NPR: 'Maybe I'm Immune': Trump Returns To White House, Removes Mask Despite Infection
President Trump, who spent the weekend in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, made a theatrical return to the White House Monday evening, disembarking Marine One and walking the staircase to the South Portico entrance, where he turned to face the cameras, removed his mask and gave his signature two thumbs up. Shortly before, a masked Trump had emerged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was receiving treatment, pumping his fist and giving a thumbs up as he ignored questions from reporters. (Neuman, 10/6)

The New York Times: ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of Covid,’ Trump Says, Undermining Public Health Messages 
Public health experts had hoped that President Trump, chastened by his own infection with the coronavirus and the cases that have erupted among his staff, would act decisively to persuade his supporters that wearing masks and social distancing were essential to protecting themselves and their loved ones. But instead, tweeting on Monday from the military hospital where he has been receiving state-of-the-art treatment for Covid-19, the president yet again downplayed the deadly threat of the virus. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote. “Don’t let it dominate your life.” (Kolata and Rabin, 10/5)

Politico: Trump Returns To White House Despite Mysteries Around His Health 
Trump left Walter Reed Medical Center by helicopter on Monday evening, with Marine One touching down on the White House South Lawn about 15 minutes later. He walked out of Walter Reed under his own power, but did not take questions from reporters gathered outside. Upon his return, Trump walked up the stairs to the White House wearing a white mask before taking it off on the balcony, standing for a few moments for a photo op before walking in without wearing the mask. Experts say that someone in Trump‘s progression of the virus is still likely contagious, and multiple people could be seen waiting for him on the other side of the entrance. (Oprysko and Forgey, 10/5)

USA Today: 'Don't Be Afraid Of It:' Donald Trump Talks COVID-19 On Video After Return To White House
The president painted an optimistic view of his condition, saying that "now I'm better, and maybe I'm immune, I don't know." Trump delivered the remarks, maskless, from the White House South Portico shortly after he arrived from Walter Reed Medical Center. White House physician Sean Conley told reporters earlier on Monday that Trump would continue his treatment regimen at the White House, where he will receive "24/7 world class medical care." The president will continue taking his five-day course of remdesivir, an antiviral drug, as well as the steroid dexamethasone. (Jackson, Subramanian and Weise, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: President Trump Still Faces Risk As He Convalesces At White House 
President Trump has left the hospital to return to the White House, but he will still require close monitoring and could be at risk of worsening symptoms in the coming days, doctors said. ... Doctors treating the president said Monday that Mr. Trump didn’t have a fever and his oxygen levels were normal, an important indicator for patients with Covid-19. At least one of the medications the president is taking can bring down fever, so it is not clear if his temperature is truly back to normal, according to doctors not involved in his care. Mr. Trump received supplemental oxygen on Friday and Saturday when his blood oxygen level dropped. (Wilde Mathews and Hernandez, 10/5)

NPR: Back At White House, Trump Still Faces Serious Health Risks 
At Monday's press briefing, though largely optimistic about the president's condition, his physician, Sean Conley, said he "may not be out of the woods yet." "I would also agree with the medical team that just because he's going home, he's not completely out of the woods," says Dr. Faisal Masud, medical director of critical care at Houston Methodist Hospital. "He has to demonstrate continuous success and no lung issue because, you know, some of these patients have long-term lung impact." (Chatterjee, 10/5)

The Hill: Trump's Physician Declines To Provide Key Information On His Health 
White House physician Sean Conley on Monday ducked repeated questions from reporters about President Trump's health and the timeline of his COVID-19 infection, even as he insisted the president is well enough to leave the hospital and return to the White House. Conley, who has come under scrutiny for offering conflicting statements about the president's health in recent days, briefed reporters hours before Trump is expected to depart Walter Reed hospital, where he’s been treated for the virus for three days. (Samuels, 10/5)

Politico: What We Know — And Still Don't Know — About Trump's Illness
President Donald Trump's medical team on Monday afternoon gave a mixed picture of his condition hours before they prepared to send him back to the White House, continuing to leave key questions about his health unanswered.... [They] still refused to answer questions that could have indicated the severity of Trump’s illness, including whether the president's lung scans had revealed damage or pneumonia. They also dodged questions about the date of Trump’s last negative coronavirus test — information that could help determine who he may have exposed to the virus before his diagnosis — and said they didn’t have information on his viral load, which could indicate his level of contagiousness. (10/5)

The New York Times: Charting A Covid-19 Immune Response 
Amid a flurry of press conferences delivering upbeat news, President Trump’s doctors have administered an array of experimental therapies that are typically reserved for the most severe cases of Covid-19. Outside observers were left to puzzle through conflicting messages to determine the seriousness of his condition and how it might inform his treatment plan. Though Mr. Trump left Walter Reed medical center on Monday night to continue his recovery in the White House, the future of his health status is unclear. Physicians have warned that the president remains at a precarious point in his disease course. The coronavirus can be a tricky adversary — and for many people whose cases of Covid-19 are severe, the greatest threat to survival might not be the pathogen itself, but the deadly forces that the body marshals to fight it. (Wu and Corum, 10/5)

The New York Times: Trump’s ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ Comments Outrage Public Health Experts
The president’s comments drew outrage from scientists, ethicists and doctors, as well as some people whose relatives and friends were among the more than 210,000 people who have died in the United States. “I am struggling for words — this is crazy,” said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is just utterly irresponsible.” Fiana Garza Tulip, 40, who lives in Brooklyn and lost her mother to the virus, wrote in a text message that she was “reeling” after reading Mr. Trump’s tweet, which she described as a “slap in the face” and a “painful reminder that our president is unfit for office and that he does not care about human life.” (Kolata and Caryn Rabin, 10/5)

USA Today: 'Reckless To A Shocking Degree': Reaction To Trump Saying Not To 'Be Afraid Of Covid' As US Passes 210,000 Deaths
Celebrities, political pundits, and critics responded to President Donald Trump's tweet to not "be afraid of Covid", calling the message "preposterous" and "dangerous" for the leader of a nation that has surpassed 210,000 deaths to spread. (Behrmann, 10/5)

Boston Globe: ‘I Am Enraged That He Is Minimizing The Pandemic’ — Doctors Rip Trump For Planned Hospital Exit
Reaction from some medical experts was swift - and sharply critical - after President Trump tweeted Monday that he would leave Walter Reed in a matter of hours despite his COVID-19 diagnosis. ...That didn’t sit well with Dr. Dara Kass, an associate clinical professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University. (Andersen, 10/5)

AP: 'An Embarrassment': Trump Tweet Angers Pandemic Survivors
Dizzy with a soaring fever and unable to breathe, Scott Sedlacek had one thing going for him: He was among the first people to be treated for COVID-19 at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center, and the doctors and nurses were able to give him plenty of attention.The 64-year-old recovered after being treated with a bronchial nebulizer in March, but the ensuing months have done little to dull the trauma of his illness. Hearing of President Donald Trump’s advice by Tweet and video on Monday not to fear the disease — as well as the president’s insistence on riding in a motorcade outside Walter Reed Medical Center and returning to the White House while still infectious — enraged him. “I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” Sedlacek said. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment.” (Johnson and Prengaman, 10/6)

In other reaction —

The Hill: Cornyn: Trump 'Let His Guard Down' On Coronavirus 
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday that President Trump “let his guard down” on the coronavirus, in some of the toughest comments yet from a GOP lawmaker about the president’s handling of the virus after Trump announced his positive test late Thursday night. “I think he let his guard down, and I think in his desire to try to demonstrate that we are somehow coming out of this and that the danger is not still with us — I think he got out over his skis and frankly, I think it’s a lesson to all of us that we need to exercise self discipline,” Cornyn told the Houston Chronicle editorial board. (Sullivan, 10/5)

Politico: Trump Allies Turn Covid Diagnosis Into A Message Of Strength 
President Donald Trump’s carefully crafted image of power and control took brutal blows over the past few days, as he and dozens of his closest confidants tested positive for the coronavirus. ... The challenge now for team Trump: How to spin the situation into a positive, less than a month from Election Day. His allies have tried to connect the president’s experience to the pain of millions of Americans affected by the deadly virus, but they haven’t used the experience to send a broader public-health message about a pandemic that has killed around 210,000 people in the U.S. They have instead presented, in a series of TV appearances and tweets, a testament to Trump’s resilience by asserting that he has overcome the disease. (Choi, 10/5)

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of COVID’? Not Buying It, Unless Businesses Do Job Right 
As stores, restaurants, airlines and offices try to lure clients back, this is what they need to do to earn my business: Make me feel safe — no, make me be as safe as possible. As I’ve begun to explore old haunts, some are doing a fabulous job. Others are not. So my dollars will flow to the former, and I’ll effectively boycott the latter. Think of it as ethical shopping, with a safety twist: I’ll reward businesses that are seriously implementing recommended COVID-19 precautionary guidelines. And I’ll punish, in my own tiny way, those who don’t take them to heart. (Rosenthal, 10/6)

Stat: 'Covid Is All About Privilege': Trump's Care Underscores Health Inequalities
As the symptoms of Covid-19 took hold, President Trump got an infusion of an experimental antibody cocktail and was whisked by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. When his oxygen levels dipped, he was quickly put on a steroid normally given to patients with severe cases of the disease. At every step of the way, the president has had a team of expert physicians carefully monitoring his care. That experience is a world away from the stressful waiting game most patients wade through after a positive test. (Ross, 10/6)

The New York Times: When The Patient Is Your Commander In Chief, The Answer Is Usually ‘Yes, Sir’
President Trump’s excursion around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday evening, his repeated requests to be discharged and his aggressive denial of the seriousness of the coronavirus underscore the highly unusual and precarious problem presented to his doctor: His patient is also his boss. In the case of Dr. Sean P. Conley, the White House physician and Navy doctor, the patient is both the boss and the commander in chief. Disobeying Mr. Trump’s wishes could be seen as tantamount to insubordination, among the military’s highest offenses. (Steinhauer, 10/5)

AP: Trump's Doctor Leans On Health Privacy Law To Duck Questions
President Donald Trump’s doctor leaned on a federal health privacy law Monday to duck certain questions about the president’s treatment for COVID-19, while readily sharing other details of his patient’s condition. But a leading expert on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act said a more likely reason for Dr. Sean Conley’s selective disclosures appears to be Trump’s comfort level in fully revealing his medical information. “That’s a little head-scratcher,” said Deven McGraw, a former career government lawyer who oversaw enforcement of the 1996 medical privacy statute. “It’s quite possible the doctor sat down with the president and asked which information is OK to disclose.” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/5)

The Hill: Fauci Defends Care Given To Trump, Calling It 'Optimal' 
Anthony Fauci defended the doctors caring for President Trump on Monday, saying he is confident the president is getting “optimal care” while also saying he is not involved in the treatment. “My colleagues that I know, including Sean Conley, are very good physicians, and they're very qualified, so I am really confident that the President of the United States is getting the optimal care that you can get with the team over at Walter Reed,” Fauci said on CNN, referring to the president’s doctor. (Sullivan, 10/5)

Also —

The Hill: Trump Health Official Meets With Doctors Pushing Herd Immunity 
A top Trump health official met Monday with a group of doctors who are proponents of the controversial “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19, even as other experts warn of its deadly and dangerous consequences. Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity. (Hellmann, 10/5)

The New York Times: White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines
Top White House officials are blocking strict new federal guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, objecting to a provision that would almost certainly guarantee that no vaccine could be authorized before the election on Nov. 3, according to people familiar with the approval process. Facing a White House blockade, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking other avenues to ensure that vaccines meet the guidelines. That includes sharing the standards — perhaps as soon as this week — with an outside advisory committee of experts that is supposed to meet publicly before any vaccine is authorized for emergency use. The hope is that the committee will enforce the guidelines, regardless of the White House’s reaction. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 10/5)

AP: White House Nixes Updated FDA Guidelines On Vaccine Approval
At issue was the FDA’s planned instruction that vaccine developers follow patients enrolled in their trials for at least two months to rule out safety issues before seeking emergency approval from the agency. A senior administration confirmed the move Monday evening, saying the White House believed there was “no clinical or medical reason” for the additional requirement. (Miller and Perrone, 10/6)

The Hill: White House Blocks New FDA Coronavirus Guidelines That May Have Delayed Vaccine: Report 
The FDA first submitted the proposal for new guidelines in late September, but they were immediately rebuffed by President Trump and top officials who worried it would delay the release of a vaccine as Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" has sought to quickly move one through the approval process. (Seipel, 10/5)

Politico: White House Cited Drug Companies’ Objections In Overruling FDA’s Vaccine Standards 
A White House decision to halt release of new standards for emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine came after officials close to President Donald Trump told the FDA that the pharmaceutical industry had objected to the tougher requirements, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The White House cited the private-sector opposition as a chief reason for blocking the guidelines, which aim to hold companies’ vaccines to a higher bar for safety and effectiveness and would likely push any authorization beyond Election Day, they said. (Cancryn, 10/5)

In other vaccine news —

USA Today: Donald Trump Says COVID-19 Vaccines Coming 'Momentarily.' They're Not.
President Donald Trump, back at the White House days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, said vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic are coming "momentarily." Doctors and scientists have repeatedly refuted that claim. Trump, speaking in a video posted to Twitter after leaving the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, said he felt "better than 20 years ago" after praising the medicines and equipment involved in his treatment. Earlier in the day, he said people shouldn't be afraid of COVID-19, and said, "Maybe I'm immune, I don't know," during Monday night's video. In the video, Trump also said, "The vaccines are coming momentarily."  (Culver, Weise and Weintraub, 10/5)

The Hill: Just Over Half Say They Would Get Low-Cost Vaccine If Available: Poll 
Slightly more than half of respondents said they would get a low-cost coronavirus vaccine if it were available, according to a poll released on Monday. The CNN survey conducted by SPSS found that 51 percent of American adults said they would try to get inoculated if a low-cost vaccine was made available. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would not, and 4 percent were undecided or refused to answer the question. (Coleman, 10/5)

NPR: CDC Updates Guidance Acknowledging Coronavirus Spreads Via Airborne Transmission 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says the coronavirus can be spread through airborne particles that can linger in the air "for minutes or even hours" — even among people who are more than 6 feet apart. The CDC still says that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is most frequently spread among people in close contact with one another, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. But in new guidance published Monday on its website, the agency also acknowledged that under certain circumstances, people have become infected by smaller particles that can linger in the air in enclosed spaces that are poorly ventilated. (Godoy, 10/5)

Politico: CDC Says Coronavirus Is Airborne, But Weakens Language From Earlier Warning
The CDC on Monday confirmed that the coronavirus is airborne and may be able to infect people who are more than six feet apart, especially indoors with poor ventilation. The agency first said last month that the virus spreads mainly through "aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes." CDC pulled that language days later, saying it had been posted in error and required further review. (Ehley, 10/5)

The Hill: CDC Says Coronavirus Can Spread Through Airborne Transmission 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday that coronavirus can spread through "airborne transmission" to people who are more than 6 feet away under certain conditions. The update on the agency's website is an important change to the understanding of how the virus spreads, and one that many experts have been pointing to for months. (Sullivan, 10/5)

The New York Times: White House Is Not Contact Tracing ‘Super-Spreader’ Trump Rose Garden Event
Despite almost daily disclosures of new coronavirus infections among President Trump’s close associates, the White House is making little effort to investigate the scope and source of its outbreak. The White House has decided not to trace the contacts of guests and staff members at the Rose Garden celebration 10 days ago for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, where at least eight people, including the president, may have become infected, according to a White House official familiar with the plans. (Mandavilli and Tully, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Hasn’t Asked CDC Investigators For Covid-19 Case Tracking Help 
The White House hasn’t called on the nation’s top disease detectives to investigate a Covid-19 outbreak involving the president and several staff, though a team has been mobilized specifically for that work, according to people familiar with the matter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has readied a team of investigators but hasn’t been asked by the White House to help track down related infections since President Trump announced early Friday he and the first lady tested positive for the new coronavirus, these people said. A federal official said the CDC has been on standby. (McKay, Ballhaus and Abbott, 10/5)

Politico: Riverside Megachurch Pastor Who Attended White House Event Contracts Covid-19
The evangelical pastor of a high-profile California megachurch with links to President Trump announced Monday he's among those who have contracted Covid-19 following the recent White House event for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Pastor Greg Laurie of Riverside's Harvest Christian Fellowship confirmed on his Facebook page that he tested positive for the virus over the weekend. (Marinucci, 10/5)

Politico: The 30 People Who Have Tested Positive In The Trump Covid Outbreak
Here’s who has tested positive thus far, the day we learned about their result and what we know about their condition. (Niedzwiadek, 10/5)

In related news —

Vox: White House Ignores CDC Covid-19 Quarantine Guidelines Despite Virus Cluster
President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, on Monday revealed she was the latest top official in the White House’s Covid-19 cluster to test positive for the coronavirus. She said in a statement that she “will begin the quarantine process.” But if McEnany had been following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, she would have quarantined days ago — when she found out she was a close contact for Hope Hicks, an aide to Trump who had already tested positive. McEnany isn’t the only person in the federal government setting a poor example, with Republican policymakers ranging from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to Attorney General Bill Barr to Vice President Mike Pence saying they won’t quarantine despite potential close contact with at least one person who tested positive for the coronavirus. They’ve pointed to their lack of symptoms or negative tests, defying the CDC’s guidelines to quarantine or self-isolate regardless. (Lopez, 10/6)

Poynter: Reporters Are 'Livid' After White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Tests Positive For COVID-19
The number of positive COVID-19 tests out of the White House are now starting to pile up. More than a dozen that President Trump has been around in the past week or so have now tested positive for COVID-19, including another notable name on Monday: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. ... McEnany met with reporters indoors last week and then spoke with reporters on Sunday. Sunday’s quick briefing was outside, but she removed her mask to speak. And several journalists who cover the White House have tested positive. (Jones, 10/6)

The Washington Post: Leaders In Washington Region Ask White House To Follow Safety Protocols As Coronavirus Outbreak Spreads 
Elected leaders in the Washington region are urging the White House to follow pandemic safety protocols to slow the coronavirus’s spread, even as they said the Trump administration hasn’t consulted with them over the growing outbreak. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said her administration has offered help to the White House but otherwise has had little contact with federal leaders. In Montgomery County, where President Trump was recovering for three nights after contracting the virus, the top elected official urged the president to act responsibly. (Nirappil, Chason and Hedgpeth, 10/5)

AP: White House Staff, Secret Service Eye Virus With Fear, Anger
The West Wing is a ghost town. Staff members are scared of exposure. And the White House is now a treatment ward for not one — but two — COVID patients, including a president who has long taken the threat of the virus lightly. President Donald Trump’s decision to return home from a military hospital despite his continued illness is putting new focus on the people around him who could be further exposed if he doesn’t abide by strict isolation protocols. Throughout the pandemic, White House custodians, ushers, kitchen staff and members of the U.S. Secret Service have continued to show up for work in what is now a coronavirus hot spot, with more than a dozen known cases this week alone. (Colvin, Riechmann and Long, 8/6)

The Washington Post: Concern Rises For White House Residence Staffers As Their Workplace Emerges As A Virus Hot Spot 
The White House residence staff members are largely Black and Latino, and often elderly, according to Kate Anderson Brower, who compiled a trove of interviews with former staffers for her book “The Residence.” ... As the residence staff has been caring for the first family, a chorus of concern has started to rise among former White House and residence staff members about whether the first family and the administration are taking care of those employees in return. (Yuan, 10/5)

The Atlantic: Trump Is Putting White House Staff At Risk Of COVID-19 
Trump and the first lady interact with dozens of White House employees every day, many of them nonpolitical and largely invisible to the American public. Because of his months-long failure to take COVID-19 seriously even inside his own home, Trump continues to place these staff members and their families at considerable risk. Which is to say that the blast radius from the president’s and the first lady’s illness could be a lot larger than many Americans realize. (Godfrey and Harris, 10/5)

Politico: Working For Trump: Tweet-Firings, Subpoenas And Now Coronavirus 
Working for Donald Trump has never been easy. The president’s staffers get fired and insulted by tweet. They get blamed for the president’s own failures. They get screamed at in the Oval Office. Scores of them have ended up subpoenaed, fined or even sentenced to prison. Now, the president’s staff has been dragooned into a coronavirus outbreak in which the stakes could be deadly. (Cook and McGraw, 10/5)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Invades West Wing, White House Reporters Face Heightened Risks 
Visitors to the White House will notice a makeshift sign taped to the door of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, entry point for the reportorial corps that regularly covers President Trump and his administration. “Masks Required Beyond This Point,” it reads. “Please wear masks over both your nose and mouth at all times.” The sign was not put up by the White House. The correspondents had to do it themselves. (Grynbaum, 10/5)

USA Today: From COVID-19 To Voting: Trump Is Nation's Single Largest Spreader Of Disinformation, Studies Say
Is President Trump the nation’s chief disinformation officer? Controversial posts concerning COVID-19 on Monday in which the president tells the public "Don’t let it dominate you" and "Don’t be afraid of it" and claims he may have immunity to the deadly virus have heightened public criticism of Trump for spreading dangerous falsehoods. “There is no doubt that Donald Trump is the largest spreader of specific and important types of misinformation today,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.  (Guynn, 10/5)

The Atlantic: Trump Is A Super-Spreader Of Disinformation
A super-spreader—a term we didn’t much use nine months ago—is a person with a contagious disease who gives it to a lot of other people. In the coronavirus pandemic, super-spreaders have played an outsize role. Scientists have identified super-spreaders who have infected dozens of people with the virus, while others with the illness haven’t infected anyone at all. Super-spreaders may explain why the coronavirus seems to take over so quickly in some places, but not in others. We don’t know yet whether President Donald Trump was a super-spreader of the coronavirus or the victim of one, perhaps at the Rose Garden event for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, where few wore masks and many shook hands; perhaps while he was preparing to debate. But Trump has been a super-spreader in a different sense for many, many years—a super-spreader of disinformation. (Applebaum, 10/3)

In related news —

NPR: Mary Trump Says Trump Family Saw Illness As 'Unforgivable Weakness'
Attitude about illness is looming large over the president's coronavirus treatment. White House physician Sean Connelly said on Sunday that he didn't initially disclose that the president was given oxygen on Friday, despite multiple questions about it from reporters, because he was trying to "reflect the upbeat attitude" of the president. Trump's estranged niece, Mary Trump, says members of the Trump family have viewed illness as "a display of unforgivable weakness." (Silva, 10/4)

Politico: The World's Hottest Spy Target: Trump's Health 
President Donald Trump's doctors won’t say when he last tested negative. They won’t reveal details of how his lungs are functioning, why he was prescribed advanced treatments usually reserved for severe Covid-19 cases, how high his fever soared or just how low his oxygen levels dipped. As the White House brushes aside questions about just how serious the president’s bout with the lethal virus really got, America’s enemies are poised to fill the information void, former and current U.S. national security officials are warning. (Seligman and Bertrand, 10/5)

The New York Times: In Florida, Biden Says ‘I Wasn’t Surprised’ By Trump’s Diagnosis
As President Trump battled the coronavirus on Monday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. ventured onto the campaign trail, where he wished the president a speedy recovery but criticized his leadership, suggesting that he bore some responsibility for his positive test after flouting public health guidelines around masks and social distancing. ... “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Mr. Biden said at the town hall, asked whether Mr. Trump shouldered some responsibility for contracting the virus. (Glueck, 10/5)

The Washington Post: With Trump Out Of The Hospital, Biden Steps Up Criticism 
Joe Biden stepped up his criticism of President Trump on Monday, challenging his calls not to fear the deadly coronavirus and admonishing him to regulate the use of face masks, as Trump returned to the White House after being hospitalized for covid-19. ... “I was glad to see the president speaking in recorded videos over the weekend,” Biden said in a speech Monday afternoon in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. “I would ask him to do this: Listen to the scientists! Support masks! Support a mask mandate nationwide. Require a mask in every federal building, facility in their state. Urge every governor in America to do the same. We know it saves lives.” (Sullivan and Wang, 10/5)

The Guardian: 'Masks Matter': Joe Biden Reminds Trump That Face Covering Is There To Protect Others
Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, has said he was not surprised by Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection and delivered a blunt rebuke: “Masks matter.” Speaking at an NBC television town hall event in Miami, Florida, the former vice president drew a stark contrast with Trump, who on returning to the White House just an hour earlier instantly removed his face mask for a photo op. (Smith, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden, Trump Swap Roles After President’s Coronavirus Diagnosis 
Joe Biden, after facing months of criticism from President Trump for sticking close to his Delaware home, is now traveling around the country. Mr. Trump, who held campaign rallies throughout the summer, is sick with the coronavirus and off the trail. The sudden candidate role reversal has thrust the already turbulent campaign into a new stage less than 30 days before Election Day. Mr. Trump, trailing in the polls with more than 3 million early votes cast, according to data compiled by the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, faces new challenges in closing the gap with the Democratic presidential nominee. Mr. Biden has the battleground states mostly to himself for in-person campaigning now. (Lucey and Thomas, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Pence-Harris Debate To Feature Plexiglass Barriers 
The vice-presidential debate set for Wednesday will feature plexiglass barriers between Vice President Pence (R), Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and the moderator, organizers said Monday, amid a growing dispute over whether in-person debates should be held at all. The Commission on Presidential Debates agreed to the request from the Biden campaign. The Trump team did not object, though “they didn’t want the vice president surrounded by plexiglass,” said commission co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. “They don’t want to have him in what looks like a box.” Top Pence advisers said late Monday they did not support plexiglass for their candidate and that discussions were ongoing. (Janes, Dawsey and Viser, 10/5)

Reuters: U.S. Vice Presidential Debate To Include Plexiglass Barrier After White House Outbreak
In a statement, Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, said: “If Senator Harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it.” In response, Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for Harris, wrote on Twitter: “Interesting that @VPComDir Katie Miller mocks our wanting a plexiglass barrier on the debate stage, when her own boss is supposedly in charge of the COVID-19 task force and should be advocating for this too.” Miller herself had COVID-19 in the spring. (Ax and Hunnicutt, 10/5)

Politico: The Logistics Of A Pandemic Vice Presidential Debate 
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris are set to face off Wednesday in their first and only debate. But as coronavirus cases balloon inside President Donald Trump's circles, debate planners are on extra alert to prevent the spread of the disease. The socially distanced debate will be held at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Here's what to expect. (Choi, 10/5)

The Guardian: Mike Pence V Kamala Harris: Trump's Health Raises Stakes Of Vice-Presidential Debate
It is always about who will be a heartbeat away from the presidency. But this time, that applies more than ever. The incumbent, Mike Pence, and the California senator Kamala Harris are set to take part in a vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday with both under pressure to show their readiness to step up to the top job. (Smith, 10/6)

NPR: SCOTUS Sides With S.C. To Reinstate Witness Signature Mandate For Absentee Ballots 
The eight-person Supreme Court on Monday sided with South Carolina to reinstate a mandate that absentee ballots require witness signatures, even as critics argue that the coronavirus puts an undue burden on voters to safely get a witness cosign on the ballots. The order will not apply to ballots already cast or those mailed in within the next two days, but will apply to ballots going forward for the Nov. 3 general election. (Wise, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Sides With Republicans In S.C. Dispute Over Mail-In Ballots 
The high court made one concession, saying ballots already sent in without a witness should be counted. Tens of thousands of ballots have been sent to voters across the state. The court’s brief order did not list any objecting justices. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have granted the request in full, meaning the ballots already in without a witness signature would not be counted. (Barnes, 10/5)

Politico: Supreme Court Sides With Republicans, Reinstates Witness Requirement In South Carolina 
There were no noted dissents, while Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would have granted a stay application in full, meaning ballots already submitted that did not have a witness signature would have been rejected. It is one of the first election-related cases that the Supreme Court has ruled on since the primaries and could suggest the justices will rein in lower courts that seek to alter the rules of an election, even if to expand access to voting as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. (Montellaro, 10/5)

In other Supreme Court news —

Stat: Supreme Court To Review Contentious Law Governing PBMs
Amid debate over prescription drug costs, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a closely watched case on Tuesday that is expected to determine the extent to which the states can regulate pharmacy benefit managers, the controversial middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain. At issue is an Arkansas law that governs reimbursements rates that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, must pay to pharmacies. (Silverman, 10/5)

And more on voter safety —

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Surge In Mail Voting Likely To Lead To More Rejected Ballots 
As more Americans turn to voting by mail due to the coronavirus, some election officials are already seeing the kinds of mistakes that could lead to large volumes of ballots being disqualified. Some fraction of mail-in ballots are disqualified every election. Around 1% of them were rejected nationally in the 2016 general election, according to the federal U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Common reasons include ballots being received after the deadline or voters not signing the ballot envelope or supplying a signature that doesn’t match state records. (Corse and Day, 10/4)

North Carolina Health News: Voters In Long-Term Care Could Face Difficulty
North Carolina is one of only two states where the law prevents facility staff from assisting with voting in any way. Here, it’s illegal even for a staff member to do so much as drop a completed absentee ballot in the mail. (Hoban, 10/6)

Politico: 'I'll Go In A Moon Suit': Covid Outbreak Leaves GOP Unfazed In SCOTUS Fight
Senate Republicans are still moving forward with confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court — and they’re making no apologies for it. Senate Republicans, in statements and interviews Monday, defended their decision not to slow down their timeline for Barrett’s confirmation even as the coronavirus rips through Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee is still scheduled to begin hearings Oct. 12. (Levine, 10/5)

The Hill: Schumer: Graham Must Require Testing For Senators, Staff Before Supreme Court Hearings 
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday that Senate Republicans should require testing for senators and staff if they will not delay a Supreme Court hearing scheduled to start next week, amid an outbreak of coronavirus cases.  (Carney, 10/5)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Washington Post: A U.S. Senator Kept Taking Off His Mask On A Delta Flight, Raising Questions About Safety Oversight 
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate committee that oversees airlines and U.S. transportation policy, had his mask off for extended periods on a Delta flight to Mississippi on Thursday night, according to another passenger, and the company said he had to be reminded twice by a flight attendant to follow the airline’s mask requirement. The next day, the Trump administration rejected a union petition calling for a federal mandate requiring masks be worn on planes, trains and buses. (Laris and Aratani, 10/5)

The Hill: Bill To Expand Support For Community Addiction Treatment Passes House 
The Family Support Services for Addiction Act, a bill that would establish a $25 million fund to support organizations specializing in addiction treatment and support for family members of those suffering from addiction, is heading to the Senate after passing the House last week. (Bowden, 10/4)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: U.S. House Condemns Unnecessary Medical Procedures For Federal Detainees
House Democrats on Friday passed a resolution condemning unwanted and unnecessary medical procedures performed on federal detainees, a direct response to a whistleblower’s complaint against a South Georgia immigration detention center. (Mitchell and Redmon, 10/2)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Virus Survives On Skin, Hand Hygiene Highly Effective, Study Finds
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, survives on human skin for 9 hours, much longer than a strain of influenza A virus (IAV). A study in Clinical Infectious Disease indicates that the long survival time on human skin may increase the contact-transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 compared to other viruses, but finds hand hygiene is highly effective at neutralizing the virus. Contact transmission is considered a significant risk factor in the spread of COVID-19, highlighting the critical need for information about survival of the virus on skin. Previous studies have identified higher stability for coronaviruses compared with other enveloped viruses—those bearing a protective, fatty outer wrapping—like IAV. (10/5)

Yahoo Life: This Is Exactly How Many Hours Coronavirus Can Live On Your Skin
A Japanese study, which was published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on Oct. 3, set out to determine how long the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) could survive on different surfaces such as stainless steel, glass, plastic, and human skin compared to a common strain of the flu, influenza A virus. The researchers found that the novel coronavirus remains active for longer on all surfaces, including human skin. In comparison to the more than nine hours COVID can live on your epidermis, the flu virus only survives for 1.8 hours. Even on non-human surfaces, the results also showed that the coronavirus lasted much longer than the flu, surviving for about an average of 11 hours to the flu's much shorter span of just over an hour and a half. (Mack, 10/5)

Also —

The New York Times: Nearly One-Third Of Covid-19 Patients In Study Had Altered Mental State 
Nearly a third of hospitalized Covid-19 patients experienced some type of altered mental function — ranging from confusion to delirium to unresponsiveness — in the largest study to date of neurological symptoms among coronavirus patients in an American hospital system. And patients with altered mental function had significantly worse medical outcomes, according to the study, published on Monday in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. The study looked at the records of the first 509 coronavirus patients hospitalized, from March 5 to April 6, at 10 hospitals in the Northwestern Medicine health system in the Chicago area. (Belluck, 10/5)

Fox News: Drug Combo To Treat Mesothelioma Approved By FDA 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced approval for a drug combo to treat malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer associated with inhalation of asbestos fibers. According to the federal agency, Opdivo (nivolumab) along with Yervoy (ipilimumab) marks the first regimen approved for mesothelioma in 16 years. (Rivas, 10/5)

Stat: Bristol Myers Squibb To Buy MyoKardia For $13 Billion 
Bristol Myers Squibb said that it will purchase MyoKardia, an 8-year-old developer of an experimental heart drug, for $13.1 billion in cash. The deal price, at $225 per MyoKardia share, represents a 61% premium to the closing price of MyoKardia shares on Friday. (Herper, 10/5)

Stat: FDA Issues Rare Emergency Authorization For AI Tool For Covid-19 Care
In less than a year, the pandemic has spurred the development of countless artificial intelligence models designed to aid in the diagnosis of Covid-19 and spot early warning signs of severe illness among those infected. But so far, only a few have received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. That scarcity is a sign of the newness of these tools — as well as the murkiness of the regulatory landscape at a time when unapproved algorithms are being widely tested and rolled out in the clinic. (Robbins, 10/5)

Charlotte Observer: Novant Health Performs New Brain Surgery In Charlotte, NC 
Luther “Larry” Hicks noticed the shaking around the age of 50. His right hand jittered when he held a spoon or tried to sign his name. At first, he said, it wasn’t that bad; he tried to hide the condition and kept working with contract bonds until he retired at 66. But as the condition worsened, his life got smaller. He began skipping social engagements and staying in. “I didn’t want to go out to eat in a restaurant; I didn’t want to sign my name at the bank. You feel like everyone is looking at you,” he said. Now Hicks, 79, is feeling much more confident. He recently became the first patient to undergo incision-free brain surgery at Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center. (Wright, 10/5)

Rockdale Newton Citizen: Georgia Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Rural Macon County Hospital
The Georgia Supreme Court Monday overturned a lower-court ruling requiring a hospital in rural Montezuma, Ga., to get the state’s permission to expand its capacity to serve psychiatric/substance abuse patients. The case goes back to 2010, when Premier Health Care Investments LLC obtained a certificate of need (CON) from the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) to establish a 12-bed psychiatric/substance abuse program at its Flint River Hospital, which is licensed for 49 beds overall. (Williams, 10/5)

Crain's Chicago Business: Health Care Service Corp. Providing COVID-Related Premium Credits
Health Care Service Corp. is providing premium credits worth roughly $240 million to fully insured employer customers. The Chicago-based insurer is among those that have benefited from a COVID-fueled decline in nonemergency medical care during the pandemic. The financial relief for customers comes several months after rivals, such as Anthem and UnitedHealth Group, pledged to give customers—and doctors in some cases—a share of the savings through premium credits and other discounts. (Goldberg, 10/5)

Kaiser Health News: ‘No Mercy’ Chapter 2: Unimaginable, After A Century, That Their Hospital Would Close 
Closing a hospital hurts. In Fort Scott, Kansas, no one was a bigger symbol for that loss — or bigger target for the town’s anger — than hospital president Reta Baker. Baker was at the helm when the hospital doors closed. “I don’t even like going out in the community anymore, because I get confronted all the time,” Baker said. “Someone confronted me at Walmart. You know — ‘How could you let this happen?’” (Tribble, 10/6)

NPR: Americans Over 30 Are Drinking 14% More Often During Pandemic, Study Finds 
Perhaps it's no surprise, but people are drinking more during the pandemic. In some cases, by a lot. American adults say they're drinking 14% more often during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report in the journal JAMA Network Open. The increase in frequency of drinking for women was more pronounced, up 17% compared to last year. Instances of heavy drinking among women, which for women was defined as four or more drinks within a couple of hours, spiked by 41%. (Oxner, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: People Are Eating Healthier And Cooking More, Food Execs Say 
Food company executives say they are expecting new consumer habits formed during the pandemic to stick, with a renewed focus on health and cooking at home. Mark Clouse, the chief executive of Campbell Soup Co. speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum on Monday, said eating on the go, which had been popular before the pandemic, has declined dramatically. People turned to comfort food initially during the outbreak, Mr. Clouse said. “What we’re seeing now is a greater level of balance and a return to some of those health and wellness trends,” he added. (Wernau and Gasparro, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Airbnb Is Canceling One-Night Halloween Stays To Prevent Parties 
Airbnb took a stance against large gatherings this summer by banning parties at its rental properties globally. Now the company is taking the move one step further in North America by implementing a ban on one-night bookings on Halloween that could foster large gatherings. The vacation rentals platform announced on Friday that it will not allow reservations on Oct. 30 or 31 for any of its “entire home” listings in the United States and Canada. Airbnb will cancel any existing one-night reservations that fall into that category, reimbursing both guests and property hosts. (McMahon, 10/5)

The Washington Post: LSU To Remove Wellness Checks For Fans At Football Games 
The novel coronavirus pandemic has dominated America’s news cycle for almost seven months. That cycle hit overdrive in the past four days with President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis, hospitalization and the outbreak among his administration. That makes it even more puzzling that LSU announced Monday it would no longer require a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical wellness check for those attending Saturday’s game against Missouri. The school said its decision was made “to reduce lines and wait times at gate entry points,” but it encouraged fans “to conduct a self-assessment before heading to the game to check for covid-19 symptoms.” (Russell, 10/5)

Kaiser Health News: Easier-To-Use Coronavirus Saliva Tests Start To Catch On 
As the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the country, health care providers and scientists relied on the standard method for detecting respiratory viruses: sticking a long swab deep into the nose to get a sample. The obstacles to implementing such testing on a mass scale quickly became clear. Among them: Many people were wary of the unpleasant procedure, called a nasopharyngeal swab. It can be performed only by trained health workers, putting them at risk of infection and adding costs. And the swabs and chemicals needed to test for the virus almost immediately were in short supply. (Tuller, 10/6)

Kaiser Health News: Campus Dorm Resident Assistants Adjust To A New Role: COVID Cop 
Breaking up parties, confiscating booze and answering noise complaints — being a resident adviser has always required a willingness to be the “bad guy” and uphold university policy despite the protests of friends and peers. Now there’s a new element to the job description: COVID cop. (Almendrala and Heredia Rodriguez, 10/6)

CIDRAP: Alaska Reports Second Novel Orthopox Case
Alaska health officials last week reported the second known case of "Alaskapox," a viral infection caused by a novel species from the same genus as smallpox. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (ADHSS) said in an epidemiologic alert that the patient is a woman from Fairbanks who had an upper arm lesion in August that was accompanied by other symptoms, such as shoulder pain, fatigue, and night fevers. Officials sent a sample of the lesion to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for orthopoxvirus testing, which confirmed that it belonged to a lineage found in another Fairbanks woman who experienced similar symptoms in 2015. (10/5)

Alaska Public Media: Scientists Suspect "Alaskapox" Rash Could Be Spread From Small Animals 
Anchorage-based CDC disease detective Eric Mooring said the Alaskapox was first identified after a Fairbanks woman sought medical attention for a small skin lesion, pained fever and fatigue in July 2015. ...Mooring is working with scientists at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks to trap and test small animals for Alaskapox. (Bross, 10/4)

In other public health news —

The New York Times: Wildfires May Pose Drinking Water Safety Issues
Wildfires, which turned skies a dim orange over cities from Seattle to Santa Cruz this year, are increasingly engulfing people’s homes, continuing to rage in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado in recent weeks. But even when homes don’t burn, other dangers arise in the aftermath, and experts are focusing more attention on what happens to municipal water systems after a fire, when released toxic chemicals can get pulled into plumbing systems, and other damage can linger in pipes for years. (Horberry, 10/5)

USA Today: Fruit Recall: Watermelon, Apples, Other Produce Sold At Walmart Stores In 9 States Recalled For Listeria Risk
Several types of fresh cut fruit sold at Walmart stores in nine states are being recalled for possible listeria contamination. In a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website Saturday, Country Fresh said expanded its voluntary recall issued the day before to include various containers of Freshness Guaranteed-brand cut or sliced apples, grapes, mangos, pineapples and cantaloupe distributed by Walmart. (Tyko, 10/5)

The New York Times: Parents Face Murder Charge In Death Of Girl With Severe Lice 
The 12-year-old girl had no bruises on her body. She was not malnourished, according to prosecutors. She had just eaten before her mother found her unconscious in late August in their home in rural Georgia. But she had a lice infestation so severe that the doctors who treated her the day she died said it was enough to kill her, according to an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who described the finding in court last week. ... Child welfare specialists said the details of the case underscored deep concerns about how the coronavirus pandemic has cut many children off from teachers, counselors and doctors who could report possible signs of neglect or abuse, especially as families struggle with the economic crisis. (Cramer, 10/5)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Order Blames Shutdowns For Worsening Behavioral Health
President Donald Trump blamed state and local shutdown orders for worsening behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic, directing his administration to support enhanced crisis-intervention and other behavioral health services. According to an executive order on Monday, the Trump administration wants to encourage in-person mentorship programs, support groups and communal activities like school. It also wants to increase the availability of telehealth and online behavior health tools and services. Trump asked his administration to "marshal public and private resources to address deteriorating mental health, such as factors that contribute to prolonged unemployment and social isolation." (Brady, 10/5)

USA Today: Gov. Kristi Noem Says South Dakota Has Shown Lockdowns Are 'Useless'
Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday that South Dakota has given the rest of the country an example of how to navigate a pandemic without heavy-handed government mandates. During a special legislative session in Pierre, Noem told lawmakers that while her resistance to statewide stay-at-home orders has drawn criticism, it's also provided a different approach to managing the pandemic than those taken in other states. ... Noem spoke after South Dakota's worst month yet during the pandemic. The Mount Rushmore State has consistently broken records in recent weeks for new and active cases, hospitalizations and the number of people killed by COVID-19. (Sneve, 10/5)

In other news from the states —

Bloomberg: Covid 19 Latest: Virus Cases Rising In Most States 
Covid-19 is spreading again across most of the U.S., hammering rural America and smaller cities and raising anxiety in New York, as experts warn that school reopenings and colder weather may cause the situation to rapidly deteriorate. In 34 states, the seven-day average of new cases is higher now than it was a month ago. Although the virus has waned in populous states including California and Florida, it is wreaking unprecedented havoc in the Midwest and making an incipient return in parts of the Northeast. (Levin and Brown, 10/5)

AP: Children’s Vaccinations In Washington Drop During Pandemic
Fewer children are getting scheduled vaccinations for diseases such as measles in Washington state since March, when it became clear the novel coronavirus was spreading across the globe. The number of children 18 and younger being vaccinated in Washington dropped by 31% in August compared to the August average from 2015 to 2019, The Seattle Times reported. The decline began in February then fell sharply in March with a 33% drop compared to the March average from 2015 to 2019 and bottomed out with a 39% drop in April. (10/5)

Georgia Health News: More Kids Treated For Trauma Injuries From ATVs, Bikes In Pandemic 
Since the pandemic began, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has handled about the same number of trauma cases involving kids as it did previously. But that doesn’t mean it has seen no change. The mix of injuries that required treatment shifted in the spring as schools closed due to the spread of COVID-19. The pediatric system found itself treating many more victims of trauma injuries involving bicycles, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), golf carts, skateboards and dirt bikes, as children spending more time at home turned increasingly toward outdoor activities. (Miller, 10/5)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Health Department Orders Masks, Restricts Size Of Gatherings
Michiganders are still required to wear masks, and the size of indoor gatherings will still be limited, despite confusion following a state Supreme Court ruling that undercut Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's authority to issue emergency orders to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Shamus and Hall, 10/5)

Bloomberg: How Indianapolis Is Facing Its Homelessness Crisis
When the safest place to be is at home, people experiencing homelessness face an even greater risk of exposure to the virus. And the number of people living outside could surge as pandemic-related job losses lead to a wave of evictions. Before the recent federal eviction moratorium (which, without federal rental assistance, is only a temporary stopgap), a study indicated more than 30,000 households in Marion County, Indiana, faced heightened risk of eviction, largely because of the pandemic. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people have been disproportionately affected by both Covid-19 and homelessness, and the pandemic could widen racial disparities in health and housing stability even further — making an equitable response critical. (Hogsett, Poppe and Cunningham, 10/5)

NPR: 10% Of Global Population May Have Contracted The Coronavirus, WHO Says 
About 10% of the global population may have been infected by the coronavirus, according to a senior World Health Organization official. It's an estimate that's far higher than the total of global confirmed cases reported by governments. At the same time, it would mean that most of the world's population is still vulnerable to getting infected and this pandemic is far from over, the WHO's head of emergencies Dr. Michael Ryan said Monday. (Beaubien, 10/5)

In other global news —

The Wall Street Journal: As Second Covid-19 Wave Rolls Through Europe, Deaths And Hospitalizations Rise 
Europe’s second coronavirus wave is spreading, and rising hospitalizations and deaths are prompting governments to impose more restrictions, from travel bans in Madrid to the closure of bars in Paris. Confirmed cases in France, Spain, and the U.K. are now higher on an average day than at the peak of this spring’s emergency, although the trend also reflects better detection of the virus. Infections also have accelerated in Italy and Germany in recent days. (Stancati and Schechner, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Iceland, An Early Coronavirus Role Model, Closes Bars And Gyms As Cases Rise 
Iceland announced new coronavirus-related restrictions this weekend, following a spike in cases in recent weeks despite the island’s early success in limiting the spread of the virus. The government ordered bars, gyms and some other businesses to close and is limiting most group gatherings to a maximum of 20 people, down from prior restrictions that capped events at 200.The country, home to about 360,000 people, has recorded fewer than 3,000 cases of the novel coronavirus. (Noack and O'Grady, 10/5)

AP: After 6 Months Stranded, Easter Islanders Will Return Home
About 25 residents from remote Easter Island who have been stranded far from their loved ones for more than six months because of the coronavirus will finally be able to return home this week on a French military plane. The group has been stranded on Tahiti in French Polynesia. Many arrived in March planning to stay for just a few weeks, but they got stuck when the virus swept across the globe and their flights back home on LATAM airlines were canceled. A second group of about 15 Tahitians have also been stranded on Easter Island because of the flight cancelations. (Perry, 10/6)

Boston Globe: Trump’s Recklessness With COVID Stalls Government
Since the earliest warning signs that the coronavirus could become a catastrophic pandemic, President Trump has refused to take it seriously. In fact, Trump and his Republican colleagues have gone such great lengths to ignore public health protocols that the president of the United States — ostensibly the most shielded human being on the planet — managed to contract the virus along with several other top government officials, including three United States senators. And now, after so gravely mishandling the pandemic that has killed over 210,000 Americans, the president and his party have effectively brought the federal government to a halt through their own reckless personal behavior, leaving two branches of government compromised while the nation and the world deal with several crises of unprecedented scale. (10/5)

The Hill: Counties' Reopening Plans Are Meaningless Without Coordination With Other Counties 
Across the nation, counties are reopening schools, restaurants, retail stores and more — hoping that they can simultaneously avoid a surge in COVID-19 cases. But many of these decisions ignore a devastating reality: Efforts to contain the pandemic will not be effective without coordination with surrounding areas. (Jonathan Cook and Noah Newberger, 10/5)

Miami Herald: Don't Be Secretive Like DeSantis. When COVID Is Found in Schools, Tell Us Right Away
Ready or not, Miami-Dade public schools are reopening on Monday. They are doing so under pressure from a crude and cruel threat from the state’s Republican leadership to either open by Oct. 5 or risk losing at least $85 million state funding. They are doing so despite scared parents and COVID-vulnerable kids. They are doing so even though the teachers union says schools still aren’t 100 percent prepared. Some teachers would rather retire than return to the classroom. As important as returning everyone to school buildings as safely as humanly possible, is the need for absolute transparency from the school district. The community must know where the coronavirus has been found — and it will be found — in schools and its other facilities, how people will be alerted and what remedial measure will be taken — including shutting down again if need be. (10/4)

The Wall Street Journal: The Covid Testing Bait-And-Switch 
How many times have we heard from the experts that if only the U.S. did more testing, we could finally get the coronavirus under the control? Well, now we’re learning from the cluster of cases surrounding President Trump about the limits of testing. The White House screens every visitor including the 200 or so guests who attended the nomination ceremony for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26. President Trump is tested daily. Few businesses or other institutions could afford such comprehensive testing, but the President merits the best protection. Still, no testing strategy is foolproof. (10/5)

Bloomberg: Russia's Second Wave Raises Risk Of Economic Scars
Russia has done better than expected in the face of a pandemic and unprecedented oil crisis. That relative stability masks weaknesses that will impede its ability to recover fast, even if it can limit the cost of a second wave. Coronavirus cases are surging again: Russia reported nearly 11,000 new infections on Monday, the most since mid-May. Only around a third were in Moscow. Officials are hoping lockdowns can still be lighter than last time to limit economic pain. Experience, though, suggests that could also draw out the human and financial damage. This, at a time when fading fiscal support, lackluster oil prices, protectionism and geopolitical ructions further darkens unimpressive long-term prospects. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 10/6)

Modern Healthcare: Local Pharmacies Play Growing Role In Expanding Primary-Care Access
Pharmacies can—and should where allowed—take pressure off the health system, and they have a demonstrated track record. It was during another public health crisis, H1N1, that pharmacists became key to immunization strategies, creating programs that now allow us to widely administer immunizations. And looking at data from an influenza epidemic simulation study published in 2018, by vastly expanding access to vaccinations, pharmacies were estimated to have saved up to $2.8 billion for third-party payers by lessening the number and severity of flu cases, and nearly $100 billion for society in productivity losses and earnings. (Rick Gates, 10/5)

Stat: The U.S. Needs To Support American-Made Medicines 
Two years ago, a group of U.S. hospitals launched Civica Rx, a nonprofit generic drug company that I have the honor to lead. Its core mission is to deliver quality medicines at sustainable prices. From the very start, part of Civica’s approach has included an emphasis whenever possible on American-made medicines and the active ingredients from which they are made. That’s because a drug’s supply chain is a key part of quality, and short supply chains are less susceptible to disruption. (Martin Vantrieste, 10/5)

The Hill: What Americans Should Do To Prevent HIV/AIDS 
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many states are in varying states of opening. As states open, we should not forget about our sexual health. COVID-19 has impacted American sexuality, although the impact may be different depending on a person’s age, relationship status, or sexual preferences, etc. Due to the stressors of COVID- 19, people may find themselves engaging in behavior that they did not before the pandemic. (Candice A. Sternberg, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Is A Fearsome Killer. Trump’s Magical Thinking Will Not Change That.
We wish President Trump and the first lady speedy recovery from the coronavirus. We wish the infected White House staff speedy recovery, and the unknown number of people in this cluster who might have caught the virus over the last week or so, from Cleveland to Duluth to Bedminster to the White House Rose Garden. But every one of them — and the nation as a whole — must reject Mr. Trump’s unconscionable declaration Monday: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” This disease is a fearsome killer, and Mr. Trump’s magical thinking will not change that.We had hoped that perhaps once Mr. Trump tested positive, once he was on oxygen and had to be hospitalized, he would be chastened, perhaps gaining a better understanding of the fear and anger across the country at his botched handling of the pandemic. (10/5)

Chicago Tribune: Most Trump Supporters Wouldn't Get The Same Health Care He's Getting For COVID
It was the hottest ticket of the year for conservatives. They were inching toward the dream of a lifetime, having a solid majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. When the invitation came to attend Donald Trump’s announcement of his pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, what gun-loving, abortion-hating Republican would turn it down? So about 150 people sat shoulder to shoulder in the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 26, most without masks. They hugged, shook hands, bumped fists, whispered in each other’s ears and cheered the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. It was as if the COVID-19 pandemic was over or never existed at all. (Dahleen Glanton, 10/5)

Stat: Access To Medical Oxygen: A Glaring Global Inequity 
Since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic more than six months ago, we have passed many grim milestones — worldwide, there have now been more than 35 million cases and 1 million deaths from the disease. As the virus continues to expand its reach, it is worsening the public health disparities and inequities that advocates have been warning about for decades and making the devastating consequences of inaction harder and harder to ignore. (David Walton and Jim Ansara, 10/6)

Fox News: Trump's COVID Prognosis – Here's Why I Am So Optimistic
President Trump continues to make progress as he receives treatment for COVID-19. He has a 99 percent survival rate according to the data but in reality it may be higher.  That’s because the president is benefiting from the latest state-of-the-art care: a medication that is directly attacking the virus (Remdesavir), another medication that neutralizes the spike protein (Regeneron’s polyclonal antibodies), and a medication that is reducing the inflammation that damages the lungs (dexamethasone). These therapeutics mean the older published case fatality rate of 3.4% for the president’s profile (a male 71-75 years old with one comorbidity) is approximately 80-85% lower today than in March and April from which the 3.4% number was derived. (Martin Makary, 10/5)

The New York Times: Why Fox News Is Still In A Coronavirus Bubble
Back in the 1950s, the psychologist Leon Festinger came up with cognitive dissonance theory, which can essentially be described as the very human desire to reconcile the irreconcilable. Our brains, he realized, will go to baroque lengths — do magic tricks, even — to preserve the integrity of our worldview, even when the facts inconveniently club us over the head with a two-by-four. Festinger’s most famous case study was of a cult that believed life on Earth would come to an end in a great flood around Christmas of 1954. The waters never came (obviously), but the leader had an explanation: She and her followers had warded off the apocalypse with the unflagging power of their faith. Today, perhaps the best case study of cognitive dissonance theory can be found in the prime-time lineup on Fox News, where Donald Trump’s most dedicated supporters are struggling mightily to make sense of the president’s Covid-19 diagnosis. (Jennifer Senior, 10/5)

The Washington Post: I Was Afraid Of Covid-19, Mr. President. I’m Not Ashamed Of It. 
On Oct. 2, the day President Trump was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for coronavirus treatment, some 840 of his fellow Americans perished from covid-19. By Monday, Oct. 5, I gather, Trump was feeling better. “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.” Trump tweeted. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” To hear the president tell it, covid-19 is better than a spa weekend. (Megan McArdle, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump And Covid
All Americans wishing President Donald Trump a speedy recovery received some encouraging news on Monday morning. Meanwhile a mouthpiece for the Chinese communist regime seems to have given up trying to blame Mr. Trump for contracting Covid-19. (James Freeman, 10/5)

Politico: A Sick Donald Trump Takes His Own Medicine. How Will That Go? 
He wants you to believe that the worst of his infection has passed because he was strong enough to sit at a table and be photographed signing a document. He wants you to believe that he is getting better because he took a ride in a Secret Service SUV. He wants you to believe he’s out of the woods because he’s getting out of the hospital. “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote in his tweet Monday afternoon. “Don’t let it dominate your life”—an easy thing to say if you’re the recipient of the best (and free) 24-7 health care in the world. He wants you to believe that all is well because he’s “getting great reports from the doctors,” as he said in a Sunday video from Walter Reed. If he’s really getting such great reports from the docs, he must be the first sick person in history to conceal the actual evidence that he’s getting better. (Jack Shafer, 10/5)

Des Moines Register: Let's Hope Everyone From Trump On Down Takes COVID-19 Seriously Now
He has deemed it less serious than the flu, or on its way out, or treatable with quack remedies. He has contradicted members of the White House COVID-19 task force who didn't share his sunny outlook. His attitude has been adopted by governors of Trump's Republican Party, such as Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. Like him, she has shunned mandates that could make us safer.  She at least had the option of requiring tougher measures but refused to take it. And she won't give localities or school districts the option to set their own safety mandates. Now Trump is paying a personal price that we hope won't be nearly as steep as the one more than 207,000 people in this country have paid — their lives. And many Americans must face the risk of getting it without health coverage, flexible work options, living situations or access to testing and protective equipment. (Rekha Basu, 10/2)

The Washington Post: Americans Showed Trump Compassion. He Repaid Us With Contempt.
Americans of all political stripes wished President Trump well in his battle with covid-19. Now he is repaying our compassion with reckless disregard and callous contempt for the well-being of anybody but himself. Trump, announcing via Twitter on Monday afternoon that he was ending his hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after three days, told Americans that the pandemic is no big deal. “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life,” he wrote. “I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” he added. A more selfish man has never occupied his high office. He received a cutting-edge treatment, monoclonal antibodies, unavailable to virtually all other Americans. He received an antiviral, remdesivir, that is rationed for ordinary Americans. He required oxygen and steroids. (Dana Milbank, 10/5)

Stat: The 'Irony Of The Day': Covid-19 At The White House Is A Simple Matter Of Workplace Transmission 
President Trump’s news via Twitter early Friday that “@FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19” came as a surprise and shock to some, but was a just-a-matter-of-time event for others. I reached out to experts around the U.S. for their perspectives on Covid-19 transmission at the White House, caring for celebrity patients, and caring for geriatric patients with Covid-19. (Patrick Skerrett, 10/5)

Chicago Tribune: Trump Puts Secret Service Agents At Risk During Ride, But Relax
As President Donald Trump continues to battle COVID-19, a number of questions have come up about the accuracy of health updates coming from his medical team and the decision to allow him to take a Sunday SUV ride to wave at supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center. As a self-appointed member of President Trump’s nationwide team of citizen-physicians, I want to assure Americans the president is doing unbelievably fantastic and everything you’re hearing about him is accurate. First, let me share my credentials. I am an almost-graduate of the Central Florida Institute of Therapeutic Clown Medicine and Exotic Dancing and a member in good standing of the Coalition of Ombudsmen Validating Information about Donald, or COVID. (Rex Huppke, 10/5)