AP: California Governor Imposes New Restrictions In Pandemic
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was pulling the “emergency brake” Monday on reopening the state’s economy as coronavirus cases surge at the fastest rate since the start of the outbreak. “We are sounding the alarm,” Newsom said. “California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet — faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic or even this summer. The spread of COVID-19, if left unchecked, could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes.” (Beam and Melley, 11/17)

CNN: California Reimposes Covid-19 Restrictions On 40 Counties As Cases Surge And The Governor Warns Of Possible Curfew
"California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet -- faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic or even this summer," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news release. Daily cases in the state doubled in just the last 10 days, he said during a news conference Monday. ... The governor said officials are now considering a curfew, but are still taking a look at studies from several other countries -- including France, Germany and Saudi Arabia -- to better understand the efficacy of those measures. (Maxouris, 11/17)

Bloomberg: America Locks Down From Atlantic To Pacific With Covid Raging
In just a matter of days, America’s long effort to revive its virus-battered economy has been put on pause -- or thrown into reverse -- across much of the country as new infections soar at the fastest pace since the pandemic’s earliest days. California on Monday reinstituted bans on many indoor businesses across the state, and its governor warned he may impose a curfew. Michigan has ordered a three-week partial shutdown, while states including Oregon, Washington and New Jersey tightened curbs. Even the governor of Iowa, long resistant to virus rules, issued a limited mask mandate Monday. (Baker, LaVito and Young, 11/17)

Philadelphia Inquirer: New COVID-19 Restrictions In Philly And N.J. As City Officials Warn Of Potential For More Deaths
Warning of a predicted increase in hospitalizations and deaths, Philadelphia officials on Monday imposed new rules that ban indoor gatherings, close gyms, museums and other venues, and shut down indoor dining in the city’s first coronavirus clampdown since June. Without changes, the fall-winter surge could be on track to cause about 1,700 deaths in the city before it ends, as many as occurred in the spring, said Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, citing statistical modeling as he announced the restrictions. (McDaniel, McCrystal, Steele and McCarthy, 11/17)

Fox News: New Coronavirus Wedding Rules In Ohio Ignite Backlash 
New restrictions on wedding receptions in Ohio are igniting backlash from lawmakers as concerns grow over a potential resurgence of the coronavirus. The Ohio Department of Health is clamping down on mass gatherings, which includes weddings and other events. Beginning at midnight Tuesday, wedding receptions and other banquet facilities will be required to follow several guidelines to minimize the spread of COVID-19.  (Casiano, 11/16)

The Hill: Iowa Governor Reverses Course, Issues Statewide Mask Mandate 
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) reversed course and issued a statewide mask mandate on Monday after previously resisting calls for the requirement as the coronavirus surges in the state. Reynolds addressed the public and signed a proclamation Monday night that requires those 2 years old and older to wear a mask in indoor areas open to the public where they will be within six feet of people who are not members of their household for 15 minutes or longer. (Coleman, 11/16)

KFOR-TV: “Now Is The Time To Do More,” Gov. Stitt Implements New COVID-19 Restrictions On Restaurants, Bars 
Following a dramatic increase in the number of coronavirus cases across Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt says he is enacting new regulations on restaurants and bars to slow the spread of the virus. “As you are aware, our cases of COVID-19 continue to go up here in Oklahoma and they’re continuing to go up all across the country. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state of Oklahoma has gone up 19% just in the last week. Throughout this entire battle, my first priority has always been to protect the health and lives of Oklahomans. That’s still true today and that’s always gonna be true,” he said. (Querry, 11/16)

In related news —

Houston Chronicle: Texas Leaders Stick With Reopening Plan As Other States Lock Down
The Oregon governor is calling it a “freeze.” In New Mexico, it’s a “reset.” Across the country, state elected officials are frantically rolling back their reopening plans to slow the burgeoning surge in coronavirus infections. But in Texas, Republican leaders remain unwilling to change course in the face of soaring hospitalizations and an early uptick in deaths from the virus that has public health experts increasingly alarmed. (Blackman, Harris and Goldenstein, 11/16)

Stateline: GOP Lawsuits Restrain Governors COVID-19 Actions
Governors of both parties are facing a deluge of lawsuits from right-wing lawmakers, conservative legal groups and Republican activists who say chief executives need legislative approval to shut down businesses, require mask-wearing or force residents to stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Judges have tossed out the lawsuits or sided with governors in most states where cases have been filed. But in Wisconsin and Michigan, conservative-leaning state Supreme Courts have struck down governors’ emergency public health orders. (Quinton, 11/17)

USA Today: COVID Restrictions By State: A Look At Face Mask, Stay At Home Orders
As COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise nationwide, some states are halting phased reopening plans or imposing new coronavirus-related restrictions.  Several are putting limits on social gatherings, adding states to travel quarantine lists, mandating face masks and encouraging residents to stay home, as many did in the spring. Others are restricting business hours of operation and limiting restaurant capacity. (Hauck and Woodyard, 11/16)

AP: Michigan Governor Says She Has Authority For Stay-Home Order
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she has the authority to issue a second stay-at-home order to curb the spiking coronavirus if necessary and called a comment by an adviser to President Donald Trump urging people to “rise up” against Michigan’s latest restrictions “incredibly reckless.” The Democratic governor spoke with Capitol reporters a day after announcing limits amid a surge of COVID-19 cases that has led to increased hospitalizations and deaths. Other Midwest states are facing similar second waves as the weather cools, and she has urged the public to “double down” with precautions to avoid a shelter-in-place order like what was instituted in the spring. (Eggert, 11/16)

Politico: Whitmer: Atlas’ Call For Michiganders To ‘Rise Up’ Against Covid Restrictions ‘Took My Breath Away’
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that she was stunned by a call from one of President Donald Trump’s top coronavirus advisers for people in her state to “rise up” against new restrictions aimed at slowing the disease’s deadly surge. “It actually took my breath away, to tell you the truth,” Whitmer told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” referring to a tweet posted over the weekend by Scott Atlas, whose skepticism toward Covid-19 mitigation strategies has been the subject of widespread criticism. (Forgey, 11/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Stanford Rebukes Scott Atlas Following His Controversial ‘Rise Up’ Tweet 
Stanford University sought to distance itself Monday from Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the university’s Hoover Institution and key member of President Trump’s coronavirus task force, a day after Atlas encouraged people to “rise up” in response to new pandemic-related restrictions implemented by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “Dr. Atlas has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university’s approach in response to the pandemic,” the university said in a statement. “Dr. Atlas’s statements reflect his personal views, not those of the Hoover Institution or the university.” (Williams, 11/16)

The Hill: Fauci Distances Himself From Trump Adviser Atlas: 'I Totally Disagree With The Stand He Takes' 
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, once again distanced himself from a doctor advising the president on COVID-19, saying he “totally disagrees” with Scott Atlas. Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no training in infectious diseases, has taken to Twitter in recent days to rail against closures of some businesses and high schools in Michigan in response to COVID-19. (Hellmann, 11/16)

More on the Michigan measures —

Detroit Free Press: Detroit To Enforce New Michigan COVID-19 Restrictions, Provide Free Testing To Residents
Detroit officials Monday announced enforcement measures and additional protocol to the sweeping guidelines Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Sunday in an effort to curb rapidly climbing COVID-19 cases across the state and region. "The Midwest is absolutely covered in COVID," Mayor Mike Duggan said. (Abdel-Baqui, 11/16)

The New York Times: ‘More People May Die’ Because of Trump’s Transition Delay, Biden Says
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Monday sharpened his criticism of President Trump’s refusal to cooperate in an orderly transition, warning that “more people may die” from the coronavirus if the president does not agree to coordinate planning for the mass distribution of a vaccine when it becomes available. It was a marked shift in tone for the president-elect, intended to pressure Mr. Trump after Mr. Biden and his team had played down the difficulty of setting up a new government without the departing administration’s help. (Crowley and Shear, 11/16)

NPR: 'More People May Die': Biden Chides Trump For Blocking Presidential Transition 
The comments are his most stark to date about the impact that a delayed transition could have on his ability to hit the ground running after he takes office. "They say they have this Warp Speed program," he continued, referring to the Trump administration's vaccine development and delivery program, Operation Warp Speed. "If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind." (Wise, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Biden Takes On Trump Over Transition Delays, Says Lives Are At Stake
He also pointed out the absurdity that Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the vice president-elect, still has access to classified intelligence briefings because she is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But Biden himself is not able to get those briefings because Trump’s administration has yet to acknowledge that Biden won the election. (Viser, 11/16)

AP: 'More People May Die': Biden Urges Trump To Aid Transition
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it’s “absolutely crucial that the apparent president-elect and his team have full access to the planning that has gone on” for vaccine distribution. “It is no easy matter” to distribute a vaccine, Collins said, so “it’s absolutely imperative for public health, that all of the planning that’s gone on for which the current administration deserves credit, be shared with the new administration.” (Peoples and Jaffe, 11/17)

Also —

AP: Head Of Govt Agency Under Pressure To Let Transition Proceed
It’s been 10 days since President-elect Joe Biden crossed the 270 electoral vote mark to defeat President Donald Trump and win the presidency. Unlike the 2000 election, when the winner of the election was truly unknown for weeks, this time it is clear that Biden won, although Trump is refusing to concede. But Emily Murphy, the head of the General Services Administration, has yet to certify Biden as the winner, stalling the launch of the official transition process. When she does ascertain that Biden won, it will free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden’s team to begin placing transition personnel at federal agencies. (Madhani, 11/17)

The Hill: Fauci 'Concerned' About Slow Transition Between Trump And Biden 
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Monday said he's "concerned" about the stalled transition process between President Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. "Obviously it's something that we're concerned about," he said in an appearance on NBC's "Today," pointing to the need for a "smooth process" for approving and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine. (Cohn, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Biden Urges A New Economic Relief Package And Warns Again Of A ‘Dark Winter’ Ahead 
President-elect Joe Biden urged Congress to immediately pass an economic relief package Monday as he warned that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen in the coming months. The incoming Democratic president also criticized President Trump for his refusal to concede his election loss and begin handing over power. Biden called Trump’s unprecedented actions “embarrassing for the country” and irresponsible. (Gearan and Stein, 11/6)

The Hill: Biden Urges Congress To Pass Democrats' COVID-19 Relief Package 
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday urged Congress to pass a coronavirus relief package, touting legislation House Democrats passed earlier this year that is opposed by Republicans. "Right now, Congress should come together and pass a COVID relief package like the HEROES Act that the House passed six months ago," Biden said during remarks in Wilmington, Del. "Once we shut down the virus and deliver economic relief to workers and businesses, then we can start to build back better than before." (Jagoda, 11/16)

Fox News: Biden Says Public Health Experts Recommend 10 People Max At Thanksgiving Gatherings
President-elect Joe Biden says that public health experts tell him they recommend limiting Thanksgiving family gatherings to 10 people or fewer as the coronavirus pandemic surges again across the country. (Steinhauser, 11/16)

And more on Biden's incoming health care team and agenda —

CNN: Here Are 7 Trump Health Care Measures That Biden Will Likely Overturn
In their four years in office, the Trump administration made sweeping changes that affected the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, abortion and transgender rights, in many cases reversing the efforts of the Obama administration. Most of the measures were done through executive orders and regulation since it was tough to get any bills through Congress, particularly after the Democrats took control of the House after the 2018 midterm elections. Biden's health officials will likely be active, as well, but it will take time for all their actions to take effect. (Luhby, Kelly and Cole, 11/16)

Bloomberg Government: Biden Sizing Up State Leaders For Critical Health-Care Posts
President-elect Joe Biden’s health team is shaping up as a competition largely between Obama administration alumni who stayed in Washington and those who joined state health agencies. Biden, who made fighting the coronavirus and expanding health care top campaign priorities, faces a steep climb for central parts of his agenda, including expanding the Affordable Care Act’s insurance subsidies and creating government-run insurance. Democrats’ majority has been narrowed in the House and control of the Senate remains undecided. (Ruoff and Stein, 11/16)

The New York Times: Dr. Celine Gounder, Adviser To Biden, On The Next Covid Attack Plan 
When President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office in January, he will inherit a pandemic that has convulsed the country. His transition team last week announced a 13-member team of scientists and doctors who will advise on control of the coronavirus. One of them is Dr. Céline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center and assistant professor at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. (Mandavilli, 11/16)

Roll Call: COVID-19 Tracking Apps May Get A Boost From Biden’s Task Force
Smartphone-based COVID-19 tracking apps are likely to play a role in a new national plan by President-elect Joe Biden to contain the coronavirus as daily case counts, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease skyrocket across the country. Fewer than half the 50 states have launched a smartphone-based exposure notification app, and a few states have them in development. (Ratnam, 11/16)

The Washington Post: The Health 202: Biden Will Also Have The Opioid Epidemic To Deal With Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic 
The coronavirus isn’t the only epidemic President-elect Joe Biden will be facing. The nation’s opioid crisis is far from solved — and may be worsening amid widespread job loss and Americans’ increased isolation. Biden has proposed spending $125 billion on prevention, treatment and recovery services, vowing to make medication-assisted treatment such as buprenorphine and methadone available to everyone who needs it by 2025. He also wants to restructure the criminal justice system to ensure no one goes to jail for drug use alone and has promised to go after pharmaceutical companies that contributed to overprescribing of opioids. (Ellerbeck, 11/16)

Boston Globe: Senators Clash Over Coronavirus Mask Protocol: ‘There Clearly Isn’t Much Interest In This Body In Public Health’
In an exchange that went viral on Monday night, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown took to the Senate floor, with his opening remark being not a political statement but a request asked of his colleague, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan: “I’d start by asking the presiding officer to please wear a mask as he speaks.” Brown, a Democrat, acknowledged that he didn’t have the power to tell his Republican colleague “what to do” in regard to adhering to the coronavirus safety measure before he was interrupted by Sullivan. (Larson, 11/17)

CNN: At Least 2 Members Of Congress Announce Positive Covid-19 Diagnoses Monday 
At least two members of the US House of Representatives announced Monday that they tested positive for Covid-19 and another member announced he was isolating after possibly being exposed, a sign of the looming threat of coronavirus on Capitol Hill. (Diaz and Wilson, 11/16)

Politico: Rep. Cheri Bustos Tests Positive For Covid-19 
Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) said on Monday she had tested positive for Covid-19.Bustos, via Twitter, said she was experiencing mild symptoms, self-isolating in Illinois and planning to work from home until cleared by her physician. She did not say how she might have become infected, but added that she had contacted all the people she’s interacted with. (Kim, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Pelosi Reversal Shows Political Perils For Democrats On Covid
The elaborate event seemed like the kind of celebration President Trump might host in the coronavirus era: about a dozen circular tables with purple and pink flowers brimming from gold vases, arranged in a grand but windowless room. But this was no Trump affair. It was a setup for a dinner to be hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Bade, 11/6)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Roll Call: Short-Term Punt Seen Likely For Spending Bills, Coronavirus Aid
Despite hopeful talk on both sides of the aisle, the odds are against congressional leaders reaching agreement on a COVID-19 relief package and omnibus appropriations bill to wrap up this year’s unfinished business in the lame-duck session. The most likely outcome is another stopgap spending bill, perhaps into late February or early March, with some limited bipartisan COVID-19 aid attached. That’s the view of Capitol Hill officials in both parties and other legislative experts. (Krawzak, 11/16)

Bloomberg: Federal $15 Minimum Wage Looks Increasingly Likely After Florida Vote
Pressure on Congress to boost the federal wage floor for the first time in 13 years is building after voters in Republican-leaning Florida approved a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. Seven states already have passed laws that will eventually bring their minimum wage to $15, but they’re ones that typically back Democrats and progressive labor policies, including California and New York. That Floridians bypassed their Republican-controlled legislature to enact the new wage by constitutional amendment will be impossible to ignore, says Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the progressive Ballot Initiative Strategy Center in Washington. (Rockeman, Miller and Sasso, 11/17)

CNBC: HHS Secretary Azar Says The FDA Will Move ‘As Quickly As Possible’ To Clear Moderna And Pfizer’s Covid Vaccines
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will move “as quickly as possible” to clear Pfizer and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines for emergency use, the top official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Monday. HHS Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the “incredible” interim results from Moderna, which announced on Monday that its vaccine candidate is more than 94% effective in preventing Covid-19, paired with similar results from Pfizer last week make for a “historic day in public health.” (Higgins-Dunn, 11/16)

Reuters: Pfizer To Start Pilot Delivery Program For Its COVID-19 Vaccine In Four U.S. States 
Pfizer Inc has launched a pilot delivery program for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in four U.S. states, as the U.S. drugmaker seeks to address distribution challenges facing its ultra-cold storage requirements. Pfizer’s vaccine, which was shown to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data, must be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius (minus 94°F), significantly below the standard for vaccines of 2-8 degrees Celsius (36-46°F). (11/16)

In related news about the COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna —

Stat: On Covid-19, Two Vaccines Offer More Answers About The Road Ahead
The success of a second vaccine against Covid-19 means the world is a big step closer to curbing the coronavirus pandemic. Moderna, joined by U.S. government scientists, announced Monday that their mRNA vaccine candidate was 94.5% effective in preventing Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to an interim analysis of a 30,000-patient clinical trial. (Feuerstein, Garde and Joseph, 11/16)

NPR: Why Moderna And Pfizer Vaccines Have Different Cold Storage Requirements
Two drugmakers, Pfizer and Moderna, have announced promising interim results for their vaccine candidates, raising hopes in the U.S. and abroad that the end of the pandemic may be in sight. But, if and when the vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, distributing them presents a daunting challenge. One big reason? One of the frontrunners in the vaccine race — the one made by Pfizer — needs to be kept extremely cold: minus 70 degrees Celsius, which is colder than winter in Antarctica. Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius, more like a regular freezer. (Simmons-Duffin, 11/17)

USA Today: There Are Now Two Promising Potential COVID Vaccines. This Is What We Know About Them.
Nearly seven months after Operation Warp Speed was created, Americans are finally starting to get answers about the candidate vaccines that could potentially slow the coronavirus pandemic. Operation Warp Speed, the White House-led task force on coronavirus vaccine treatment and development, was created on May 15. Since then, vague and contradicting timelines made by both the Trump administration and leading scientists have muddled predictions about when a COVID-19 vaccine would be available to the public. (Rodriguez and Weintraub, 11/16)

The New York Times: What To Know About Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine 
Like Pfizer, however, Moderna released only early data from their trial. There’s more work to be done before they’ll know if the vaccine really is safe and effective. And even if Moderna’s vaccine gets the green light from the F.D.A., it will take months to reach widespread distribution. In the meantime, the United States is suffering a devastating explosion of new cases of Covid-19. Here’s where things stand with the development of coronavirus vaccines. (Zimmer, 11/16)

Reuters: We Can Stop COVID-19: Moderna Vaccine Success Gives World More Hope 
Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, Moderna’s shot can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, which should make it easier to distribute, a critical factor as COVID-19 cases are soaring, hitting new records in the United States and pushing some European countries back into lockdowns. “We are going to have a vaccine that can stop COVID-19,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said in a telephone interview. (Steenhuysen and Erman, 11/16)

Stat: Hopeful Covid-19 Vaccine Data Won't Help Overstretched Hospitals 
With the glimmer of promising data from two Covid-19 vaccines, the beginning of the end of the pandemic may be in sight, some experts say — but they warn that the coming winter months may be the most tragic yet, especially if policies aren’t enacted to stop the spread. (Boodman, 11/16)

CNN: Encouraging Data From Covid-19 Vaccines Won't Prevent A Dangerous Stretch Of Rising Cases, Experts Warn
The US received more good news on the vaccine front this week -- with Moderna's clinical trial data showing its vaccine is more than 94% effective. But the country is still battling a Covid-19 crisis that's ravaging communities and hospital systems and is projected to get a lot worse before a possible vaccine could offer any help. (Maxouris, 11/17)

Also —

AP: Who Will Be The First To Get COVID-19 Vaccines?
Who will be the first to get COVID-19 vaccines? No decision has been made, but the consensus among many experts in the U.S. and globally is that health care workers should be first, said Sema Sgaier of the Surgo Foundation, a nonprofit group working on vaccine allocation issues. (11/17)

AP: What Does COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Mean?
What does COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness mean? It refers to the likelihood that a coronavirus shot will work in people. Two vaccine makers have said that preliminary results from their late-stage studies suggest their experimental vaccines are strongly protective. Moderna this week said its vaccine appears nearly 95% effective. This comes on the heels of Pfizer’s announcement that its shot appeared similarly effective. (11/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: To Speed A Vaccine, Thousands Volunteer To Be Infected With The Coronavirus. But That’s Not Happening. Yet.
The worldwide search for a coronavirus cure has inspired tens of thousands of young people to volunteer to be infected with the coronavirus during human trials of experimental vaccines — a growing movement that critics fear will have dire consequences. More than 38,000 people mostly in their 20s or early 30s from all over the world have signed up to be part of an operation known as 1DaySooner, which supports “human challenge trials” to test experimental drugs and speed up the process of finding effective vaccines for the coronavirus. (Fimrite, 11/16)

Boston Globe: Live Tracker: Coronavirus Vaccines To Keep An Eye On
President Donald Trump has predicted that a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 could be ready as early as October and in mass distribution soon after. But Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently predicted that high-risk people such as health care workers might be able to get a vaccine in January, but it probably wouldn’t be more broadly available until spring or summer. (Freyer, Saltzman and Gardizy, 11/16)

CNBC: Amazon Pharmacy: Free Prescription Delivery For Prime Members
Amazon Pharmacy, announced on Tuesday, is Amazon’s biggest push yet into $300 billion market, and threatens the dominance of traditional pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, as well as other large retailers that offer pharmacy services, including Walmart. For Amazon, the announcement is well-timed. Americans are increasingly relying on getting their medicines via mail to avoid getting exposed to the coronavirus. That shift could be permanent, as more people than ever before are learning about new ways of receiving medication. (Farr, 11/17)

AP: Amazon Opens Online Pharmacy, Shaking Up Another Industry
Amazon will begin offering commonly prescribed medications Tuesday in the U.S., including creams, pills, as well as medications that need to stay refrigerated, like insulin. Shoppers have to set up a profile on Amazon’s website and have their doctors send prescriptions there. The company said it won’t ship medications that can be abused, including many opioids. Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don’t have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount. They can also get discounts at 50,000 physical pharmacies around the country, inside Costco, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and other stores. (Pisani, 11/17)

Bloomberg: Amazon Expands Push Into Health Care With Online Pharmacy
Amazon’s new offering comes more than two years after its $753 million acquisition of PillPack, an online pharmacy known for organizing prescriptions into packets. This expansion puts the Seattle-based e-commerce company into more direct competition with pharmacy giants CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., the two largest chains in the U.S. (LaVito and Day, 11/17)

Vox: Amazon Is Now Selling Prescription Drugs And Prime Members Get Two-Day Delivery
When Amazon spent $750 million to acquire the online pharmacy PillPack in 2018, it was clear the tech giant had interest in the prescription drug market. Now we know how serious it was. Amazon will start selling prescription medications on its main Amazon website and app on Tuesday, and will offer two-day delivery of these medications to Prime members for no extra fee. Prime members without prescription drug coverage, or with coverage that isn’t great, can also save up to 80% on generic and 40% on brand name drugs when paying out of pocket without insurance. Prices with, and without insurance, can be compared at checkout. (Del Rey, 11/17)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

AP: US Appeals Court Weighs Law On Supervised Injection Sites
A federal appeals court became the latest panel to wrestle with the nation’s opioid epidemic as judges reviewed a long-debated plan Monday to open a medically supervised injection site in Philadelphia. U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, opposes the idea and hopes to overturn the approval of a federal judge who heard the case last year. (Dale, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Berkshire Hathaway Invests In Drugmakers Seeking Covid-19 Vaccine 
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is betting on some of the largest firms chasing a Covid-19 vaccine. The Omaha, Neb., conglomerate recently made new investments in large pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co., Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and AbbVie Inc., investing between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion in each, according to public filings. Berkshire also made a new, smaller investment in Pfizer Inc. of $136 million. (Telesca and Eisen, 11/16)

KHN: Patients Struggle To Find Prescription Opioids After NY Tax Drives Out Suppliers
Mike Angevine lives in constant pain. For a decade the 37-year-old has relied on opioids to manage his chronic pancreatitis, a disease with no known cure. But in January, Angevine’s pharmacy on Long Island ran out of oxymorphone and he couldn’t find it at other drugstores. He fell into withdrawal and had to be hospitalized. (Gliadkovskaya, 11/17)

Crain's Cleveland Business: Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth And University Hospitals Plead For Vigilance In 'sobering' Chapter Of Pandemic
More than 1,000 health care workers are out sick from Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth and University Hospitals, whose leaders are pleading for the public's vigilance as COVID-19 cases explode. If cases and hospitalizations continue to rise at the alarming rate seen this month, hospitals will be overwhelmed, said Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic. Ohio, much like the country, has continued to shatter records for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. (Coutre, 11/16)

Crain's New York Business: As Demand For Covid Testing Soars, Urgent-Care Centers Cement Their Role
As COVID spikes in hot spots in New York state, city dwellers and surrounding areas are seeking out testing at unprecedented levels. Although it's promising that people are heeding public health experts' advice that widespread testing is critical to controlling new infections, rapidly rising requests and positivity rates are alarming to providers. (Henderson, 11/16)

Also —

North Carolina Health News: School Health Centers Fill Provider Vacuum 
Growing up in a small town in central Wisconsin, many of Steve North’s relatives and friends assumed he would follow his father into medicine but North had other ideas. He earned a liberal arts degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993 but, instead of applying for medical school, he applied for Teach for America. (Newsome, 11/17)

Modern Healthcare: Premier, Member Hospitals And DeRoyal Team Up To Boost Domestic Gown Production
Premier and 34 of its health system partners are teaming up with DeRoyal Industries to domestically source and produce isolation gowns, the organizations announced Monday. The joint venture will produce isolations gowns in an existing facility outside of Knoxville, Tenn., and primarily source raw materials from U.S.-based manufacturers, with some backup from Mexican and South American suppliers. The health systems made multi-year commitments to purchase annual allotments from the joint venture, which expects to distribute its first batch in mid-2021. (Kacik, 11/16)

Modern Healthcare: For-Profit Hospital Charges Attacked By Nurses Union Report
All but five of the100 hospitals with the highest price markups in 2018 were for-profit hospitals, and 53 of them were owned by HCA Healthcare, according to a prominent nurses union. The report released Monday, the latest in a periodic analysis by the registered nurses' union National Nurses United, used hospitals' Medicare cost reports to calculate the ratio between hospitals' charges and the cost of providing care, or their charge-to-cost ratios. The average ratio, it found, more than doubled between 1999 and 2018: from 200% to 417%. (Bannow, 11/16)

Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois Unveils Plan To Transform Health Care Delivery
Illinois has unveiled a plan to make healthcare delivery in the state more equitable. The proposal from the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services comes six months after lawmakers approved revisions to the state’s hospital assessment program but declined to allocate a pool of $150 million to help facilities across the state transform in an evolving industry. The decision to hold the funds was partly due to some elected officials expressing concern about the now-dead merger of four South Side hospitals, which had banked on a significant portion of the pot. (Goldberg, 11/16)

Modern Healthcare: AMA Calls Racism A 'Public Health Threat'
The American Medical Association Monday voted to recognize systemic racism and interpersonal bias by healthcare workers as a "serious" threat to public health that hinders efforts to achieve health equity and reduce disparities among minority populations. The resolution, approved during a special meeting of the AMA House of Delegates, calls for the organization to acknowledge the role both historic and current "racist medical practices" have played in harming marginalized communities and for the group to develop a set of best practices to help stakeholders to address the effects of racism on patients and providers. (Ross Johnson, 11/16)

KHN: What Doctors Aren’t Always Taught: How To Spot Racism In Health Care 
Betial Asmerom, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California-San Diego, didn’t have the slightest interest in becoming a doctor when she was growing up. As an adolescent, she helped her parents — immigrants from Eritrea who spoke little English — navigate the health care system in Oakland, California. She saw physicians who were disrespectful to her family and uncaring about treatment for her mother’s cirrhosis, hypertension and diabetes. (Lawrence, 11/17)

More health care personnel news —

CIDRAP: Fund To Aid Families Of Health Workers Killed By COVID-19 
The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation (SPMF) today announced the creation of the Frontline Families Fund and launch of the frontlinefamilies.org website in partnership with epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and newly appointed member of President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus task force. The Frontline Families Fund is designed to support the families of nearly 1,400 US frontline healthcare workers who have lost their lives to COVID-19. (Kuebelbeck Paulsen, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Some Places Were Short On Nurses Before The Virus. The Pandemic Is Making It Much Worse.
In Bismarck, N.D., where Leslie McKamey is a nurse in the emergency department at CHI St. Alexius Health, caregivers have been so overwhelmed by covid-19 patients in the past few weeks that ambulances are sometimes diverted to the other major hospital in town. Until that hospital, Sanford Medical Center, fills up as well. Then there is no choice but to treat the flood of sick people who have made the state the worst coronavirus hot spot in this unprecedented surge of the pandemic. (Bernstein, 11/16)

The Washington Post: FBI: Hate-Crime Killings Reached A Record In 2019
Hate-crime killings reached a record last year in the United States, due in large part to the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that officials say was motivated by anti-immigrant bias, according to figures released Monday by the FBI. There were 51 hate-crime killings in 2019, the highest number since the FBI began tabulating such figures in the early 1990s. (Barrett, 11/6)

The New York Times: Hate Crimes In U.S. Rose To Highest Level In More Than A Decade In 2019 
Hate crimes in the United States rose to their highest level in more than a decade last year, while more murders motivated by hate were recorded than ever before, the F.B.I. said on Monday. The sharp rise in homicides driven by hatred — there were 51 last year, according to the F.B.I. — was attributed in large part to the mass shooting in El Paso in August 2019. In that shooting, the authorities say a 21-year-old gunman motivated by hatred toward Latinos stormed a Walmart and killed 23 people and injured many more. (Arango, 11/16)

In other news related to mental health —

AP: Academics, Video Game Makers Team Up In Rare Collaboration
A study by Oxford University researchers on how playing video games affects mental health used data from video game makers, marking what the authors say is a rare collaboration between academics and the game industry. Lack of transparency from game makers has long been an issue for scientists hoping to better understand player behaviors. (Chan, 11/17)

The New York Times: ‘How Did We Not Know?’ Gun Owners Confront A Suicide Epidemic 
Gun violence kills about 40,000 Americans each year, but while public attention has focused on mass shootings, murders and accidental gun deaths, these account for little more than one-third of the nation’s firearms fatalities. The majority of gun deaths are suicides — and just over half of suicides involve guns. According to national health statistics, 24,432 Americans used guns to kill themselves in 2018, up from 19,392 in 2010. (Rabin, 11/17)

KHN: Facebook Live: Helping COVID’s Secondary Victims: Grieving Families And Friends
Judith Graham, author of KHN’s Navigating Aging column, hosted a discussion on these unprecedented losses and dealing with the bereavement on Facebook Live on Monday. She was joined by Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals. (11/16)

NPR: Over 1 Million Children Tested Positive For Coronavirus In The United States
Children now make up at least 1 in 11 of all reported U.S. coronavirus cases. That's according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association. On Monday, the AAP said more than 1 million children have tested positive for the coronavirus in the United States. (Oxner, 11/16)

CNN: Covid-19 In US: Over 1 Million Children Have Been Diagnosed, Pediatricians Say 
Over a million children under 18 have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association said Monday. "As of Nov. 12, a total of 1,039,464 children have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. In the one-week period ending Nov. 12, there were 111,946 new cases in children, which is substantially larger than any previous week in the pandemic," the groups said in a joint statement. (Fox and LaMotte, 11/16)

In related news —

Boston Globe: Are Young People To Blame For Recent COVID-19 Surges? Experts Say The Numbers Are Not Conclusive
As COVID-19 once again grips the Northeast and the country, the message to twenty-somethings in particular has been consistent and clear: Get serious. Stop partying. You are endangering your communities. Across the country and the world, young adults are making up an ever-increasing share of known COVID-19 cases, and public officials are not letting the trend go unnoticed. (Moore, 11/16)

Clarion-Ledger: Officials: New COVID-19 Cases Shifting Toward Younger Mississippians; Vaccines On The Way
As newly reported cases continue to remain at high levels, officials said Monday that the demographics of those most affected is starting to shift toward younger people. During a news conference at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's School of Medicine, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Clinical Affairs Alan Jones said people in their 20s and 30s are starting to make up a large part of new cases, though specific data wasn't provided. (Rowe, 11/17)

KHN: Public Health Programs See Surge In Students Amid Pandemic 
As the novel coronavirus emerged in the news in January, Sarah Keeley was working as a medical scribe and considering what to do with her biology degree. By February, as the disease crept across the U.S., Keeley said she found her calling: a career in public health. “This is something that’s going to be necessary,” Keeley remembered thinking. “This is something I can do. This is something I’m interested in.” (Smith and Young, 11/17)

USA Today: SeaDream Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases Disembarks Passengers
Passengers on the Caribbean cruise that ended its voyage early after multiple passengers tested positive for COVID-19 were allowed to disembark in Barbados over the weekend. Sue Bryant, who lives in the U.K. and writes for Cruise Critic and was aboard the SeaDream Yacht Club's SeaDream I cruise ship, reported that on Saturday, "the Barbados government gave the go ahead for those of us who tested negative to fly home." (Thompson, 11/16)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Thousands Volunteer For CDC-Ordered ‘Test’ Cruises 
Tens of thousands of cruise enthusiasts have offered to volunteer for “test voyages” that the cruise lines have been ordered to run before they’ll be allowed to resume operations out of United States ports. And while cruise lines are so far keeping mum about what the actual test cruises will entail, requirements by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggest they’re not intended to be fun days at sea. (Hurtibise, 11/6)

In sports news —

The Wall Street Journal: NCAA Will Stage All Of 2021 March Madness In Indianapolis ‘Bubble’ 
The coronavirus pandemic scrapped March Madness from the calendar in 2020. With Covid-19 infections surging to all-time highs, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Monday that the 2021 edition of its lucrative men’s basketball tournament will be played in a sequestered bubble at a handful of sites around Indianapolis. March Madness is usually a sprawling national affair, with 68 teams bouncing among 14 host cities en route to playing 67 games over a three-week span. But this kind of rapid-fire competition and constant travel isn’t compatible with stay-at-home orders or 14-day quarantine periods recommended by public health officials to mitigate viral spread of the coronavirus. (Higgins, 11/16)

AP: Tennis Hub To Be Centered In Melbourne For Australian Open
The Australian Open and all the regular regional leadup tournaments are set to be staged in Melbourne in January as organizers aim to minimize health risks for players in the coronavirus pandemic. Tennis Australia plans to transfer tournaments usually held in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart to Melbourne, where a quarantine and practice and playing hub will be set up. (11/17)

The Washington Post: Washington Football Team Won’t Allow Fans At Next Game Amid Rise In Coronavirus Cases 
The Washington Football Team will not allow any fans to attend Sunday’s game at FedEx Field because of a recent surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. (Jhabvala, 11/16)

Also —

USA Today: LSU Ignored Law In Handling Complaints Against Guice, Others
For more than a year, people at the highest levels of the Louisiana State University athletic department fielded complaints about their prized running back, Derrius Guice. Early in the spring 2016 semester, a member of the LSU diving team told her coach and an athletic department administrator that Guice raped her friend after she’d passed out drunk at a party. (Jacoby, Armour and Luther, 11/16)

CNN: University Of California Reaches A $73M Settlement Against Former Gynecologist Accused Of Sexual Misconduct 
The University of California system has reached a $73 million settlement Monday with alleged victims of sexual abuse by a former obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. James Heaps. Heaps had worked part-time as a gynecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles's (UCLA) student health center from about 1983 to 2010, and was hired by UCLA Health in 2014. He was arrested in June 2019 and charged with sexual battery of two former patients in 2017 and 2018, to which he pleaded not guilty. (Holcombe and Moon, 11/17)

AP: Panel Recommends Higher Purchase Limits For Medical Cannabis
A panel of doctors and other health care professionals on Monday recommended increasing the amount of marijuana that can be purchased by participants in New Mexico’s medical cannabis program. But the debate over whether the state has an adequate supply has yet to be settled. The state medical cannabis advisory board voted in favor of nearly doubling the patient purchase limit to 15 ounces over 90 days after hearing from supporters that New Mexico has trailed other states when it comes to the accessibility of medical marijuana. Producers and patients noted that the higher limit would at least put New Mexico on par with Nevada and Arizona but that many other states allow for patients to buy significantly more. (Montoya Bryan, 11/16)

AP: Americans Across Party Lines, Regions Embrace Marijuana
Bill Stocker could be considered the archetype of a conservative voter: He’s a retired Marine and former police officer who voted for President Donald Trump. But he’s also among the majority of South Dakota voters who broadly legalized marijuana this month. Stocker, 61, said enforcing marijuana laws gets in the way of pursuing other drug crimes and called warnings about the ills of marijuana “a bunch of baloney” that even people in a Republican stronghold like South Dakota no longer believe. (Hanson, 11/16)

Also —

CNN: Seasonal Affective Disorder: How To Get Through The Pandemic's Winter Months 
With winter on the horizon, it's getting darker earlier each day, and temperatures are slipping. Seasonal affective disorder could hit particularly hard this year, especially after months of social distancing and limited contact with family or large groups. "Our emotional winter is coming," said Jaime Blandino, a clinical psychologist and cofounder of Thrive Center for Psychological Health in Decatur, Georgia. (Prior, 11/16)

Detroit Free Press: Do Masks Really Work Against COVID-19? Beaumont Study Says Yes
Wearing a mask protects people from contracting the novel coronavirus, according to a new study by the Beaumont Research Institute of employees, which was published earlier this month in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study showed that of the 20,614 Beaumont health care workers who took part in the research, 1,818 — or 8.8% — had developed SARS-CoV-2 antibodies on serology blood tests. (Jordan Shamus, 11/16)

And families weigh how to handle Thanksgiving —

The Atlantic: Cancel Thanksgiving: How To Safely Celebrate In A Pandemic
In this precarious moment, many Americans are planning to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday by traveling and having dinner with 10 or more people. Pandemic models generally account for such behavior in the early stages of an outbreak, before people understand the nature of a virus, but not during the heart of the crisis. If this were an outbreak movie, and the characters were congregating in multigenerational units indoors to have boisterous conversations over lengthy meals, you’d probably be yelling at your screen. (Hamblin, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Why We Are Canceling Our Family Thanksgiving Trip This Year
I finally gave up on our trip when I realized that gathering 16 people from four different states in the middle of a pandemic, in addition to risking lives, would risk destroying that Thanksgiving feeling I love: that feeling of sharing an experience with all of America. In 2020, our nearly universal shared experience is loss. I don’t want to try to exempt myself from that. Observing Thanksgiving properly in America this year means giving up the family and friends you want to see and hug and serve. It means giving up what you always do. This year, we give up our always for the sake of everyone so that next year we might once again have both. If we do, I will be more thankful than ever. (Kate Cohen, 11/16)

CNN: Thanksgiving And Covid-19: A Negative Test Result Doesn't Mean It's Safe To Visit Family 
If you think a negative test result means you don't have coronavirus, you could be wrong. It can take days before a new infection shows up on a Covid-19 test. "We know that the incubation period for Covid-19 is up to 14 days. And before that, you can be testing negative, and have no symptoms," emergency medicine physician Dr. Leana Wen said. (Yan, 11/16)

Modern Healthcare: COVID Genome Study Reveals Dominant Strain
A study of the SARS-CoV-2 genome has found that the virus can be classified into six major types, which are characterized by 14 signature single nucleotide variations, and that one type in particular has evolved into the dominant, disease-causing strain. In a study published on Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan said they used the complete sequences of 1,932 SARS-CoV-2 genomes to perform various clustering analyses, which consistently identified six types of the virus. They then identified 13 signature variations in the form of SNVs in protein-coding regions and one SNV in the 5' untranslated region (UTR), and then validated the six types and their underlying signatures in two subsequent analyses of 6,228 and 38,248 batches of SARS-CoV-2 genomes. (11/16)

CIDRAP: Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Survival Fell 17% Amid COVID-19 
The outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) were poorer in the United States during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic than before—even in counties with low case-fatality rates, according to a study published Nov 14 in JAMA Cardiology. (van Beusekom, 11/16)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 3-Month Follow-Up Shows Residual Lung Abnormalities
A 3-month follow-up study of 142 COVID-19 survivors in China showed that 85.9% of patients had abnormalities on computed tomography (CT) chest scans and 52 (36.6%) had chronic and fibrotic changes. According to the study, published Nov 14 in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, higher CT scores (2.00 vs 0.00) and lower ground-glass opacity (GGO) absorption levels seemed to be associated with more severe COVID-19. (11/16)

In Alzheimer's news —

The Wall Street Journal: Alzheimer’s Research Looks At Hot Spots Across The U.S. 
Where you live matters in terms of Alzheimer’s disease risk. Scientists and medical researchers know that advanced age and certain changes in the brain increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Now they are looking at what role location might play. (Ansberry, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Fairfax Delays In-Person Instruction As Virginia Teachers’ Groups Ask Northam To Return State To All-Virtual School 
Virginia’s largest school system is pausing plans to return thousands of children to classrooms — an announcement that came the same day Northern Virginia teachers’ unions urged Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to switch the state to online-only learning. Fairfax County Public Schools, which serves 186,000 students, was supposed to send 6,800 pre-kindergartners, kindergartners and special education students back into school buildings on Tuesday. They would have joined the roughly 8,000 young children, special education students, and career and technical students who have already returned to classrooms. (Natanson, 11/16)

In news from New York, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio —

The Washington Post: Virus Cancels ‘Wreaths Across America’ At Arlington, Cemetery Says
Arlington National Cemetery said Monday that it is canceling the annual “Wreaths Across America” event this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The cemetery said it acted with regret after deciding it could not put sufficient controls into effect to mitigate the expected risks of so large an event under current and expected conditions. (Weil, 11/17)

Reuters: As Pandemic Hits Pockets, New Yorkers Line Up For Free Thanksgiving Turkey
As the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday approaches, New Yorkers struggling to serve up a festive meal lined up with empty shopping carts for help from a hunger-relief organization. Food Bank For New York City gave out 500 turkeys, canned goods and produce to hundreds of families in the neighborhood of Harlem on Monday. Many had never imagined needing handouts to survive. (Chen, 11/16)

North Carolina Health News: More Farmworker Women Bring Kids To Work
Throughout most days this autumn, Olga would wake up early and head to a pumpkin patch in Swain County, in the westernmost region of North Carolina. She’d hoist the 10-to-20-pound decorative gourds, destined for Halloween carvings and carefully crafted social media photoshoots, into nearby bins. Her 9-year-old daughter Aracely would sit along the side of the patch, attempting to complete schoolwork beside her. (Critchfield, 11/16)

Cincinnati Enquirer: COVID-19 In Cincinnati: 'There's An Enormous Amount Of Danger,' Mayor John Cranley Warns
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley on Monday warned that residents face enormous danger as the wait for a COVID-19 vaccine continues. He likened it to the lag between D-Day in 1944 and the official end of World War II, which came the following year. (Brookbank and Hunt, 11/16)

In news from Texas, Washington state and Cherokee Nation —

The Washington Post: Inmates Earning $2 An Hour Are Handling An Overflow Of Bodies At El Paso’s County Morgue
Overwhelmed by coronavirus-related deaths, Texas’s El Paso County is relying on low-security inmates to help manage the overflow of bodies. Footage captured by local news outlets over the weekend showed inmates in striped jumpsuits and protective gear wheeling deceased patients to mobile morgues that are used to temporarily store bodies when funeral homes and medical examiners’ offices run out of space, and have become a grim symbol of the pandemic’s deadly toll. (11/17)

AP: Officials: 300 Attend Wedding Leading To Virus Outbreak
Health officials are asking more than 300 attendees of a wedding near Ritzville, Washington on Nov. 7 to get tested for COVID-19 after several people tested positive. The Grant County Health District said in a news release Monday that anyone who attended the wedding is being asked to quarantine through Nov. 21. (11/17)

Stat: How The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Been Curtailed In Cherokee Nation 
While the United States flounders in its response to the coronavirus, another nation — one within our own borders — is faring much better. With a mask mandate in place since spring, free drive-through testing, hospitals well-stocked with PPE, and a small army of public health officers fully supported by their chief, the Cherokee Nation has been able to curtail its Covid-19 case and death rates even as those numbers surge in surrounding Oklahoma, where the White House coronavirus task force says spread is unyielding. (McFarling, 11/17)

CNN: Russia Covid Crisis: Packed Morgues And Excess Deaths Tell A Darker Story Than Official Numbers Suggest 
The limbs of a lifeless body hang off a stretcher in a hospital ward as coronavirus patients battle for their lives just a few feet away. An elderly woman gasps for breath, her desperate panting a grim soundtrack to one of many disturbing cell-phone videos emerging from hospitals across Russia. "This is how our nights look: horrifying," says a male voice narrating the footage, given to CNN by a prominent opposition-linked Russian doctors' union, "Doctors' Alliance," which says it was recorded in mid-October by a hospital staff member in Ulyanovsk, a city around 500 miles east of Moscow. This grisly video is just one of several obtained by CNN that reveal appalling conditions inside overcrowded facilities. (Chance, Ullah and Ilyushina, 11/17)

AP: Greece: Bishop's Death Revives Debate On Communion Safety
A senior clergyman in Greece’s Orthodox Church was buried Monday after dying of COVID-19, reviving a debate over the safety of receiving communion before the Christmas season. Metropolitan Bishop Ioannis of Lagadas, 62, was an outspoken advocate of maintaining communion ceremonies — at which worshippers are given bread and wine with a shared spoon — during the pandemic, arguing that there was no risk of transmission. His stance was backed by other church officials. (Kantouris and Gatopoulos, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Boris Johnson, In Self-Quarantine, Says He’s ‘Bursting With Antibodies’
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted that he was "fit as a butcher's dog" and "bursting with antibodies" as he began two weeks of self-quarantine after having close contact with a lawmaker who contracted the coronavirus. (Adam and Booth, 11/6)

AP: Internal Email Reveals 65 Virus Cases Among WHO Geneva Staff
The World Health Organization has recorded 65 cases of the coronavirus among staff based at its headquarters, including five people who worked on the premises and were in contact with one another, an internal email obtained by The Associated Press shows. The U.N. health agency said it is investigating how and where the five people became infected — and that it has not determined whether transmission happened at its offices. WHO’s confirmation Monday of the figures in the email was the first time it has publicly provided such a count. (Cheng and Keaten, 11/17)

The New York Times: Schools Should Be The Last Things We Close, Not The First
As the surge of coronavirus infections in the United States becomes undeniable, many leaders throughout the country are reacting by calling for closures. Bizarrely, they almost always seem to focus on schools first. That’s exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. (Aaron E. Carroll, 11/17)

Los Angeles Times: Getting Kids In Schools A Priority
Tomorrow, if you were so inclined, you could take your family and walk into the Glendale Galleria without so much as a temperature check, and then spend hours browsing alongside hundreds of shoppers from all parts of Los Angeles. What you cannot do is drop your children off at their neighborhood schools for a day of instruction in classrooms where access would be carefully controlled, students and desks carefully spaced apart, all rooms deep-cleaned daily and every student, teacher and staff member tested regularly for coronavirus. Eight months into a pandemic that’s likely to stretch well into next year, the level of COVID-19 is rising, and our priorities are misplaced. (Justin Beutner, 11/17)

Boston Globe: Pooled COVID-19 Testing Can Help Keep Kids In School
Massachusetts finds itself in a second COVID-19 spike. New daily case numbers have ticked above 2,000 for the first time in six months. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have risen 46 percent since Sept. 23. The mask mandate and limitations on gathering sizes ordered by Governor Baker could soon be followed by rolling back the state’s reopening phases. We are in the early days of what we have been warned will be a long winter of trying to keep this virus in check, plunging us into a renewed and painful discussion about which businesses and job activities are truly essential and how we keep workers and patrons safe. Notably, the list of essential activities identified in the spring neglected to include one critical area that should be added to the list: schools. (Joseph Curtatone, 11/17)

CNN: Keep Schools Open -- And Shut Down Almost Everything Else 
Last Monday night we got the call we've been dreading. The assistant principal told me over the phone that our son, a 13-year-old autistic boy with Down syndrome, had been exposed to Covid-19 the previous week by "someone who works closely with him" in his special education classroom. My wife soon developed symptoms and tested positive, my son's been running a low fever all week and I've had a weird dry cough. Covid has come to our home. (David M. Perry, 11/16)

The New York Times: How To Deal With People Who Ignore Covid Safety
Covid-19 cases are up around the country, even in places that had low rates over the summer. In response, many states have increased restrictions and emphasized the need to prevent transmission. People are not listening. Families continue to make Thanksgiving plans. Large gatherings are continuing despite the warnings. This is happening outside of the United States, as well. There’s a phrase for this: “pandemic fatigue.” People are tired of changing their behavior because of the coronavirus. None of this should be surprising. People are often reluctant to do things they might find unpleasant to improve their health. (Emily Oster, 11/17)

Louisville Courier Journal: Thanksgiving 2020: Canada's Experience With COVID-19 Is A Warning
A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in Toronto reported what happened when one person attended a gathering of 12 relatives despite being symptomatic. Ten family members — including three infants — subsequently tested positive. This led to people from other households getting infected, and the number of people facing quarantine or isolation continues to grow as the cluster expands. In Ontario, record-high daily numbers of cases have led to new restrictions, like bans on indoor dining. Canada has prioritized keeping schools open as part of its response, but a growing number of students have been shifted into distance learning strategies. Hospitals are filling up, with patients being seen in outdoor tents in many locations. (Sarabeth Harlage, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump, Biden And Covid Vaccines
The Trump FDA’s Covid innovation has been providing real-time feedback and clear guidance to drug and vaccine makers about its expectations. This has helped therapies and vaccines advance and cut Phase 3 trials from three years to a few months. These reforms are one of the success stories of the federal Covid response. But there’s a serious risk that the Biden team will default to their instincts and reimpose a culture of bureaucratic control that restricts new medical advances. (11/16)

The New York Times: Does Remdesivir Actually Work Against Covid-19? 
When the Food and Drug Administration approves a new treatment or vaccine, as doctors we are assured that rigorous studies have proven it to be safe and effective. But the F.D.A.’s haphazard issuance of emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 treatments like hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma, whose potential benefits have not yet been backed up by data, has undermined this trust. Early in the pandemic, the agency awarded an emergency use authorization for the antiviral drug remdesivir, based on evidence suggesting that it may be effective. Then last month, despite conflicting evidence, the F.D.A. prematurely granted its first full approval for Covid-19 treatment to remdesivir, now marketed as Veklury. (Ravi Gupta and Reshma Ramachandran, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Scott Atlas's Michigan Lockdown Comments Will Sicken People. Fire Him.
Scott Atlas is a neuroradiologist, not an infectious disease expert, nor an epidemiologist. As President Trump’s leading adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, he continues to make statements that will cause more illness and death. He ought to be fired immediately. ...Dr. Atlas has frequently belittled lockdowns and pandemic restrictions, saying they have deleterious knock-on effects and are unnecessary, and that only the “vulnerable” need protection. Of the Michigan restrictions, he wrote on Twitter: “The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp.” So, while the governor was desperately trying to save lives by slowing the virus transmission, Dr. Atlas was urging people to disobey and revolt. (11/16)

USA Today: As COVID-19 Surge Chases America Indoors, Pass Another Relief Now
Like it or not, states are going to impose more shutdowns and social distancing orders as COVID-19 numbers rise and as people move indoors. Also, like it or not, Dec. 31 looms as the witching hour when a number of benefits provided in the CARES Act, the coronavirus relief measure passed in March, expire. Among the lapsing provisions are protections against homeowner and renter evictions, increases in the dollar amount and duration of unemployment benefits, and provisions that make these benefits more available to freelancers, small businesses, gig workers and others who would not normally qualify.  (11/16)

USA Today: More Coronavirus Aid Would Push America Deeper Into Debt
The economic plunge this year was dramatic, and so was the legislative response that pushed up federal debt by $2.6 trillion over a decade. That is enough federal aid. Every dollar of borrowing is a cost imposed on future taxpayers .By next year, federal debt held by the public will hit $22 trillion and match the record high in World War II as a share of gross domestic product. (Chris Edwards, 11/16)

CNN: How Biden Can Fight Covid-19 On A Global Scale
If there's anything we've learned this year, it's that infectious diseases transcend borders. Covid-19 spread at an astounding speed, and the death of more than 1.3 million people around the world underscores the need for greater international collaboration and information-sharing to prevent and control future viral outbreaks. (Michael J. Dowling, 11/16)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Curfews? Better Than Returning To Lockdown
Are curfews coming to California? They could be as state and local leaders look for ways to slow the precipitously rising number of coronavirus infections and avoid the death that inevitably follows. If curfews can help avoid a return to the sweeping lockdowns of last spring, Californians should welcome them. (11/17)

Stat: Decriminalization Could Help Ease The Nation’s Drug Epidemic 
Among the 120 statewide ballot measures before voters in the 2020 election, drug decriminalization measures passed in six states. In Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, voters approved legalizing marijuana use for adults, while Mississippi voters approved the use of medical marijuana. But Oregon became the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. (Kevin Doyle, 11/17)

The Hill: We Must Decriminalize Mental Illness To Save Lives 
At a time when insurmountable divisions rive our nation, there are still opportunities to find common ground. One example is the need to reduce our over-reliance on law enforcement to provide desperately needed mental health care. (Patrick Kennedy and John Snook, 11/16)