The Washington Post: Coronavirus Recommendations Ignored As Case Numbers Rise
Coronavirus infections continued to rise in many parts of a divided nation on Monday, with public health recommendations under attack from communities tired of staying home and officials eager to restart local economies. Even as the number of infections rose and hospital beds filled in some places, voices clamored for an end to mandatory mask-wearing. And relaxation of restrictions designed to curb the novel coronavirus continued. (Bernstein, Weiner and Achenbach, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: New Coronavirus Cases Climb In More Than A Dozen States
New coronavirus cases have accelerated in more than a dozen U.S. states as summer weather and reopenings have prompted throngs of people to gather across the country and officials to weigh next steps. The U.S. coronavirus death toll passed 116,000 while reported cases topped 2.1 million Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed cases world-wide exceeded 7.9 million, and more than 434,000 people have died. Experts say the exact tally might be higher, as testing capabilities and reporting standards differ across U.S. states and countries. (Calfas, 6/15)

Reuters: New Projection Puts U.S. COVID-19 Deaths At Over 200,000 By October
A new forecast projects 201,129 deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States through the beginning of October mainly due to reopening measures under way, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington said on Monday. The IHME raised its estimate by 18 percent from 169,890 and said Florida would be among the hardest hit states, with an estimated 18,675 deaths, up 186 percent from a previous estimate of 6,559 on June 10. (6/15)

Reuters: Some Scold, Others Cheerlead: U.S. States Tackle Reopening Differently
The two most populous U.S. states took markedly different approaches to reopening on Monday with New York scolding local governments for not enforcing social distancing and California encouraging counties to restart economies if they met criteria. Scenes of merrymakers gathering outside bars prompted the governor of New York, the state hardest hit along with New Jersey by the coronavirus pandemic, to urge local officials and businesses on Monday to strictly enforce reopening guidelines. (Caspani and Allen, 6/15)

The Hill: Surging Coronavirus Cases Raise Fears Of New Lockdowns 
Sharp increases in the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in states across the nation have some local elected officials considering pauses in reopening their economies. The rising number of cases are hitting hardest in Sun Belt states like Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. All four of those states reported their highest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases over the weekend. (Wilson and Sullivan, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Presses Ahead With Plans For Tulsa Rally Despite Coronavirus Concerns
President Trump indicated he has no plans to postpone a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., this weekend despite mounting concerns from local officials and residents about the event’s potential to spread the new coronavirus. In recent days, the top health official in Tulsa, the local newspaper and the Trump administration’s top infectious disease expert have raised alarms about the plan for the president to convene thousands of supporters in an indoor arena on Saturday—an event Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines classify as “highest risk.” (Ballhaus, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Trump Signals A Move Past Coronavirus With Rallies, Even As Cases Spike In Many States
To observe Trump and his entourage this month as he prepares to resume normal campaign activity coast to coast could lead one to conclude that the coronavirus pandemic is over. In reality, the virus continues to ravage the United States and is fast spreading in some midsize and small cities that avoided bad outbreaks this spring. Recent spikes in coronavirus cases have been recorded in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma — all states where Trump has said he plans to soon hold campaign rallies. (Rucker, Partlow and Stanley-Becker, 6/15)

Reuters: Trump Campaign To Give Tulsa Rally-Goers Masks, Fever Checks
People attending President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday will receive temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizer before entering the arena, the Republican’s campaign said. The campaign said there have been more than 1 million ticket requests for the indoor rally, Trump’s first in the three months since the new coronavirus curbed travel and shut down the economy. (6/15)

Politico: Trump Accuses Critics Of Attempting To 'Covid Shame' Upcoming Rally
In a tweet, the president complained about discrepancies in media coverage of his upcoming rally in Tulsa, Okla., compared with that of mass protests across the country over police killings of unarmed black Americans. “The Far Left Fake News Media, which had no Covid problem with the Rioters & Looters destroying Democrat run cities, is trying to Covid Shame us on our big Rallies,” he wrote, continuing a pattern of failing to distinguish between the majority peaceful protesters and those who engaged in property destruction and looting at some of the events. (Oprysko, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Governor Seeks Larger Event For Trump's Tulsa Rally
So many people have expressed an interest in attending President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that the governor said he’s asked the campaign to consider a larger, outdoor venue to accommodate them. Gov. Kevin Stitt said Monday after talking with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that nearly one million people have requested tickets to the event. Some Trump supporters have already started waiting in line outside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. (Murphy, 6/16)

The New York Times: Pence Misleadingly Blames Coronavirus Spikes On Rise In Testing
Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors on Monday to adopt the administration’s explanation that a rise in testing was a reason behind new coronavirus outbreaks, even though testing data has shown that such a claim is misleading. “I would just encourage you all, as we talk about these things, to make sure and continue to explain to your citizens the magnitude of increase in testing,” Mr. Pence said on a call with governors, audio of which was obtained by The New York Times. “And that in most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rise in number, that’s more a result of the extraordinary work you’re doing.” (Rogers and Martin, 6/15)

The Hill: Trump On Coronavirus: 'If We Stop Testing Right Now, We'd Have Very Few Cases, If Any' 
President Trump on Monday downplayed concerns of a rising number of coronavirus cases in states across the country, indicating that the increase was due to more testing. "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” Trump said during a White House event highlighting administration actions to help senior citizens. (Weixel, 6/15)

In other news on Trump and his administration —

The Associated Press: AP FACT CHECK: Trump's False Security On Kids And COVID-19
President Donald Trump may be giving parents a false sense of security when it comes to kids and COVID-19. In remarks Monday, Trump expressed a desire to have K-12 schools reopen in the fall in “full blast” while minimizing the risk that children and adults who are around them may face from the coronavirus. TRUMP, on children: “They’ve come out of this at a level that’s really inconceivable. By the way, the regular flu, other flus, other things, SARS or H1N1, any of them, if you look at the young people they were affected like everybody else, but for whatever reason with respect to COVID, the numbers are very, very low.” (Yen, 6/15)

Modern Healthcare: Birx, Fauci: America's Chief Health Science Communicators
Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci have garnered near-universal praise from the healthcare community for their leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. While both physicians have extensive track records of public service, they were relatively unknown to the public until bursting onto the national stage in March as America’s chief health science communicators, explaining the intricate details of previously arcane topics like disease transmission and vaccine development to an anxious and bewildered nation during their daily news briefings. (Brady, 6/12)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood Endorses Biden For President 
Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Joe Biden for president Monday in hopes that he will roll back actions taken by the Trump administration against abortion rights. The endorsement, though unsurprising, comes after a primary in which Biden was pressed by those on the left over his long and varied history on the issue. (Hellmann, 6/15)

Reuters: Biden Lands Planned Parenthood Endorsement In U.S. Presidential Race
Abortion rights remains a hot-button issue in the Nov. 3 presidential election. Advocates have decried the Trump administration’s efforts to limit access to abortion, including a raft of conservative judicial appointments and several policy changes. Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which earlier this year launched a $45 million campaign to support Democratic candidates, had been expected to endorse the Democratic candidate for president, as it has in recent elections. (Ax, 6/15)

NPR: Planned Parenthood Endorses Joe Biden Against Trump
Activists are putting their hope in Biden, whom some see as having a mixed record on abortion, as they watch a U.S. Supreme Court reshaped by Trump appointees for key decisions that could scale back access to abortion and birth control. They're also reeling from a series of policy reversals related to reproductive health during the Trump administration. "This is literally a life and death election," Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood, told NPR ahead of the announcement. "We felt like we can't endure another four years of Trump; we have to do everything we can to get him out of office." (McCammon, 6/15)

Politico: Trump’s Answer To Nationwide Protests: Police-Friendly Reforms
President Donald Trump hopes to acknowledge a nationwide uproar over police brutality while preventing rifts with police and other law enforcement groups integral to his political future. With an executive order set to be unveiled at a White House event on Tuesday, the president is expected to lay out the case for the creation of a national database of police misconduct, so officers with a history of overly aggressive behavior cannot simply move to another department or state to escape scrutiny, according to a senior administration official. The order will also urge social workers and mental health professionals to work more closely alongside frontline officers. Finally, it will offer guidelines for new training and credentialing for police officers on de-escalating tense situations, and the best times to use force, according to the senior administration official, who said the goal of the order was not to demonize police officers. (Cook, 6/15)

NPR: Trump To Sign Executive Order On Police Reform After George Floyd Killing
The president on Monday gave scant detail of the new executive order. But as he has done consistently in the weeks since Floyd's killing, Trump gave an indication of his priorities for reform, forcefully defending law enforcement officers and sharply criticizing protesters against police brutality. "We need great people in our police departments. And we have mostly great people, I would say that. I would say that with certainty. We have mostly great people. ... But we will do better, even better." (Wise, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Trump To Unveil Police Reform Proposals That Fall Short Of What Activists Have Demanded
Trump’s order, the product of collaboration with law enforcement groups and families of suspects killed by police, aims to address the mass protests over police brutality that have convulsed American cities. Yet even as the president described his measures as “pretty comprehensive,” they are expected to fall far short of the kind of sweeping reforms that activists from Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups have demanded — such as significantly reducing funding for police departments and directing the money to social programs. (Nakamura, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump To Sign Executive Order On Policing
“We’re going to be talking about things that we’ve been watching and seeing for the last month, and we’re going to have some solutions, I think some good solutions,” Mr. Trump told reporters Monday afternoon.“ The overall goal is we want law and order,” he said. “But it’s about justice also. And it’s about safety.” He added that there are “mostly great people” in law enforcement, saying, “we will do better.” White House officials said the order was crafted in consultation with law enforcement and the families of victims killed by police. (Leary, 6/15)

USA Today: Donald Trump To Sign Order To Encourage Police To Limit Deadly Force
Trump and his staff developed the executive order amid protests in cities nationwide  in response to a series of police killings, particularly last month's death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The White House was itself the scene of protests in the week following Floyd's death. The order comes down as Trump, down in pre-election polls to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, faces criticism over his handling of nationwide protests over Floyd's death. (Jackson, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Senate GOP To Restrict Police Chokeholds In Emerging Bill
Driven by a swift-moving national debate, Senate Republicans are on the brink of introducing an extensive package of policing changes with new restrictions on police chokeholds and other practices as Congress rushes to respond to mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans. (Mascaro, 6/16)

Politico: Senate Unlikely To Take Up Police Reform Bill Until After July 4 Recess
The Senate is unlikely to take up a police reform bill until after the Independence Day recess, Republican leaders said on Monday, raising the prospect that it could be a month or longer before a measure heads to President Donald Trump’s desk. A group of GOP senators, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), is expected to file legislation this week that would address policing practices in the aftermath of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, at the hands of law enforcement. But according to GOP leaders, any floor votes would likely have to wait until at least the week of July 20, after senators return from a two-week recess. (Desiderio and Everett, 6/15)

NPR: Bans On Police Use Of Chokeholds And Other Neck Restraints Difficult To Enforce
In the wake of George Floyd's death, a flashpoint in the debates over police reform has been the push to ban chokeholds nationwide. Advocates for the idea believe that enshrining a ban into law will deter police violence. And it's gaining traction: Congressional Democrats have proposed a legislative package that calls for a ban on all neck restraints. President Trump, though he stopped short of full support of a ban, said late last week that police should avoid using chokeholds. And the state of New York passed a law banning the tactic. (Evstatieva and Mak, 6/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Obama-Era Policing Proposals Find Some Success, But Ambitious Ideas Are Slow-Moving
After the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., President Obama created a task force that offered 59 recommendations for better policing and building public trust. Eric Jones, the chief of police in Stockton, Calif., has implemented just about all of them. Chief Jones required officers to undergo implicit-bias training and learn about past police abuses. He’s adopted antidiscrimination procedures that promote fair enforcement. (Kendall, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Could The Police Shooting In Atlanta Have Been Prevented?
It started off as routine: a man asleep in his car in a fast-food drive-thru. But it rapidly spun out of control when Atlanta police tried to handcuff and arrest Rayshard Brooks for being intoxicated. Video of the scene from late Friday shows the 27-year-old black man wrestling with two white officers, taking a Taser from one of them, running a short distance through the Wendy’s parking lot, and then pointing the stun gun toward one. That officer shot him twice in the back, killing him. (Pane, 6/16)

Reuters: Supreme Court Rejects Cases Over 'Qualified Immunity' For Police
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear eight cases involving a legal defense called qualified immunity that can be used to shield government officials from lawsuits, including seven involving police accused of excessive force or other misconduct. (Hurley and Chung, 6/15)

Reuters: New York City Police Disband Rough Street Unit Amid Pressure For Reform
The New York Police Department is disbanding its aggressive anti-crime unit, a move aimed at turning alienated residents into crime-stopping allies, part of a nationwide push for policing reforms following the killing of George Floyd. In a major redeployment, the country’s largest police force will reassign some 600 plainclothes officers in the anti-crime unit, the target of numerous complaints, to other duties, effective immediately, Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Monday. (Szekely, 6/15)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Ex-Cop Garrett Rolfe Had Previously Been Reprimanded For Use Of Force
Atlanta police on Monday released the disciplinary histories for both officers involved in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, revealing that one of them had previously been reprimanded for use of force involving a firearm. Garrett Rolfe, the 27-year-old officer who was fired after shooting and killing Brooks on Friday night in a Wendy’s parking lot, received a written reprimand in 2017 due to the complaint. In his seven-year stint with the department, it was his only use-of-force complaint before Friday’s shooting. (Hansen, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Protesters March To Georgia Capitol After Killing Of Rayshard Brooks
Protesters marched to the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Monday to denounce the killing of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police, and demand an end to police brutality. During a news conference Monday, Mr. Brooks’s family called for the officer who shot him to be arrested and charged in his death. Members of his family grew emotional, as they called for justice and an end to the use of excessive force by police. (Siddiqui and Calvert, 6/15)

Albuquerque Journal: Details About Mayor’s Public Safety Proposal Remain Scarce 
After the mayor’s announcement that he would like to create a department of “trained, unarmed professionals” that would respond 24/7 to 911 calls involving behavioral health, homelessness, addiction and other social issues, city councilors, advocates and the union wanted a lot more information. Mayor Tim Keller, Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair and City Councilor Lan Sena were joined by several other city officials as they spoke about the proposal at a news conference Monday but said they are still in the beginning of the planning process. Keller and Nair had already spoken to the Journal and other news outlets, including The Washington Post, about the plan over the weekend. (Kaplan and Dyer, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: For Black Police, Discrimination Abounds, Complicating Reform Efforts
Detective Luther Hall was working undercover during protests that gripped St. Louis in 2017 following the police shooting of a black man, when several officers in riot gear rushed up to him. Before Mr. Hall, who is black, could comply with their demands to get on the ground, he was body slammed by an officer, according to court filings. The 22-year veteran said the white officers punched, kicked and struck him with batons before a SWAT team member recognized him and hustled him away. Mr. Hall later told investigators that his fellow officers “beat the [expletive] out of him like Rodney King,” according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit. (Frosch and Chapman, 6/16)

NPR: In Wake Of Rayshard Brooks' Killing, Atlanta Mayor Orders Police Department Reforms 
The move comes as local governments across the nation are reexamining police department budgets, and implementing various reforms. In Atlanta, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance's orders will require the police department to report all uses of deadly force to a citizens review board. Atlanta police officers will also be "duty bound" to intervene and prevent another officer from using force "which is beyond reasonable," Bottoms said, and then to immediately report the use of force to a supervisor. (Hagemann, 6/15)

NPR: U.N. Human Rights Council To Hold Urgent Debate On Police Brutality, Racism
The United Nations Human Rights Council has decided to hold a urgent debate on racism and police brutality in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. The proposal, made by a group of African countries led by Burkina Faso, was approved on Monday by the U.N.'s top human rights body. The debate on "the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protests" is scheduled for Wednesday. (Horn, 6/15)

KQED: What Would A Police-Free Oakland Look Like?
With protests across the country calling for cities to defund local police departments, police abolition has entered the mainstream lexicon, along with calls to channel police funding into social services that promote healthier communities. In Oakland, a city that’s seen school closures and a rapid rise in homelessness in recent years, the police budget takes up around 44% of the total city budget. And yet, OPD has been under federal oversight for nearly two decades and has failed to meet standards for reform. (Voynovskaya, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Can Dallas County Turn Messages From Protests Into Lasting Change In Battle Against Racism?
Against a backdrop of unending national protests and in front of an audience of skeptical activists, Dallas County commissioners are taking their first steps toward ending systemic racism. County commissioners on Tuesday are expected to vote on two resolutions: one proclaiming racism a public health emergency and another that would encourage law enforcement agencies to write tickets rather than arrest people for low-level offenses. (Garcia, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Black Lives Matter Leaders Meet With L.A. Politicians, Saying ‘Defund The Police’
In an extraordinary face-to-face meeting, a coalition of activists led by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles urged members of the City Council on Monday to end the city’s reliance on police officers and embrace new strategies for keeping neighborhoods safe.Seated in the council chamber at City Hall, activists told council members they have an opening to move money away from the L.A. Police Department and into mental health counselors, gang intervention workers and other public employees who can address trauma and prevent violence from breaking out.“The world is speaking right now,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-L.A., her voice choked with emotion. (Zahniser and Smith, 6/15)

PBS NewsHour: This City Already Rebuilt Its Police Department. Did It Work?
Protesters across the country are continuing to fill the streets, looking to turn their outrage over police violence against black people into action. Many point to the city of Camden, New Jersey, as an example of what reforming a police department can look like. But is it a success story? PBS NewsHour Weekend’s Hari Sreenivasan talks to Scott Thomson, the city’s former police chief, and Keith Eric Benson, a resident and educator who says the reality is different than it seems. (6/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: California AG Xavier Becerra Calls For Legislation To Decertify Police Officers For Serious Misconduct
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday called for legislation that would help decertify police officers for serious misconduct — a type of accountability platform that has been long missing in a state that prides itself on criminal justice reforms. The decertification tool was one of a host of police reform recommendations Becerra announced during a virtual news conference, along with de-escalation and use-of-force policies that would cover all law enforcement agencies in California. (Cassidy, 6/15)

Boston Globe: Data Show Boston Police Stop Black People Most Often
Boston police overwhelmingly singled out Black people for street investigations in 2019, department records show, a disparity that has persisted even as the number of reported stops, searches, and observations has decreased over the last decade. Released for the first time in three years, the data quickly became part of the city’s urgent discussion of the role that race and racism play in policing, underscoring calls to reform and defund police departments that protesters have made during massive marches throughout Boston in recent weeks. (Lotan, 6/15)

Boston Globe: Boston Has Regularly Touted The Effectiveness Of ‘Community Policing.’ Does It Work?
For years, city leaders and police commissioners have described it as the guiding principle of Boston’s approach to law enforcement — a seemingly simple two-word catch phrase that describes a progressive new approach: community policing. As he announced an independent review of the Boston Police Department’s use-of-force guidelines last week, Mayor Martin J. Walsh once again touted the city’s community policing model, rattling off programs with names like “Coffee with a Cop” and “Shop with a Cop.” (Arnett and Valencia, 6/15)

Stat: Health Care Workers Say Protesting Racial Injustice Should Be Part Of The Job
Amid the dual crises of a global pandemic and a reckoning with systemic racial injustice, health workers and health educators are grappling with a momentous question that hovers between personal and professional: how much of an activist should a health care worker be? Doctors, epidemiologists, and nurses are increasingly abandoning their characteristic reticence in favor of direct advocacy. (Hailu, 6/16)

The Associated Press: Poll: Black Americans Most Likely To Know A COVID-19 Victim
African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Eleven percent of African Americans say they were close with someone who has died from the coronavirus, compared with 5% of Americans overall and 4% of white Americans. (Stafford and Fingerhut, 6/15)

NPR: SPLC Announces $30 Million To Help Register Southern Voters Of Color 
The Southern Poverty Law Center says it will make $30 million in grants available to nonprofit groups in five Southern states to help register and mobilize voters of color. The campaign will go through this year's election, as well as the 2022 midterm elections. "The United States has a long history of denying voting rights to its citizens, especially black and brown people, returning citizens and young people," said SPLC president Margaret Huang. (Fessler, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Attorney General, FBI To Monitor Inquiry Into Robert Fuller’s Hanging Death 
Authorities said Monday that the cause of death of Robert Fuller, who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, has been deferred pending further investigation as the state attorney general sends investigators to assist in determining whether the young Black man died by suicide or was the victim of foul play. Sheriff’s homicide investigators plan to survey the area for surveillance video, conduct a forensic analysis of the rope used in the man’s death and research his medical history locally, as well as in Arizona and Nevada, where he had lived in the past, Capt. Kent Wegener said. (Money, Tchekmedyian and Chabria, 6/15)

WBUR: GirlTrek Uses Black Women's History To Encourage Walking As A Healing Tradition 
Before Philadelphia's stay-at-home order went into effect in March, Iresha Picot walked in parks and neighborhoods all over the city, often meeting up with black women of all ages. Even though she's been careful to follow social distancing guidelines, Picot says she's still able to connect with a community nearly 100,000 strong. (McCabe, 6/16)

The New York Times: FDA Revokes Emergency Coronavirus Use Of Malaria Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it was revoking emergency authorization of two malaria drugs to treat Covid-19 in hospitalized patients, saying that they are “unlikely to be effective” and could carry potential risks. The drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, were heavily promoted by President Trump after a handful of small, poorly controlled studies suggested that they could work against the disease caused by the coronavirus. Mr. Trump said he took hydroxychloroquine after he had been exposed to two people who tested positive for the coronavirus. (Thomas, 6/15)

Politico: FDA Ends Emergency Use Of Hydroxychloroquine For Coronavirus
After reviewing new information from large clinical trials the agency now believes that the suggested dosing regimens "are unlikely to produce an antiviral effect," FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton said in a letter announcing the decision Critics have accused the agency of caving to political pressure when it authorized use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in hospitalized Covid-19 patients in late March despite thin evidence. More recent randomized controlled trials have found the drugs do not benefit coronavirus patients, and doctors have reported that hydroxychloroquine can cause heart problems. (Owermohle, 6/15)

The Washington Post: FDA Pulls Emergency Approval For Hydroxychloroquine, Which Trump Touted For Covid-19
The FDA had authorized the antimalarial drugs in late March for hospitalized covid-19 patients after small studies indicated they might provide a benefit. But the decision quickly became a scientific flash point, with critics, including former FDA officials, calling the evidence scant and accusing the agency of buckling to political pressure from the White House. Several argued that what was at stake was larger than just the emergency approvals, in terms of the public’s ability to trust the federal response to the pandemic was based on the best available evidence. (McGinley and Johnson, 6/15)

Reuters: Trump Critical Of FDA Decision To Revoke Emergency Use Of Drug He Has Promoted For COVID-19
Hydroxychloroquine’s anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties suggested it might help COVID-19 patients, and the FDA authorized its emergency use in March at the height of a pandemic for which there were no approved treatments. The early enthusiasm was partly based on laboratory experiments in which the drug appeared to neutralize the virus. Chloroquine, which is not approved for any use in the United States and has more side effects, has not fared any better in human clinical trials. (Beasley and Mishra, 6/15)

The Associated Press: US Revokes Emergency Use Of Drugs Touted By Trump Vs. Virus
FDA’s move means that shipments of the drugs obtained by the federal government will no longer be distributed to state and local health authorities for use against the coronavirus. The decades-old drugs are still available for alternate FDA-approved uses, so U.S. doctors could still prescribe them for COVID-19 — a practice known as off-label prescribing. (Perrone, 6/15)

Reuters: Trump Touts Hydroxychloroquine Even As U.S. Revokes Emergency Use Status
President Donald Trump said on Monday other countries had provided great reports on the effectiveness of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for treatment of the deadly coronavirus, complaining that only U.S. agencies have failed to grasp its benefit. His remarks, delivered to reporters at the White House, came hours after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, despite Trump’s frequent praise of the drug’s usefulness for staving off the disease. (6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Pulls Emergency Covid-19-Use Approval For Hydroxychloroquine, Taken By Trump
Public health officials have cautioned for months that there is no compelling scientific evidence to support the use of hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective way to prevent or to treat Covid-19. Still, dozens of clinical trials are under way around the world that researchers and physicians hope will provide answers about whether they are useful in fighting the virus. On June 5, researchers testing whether hydroxychloroquine helped hospitalized Covid-19 patients halted a roughly-4,500-subject U.K.-based study after a preliminary analysis showed the pill didn’t provide a benefit. (Burton and Hopkins, 6/15)

NPR: Hydroxychloroquine: FDA Letter Says Likely Not Effective In Treating COVID-19
President Trump was an early and vocal champion of the drugs, and even declared in May that he was taking the drugs to prevent COVID-19.Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were initially designed as anti-malarial drugs and later shown to be useful in treating certain autoimmune disorders. Early on in the pandemic, some researchers thought the drugs might be useful in treating COVID-19. (Palca, 6/15)

NBC News: Hydroxychloroquine Should Not Be Used With Remdesivir, FDA Warns
"As we have done throughout the pandemic, the FDA continues to evaluate all of the emergency use authorizations issued and their related materials and will continue to make changes as appropriate based on emerging science and data," Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.(Edwards, 6/15)

ABC News: FDA Revokes Permission To Treat COVID-19 With Hydroxychloroquine, Drug Previously Touted By Trump
The emergency permission granted by the agency last February that added the drugs to the federal stockpile and allowed them to be distributed to states for use against COVID-19 will end. “We’ve made clear throughout the public health emergency that our actions will be guided by science and that our decisions may evolve as we learn more about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, review the latest data, and consider the balance of risks versus benefits of treatments for COVID-19,” said Anand Shah, the agency’s deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs. (Ebbs, 6/15)

Stat: What The FDA’s Hydroxychloroquine Change Means For Patients, Politicians
And though it seems to settle scientific questions about the drug — mounting evidence has already shown the drug is not effective at treating either patients already infected with Covid-19 or as a preventative treatment— it’s worth noting that there are still over 100 active and recruiting clinical trials meant to test hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The FDA warned that the drug is “unlikely to be effective in treating Covid-19,” and highlighted “serious side effects,” but the decision could have a lasting impact on public confidence in the agency and its independence. (Florko, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Volunteers Sign Up To Put Lives On The Line For Coronavirus Vaccine
Lehua Gray, a 32-year-old product manager in Austin, wants to risk her life for a coronavirus vaccine. A cloud of potentially deadly microbes would be spritzed up her nose — if she’s allowed to participate in what’s called a human challenge trial. It’s built on a deceptively simple premise: Researchers inject healthy volunteers with an experimental vaccine and then expose them to a pathogen. If the vaccine prevents volunteers from getting sick, the study can accelerate development of a promising formula. This approach has been used to test malaria and cholera vaccines — and now, in laboratories and conference rooms, preliminary discussions are unfolding about the feasibility of employing it in the quest to find a weapon against the novel coronavirus. (Guarino and Johnson, 6/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Rare, Super Coronavirus Antibodies Likely To Yield Vaccine, Say Stanford, UCSF Experts
The discovery of antibodies that block the most infectious elements of the coronavirus is helping Bay Area scientists unlock the many mysteries of human immunity, and could be crucial in the development of a vaccine. Epidemiologists have found “neutralizing antibodies” in fewer than 5% of COVID-19 patients, but the ones they are now attempting to isolate are unique in their ability to prevent SARS-CoV-2 — the specific coronavirus that causes the illness — from entering human cells. (Fimrite, 6/15)

Bloomberg: Moderna Says Vaccine Efficacy Data Could Come By Thanksgiving
Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said efficacy data for its Covid-19 vaccine could be available by as soon as Thanksgiving if everything goes right. Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is in second-stage trials, with final-stage trials set to begin next month on 30,000 people. In an interview on Bloomberg Television on Monday with David Rubenstein, Bancel said in a best-case scenario “we could have efficacy data by Thanksgiving. This is the best time line.” While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would decide what to do next, “they might decide to give us emergency use approval for people at very high risk,” while the agency more carefully reviews the data before granting approval for a broader population, Bancel said. (Langreth, 6/15)

Reuters: AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Shared Across Europe, Says France
A deal between AstraZeneca and four European countries for COVID-19 vaccines involves doses being shared by European Union members on a pro rata basis based on population, a source at the French President’s office said on Monday. (Rose and Blenkinsop, 6/15)

CIDRAP: Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Especially Leery Of Flu Shots, Study Finds
About 1 in 15 US parents (6.1%) is hesitant about routine childhood vaccines, and more than 1 in 4 (26%) are unsure about flu vaccines, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. Researchers surveyed 2,176 parents in February 2019 using an online panel and a modified five-point Vaccine Hesitancy Scale found that 12% strongly agreed, and 27% somewhat agreed, that they worried about perceived serious side effects of childhood and flu vaccines. And while 70% strongly agreed that routine childhood vaccines are effective, only 26% said they thought the same about flu vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 6/15)

The New York Times: Most Coronavirus Tests Cost About $100. Why Did One Cost $2,315?
In a one-story brick building in suburban Dallas, between a dentist office and a family medicine clinic, is a medical laboratory that has run some of the most expensive coronavirus tests in America. Insurers have paid Gibson Diagnostic Labs as much as $2,315 for individual coronavirus tests. In a couple of cases, the price rose as high as $6,946 when the lab said it mistakenly charged patients three times the base rate. The company has no special or different technology from, say, major diagnostic labs that charge $100. (Kliff, 6/16)

WBUR: Who Should Pay For COVID-19 Tests? 
Congress required health plans to fully cover COVID-19 testing, but insurance companies say they should only have to pay if tests are "medically necessary" or ordered by a doctor. (Farmer, 6/15)

The New York Times: New York Flattened The Coronavirus Curve. Now They’re Dropping Their Guard.
The critical indicators surrounding the coronavirus crisis in New York have clearly turned a corner: Deaths have slowed to a trickle, new cases have declined sharply and the numbers of hospitalizations and intubations have eased. But over the weekend, a more ominous sign emerged. Throughout New York City, many people openly disregarded social-distancing rules, prompting state officials to threaten to reinstate restrictions in the city to guard against a second wave of infections. “We have 22 states where the virus is increasing,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference on Monday. “It’s a dramatic national turnaround. We don’t want the same plight of these other states.” (McKinley and Ferre-Sadurni, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Governor Tells New York City To Curb Gatherings Outside Bars
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday told local governments, particularly New York City, to “do your job” in stopping large gatherings outside bars and restaurants to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. Photos and videos shared on social media over the weekend showed hundreds of people drinking on St. Mark’s Place, a popular nightlife corridor in Manhattan’s East Village, and in other parts of the city. Many of the revelers weren’t wearing masks or practicing social distancing, which the state still requires as the city and other regions emerge from a two-month lockdown over the pandemic. (Li, Vielkind and Honan, 6/15)

Politico: Trump’s Coronavirus Message Gets Tested In Key Swing State
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proudly welcomed the Republican National Convention to Jacksonville last week. On Sunday, he marked the official return of audience-attended professional sports in Florida by waving the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In between, he urged schools to reopen next fall. DeSantis’ moves to return his state to normal have been as aggressive as any governor, but there’s one inconvenient fact: Florida’s coronavirus cases are rising to record levels and the percentage of positive tests has been steadily climbing ever since the state fully implemented the first phase of its reopening May 18. (Caputo, 6/16)

Newsweek: Florida Bars Are Shutting Down Again After New Positive Coronavirus Cases
About one week after almost all Florida counties transitioned into Phase 2 of the state's reopening plan, a handful of bars temporarily closed again after customers tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. At least three bars in northern and central Florida announced closures because of virus concerns between Friday and Sunday, as the state's Department of Health (DOH) confirmed record increases in additional virus diagnoses following days of similar numbers. (Czachor, 6/15)

ABC News: Miami Pauses Reopening As Florida's New Coronavirus Cases Rise
Miami, which is among Florida's most populous cities, will not move into the next phase of reopening because of concerns about rising COVID-19 cases, Mayor Francis Suarez announced during a Monday news conference. Although the majority of Florida is in Phase 2 of reopening, rising new coronavirus cases in the state may put a damper on residents' new freedom. (Schumaker, 6/16)

The Associated Press: California Governor Defends Reopening, Urges Public Caution
Following a weekend that saw California’s broadest reopening yet since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday defended the state’s pace and said the economic harm from isolation can have negative health outcomes, too. “We have to recognize you can’t be in a permanent state where people are locked away for months and months and months and months on end,” he said. Newsom’s remarks came in his first news conference in 10 days, just days after most California counties began reopening bars, wineries, hotels and other services. (Ronayne, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Has Firm Handle On Coronavirus Pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom Says
Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a broad defense Monday of the accelerated reopening strategy in much of California, despite concerns from some public health experts that the state could see new coronavirus outbreaks. Newsom said that even as California’s economy has begun reopening since May 8 and people have ventured outside their homes more, including over the Memorial Day weekend, the number of patients hospitalized and in intensive care units with coronavirus-related illness has remained stable. (Gardiner, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Defends Reopening As State Coronavirus Cases Rise 
As COVID-19 cases in California continue to climb, and the death toll tops 5,000, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday defended his administration’s decision to allow counties to ease the stay-at-home order and other restrictions. Newsom said COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state remain stable weeks after restrictions started to be modified, during a period that included the busy Memorial Day weekend, and maintained that the safeguards in place continue to effectively slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Willon, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Hundreds Of L.A. County Restaurants Breaking Coronavirus Rules 
As more sectors of the economy are poised to reopen in Los Angeles County this week, public health officials visited some of the establishments that are already open to check whether they are meeting the county’s requirements to do business. Officials visited roughly 2,000 restaurants over the weekend and found that half of them were not in compliance with the county’s guidelines. Health officials expressed alarm at the findings, stressing it is essential that both customers and merchants follow safety guidelines to avoid new coronavirus outbreaks as the economy reopens. (Shalby and Wigglesworth, 6/15)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento CA Will Still Reopen As Coronavirus Cases Go Up
Sacramento County is suddenly seeing COVID-19 cases at a rate not seen in two months as bars and health clubs and other businesses are allowed to reopen. But the health official in charge of Sacramento County’s response to the coronavirus pandemic says the higher caseloads aren’t reason enough to “tap the brakes” on the reopening of the economy. Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county’s health services director, said in an interview Monday that it appears the increased caseloads aren’t connected to the gradual resumption of economic activity. (Kasler and Yoon-Hendricks, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Colorado To Relax Social, Business Coronavirus Restrictions
Colorado will soon enter a new phase with loosened coronavirus-related social and business restrictions, Gov. Jared Polis announced Monday. Under the next phase, which the Democratic governor calls “Protect our Neighbors,” individual counties will be able to make their own decisions to reopen businesses or social gatherings at the end of June or early July — if they have the adequate public health capabilities to respond to possible outbreaks. (Nieberg, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Gov. Ricketts Easing Virus Restrictions In Nebraska
Nebraska bars, restaurants and other venues will soon be able to allow more people inside under relaxed rules Gov. Pete Ricketts outlined. The new rules take effect next Monday across 89 of the state’s 93 counties. Restaurants and bars will be allowed to use their full capacity as long as establishments practice social distancing and ensure additional hygiene practices. And gatherings of up to 10,000 people will be allowed as long as indoor venues remain at 50% of their capacity and outdoor venues limit attendance to 75% of their capacity. (Funk, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Arizona Bars Are Packed. The State Is A Coronavirus Hot Spot 
On Friday night, like nearly every other weekend for the past month, the bars and nightclubs in downtown Scottsdale were packed. Dance floors were jammed. Lines to get in stretched for blocks. And almost nobody wore masks or gloves. When Gov. Doug Ducey lifted Arizona’s stay-at-home order May 15, giving the green light for much of the state’s economy to restart, he said residents had the right and responsibility to gauge the risks posed by the novel coronavirus and to act accordingly. “What an Arizonan decides to do is up to them,” he said. (Linthicum, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Arizona Sees 8 More Coronavirus Deaths, Another 1,100 Cases
Arizona once again reported a daily number of new coronavirus cases above 1,000. The state Department of Health Services posted on its website Monday another 1,104 cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths. That brings the statewide total number of coronavirus cases to 36,705 and deaths to 1,194. (6/16)

Kaiser Health News: Health Experts Link Rise In Arizona COVID Cases To End Of Stay-At-Home Order
With new daily coronavirus cases rising in at least two dozen states, an explosion of new infections in Arizona is stretching some hospitals and alarming public health experts who link the surge in cases to the state’s lifting of a stay-at-home order a month ago. Arizona has emerged as one of the country’s newest coronavirus hot spots, with the weekly average of daily cases more than doubling from two weeks ago. The total number of people hospitalized is climbing, too. (Stone, 6/16)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Hot Spots Emerge In South, Southwest
States in the South and Southwest continued to track a spike in COVID-19 activity over the weekend, with Alabama and South Carolina recording record numbers of new cases and Arizona tripling the daily average of COVID-19 cases seen in the state in the last 2 weeks. Today the Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed 1,014 new cases of the virus, raising the state's total to 37,705 confirmed cases. (Soucheray, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Rising Coronavirus Hospitalizations Are Just The Tip Of The Iceberg, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins Says
Dallas County officials reported 305 more cases of the coronavirus Monday, the county’s sixth straight day of at least 300 new positive tests. The county also reported that another resident has died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus: a Dallas man in his 60s who did not have underlying health problems. (Steele, 6/15)

Detroit Free Press: Salons And Barbershops Reopened Monday. Here's How It Went
By the time Crystal Combs arrived at her barbershop in Southfield on Monday morning to open it up for the first time since March, some clients had already been waiting in their cars for 2 hours. Combs doesn't normally open Exposed Barbershop on Mondays, but when she heard that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed personal services such as hair and nail salons, and spas across the state to reopen June 15, she decided to open up for walk-in appointments. Barbershops and other personal service businesses were forced to close under Whitmer's stay home order, which was put in place as a way to slow the spread of coronavirus. These businesses are some of the last to reopen in the state because they require close contact. (Roberts, 6/15)

Boston Globe: State Eases Regulations For Reopening Camps And Child-Care Centers 
State officials have eased some of the guidelines for reopening child-care centers, in-home programs, and summer camps after fielding complaints that their regulations would be ruinous to small businesses and unworkable with small children. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care has decided to encourage — but not mandate — the use of masks for children older then 2 and to eliminate a requirement that every child undergo a temperature check at the entrance before participating. Staff would still need to wear a mask whenever 6 feet of distancing is not possible. (Ebbert, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Md. Suburbs Lifting Restrictions As D.C. Region Sees Lowest Increase In Daily Virus Cases Since Early April
More pandemic restrictions were lifted Monday in the Washington area as the region added its lowest number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths in several weeks. Prince George’s County moved into its second phase of reopening, allowing restaurants to offer inside dining and retail stores to expand beyond curbside service, provided those businesses limit customers to 50 percent of capacity. Neighboring Montgomery County announced Monday it would move to the next stage of reopening at the end of the week. (Davies, Hedgpeth and Zauzmer, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: Hawaii Extends Quarantine Order Amid Coronavirus Pandemic 
Hopes that Hawaii would reopen anytime soon were dashed against the coral reefs last week. Gov. David Ige extended until Aug. 1 his order that requires out-of-state travelers who visit the Aloha State to remain under mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Visitors who leave their hotel rooms for food or a stroll on a beach could be arrested. The state has a relatively low incidence of COVID-19: 728 confirmed cases and 17 deaths, as of Sunday. Officials want to keep it that way, for the safety of their residents and the long-term vitality of tourism, the islands’ biggest industry. (Jones, 6/15)

GMA: Oscars 2021 Officially Postponed 2 Months Due To COVID-19 Pandemic 
It's official: the 2021 Oscars have been postponed. The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences met Monday to discuss the upcoming awards ceremony amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately decided to push it from Sunday, Feb. 28, until Sunday, April 25. (Blackwelder, 6/15)

CBS News: Texas Reports Highest Number Of Hospitalized Coronavirus Patients Since Outbreak Began 
On Monday, Texas recorded its highest daily number of patients hospitalized due to the coronavirus — for the fourth day in a row. The record-breaking numbers come as the state continues to reopen its economy. (Garrand, 6/15)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Masks Still Optional For Nevada Casino Guests 
The state Gaming Control Board isn’t reconsidering requiring facial coverings for casino patrons, but would if new COVID-19 cases would overburden Southern Nevada hospitals. (Velotta, 6/15)

Boston Globe: ‘It Was Like Spring Break.' A Sunny Weekend Brings Out Crowds Quick To Abandon Social Distancing Guidelines
On Sunday, as the number of coronavirus cases in Massachusetts hit 105,603, a diner on the outdoor patio of the Barking Crab asked a waitress why she was wearing a mask. “It’s like, ‘Where have you been the last three months?’ ” thought Alexandra Morris, the director of operations at the seafood mainstay on the Fort Point Channel, which reopened for al fresco dining on Thursday after the pandemic forced its closure back in March. (Krueger, 6/15)

Politico: Nursing Homes Go Unchecked As Fatalities Mount
Thousands of nursing homes across the country have not been checked to see if staff are following proper procedures to prevent coronavirus transmission, a form of community spread that is responsible for more than a quarter of the nation’s Covid-19 fatalities. Only a little more than half of the nation’s nursing homes had received inspections, according to data released earlier this month, which prompted a fresh mandate from Medicare and Medicaid chief Seema Verma that states complete the checks by July 31 or risk losing federal recovery funds. (Roubein and Severns, 6/15)

ABC News: Nursing Homes Got Masks That 'Probably Should Have Never Gone Out': Official 
Federal officials are trying to correct errors that resulted in shipments of outdated or impractical equipment to America’s hard-hit nursing homes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an audio recording obtained by ABC News of a call between a top government official and advocates for those in nursing care. Col. Brian Kuhn, the defense logistics official overseeing the shipments, acknowledged that some nursing homes received respirator masks that were “way expired” and "should have never gone out," according to the recording of a call with members of LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit providers of aging services that includes many nursing homes. The group also posted the audio of the call online. (Pecorin, Freger, Romero and Mosk, 6/16)

ProPublica: 'Fire Through Dry Grass': Andrew Cuomo Saw COVID-19’s Threat To Nursing Homes. Then He Risked Adding To It.
On April 3, Stephanie Gilmore, a 34-year-old nurse working at the Diamond Hill nursing home in Troy, New York, was summoned to a supervisor’s office. The home’s administrator and nursing director were there to relay some distressing news. Gilmore said they told her that a resident in the home had recently gone to the hospital, where she tested positive for COVID-19. The resident was set to return to Diamond Hill, making her the first confirmed COVID-19 case at the 120-bed facility north of Albany. (Sapien and Sexton, 6/16)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Nursing Home Coronavirus Cases Appear To Slow; State Says Too Early To Tell Why
Infections and deaths from the new coronavirus among Louisiana’s more than 23,000 nursing home residents appear to have slowed, though state officials on Monday cautioned it was too soon to draw a conclusion from the latest data. Nursing home deaths remain a significant portion of the state’s overall death toll, numbering 1,271 as of Monday. About 44% of the state’s 2,906 COVID-19 deaths have been nursing home residents. (Roberts and Rddad, 6/15)

Detroit Free Press: Nursing Home Residents Account For 34% Of Michigan's COVID-19 Deaths
Nursing home patients account for 34% of Michigan's COVID-19 related deaths, according to newly released data. There have been 1,947 deaths of nursing home residents with COVID-19 statewide and 20 deaths of staffers, the state reported Monday, as it released data on deaths associated with individual nursing homes for the first time since the pandemic began three months ago.  (Anderson, Tanner and Kaufman, 6/15)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Cases Rise Sharply In Prisons Even As They Plateau Nationwide
Cases of the coronavirus in prisons and jails across the United States have soared in recent weeks, even as the overall daily infection rate in the nation has remained relatively flat. The number of prison inmates known to be infected has doubled during the past month to more than 65,000. Prison deaths tied to the coronavirus have also risen, by 73 percent since mid-May. By now, the five largest known clusters of the virus in the United States are not at nursing homes or meatpacking plants, but inside correction institutions, according to data The New York Times has been collecting about confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic reached American shores. (Williams, Seline and Griesbach, 6/16)

The Washington Post: Research Underscores How Our Punitive Criminal Justice System Is A Coronavirus Risk Factor
Early in the coronavirus pandemic, public health experts singled out prisons and jails as severe outbreak risks, prompting calls to release inmates to mitigate its spread. Those warnings proved prescient. Eight of the 10 largest clusters of the novel coronavirus in the United States are now in jails and correctional facilities, according to data compiled by the New York Times. And new peer-reviewed research, published in the journal Health Affairs, shows that those outbreaks have ripple effects that extend far beyond institutional walls. (Ingraham, 6/12)

ABC News: Lawmakers Worry About COVID-19 Spread After Bureau Of Prisons Officers Deployed To Protests 
With many federal prisons across the country grappling with sizable coronavirus outbreaks, some Democratic lawmakers are raising new questions about the deployment of Bureau of Prisons officers to recent protests against racism and police brutality. In a new letter to Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md, Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., questioned whether the agency tested officers before their deployments to Washington, D.C., and Miami, and whether there were any plans to test them before they returned to their facilities. (Siegel and Barr, 6/15)

NPR: U.S. Prisons Respond To Coronavirus With More Solitary Confinement
Prisons across the country have placed prisoners on lockdown — they're kept in their cells mostly around-the-clock — as a way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Now prison reformers are worried that the response has increased the use of a practice they've long fought: solitary confinement."We're starting to see an alarming trend in light of COVID-19," says Jessica Sandoval of Unlock the Box, a coalition of groups fighting solitary confinement, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. (Shapiro, 6/15)

NPR: 4 Federal Prisoners Set To Be Executed This Summer
After nearly two decades, the federal government will once again begin executing criminals, the Justice Department announced Monday. Four convicted child-murderers are set to be put to death by lethal injection. "The four murderers whose executions are scheduled today have received full and fair proceedings under our Constitution and laws," said Attorney General William Barr in a statement. "We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system." (Schwartz, 6/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Federal Judge In Oakland Hears Of Prison Staff Brutality Against Disabled Inmates 
Conditions in California prisons have been dismal enough in the past decade to prompt U.S. Supreme Court intervention. The situation has gotten worse in many prisons during the coronavirus pandemic, but for thousands of physically and mentally disabled inmates, according to a recent court filing, things are downright terrifying. Citing more than 100 sworn declarations from inmates, lawyers told a federal judge in Oakland on June 3 that prison staff “routinely use unnecessary and excessive force against people with disabilities, often resulting in broken bones, loss of consciousness, stitches or injuries that require medical attention at outside hospitals.” (Egelko, 6/15)

Detroit Free Press: How Nonprofits Get People Out Of Metro Detroit Jails During COVID-19 Pandemic
Jailed in Wayne County during the peak of the coronavirus crisis, Ivory Cross worried about contracting COVID-19. The 27-year-old from Inkster also feared for the health of her loved ones at home: her two young sons, her mother and her father, who has lung cancer. Several months passed with almost no communication with her family because she couldn’t afford phone calls from jail, she said. (Jackson, 6/16)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Stops Work On Jail Expansion Plan, Calling It A 'waste Of Taxpayer Dollars' 
New Orleans this month halted design work on a long-planned expansion of the parish jail for inmates with medical and mental health problems, casting the future of the facility into doubt and setting up a face-off between City Hall officials and a federal judge. In a legal brief, city attorneys said that spending any more money on the current plan for a new, $51 million building would be a “waste of taxpayer dollars” amid a steady decline in the jail population. (Sledge, 6/15)

ProPublica: “Somebody’s Gotta Help Me”
Phillip Garcia was desperate to sit up. His wrists and ankles were bound to a hospital gurney and a hood covered his face. Garcia strained upward and then collapsed as he had countless times that day. It was shortly after 10 p.m. on March 23, 2017, and he was at the public hospital here in Riverside County in a special unit for inmates. Some 33 hours before, Garcia was led into a county jail, where he was almost immediately put in isolation for failing to follow orders and yelling irrational threats. When his mental condition worsened, deputies tied down the 51-year-old and eventually took him to Riverside University Health System Medical Center. “Somebody’s gotta help me. Somebody’s gotta help me. Please, man,” Garcia cried out, his voice raspy and muffled by the shield. (Beaty, Gabrielson, Sussman and Waldron, 6/16)

CNN: Veteran Missing For A Month Found Dead In Stairwell At VA Hospital 
The body of a missing veteran was found in a stairwell on the campus of a Massachusetts VA hospital one month after he was reported missing.The 62-year-old man was found dead in a building on the Bedford Veteran Affairs Hospital campus in Bedford on Friday by another resident, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's office. (Romine, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: He’s Been SF’s Most Powerful Person In Pandemic Response. You Don’t Know His Name
Arguably the most powerful public official in San Francisco during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a soft-spoken, reliably white-smocked epidemiology expert you’ve probably never heard of before. While he has kept mostly to the backstage of the city’s pandemic response, Dr. Tomás Aragón, the city’s health officer, could be considered its architect.For months, each health order that bears his signature has changed the course of everyday life in San Francisco. He has compelled hundreds of thousands of people to stay sheltered in their homes since mid-March, dictated which businesses may stay open and which must remain closed, and ushered in compulsory public mask-wearing. (Fracassa, 6/14)

The Associated Press: California Legislature OK's Budget, But Changes Coming
Facing an estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit because of the coronavirus, California lawmakers on Monday approved a state spending plan that rejects most of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed cuts to public education and health care with the hope that Congress will send the state more money by Oct. 1 to cover the shortfall. But the budget likely won’t become law because it does not have the backing of Newsom, who has the power to sign, veto or alter whatever the Legislature sends him. (Beam, 6/16)

Bangor Daily News: What Declining Virus Cases In Maine’s Biggest Hotspots Means For Reopening 
Gov. Janet Mills’ Monday move to remove restrictions on indoor dining and other establishments in Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties came after those areas reached an important milestone with daily cases declining as testing increases. (Piper, 6/16)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Southern Nevada Cities Left Out Of Coronavirus Relief Money
More than a billion dollars of federal coronavirus relief money flowed into Nevada, but some cities will not benefit directly from it. (Apgar, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Ohio State Football Players Sign Coronavirus Pledge Acknowledging Risk Involved
Ohio State is asking its football players and their parents to sign a two-page document that acknowledges the risks involved with playing the sport amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday. By signing the document, the players also pledge to follow guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help contain the spread of the virus. (Bonesteel, 6/15)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: What COVID-19 Collaboration Between Emory, Georgia Will Look Like
Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health has announced a new partnership with the state Department of Public Health to help fight the COVID-19 health crisis. The Emory COVID-19 Response Collaborative (ECRC) will provide continuous support to the DPH in the areas of planning coordination, outbreak response and evaluation, training and placement of public health professionals statewide and research and monitoring. (Rhone, 6/16)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Georgia Absentee Voters Given 3 Days To Fix Problems
The Georgia secretary of state’s office has extended the time for voters to correct signature discrepancies so their ballots can be counted. The change came the same day the Democratic Party of Georgia filed a lawsuit arguing that many voters wouldn’t be notified about problems with their ballots until it was too late to correct them. (Niesse, 6/15)

Los Angeles Times: UCLA To Reopen With Mainly Online Classes Due To Coronavirus
The vast majority of classes at UCLA this fall will be virtual, with only a small percentage offered on campus, the university announced Monday. Officials announced the plan in a letter to the community as each university in the 10-campus UC system is likewise preparing to release its own reopening plans. At UCLA, only about 15% to 20% of courses would probably be offered on campus or in a hybrid format, including some that involve laboratory work, performing arts and clinical health fields. (Esquivel, 6/15)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Ruling In Case Against Georgia’s Anti-Abortion Law Could Be Weeks Away
A federal judge said it could be a few weeks before he rules on a case challenging Georgia’s anti-abortion law, saying he wanted to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court decides another abortion case. Gov. Brian Kemp last year signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws, outlawing the procedure in most cases once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity. District Judge Steve C. Jones in October temporarily blocked the law from going into effect while the case plays out in court. It was set to take effect the first day of this year. (Prabhu, 6/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Company Aliera Accused Of Illegal Insurance Scheme
An Atlanta company is selling illegal health insurance to its members and reaping massive profits under the guise its plans are part of a legitimate health care sharing ministry, a federal lawsuit contends. The suit was filed against Aliera Cos. in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. It accuses the company of running a scheme that allows them to skirt state and federal insurance laws. (Rankin, 6/15)

Boston Globe: Harvard Reaches Tentative One-Year Contract With Graduate Students Union 
Harvard University and the Harvard Graduate Students Union reached a tentative agreement Monday for their first contract, a one-year deal the union said was a “major victory” not only for its more than 4,000 members, “but also for the graduate student worker movement across the country.” The deal includes a 2.8 percent raise for research assistants and teaching fellows, a minimum wage of $16 per hour for nonsalaried student workers, and a $17 minimum wage for hourly instructional workers, according to a message to faculty from Harvard provost Alan M. Garber. (Fox, 6/15)

Modern Healthcare: New Jersey Proposes 'Truth In Advertising' Bill For Providers
A new bill in the New Jersey Legislature proposes requiring healthcare providers to wear a name tag that identities their license type whenever they interact with a patient. Providers would also have to display their education, training and licensure in their office under the New Jersey Health Care Transparency Act, according to the Medical Society of New Jersey, a professional group representing physicians and the architect of the legislation introduced on Thursday. (Brady, 7/11)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Study: 1 In 5 People Worldwide At Risk
In just six months, nearly 8 million people worldwide have been stricken with confirmed cases of Covid-19, and at least 434,000 have died. But those deaths have not been distributed evenly; among the most vulnerable are people with underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and diseases that affect the heart and lungs. According to a new modeling study, roughly 1.7 billion people around the world — 22 percent of the global population — fall into that category. That estimate, published today in The Lancet Global Health, excluded healthy older individuals without underlying health conditions, a group also known to be at risk because of their age. It also did not take into account risk factors like poverty and obesity, which can influence a person’s susceptibility to disease and access to treatment. (Wu, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Coronavirus Death Rate Is Higher For Those With Chronic Ills
Death rates are 12 times higher for coronavirus patients with chronic illnesses than for others who become infected, a new U.S. government report says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Monday highlights the dangers posed by heart disease, diabetes and lung ailments. These are the top three health problems found in COVID-19 patients, the report suggests. (Tanner, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Patients With Underlying Conditions Were 12 Times As Likely To Die Of Covid-19 As Otherwise Healthy People, CDC Finds
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data on more than 1.7 million coronavirus cases and 103,700 deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, reported to the agency from state and territorial health departments from Jan. 22 through May 30. The data is consistent with earlier reports showing the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on people with underlying medical conditions. The report also highlighted the disease’s stark disparities between whites and minority groups. Among nearly 600,000 people who were sickened and for whom the CDC has race and ethnicity information, 33 percent of patients were Hispanic, although they make up 18 percent of the U.S. population; 22 percent were black, while they constitute 13 percent of the population; and 1.3 percent were Native American or Alaskan Natives, nearly double their representation in the overall population. (Sun, 6/15)

The Hill: COVID-19 Patients With Underlying Health Conditions Are 12 Times More Likely To Die: CDC 
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be severe, particularly in certain population groups,” the CDC said. While average daily reported cases and deaths are declining, the report said, there are still signs of ongoing community transmission across the country.(Hellmann, 6/15)

CBS News: Doctors "Don't Understand" Why Some Coronavirus "Long-Haulers" Have Symptoms For Months 
Doctors "don't understand" why some formerly healthy people can have coronavirus symptoms that linger for many weeks or even months, emergency care physician Dr. Ron Elfenbein tells CBS News. While most people with mild cases of COVID-19 recover in about two weeks, according to the World Health Organization, some who refer to themselves as "long-haulers" suffer debilitating symptoms for much longer, even after initially improving. (Brown, 6/15)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Cruise Ship Studies Reflect Unique Disease Traits
Two studies published late last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases characterize COVID-19 passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, one finding that some infected patients have a lung infection with viral shedding but no symptoms, and the other suggesting that advanced age, severe lung involvement, and reduced lymphocyte count are risk factors for disease progression. Cruise ships are a unique, confined environment that simulate the living conditions and social interactions of a city, offering researchers the chance to define viral shedding patterns and patient antibody responses before and after symptom onset in a mostly older population with different ethnicities and immunization and health statuses, the authors of the first study noted. (Van Beusekom, 6/15)

Reuters: Virus More Efficient At Infection After Mutation; Diseased Lungs More Receptive To Virus
A genetic mutation in the new coronavirus that significantly increases its ability to infect cells may explain why outbreaks in Northern Italy and New York were larger than ones seen earlier in the pandemic. Scientists at Scripps Research in Florida say the mutated virus was seen infrequently in March, but by April accounted for some 65% of cases submitted from around the world to the GenBank database run by the National Institutes of Health. The mutation, designated D614G, increased the number of "spikes" the virus uses to bind to and break into cells, and made them more stable, researchers found in the study undergoing peer review. (Lapid, 6/15)

NBC News: Science, Politics And Trolls: How Carl Bergstrom Became A Voice Of Clarity On The Coronavirus
More than a decade before the coronavirus became a global scourge, Carl Bergstrom was working on a plan for what to do if just such a pandemic ever broke out. Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, conducted research on pandemic planning, crafting strategies to contain the spread of infectious diseases. He said the work naturally intertwined with policy discussions. Former Vice President Dick Cheney took an interest in the research, he said, particularly in debates about the role of the government in public health crises. (Chow, 6/15)

CNN: CDC Report Offers A Detailed Demographic Breakdown Of Who Is Getting Sick With Coronavirus 
New numbers released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer a comprehensive picture of who in the United States has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and how they fared. The latest figures confirm that older people, minorities and those with preexisting health conditions are at the highest risk of death. (Kane and LeBlanc, 6/15)

Modern Healthcare: Apple Watch ECG App Can Replace In-Clinic Tests During COVID-19
Apple has expanded the scope of its smartwatch's electrocardiogram app, which can now be used as a replacement for an in-clinic ECG during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The expansion takes advantage of guidance the Food and Drug Administration released to expand the availability of non-invasive remote patient-monitoring technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of an effort to allow physicians to treat patients remotely without needing them to visit a healthcare facility. (Cohen, 6/15)

The New York Times: Fighting The Coronavirus With Innovative Tech 
Dr. Cristiano Huscher has long used robotics and artificial intelligence for surgical procedures at the Policlinico Abano chain of hospitals in Italy. So when six doctors contracted Covid-19 at his hospital in Sardinia two months ago, he once again turned to technology — in this case, UVD Robots — to disinfect the rooms. The robot moves autonomously through a room, using ultraviolet-C light to kill the DNA in the virus, effectively destroying it, along with bacteria. (Morrissey, 6/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Tech Firms Are Spying On You. In A Pandemic, Governments Say That’s OK.
While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Joshua Anton created an app to prevent users from drunk dialing, which he called Drunk Mode. He later began harvesting huge amounts of user data from smartphones to resell to advertisers. Now Mr. Anton’s company, called X-Mode Social Inc., is one of a number of little-known location-tracking companies that are being deployed in the effort to reopen the country. State and local authorities wielding the power to decide when and how to reopen are leaning on these vendors for the data to underpin those critical judgment calls. (Schechner, Grind and Haggin, 6/15)

The New York Times: A Conspiracy Made In America May Have Been Spread By Russia
The night of the Iowa caucuses in February, Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, logged into Twitter to find the hashtag #RobbyMookCaucusApp trending across the country. Pundits on both sides of the aisle accused him of developing a mobile app to rig the Democratic primary against Senator Bernie Sanders. Soon his phone was buzzing with calls from reporters demanding to know what role he had played in creating the app, a flawed vote-reporting system that delayed caucus results for days. (Perlroth, 6/15)

The New York Times: Who’s A Bot? Who’s Not?
Over the long Memorial Day weekend, a Twitter storm blew in about bots, those little automatic programs that talk to us in the digital dimension as if they were human. What first caught the attention of Darius Kazemi was the headline on an article from NPR, “Researchers: Nearly Half of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots” — which Hillary Clinton retweeted to her 27.9 million followers — and a similar headline from CNN. (Roberts, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Permanente Computer System Down For Five Hours During Coronavirus Pandemic 
Kaiser Permanente’s computer system, which serves 4.5 million members in Northern California, was down for five hours on Sunday, limiting how patients could connect to doctors during a health crisis. Members experienced intermittent errors while attempting to access features on the website and mobile app, but were still able to communicate with representatives by phone, a spokesman said. The company did not explain what caused the outage. (Moench, 6/15)

The Hill: Bipartisan Senators Call For Making Telehealth Expansion Permanent Post-Coronavirus
A group of 30 senators from both sides of the aisle on Monday urged leadership to make permanent the expansion of telehealth services that has been undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) calls for provisions from the CONNECT for Health Act included in previous COVID-19 legislation be extended after the public health emergency is over. (Rodrigo, 6/15)

The New York Times: Congress Steps Up Pressure As Trump Administration Evades Bailout Oversight
House Democrats opened an investigation on Monday into the distribution of more than $500 billion in small-business loans under a pandemic relief program, escalating a clash with the Trump administration as it resists oversight of trillions of dollars in coronavirus assistance funds. The announcement from the seven Democrats on a committee created to scrutinize how the administration is spending pandemic relief money came as Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, abruptly pivoted under pressure from lawmakers and said he would work to disclose more about where government-backed money was going through the lending initiative, the Paycheck Protection Program. (Cochrane and Rappeport, 6/15)

The Associated Press: House Demands Coronavirus Loan Info From Treasury, Banks
A House subcommittee investigating billions of dollars in coronavirus aid is demanding that the Trump administration and some of the nation’s largest banks turn over detailed information about companies that applied for and received federal loans intended for small businesses. The requests Monday came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress last week that the names of loan recipients and the amounts disbursed as part of the $600 billion-plus Paycheck Protection Program are “proprietary information” and do not have to be made public. Democrats say there is nothing proprietary or confidential about businesses receiving millions of taxpayer dollars. (Jalonick and Daly, 6/15)

Politico: Democrats Demand Details From Banks, Treasury On Small Business Bailout
Clyburn and his colleagues say evidence of a “two-tiered” process, through which banks gave priority to wealthier customers, requires a more transparent understanding of how the government distributed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Under the PPP, banks have issued nearly $512 billion in loans. “We have significant concerns that the two-tiered system that some banks reportedly developed for wealthy clients may have diverted PPP funds intended for vulnerable small business owners in underserved and rural markets,” they wrote in letters to JPMorgan, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other large financial institutions. (Warmbrodt, Cheney and Woodruff Swan, 6/15)

The Washington Post: Inspectors General Warn That Trump Administration Is Blocking Scrutiny Of Coronavirus Rescue Programs
In a letter to four congressional committee chairs Thursday, two officials in charge of a new government watchdog entity revealed that the Trump administration had issued legal rulings curtailing independent oversight of Cares Act funding. The letter surfaced amid growing bipartisan frustration over the administration’s decision not to disclose how it is spending hundreds of billions in aid for businesses. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared to bow to that pressure, saying he would work with Congress on new oversight measures. But some Democrats have said the White House is not taking disclosure requests seriously enough. (Hamburger, Stein, O'Connell and Gregg, 6/15)

Politico: Inspectors General Ask Congress For Help In Monitoring Coronavirus Relief Payments
The legal opinions are the latest squeeze put on inspectors general by the Trump administration, which has gradually chipped away at the ability of internal watchdogs to monitor aspects of the administration’s conduct independently. The letter from the inspectors general, first revealed by The Washington Post, was signed by the Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who leads a panel of inspectors general charged with coronavirus-related oversight known as the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and its executive director, Robert Westbrooks. “We are writing to bring to your attention an issue that could impact the ability of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and federal Inspectors General to provide effective oversight of over $1 trillion in pandemic-related funds, as well as transparency to the public about how those monies are being spent,” Horowitz and Westbrooks wrote. (Cheney and Warmbrodt, 6/15)

The Hill: Pelosi Mulls Making Masks Mandatory At Committee Hearings 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that she is looking into making facial coverings a requirement for lawmakers at House committee hearings during the coronavirus pandemic. Pelosi told Democrats during a caucus call that, in accordance with public health guidelines, she is considering making masks mandatory for attendees instead of only encouraged. (Marcos, 6/15)

And in other news on the economic toll of the virus —

The Washington Post: Homelessness Crisis Is Expected In D.C. When Coronavirus Emergency Ends And Evictions Begin
Just about the time the District is coming out of the coronavirus crisis, it will face a new one over homelessness, housing experts warn. Thousands of tenants who recently lost their jobs because of the pandemic shutdown can no longer afford to pay their rent or will soon lack the money to do so. They’re able to stay in their homes for now because of an emergency moratorium on evictions. But the ban ends 60 days after Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) lifts the public health emergency, and evictions are likely to surge, according to officials and advocates for tenants. (McCartney, 6/15)

Politico: Swaths Of New York City Small Businesses Face Extinction In The Wake Of Coronavirus
As New York City begins to emerge from the coronavirus shutdown, thousands of its small businesses — many already struggling before the pandemic hit — will face a near-impossible road to recovery. From Brooklyn dive bars to Soho boutiques, small businesses are written into the city’s DNA. But even before the rise of Etsy and Amazon, they operated on tight margins. And while residential tenants have been able to organize their political power to bring about a sea change in Albany and New York City Hall, small business has never been a unified political force in the biggest U.S. city. (Chadha, 6/16)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Running On Fumes’: Restaurants Trying To Reopen Face Cash Crunch
Denver chef Justin Brunson got caught in the middle of the financial squeeze facing restaurants as they try to reopen. He needed cash to start serving again at his four establishments, and he is owed money by some of the 150 restaurants that are customers of his high-end butcher business. At his flagship restaurant, meat-heavy Old Major, the cost of food, staff, cleaning and training for new sanitary protocols was already daunting. When Mr. Brunson sat down a few weeks ago to calculate the cost of reopening, he had a harsh realization: “There’s no money in the bank, and I probably need 80 grand to start up again,” Mr. Brunson said. (Scheck and Haddon, 6/16)

ABC News: Public Schools At Risk Over States' Projected Budget Deficits Due To Coronavirus 
States face an estimated $615 billion budget deficit over the next three years due to the economic fallout from COVID-19 — a shortfall that could rival the deficits seen after the 2008 recession and could threaten to throw the nation's public schools into crisis, according to projections by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which were provided to lawmakers on Monday. The estimates, featured in testimony for a hearing by the congressional House Education and Labor Committee, are particularly worrisome for schools in low-income areas that more frequently rely on state funds over funding from local property taxes. (Tatum, 6/15)

Stateline: Medicaid Rolls Surge, Adding To Budget Woes 
Many of the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their health insurance along with their jobs are enrolling in Medicaid — and with state budgets decimated by the pandemic, state officials worry they won’t have the money to pay for their health care. Nearly 27 million Americans could lose their employer-sponsored health insurance over the course of the pandemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation projected last month. Medicaid, the joint federal-state health plan for low-income Americans, already consumes more than a fifth of state budgets. (Ollove, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: MACPAC Looks To Improve Care Integration For Dual-Eligibles
Key policy changes could significantly improve the integration of care for people that are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission said Monday in its annual report to Congress. MACPAC said CMS should loosen enrollment restrictions for so-called "dual-eligibles" by creating an exception to the special-enrollment period so they can enroll on a continuous, monthly basis. Likewise, Congress should give states more federal funding to develop Medicare expertise and to put integrated care models into practice. (Brady, 6/15)

The Associated Press: 'Still Scared': Health Workers Feel The Toll Of Virus Fight
Outside a back door to a hospital where the coronavirus hit like a hurricane, a half-dozen staffers gathered recently to look back, and look inward. “I am still scared,” Dr. Gwen Hooley told her colleagues at Elmhurst Hospital, which was swamped with patients in late March as the virus rampaged through New York. Physician’s assistant Diane Akhbari recalled her husband leaving food on the cellar stairs while she isolated herself for months for fear of infecting her family: “I felt like an animal,” she said, her voice cracking. (Peltz, 6/16)

NPR: Medical Schools Taken To Task Over Racism, Hazing And Other Abuse
As doctors and nurses across the United States continue to gather outside hospitals and clinics to protest police brutality and racism as part of the White Coats for Black Lives movement, LaShyra Nolen, a first-year student at Harvard Medical School, says it's time to take medical schools to task over racism, too. The fight for equality in medical education isn't new, says Nolen, the first black woman to serve as Harvard Medical School's student council president. But she's hopeful that the national conversation around racism in society will force hospitals and medical schools to address racism within their own institutions. (Gordon, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Why The Pandemic Has Energized Hospital Unions
COVID-19 is strengthening the hand of unions looking to organize more healthcare workers. During the pandemic, unions representing nurses and other front-line medical staffers have stepped forward to advocate aggressively on behalf of their members. They've called attention to shortages of personal protective equipment and staffing ratios that they say endanger both workers and patients. In some cases, they've won paid sick leave and hazard pay—and nonunion workers are watching. (Goldberg, 6/15)

Kaiser Health News: Wealthy Hospital Taps Small Craft Breweries For Financial Aid To Buy Masks, Gloves
As Inova Health System sought donations in March to buy personal protective equipment for its staff to treat COVID-19, Zach Mote, a police officer turned brewer, came to their aid. Even though his Water’s End Brewery taproom in this Washington, D.C., suburb had been forced to close, he enlisted the help of nearby Beltway Brewing to make a new ale, PPE beer. They’ve donated the more than $18,000 from its sales to the hospital system to help buy masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment. (Galewitz, 6/16)

The New York Times: When Nowhere Feels Safe, Finding Sanctuary On The Drive Home
Healthcare workers have few spaces of sanctuary, between risk at work and anxiety at home that our loved ones could catch the disease from us. (Potter, 6/10)

WBUR: A Hospice Nurse Answers The Call To Care For Terminally Ill Coronavirus Patients 
The job of a hospice nurse is to care for the comfort of people who are dying. That job didn’t change in the pandemic — it just got riskier. Some hospices turned away COVID-positive patients, deeming the risk to its staff too great. Others stepped up. (Mason, 6/16)

GMA: American Girl Honors Health Care Workers With New Scrubs Doll Outfit 
Now you can dress up your American Girl doll to look like the real-life health care superheroes on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. American Girl is honoring health care workers with a new, special edition #ThankYouHeroes scrubs outfit. (Hauler and Moore, 6/15)

Reuters: U.S. Airlines Threaten To Ban Passengers Who Refuse To Wear Masks
U.S. airline passengers who refuse to wear face coverings during the novel coronavirus pandemic could have their flying privileges revoked under tougher enforcement policies, the industry’s main lobby group said on Monday. (Rucinski and Shepardson, 6/15)

NPR: Airlines Say They Will Ramp Up Enforcement Of Face Covering Policies
Prior to each flight, Alaska, American, United, Delta, Southwest, Hawaiian and JetBlue Airways will communicate to passengers their policy on individual face coverings, which must cover a passenger's nose and mouth. Once on board, crew members will reiterate the policy. If passengers do not cooperate, the association said in a press release, the airlines will take actions that could include putting people on a no-fly list. (Hagemann, 6/15)

USA Today: United Creates 'Internal Travel Restriction List' For Mask-Less Fliers
United flight attendants and other frontline employees such as pilots, customer service agents and ramp workers are also required to wear masks. "Today's announcement is an unmistakable signal that we're prepared to take serious steps, if necessary, to protect our customers and crew,"  United's chief customer officer Toby Enqvist said in the statement. (Henderson, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: Airlines Say They’ll Crack Down On Passengers Who Refuse To Wear Face Masks
The largest U.S. airlines say they are ready to crack down on passengers who refuse to wear face masks on board, a month after face mask requirements began and were ignored by many passengers. The trade group representing carriers including American, Southwest, United, Delta, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines said they will increase the number of warnings made to passengers amid attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and make people more comfortable flying again. (Arnold, 6/15)

The New York Times: Looking At Masks And Respiratory Health
Starting with the first reports of breathing difficulties among people who contracted Covid-19 and extending now to those wearing masks to limit the risk of acquiring or unwittingly transmitting the virus, the ability to breathe normally has become a common concern. Some worry: Are we taking in enough oxygen to adequately supply our muscles, organs and especially our brains? (I’m among many who purchased a pulse oximeter to do daily checks of my blood’s oxygen level.) Are the masks we wear interfering with our breathing? (Brody, 6/15)

The Washington Post: A Shopping Guide To Cloth Face Masks By DMV Makers.
As the D.C. area begins to reopen, cloth face masks are part of the new normal. So local designers and shop owners are pivoting to fill the void, whipping up masks that display a lot of personality. This is a whole new product category, obviously, and pulling it off involves creativity. Nubian Hueman owner Anika Hobbs looked out at racks of clothing that customers weren’t able to try on, since the doors of her Anacostia and Baltimore boutiques were closed due to the pandemic. (Chapin, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Business Travel Won’t Be Taking Off Soon Amid Coronavirus
Corporate America’s wings are clipped, and some CEOs say it is better that way. After months of doing their jobs from home, many executives and employees say all those hours in the sky and nights away from home may not be necessary going forward. Turns out, one-meeting trips to see a client face to face can be handled just as effectively via videoconference. Some executives plan to hold meetings with their lieutenants by video call from now on. In sales, there are professionals who say they have found that all-online meetings even give them certain advantages over face-to-face pitches of prospective clients. (Cutter, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Many Businesses Ask Customers, Workers To Waive Legal Rights
As businesses reopen across the U.S. after coronavirus shutdowns, many are requiring customers and workers to sign forms saying they won’t sue if they catch COVID-19. Businesses fear they could be the target of litigation even if they adhere to safety precautions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials. But workers’ rights groups say the forms force employees to sign away their rights should they get sick. (Krisher and Sherman, 6/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Senate Panel Approves Coronavirus Protections For Businesses
A Georgia Senate panel on Monday took the first step toward putting guidelines in place to protect businesses and health care providers from being held liable if workers, customers or visitors contract COVID-19. Senate Public Safety Chairman John Albers, a Roswell Republican, shepherded the legislation through his committee on Monday, amending a bill that initially would have created a specialty license plate for the Georgia Tennis Foundation. (Prabhu, 6/15)

The New York Times: When Rich New Yorkers Fled, These Workers Kept The City Running
The sidewalks of Mount Hope fill up early with essential workers. The health care and construction workers come out first, followed by the delivery drivers, grocery store clerks, security guards, building porters and countless others. They make their home in this hilltop neighborhood of 53,000 in the Bronx that has been an anchor against the coronavirus. From there, they disperse to all corners of the borough, the city and beyond to provide the services that other people count on in a global health crisis. (Hu and Schweber, 6/16)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Economy Especially Harsh For Transgender People
When Aria Villajin was a teenager, her father made clear his feelings for gay and transgender people. “He always called L.G.B.T. folks ‘it.’ He didn’t address them as pronouns. They were ‘its.’” Ms. Villajin, now 33, said. “If he found out one of his sons were gay, he would make them change their name.” Ms. Villajin presented as male then. When her mother was deported to the Philippines, her black father moved the family to a conservative, white Sacramento suburb. At 18 she left for San Francisco, but even there life was not easy, and without support, she dropped out of college. (James, 6/16)

WBUR: Go In Or Call In? Here's Some Basic Guidance For Routine Health Care During COVID-19
Fear of COVID-19 has kept too many people from going to emergency rooms with life-threatening chest pain, persistent vomiting or numbness that might signal a stroke. If you would have called 911 or had someone drive you to an ER before COVID-19, you should do that now. But what about routine care? There’s a call to use telemedicine when possible to help prevent crowding in hospitals, clinics and offices. But now that your doctor or nurse practitioner is booking non-urgent visits again, when should you see someone in person, and when is a phone or video chat sufficient? (Bebinger, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: The Toll That Isolation Takes On Kids During The Coronavirus Era
After six weeks of lockdown due to Covid-19, Cari Marshall was getting concerned about her 11-year-old daughter Chloe. The child missed seeing her friends in person and was becoming frustrated communicating with them solely via FaceTime, TikTok and the gaming app Roblox. “It laid bare how important her personal relationships are to her daily happiness,” says Ms. Marshall, a political volunteer organizer in Austin, Texas. “She is all about her friendships.” (Petersen, 6/15)

Stat: Cancer Patients And Doctors Carry On With Clinical Trials During Covid-19
Cancer isn’t waiting for Covid-19 to go away. Neither is Karen Howley. Diagnosed two years ago with advanced ovarian cancer, Howley started on a new experimental drug in mid-March, just as coronavirus case counts were soaring in Massachusetts. Her treatment, part of a clinical trial at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, began with a four-week hospital stay, and since then, she’s been returning every Monday for infusions. (Cooney, 6/16)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Outbreak In Beijing, China's Capital, Alarms Officials
The authorities in Beijing placed a swath of the city under lockdown on Monday and tested tens of thousands of people as they rushed to contain a new coronavirus outbreak that marked an unnerving breach in China’s capital. President Xi Jinping had said from the outset that Beijing, the seat of Communist Party power and a crowded metropolis, should be a fortress against the pandemic, and local officials have imposed strict measures to keep infections low. Until now, the efforts appeared to have protected the capital against the virus after it emerged late last year in Wuhan, a city in central China. (Buckley, 6/15)

The Associated Press: Beijing Expands Lockdowns As Cases Top 100 In New Outbreak
Chinese authorities locked down a third neighborhood in Beijing on Tuesday as they rushed to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 100 people in a country that appeared to have largely contained the virus. The resurgence in China highlighted public health expert calls for vigilance as many nations move forward with easing virus restrictions to revive their economies. (Mortisugu, 6/16)

Reuters: China's New Virus Outbreak Needs Further Testing After 'Hypothesis' On Cause: WHO
The origins of a new cluster of coronavirus infections in Beijing are uncertain, World Health Organization officials said on Monday, but the claim that it might have been caused by imports or packaging of salmon was not the “primary hypothesis.” (Farge and Nebehay, 6/15)

Reuters: Global Coronavirus Cases Reach Over 8 Million As Outbreak Expands In Latin America
Global cases of the novel coronavirus reached over 8 million on Monday, as infections surge in Latin America and the United States and China grapple with fresh outbreaks. (Shumaker, 6/15)

The Washington Post: The Coronavirus Pandemic Continues To Grow. Here Are The Global Hot Spots.
Across continents, pandemic-weary communities are emerging from months of shutdowns and restrictions as politicians and businesses urge people to return to work. Lives have been upended, bank accounts have suffered, and many people are craving a return to old routines. But the novel coronavirus persists. Measured in terms of new confirmed cases — figures that experts agree are underestimated — it is surging rather than dwindling. (Berger, 6/15)

Reuters: Singapore Scientists To Start Human Trials Of COVID-19 Vaccine In August
Singapore scientists testing a COVID-19 vaccine from U.S. firm Arcturus Therapeutics (ARCT.O) plan to start human trials in August after promising initial responses in mice. More than 100 vaccines are being developed globally, including several already in human trials from the likes of AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Pfizer (PFE.N), to try and control a disease that has infected more than 8 million people and killed over 430,000 worldwide. (6/16)

The Associated Press: Coronavirus Tracing App A Test For Privacy-Minded Germany
Germany launched a coronavirus tracing app Tuesday that officials say is so secure even government ministers can use it.Smartphone apps have been touted as a high-tech tool in the effort to track down potential COVID-19 infections. Experts say finding new cases quickly is key to clamping down on fresh clusters, especially as countries slowly emerge from lockdowns and try to avoid a second wave of infections and deaths. (Jordans, 6/16)

NPR: Greece Reopens To Tourists, But Some Coronavirus Restrictions Apply 
Greece has reopened its airports to international travelers in the hopes of salvaging this year's tourism season and easing an anticipated recession caused by coronavirus lockdowns. Tourists arriving from countries with high infection rates must take a test for the coronavirus and be quarantined for up to two weeks. Travelers from countries with low infection rates will be subject to random testing but will avoid quarantine. (Kakissis, 6/15)

The Wall Street Journal: The Data Are In: It’s Time For Major Reopening
Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, an influential economic analysis from the University of Chicago concluded that the likely benefits of moderate social distancing would greatly exceed the resultant costs. The New York Times and the Washington Post recently cited that study as evidence that the use of strict lockdowns to control the virus’s spread has been justified, and that current efforts to “open up” social and economic activity around the U.S. are dangerous and irresponsible. That is seriously misleading; the Chicago study is already out of date. More recent research supports the idea that the lockdowns should end. (David R. Henderson and Jonathan Lipow, 6/15)

The New York Times: Doctors Know The Second Coronavirus Wave Is Coming
Rushing into the hospital for an overnight shift, I grab my brown paper bag of personal protective equipment, swing open the door to the coronavirus intensive care unit — and stop short. The patients are gone. The halls that were cluttered just a day ago with ventilator monitors are now empty, silent. It has been nearly three months since we reconfigured our hospital to care for the Covid-19 surge. And as our numbers fall, from more than 100 critically ill patients to fewer than 20, most of our coronavirus units are closing. This is good news. But there is no celebration. How can there be? Nearly 1,000 Americans continue to die every day from this virus, while others dance in crowded clubs and refuse to wear masks in public places. (Daniela J. Lamas, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: How COVID-19 Can Help Fight Health Inequity
The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a harsh light on the inequities that plague healthcare in the U.S. Many people were stunned to realize that the mortality rate from COVID-19 has been far higher for black and brown Americans than for their white counterparts—more than double, according to recent data. Researchers and policymakers understand that people of color and poor people of all races are dying in this country because medical care can't make up for things like substandard housing, food insecurity and jobs that cannot be done remotely. (Ram Raju, 6/15)

The New York Times: Are Nations Safer From The Coronavirus When Women Lead? 
Are female leaders better at fighting a pandemic? I compiled death rates from the coronavirus for 21 countries around the world, 13 led by men and eight by women. The male-led countries suffered an average of 214 coronavirus-related deaths per million inhabitants. Those led by women lost only one-fifth as many, 36 per million. If the United States had the coronavirus death rate of the average female-led country, 102,000 American lives would have been saved out of the 114,000 lost.“ Countries led by women do seem to be particularly successful in fighting the coronavirus,” noted Anne W. Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A. “New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway have done so well perhaps due to the leadership and management styles attributed to their female leaders.” (Nicholas Kristof, 6/13)

Stat: By Phone, Cancer Patients Reveal Their Covid-19 Angst 
Clinical trials have always represented hope for people with cancer. Whether someone is newly diagnosed or has exhausted most treatment options, trials can provide a crucial, alternate treatment. Covid-19 has upended that lifeline, along with almost every other aspect of cancer care. (Alissa Gentile and Meredith Barnhart, 6/16)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Supreme Court Takes A Stand For LGBTQ Rights, As Trump Undermines Them. 
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a major victory to the cause of LGBTQ rights, even as the Trump administration moves to undermine those rights. The court ruled that existing federal law prohibits job discrimination based on sexual orientation — a historic decision, made more so by the fact that it was approved 6-3 by a conservative court. It should reverberate in Missouri, where legislators have refused for years to offer the same anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation that are codified on issues like race, gender and disability. This important progress from the high court comes as the White House is trying to drag the nation in exactly the wrong direction on this issue. The administration last week formally reversed a rule that protected LGBTQ patients from discrimination in health care. The move has nothing to do with improving care and everything to do with pandering to the evangelicals in President Donald Trump’s base. (6/15)

Stat: Covid-19 And Remdesivir: Rethinking How We Measure Drug "Value" 
As pharmaceutical and biotech companies scramble to identify treatments for Covid-19, a new disease that initially had none, we must begin to figure out what is an appropriate pricing approach — and price — for emerging therapies. Remdesivir, Gilead Sciences’ repurposed antiviral drug, offers the first opportunity to do this. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has conducted the first value assessment of remdesivir, a drug with early evidence of treatment effectiveness. Its analysis, however, is premature and highlights many of the flaws inherent in today’s value assessment models. (Patricia Deverka, Louis Garrison and Samuel Nussbaum, 6/15)

The Hill: Congress: Don't Let Safe Elections Fall Victim To COVID-19
In Rochester Hills, Mich., where I’m mayor, I’ve seen incredible feats of resilience and strength as we have fought to minimize the spread of COVID-19. I am made proud every day by what the people here have done to prevent infection and provide support to those requiring care. At this point in the pandemic, I know what Rochester Hills requires to stay on the rebound. But, like so many communities across the country, we’re facing a dual challenge: significant declines in revenue combined with unforeseen expenses. (Bryan K. Barnett, 6/15)

Dallas Morning News: COVID-19 Isn’t Over Yet, And Dallas Must Continue Wearing Masks And Social Distancing
Everyone is ready for the COVID-19 pandemic to end so we can resume our lives and save the economy, but more Dallasites continue to test positive for the stubborn virus every day. Infections have just begun surging again after widespread indiscretions over the Memorial Day weekend. So how are we going to stop it? This virus is highly contagious. (Robert Haley and Debbie Branson, 6/13)

Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Needs An Executive Order Requiring Wearing Of Face Masks
Tired of being cooped up at home with our own cooking, my family and I mustered up the courage to head out to our favorite hamburger joint. It was our first trip to a dine-in restaurant since the COVID-19 crisis occurred, and we planned to eat in the restaurant’s outdoors seating area. As we walked through the restaurant door past the sign that read, "No shoes, no shirt, no service," we were surprised to see a large number of customers, servers and cashiers not wearing face masks. Would it have been too much — at a time when more than 100,000 of our neighbors and fellow Americans have already perished from COVID disease, with no end in sight — to add “no mask” to the sign? In the end, we left the restaurant without waiting around to order food. Too risky! (Ron Saff, 6/15)