The Washington Post: States Mandate Masks, Begin To Shut Down Again, As Coronavirus Cases Soar And Hospitalizations Rise 
The pandemic map of the United States burned bright red Monday, with the number of new coronavirus infections during the first six days of July nearing 300,000 as more states and cities moved to reimpose shutdown orders. After an Independence Day weekend that attracted large crowds to fireworks displays and produced scenes of Americans drinking and partying without masks, health officials warned of hospitals running out of space and infection spreading rampantly. (Partlow and Miroff, 7/6)

NBC News: A Grim July: U.S. Sees 250,000 New Coronavirus Cases In Just Five Days
Five days into July, 250,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the United States, with no sign the numbers will get any better. Ten states have already notched record single-day highs in the number of cases since the start of the month, according to the latest NBC News tally. (Murphy and Siemaszko, 7/6)

ABC News: Coronavirus Cases Rose Through June As Health Officials Scramble To Control Pandemic 
After showing some signs of progress in flattening the COVID-19 curve, America saw a jump in cases throughout June, especially in states that eased back their pandemic safeguards early. Over the course of the month, the country saw over 820,000 new cases and lost nearly 22,000 lives to the virus, according to health data. In total there were over 2.6 million confirmed cases and over 126,000 deaths in the U.S. (Pereira, Weinstein and Keenan, 7/7)

PBS NewsHour: A Muted Fourth Of July As Virus Shatters Infection Records 
Fourth of July celebrations in many parts of the United States were muted this year, overshadowed by a virus spreading with alarming speed. The national death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 130,000, and hospitals in the South and West particularly are struggling to keep up with the demand for urgent care. Still, some Americans oppose shutdowns and mask requirements. (Brangham, 7/6)

WBUR: 'It's No Surprise' Some States Are Seeing COVID-19 Spikes, Former CDC Director Says 
Dr. Tom Frieden, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, says “it’s no surprise” that these states are experiencing spikes because they reopened businesses too early and in places where cases were increasing. “When you lean into a punch, you get hit hard, and if you take one step too far forward, too fast with COVID-19, you're going to have to take two or three steps backward,” he says. “This is a big challenge, and it's going to continue for weeks, if not months.” (Hobson, 7/6)

The New York Times: Fauci Says Virus Cases ‘Never Got Down To Where We Wanted To Go’ As Deaths Pass 130,000
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned on Monday that the country was still “knee-deep in the first wave” of the pandemic, as U.S. deaths passed 130,000 and cases neared three million, while Texas and Idaho set daily records for new cases, according to a New York Times database. Dr. Fauci said that the more than 50,000 new cases a day recorded several times in the past week were “a serious situation that we have to address immediately.” (7/6)

CNN: Fauci Says US Coronavirus Situation Is 'Really Not Good' As New Cases Surge 
Fauci on Monday pointed to "a series of circumstances associated with various states and cities trying to open up" too early as a key factor in the virus' surge and emphasized the US "should use the public health effort as a vehicle and a pathway to get to safe reopening." (LeBlanc, 7/6)

The Hill: Fauci: State Of US Coronavirus Outbreak 'Really Not Good' 
He also compared the U.S. unfavorably with Europe, which was able to better suppress the virus after an initial spike. The comments contrast those made by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who on Monday said, “I think the world is looking at us as a leader in COVID-19,” citing a lower mortality rate than Europe. (Sullivan, 7/6)

ABC News: Situation 'Really Not Good' As New COVID-19 Cases Break Records: Fauci
On the tension around the current outbreaks, Fauci said Americans should not look at public health efforts and reopening the economy as at odds with each other but there should be a balance of all the parameters to use protecting public health as a way to reopen. (Ebbs, 7/6)

NBC News: Fauci On A COVID-19 Vaccine: 'We Will At Least Have An Answer' In The Winter Whether It Works
The United States will know by the end of the year or the beginning of 2021 whether a coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious diseases doctor, said Monday. Multiple vaccine candidates are being studied, and "if things go the way it looks like they're going, one of these will enter phase 3 at the end of July," he said, referring to the final phase of clinical trials needed to determine whether a drug works. (Miller, 7/6)

The Washington Post: Small Business Administration Releases Records On Paycheck Protection Program Loans 
Data released Monday by the Small Business Administration shows that businesses owned by members of Congress and the law practice that represented President Trump were among the hundreds of thousands of firms that received aid from the agency. As part of its $660 billion small-business relief program, the SBA also handed out loans to private schools catering to elite clientele, firms owned by foreign companies and large chains backed by well-heeled Wall Street firms. Nearly 90,000 companies in the program took the aid without promising on their applications they would rehire workers or create jobs. (O'Connell, Gregg, Rich, Narayanswamy and Whoriskey, 7/6)

The New York Times: Lobbyists, Law Firms And Trade Groups Took Small-Business Loans 
The Trump administration, under pressure to reveal which companies received loans from a $660 billion program intended to keep small businesses afloat, on Monday released data showing that restaurants, medical offices and car dealerships ranked high among the top loan recipients. (Smialek, Tankersley and Broadwater, 7/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Small Business Loans Helped The Well-Heeled And Connected, Too 
The 660,000 companies named accounted for only the largest loans—those worth $150,000 or more. The loans can be forgiven if used largely to retain employees. The loans disclosed Monday represented about 15% of more than 4 million loan participants in the program but about $3 of every $4 distributed. (Tracy, Day and Haddon, 7/6)

AP: Trump Donors Among Early Recipients Of Coronavirus Loans
As much as $273 million in federal coronavirus aid was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to President Donald Trump’s election efforts, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Many were among the first to be approved for a loan in early April, when the administration was struggling to launch the lending program. And only eight businesses had to wait until early May before securing the aid, according to the AP’s review of data released Monday. (Slodysko and Kastanis, 7/7)

NBC News: What Unites Planned Parenthood, Kushner And Kanye? PPP Loans
The federal government backed loans totaling as much as $150 million for Planned Parenthood affiliates in recent weeks, according to federal Paycheck Protection Program data released Monday by the Small Business Administration. The loans infuriated anti-abortion-rights conservatives, who cheered last year when President Donald Trump moved successfully to block the organization from getting access to the federal government's main family planning fund. (Allen and Gardella, 7/6)

AP: Kanye West? The Girl Scouts? Hedge Funds? All Got PPP Loans
The government’s small business lending program has benefited millions of companies, with the goal of minimizing the number of layoffs Americans have suffered in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet the recipients include many you probably wouldn’t have expected. Kanye West’s clothing line. The sculptor Jeff Koons. Law firms and high-dollar hedge funds. The Girl Scouts. Political groups on both the left and right. (Rugaber, 7/7)

Reuters: U.S. Pandemic Aid Program Saved 51.1 Million Jobs, But Wealthy And Connected Also Benefited
The gallery of well-connected names extended deeply into the world of America’s privileged and super famous. Sidwell Friends School, an exclusive private school which educated former President Barack Obama’s daughters, was approved for between $5 million and $10 million, as was Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, which - with tuition exceeding $50,000 per year - is attended by the children of hedge fund managers and celebrities. (Price, Lawder and Delevingne, 7/6)

Stat: Venter Institute, Yumanity Among Biopharma Recipients Of PPP Loans
Yumanity, the J. Craig Venter Institute, and dozens of other companies around the biotech industry received Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to data disclosed Monday... The program, which Congress established in a March law to help companies continue to pay employees that would otherwise be laid off or furloughed, has been under fire for its lack of transparency and for initially allowing well-funded, often publicly traded companies to seek the financial help. (Sheridan, 7/6)

AP: Virus Loans Helped Entities Tied To Trump Evangelical Allies
Churches connected to President Donald Trump and other organizations linked to current or former Trump evangelical advisers received at least $17.3 million in loans from a federal rescue package designed to aid small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Those receiving loans include City of Destiny, the Florida church that Trump’s personal pastor and White House faith adviser Paula White-Cain calls home, and First Baptist Dallas, led by Trump ally and senior pastor Robert Jeffress. City of Destiny got between $150,000 and $350,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, and First Baptist Dallas got between $2 million and $5 million, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Monday. (Schor, 7/7)

AP: New Rules: Foreign Pupils Must Leave US If Classes Go Online
International students will be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online this fall, under new guidelines issued Monday by federal immigration authorities. The guidelines, issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provide additional pressure for universities to reopen even amid growing concerns about the recent spread of COVID-19 among young adults. Colleges received the guidance the same day that some institutions, including Harvard University, announced that all instruction will be offered remotely. (Binkley, 7/7)

The Washington Post: International Students Must Take Classes In Person To Stay In The Country Legally This Fall, ICE Announces 
University officials scrambled Monday to adapt to new federal guidance that does not allow international students to stay in the country if they are taking classes online only. It also left some students expressing fears on social media that they risked being suddenly deported. “Our institutions right now are struggling to figure out what the fall is going to look like, how best to serve their students, while keeping everybody safe,” said Sarah Spreitzer, director of government relations for the American Council on Education. “This is just going to make things more complicated." (Svrluga, 7/6)

NPR: ICE: Foreign Students Must Leave The U.S. If Their Colleges Go Online-Only This Fall 
And for students enrolled in schools that have already announced plans to operate fully online, there is no choice. Under the new rules, the State Department will not issue them visas, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not allow them to enter the country. (Treisman, 7/6)

Politico: Trump Administration Bars International College Students If Their School's Classes Are All Online 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program for non-immigrant students on F-1 and M-1 visas for academic and vocational coursework. The State Department will not issue visas to students in online-only programs and Customs and Border Protection will not allow these students to enter the country, according to the press release. (Cohen, 7/6)

Reuters: U.S. To Force Out Foreign Students Taking Classes Fully Online
It was not immediately clear how many student visa holders would be affected by the move, but foreign students are a key source of revenue for many U.S. universities as they often pay full tuition. (Dwyer, 7/6)

ABC News: Students On F-1, M-1 Visas Won't Be Able To Remain In US If All Their Fall Classes Are Online 
The Department of Homeland Security's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) normally limits the number of online classes a nonimmigrant student can take under its student visa program. SEVP officials had relaxed those limits for the spring and summer semesters due to the coronavirus, but the new order eliminates those temporary exemptions for the fall 2020 semester. (Tatum, 7/6)

CNN: The Mask Decision That Will Haunt Trump's Reelection Bid 
As coronavirus cases surge and governors begin agitating for a national mandate on wearing masks, President Donald Trump is showing few signs he'll budge on an issue that has come to epitomize a national pandemic response rooted in denial and which now threatens his political future. Even most elected Republicans now openly advocate for wearing masks and have been pictured with their noses and mouths covered, in part to set an example for the country. But Trump still refuses to wear a mask in public, and most guests at his two July 4 celebrations -- at Mt. Rushmore and on the White House South Lawn -- were bare-faced. (Liptak, Brown and Westwood, 7/7)

USA Today: What States Require Face Masks In Public? Kansas, Texas Join Growing List Of States Where It's Mandatory
As coronavirus cases rise in at least 40 states, many governors institute or renew orders requiring people to wear face coverings in public. Most of the orders require people to wear masks in both indoor and outdoor public spaces where social distancing isn't possible, but some apply to only specific places or age groups. None of the orders applies to children younger than 2 or people with a medical condition or disability that prevents them from wearing a face covering. These states require you to wear a face mask in public. (Hauck, 7/6)

Billings Gazette: Billings Mayor Implores Residents To Wear Masks, Follow Public Health Directives
COVID-19 infections in 40 states have risen dramatically in recent weeks, including in Montana. Yellowstone County leads the state in active cases, currently at 140, and has seen a sharp spike in new cases during the past few weeks. Three assisted living facilities in Billings have reported individual cases in the last two weeks, and health officials said there have been about a dozen cases in seven care homes in the county. (Rogers, 7/6)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Please Tell Me My Life Is Worth A LITTLE Of Your Discomfort,’ Nurse Pleads
When an employee told a group of 20-somethings they needed face masks to enter his fast-food restaurant, one woman fired off a stream of expletives. “Isn’t this Orange County?” snapped a man in the group. “We don’t have to wear masks!” The curses came as a shock, but not really a surprise, to Nilu Patel, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at nearby University of California-Irvine Medical Center, who observed the conflict while waiting for takeout. Health care workers suffer these angry encounters daily as they move between treacherous hospital settings and their communities, where mixed messaging from politicians has muddied common-sense public health precautions. (Almendrala, 7/7)

The Washington Post: The Inventor Of N95 Masks Had Retired. But He Now Works 20 Hours A Day, Mostly For Free, To Fight Covid-19.
Peter Tsai retired two years ago, but the materials scientist says he’s never been busier. When the novel coronavirus began gripping the globe in March, Tsai was summoned from his short-lived retirement. He was in urgent demand because he is the inventor who, in 1995, patented the filtration material used in disposable N95 respirators. (Page, 7/7)

AP: Medicare Nursing Home COVID Site Leaves Users 'In The Dark'
When the Trump administration required nursing homes to report their COVID-19 cases, it also promised to make the data available to residents, families and the public in a user-friendly way. But some facilities that have had coronavirus cases and deaths turn up as having none on Medicare’s COVID-19 nursing home website. Those data may be incomplete because the reporting requirements don’t reach back to the start of the pandemic. Numbers don’t necessarily portray the full picture. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/7)

AP: NY Count: 6,300 Virus Patients Were Sent To Nursing Homes
New York hospitals released more than 6,300 recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes during the height of the pandemic under a controversial, now-scrapped policy, state officials said Monday, but they argued it was not to blame for one of the nation’s highest nursing home death tolls. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, which has taken intense criticism over the policy, instead contended the virus’ rampant spread through the state’s nursing homes was propelled by more than 20,000 infected home staffers, many of whom kept going to work unaware they had the virus in March and April. Another 17,500 workers were infected through early June. (Villeneuve and Peltz, 7/7)

The Hill: McConnell Predicts Congress Will Need Fifth Coronavirus Bill 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Monday that he believes there will be a fifth coronavirus relief bill, as the country sees an uptick in the number of cases. "We will be taking a look at — in the Senate in a couple of weeks — another package based on the conditions that we confront today," McConnell said in Louisville, Ky. McConnell added on the potential for a fifth coronavirus bill that "I believe there will be one." (Carney, 7/6)

The Hill: McConnell Opens Door To Direct Payments In Next Coronavirus Bill 
Asked if funding for individuals like the stimulus checks included in a March package would be in the next piece of legislation, which would be the fifth in response to COVID-19, McConnell said they "could well" be. "I think the people that have been hit the hardest are people who make about $40,000 or less. Many of them work in the hospitality industry. .... That could well be a part of it," McConnell said. (Carney, 7/6)

NBC News: McConnell Opens Door To More Coronavirus Stimulus Checks For Low-Income Americans
McConnell said one of his top priorities for the bill would be liability protection to protect businesses from coronavirus-related litigation. "This is not just for businesses. This is for hospitals, doctors, nurses, nonprofits, universities, colleges, K-12, so that people who acted in good faith during this crisis are not confronted with a second epidemic of lawsuits in the wake of a pandemic that we're already struggling with," he said. (Thorp V, Tsirkin and Gregorian, 7/6)

In other Capitol Hill news —

Politico: Rep. Bill Pascrell Expected To Recover After Undergoing Heart Surgery On Sunday 
Rep. Bill Pascrell underwent heart surgery on Sunday to relieve blocked arteries, days before New Jersey’s primary election. The 83-year-old New Jersey Democrat wrote on Twitter that he was feeling much better and is expected to completely recover. (Cohen, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times: 'Young Invincibles' Increasingly Infected By Coronavirus, Newsom Says 
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the surge in coronavirus cases hitting California was due in part to younger people who might believe “they are invincible” but nonetheless are becoming sick from COVID-19. These are younger adults — who Newsom called “the young invincibles” — who are testing positive for the disease, a trend that has become apparent as the economy has reopened and working-aged adults return to work and had resumed social gatherings. (Lin II, Shalby, Kambhampati and Lee, 7/6)

AP: The Latest: Young People Most Of Arizona's Confirmed Cases
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona has now surpassed 100,000 and younger people, not the elderly, have comprised more than half of them, state health officials said Monday.The Department of Health Services said in a statement that more than 62,000 of the 101,441 reported cases involve people younger than 44. (7/7)

In related news —

The New York Times: In Nick Cordero’s Death, A Reminder Of Covid-19’s Unknowns 
The death of the Broadway actor Nick Cordero from Covid-19 has shaken people far beyond the theater world, in large part because he was just 41 and reportedly had no underlying health conditions. Medical experts said that Mr. Cordero’s death underscored a multitude of unknowns about the coronavirus — including the ways it could imperil even young, healthy people who did not appear to be at increased risk of contracting severe disease. (Wu, 7/6)

CIDRAP: Older People As Unwilling As Youth To Isolate During Pandemic
A survey of 72,417 adults in 27 countries, including the United States, suggests that, despite their increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, people older than 60 years are no more willing to comply with infection-prevention measures than younger people. The results, published late last week in PLOS One, involved a 16-question Imperial College London and YouGov poll. It asked respondents if they would isolate themselves for 7 days if they felt unwell and had certain symptoms of COVID-19 or if they would do so if urged to by a healthcare or public health professional. It also asked how often they had taken infection-prevention measures such as handwashing, avoiding public transportation, and cleaning often-touched surfaces. (Beusekom, 7/6)

Kaiser Health News: Life Beyond COVID Seclusion: Seniors See Challenges And Change Ahead 
Months into the coronavirus pandemic, older adults are having a hard time envisioning their “new normal.” Many remain fearful of catching the virus and plan to follow strict precautions — social distancing, wearing masks and gloves, limiting excursions to public places — for the indefinite future. (Graham, 7/7)

CNN: About A Fifth Of Adults In The US Have Moved Due To Covid-19 Or Know Someone Who Did, A New Study Shows 
When the coronavirus pandemic began its rapid spread from country to country and eventually state to state, what once felt like home was no longer a safe haven for millions of people. Around one-in-five adults in the US have either moved or know someone who did because of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to a new study published by the Pew Research Center on Monday. (Elassar, 7/7)

The New York Times: Airborne Coronavirus: What You Should Do Now 
The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. (Mandavilli, 7/6)

Reuters: Coronavirus Survivor Tom Hanks Does Not 'Have Much Respect' For People Who Shun Basic Precautions 
Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, who recovered after being infected with the novel coronavirus earlier this year, said he does not hold much respect for people who decline to practice precautions such as wearing a mask in public. Hanks and his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, disclosed in March that they had tested positive for the coronavirus while in Australia for a film shoot. (Ross, 7/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Struggle To Contain Covid-19 Spread Inside Their Walls 
The University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago thought it was ready when the pandemic reached its emergency room in early March. Staff wearing protective gear whisked the first coronavirus patient into isolation, allowing the hospital to stay open for urgent operations. “We have response plans in place to minimize any continued risk to patients, staff or students,” the university said in a campuswide letter. (Gold and Evans, 7/6)

Kaiser Health News: COVID Catch-22: They Got A Big ER Bill Because Hospitals Couldn’t Test For Virus 
Fresh off a Caribbean cruise in early March, John Campbell developed a cough and fever of 104 degrees. He went to his primary care physician and got a flu test, which came up negative. Then things got strange. Campbell said the doctor then turned to him and said, “I’ve called the ER next door, and you need to go there. This is a matter of public health. They’re expecting you.” (Appleby, 7/7)

Stateline: Coronavirus Fraudsters Keep Prosecutors Busy 
A Hollywood film producer allegedly tried to use $1.7 million from the federal coronavirus business relief fund to pay personal credit card bills. Two New England men allegedly applied for more than half a million in refundable loans through the program by claiming to have dozens of employees at four businesses. They had none.Many fraudsters have submitted false state unemployment claims. In Washington state, the unemployment system temporarily crashed under the weight of hundreds of millions of dollars in payments for fake claims. These are just a few examples of what prosecutors say are tens of thousands of attempts to rip off governments by fraudulently filing for expanded unemployment benefits or lying on applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to assist small businesses forced to close or drastically cut back due to the pandemic. (Povich, 7/7)

USA Today: Despite COVID-19 Increase, Insurance Companies To Pull Back Telehealth
Cynthia Peeters' stomach started hurting in mid-February as COVID-19 began dominating the news. By April, the pain was overwhelming, but she was too anxious about the virus to go to the doctor. Her gastroenterologist did a cellphone video visit with her and suggested a diet change. When it got worse last month, Dr. Christopher Ramos did another video call and told Peeters to come in for a colonoscopy. The diagnosis: Colon cancer, caught just in time. (O'Donnell and Alltucker, 7/3)

WBUR: 'We Need Help': People At Higher Coronavirus Risk Fear Losing Federal Unemployment 
Many people with underlying medical conditions are worried about what's going to happen at the end of the month. It's not currently safe for many of them to go back to work. The COVID-19 death rate is 12 times higher for people with underlying conditions. But an extra $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits, which has been enabling them to pay their rent and other bills, will stop coming at the end of July. (Arnold, 7/6)

NBC News: How Blood Type May Affect Your Coronavirus Risk
Recent studies have suggested that people's blood types may affect their risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus or developing a serious case of the disease. Overall, the findings indicate that people with Type O blood seem to be more protected and that those with Type A appear more vulnerable. So does that mean some people can slack off on preventive measures while others need to ratchet them up? (Stenson, 7/7)

Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline 
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. “Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified 765 such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic. (7/7)

In sports news —

The Washington Post: MLB's Restart Upended By Coronavirus Testing Delays 
As if Major League Baseball’s degree of difficulty in attempting to launch a 2020 season this summer amid a global pandemic was not already high enough, a critical apparatus underpinning the endeavor — the novel coronavirus testing program designed to prevent large outbreaks — has shown signs of failing just days into the opening of training camps. The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, last year’s World Series participants, chose to cancel workouts Monday after having failed to receive results from coronavirus tests administered Friday — which they had expected to receive by Sunday. The St. Louis Cardinals also canceled their workout later Monday over testing delays, and the Oakland Athletics were waiting on test results before deciding whether to work out Monday evening. (Sheinin, 7/6)

AP: MLB Releases Pandemic-Shortened Schedule Amid Testing Delays
Major League Baseball released its pandemic-shortened schedule Monday, featuring a tantalizing season opener between the New York Yankees and World Series champion Washington Nationals, even as some teams were still bogged down by coronavirus concerns. By the time MLB revealed each team’s 60-game slate Monday evening, the Nationals and Houston Astros — last year’s pennant winners — had canceled workouts because of COVID-19 testing delays that one executive worried could endanger the season. The St. Louis Cardinals also scrubbed their practice for the same reason. (Wilson, 7/7)

AP: NHL, Players Announce Labor Deal, Plan To Resume Play Aug. 1
The NHL is in position to resume playing in less than a month — with 24 teams in action, all in Canada — and could be on the verge of enjoying labor peace through 2026. The National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association on Monday announced a tentative deal on a return-to-play format and a memorandum of understanding on a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement. (Wawrow and Whyno, 7/7)

The New York Times: Months Into Virus Crisis, U.S. Cities Still Lack Testing Capacity 
In the early months of the nation’s outbreak, testing posed a significant problem, as supplies fell far short and officials raced to understand how to best handle the virus. Since then, the United States has vastly ramped up its testing capability, conducting nearly 15 million tests in June, about three times as many as it had in April. But in recent weeks, as cases have surged in many states, the demand for testing has soared, surpassing capacity and creating a new testing crisis. (Mervosh and Fernandez, 7/6)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Coronavirus Test Site Runs Out Of Tests Minutes After Opening; Others Turned Away 
New Orleans' city-run coronavirus testing site ran out of tests within minutes of opening on Monday, showcasing the high testing demand in the city as cases rise amid a national shortage in testing supplies. More than 150 people were standing in line when the site at Dillard University in Gentilly opened at 8 a.m., which meant the city hit its daily testing capacity of 150 by 8:02 a.m., according to city officials. (Williams, 7/6)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County CA COVID-19 Test Shortage Forces Closures 
In a major setback, Sacramento County health officials said Monday they will shut five coronavirus testing sites this week in under-served communities due to a growing shortage of testing materials. County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said the last of the five centers, one in Natomas, will be open on Tuesday, then all five will shut down indefinitely. (Bizjak, 7/6)

Meanwhile, researchers are focusing on testing technology upgrades —

The New York Times: A New Generation Of Coronavirus Tests Is Coming. Here's What To Expect. 
Researchers around the world are working on the next generation of coronavirus tests that give answers in less than an hour, without onerous equipment or highly trained personnel. The latest so-called point-of-care tests, which could be done in a doctor’s office or even at home, would be a welcome upgrade from today’s status quo: uncomfortable swabs that snake up the nose and can take several days to produce results. (Wu, 7/6)

And as case counts rise, contact tracers face challenges -

CNN: US Coronavirus: Contact Tracing Is No Longer Possible Across The South Due To Rapid Coronavirus Surges, Health Expert Says 
Despite hopes for relief this summer, the US is battling the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic -- so much so that across the South and Southwest contact tracing is no longer possible, according to a health expert. "The cases are rising so rapidly, that we cannot even do contact tracing anymore. I don't see how it's possible to even do that," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday. (Holcombe, 7/7)

ABC News: In South Florida, Volunteer Contact Tracers Take On Language Barrier In Urgent COVID Fight 
After losing his job abruptly amid the coronavirus in March, Alejandro Curbelo saw a TV ad for a unique volunteering opportunity to help with contact tracing in the U.S. At the time Curbelo, a Cuban native, was living in Cancun, Mexico, and had been working in the tourism industry before being laid off. Without any experience in the medical field, or any knowledge of what the opportunity would entail, Curbelo told ABC News he signed up to become a contact tracer for a community hospital in South Florida – more than 500 miles from his home in Mexico. But he quickly noticed a problem: Most contact tracing training resources were in English, which could hamper efforts to reach out to Latino communities in the U.S. (Romero, Siegel and Bhatt, 7/7)

Politico: Early Covid-19 Tracking Apps Easy Prey For Hackers, And It Might Get Worse Before It Gets Better 
The push to use smartphone apps to track the spread of coronavirus is creating a potential jackpot for hackers worldwide — and the U.S. offers a fat, loosely defended target. In the Qatar Covid-19 app, researchers found a vulnerability that would’ve let hackers obtain more than a million people’s national ID numbers and health status. In India’s app, a researcher discovered a security gap that allowed him to determine who was sick in individual homes. And researchers uncovered seven security flaws in a pilot app in the U.K. (Starks, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Eradicate AIDS? Coronavirus Stands In The Way 
The coronavirus pandemic has hobbled progress in fighting HIV worldwide, including San Francisco’s efforts to quash new infections, with public health resources diverted toward COVID-19 and millions of people struggling to access care, according to reports presented this week at the International AIDS Conference. San Francisco’s “Getting to Zero” initiative, aimed at ending all new infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS, is dependent upon an aggressive public health response that has been dramatically derailed by COVID-19, health care providers and patient advocates said. (Allday, 7/6)

The Washington Post: When One Pandemic Disrupts Another: The Story Of The Coronavirus And HIV
More than 20,000 HIV specialists, patients and activists convened Monday for their worldwide conference, a meeting held this year in the shadow of another virus that causes a deadly new disease with global reach. The novel coronavirus has disrupted two years of planning. Instead of highlights and challenges, the talk now is of locked-down people with HIV who cannot get treatment, preventive medication or even testing, of lost wages and health insurance. For the physicians and scientists still exploring therapies and a vaccine for AIDS four decades on, some research is threatened or postponed, their patients hunkered down at home. (Bernstein, 7/6)

The Washington Post: Mildew In The Toilet May Indicate Someone Has Diabetes 
People with diabetes cannot process glucose properly, causing urine to have excess sugar — an ideal food for mildew. (Huber, 7/6)

The Washington Post: The Big Number: 795,000 People A Year Have A Stroke In The U.S. 
Every 40 seconds, on average, someone in the United States has a stroke — amounting to 795,000 people a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most strokes, 80 percent or more, occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a clot. Known as an ischemic stroke, it results in brain cells not getting needed oxygen and nutrients, which causes the cells to start dying within minutes. (Searing, 7/6)

NPR: U.N. Predicts Rise In Diseases That Jump From Animals To Humans 
A new United Nations report warns that more diseases that pass from animals to humans, such as COVID-19, are likely to emerge as habitats are ravaged by wildlife exploitation, unsustainable farming practices and climate change. These pathogens, known as zoonotic diseases, also include Ebola, MERS, HIV/AIDS and West Nile virus. They have increasingly emerged due to stresses humans have placed on animal habitats, according to the U.N. Environment Program report Preventing the Next Pandemic: Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission, released on Monday. (Neuman, 7/6)

Politico: Stark Racial Disparities Emerge As Families Struggle To Get Enough Food 
Nearly four in 10 Black and Hispanic households with children are struggling to feed their families during the coronavirus pandemic — a dramatic spike that is exacerbating racial inequities and potentially threatening the health of millions of young Americans. The percentage of families who are considered food insecure has surged across all groups and is already much higher than during the depths of the Great Recession, according to new research by economists at Northwestern University based on Census Bureau data. (Bottemiller Evich, 7/6)

The Washington Post: Evictions Likely To Skyrocket This Summer As Jobs Remain Scarce. Black Renters Will Be Hardest Hit. 
A backlog of eviction cases is beginning to move through the court system as millions of Americans who had counted on federal aid and eviction moratoriums to stay in their homes now fear being thrown out. A crisis among renters is expected to deepen this month as the enhanced unemployment benefits that have kept many afloat run out at the end of July and the $1,200-per-adult stimulus payment that had supported households earlier in the crisis becomes a distant memory. (Merle, 7/6)

Stat: The Pandemic Has Exacerbated An Under-The-Radar Health Disparity: Period Poverty
Period poverty isn’t new: Menstrual hygiene products aren’t covered by national food stamp programs and are subject to sales tax in 30 states, excluded from the list of essential items exempt from taxes like food and medication. But the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn that followed have only exacerbated the problem, leaving marginalized populations who were already struggling to afford menstrual products at even more of a loss. (Gaffney, 7/7)

PBS NewsHour: ‘We Need Help,’ Say Latina Workers, Hit Hard By Pandemic Job Losses 
With the U.S. economy in shambles due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Latina workers have suffered the worst job losses, with 19 percent reporting being unemployed in May. Latinx Americans are also among the groups most likely to contract COVID-19 -- and to die from it. We spoke to several Latina women, including two undocumented immigrants, about their experiences of the past few months. (Jackson, 7/6)

GMA: Blogger Highlights COVID-19 Burden On Families: 'You Can Have A Kid Or A Job Amid COVID-19, Not Both'
A mother who has struggled to multitask during the novel coronavirus pandemic is opening up about holding down a career while parenting amid these unprecedented times. In a New York Times piece titled, "In the Covid-19 Economy, You Can Have a Kid or a Job. You Can’t Have Both," Deb Perelman writes how working parents are facing a new dilemma as the economy reopens. "We can't keep up with this," Perelman, a New York writer and food blogger of smittenkitchen.com, told "Good Morning America." "Everybody is overwhelmed, and everybody has their hands tied." (Pelletiere, 7/6)

Stat: Tech Giants Can Help Close Health Disparities. They Have Little To Show For It
As the nation confronts a reckoning over racial inequality, tech giants — with their vast budgets, institutional power, and growing focus on health — could be well-positioned to make a difference. They could invest in health tech initiatives to close racial gaps in local communities, conduct inclusive research, and create more affordable, accessible products. (Brodwin, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Major U.S. Cities, Gripped With Crisis, Now Face Spike In Shootings, Including Of Children
As the nation faces a pandemic, financial catastrophe and massive social justice protests, it is suddenly also confronting a spike in violence in some of its major cities. Tragedies struck in urban centers thousands of miles apart, with 65 people shot over the weekend in New York and 87 in Chicago, and homicides climbing from Miami to Milwaukee. Though the summer months in the United States often augur more violence, the recent toll has been particularly devastating in communities where the victims included young children. (Berman, Jacobs, B. Guarino and M. Guarino, 7/6)

ABC News: As Shootings Surge Across US, Police See COVID's Crippling Of Justice System Enabling Crime 
For the last six weekends, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown has awakened to word of another eruption of shootings in his city. On Monday, Brown stood at another news conference and admitted he was "biting my tongue," trying desperately to maintain his emotions as he spoke of 7-year-old Natalia Wallace, one of two children fatally shot on the Fourth of July, a week after 20-month-old Sincere Gaston and 10-year-old Lena Nunez were shot to death in the city. (Hutchinson, 7/6)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Governor To Deploy National Guard Troops After Violence In Atlanta
Gov. Brian Kemp will deploy as many as 1,000 Georgia National Guard troops to protect state buildings in Atlanta on Monday following a burst of violence across the city that left four dead, including an 8-year-old girl, and saw the ransacking of the headquarters of the Georgia State Patrol. Kemp, a Republican, issued the emergency order after threatening late Sunday to “take action” to curb the unrest in Atlanta if Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms failed to do so, a move that highlighted the complicated, and increasingly tense, relationship between two of the state’s most prominent politicians. (Bluestein, 7/6)

The New York Times: ‘It’s Got To Stop’: Atlanta’s Mayor Decries A Surge Of Violence As A Girl Is Killed 
Activists with Black Lives Matter had a vision for what the scorched remains of a Wendy’s restaurant could become: the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center, a gathering place in Atlanta with job training, counseling and youth programs that would be a living memorial named for the man whose fatal encounter with the police transformed the fast-food eatery into the heart of the city’s turmoil. But the lofty aspirations have been clouded by continuing violence. On Saturday, an 8-year-old girl, Secoriea Turner, was gunned down, the authorities said, after an armed group stopped her family’s car nearby. (Rojas, 7/6)

The New York Times: 64 Shot, 10 Dead: Spike in Gun Violence Alarms An On-Edge N.Y.C.
A young father crossing a Bronx street, holding hands with his 6-year-old daughter. A 15-year-old who refused to talk to the police in Manhattan. A man in a Staten Island public housing complex, found prone in his apartment. They were among 64 people shot in a surge of shootings over the weekend in New York City, the police said. Ten of those shot lost their lives, including the young father and the Staten Island man — a wave of summertime violence that has given renewed urgency to a gun violence crisis that had been overshadowed this year by the coronavirus pandemic and by unrest over police racism and brutality. (Southall, 7/6)

Stat: Immunomedics' Breast Cancer Drug Delays Tumor Growth, Prolongs Survival
Immunomedics reported clinical trial results Monday showing its newly approved medicine, Trodelvy, reduced the risk of tumor progression or death by 59% compared to chemotherapy in patients with an aggressive type of metastatic breast cancer. Trodelvy also prolonged overall survival in the same patients, although the magnitude of the survival benefit is being withheld for now so the data can be presented at a later medical meeting, the company said. (Feuerstein, 7/6)

Stat: J&J Lowers Price Of A TB Drug In Many Poor Countries, But Is It Enough?
After protracted criticism over its pricing for a game-changing tuberculosis medicine, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is lowering the price as part of a larger incentive scheme designed to increase usage in dozens of low and middle-income countries, but the effort was met with a mixed reaction. The health care giant is dropping the price for Sirturo by 15%, from $400 to $340 for a six-month treatment course, for more than 130 countries that are eligible to purchase the tablet through the STOP TB Partnership, a collective created by the United Nations that administers a global fund for distributing TB drugs. However, the cost could drop still more depending upon quantities that are purchased. (Silverman, 7/6)

The Hill: Jonathan Sackler, Co-Owner Of Embattled OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma, Dead At 65 
Jonathan Sackler, the co-owner of embattled OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, died at age 65 last week, the company confirmed to The Hill on Monday. He died on June 30 of cancer, a court filing read, according to The Associated Press. The co-owner was the son of Raymond Sackler, one of the brothers who bought the company in 1952 when it was called Purdue Frederick. (Coleman, 7/6)

In related news from the Trump administration —

Reuters: U.S. EPA Approves Use Of Lysol Disinfectant Spray Against COVID-19 
UK-based Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc said on Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved use of its Lysol Disinfectant Spray against COVID-19. The U.S. EPA said in a statement that the agency had approved two products, Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist, based on laboratory testing that showed the products were effective against COVID-19. (7/6)

Stat: Lobbyists Tied To Trump Represent Pharma Companies Working On Covid-19
More than a dozen companies developing Covid-19 vaccines, therapies or diagnostics — including several of the largest drug makers —are represented by lobbyists connected to President Trump, according to an analysis by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. The lobbyists are among more than three dozen influence peddlers who are connected to the president through his campaigns, inaugural committee, presidential transition team, or his administration, and who are seeking government approval of client products and Covid-related aid from various programs. (Silverman, 7/6)

Texas Tribune: Several Texas Cities Worry Hospitals May Run Out Of Beds In Two Weeks Or Sooner 
Local officials and experts in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth have expressed concerns in recent days that increasing coronavirus hospitalizations could overwhelm their intensive care capacities, with some saying it could happen in less than two weeks. (Olivares, 7/6)

WBUR: Phoenix Mayor Says The City Is In A 'Crisis Situation,' Needs Help 
Arizona is one of just five states that has seen new coronavirus cases climb by the thousands each day in the past couple of weeks. The state's governor, Republican Doug Ducey, in May lifted a stay-at-home order he put in place in March so the economy could begin reopening. But a week ago, Ducey ordered bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks to shut down again for 30 days as daily caseloads topped 3,000. (Doubek and Chang, 7/6)

NBC News: How Chattanooga, Tennessee, Became A Coronavirus Hot Spot
When Marlene José, 20, lost her mom to the coronavirus weeks after she lost her 1-year-old brother to the disease, she said, she felt like she was "split in half." Her mother had been in the intensive care unit for a week, her lungs struggling to capture oxygen. She lost the ability to speak and breathe on her own before she succumbed on June 15. (McCausland, 7/7)

CNN: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Says She Tested Positive For Coronavirus 
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, one of the top prospects to be presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's running mate, said Monday that she has tested positive for Covid-19... She told CNN's Chris Cuomo that she received the news that both she and her husband were positive just before 6 p.m. ET on Monday. She said they decided to get tested because her husband had been sleeping more than normal since last Thursday. (Merica, Wright and Meilhan, 7/6)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana Coronavirus Cases: 330 New Cases, 5 Additional Deaths Reported
After a few days in which Indiana saw the number of newly reported coronavirus cases hover near or exceed 500, the state reported 330 additional cases Monday, all confirmed within the past week. Five new deaths, all of which occurred in the past week, were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 2,505. Often the number of new cases dips after a weekend, particularly a holiday weekend as there can be lags in reporting. (Rudavsky, 7/6)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Industries Hit Hardest By Virus-Related Layoffs Didn’t Get The Most Federal Loans
A federal forgivable loan program provided a lifeline to many Maine businesses and employees hit hard by the coronavirus, but some of the sectors most affected by early layoffs did not receive the most loans, according to data released on Monday. The U.S. Treasury and the Small Business Administration released the names of more than 650,000 U.S. companies that received Paycheck Protection Program loans by June 30, with more than 27,000 Maine companies getting about $2.24 billion. Only the names of companies receiving from $150,000 or more were released. Those firms made up less than 15 percent of the nearly 5 million U.S. companies who got loans. (Valigra and Piper, 7/6)

Dallas Morning News: After Dallas Mother And Daughter Die Of Coronavirus Hours Apart, Their Family Pleads: Take COVID-19 Seriously
Doris LaVon Sims, 59, died June 9 after being hospitalized with the coronavirus. Her loved ones said she made everyone feel like her best friend. COVID-19 devastated her family: at least eight relatives tested positive, including herself, she said. Two — her mother, Doris LaVon Sims, and her sister, LaKecial Tutt, both of Pleasant Grove — died hours apart on June 9, after spending more than two weeks in separate hospitals. They’re among the 395 people who have died from the coronavirus in Dallas County, where more than 25,000 people have tested positive. Each day, the county announces the number of new deaths and cases in tweets and news releases. (Branham, 7/6)

And the latest on Florida and the virus —

AP: Hospitals Approaching Capacity As Miami Closes Restaurants
Hospitals rapidly approached capacity across the Sunbelt, and the Miami area closed indoor dining at restaurants and gyms again because of the surging coronavirus Monday, as the U.S. emerged from a Fourth of July weekend of picnics, pool parties and beach outings that health officials fear could fuel the rapidly worsening outbreak. (Gomez Licon and Pane, 7/6)

CNN: A Florida Man Visiting Beaches Dressed As The Grim Reaper Says Governor Should Require Masks Statewide 
A Florida lawyer who visits the state's reopened beaches dressed as death itself is calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis to require the public to wear masks. Daniel Uhlfelder, who sued the state's Republican governor earlier this year saying he prematurely opened beaches, has spent the last several weeks warning beachgoers of the coronavirus's rising danger while dressed as the Grim Reaper -- complete with a dark cloak and a giant scythe. (Morales and Ries, 7/6)

The Hill: Florida Orders All Schools To Open Next Month Despite Surging COVID-19 Cases 
Florida's government has ordered all public schools to reopen for in-person instruction in the fall and laid out requirements schools must meet if they wish to provide remote learning. The Tallahassee Democrat reported Monday that the edict was issued by the state's education commissioner, Richard Corcoran. Local health officials can override his decision based on the rate of new coronavirus cases in their counties. “All school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools in August at least five days per week for all students," Corocoran said, according to the newspaper. (Bowden, 7/6)

The New York Times: Reopening N.Y.C. Schools Safely: A Huge Challenge 
Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to reopen New York’s public schools in September, but students will almost certainly not return to classrooms five days a week, and they will probably have staggered schedules to fulfill social-distancing requirements. That could mean that the city’s 1.1 million students physically attend school a few times a week, or one week out of every two or even three, and continue their classes online the rest of the time. Math and English classes could be held in cafeterias or gyms, where there is room to spread out. Students may be asked to keep their distance from one another in once-boisterous hallways and schoolyards. (Shapiro, 7/6)

The Washington Post: A Tuition Break, Half-Empty Campuses And Home-Testing Kits: More Top Colleges Announce Fall Plans
Princeton University announced Monday it will cut tuition 10 percent in the coming school year and bring no more than half its undergraduates to the campus in New Jersey, an extraordinary acknowledgment of how the coronavirus pandemic has hobbled the operations of a school that aims to provide education through experiences inside and outside of the classroom. “We do believe that being immersed in a learning environment matters,” Christopher L. Eisgruber, Princeton’s president, said. The discount from the previously announced rate will set tuition at about $48,500. (Anderson, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Pressure Rises For Newsom To Release More People From San Quentin, Other Prisons 
As the coronavirus rages through California’s crowded state prisons, threatening those inside and straining community hospitals, pressure is building on Gov. Gavin Newsom to avert a wider public-health crisis by drastically cutting prison populations — including at San Quentin in Marin County, now home to one of the country’s biggest COVID-19 outbreaks. Since last week, two federal judges who monitor California’s prison complex, Kimberly J. Mueller of Sacramento and Jon S. Tigar of Oakland, have signaled that they are losing patience with the state’s handling of the pandemic. Both judges said in recent court filings that they may reconvene a special three-judge panel that has the power to order releases of incarcerated people. (Fagone and Cassidy, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Legislators Call On Newsom To Stop Transferring Prisoners To ICE 
Dozens of state legislators on Monday urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to halt the transfer of immigrants in local and state custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as officials face an alarming number of COVID-19 infections in these facilities. In a letter spearheaded by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, more than 40 state Assembly members and senators called on Newsom to sign an executive order that would stop the transfer of immigrant inmates. They cited severe health risks and a high likelihood of transmission inside ICE facilities, where hundreds of detainees share small common areas and sleep in bunks just feet away from one another. (Sanchez, 7/6)

Reuters: Hospitalizations Jump 50% In California As Coronavirus Infections Soar
New coronavirus cases soared in California over the July Fourth weekend, stressing some hospital systems and leading to the temporary closure of the state capitol building in Sacramento for deep cleaning, officials said on Monday. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased by 50% over the past two weeks to about 5,800, Governor Gavin Newsom said at a briefing. (Bernstein, 7/6)

The Hill: California Assembly Indefinitely Postpones Session After Coronavirus Outbreak 
California's state legislature announced Monday that it will remain in recess after five people who work in the Assembly, including one lawmaker, tested positive for the coronavirus, KCRA 3 reports. "The Assembly will remain in recess until further notice," Speaker Mark Rendon (D) said in a statement obtained by KCRA. "We have taken this decision, as we did in March, to protect members, staff and the public from exposure." (Bowden, 7/6)

The Hill: California Tells Six Additional Counties To Close Indoor Businesses, All Bars 
California on Monday told six more counties to close indoor operations for many businesses and all bars as the state experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced during his press briefing that Colusa, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey and San Diego counties have been added to the list of those instructed to close bars and indoor operations for certain businesses. (Coleman, 7/6)

The Washington Post: Bubonic Plague In China Sparks Health Warning 
Chinese public health authorities are stepping up precautions to prevent a potential bubonic plague outbreak in a remote northern region after a herder contracted the disease, although the risk of large-scale infections is low with the availability of modern medicine. (Shih, 7/7)

CNN: Bubonic Plague: Case Found In China's Inner Mongolia 
A hospital alerted municipal authorities of the suspected case on Saturday. By Sunday, local authorities had issued a citywide Level 3 warning for plague prevention, the second lowest in a four-level system. The warning will stay in place until the end of the year, according to Xinhua. The case was confirmed and officially diagnosed by doctors on Tuesday. (Yeung, 7/7)

AP: Australia's 2nd Largest City Foils Nation's Pandemic Success
Australia has been among the world’s most successful countries in containing its coronavirus outbreak — with one exception. The southeastern state of Victoria had some of the nation’s toughest pandemic measures and was among the most reluctant to lift its restrictions when the worst of its outbreak seemed to have passed. (Brownbill and McGuirk, 7/7)

The New York Times: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Won’t Cross The Border For Washington Summit 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed on Monday he won’t attend a meeting in Washington this week with President Donald Trump and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico. The meeting was meant to celebrate the official start of the new trade deal between the three countries — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (U.S.M.C.A.). That Mr. Trudeau would choose not to fly to Washington to celebrate what many consider one of his most important accomplishments to date was striking. (Porter, 7/6)

Reuters: India's Coronavirus Death Toll Hits 20,000 As Infections Surge
India’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 20,000 on Tuesday and case numbers surged as the south Asian nation pushed ahead with relaxations to its almost two-month lockdown amid grim economic forecasts. (7/7)

Reuters: UK COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 55,000 Including Suspected Cases
The United Kingdom’s suspected COVID-19 death toll has hit 55,398, according to a Reuters tally of official data sources that underline the country’s status as one of the worst hit in the world. (7/7)

The New York Times: Britain, Charting Its Own Course On Human Rights, Imposes New Sanctions 
Britain, seeking to carve out a post-Brexit role as a human-rights defender, said on Monday it had blacklisted dozens of people from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Myanmar for abuses ranging from a carefully-plotted execution to jailhouse beatings and the persecution of Rohingya refugees. It was the first time since leaving the European Union in January that Britain imposed its own sanctions for human-rights violations. British officials cast the move as proof that the country can play an influential global role on its own, with some noting that the European Union has yet to adopt similar sanctions. (Landler, 7/6)

AP: New At Saudi Hajj: Bottled Holy Water, Sterilized Pebbles
Saudi Arabia has issued guidelines for the 1,000 or so pilgrims that will be allowed to perform the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca later this month, an experience that will be unlike any before because of the coronavirus pandemic. The pilgrims will be only be able to drink holy water from the Zamzam well in Mecca that is packaged in plastic bottles, and pebbles for casting away evil that are usually picked up by pilgrims along hajj routes will be sterilized and bagged ahead of time. Pilgrims will also have to bring their own prayer rugs. (Batrawy, 7/7)

The New York Times: Laid Off And Locked Up: Virus Traps Domestic Workers In Arab States 
When the nine African women lost their jobs as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia because of the coronavirus lockdown, the agency that had recruited them stuffed them in a bare room with a few thin mattresses and locked the door. Some have been there since March. One is now six months pregnant but receiving no maternity care. Another tore her clothes off in a fit of distress, so the agency chained her to a wall. The women receive food once a day, they said, but don’t know when they will get out, much less be able to return to their countries. (Hubbard and Donovan, 7/6)

The Wall Street Journal: What Restaurants Need To Reopen: A Flattened Infection Curve And Fresh Air 
Public-health authorities in the U.S. have singled out restaurants and bars as a source of coronavirus contagion. Yet in Europe, bistros, pizzerias and cafes bustling with clientele have had no major outbreaks. The difference, health authorities say, stems from Europe’s success in flattening its infection curve before restaurants and bars reopened. And the Continent is also benefiting from something many eateries across the Sunbelt—from Florida to Southern California—currently lack: fresh air. (Dalton and Benoit, 7/6)

Reuters: Strains Of Hope: Chilean Nurse Serenades COVID-19 Patients With Violin 
When most Chilean nurses finish their long shifts caring for the country’s many COVID-19 patients, there is little else on their minds but seeing their families, eating and sleeping. Not so Damaris Silva, who twice a week when she finishes her shift at 6 p.m. picks up her violin and returns to the ward. (7/6)

Reuters: South Korean COVID-19 Patient Recovering After Double Lung Transplant 
After a record 112 days on a specialised life-support system, a South Korean COVID-19 patient is recovering from double lung transplant surgery, doctors say, in only the ninth such procedure worldwide since the coronavirus outbreak began. (Cha, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times: We Still Don't Know Enough About The Coronavirus Surge 
When demonstrators took to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, the cause was just but the worry was real: Were the marches going to lead to massive new outbreaks of coronavirus just as most of the nation had flattened the curve? At the same time, newly reopened bars, restaurants and stores drew customers — sometimes masked, often not — while crowds returned to beaches. Released from sheltering in place, people held gatherings at their homes, trusting that the folks they invited would be careful not to expose everyone around them to danger. Now, cases are surging in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, West Virginia, Tennessee and Montana; average case counts hit new highs Sunday in a dozen states, California included. For 27 straight days, the count for the country as a whole has climbed relentlessly higher. (7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Herd Immunity May Be Closer Than You Think
Some early assumptions about Covid-19 no longer add up—and that could be good news for the future progress of the virus. There are reasons to think the novel coronavirus began spreading earlier than previously understood, raising the possibility that herd immunity is closer than we think. Chinese authorities say they first identified a case in Wuhan in November, but Beijing didn’t lock down Hubei province until Jan. 23. For two months direct flights ran from Wuhan to 30 cities outside China, including London, New York, Paris, Rome and San Francisco. Scientists have found traces of the virus in wastewater samples collected in Italy as early as mid-December and in Brazil beginning in late November. (Allysia Finley, 7/6)

Boston Globe: When Returning To Work Doesn’t Make Sense 
Choosing between staying home and going back to work at a low-wage job, Americans are making the correct decision should they decide to sit out of the labor market until conditions improve. With almost 47 percent of wage earners making less than $30,000 a year and at least 17 percent of two-child families earning less than $30,000 a year, Americans choosing to wait for better times to rejoin the workforce are not lazy or devious, but merely acting rationally. (Amy K. Glasmeier, Thom Goff, and Zack Avre, 7/6)

The New York Times: How America Lost The War On Covid-19
When did America start losing its war against the coronavirus? How did we find ourselves international pariahs, not even allowed to travel to Europe? I’d suggest that the turning point was way back on April 17, the day that Donald Trump tweeted “LIBERATE MINNESOTA,” followed by “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA.” In so doing, he effectively declared White House support for protesters demanding an end to the lockdowns governors had instituted to bring Covid-19 under control. (Paul Krugman, 7/6)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Responsible For Our Unfolding Coronavirus Disaster 
The United States is entering dangerous, uncharted territory. With a little more than 4 percent of the world’s population, our country has about 25 percent of coronavirus infections. Over the course of five months, more Americans have lost their lives to this disease (127,000 and counting) than died in World War I (116,516). New infections have reaccelerated and are rising toward some unknown peak. And we have a president who doesn’t appear to give a damn. (Michael Gerson, 7/6)

ABC News: The Note: Trump Counterprograms For His Base, As COVID-19 Continues Its Spread 
A reality-star president knows how to program -- and also how to counterprogram. With COVID-19's spread unchecked, and with now more than 130,000 fatalities in the United States, President Donald Trump is focused on his political base -- or, at least, an interpretation of it. He is focusing on preserving "heritage" and protecting monuments, attacking sports franchises and Democrats, while his White House suggests that the U.S. response to the virus is the envy of the world. This does not reflect reality as lived by most Americans at the moment. That, though, may be be the point. (Rick Klein and MaryAlice Parks, 7/7)

Stat: The 'New Normal' In Health Care Needs To Go Beyond Clinical Care 
This is an extraordinarily difficult time to be a physician. As the leaders of state medical societies and board members of The Physicians Foundation, we represent primary care physicians and specialists across the country, in blue and red states. We’ve witnessed the Covid-19 crisis cost hundreds of thousands of lives and endanger many of our colleagues. In the midst of this deadly pandemic, the U.S. health delivery system is facing its own economic instability. (Michael Darrouzet, Jennifer Hanscom and Philip Schuh, 7/7)

Bangor Morning News: The Trump Administration’s Cruel And Nonsensical Arguments Against The ACA
We start from the premise that it is never a good time to take health care away from people. Working to do so at a time when millions of Americans are already at risk of losing their health care because of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn that has accompanied it is as cruel as it is nonsensical. But that’s what the Trump administration is arguing for. (7/6)

Axios: Trump's May Lose Swing Voters By Asking The Supreme Court To Strike Down The Affordable Care Act 
President Trump’s decision to ask the Supreme Court to throw out the Affordable Care Act may alienate the independent voters who can swing the presidential election. That could be especially important in battleground states.The big picture: Many of the ACA’s benefits are hugely popular with independents — even beyond protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which gets the most attention. (Drew Altman, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Advance Equity By Investing In America's Healthcare Safety Net
The COVID-19 pandemic has torn open America's already gaping disparities in health outcomes. Non-Hispanic Blacks have been infected at five times the rates of non-Hispanic whites. Urban hospitals that serve majority-minority communities are also seeing the beginnings of a second public health crisis, as fear dissuades people from getting non-COVID related emergency care. As our country considers how we address these and other legacies of structural racism brought to a boiling point by George Floyd's death, our path forward must include a federally backed capital investment plan for our safety-net hospitals and clinics. (Shereef Elnahal, 7/7)

Boston Globe: Boston’s Racial Equity Fund Is Not Systemic Change 
The focus on fund-raising and grant-making through the platform of municipal government comes at a steep price: forfeiting democratic accountability and obscuring the city’s role in delivering structural change. The past few months have illuminated the depth of struggle in our prosperous but unequal city — families trapped in a broken public health and public safety system, and communities deprived of the opportunity to cultivate wealth and economic security over generations. (Michelle Wu, 7/6)

Los Angeles Times: You Shouldn't Need A Car To Get Tested For COVID-19
Public health officials concur that testing is one — if not the most — crucial factor in combating the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. Without it, there’s no clear-cut information on where and how fast the disease is spreading nor how best to safely reopen the economy. And free access to testing is an essential feature of testing programs. In April, Los Angeles became the first U.S. city to roll out free testing to all residents regardless of whether they exhibited symptoms. But like many other aspects of L.A. life, our testing system has been structured around cars.  (Evelyn Blumenberg and Madeline Brozen, 7/7)

The Hill: Too Many Cross-Species Diseases Like COVID-19 Are Being Overlooked Worldwide 
The outbreak of COVID-19 has proven as disruptive globally as it has deadly, yet despite rising cases and fatalities, it remains the tip of the iceberg of zoonotic diseases. More than 200 different illnesses can pass from animals to people, most of which originate in wildlife, causing an estimated billion cases of sickness in people and millions of deaths every year. Many of these diseases are commonly found in low-income countries, creating invisible epidemics that fail to attract the same level of global attention as COVID-19. (Carel Du Marchie Sarvaas, 7/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Meat Plant Workers Are Not Sacrificial Lambs
Back in April, the Rural Community Workers Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of workers at the Smithfield meat processing plant in Milan, Missouri. Employees at the plant cited unsafe working conditions, like rapid line speeds and the company’s failure to provide personal protective equipment or space to maintain social distancing. Workers in the Milan plant are rightfully concerned about the impacts that Smithfield’s lack of workplace safety measures may have had on their health and public safety. Food workers throughout the supply chain — from farms to slaughterhouses to grocery stores — have been deemed essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic, but corporations like Smithfield and Tyson Foods have treated them as entirely expendable. (Sophie Watterson, 7/6)