass public events where hundreds of attendees can infect themselves in the space of a few hours, along with other measures such as wearing face masks, might slow the pace of the new coronavirus’s progression to a manageable level even as shops and factories reopen. (Pancevski, 5/20)

The Washington Post: How Many People Are Infected With The Coronavirus? A Major Study Will Attempt To Provide An Answer. 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is embarking on an expansive study of the prevalence of novel coronavirus antibodies in people in 25 metropolitan areas, an effort to provide long-awaited insight into the way the virus is spreading and its presence in communities. The study, which plans to test 325,000 people by fall 2021, will build on an antibody study that has been underway in six of those cities since March, according to Michael Busch, who is overseeing the study and is director of the Vitalant Research Institute. CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund confirmed plans to announce the study but declined to discuss details. (Janes, 5/20)

Reuters: Apple-Google Contact Tracing Tech Draws Interest In 23 Countries, Some Hedge Bets
Authorities in 23 countries across five continents have sought access to contact tracing technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google, the companies announced on Wednesday as they released the initial version of their system. (Dave, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Apple, Google Unveil Technology For Covid-19 Exposure Alerts
The tech giants, which make the world’s dominant smartphone operating systems, jointly developed the protocol for apps that can use Bluetooth signals from mobile devices to identify those that have been near each other. U.S. states including North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina, as well as 22 countries, have requested and received access to the newly released technology, the companies said. (Haggin, 5/20)

Politico: Apple, Google Release Coronavirus-Tracing Software — But Will It Help?
Wednesday's release includes the common code that software developers can use to create so-called contact-tracing apps for state and national governments that employ Bluetooth and other features on people's iPhones and Android smartphones. But since public health agencies must build the apps, there could be a delay before they're available for download. The release incorporates feedback from hundreds of conversations with public health agencies, government officials, academics, nonprofits and and privacy experts. Public health authorities can customize the system and combine it with data that users input voluntarily, the companies said. (Ravindranath and Overly, 5/20)

Stat: Google Develops AI To Identify Patients At High Risk Of Blindness 
Artificial intelligence has shown an increasing ability to detect and diagnose eye diseases by analyzing medical images. Now a new system developed by Google and British doctors takes a significant leap forward by predicting which patients with a common condition are most likely to lose their sight. The new AI, described in a paper published Monday in the journal Nature, is designed to predict imminent risk of total vision loss in patients with age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in the developed world. The paper reports that the computer outperformed most eye specialists in determining which patients were most likely to lose sight in both eyes. (Ross, 5/18)

The Hill: Advocates Call On States To Release More Inmates Amid Pandemic 
Advocacy groups and medical experts said Wednesday that governors should release more low-level criminals to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. The public health benefits, they argued, extend far beyond prison walls. Prisons have been a hotbed of coronavirus outbreaks since social distancing is nearly impossible given the number of shared cells and communal spaces. There’s also a severe lack of masks and gloves for inmates. (Bucchino, 5/20)

Bangor Daily News: As Maine Prisons Record 1st Case Of Coronavirus, ‘We Need To Find It And Shut It Off Now’
The Maine Department of Corrections is waiting on test results for more than 120 inmates after one tested positive at a prison in Windham, the first step in determining whether a Cumberland County correctional facility is home to the state’s next coronavirus outbreak. (Andrews and Ferguson, 5/20)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Reports First Coronavirus Case Among State’s Prisoners
The Nevada Department of Corrections announced on Wednesday a “comprehensive” plan to test prisoners for the new coronavirus. Officials made the announcement shortly after the first case of a Nevada prisoner testing positive for the virus was reported. According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, which was last updated Wednesday morning, an inmate at High Desert State Prison has tested positive for the virus. (Newberg, 5/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland To Test All Detainees, Staff At Prisons And Juvenile Facilities For Coronavirus
Following calls from prisoner advocates and employee unions, Maryland will undertake universal testing at state prisons and juvenile centers, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Wednesday. Six state prison inmates have died from the coronavirus so far, and hundreds of inmates and employees have tested positive for the virus. Juvenile facilities have also experienced outbreaks, including the Silver Oak Academy in Carroll County, where dozens of children and staff tested positive. (Wood and Jackson, 5/20)

The Guardian: 'People Are Sick All Around Me': Inside The Coronavirus Catastrophe In California Prisons
More than 3,200 prisoners in California have contracted Covid-19 and at least 16 inmates have died, in a public health catastrophe that advocates say was both predictable and preventable. Inmates and advocates told the Guardian that at six prisons and jails with rapidly escalating outbreaks, basic protocols to prevent the virus from spreading are being ignored, and that they fear imminent mass fatalities and hospitalizations. (Levin, 5/20)

CNN: Michael Cohen To Be Released Thursday And Will Serve Remaining Prison Sentence At Home
President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen will be released early from prison on Thursday and is expected to serve out the remainder of his sentence at home as coronavirus continues to spread behind bars, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cohen will be released on furlough while he completes the process of being moved to home confinement, the person said. (Shortell and LeBlanc, 5/20)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: New Report Says Georgia Farms Are Under Threat
Georgia farmland is among the most threatened in the nation according to a new report from the American Farmland Trust. Between 2001 and 2016, about 544,000 acres of agricultural land in Georgia were developed or used for purposes other than farming or ranching, 195,000 acres of which are considered the best land for growing food and crops. (Rhone, 5/20)

CNN: San Francisco's Camp Sites For Homeless Spark Debate Amid Covid-19 Outbreak 
While thousands of people remain unsheltered in San Francisco amid the coronavirus pandemic, a controversial proposal to allow the homeless to pitch tents in the city's parks has sparked debate among lawmakers and residents in a city famous for its liberal politics. Frustrated business owners and residents alike, already under enormous stress from the economic shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, have found their patience tested as tents spring up in doorways and human waste becomes an ever-present concern in parts of the city. (Martin, 5/21)

Boston Globe: How Three Doctors ⁠— From The Same Family ⁠— Beat The Coronavirus 
When Dr. Charles Lowney got sick from the coronavirus, he made one thing clear to his family: he did not want to go to the hospital. The 82-year-old Milton resident was sidelined in March when he and his two sons, who are also physicians, became ill with COVID-19. Both sons made a full recovery, but the elder Lowney had it much worse. There were times when they wondered if he would make it. (Sweeney, 5/20)

Boston Globe: Raimondo To Rhode Islanders: Please Don’t Party In Big Groups On Memorial Day 
Even with two state beaches set to reopen on Memorial Day, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that residents should avoid large gatherings this holiday weekend so that the state doesn’t see a spike in coronvirus infections several weeks from now. Raimondo said the state is still limiting gatherings to no more than five people, so “this is not the weekend to have a big party.” (McGowan, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Hawaii Warns Tourists: Broken Quarantines Punishable By Arrest, Fines
Monday’s “wanted” post on the Maui Police Department Facebook page included all the information one would expect: a photo, physical description, phone number to call with information. And a description of the Colorado woman’s alleged offense: “violating the Rules and Orders for failure to quarantine." According to police, the 31-year-old tourist arrived on Maui on Friday, acknowledged the state’s mandatory 14-day quarantine and said she would be at a hostel. (Sampson, 5/20)

Reuters: California To Give Guidelines For Restarting TV And Movie Production
California on Monday will roll out guidelines for the resumption of production of Hollywood movies and TV shows, but Governor Gavin Newsom warned that Los Angeles County would likely be excluded in the first phase. Newsom told a film and TV industry roundtable on Wednesday that the guidelines would “allow counties that are in better condition than some of the others, to be able to move forward and ... allow some movement in your industry.” (5/20)

Capital Public Radio: California Could See A 'Massive Wave' Of Cancer Patients If People Don’t Get Screened And Treated 
In late April, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan to return to some standard medical services after weeks of telling people to avoid clinics and hospitals. But almost a month later, many physicians say they’re seeing far fewer patients than normal. The new allowance for medical visits came after hospitals postponed all non-emergency procedures to save staff and equipment for a potential COVID-19 surge that, in most cases, never came. (Caiola, 5/19)

The Hill: Illinois House Removed GOP Rep From Legislative Session After He Refused To Wear A Mask: 'A Callous Disregard For Life' 
The Illinois state House reportedly voted to remove a Republican lawmaker from a legislative session Wednesday after he refused to comply with a requirement for lawmakers to wear a mask during the special session. The state House voted 81-27 to remove Rep. Darren Bailey after he refused to put a face mask on following the chamber voting to adopt the rule, NBC Chicago reported. “I can not sit in there and be part of just a puppet game,” Bailey told reporters after he was removed from the session. (Klar, 5/20)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Sees Largest Single-Day Spike With 78 More Coronavirus Cases Detected
Maine saw the largest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases Wednesday when health officials reported another 78 cases. There have now been 1,819 cases across all of Maine’s counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 1,741 on Tuesday. (Burns, 5/20)

Bangor Daily News: Top Maine Official Hints At Broader Rural Reopenings, New Approach To Tourist Quarantine
Maine’s top economic development official on Wednesday teased additional early business openings in rural counties and a broader approach to the 14-day quarantine requirement aimed at stemming coronavirus transmission. (Valigra, 5/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Breath Away From Death: After Weeks On A Ventilator SF Man Walks Away From ICU And COVID-19 
It started with a cough. It was just a little one, but Ron Temko tended to cough sometimes, so the family wasn’t worried. By all accounts, everything was normal. His family could never have anticipated that just a few days later, Ron would be admitted into the intensive care unit at UCSF Parnassus, where he would spend 21 days in a medically induced coma, 34 days on a ventilator and 40 days on a feeding tube. He was hospitalized for over 61 days due to COVID-19 symptoms, during which he could barely talk and had to relearn to walk and sit up by himself. He was a breath away from death. (Vainshtein, 5/20)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Testing: Only 1.5% Test Positive At Las Vegas Location
Just 1.5 percent of tests for COVID-19 have come back positive in the first major program in the Las Vegas area to offer tests to those without symptoms. Of 7,778 diagnostic tests conducted at a site at The Orleans, just 119 had come back positive for the new coronavirus as of Monday, officials with University Medical Center said. (Hynes, 5/19)

Boston Globe: Colleges Plan For On-Campus Classes, Even As Scientists Warn Of Risk For COVID-19
The leaders of major Boston-area colleges and universities say they are hoping to hold some or all of their courses on campus this fall, even as epidemiologists warn that colleges by their very nature might put students and faculty at risk for COVID-19. “We are going to have to be more flexible than we’ve ever been in the way that we offer education,” Boston University president Robert Brown said Wednesday, speaking on a panel hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce where he and other campus leaders outlined how they plan to create safe campus environments this fall. (Krantz and Fernandes, 5/20)

Politico: Trump Tries On MAGA 2.0 For A Pandemic Era
With an economic crisis gripping the nation, President Donald Trump is reprising his 2016 slogan, with a twist: Make America Great Again, Again. Trump is trying to defy history by convincing Americans he can restore a coronavirus-decimated economy and become one of the only U.S. presidents to win reelection during a recession. His argument, which has met with skepticism from economists, is essentially: I’ve already built the economy once, I can build it a second time. (Kumar, 5/20)

The Associated Press: Trump Tests Whether Incumbent Leader Can Tap Outsider Anger
President Donald Trump is running against himself. With his cries to “Reopen our country!” and his rebukes of the federal bureaucracy and health regulations amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has tried to tap into the same populist, anti-Washington anger he rode to victory in 2016. The difference: He is now, by definition, the face of government. (Lemire and Miller, 5/21)

The New York Times: G.O.P. Officials Quietly Consider Paring Back Convention
The money to pay for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., is mostly raised, and contracts with hotels and local vendors are signed. The delegates are set to easily anoint a party nominee who fought tooth and nail for the title four years ago. But instead of preparing to celebrate President Trump, White House and Republican officials are now quietly looking at the likelihood of a pared-down convention, with the coronavirus appearing increasingly likely to still pose a serious threat in late summer. (Haberman and Karni, 5/21)

And in news from across the aisle —

Politico: Warren Pivots On Medicare For All In Bid To Become Biden's VP
In the thick of primary season, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden brawled over Medicare for All: He called her approach “angry,” “elitist,” “condescending”; she shot back anyone who defends the health care status quo with industry talking points is “running in the wrong presidential primary.” Six months later, with Biden the presumptive nominee and Warren in the running for VP, she is striking a more harmonious chord. (Thompson, 5/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Senate Republicans Urge Quicker Action On Coronavirus Aid
Some vulnerable Senate Republicans expressed frustration over the party’s go-slow approach on the next round of coronavirus relief, urging quicker action to counter the pandemic as re-election concerns start to play a more prominent role on Capitol Hill. In tweets and comments to reporters, Sen. Cory Gardner (R., Colo.) said the Republican-controlled Senate shouldn’t go on recess until it passed more legislation related to the coronavirus response. He said he planned to block a unanimous consent motion to adjourn for the planned Memorial Day recess, a move that could delay the break. (Wise and Hughes, 5/20)

Politico: Cory Gardner Threatens To Block Senate From Recess
Sen. Cory Gardner threatened Wednesday to block the Senate from leaving for Memorial Day recess, citing the need to pass coronavirus legislation. When asked whether he would object to the Senate leaving, the Colorado Republican replied: “if they try to make a unanimous consent, you bet.” The move could prompt the Senate to take a roll call vote on whether to leave. (Levine, 5/20)

The Hill: GOP Senators: More Relief Needed Now 
Senate Republican support for moving the next coronavirus relief bill as soon as next month is growing after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned lawmakers this week that the economic damage caused by the pandemic could last for years. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has put the brakes on further coronavirus relief negotiations, citing the budgetary impact of trillions of dollars in unanticipated spending. But a growing group of GOP senators, which includes some of the conference’s most vulnerable members in this year’s elections, say they shouldn’t let another month pass without significant progress on another economic relief package. (Bolton, 5/20)

The Associated Press: Deliberative Senate Declines To Debate More Coronavirus Aid
As Americans confront a crisis unlike any in modern times, the world’s greatest deliberative body is doing almost anything but deliberate the coronavirus. It’s as though the challenge has split the U.S. Senate into two. On one side is a Senate clamoring for a quick response to the virus outbreak at its door. On the other is the wait-and-see Senate hitting pause on swift action and carrying on with non-pandemic business. (Mascaro, 5/21)

Politico: McConnell Vows End To Enhanced Unemployment Benefits
Mitch McConnell promised House Republicans on Wednesday that the beefed up unemployment benefits enacted earlier this spring "will not be in the next bill." The Senate majority leader told the House GOP minority in an afternoon phone call that he is comfortable waiting to see how the nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus spending previously approved plays out before moving forward on the next relief legislation. And he told them the ultimate end-product won't look anything like House Democrats' $3 trillion package passed last week, according to a person briefed on the call. (Everett, 5/20)

The Hill: McConnell: Beefed Up Unemployment Benefits Will Not Be In Next Coronavirus Bill
McConnell, during a call with House Republicans, stood by the GOP's decision to "pause" before passing a "phase four" bill and indicated that the holding pattern would continue for the immediate future as they assess the impact of previous coronavirus bills. However, McConnell told House Republicans that if Congress passed another bill, technically the fifth piece of coronavirus legislation, Republicans would "clean up the Democrats' crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work."(Carney, 5/20)

And in other news —

Reuters: Trump Ouster Of Inspectors General Threatens Coronavirus Stimulus Watchdog
President Donald Trump’s purge of several internal watchdogs at U.S. agencies could hobble anti-fraud oversight for the $3 trillion in federal relief measures aiding businesses, state governments and others hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. These inspectors general, known as IGs, have been appointed by presidents or agency heads since the late 1970s to serve in various federal departments and agencies to guard against illegal conduct and mismanagement. (Lynch, 5/20)

The Washington Post: House And Senate Lawmakers Begin Efforts To Rework Paycheck Protection Program So Businesses Can Have More Flexibility
House and Senate lawmakers are preparing new legislation that would make it easier for the government to forgive emergency loans to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic after a lobbying blitz by firms who argued they needed more assistance. The bills would give companies more time to use funding under the Paycheck Protection Program, allowing them additional flexibility to rehire workers later this year rather than rush to bring people back by June. (Werner, 5/20)

The New York Times: A Wave Of Small Business Closures Is On The Way. Can Washington Stop It? 
One of the great threats to the post-pandemic economy is becoming clear: Vast numbers of small and midsize businesses will close permanently during the crisis, causing millions of jobs to be lost. The federal government moved with uncharacteristic speed to help those businesses — enacting the Paycheck Protection Program, with $669 billion allocated so far. But there is a problem. The structure of the program is not particularly well suited to the type of crisis that millions of businesses face. (Irwin, 5/21)

The Associated Press: Nearly 39 Million Have Sought US Jobless Aid Since Virus Hit
More than 2.4 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the viral outbreak that triggered widespread business shutdowns two months ago and sent the economy into a deep recession. Roughly 38.6 million people have now filed for jobless aid since the coronavirus forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces, the Labor Department said Thursday. (Rugaber, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Another 2.4 Million Americans Filed For Unemployment Last Week
Continuing claims -- the total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits -- increased to a record 25.1 million in the week ended May 9. That sent the insured unemployment rate, or the number of people currently receiving unemployment insurance as a share of the total eligible labor market, to 17.2% for that period. (Pickert, 5/21)

CNN: Unemployment Benefits: Another 2.4 Million Americans Filed For Jobless Insurance
Now the (relatively) good news: First-time claims have declined for seven straight weeks. They peaked at 6.9 million in the final week of March. But joblessness remains a crisis in the United States. Wide swaths of the country's labor market will remain closed as the coronavirus makes returning to work impossible for many Americans. Economists expect many -- but not all -- jobs will return as the economy reopens. But experts remain concerned that some jobs will be permanently eliminated by this crisis. (Tappe, 5/21)

Reuters: U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain High As Backlogs, Layoffs Linger
Economists said claims numbers were staying high also as states were now processing applications for gig workers and many others trying to access federal government benefits. These workers generally do not qualify for regular unemployment insurance, but to get federal aid for coronavirus-related job and income losses they must first file for state benefits and be denied. (Mutikani, 5/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Workers File Another 2.4 Million Unemployment Claims
Hundreds of thousands of self-employed and gig-economy workers are receiving unemployment benefits for the first time through a temporary coronavirus-related program, but those claims aren’t reflected in overall totals since the pandemic started more than two months ago. The Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report, due out Thursday, is expected to show that millions of workers filed claims again last week. Initial weekly claims have been declining since a peak of nearly seven million at the end of March, but have remained historically high. (Chaney and King, 5/21)

The Washington Post: 2.4 Million Americans Filed Jobless Claims Last Week, Bringing Nine-Week Total To 38.6 Million
President Trump and top Republican lawmakers are mounting fresh opposition to extending enhanced unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who are still out of work, even as the administration released new jobless figures Thursday showing 2.4 million Americans sought benefits last week. The reluctance by the White House and top GOP leaders drew sharp rebukes from congressional Democrats, who argue the coronavirus outbreak threatens to further ravage the U.S. workforce unless the government authorizes additional aid. Their clash could intensify in the next six weeks, as policymakers stare down a July deadline while the country’s labor market is expected to only worsen. (Romm and Stein, 5/21)

ABC News: Employers Struggle To Compete With $600 Unemployment Payments 
As a producer of personal protective equipment, Carl Livesay was eager to rehire his 60 employees and get operations up and running at the Baltimore-based manufacturer Maryland Thermoform Corporation once its forgivable government loan came through. But with some workers earning more staying home because of the enhanced unemployment benefits provided by the CARES Act, the company has struggled to restore its headcount -- putting it at risk of violating the terms of its stimulus loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, which calls for employers to retain three-quarters of their payroll. "It's been very difficult to get some people to return to work," Livesay, the vice president of operations for Maryland Thermoform Corporation, told ABC News. "In some cases, depending on what their compensation was, they make more money with unemployment and the federal stipend of $600 a week." (Haslett, 5/21)

In other news on the pandemic's toll on the economy and labor market —

Marketplace: Hazard Pay Could Be Influenced By Changing Labor Market
Pay bumps for essential workers at companies like Amazon, Kroger and Rite Aid are getting rolled back this month, while Target is extending higher wages through July 4. The pay increases are often dubbed “hero pay” or hazard pay — a recognition that the work of grocery store clerks and warehouse pickers has taken on new dimensions of danger in the pandemic. Workers are fighting to keep their bonuses in place, saying that the danger hasn’t gone away. But the labor market could complicate demands for higher pay. (McCarty Carino, 5/20)

CNN: The US Already Had A Housing Crisis. Covid-19 Has Only Made It Worse 
Martha Escudero had been living with her two young daughters on the couches and in the spare rooms of friends and family in Los Angeles for about a year and a half. It had always been uncomfortable, but the coronavirus pandemic made it dangerous: it was impossible to social distance in a home full of people. So she took over an empty house, owned by the state of California. "I'm, like, supposedly successful according to American standards," said Escudero, who works as a home health aide. "I was born and raised here. I have a college degree, I speak English -- and I'm unable to pay rent. To me, that's ridiculous." (Reeve, 5/20)

Marketplace: COVID-19 Will Likely Lead To More Farm Bankruptcies
Long before the coronavirus pandemic hit, American farmers were struggling. They lost important export markets because of the U.S.-China trade war and growing international competition. Then this health crisis emerged and disrupted an already volatile supply chain. That has agricultural economists predicting a rise in farm bankruptcies across the United States. (Uhler, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: The Day Coronavirus Nearly Broke The Financial Markets
An urgent call reached Ronald O’Hanley, State Street Corp.’s chief executive, as he sat in his office in downtown Boston. It was 8 a.m. on Monday, March 16. A senior deputy told him corporate treasurers and pension managers, panicked by the growing economic damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, were pulling billions of dollars from certain money-market funds. This was forcing the funds to try to sell some of the bonds they held. But there were almost no buyers. Everybody was suddenly desperate for cash. (Baer, 5/20)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Shut Down The ‘Experience Economy.’ Can It Come Back?
A quandary is lurking at the heart of the efforts to revive the economy. In recent decades, a growing share of job growth and gross domestic product has come from the business of getting people together — from college sports and music festivals like Coachella to ax-throwing bars and ice cream museums. Yet given the infectious nature of the coronavirus, these very events will be among the very last to return. “Any place people want to gather is a place no one wants to be right now,” said Joe Pine, a co-author of “The Experience Economy.” (Gelles, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Millions Of Americans Skip Credit-Card And Car Payments
Millions of people are behind on their credit-card and auto-loan payments, the latest sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s financial devastation. Lenders in April had nearly 15 million credit cards in “financial hardship” programs, such as deferral programs that let borrowers temporarily stop making payments, according to estimates by credit-reporting firm TransUnion. (Andriotis, 5/20)

Stat: Coronavirus Hijacks Cells In Unique Ways That Suggest How To Treat It 
A deep dive into how the new coronavirus infects cells has found that it orchestrates a hostile takeover of their genes unlike any other known viruses do, producing what one leading scientist calls “unique” and “aberrant” changes. Recent studies show that in seizing control of genes in the human cells it invades, the virus changes how segments of DNA are read, doing so in a way that might explain why the elderly are more likely to die of Covid-19 and why antiviral drugs might not only save sick patients’ lives but also prevent severe disease if taken before infection. (Begley, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: Low White Blood Cell Counts Linked To Severe COVID-19 Cases
Host factors rather than viral genetic differences appear to influence disease outcomes among COVID-19 patients, according to a new study from China. Researchers in Shanghai examined clinical, molecular, and immunological data from more than 300 people with confirmed COVID-19. While infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to severe respiratory disease and death, it also can result in more mild pneumonia in some patients. (5/20)

CIDRAP: Critical Illness Common In New York COVID-19 Inpatients: Study
Of 1,150 COVID-19 adult patients hospitalized in New York City from Mar 2 to Apr 1, 257 (22%) were critically ill, and 101 (39%) of them died, according to the largest known US prospective study of coronavirus patients. In the prospective cohort study, published yesterday in The Lancet, researchers from Columbia University and two affiliated NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals in Manhattan reviewed electronic medical records and lab and radiographic findings of COVID-19 patients in respiratory failure. (Van Beusekom, 5/20)

Kaiser Health News: Scientist Has ‘Invisible Enemy’ In Sights With Microscopic Portraits Of Coronavirus
From her laboratory in the far western reaches of Montana, Elizabeth Fischer is trying to help people see what they’re up against in COVID-19. Over the past three decades, Fischer, 58, and her team at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, part of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have captured and created some of the more dramatic images of the world’s most dangerous pathogens. (Hawryluk, 5/21)

NPR: Researchers: Nearly Half Of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots
Nearly half of the Twitter accounts spreading messages on the social media platform about the coronavirus pandemic are likely bots, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University said on Wednesday. Researchers culled through more than 200 million tweets since January discussing the virus and found that about 45% were sent by accounts that behave more like computerized robots than humans. (Allyn, 5/20)

NPR: As States Locked Down In March, Motor Vehicle Fatality Rate Spiked By 14%
In March, as states around the country began implementing stay-at-home orders and commuters got off the road, traffic dropped, but a new National Safety Council report finds that the number of motor vehicle fatalities per miles driven increased by 14% compared to the March 2019 rate. The total number of motor-vehicle-related deaths dropped by 8% in March of this year compared to March 2019, but the number of miles driven dropped by over 18%, due to myriad COVID-19 related impacts. (Hagemann, 5/20)

NPR: The Smithsonian Is Collecting Coronavirus 'Artifacts' To Document The Pandemic
If you were designing a museum exhibit that would explain the coronavirus pandemic to future generations, what would you put in it? Smithsonian curators in Washington, D.C., are trying to answer that question, even as the virus continues to spread in some states. The National Museum of American History and the Anacostia Community Museum have recently launched coronavirus collection projects. A third effort from the National Museum of African American History and Culture will kick off in June. (Lefrak, 5/20)

Reuters: A Nurse Struggled With COVID-19 Trauma. He Was Found Dead In His Car
Frontline healthcare workers are trying to cope with the trauma of treating the novel coronavirus, which has inundated U.S. hospitals with desperately ill patients and killed more than 90,000 Americans in less than three months. Healthcare workers with histories of substance abuse may have more difficulty coping with fear, isolation and witnessing so much death during the pandemic, psychiatrists told Reuters. Those factors could provoke relapses in workers recovering from addiction, they said. (Borter, 5/20)

ABC News: COVID-19 Outbreak Exposes Generations-Old Racial And Economic Divide In New York City 
First light has yet to break in New York City, but at a bus depot in the South Bronx, Wayne Lizardi has already been behind the wheel for hours... His bread and butter, shuttling essential workers across New York City at all hours, makes him a frontline worker in the ongoing pandemic. More than 100 of Lizardi’s colleagues in the MTA have died and thousands have tested positive. At one point, 6,000 were home sick or quarantined. Well over 50 percent of the MTA work force are minorities. (Chang, Taguchi, Lefferman, Kim and Yang, 5/20)

CNN: CDC Advises To Test All Babies Born To Moms With Coronavirus
All newborns delivered to women with Covid-19 infections, confirmed or suspected, should be tested, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidelines released Wednesday. Infants may be at a higher risk for severe forms of the disease, compared to older children, according to the CDC. But the data is still pretty limited, and what scientists know about these infections is based on a handful of case reports. (Christensen, 5/21)

The New York Times: After Coronavirus, Office Workers Might Face Unexpected Health Threats
When you finally return to work after the lockdown, coronavirus might not be the only illness you need to worry about contracting at the office. Office buildings once filled with employees emptied out in many cities and states as shelter-in-place orders were issued. These structures, normally in constant use, have been closed off and shut down, and health risks might be accumulating in unseen ways. “The buildings aren’t designed to be left alone for months,” said Andrew Whelton, an associate professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University. (Horberry, 5/20)

The New York Times: How To Reduce Your Risk Of PTSD In A Post-Covid-19 World
“When will this end? And if it ever does, will I be OK?!” These are the questions patients in my therapy practice are asking, and I can’t emphasize enough that it’s normal to feel anxious now. The risk of developing a life-threatening illness alongside the loss of the things that usually anchor us is a brutal one-two-punch that would leave anyone feeling on edge. (Taitz, 5/20)

CNN: Future Of Air Travel: What Could Change Because Of Covid-19? 
As the world slowly eases its way out of the Covid-19 lockdown, we're on the verge of a new era in air travel. We could soon encounter armies of robotic cleaners patrolling airport concourses, disinfecting check-in counters and ticket kiosks. We might see passengers wafting through security and baggage checkpoints without touching anything. And we might be boarding aircraft where hand gestures and eye movements open overhead stowage bins and navigate our inflight entertainment screens. (Sillers, 5/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nearly 124,000 Sign Up Through Covered California; Plans Include Free Coronavirus Testing
Nearly 124,000 people have signed up for medical insurance through Covered California since March 20 as the state grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and startling unemployment numbers. According to the state health care marketplace, 123,810 people have sought insurance during Covered California’s special open-enrollment period. The exchange is generally open from Oct. 15-Jan. 31, but it extended the period amid the crisis. (Simmons, 5/20)

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurers Speed MLR Rebates Through Premium Discounts
A number of health insurers that are benefiting from the steep drop-off in claims for elective procedures and doctor's visits have announced plans to return excess revenue to customers by reducing some members' premiums in the coming months. The move could reduce the rebates that insurers' may owe next year under an Affordable Care Act provision. (Livingston, 5/20)

Modern Healthcare: ACOs Ask Innovation Center For Clarity On Payment Models' Future
The National Association of ACOs sent a letter this week to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation seeking more information on the future of the direct contracting and Next Generation ACO models. While industry supported the Direct Contracting Model when it was announced in April 2019, the program has been on an unclear hiatus as the Innovation Center never opened application portal as anticipated in March or offered any additional details on the model. (Castellucci, 5/20)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Get More Than 80% Of CMS Medicare Advance Payments
Acute-care and critical-access hospitals received more than 80% of the $100 billion that CMS sent out to providers to help improve their cash flow as revenue dried up due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS this month released data showing where loans from its Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments program went. Program applications were open for roughly a month from March to April. CMS suspended the program because the agency said HHS had started giving out provider grants that don't have to be repaid. (Cohrs, 5/20)

The New York Times: Bethenny Frankel’s Dark Journey To Find Medical Masks
It was late March, with the coronavirus starting to peak in New York and hospitals already running short on supplies, when Bethenny Frankel, the entrepreneur and reality television star, received an email from a publicist offering her access to 500 million medical masks, or about enough to fill 25 Madison Square Gardens. Ms. Frankel was intrigued. While spending eight seasons on the “Real Housewives of New York City,” she began flying to places like Guatemala and the Bahamas to aid in disaster relief. Now, with the disaster down the road, she wanted to help. She called the New York governor’s office, and her home state drafted her to find masks. (Nicas, 5/21)

Modern Healthcare: Premier Aims To Boost U.S. Manufacturing Of Protective Equipment
Premier launched a program that aims to bolster the supply of protective gear through domestic production, the group purchasing and consulting organization said Wednesday. Premier plans to partner with U.S. manufacturers that can supply products in shortage, subsidize the development of affordable products that address specific market needs and establish sourcing contracts to ensure a continuous supply, the company said. (Kacik, 5/20)

The Hill: Health Care Workers Saw Shortages Of Protective Equipment Last Into May: Poll 
Health care workers faced shortages of face masks, hand sanitizer, medical gowns and other supplies needed to keep themselves safe from COVID-19 in early May, according to a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Wednesday. Sixty-six percent of health care workers said their workplaces still face shortages of the respirator masks that are most effective at blocking airborne particles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), acknowledging the shortages, has directed health workers without respirators to use surgical masks instead, even though those are less protective against viruses. But 44 percent of health workers cited shortages of surgical masks as well. (Hellmann, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Mask Complaints Pour In From New York City’s Wealthiest Neighborhoods
Face coverings have become an essential fashion and health item in New York City, but not everyone is complying with new state rules requiring them. Complaints have been pouring in from affluent parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, more so than in other areas, even though these neighborhoods have lower rates of infection and death than many lower-income sections of the city. (Barbanel, 5/20)

Reuters: Global Coronavirus Cases Surpass 5 Million, Infections Rising In South America
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 5 million on Wednesday, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe in the past week to report the largest portion of new daily cases globally. (Shumaker and Cadell, 5/20)

Reuters: WHO Reports Most Coronavirus Cases In A Day As Cases Approach Five Million
The global health body said 106,000 new cases of infections of the novel coronavirus had been recorded in the past 24 hours, the most in a single day since the outbreak began. “We still have a long way to go in this pandemic,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. “We are very concerned about rising cases in low and middle income countries.” (5/20)

The Hill: WHO Reports Record Single-Day Number Of New Coronavirus Cases 
The World Health Organization on Wednesday reported the highest single-day increase of coronavirus cases worldwide, warning the gradual end of lockdowns in wealthier countries may be obscuring an increasing crisis in the developing world. Over the last 24 hours, 106,000 new cases of the virus were recorded, the body said, according to Reuters. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies program, said the world will “soon reach the tragic milestone of 5 million cases.” (Budryk, 5/20)

Reuters: Mexico Registers Record One-Day Coronavirus Death Toll With 424 Fatalities: Health Ministry
Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday registered 2,248 new coronavirus infections and an additional 424 fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic. The new infections brought confirmed coronavirus cases to 56,594 and 6,090 deaths in total, according to the official tally. Mexico registered its biggest daily increase yet in infections on Tuesday, when it reported 2,713 new cases. (5/20)

Reuters: Mexican Funeral Homes Face 'Horrific' Unseen Coronavirus Toll
Like many people around the world, Mexican funeral home owner Salvador Ascencio did not believe at first the coronavirus outbreak was going to be a big deal. Then calls from grieving relatives began to pour in. During the first 11 days of May, his small funeral parlor in a run-down part of Mexico City dealt with 30 bodies, a more than four-fold spike in daily funeral services compared to the same period last May. (Jorgic, 5/20)

Reuters: Poor Countries Need More Debt Relief During Pandemic, Germany's Merkel Says
Rich countries should help the world’s poorest survive the coronavirus pandemic by keeping up development aid and mulling relief measures that go beyond a moratorium on debt payments, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. Major international creditors agreed last month to relieve the poorest countries of debt payments this year to help them deal with the coronavirus crisis that has sparked the steepest downturn in the global economy since the 1930s. (5/20)

Reuters: Colombian Police Use Drones To Detect High Body Temperatures
It is not a bird, a plane or Superman: the aircraft humming in the skies above Colombia’s capital Bogota are instead police drones that are meant to detect people with high temperatures or those violating the country’s coronavirus quarantine. (Acosta, 5/20)

Reuters: Brazil Coronavirus Outbreak Worsens As Country Could Soon Be No. 2 In Cases
Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day. (Fonseca and Simoes, 5/20)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Seizes Sao Paulo As Trump Ponders Brazil Travel Ban
Hospitals nearing capacity. Deaths soaring. A president urging people back to work. São Paulo, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, is emerging as the coronavirus pandemic’s latest global hot spot. Confirmed cases in the city have soared 34 percent and at least 510 people have died in the past week as the public health infrastructure buckles and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to shrug off the crisis. (Lopes, 5/20)

The Associated Press: ‘We’re Expendable’: Russian Doctors Face Hostility, Mistrust
There are no daily public displays of gratitude for Russian doctors and nurses during the coronavirus crisis like there are in the West. Instead of applause, they face mistrust, low pay and even open hostility. Residents near the National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, a Moscow hospital now treating virus patients, complained when they saw medical workers walking out of the building in full protective gear, fearing the workers would spread contagion. (Litvinova, 5/21)

The New York Times: In China’s Coronavirus Crisis, Xi Sees A Chance To Strengthen His Rule
Before an adulatory crowd of university professors and students, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, offered a strikingly bold message about the global coronavirus pandemic. Summoning images of sacrifice from Communist Party lore, he told them that the calamity was ripe with possibility for China. “Great historical progress always happens after major disasters,” Mr. Xi said during a recent visit to Xi’an Jiaotong University. “Our nation was steeled and grew up through hardship and suffering.” (Myers and Buckley, 5/20)

The Washington Post: China, U.S. Escalate Battle For Dominance, With Taiwan Caught In The Middle
Rising tensions between the United States and China brought fresh mudslinging Wednesday as a sharp dispute over responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic spills into new forums such as Taiwan. In the span of several hours, the feud swung from Taipei to Beijing to the Internet, where an animated "credibility test" on Chinese state TV's Twitter feed mocked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Shih, Dou and Gearan, 5/20)

The New York Times: New Coronavirus Outbreaks Push China To Impose Wuhan-Style Lockdown In The Northeast
In Shulan, a city in China’s northeast, the streets are eerily quiet, devoid of taxis and buses. Apartment complexes have been sealed off, confining residents inside. Teams of government workers go door to door rounding up sick people as part of what they call a “wartime” campaign. As the Chinese authorities confront scattered outbreaks of the coronavirus in the country’s northeast, they are turning to many of the same strict lockdown measures that were a hallmark of the effort four months ago to stamp out the epidemic in the central city of Wuhan. (Hernandez, 5/21)

Health Affairs: Strong Social Distancing Measures In The United States Reduced The COVID-19 Growth Rate
State and local governments imposed social distancing measures in March and April of 2020 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These included large event bans, school closures, closures of entertainment venues, gyms, bars, and restaurant dining areas, and shelter-in-place orders (SIPOs). We evaluated the impact of these measures on the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases across US counties between March 1, 2020 and April 27, 2020. An event-study design allowed each policy’s impact on COVID-19 case growth to evolve over time. (Courtemanche et al, 5/14)

Urban Institute: Amid Confusion Over The Public Charge Rule, Immigrant Families Continued Avoiding Public Benefits In 2019
The current administration’s new public charge rule took effect in February 2020, significantly expanding the criteria for determining whether applicants for permanent residency, or green cards, may be denied based on past or potential use of government benefit programs. Even before the rule took effect, evidence shows the proposed rule produced widespread chilling effects nationally, meaning eligible immigrant families—including those who would not be subject to the rule—avoided enrolling in public benefit programs for fear of immigration consequences. (Bernstein et al, 5/18

Commonwealth Fund: The Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Outpatient Visits: A Rebound Emerges
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how outpatient care is delivered in health care practices. To decrease the risk of transmitting the virus to either patients or health care workers within their practice, providers are deferring elective and preventive visits, such as annual physicals. When possible, they are also converting in-person visits to telemedicine visits. For their part, many patients are also avoiding visits because they do not want to leave their homes and risk exposure. Also influencing both provider and patient behavior are the evolving local and state recommendations restricting travel and nonessential services. (Mehrotra, 5/19)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Sociodemographic Factors Associated With High Risk For Firearm Suicide Among US Adults
Although firearms are a highly lethal means of attempting suicide1 and were used in 24 432 of 48 344 US suicide deaths (50.5%) in 2018, little is known about factors associated with firearm suicide risk. Much of the previous research describing firearm suicide compared suicide decedents using firearms with other methods.2 Without prospectively evaluating firearm suicide risk among living populations, however, these analyses did not yield firearm suicide rates and thus have limited utility for identifying high-risk groups. (Olfson et al, 5/18)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Effect Of Patient Portal Reminders Sent By A Health Care System On Influenza Vaccination Rates: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Generic patient portal reminders were effective in minimally increasing influenza vaccination rates, but more intensive or more targeted patient motivational strategies appear to be needed. (Szilagyi et al, 5/18)

The Washington Post: The Last Days Of A Covid-19 Prisoner
It isn’t clear why Charles Hobbs was arrested in January. More than 20 years ago, a judge gave him five years probation for a crime that required him to register as a sex offender in one of the most restrictive counties in the country. He had no criminal record prior to that, and until January, his only subsequent arrests were for failing to register in 2007 and 2014. An attorney for his family says those arrests occurred when Hobbs temporarily moved in with a girlfriend and failed to notify the county where she lived. When the coronavirus pandemic began to sweep the country, a judge ordered him released from jail and placed in home confinement, given his multiple underlying conditions of congenital heart failure, kidney failure and hypertension. But for reasons that also aren’t clear, that never happened. (Radley Balko, 5/20)

Stat: The Global Appetite For Meat Increases The Risk Of Future Pandemics 
I was a pandemic specialist for 15 years, leading projects under the emerging pandemic threats program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Now I am sheltering in place in semi-rural Maryland and wondering how to reduce the risk of future global outbreaks. The answer is a long way from my journey stealthily following pickup trucks full of live chickens through narrow alleys in Jakarta to locate illegal slaughtering operations in neighborhood basements during the avian influenza outbreaks in the mid-to late 2000s... But it is surprisingly close to the meat counter at my local supermarket, because the risk of pandemic threats has a great deal to do with human’s demand for animal protein, whether that meat is raised on a farm or comes from the wild. (Jerry Martin, 5/21)

The Hill: Meats Vs. Worker Safety — It's A False Dichotomy
This past week the U.S. meatpacking industry hit grim milestones in the American COVID-19 epidemic with over 15,000 infections and 60 deaths tied to meatpacking facilities, and the nation has now turned its attention to this largely forgotten industry. We now know that meatpacking companies had plenty of warning that airborne pathogens could pose workplace risks and yet they did little to protect their workers. In addition, it is clear that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has failed to enforce infection control requirements in these plants. If Americans want to continue to rely on a safe and continuous supply of meat, Congress must make sure workers are protected and further outbreaks are prevented. (Dr. Melissa Perry, 5/20)

The Hill: Dietary Guidelines Should Include A Bacon Warning
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans should not continue to recommend that people eat processed meat, including bacon and hot dogs, especially when evidence shows that it increases the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic conditions that have helped make COVID-19 so deadly. When the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee holds its June 8 meeting on the scientific report that will influence the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines, I hope it discusses the overwhelming evidence showing the consequences of consuming processed meat. (Susan Levin, 5/19)

The New York Times: I Was Supposed To Eat At A Restaurant. I Bailed. 
We were in our driveway, car keys in hand, 10 minutes before our reservation time, when I chickened out.I was supposed to dine at a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic — for the purpose of journalism, of course. Montana, where I live, is opening up. ... My partner and I never got in the car. Instead, we stood by our front porch and debated. Six new cases had just been announced an hour earlier in the county 30 minutes down the road — an unusual spike. (Charlie Warzel, 5/20)

CNN: Trump's Washington Is Failing Badly With No End In Sight To Coronavirus Pandemic Battle 
Two months into the pandemic battle, national politics have hardened into an ugly, dispiriting limbo amid a sense that during a generational crisis, there is no one in charge. Haunted by an invisible pathogen that has drained trademark energy and optimism from American life, the ordeal has clearly not drawn the country together -- it's tearing it further apart. And there is still no clear path out of the darkness. (Stephen Collinson, 5/21)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Medical Judgment Is Wrong. The Example He’s Setting Is Worse. 
Once again, President Trump is playing doctor in chief. Once again, his medical judgment is wrong, and the example he is setting by his behavior is worse. Trump announced that he began taking hydroxychloroquine and zinc to prevent covid-19 after a White House staffer tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus. Simultaneously, he and Vice President Pence have consistently ignored the advice of their own experts to wear face masks. (Vinay Prasad and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 5/20)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Congress Forgets Children Of Heroes And Childcare Centers Serving Them
Child care and early childhood education centers will also need assistance once they reopen. Economic recovery will happen in waves with families returning over time as states loosen restrictions. Child care centers will need to operate at less than full capacity to accommodate families who return to work during the early stages of economic recovery. This means that many will not break even for months and recovery funding will be critical to help centers pay their bills.  (Downey, 5/18)

Boston Globe: Coronavirus Exposes Dangerous Gaps In US Health Care
COVID-19 has killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, but beyond lives lost, it has exposed massive and long-concealed gaps in health systems around the world — especially in the United States. These gaps, and how countries value public health and the systems delivering it, must be addressed now, because another pandemic is all but a certainty. Doing so is well within the capacity of the United States. Clinicians have already established that COVID-19 preys on the most vulnerable patients. Data from China, France, the United States, and elsewhere show those with preexisting conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, or pulmonary disease are more likely to die from the coronavirus than healthier people. (Vanessa Kerry, 5/21)

Los Angeles Times: Americans Face Unique Risks From Coronavirus 
In the early days of the stay-at-home orders, one of the arguments used to press for a quick and nearly full reopening of the country was that COVID-19 wasn’t that dangerous. Why be so upset about the novel coronavirus, some critics asked, when flu kills more people? That talking point was squashed when, within three months of the pandemic’s start, the coronavirus killed more Americans than the last flu season did in six-plus months. COVID-19 has now killed almost 50% more Americans (about 93,000) than the highest estimate of the season’s flu toll (about 62,000). The new argument is that the coronavirus is dangerous just to the elderly and people with certain underlying conditions. Those people should stay at home, the reasoning goes, while the rest of the nation goes about business as usual. (5/21)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus Mysteries Make Reopening Scarier 
One of the most frustrating and terrifying things about this pandemic is its unpredictability. From its effects to how it spreads, it keeps surprising us, usually in unpleasant ways. News out of China suggesting the coronavirus may have mutated in a new wave there is the latest example — though it could also be an example of the misinformation and conclusions-jumping the disease’s mysterious nature inspires. Even our responses have been hard to read. Elaine He charted the results of the various pandemic-fighting efforts across Europe and came up with a plate of spaghetti. Some countries with strict lockdowns (think Italy) suffered more deaths than those with more-relaxed policies (think Sweden). The poor U.K. has just been a shambles no matter what it does. (Mark Gongloff, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal: The Evidence On Kids And Covid
Horrific stories are emerging of children developing rashes, cardiac abnormalities and other inflammatory symptoms that are linked to the novel coronavirus. Parents and public health officials are understandably worried, but some perspective is in order given the virus’s apparent overall low risk to children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that 15 children under age 15 in the U.S. have died of Covid-19 since February compared to about 200 who died of the flu and pneumonia. Children represent 0.02% of virus fatalities in the U.S., and very few have been hospitalized. (5/20)

Los Angeles Times: Brace For Problems With Fast Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout
If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines. To determine whether a vaccine prevents disease, the study’s subjects need to be exposed to the pathogen as it circulates in the population. Reopening the economy will likely result in faster spread of the coronavirus and therefore more opportunities to test a vaccine’s efficacy in trial subjects. (Arthur Allen, 5/21)

New England Journal of Medicine: Developing Covid-19 Vaccines At Pandemic Speed
The need to rapidly develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 comes at a time of explosion in basic scientific understanding, including in areas such as genomics and structural biology, that is supporting a new era in vaccine development. Over the past decade, the scientific community and the vaccine industry have been asked to respond urgently to epidemics of H1N1 influenza, Ebola, Zika, and now SARS-CoV-2. An H1N1 influenza vaccine was developed relatively rapidly, largely because influenza-vaccine technology was well developed and key regulators had previously decided that vaccines made using egg- and cell-based platforms could be licensed under the rules used for a strain change. Although a monovalent H1N1 vaccine was not available before the pandemic peaked in the Northern Hemisphere, it was available soon afterward as a stand-alone vaccine and was ultimately incorporated into commercially available seasonal influenza vaccines. (Nicole Lurie, Melanie Saville, Richard Hatchett, and Jane Halton, 5/21)

Stat: Calling All Health Care Workers 'Heroes' Harms All Of Us 
Here’s an unjust fact: Some of the frontline health care workers we’ve been celebrating with social media likes, sidewalk chalk, and asynchronous concerts are getting pay cuts and losing their jobs. And here’s an unwelcome observation: A word that’s increasingly being used during this pandemic is making their lives even harder. (Matthew Lewis, Zac M. Willette and Brian Park, 5/21)

Stat: Trump’s Hydroxychloroquine Hype: A Risk To My Treatment And To Him 
President Trump’s revelation this week that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off Covid-19 sent shivers down my spine and the spines of many others living with lupus because we actually need this problematic medication. His hype will almost certainly make the drug more difficult to get. (Camela Thompson, 5/20)