Houston Chronicle: More Contagious Coronavirus Now Virtually Only Strain In Houston
A mutated, more contagious coronavirus that Houston scientists reported was the primary strain circulating in the area in the pandemic’s early days is now virtually the only one infecting people here, according to the team. In a new study released Wednesday, Houston Methodist scientists reported that more than 99 percent of samples of the virus they’ve sequenced since mid-May contained the mutation that allows it to infect more people, up from about 70 percent the previous two months. (Ackerman, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Massive Genetic Study Shows Coronavirus Mutating And Potentially Evolving Amid Rapid U.S. Spread
The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say. Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are relatively stable as viruses go, because they have a proofreading mechanism as they replicate. But every mutation is a roll of the dice, and with transmission so widespread in the United States — which continues to see tens of thousands of new, confirmed infections daily — the virus has had abundant opportunities to change, potentially with troublesome consequences, said study author James Musser of Houston Methodist Hospital. (Mooney, Achenbach and Fox, 9/23)

Reuters: Houston Study: More Contagious Coronavirus Strain Now Dominates 
The study, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, found that nearly all strains in the second wave had a mutation, known as D614G, which has been shown to increase the number of “spikes” on the crown-shaped virus. The spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells, increasing the ability of the mutated virus to infect cells. The Houston researchers said patients infected with the variant strain had significantly higher amounts of the virus on initial diagnosis. (Beasley, 9/23)

In more news on the spread of COVID-19 —

Los Angeles Times: Americans In Their 20s Account For 1 In 5 New COVID-19 Cases 
The longer the COVID-19 pandemic goes on, the younger its victims get. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the median age of people with COVID-19 in the U.S. has declined over the spring and summer, with Americans in their 20s now accounting for more cases than people in any other age group. The findings suggest that if the U.S. wants to get its coronavirus outbreak under control, it will need more cooperation from young adults. (Kaplan, 9/23)

ABC News: Younger People More Likely To Believe COVID-19 Misinformation, Harvard Survey Finds 
Younger people are more likely to believe false claims related to the novel coronavirus than older people, according to a new survey released Tuesday by a team of researchers at Harvard University, Rutgers University, Northeastern University and Northwestern University. The survey of nearly 22,000 individuals from all 50 states comes as a slew of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 is spreading online as the pandemic rages on, and as health officials express worry over rising cases among younger Americans. (Thorbecke, 9/23)

AP: Virus Shutdown Took A Toll On Routine Health Care For Kids
A sharp decline in routine medical care for low-income children during the coronavirus shutdown could cause long-term harm if not reversed, federal officials warned Wednesday. A data snapshot from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, found that vaccinations, screening for childhood diseases, visits to the dentist and even mental health care dropped precipitously from March through May of this year, when doctors’ offices and hospitals put elective services on hold to confront the coronavirus. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/23)

Boston Globe: Sharp Decline In Child Health Care Amid Coronavirus Prompts Call To Action By Medicaid Chief 
“A lot of pediatricians are sounding the alarm," Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in an interview with the Globe. “We’re trying to sound that alarm at the federal level to get a better focus on this issue.” New CMS data show millions of children, many living in poverty, missed vaccinations and other care in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic from March through May, as parents feared going out or bringing their children to doctors’ offices. (Lazar, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Chief Verma Calls For Action Over Declines In Child Health Services During Pandemic
Newly released CMS data points to a troubling trend of stark declines in vaccinations and service use rates for primary and preventive care since the start of the pandemic among young Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries, officials for the agency say. A preliminary data "snapshot" released by CMS on Wednesday shows a 22% drop in vaccinations received by children age 2 and younger covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program between March and May this year compared to the same period in 2019. That totals to about 1.7 million fewer vaccinations. (Johnson, 9/23)

In related news on children's health —

Modern Healthcare: HHS Awards $360 Million To Boost Maternal And Child Health
HHS awarded almost $360 million to programs supporting maternal and child health, the agency said Tuesday. The funding includes more than $340 million to deliver voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services to pregnant women and parents with young children through the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, according to HHS. Another $16 million will go towards improving maternal health outcomes through the State Maternal Health Innovation program. (Brady, 9/22)

The New York Times: Trump May Reject Tougher F.D.A. Vaccine Standards, Calling Them ‘Political’
President Trump said on Wednesday that the White House “may or may not” approve new Food and Drug Administration guidelines that would toughen the process for approving a coronavirus vaccine, and suggested the plan “sounds like a political move.” The pronouncement once again undercut government scientists who had spent the day trying to bolster public faith in the promised vaccine. Just hours earlier, four senior physicians leading the federal coronavirus response strongly endorsed the tighter safety procedures, which would involve getting outside expert approval before a vaccine could be declared safe and effective by the F.D.A. (Gay Stolberg, 9/23)

NPR: Trump Accuses FDA Of Playing Politics With COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines
Trump was apparently reacting to a Tuesday report in the New York Times that said the agency will soon move to tighten requirements for emergency authorization of any coronavirus vaccine to better ensure its safety and effectiveness. "That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move," Trump said during a press briefing at the White House. (Wise, 9/23)

Politico: Trump Says He Might Reject Stricter FDA Vaccine Guidelines 
The stricter FDA standards cleared a review by the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, with the expectation that the White House would soon approve them, according to two people with knowledge of the timeline. Trump’s remarks came hours after he spoke with HHS Secretary Alex Azar about the FDA proposal, two people familiar with the situation said. The president's criticism throws into jeopardy an effort viewed as key to boosting public confidence in any eventual coronavirus vaccine. (Morello and Cancryn, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Dismisses FDA Plan For Tougher Standard For Coronavirus Vaccine As A 'Political Move' 
Trump said he had “tremendous trust in these massive companies” developing prospective vaccines and suggested that they, not federal regulators, could best determine when a vaccine should be made available to the American people. “When you have great companies coming up with these vaccines, why would they [the FDA] have to be, you know, adding great length to the process? We want to have people not get sick.” “I don’t see why it should be delayed further,” he said. “That is a lot of lives you’re talking about.” (Goldstein and McGinley, 9/23)

The Hill: Health Officials Tell Public To Trust In Science 
Trump administration health officials on Wednesday told a Senate panel that Americans should not lose faith in public health agencies or the vaccine development process, despite a recent spate of political interference. The officials sought to defend the scientific integrity of the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic while reassuring Americans growing increasingly skeptical over the politicization of a vaccine for the virus. (Weixel, 9/23)

Politico: FDA Chief: ‘I Will Fight For Science’ 
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn sought to reassure the public Wednesday that any Covid-19 vaccine approved by the agency would be safe and effective, but offered few details on the bar for emergency use. "FDA will not authorize or approve a vaccine we won’t be confident in giving to our families," he said at a Senate hearing on the government's coronavirus response, adding later that he would "absolutely" encourage his own family to take an FDA-authorized shot. (Owermohle and Brennan, 9/23)

AP: US Experts Vow ‘No Cutting Corners’ As Vaccine Tests Expand
Hopes are high that answers about at least one of several candidates being tested in the U.S. could come by year’s end, maybe sooner. “We feel cautiously optimistic that we will be able to have a safe and effective vaccine, although there is never a guarantee of that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, told a Senate committee. (Neergaard and Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/23)

Fox News: 'Most' Americans Likely Vulnerable To Coronavirus Infection, CDC Director Says
Most Americans likely remain vulnerable to coronavirus infection and its potential outcomes, per comments from a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “In order to understand the proportion of the population that’s been infected with COVID-19, and what proportion remains at risk, CDC is currently performing large-scale serology testing across the United States,” Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, said on Wednesday during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing. (Rivas, 9/23)

The Hill: Atlas Contradicts Redfield On Population Susceptibility To Coronavirus 
White House adviser Scott Atlas on Wednesday contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on how much of the U.S. population remains vulnerable to the coronavirus. The remarks at a White House press briefing comes a week after President Trump used the same forum to undermine testimony from Redfield on how quickly a COVID-19 vaccine could be available. (Budryk, 9/23)

In related news —

The Hill: Despair At CDC After Trump Influence: 'I Have Never Seen Morale This Low' 
The Trump administration’s bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent efforts to meddle with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are taking a substantial toll on the nation’s foremost public health institution. In interviews with half a dozen current and former CDC officials, they described a workforce that has seen its expertise questioned, its findings overturned for political purposes and its effectiveness in combating the pandemic undermined by partisan actors in Washington. (Wilson, 9/23)

ProPublica: Trump’s Vaccine Czar Refuses To Give Up Stock In Drug Company Involved In His Government Role 
The former pharmaceutical executive tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the administration’s race to a COVID-19 vaccine is refusing to give up investments that stand to benefit from his work — at least during his lifetime. The executive, Moncef Slaoui, is the top scientist on Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine in record time. Federal law requires government officials to disclose their personal finances and divest any holdings relating to their work, but Slaoui said he wouldn’t take the job under those conditions. So the administration said it’s treating him as a contractor. Contractors aren’t bound by the same ethics rules but also aren’t supposed to wield as much authority as full employees. (Arnsdorf, 9/23)

NBC News: Fauci, Paul Clash Over Covid-19 Herd Immunity At Senate Hearing
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, sparred Wednesday over the country's efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 and when "herd immunity" from the virus is reached. The unusually testy exchange occurred during Fauci's testimony in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. (Edwards, 9/23)

The Hill: Fauci Scolds Rand Paul During Tense Exchange At Hearing 
A seemingly irritated Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, scolded Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at a congressional hearing on Wednesday after the senator claimed that COVID-19 cases might not be rising in New York because of herd immunity. Fauci, the country's top infectious diseases doctor, told Paul he was wrong to make the suggestion, and he said Paul had also been wrong in other public comments about the concept of herd immunity. "No, you've misconstrued that, senator, and you've done that repeatedly in the past," Fauci said. (Weixel, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Fauci Finally Loses His Patience With Rand Paul 
Whenever Sen. Rand Paul and Anthony S. Fauci appear at the same hearing together, they are bound to clash. In May, they tangled over children’s susceptibility to the coronavirus. In June, Paul attacked Fauci for not being more optimistic about the coronavirus, saying that Fauci wasn’t the “end-all” and that he should be more humble about what he didn’t know. Through it all, Fauci has been characteristically diplomatic. But on Wednesday, he seemed to reach his breaking point. (Blake, 9/23)

Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes dynamics within the Trump administration continue to impact the pandemic response  —

The Atlantic: Fauci To A Meddling HHS Official: 'Take A Hike' 
Yesterday, after weeks of reports about political interference in the efforts of government scientists and public-health experts to inform Americans about the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, directly addressed the two Trump-administration officials at the center of the recent controversy: Michael Caputo, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, and Caputo’s former science adviser, Paul Alexander, who attempted to censor what scientists, including Fauci, said about the coronavirus. “Caputo enabled Alexander,” Fauci told me over email. “Alexander is the one who directly tried to influence the CDC (he may have succeeded, I cannot really say) and even me (I told him to go take a hike).” (Madrigal, 9/23)

CNN: A 'Distressed' Birx Questions How Long She Can Remain On White House Task Force, Sources Say 
Once a fixture at the administration's coronavirus briefings, Dr. Deborah Birx has confided to aides and friends that she has become so unhappy with what she sees as her diminished role as coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force that she is not certain how much longer she can serve in her position, sources familiar with her thinking tell CNN. Birx has told people around her that she is "distressed" with the direction of the task force, describing the situation inside the nation's response to the coronavirus as nightmarish. (Acosta, 9/23)

NPR: Documents Reveal CMS Planning To Enforce Hospital COVID-19 Data Reporting
The federal government is preparing to aggressively crack down on hospitals for not reporting complete COVID-19 data daily into a federal data system, according to internal documents obtained by NPR. The draft guidance, expected to be sent to hospitals this week, also adds new reporting requirements, asking hospitals to provide daily information on influenza cases, along with COVID-19. It's the latest twist in what hospitals describe as a maddening flurry of changing requirements, as they deal with the strain of caring for patients during a pandemic. (Huang and Simmons-Duffin, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Releases Reporting Requirements For COVID-19 Provider Grants
HHS on Saturday released reporting requirements for healthcare providers that received COVID-19 grant funds. Providers that received more than $10,000 in grants will have to report on how they spent funds on coronavirus-related expenses and lost revenue. HHS previously delayed statutorily required reporting deadlines, and the guidance was released more than a month later than was originally expected to allow time for provider feedback, the agency said. (Cohrs, 9/21)

In other Trump administration news —

The New York Times: Despite Claims, Trump Rarely Uses Wartime Law In Battle Against Covid 
As schools reopen and cold weather heightens the likelihood of a spike in coronavirus cases, nurses and doctors fear that shortages of the respirator masks, surgical gowns and disposable gloves needed to shield them from infection will return with a vengeance. President Trump has sweeping powers to compel companies to produce protective gear and to guarantee that the federal government will pay them for it — and as his election campaign intensifies, he has been boasting about aggressively using them. But in fact, most of his administration’s use of that authority, granted under the Cold-War Defense Production Act, has had nothing to do with the pandemic. (Jacobs, 9/22)

The Washington Post: Trump Won’t Commit To A ‘Peaceful Transfer Of Power’ If He Loses 
President Trump refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, asserting that if he doesn’t win, it will be because of fraudulent mail-in voting and not because more Americans voted against him. His latest comments came after he has spent months making unsubstantiated claims that voting by mail is corrupt and will lead to a “rigged” election. In fact, states that have embraced universal mail voting have documented tiny rates of possible ballot fraud, data shows. (Itkowitz, 9/23)

Politico: Trump Declines To Commit To A Peaceful Transition Of Power After Election
Trump has repeatedly expressed doubt about the current election infrastructure, even though numerous studies have found voter fraud to be exceedingly rare in the U.S. The president has waged a campaign against the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots expected this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, alleging that vote-by-mail is less secure than other forms of voting. He pushed a baseless theory that foreign actors are plotting to send in fake ballots, though his own intelligence community has found no evidence of such a plot. ... When asked on Wednesday about the potential public disturbances that could follow this year’s election, Trump said: “Get rid of the ballots, you’ll have a very transfer — you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.” “And the ballots are out of control,” he continued. “You know it. And you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats.” (Choi, 9/23)

NBC News: Trump On Peaceful Transition If He Loses: 'Get Rid Of The Ballots' And 'There Won't Be A Transfer'
Trump has repeatedly assailed mail-in voting as widely fraudulent, but he and his campaign have released no evidence to prove it. Even though the president and first lady Melania Trump have voted by mail and his campaign and Republicans have encouraged voters in key swing states to request ballots, his campaign is suing multiple states over mail-in voting rules. (Smith, 9/23)

The New York Times: Trump Won’t Commit To ‘Peaceful’ Post-Election Transfer Of Power
Hours after Mr. Trump’s assertions, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, expressed alarm over the comments on Twitter. “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” Mr. Romney wrote. “Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.” (Crowley, 9/23)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden responds —

The Hill: Biden On Trump's Refusal To Commit To Peaceful Transfer Of Power: 'What Country Are We In?' 
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden questioned President Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power on Wednesday. Asked about the president’s remarks during his briefing, Biden told reporters, “What country are we in?” “I'm being facetious. I said, what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say,” Biden added, according to a pool report.  (Klar, 9/23)

The Boston Globe: How Do You Run 10,000 Elections Safely During A Pandemic?
If there is one thing that defines the 2020 election, it is uncertainty, forcing election administrators to navigate a landscape shifting by the day. When COVID-19 disrupted the primaries, elections officials chased down hand sanitizer and face shields, scrambled to replace aging poll workers, and steeled their offices for an unprecedented flood of mail-in ballots. And now, the partisan volleying over the ground rules of the election has them anxiously watching for last-minute court decisions or new state laws that could upend their efforts all over again. (Bidgood, 9/24)

ProPublica: In North Carolina, Black Voters’ Mail-In Ballots Much More Likely To Be Rejected Than Those From Any Other Race 
Sandra Cosby is no stranger to the election process — or to voting by mail. In recent years, she’s cast her ballot by mail days before the election. Then, on Election Day, she takes a break from her purchasing job with the school system to help out as a Wake County poll worker, guiding voters at precincts. So when Cosby, 58, sealed up her mail-in absentee ballot in 2018, she handed the envelope to the letter carrier without any worries. (Chou and Dukes, 9/23)

ProPublica: Before Limiting Ballot Drop Boxes To One Per County, Top Ohio Election Officials Secretly Consulted Promoter Of Debunked Voting Fraud Fears 
On July 15, a civil rights group formed by Black union workers called on the Ohio secretary of state to make voting amid the pandemic easier and safer. It advocated placing multiple secure ballot drop boxes in counties across the state. When a deputy to Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose received the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s press release, he responded quickly — but not to the group. Instead, according to records obtained by ProPublica, the deputy contacted the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky, a leading advocate for the discredited argument that American elections are tainted by widespread voting fraud. (Spies and Pearson, 9/24)

AP: Judge Will Rule Soon On GOP Attempt To Block Mail Ballots
Requiring Montana counties to open polling places for November’s election would be “absolutely catastrophic,” for voters and for public health, the governor’s chief legal counsel, Raph Graybill, told a federal judge Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen heard arguments in Missoula on a motion by President Donald Trump’s campaign and other Republican groups who want to overturn an option that Gov. Steve Bullock gave counties to hold the election by mail to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Christensen said he would rule quickly. (Hanson, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Early Voting Turnout Hits Record Numbers In Virginia
Record numbers of Virginians are voting early and requesting absentee ballots this year, as the coronavirus pandemic and newly loosened election laws reshape Old Dominion voting habits in a presidential year. Some 100,356 voters have cast ballots in person since early voting began Friday, while 884,032 have requested absentee ballots, state elections officials reported on Wednesday. In all of 2016, just under 353,000 Virginians opted for early in-person voting and about 185,000 voted absentee by mail, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. (Vozzella, 9/23)

In other election news —

The Washington Post: Trump Looks For Ways To Win Over Voters On Health Care After Failing To Deliver On Promises 
President Trump is pushing advisers to deliver health-care “wins” in the final weeks of the campaign, leading to a frenzied rollout of proposals as polls show the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and health-care policy are two of his biggest vulnerabilities in his reelection bid. Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech Thursday in Charlotte, broadly outlining how he would approach health-care policy in a second term, though the speech is likely to be light on details. Instead, Trump will tout the administration’s efforts to lower drug prices, address surprise medical bills and improve health-care price transparency, according to two senior administration officials and an outside lobbyist familiar with the plans. (Dawsey and Abutaleb, 9/23)

AP: Trump Works To Win Over Catholic Voters On Abortion Issue
President Donald Trump promised Wednesday to sign an executive order that would require health care providers to provide medical care to all babies born alive as he makes an election-year push to appeal to voters who oppose abortion. The White House did not release further details about the order, but Trump’s announcement follows numerous attempts by GOP lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals around the country to pass legislation that threatens prison for doctors who don’t try to save the life of infants born alive during abortions. (Freking, 9/23)

The Hill: Trump Says He'll Sign Order Aimed At Protecting Premature Babies In Appeal To Religious Voters 
"Today I am announcing that I will be signing the born alive executive order to assure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty," Trump said during a pre-recorded address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. The president said his administration would also increase federal funding for neonatal research. The text of the order was not available after the announcement, making it unclear what it actually does. (Samuels, 9/23)

In related news on abortion, the Supreme Court and Justice Ginsburg's death —

NPR: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Death, Abortion And The 2020 Election
This week Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. She'll be the first woman in history to do so. Ginsburg's death sparked record political donations from Democrats, explains Jessica Taylor of Cook Political Report. Those donations may help Democrats in an uphill battle to retake the Senate. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans appear to have the numbers to fill Ginsburg's seat with a conservative nominee, which would shift the balance of power on the court. Professor Mary Ziegler of Florida State University explains why that could change the outcome of several cases concerning abortion restrictions that could land before the Supreme Court. (9/23)

Boston Globe: Another Conservative Justice On The Supreme Court Could Mean Big Changes For Abortion And Affirmative Action Cases 
If confirmed, that replacement would give conservatives a rock solid 6-3 advantage on a Supreme Court that already leaned sharply to the right, with the potential to reshape abortion rights, affirmative action, policing, and many other crucial issues over the coming decades while erecting a judicial barrier to attempts by future Democratic administrations to enact bold liberal policies. (Goodwin, 9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Ginsburg's Death Sets Up Sharp Supreme Court Shift 
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court in 1993, she was its lone Democratic appointee, the first in 26 years. Her eight colleagues were named by the four Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush. They were not all conservatives, however. Ginsburg voted regularly with John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter, nominees of Gerald R. Ford and Bush, respectively. And in her later years, she aligned with President Obama’s two picks, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan —as well as Stephen G. Breyer who, like her, was named by President Clinton. (Savage, 9/23)

The Washington Post: It May Feel Strange To Mourn A Celebrity You Never Met. Here’s Why It’s Healthy. 
In the hours following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday evening, thousands of mourners flocked to the Supreme Court, a pilgrimage propelled by raw grief. Many sang and lit candles; they cried together, and hugged. ... We’ve seen similar outpourings of sorrow following the death of a public figure this year. It happened in Los Angeles, when those grieving basketball legend Kobe Bryant gathered outside the arena where he had played, leaving piles of flowers, basketballs and written messages. In Georgia, Alabama and the District, as crowds showed up to see Rep. John Lewis’s funeral processions. ... But grieving a public figure — someone we didn’t know personally — can be perplexing. Why are we so affected? And how can we — should we — deal with these feelings? (Haupt, 9/23)

The New York Times: A Kid's Covid Vaccine Isn't Coming Anytime Soon
Parents, brace yourselves: You may be able to get a coronavirus vaccine by next summer, but your kids will have to wait longer — perhaps a lot longer. While a number of vaccines for adults are in advanced clinical trials, there are currently no trials in the United States to determine whether they’re safe and effective for children. (Nierenberg and Blum, 9/23)

Fox News: When Will Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Begin In Children? Top Companies Weigh In 
While four coronavirus vaccine candidates have now entered into late-stage clinical trials among adults, some may wonder when children will be enrolled. Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, announced Wednesday it is moving ahead with a Phase 3 trial of a single-shot dose to treat the virus that causes COVID-19, enrolling 60,000 adults from diverse backgrounds, including significant representation from those that are over 60 years old, to test for efficacy. (Rivas, 9/23)

Stat: Here Come The Tortoises: In The Race For A Covid-19 Vaccine, Slow Starters Could Still Win Out
The race is not always to the swift, as the cocky hare learned in Aesop’s classic fable, “The Hare and the Tortoise.” Those handicapping the so-called competition to develop Covid-19 vaccines would do well to keep an eye on the slower runners in this pursuit. (Branswell, 9/24)

Reuters: AstraZeneca Still Waiting For FDA Decision To Resume U.S. Trial 
AstraZeneca is still waiting for the go-ahead from the U.S. drug regulator to restart the clinical trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Thursday. “We are the sponsor of the U.S. study. We then provided all this information to the FDA (U.S. Federal Drug Administration) and we are waiting to hear their decision,” Soriot told a virtual World Economic Forum discussion. (Burger and Copley, 9/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why Bay Area Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Was Halted Before It Ever Started
Bay Area researchers who had been poised to start enrolling patients in a coronavirus vaccine trial have suspended those plans after the vaccine developers and federal regulators halted the trial in the United States over safety concerns. Phase 3 trials for the vaccine, made by the drug company AstraZeneca and Oxford University — considered one of the front-runners in the race for a vaccine — were temporarily halted worldwide Sept. 6 after a participant in the United Kingdom developed a neurological illness. (Ho, 9/23)

Also —

Kaiser Health News: These Secret Safety Panels Will Pick The COVID Vaccine Winners 
Most Americans have never heard of Dr. Richard Whitley, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Yet as the coronavirus pandemic drags on and the public eagerly awaits a vaccine, he may well be among the most powerful people in the country. (Pradhan, 9/24)

ABC News: Bioethicists Condemn DIY COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts 
Across the country, a small handful of scientists are brewing up their own homemade and unproven COVID-19 vaccines and giving them to friends, family and themselves. These scientists hail from disparate groups. Some are shadowy and anonymous, while others are highly organized and Ivy-league affiliated. (Salzman, 9/24)

FiveThirtyEight: How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine
Scientists around the world are currently undertaking one of the fastest vaccine-development programs in history, trying to get the novel coronavirus under control as quickly as humanly possible. But the vaccines being tested sit at a nexus of misinformation and mistrust. Between Trump’s apparent meddling in federal health agencies’ decision-making, skepticism about the seriousness of the disease, and long-standing culture wars around the safety of vaccines in general, it’s easy to find yourself floundering, unsure who you can trust. So I spoke with a handful of people who really know how vaccines, clinical trials and COVID-19 work to find out how to know when it’s a good idea to get the vaccine. (Koerth,9/23)

Becker's Hospital Review: Google Maps To Show COVID-19 Outbreaks
Google Maps unveiled a new feature on Sept. 23 that displays COVID-19 cases in a user's area. The new tool is embedded with Google Maps and is labeled "COVID-19 info." When activated, it shows a seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people for the area of the map being searched. (Drees, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Apple Watch 6’s Blood Oxygen Sensor Is Unreliable And Misleading 
Sometimes the new Apple Watch Series 6 reports my lungs and heart are the picture of health, pumping blood that’s 100 percent saturated with oxygen. At other times, it reports my blood oxygen is so low I might be suffering from emphysema. (I am not.) The watch can’t decide. This much is clear: Don’t buy one of these $400 devices in the hopes of monitoring your lung health. (Fowler, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: FDA Sets Up Center To 'Modernize' Digital Health Regulations
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday launched a new center tasked with coordinating and supporting the agency's efforts to "modernize" its approach to regulating digital health technologies, such as apps and wearables categorized as medical devices. The vision for the center is to provide manufacturers, FDA staff and others with resources to help speed development of digital technologies that are safe and effective, FDA officials said. The Digital Health Center of Excellence will sit within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. (Cohen, 9/22)

In pharmaceutical news —

NBC News: 'Brain-Boosting' Supplements May Contain Unapproved Drugs, Study Says
Some “brain boosting” supplements may contain drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration in potentially dangerous combinations and doses, a study published Wednesday finds. Among the supplements billed as "nootropics" or "smart drugs" — which promise improvements in mental focus and memory — are some that contain not only the unapproved drugs included on the label, but also unapproved pharmaceuticals that aren’t even listed, according to the study published in Neurology Clinical Practice. (Carroll, 9/23)

Stat: New Research Finds Unapproved Drugs In Brain-Boosting Supplements
The supplement aisle is rife with “nootropics,” “smart drugs” and “cognitive enhancers” that claim to help increase brain performance. But new research suggests some of those products also contain unapproved drugs that aren’t listed on the label. The study, published Wednesday in Neurology, found five unapproved pharmaceutical drugs — in potentially dangerous combinations and doses — in over-the-counter brain supplements. (Spinelli, 9/23)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Stat: Public Funding Underwrote Most Development Of J&J Drug For TB
Amid ongoing debate over taxpayer dollars used to generate medicines, a new analysis contends that public investments contributed up to five times more than what Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) spent to develop Sirturo, its groundbreaking drug for tuberculosis. Public sector funds worth an estimated $455 million to $747 million were used to pay for clinical trials, tax credits, administration of a tax-deductible donation program, and a redeemable regulatory voucher, according to the analysis, published in PLoS One. By comparison, the health care giant was estimated to have invested anywhere from $90 million to $240 million on getting the tuberculosis drug to market. (Silverman, 9/23)

Stat: HHS Criticizes Lilly For Seeking To Curtail Discounts For Safety-Net Hospitals
In a stern rebuke, the Department of Health and Human Services has taken Eli Lilly (LLY) to task for its recent decision to curtail the discounts offered to a federal program for safety-net hospitals and clinics. At issue is the 340B drug discount program, which was created in 1992 and requires drug makers to offer discounts that are typically estimated to be 25% to 50% — but could be much higher — on all outpatient drugs to hospitals and clinics that serve indigent populations. About 12,400 so-called covered entities, including 2,500 hospitals, participate in the program. (Silverman, 9/23)

Stat: Novartis Sells Bonds Tied To Expanding Access To Drugs In Poor Countries
In a first-of-its-kind move by a large drug maker, Novartis (NVS) raised approximately $2.1 billion last week by selling bonds that are tied directly to its progress in making medicines accessible in certain low- and middle-income countries. Specifically, the stated goal is to expand the number of patients who receive its brand-name medicines by at least 200% by 2025, as well as programs that market medicines to combat leprosy, malaria, Chagas, and sickle cell disease by at least 50% over the same period. If the company fails to meet those expanded access goals, however, investors will receive higher interest payments. (Silverman, 9/22)

CIDRAP: CARB-X To Fund Development Of Drug For E Coli Urinary Infections
CARB-X announced today that it will award drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) up to $7.51 million to develop a drug to treat and prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by Escherichia coli. The award will help fund development of GSK3882347, an orally bioavailable small molecule drug that targets and binds itself to a protein (FimH) found on the surface of E coli, preventing the bacteria from binding to the bladder wall and causing an infection. GSK recently began a phase 1 study to explore the drug's safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics. (9/22)

Stat: Gilead To Pay $97 Million For Allegedly Using A Charity To Pay Kickbacks To Medicare Patients 
Gilead Sciences (GILD) agreed to pay nearly $97 million to resolve allegations that donations it paid to a charity were actually kickbacks to Medicare patients used to cover out-of-pockets costs for its medicine used to treat a type of high blood pressure. This is only the latest instance in which federal authorities have cracked down on such arrangements between drug makers and patient assistance charities. (Silverman, 9/23)

New York Post: Plastic Face Shields Ineffective At Stopping COVID-19: Study
Plastic face shields are all but useless when it comes to defeating the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new Japanese study. The clear coverings were tested in a simulation by Fugaku, the world’s fastest supercomputer, which found that nearly 100 percent of airborne droplets less than 5 micrometers in size escaped through the shields, the Guardian reported Tuesday. One micrometer is the equivalent of one-millionth of a meter. (Eustachewich, 9/22)

Stat: Could Copper Surfaces Help Prevent Infections In Hospitals?
Keeping patients from getting sick during an inpatient stay has long been a problem for hospitals — and it’s an issue that has grown all the more pressing during a pandemic. Even before the rise of Covid-19, hospitals have increasingly struggled to get health-care associated infections in check. There are 2 million such infections — and 90,000 related deaths — in U.S. hospitals every year. As hospitals across the country hunt for ways to reduce the spread of pathogens to patients, a growing chorus of researchers is arguing that a simple swap might help: replace stainless steel surfaces with copper. (Zaleski, 9/24)

Also —

CIDRAP: Routine Blood Test Predicts COVID-19 Mortality Risk, Study Finds
A study today in JAMA shows that a routine blood test predicts increased risk of COVID-19 death in hospitalized patients. The study points to elevated red blood cell (RBC) distribution width (RDW), a measure of RBC volume variation and a standard part of a routine complete blood count test, as a tool to identify patients at higher risk of COVID-19 complications. Senior author John M. Higgins, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), said in an MGH news release, "We wanted to help find ways to identify high-risk COVID patients as early and as easily as possible—who is likely to become severely ill and may benefit from aggressive interventions, and which hospitalized patients are likely to get worse most quickly." (9/23)

CIDRAP: Asymptomatic COVID In Healthcare Workers Points To Risk Of Silent Spread
A study released this week shows a 40% asymptomatic rate among healthcare workers (HCW) testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of screening—meaning they had no symptoms compatible with a COVID-19 diagnosis—raising concerns about silent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare settings. A systematic review of 97 studies presented online at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Conference on Coronavirus Diseases and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that 10% of HCW were positive via polymerase chain reaction testing and 7% by antibody tests. Nurses accounted for the most infections (48% of those infected), followed by physicians (25%) and other healthcare workers (23%). Five percent of healthcare workers with COVID-19 went on to develop severe clinical complications, and 0.5% subsequently died. (9/23)

Politico: What STDs Can Tell Us About How To Fight Covid 
As Covid-19 has rampaged across the United States, government officials have struggled with the basic steps needed to contain the pandemic. Should everyone get tested, or just people with symptoms? Should public health officials require Americans to wear masks or not? What’s the best way to track the infection, particularly in marginalized communities? For one set of public health experts, the heated debates over testing, wearing masks and contact tracing were eerily familiar — as odd as it might seem, these are similar to arguments that officials and academics working to eradicate sexually transmitted diseases have been having for decades as they’ve worked to bring down the rates of infections like HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. (Miranda Ollstein, 9/23)

CIDRAP: Death In COVID Cancer Patients Tied To Age, Pre-Existing Conditions
A study of 435 German hospital patients presented online at the ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Diseases found that cancer patients showed significantly worse outcomes and higher mortality rates than others with COVID-19, and these appear to be the result of age and pre-existing conditions rather than the cancer itself. Researchers at Jena University Hospital in Germany studied a subset of 435 cancer patients from a sample of 3,071 COVID-19 patients enrolled in the multicenter Lean European Open Survey on SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients (LEOSS) registry. The LEOSS registry, established by the German Society of Infectious Diseases (DGI), is an open-access database of clinical COVID-19 information.  (9/23)

In other science and research news —

CNN: Sex Boosts Long-Term Survival Hopes For Heart Attack Victims
People who have had heart attacks can boost their chances of long-term survival by returning to normal levels of sexual activity, a new study shows. Many people stop having sex after a heart attack in the belief that it could trigger another episode, but research published Wednesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology says sex is good for survival rates. (Guy, 9/23)

Fox News: Tobacco Use To Blame For 20% Of Heart Disease Deaths, WHO Says
Each year there are about 1.9 million avoidable deaths from tobacco-induced heart disease, per a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). The figure translates to around one-fifth of all deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) globally, which occurs when plaque builds within coronary arteries, reduces blood flow to the heart and can result in a heart attack. (Rivas, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: Inpatient Volumes, Surgeries Continue To Lag Amid COVID-19
While patient volumes have started to rebound from the significant drop at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many specialties haven't returned to 2019 levels, according to a new analysis of patient and procedure volumes released Wednesday. That slow recovery is concerning for hospitals, many of which experienced negative margins in March and April as patient volumes dropped. (Cohen, 9/23)

In other health industry and personnel news —

KHN: California Expands Privacy Protection To Public Health Workers Amid Threats
alifornia will allow public health officials to participate in a program to keep their home addresses confidential, a protection previously reserved for victims of violence, abuse and stalking and reproductive health care workers. The executive order signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom late Wednesday is a response to threats made to health officers across California during the coronavirus pandemic. More than a dozen public health leaders have left their jobs amid such harassment over their role in mask rules and stay-at-home orders. (Barry-Jester, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: Home Care Nurses Account For Most Malpractice Claims Over Five-Year Period
Home care nurses were more vulnerable to professional liability claims than any other nursing specialty from 2015 to 2019, according to a new report. The findings, recently released by professional liability insurance providers Nurses Service Organization and CNA, signal the first time nurses in home care made up the most malpractice suits than other nurse specialty since the reports began in 2008. (Castellucci, 9/23)

WBUR: 'It's Scarier Than Having A Surgery': A Year Later, Uncertainty Around Medical Deferrals Remains 
It's been a year since federal immigration authorities re-started what's known as medical deferred action after quietly trying to eliminate it without any public notice. Medical deferrals allow severely ill people who don't have legal status in the U.S. — and who can't access adequate health care in their home countries — to temporarily stay here while receiving what's often life-saving treatment. (Dooling, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Changes Revenue Calculation For Keeping COVID-19 Relief Funds
HHS again has changed the rules regarding how to document Provider Relief Fund grants and it could cause headaches for healthcare stakeholders. HHS recently released reporting guidelines that changed how healthcare providers are supposed to calculate lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic, complicating accounting for more than$100 billion in grant funds. (Cohrs, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: Northwell Scores NIH Grant For Gun Violence Prevention Screening
New York-based Northwell Health has received $1.4 million from the federal government to develop a first-of-its-kind universal screening process for identifying patients at risk of injury or death from firearms. The effort is part of the health system's "We Ask Everyone About Guns" research study, which views gun violence as a public health threat. The health system wants to find evidence-based solutions that can reduce firearms' impact on health, comparing the effort to similar campaigns against motor vehicle accidents and tobacco use. (Johnson, 9/23)

Stat: What Teladoc's Patent Claims Tell Us About Property Rights In Health Tech
The field of health tech is facing a big question: Can it establish strong patent protections akin to those enjoyed by drug companies — or will it become more like the broader technology industry, where patent claims are generally harder to enforce? As the digital health industry grows, one of its most pressing challenges is finding the right balance between intellectual property protections and supporting competition in ways that would lead to more effective products and better outcomes for patients. (Ross, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: Community Health Systems Associate Reaches $2.3M HIPAA Settlement
A management company that provides services to affiliates of Community Health Systems has agreed to pay HHS' Office for Civil Rights $2.3 million, the agency said Wednesday. The fine levied on CHSPSC, a business associate that provides accounting, compliance, information technology and other services to hospitals and clinics indirectly owned by the Franklin, Tenn.-based for-profit system, settles alleged HIPAA violations related to a 2014 data breach affecting more than 6 million people. (Cohen, 9/23)

The Hill: Trump Admin Sends 250K COVID-19 Tests To 41 HBCUs: Report
A White House official said the administration has shipped more than 250,000 rapid coronavirus tests to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). “We know they’ve been underserved historically, and we just want to support them,” Adm. Brett Giroir, who is serving as testing czar for the task force, told McClatchy in a story published Tuesday. (Budryk, 9/23)

In other school news —

The New York Times: 100 N.Y.C. School Buildings Have Already Reported A Positive Case 
At least one coronavirus case had been reported in more than 100 school buildings and early childhood centers in the New York City school system by the first day of in-person instruction on Monday, according to the Department of Education. Nearly all the buildings remained open, though six were closed temporarily, in accordance with city guidelines that only those schools that report at least two cases in different classrooms will be shut. (Otterman, 9/23)

The Hill: Study: Less Than 1 Percent Of Teachers, Students Infected Since Schools Reopened 
A new study has found minimal evidence that the novel coronavirus is transferring inside K-12 school buildings despite reports of students and faculty across the country contracting the disease. Brown University researchers collaborated with school administrators and released data Wednesday from a new National COVID-19 School Response Data Dashboard. (Deese, 9/23)

NBC News: Coronavirus Kills Teacher's Aide, 41, And Her Paramedic Brother 1 Day Apart
A Florida teacher's aide who was dedicated to working with special needs students, and her brother, a paramedic, died from the coronavirus one day apart, their father said in a series of Facebook posts. Shyla Pennington, 41, a teacher's assistant with the Volusia County School District, died Sept. 19, just one day before the death of her brother, Gerald Jones, a paramedic for the county. Gerald was 51, according to a Facebook post by the county's emergency medical services. (Burke, 9/23)

ABC News: Coronavirus Transmission Heightens Concerns Surrounding Ventilation In Schools 
As concern grows among researchers about the extent to which the novel coronavirus might be transmitted through the air, advocates and educators said they have long been concerned about poor air circulation due to outdated ventilation systems. In June, Terrie Brady, president of Duval Teachers United, walked through the halls of some of the schools in her Florida community, said she saw "dirt hanging out of the air ducts." (Tatum, 9/24)

Also —

AP: 22 Middlebury College Students Barred On COVID-19 Violations
Twenty-two Middlebury College students were “barred from campus” due to “significant COVID-19 conduct violations” this past weekend, the school said. In a Monday message to the campus community, Dean of Students Derek Doucet said the school took “swift action” but he could not share any details of what prompted the school to take the action. (9/23)

The Washington Post: Sudbury, Mass., Parents Charged After Alcohol-Filled Teenage House Party Delays Start Of High School Classes 
When a police cruiser rolled up to a house party in Sudbury, Mass., earlier this month, teens sprinted into the woods, chucking beer cans as they fled. In the basement, police found dozens more underage drinkers, all breaking pandemic rules by packing together in a basement with no masks. Now, police have charged two parents and their teenager for hosting the huge party, which forced the local high school to cancel its in-person reopening so the entire student body could quarantine for 14 days. So much vitriol has flowed at the couple, who weren’t identified by police, that authorities are urging locals to accept that family will face some justice in court. (Elfrink, 9/23)

AP: Gale Sayers, Bears Hall Of Fame Running Back, Dies At 77
Gale Sayers, the dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate, has died. He was 77. Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet” and considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen, Sayers died Wednesday, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Relatives of Sayers had said he was diagnosed with dementia. In March 2017, his wife, Ardythe, said she partly blamed his football career. (Seligman and Litke, 9/24)

Omaha World-Herald: Even As Gale Sayers Battled Dementia, His Bonds Could Never Be Broken
From time to time, Roger Sayers finds the photograph and studies the marks that age can’t erase. Two old men — great-grandfathers — wearing the smiles of children. The man in back, one day before his 72nd birthday, wraps his arms around big brother and clenches his hands together. The man in front, 73, flashes the same grin. He and Gale might as well be flying down Grant Street on homemade skateboards in 1955. In May 2015, Roger knew that Gale’s memory was fading. He knew that Gale could be moody or disengaged, even nonresponsive. But they were still brothers. That week, Gale was in town and their alma mater, Central High, invited them downtown for a photo shoot. Gale drifted in and out. Lucid one minute, lost the next. At one point, a stranger got him chatting about old times and Gale thought about mom and dad. He broke down. “Tears started flowing,” Roger said. Roger put a hand on his brother and eased him back to the moment. They started laughing, and, seconds later, the photographer snapped the picture. That’s about the last time he remembers Gale being Gale. (Chatelain, 9/23)

The New York Times: Gale Sayers’s Balletic Runs Obscure Football’s Brutal Endings
It is perhaps no small irony that in 1965, the year that the Chicago Bears chose running back Gale Sayers fourth over all in the draft, George Halas, the team’s longtime owner, picked linebacker Dick Butkus one spot ahead of him. The tandem defined the team and the league for most of a decade. Both players ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But where Sayers was graceful, Butkus was brutal. Sayers eluded tacklers, Butkus slammed into ball carriers and threw them to the ground with glee. Sayers spent his years avoiding collisions. Butkus, the most fearsome player of his time, seemed to live for them. (Belson, 9/23)

In other sports news —

The Wall Street Journal: Figure Skating Turns To Virtual Competition As A Covid-19 Fallback 
U.S. figure skating champion Nathan Chen started his new competitive season with a videographer, a cluster of proctors and instructions to display a time-stamp before he performed his program in an empty training rink. Then he had to quickly upload the recording to his sport’s governing body. This is how the figure skating world is experimenting with holding competitions during the pandemic: by having skaters perform verified routines that are recorded and then judged from afar. (Radnofsky, 9/23)

CNET: Halloween Costume Masks Don't Replace Face Masks, CDC Warns 
Halloween celebrations will look different this year, with some regions warning against trick-or-treating due to coronavirus restrictions. But hey, at least costumed revelers will be masked and protected, right? Wrong. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its online holiday guidance Monday, warning that your average costume mask does not protect against the virus. "Do not use a costume mask (such as for Halloween) as a substitute for a cloth mask unless it is made of two or more layers of breathable fabric that covers your mouth and nose and doesn't leave gaps around your face," the website reads. (Cooper, 9/22)

Kaiser Health News: A Fair To Remember: County Fairs Weigh Risk Of Outbreak Against Financial Ruin 
Laura Stutzman had no doubts that this year’s Twin Falls County Fair should go on despite the pandemic still raging across the U.S. — and several outbreaks tied to such community fairs. Though she saw few people wearing masks from her volunteer station in the fair’s hospitality tent in southern Idaho earlier this month, she said she wasn’t concerned. Stutzman, 63, had been attending the fair off and on for 30 years, and she didn’t consider this year that different. People in rural communities know how to respect one another’s space, she said, and don’t have time to “fret and worry” about the coronavirus. (Franz, 9/24)

ABC News: Airlines Under Scrutiny Over Mask Policies As Parents With Toddlers Get Kicked Off Flights 
Rachel Davis was brought to tears last week as she pleaded with American Airlines gate agents after getting booted from a flight because her 2-year-old son would not wear a mask. "What do you want me to do -- duct tape his face?" she asked. "He's 2 years old, he doesn't get it!" (Kaji, 9/23)

The New York Times: How Burnout Became The Norm For American Parents 
Burnout occurs when the distance between the ideal and the possible lived reality becomes too much to bear. That’s true of the workplace, and that’s true of parenting. The common denominator among millennials, then, is that we’ve been inculcated with the idea that failure — like our failure to find secure employment, or save enough money to buy a house, or stave off an avalanche of medical debt — can be chalked up to simply not trying hard enough. Sure, “perfect parenting” doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel all the more compelled to achieve it, even as we burn ourselves — and our marriages, and our personal lives, and our mental health — into the ground. (Petersen, 9/22)

The New York Times: Dust Off Desks And Boot Up Terminals: Wall St. Returns, Fitfully 
Six months ago, New York’s financial industry abandoned its corner offices, conference rooms and trading floors almost overnight as the coronavirus raged across the city. The industry’s return to office life, by contrast, has been shambolic. The Midtown Manhattan offices of Mudrick Capital, a hedge fund, never closed, but workers were required to return only after Labor Day. ... “Covid is effectively gone from New York,” said Jason Mudrick, who runs Mudrick Capital, explaining why he sees little reason to keep his 26 employees home. “I personally think that all my hedge fund colleagues who are not coming back until later are just taking it as an excuse to have a long summer vacation.” (Kelly, 9/23)

NPR: 1 In 7 Americans Have Experienced Dangerous Air Quality Due To Wildfires This Year
Wildfires near cities have become commonplace in the Western United States, but this year the reach and intensity of the dangerous air pollution they produce has been the worst on record. Many Americans in populous, urban areas endured smoke for longer than previous years. Some places experienced very unhealthy or hazardous air from wildfires for the first time ever recorded. (Carlsen, McMinn and Eng, 9/23)

Kaiser Health News: As Fires And Floods Wreak Havoc On Health, New Climate Center Seeks Solutions 
For the past month, record-breaking wildfires have torched millions of acres from the Mexican border well into Canada, their smoke producing air so toxic that millions of people remained indoors for days on end while many visited hospitals because of respiratory distress. Last week, Hurricane Sally left a trail of watery devastation in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, even as more storms brewed offshore. All of that on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 1 million people worldwide. (Wolfson, 9/24)

The New York Times: Is It Safe To Exercise If The Air Is Hazy With Wildfire Smoke? 
Should we exercise outside when the air is smoky? With smoke and ash from major wildfires still blanketing portions of California and the Northwest and murky plumes wafting across the nation, that issue is top of the mind for many of us and likely to remain a concern well into the future. To learn more about exercise and smoke, I talked with pulmonologists, physiologists, biostatisticians and other scientists. What follows are their expert opinions about whether it might be better to stroll or streak through smoke; which masks help; when to move workouts indoors; and if we should bring our dogs along to exercise in the haze. (Reynolds, 9/23)

In other public health news —

AP: Too Much Candy: Man Dies From Eating Bags Of Black Licorice
A Massachusetts construction worker’s love of black licorice wound up costing him his life. Eating a bag and a half every day for a few weeks threw his nutrients out of whack and caused the 54-year-old man’s heart to stop, doctors reported Wednesday. “Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure a little bit,” said Dr. Neel Butala, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who described the case in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Marchione, 9/23)

CNN: FDA Must Do More To Regulate Thousands Of Chemicals Added To Your Food 
Pretend you're pregnant. You're careful about every morsel you put into your mouth, exquisitely conscious about the potential impact on your growing baby's development. But there is a catch: No matter how careful you may be, the food you eat and the beverages you drink likely contain one or more of some 10,000 chemicals allowed to be added to foods -- some of which are known endocrine (hormone) disruptors linked to developmental, cognitive and other health problems in babies and adults. (LaMotte, 9/23)

Fox News: Conjoined Michigan Twins Separated In 11-Hour Surgery
A pair of formerly conjoined twins have spent the last several weeks getting to know their new normal after surgeons in Michigan successfully separated the pair in an 11-hour operation. Sarabeth and Amelia Irwin were born connected from the chest to the belly button and shared one liver, but each had their own arms, legs, hearts and digestive tracts. Phil and Alyson Irwin, of Petersburg, Mich., said they didn’t know something was amiss with their twins until the 20-week ultrasound, which they assumed was to discover the gender of their older daughter’s new siblings. (Hein, 9/23)

Also —

The New York Times: How Memes And A Good Laugh Can Help People In Recovery 
Timothy Kavanagh, 36, a recovering heroin addict and addictions counselor, was in his second year of sobriety when his brother was killed in a drunk-driving accident. “I went into an overwhelming state of depression,” he said. “Finding recovery memes helped me get through it.” In 2015, he started to make memes about the process of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, creating the account @dankrecovery on Facebook and Instagram. (Knight, 9/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Emory, Hazelden Teaming Up To Fight Addiction And Aid Recovery
Emory Healthcare and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation announced Wednesday their joint effort ― the Addiction Alliance of Georgia ― will begin offering clinical services next year and explore opening a detox and residential treatment center in Atlanta. Aiming to halt addiction, improve recovery rates and save lives, Emory and Hazelden confirmed they have secured about $1 million in donations and commitments toward a $10 million goal for clinical programs, education and research. (Redmon, 9/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘A Demon Inside Me’: S.F. Homeless Man’s Tragic Struggle To Get Clean
San Francisco, like many other cities, is in the grip of a deadly drug epidemic. Last year, 441 people died of overdoses, a 70% increase from 2018, according to city data. And officials expect this year to be worse, because the pandemic has exacerbated the danger of drug use, disrupted services and opened a $1.5 billion budget deficit for leaders working on big plans to reform the city’s approach to mental illness and drug use. (Thadani, 9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Orders Phaseout Of Gas Vehicles, Calls For Fracking Ban 
Emphasizing that California must stay at the forefront of the fight against climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order to require all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies. Under Newsom’s order, the California Air Resources Board would implement the phaseout of new gas-powered cars and light trucks and also require medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission by 2045 where possible. California would be the first state in the nation to mandate 100% zero-emission vehicles, though 15 countries already have committed to phasing out gas-powered cars. (Willon and Barboza, 9/23)

NPR: California Governor Signs Order Banning Sales Of New Gasoline Cars By 2035 
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday that amounts to the most aggressive clean-car policy in the United States. Although it bans the sale of new gas cars and trucks after the 15-year deadline, it will still allow such vehicles to be owned and sold on the used-car market. "This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change," the governor said in a statement. "Our cars shouldn't make wildfires worse — and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn't melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines." (Sommer and Neuman, 9/23)

KQED and Associated Press: Newsom Directs California To End Sales Of New Gas-Powered Cars And Trucks
California will halt sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, a move he says will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35% in the nation’s most populous state. (Beam and Stark, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: California To Ban Sales Of New Gas-Powered Cars Starting In 2035 
The announcement spurred criticism from the Trump administration. “This is yet another example of how extreme the left has become,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere. “They want the government to dictate every aspect of every American’s life, and the lengths to which they will go to destroy jobs and raise costs on the consumer is alarming. President Trump won’t stand for it.” (Lazo, Gold and Maidenberg, 9/23)

NPR: Missouri Governor And Wife Test Positive For The Coronavirus 
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, whose mask-wearing habits have been publicly inconsistent and who has declined to issue a statewide mandate for face coverings, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Republican governor's wife, Teresa Parson, has also tested positive. In a brief video statement, Mike Parson said he is awaiting a second test to confirm the results. "Myself and the first lady are both fine," Parson said. "I was tested; the preliminary results have come back as a positive result." (Romo, 9/23)

In other news from the states —

AP: North Dakota Governor Boosts COVID-19 Measures For Elderly
Saying it’s time to “spring into action” to handle rising COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is directing health officials to place those residents at the head of the line for testing and to shift medical personnel and supplies to congregate settings. The changes were outlined Wednesday after Burgum announced a “somber milestone” of topping 200 deaths due to complications from the coronavirus and “too many” fatalities in nursing homes. State health officials have reported 26 deaths in the last seven days, all of whom were men and women in their 70s, 80s and 90s with underlying health conditions, he said. (Kolpack, 9/23)

AP: South Dakota Reports Single-Day High For COVID-19 Infections
South Dakota on Wednesday reported 445 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number in a single day since the pandemic started. The state has seen the nation’s second-highest number of new cases per capita over the last two weeks. The rolling average of daily new cases has increased by nearly a third in that time. But Gov. Kristi Noem has continued to say that the state is “in good shape” when it comes to hospital capacity. (Groves, 9/23)

AP: Norman City Council Requires Masks At Indoor House Parties
The Norman City Council voted to require that masks be worn indoors at house parties if more than 25 people are present to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the college town — a step that angry residents said would infringe on their rights. The council voted 5-3 on Tuesday night in favor of the ordinance, which took effect immediately and expires Nov. 30, despite the objections of some locals. (Miller, 9/23)

Detroit Free Press: Oakland County Children's Village: 9 People Test Positive For COVID-19
Nine staffers and residents have tested positive for the coronavirus at Oakland County Children's Village and 17 other employees are self-isolating at home for 14 days. County health officials are working to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at the juvenile detention facility after an employee tested positive Sept. 3, according to a statement from the county. (Hall, 9/23)

ABC News: 20 Inmates, Accomplices Charged In COVID-19 Unemployment Fraud 
Pennsylvania officials charged nearly two dozen inmates and outside accomplices who allegedly conspired to obtain some $300,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment benefits. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro charged 20 inmates and accomplices across three state prisons where inmates allegedly gathered personal information from other inmates and distributed them to people on the outside who applied for fraudulent relief funds in their names, officials said Wednesday. (Allen, 9/23)

In news on the West Nile Virus —

Fox News: Oklahoma Resident Hospitalized With Possible West Nile Virus
An Oklahoma resident is currently hospitalized with a possible case of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, officials in the Sooner State announced this week. The patient, from Oklahoma County, was not identified. He or she has been tested for West Nile virus, though the results from the test are seemingly pending as the case was identified as “possible” in a news release from the Oklahoma-City County Health Department (OCCHD). The possible case marks the first in the county this year, per officials. (Farber, 9/23)

Politico: Trudeau: Canada Already In Second Wave Of Coronavirus 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is warning Canadians that the second wave has arrived in many parts of the country. “We’re on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring,” Trudeau said Wednesday during a 12-minute takeover of suppertime television. “It’s all too likely we won’t be gathering for Thanksgiving [Oct. 12], but we still have a shot at Christmas.” (Blatchford, 9/23)

Fox News: German Lufthansa Airline Plans Rapid COVID-19 Testing For Passengers
German airline Lufthansa announced this week that it would start offering rapid coronavirus testing for passengers in October. The company's senior director for product management, Bjoern Becker, said Tuesday that the new antigen tests will initially be available for first-class and business-class passengers only because supplies are limited, according to Reuters. (Musto, 9/23)

AP: Israel's Netanyahu Calls For Tough Lockdown As Virus Rages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announced plans for a strict, two-week nationwide lockdown in a bid to slow a raging coronavirus outbreak. In a video statement, Netanyahu said there would be a “full lockdown” beginning Friday that would run through Oct. 10. He said the lockdown would continue for at least another two weeks, albeit “hopefully” with some restrictions eased. (Federman, 9/23)

Los Angeles Times: Malaysia Tackles Charges Of Forced Labor At Glove Companies
COVID-19 has created a windfall for the Malaysian companies that supply nearly two-thirds of the disposable latex and synthetic gloves used to fight contamination in hospitals, labs, pharmacies and kitchens worldwide. But record-breaking sales have been accompanied by fresh scrutiny over labor practices — especially treatment of the low-paid migrant workers who run the assembly lines. (Bengali, 9/22)

AP: 'Are People To Be Left To Die?' Vaccine Pleas Fill UN Summit
If the United Nations was created from the ashes of World War II, what will be born from the global crisis of COVID-19? Many world leaders at this week’s virtual U.N. summit hope it will be a vaccine made available and affordable to all countries, rich and poor. But with the U.S., China and Russia opting out of a collaborative effort to develop and distribute a vaccine, and some rich nations striking deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure millions of potential doses, the U.N. pleas are plentiful but likely in vain. “Are people to be left to die?” Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a COVID-19 survivor, said of the uncertain way forward. (Anna, 9/24)

NPR: Vietnam's 'Self Help Clubs' Get Older People To Help Themselves
It's a bit hard to describe Vietnam's Intergenerational Self Help Clubs. But one thing is easy to say. If you're older — like above the age of 60 — and need help, the club will help you get it. That could mean a microloan if times are tough, a drum lesson as a chance for self-expression and social activity (and to prove that old people can play drums, too). And during the pandemic, the clubs have played a critical role informing and supporting its members. There are around 3,000 of the clubs in Vietnam, with 160,000 participants, most of them older people. The goal is to help older people and people with disabilities — and people in any age group can volunteer. That's why "intergenerational" is part of the name. (Gharib, 9/23)

CIDRAP: Phase 3 Trial Shows Some Promise For Bacteriophages For UTI Treatment
The results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial show that intravesical bacteriophage treatment was non-inferior to standard-of-care antibiotic treatment and safe for treating urinary tract infection (UTI) patients, but it was not superior to placebo in terms of efficacy or safety, researchers reported yesterday in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. (9/17)

CIDRAP: Vaccine candidate fails to reduce C difficile infection in phase 3 trial
A phase 3 trial for a bivalent Clostridioides difficile toxoid vaccine was terminated because of futility, an international team of investigators led by scientists from Sanofi Pasteur reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. In the observer-blind, randomized controlled trial, which was conducted in 326 hospitals in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, adults 50 years or older with increased risk of C difficile infection were randomized 2:1 to receive one dose of Sanofi Pasteur's C difficile vaccine candidate (containing toxoids A and B) or one dose of placebo. The primary outcome was the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing symptomatic C difficile infection. (9/16)

Journal Of Clinical Oncology: Cause-Specific Mortality Following Initial Chemotherapy In A Population-Based Cohort Of Patients With Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma, 2000-2016  
Mortality for patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) treated during an era characterized in the United States by widespread use of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine and diminishing use of radiotherapy is not well understood. We identified 20,007 individuals diagnosed with stage I/II (early) or III/IV (advanced) cHL between age 20 and 74 years treated with initial chemotherapy in US population-based cancer registries during 2000-2015 (follow-up through 2016). We used standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) to compare cause-specific relative mortality risk following cHL to that expected in the general population and estimated excess absolute risks (EARs; per 10,000 patient-years) to quantify disease-specific death burden. (Dores et al, 9/01)

Journal Of Clinical Oncology: Consolidation Radiotherapy Could Be Safely Omitted In Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma With Large Nodal Mass In Complete Metabolic Response After ABVD: Final Analysis Of The Randomized GITIL/FIL HD0607 Trial 
To investigate the role of consolidation radiotherapy (cRT) in advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) presenting at baseline with a large nodal mass (LNM) in complete metabolic response after doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy. Advanced-stage (IIB-IVB) HL patients, enrolled in the HD 0607 trial (Clinicaltrial.gov identifier NCT00795613), with both a negative PET after two (PET-2) and six (PET-6) ABVD cycles, who presented at baseline with an LNM, defined as a nodal mass with the largest diameter ≥ 5 cm, were prospectively randomly assigned to receive cRT over the LNM or no further treatment (NFT). (Gallamini et al, 9/1)

JAMA Network: Efficacy Of Smartphone Applications For Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Is a smartphone application based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) efficacious for smoking cessation? In this 2-group stratified, double-blind, individually randomized clinical trial of 2415 adult smokers with a 12-month follow-up and high retention, participants assigned to the smartphone application based on ACT had 1.49 times higher odds of quitting smoking compared with the participants assigned to the smartphone application based on US clinical practice guidelines. (Bricker et al, 9/21)

JAMA Network: Tobacco Dependence Treatment Is Critical To Excellence In Health Care
The treatment of tobacco dependence1 is critical to health and should be foundational to excellence in health care delivery. The Surgeon General’s 2020 report identified low-cost interventions that are effective in helping people quit smoking when used in both outpatient and inpatient clinical settings and indicated that the benefits of quitting for health and well-being are substantial.2 Almost 500 000 Americans die annually from tobacco use, and 16 million have serious tobacco-induced chronic diseases.2 This results in $170 billion in health care costs, including $110 billion from hospitalizations.3 People who use evidence-based cessation interventions are more likely to quit smoking than those who do not.2 Too few of the 34 million Americans who are addicted to nicotine receive assistance from health care professionals.2 Many more lives could be saved if universal treatment of tobacco dependence were implemented across all health care systems, both during hospitalization and after discharge.1 (Sarna, et al, 9/21)

The Washington Post: We’ve Reached 200,000 Deaths. Our Response Has Gotten Even Worse Than It Was At 100,000. 
The United States has reached the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths from covid-19. We are in a much worse place than we were when we crossed the 100,000-death threshold in May. Why? Start with the numbers. In late May, we had about 20,000 new infections per day. Now we are at double that, with around 40,000 new daily infections. This is a high baseline to have entering the fall and winter, when the combination of quarantine fatigue and cold weather could drive people to congregate indoors and substantially increase transmission. (Leana S. Wen, 9/23)

The Guardian: The 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths Are An American Tragedy Of Our Own Making
Death is not supposed to be part of the American dream. As the country’s founding document says, liberty and the pursuit of happiness presuppose life. For a culture based on these ideals, death can be hard to confront. Nevertheless, as the official death toll from Covid-19 in the United States passes 200,000, it is time to take stock of how long-running pathologies in American culture exact a price measured in human lives. Trump's 'America first' is working: the US leads the world in coronavirus cases. The United States has now suffered about 22% of the world’s deaths from Covid-19, despite accounting for only 4% of the world’s population. (Andrew Gawthorpe, 9/22)

The Washington Post: Seven Months Into The Pandemic, Trump’s Testing Plan Enters Its Second Wave Of Failure
It has been seven months since the pandemic struck, and still the Trump national testing plan is testing little more than our patience. If we had a properly functioning federal government, we would have enough screening tests by now to send kids back to school in most places and to protect essential workers, residents of nursing homes, university students and workers in food processing plants and other high-risk settings. But instead of the nearly 200 million monthly tests we would need to do such things, we have under 30 million — about the same that we had in July. (Dana Milbank, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: No Need To Sweat Covid Vaccination Rates 
President Trump has said he hopes the federal government can begin distributing a Covid-19 vaccine in October. Many in the public-health community are skeptical, arguing instead for a more controlled, and likely slower, release. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have recommended heavy-handed government rationing during the initial rollout. Science magazine reports that only half the U.S. population may eventually want the vaccine, a level too low to achieve herd immunity. Some in the media and the public-health community are arguing that all this necessitates continued restrictions on economic activity. But the pessimism over a vaccine rollout and worries over widespread vaccination are misguided. (Tomas J. Philipson, 9/23)

The New York Times: Political Incompetence Can Be As Deadly As Covid-19 
MADRID — Politicians here seem to be mystified as to why Spain is, once again, the European country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. They have blamed the recklessness of youth, our Latin inability to keep our distance, and even immigration. And yet all this time the answer has been right under their noses: Nothing has eased the spread of the virus as much as their own incompetence. (David Jiménez, 9/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Good Vaccine Progress, Bad Politics 
Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday that its vaccine candidate for Covid-19 will enter Phase 3 trials, the fourth to do so. The speed of vaccine development is remarkable, and credit goes to scientific advances and some smart government decisions. The shame is that this good news has been swamped by the politicization of vaccines, like everything else about Covid-19. Democrats say the Trump Administration is compromising safety by rushing out a vaccine before the election, while Mr. Trump is playing into their hands by overpromising and trolling regulators. “Big news. Numerous great companies are seeing fantastic results. @FDA must move quickly!” he tweeted Wednesday. (9/23)

ABC News: Let’s Not Lose Our 3rd Chance To Contain COVID-19
The fight against COVID-19 is far from over, but we are starting to see signs of significant progress. Across the country, we are seeing 11 new cases per 100,000 people, down from our peak of 20 per 100,000 in August. While this is a sign of improvement, we need to remember that we've been in this position -- twice before. (Dr. Bechara Choucair and Dr. Jay Bhatt, 9/24)

The Hill: America's Public Schools Are Not Ready For The COVID-19 Vaccination Debate 
The long-simmering national debate over childhood vaccination is barreling towards America's public schools, and they aren’t ready. With 56 million students, nearly 4 million teachers and millions of other critical school staff, the nation’s education system has a greater share of the vaccine-eligible population than any other public institution, and it’s going to be ground zero for the nation’s COVID-19 inoculation campaign. (Mario Ramirez and Andrew Buher, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Second Pandemic Wave: What Is Italy Doing Better Than Spain, France, U.K.?
Italy was a symbol of the first wave of the pandemic. It was the first country in the world to go into a national lockdown, as its hospitals — especially in cities such as Bergamo and Cremona in the north — struggled to cope with the spike of cases and there was a sharp increase in deaths. As fear of a second wave grips Europe, Italy appears to be coping much better than other countries such as France, Spain and the U.K. This is hardly a time for complacency; as Britain can attest, this virus can return with a vengeance. (Ferdinando Giugliano, 9/24)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Hospitals Demand Help With Next COVID-19 Relief Bill
In late August, while the number of people in Kentucky who have died from COVID-19 approached 1,000 and the number of people here confirmed with the virus neared 50,000, our federal legislators came home from Washington, leaving an unresolved national funding bill for COVID-19 relief efforts behind.Earlier COVID-19 response legislation enacted by Congress provided critical resources for our health care facilities and communities. But now, as the numbers of cases and deaths continue to grow here and across the nation, our members of Congress can see the challenges that continue here in the hospital and a clinic serving vulnerable communities, where I work. (Nicole Leedy, 9/24)

Stat: Medicine For The Greater Good: One Hospital's Community Outreach 
The violent police attacks on Jacob Blake, George Floyd, and far too many others, along with the high rates of Covid-19 among minority communities, have illuminated an ugly fact: being a person of color in America is bad for your health. Across the board, people of color have worse health outcomes than their white counterparts. (Panagis Galiatsatos and Erica Johnson, 9/24)

The New York Times: It Hurts To Keep Hoping For Justice 
Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, announced Wednesday that one police officer would be charged, not in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, but with endangering her neighbors with reckless gunfire. “If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice. Mob justice is not justice,” Mr. Cameron said, in an apparent attempt to explain the lack of more serious charges relating to the 26-year-old’s killing. “Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge.” Mr. Cameron’s use of the term “mob justice” to characterize protests by African-Americans who want officers who kill Black people with seeming impunity held responsible for their actions is curious phrasing, particularly from an attorney general from a Southern state. Mob justice was literally used by Kentucky and other Southern states for decades to rule over Black people. (Melayne Price, 9/24)

Fox News: Black Ky. AG Unjustly Criticized By Black Left For Not Charging Police In Breonna Taylor Death
Breonna Taylor — a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician shot five times by police in Louisville, Ky., when they entered her apartment March 13 during a drug investigation — didn’t deserve to die. But the American people deserve the facts about her tragic death.Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron delivered those facts at a news conference Wednesday, subject to limitations required by law in a case being prosecuted, and drew criticism for not filing charges against police officers for Taylor’s death. Cameron announced that a grand jury determined that two police officers were justified in firing their guns because Taylor’s boyfriend shot at them first after officers used a battering ram to force their way into her apartment. (Rob Smith, 9/24)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: St. Louis Homicides Are Spiking, With GOP Extremists Helping Provide The Ammo
It’s past time to ask hard questions about why St. Louis’ homicide rate is through the roof this year. Yes, the pandemic and economic downturn have exacerbated personal conflicts and drug violence, which may drive the national uptick in killings. But why is it exponentially worse in St. Louis than elsewhere? The clearest difference is that, thanks to Missouri’s ruling Republicans, it’s easier for a criminal to obtain and carry a gun in St. Louis than in most cities. State legislators refuse to allow common-sense measures to address it. Much of this blood is on their hands. (9/23)

The Hill: Amid Coronavirus, The Great American Comeback Is Underway 
Some people just placate; others get things done. Prior to the pandemic, real total household and nonprofit net wealth increased by 12.1 percent over the first 11 quarters of the Trump administration, concentrated among the bottom 50 percent of households that experienced a net increase of 47 percent; hourly wage growth for production and non-supervisory workers also hovered over 3 percent for over 17 consecutive quarters; and overall dependence on welfare declined as more people were lifted out of poverty. (Christos A. Makridis, 9/23)

Stat: It's Time To Make The Abortion Pill Available Via Telehealth 
Twenty years ago this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved a medication destined to become known as the abortion pill. Mifepristone, then called RU486, was going to change everything about abortion — it would expand access and remove the stigma. (Ushma D. Upadhyay, 9/24)

Boston Globe: Case For Securing Abortion Access In Massachusetts Grows 
Last year, the fight to protect abortion rights in this state seemed a bit theoretical. After all, this is Massachusetts, right? What more needs to be said? But with the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the likelihood of her replacement by a far more conservative justice, the threat to abortion rights is serious. And so the response by state lawmakers must also be serious — and swift. (9/24)