Reuters: U.S. Tops 3 Million Known Infections As Coronavirus Surges 
The U.S. coronavirus outbreak crossed a grim milestone of over 3 million confirmed cases on Tuesday as more states reported record numbers of new infections, and Florida faced an impending shortage of intensive care unit hospital beds. (O'Hare and Shumaker, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: New Coronavirus Cases Hit Daily Record In U.S., With 60,000 
The U.S. reported 60,000 new coronavirus cases, a single-day record, with infections continuing to rise rapidly in states such as Florida and Texas. The total number in the U.S. neared three million on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Daily case numbers had fallen below 50,000 for several days before Tuesday, but public-health experts had cautioned that fewer tests take place on weekends and that coronavirus infections that are detected might not be reported until the following week. The U.S. death toll stands at more than 131,000, according to Johns Hopkins. (Hall, 7/8)

NBC News: U.S. Has Seen More Than 3 Million Coronavirus Cases
In the first five days of July, the U.S. reported 250,000 new cases nationwide. Florida twice set records in that period. The state reported 11,4000 new cases on the Fourth of July alone. (Madani, 7/7)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Reports Record 10,000 New Coronavirus Cases; 75 Deaths 
Texas reported its deadliest day from the coronavirus on Tuesday, with 75 deaths and a record-shattering 10,400 new infections statewide, according to a data analysis and reporting by Hearst Newspapers. Also, Texas set a new record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with 9,286. The state now has more than twice as many people hospitalized for the virus as two weeks ago. Some hospitals are quickly running out of space for new patients. (Wallace, 7/7)

CNN: Fauci Warns Against 'False Complacency' As Trump Touts Falling Coronavirus Death Rate
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday that Americans shouldn't take comfort in the dropping death rate among coronavirus patients in the US even as President Donald Trump touts the trend as evidence of a successful response to the virus. "It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death," Fauci said during a live stream press conference with Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, a Democrat. "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency." (LeBlanc, 7/7)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Cases Top 3 Million, Fauci Warns Against Misreading A Falling Death Rate 
“By allowing yourself to get infected because of risky behavior, you are part of the propagation of the outbreak,” [Fauci] said. “There are so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don’t get yourself into false complacency.” (7/7)

The Hill: Trump Breaks With Fauci: US In 'Good Place' In Fight Against Virus
President Trump broke with top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday by saying the U.S. is in a “good place” in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Greta Van Susteren of "Full Court Press" questioned the president on how to “reconcile” Fauci’s recent warnings about the U.S.’s handling of the coronavirus with other “encouraging news” such as the “possibilities of a vaccine coming out.” “Well, I think we are in a good place,” Trump said. “I disagree with him. Dr. Fauci said don’t wear masks, and now he says wear them." (Coleman, 7/7)

CNN: Trump Rebukes Fauci's Coronavirus Assessment: 'I Think We Are In A Good Place'
"We've done a good job," the President said. "I think we are going to be in two, three, four weeks, by the time we next speak, I think we're going to be in very good shape." The President's comments come after Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, had said Monday that the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the US is "really not good." (LeBlanc, 7/7)

CNN: US Coronavirus: Death Rates May Be Down, But Coronavirus Cases And Hospitalizations Are Surging 
While the Covid-19 mortality rate may be on the decline, the nearly 3 million cases and ICUs at capacity show the US is still in the grips of a pandemic with no signs of slowing. "It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned in a press conference Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat. "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency." (Holcombe, 7/8)

Also —

The Washington Post: Birx Says U.S. Underestimated Community Spread Among Young People 
The Trump administration’s covid-19 response coordinator acknowledged Tuesday that the country was not prepared for the spread of the disease among young Americans — a key factor in recent spikes of infection across several states. On a video conference hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank, Deborah Birx, the physician who oversees the White House pandemic response, said leaders in states that were not hard-hit early on “thought they would be forever spared through this,” and when they reopened their economies, they didn’t expect a surge in cases spurred by a cohort of mostly millennials. (Shammas, Taylor, Denham, Kornfield, Thebault, Brice-Saddler, Sonmez, Knowles and Shepherd, 7/7)

The Hill: Birx Links Coronavirus Spikes To States That 'Stepped On The Gas' When Reopening
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said cases are spiking in some parts of the country because states “stepped on the gas” while reopening. Birx told the "Wharton Business Daily" podcast on Tuesday that while states in the Northeast are experiencing a "slight uptick," their situations are much more controlled now than states in the South, which opened much more abruptly. (Moreno, 7/7)

PBS NewsHour: More States Are Seeing ICUs Reach Capacity As Coronavirus Spreads 
Coronavirus infections are on the rise in 42 states, with the national total passing the 3 million mark. In the hardest-hit areas, including parts of Florida, intensive care units are filled to the brim with patients, and communities are grappling with testing shortages and delays. But some officials, including President Trump, are downplaying the crisis and pushing to reopen. (Yang, 7/7)

CNN: Texas And Arizona ER Doctors Say They Are Losing Hope As Hospitals Reach Capacity 
As concerns over the capacity of hospitals resurface amid surging Covid-19 cases, two emergency room doctors say they worry about where the pandemic could take them next. Dr. Mina Tran, an emergency room doctor in Texas, said 70 to 80% of her patients have been admitted with upper respiratory or coronavirus complaints. In Arizona, which saw its lowest-ever number of available ICU beds Tuesday, Dr. Murtaza Akhter told Lemon so many patients are coming in that he is already having to make tough decisions over resources. (Holcombe, 7/8)

CNN: US Coronavirus: 56 Florida Hospital ICUs Have Hit Capacity 
The worsening coronavirus pandemic hit a series of somber peaks across the United States on Tuesday, renewing fears that more hospitals could be overloaded with Covid-19 patients. At least 56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals reached capacity on Tuesday, state officials said. Another 35 hospitals show ICU bed availability of 10% or less, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration in that state. (Chavez and Holcombe, 7/7)

Reuters: Dozens Of Florida Hospitals Out Of Available ICU Beds, State Data Shows 
More than four dozen hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units (ICUs) have reached full capacity on Tuesday as COVID-19 cases surge in the state and throughout the country. Hospital ICUs were full at 54 hospitals across 25 of Florida’s 67 counties, according to data published on Tuesday morning by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. More than 300 hospitals were included in the report, but not all had adult ICUs. (Caspani and Borter, 7/7)

The New York Times: W.H.O. To Review Evidence Of Airborne Transmission Of Coronavirus 
After hundreds of experts urged the World Health Organization to review mounting scientific research, the agency acknowledged on Tuesday that airborne transmission of the coronavirus may be a threat in indoor spaces. W.H.O. expert committees are going over evidence on transmission of the virus and plan to release updated recommendations in a few days, agency scientists said in a news briefing. (Mandavilli, 7/7)

CNN: 'Emerging Evidence' Of Airborne Transmission Of Coronavirus, Says WHO 
The World Health Organization confirmed there is "emerging evidence" of airborne transmission of the coronavirus following the publication of a letter Monday signed by 239 scientists that urged the agency to be more forthcoming about the likelihood that people can catch the virus from droplets floating in the air. Dr. Benedetta Alleganzi, WHO Technical Lead for Infection Prevention and Control, said during a briefing Tuesday, that the agency has discussed and collaborated with many of the scientists who signed the letter. (Erdman, 7/8)

Reuters: WHO Acknowledges 'Evidence Emerging' Of Airborne Spread Of COVID-19 
The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people. (7/7)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Signals Formal Withdrawal From W.H.O. 
The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization, a move that would cut off one of the largest sources of funding from the premier global health organization in the middle of a pandemic. “The United States’ notice of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to the U.N. secretary general, who is the depository for the W.H.O.,” a senior administration official said on Tuesday. (Rogers and Mandavilli, 7/7)

The Washington Post: It's America Vs. World As Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads And Hospitalizations Rise 
Amid a resurgent pandemic and rising hospitalizations, President Trump pitted America against the world on Tuesday, moving to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization while his FBI director accused China of hacking U.S. health-care companies that are researching the novel coronavirus. (Partlow, 7/7)

AP: US Notifies UN Of Withdrawal From World Health Organization
The withdrawal notification makes good on President Donald Trump’s vow in late May to terminate U.S. participation in the WHO, which he has harshly criticized for its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused of bowing to Chinese influence. The move was immediately assailed by health officials and critics of the administration, including numerous Democrats who said it would cost the U.S. influence in the global arena. (Lee, 7/7)

Reuters: U.S. Withdrawal From WHO Over Claims Of China Influence To Take Effect July 2021: U.N. 
After more than 70 years of membership, the United States moved to quit the WHO amid escalating tensions with China over the coronavirus pandemic. The virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The WHO has denied assertions by Trump that it promoted Chinese “disinformation” about the virus. (Nichols, 7/7)

The Hill: Trump WHO Withdrawal Could Boomerang On US 
The Trump administration's decision to begin a formal withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) will forfeit substantial power and leverage at the leading global public agency at exactly the moment when the United States held its greatest strength. At the same time, public health experts and officials warned, America's exit will put more people around the world at risk of disease and death, and it could even put Americans at a disadvantage at a time when a pandemic is raging. (Wilson, 7/7)

And response from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: Trump's WHO Decision Raises Bipartisan Concerns In House 
President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns among a number of top House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as the U.S. grapples with a rising death toll from COVID-19. The administration announced the decision — slated to go into effect on July 6, 2021 — on Tuesday after months of slamming the WHO’s initial handling of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. (Brufke, 7/7)

The Hill: GOP Health Committee Chair Says He Disagrees With Trump's WHO Decision 
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Tuesday he disagrees with President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Alexander, who is retiring when his term is up in January, acknowledged the WHO has stumbled in its response to the pandemic but said the time to take action would be after COVID-19 has been “dealt with.” (Axelrod, 7/7)

The New York Times: Trump Presses Schools To Reopen 
President Trump demanded on Tuesday that schools reopen physically in the fall, pressing his drive to get the country moving again even as the coronavirus pandemic surged through much of the United States and threatened to overwhelm some health care facilities. In a daylong series of conference calls and public events at the White House, the president, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other senior officials opened a concerted campaign to lean on governors, mayors and others to resume classes in person months after more than 50 million children were abruptly ejected from school buildings in March. (Baker and Green, 7/7)

NPR: As Coronavirus Cases Spike, Trump Pushes Reopening Schools
The president spoke alongside first lady Melania Trump, administration officials and teachers as part of planned programming from the White House to push for the reopening of schools. Despite Trump's comments, senior administration officials said on a background call with reporters Tuesday morning that the decision to reopen public schools remains a local one. (Sprunt, 7/7)

AP: Trump Pushes State, Local Leaders To Reopen Schools In Fall
President Donald Trump launched an all-out effort pressing state and local officials to reopen schools this fall, arguing that some are keeping schools closed not because of the risks from the coronavirus pandemic but for political reasons. “They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House discussion on school plans for the fall. (Binkley, 7/8)

ABC News: Trump Insists Schools 'Must Open' In Fall, Says He'll 'Put Pressure' On Governors To Do So 
The White House focus on education amid the ongoing pandemic comes the day after Florida’s education commissioner signed an emergency order saying “all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools at least five days per week for all students,” subject to change based on future executive orders and advice of local health departments. The move, which comes as Florida is experiencing a surge in cases, received quick backlash from Florida Education Association President Fredrick Ingram, who said, “It’s clear in communications with our members that educators are scared.” (Phelps and Tatum, 7/7)

The Hill: Trump Says White House Will Pressure Governors To Open Schools 
Safely reopening schools relies strongly on administrators implementing and students complying with social distancing protocols, wearing face coverings and washing hands regularly. But [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert] Redfield acknowledged the government has had difficulty convincing younger people of the importance of those steps. (Samuels and Hellmann, 7/7)

Also —

Politico: DeVos Blasts School Districts That Hesitate At Reopening 
President Donald Trump in a ramped-up push to reopen schools vowed Tuesday to “put pressure” on reluctant governors, while Education Secretary Betsy DeVos blasted education leaders who won’t accept risk and “gave up and didn’t try” to launch summer instruction. But the result was intensifying tensions with teachers unions and leading school groups, including the PTA, who charged that the Trump administration in a "vacuum of leadership" has "zero credibility in the minds of educators and parents when it comes to this major decision." The dispute leaves the White House deeply at odds with many involved in making major decisions in the next few weeks about reopening schools. (Gaudiano, 7/7)

The Hill: DeVos Demands 'Fully Operational' Schools In The Fall: 'Not A Matter Of If' 
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday told the country's governors in a conference call that she expects schools to be "fully operational" come the fall, regardless of the coronavirus pandemic. “Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if schools need to open, it’s a matter of how," DeVos told governors, The Associated Press reports. "School[s] must reopen, they must be fully operational. And how that happens is best left to education and community leaders." (Johnson, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Seeks To Continue Detaining Parents After U.S. Judge Orders ICE To Free Migrant Children
The U.S. government told a federal judge Tuesday that it might separate detained immigrant families by continuing to hold parents after another federal judge ordered their children released because of the spreading coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C., gave the Trump administration until Thursday to decide whether it would oppose a similar order releasing parents and set a hearing for Monday. (Hsu, 7/7)

In other news, the administration is launching the REACH initiative -

AP: US Government Launches Campaign To Reduce High Suicide Rates
The federal government launched a broad national campaign Tuesday aimed at reducing high suicide rates, urging the public to reach out to others, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, and acknowledge daily stresses in people’s lives. Known as REACH, the government campaign is the core part of a $53 million, two-year effort announced by President Donald Trump to reduce suicide, particularly among veterans. (Yen, 7/7)

The Associated Press: Chief Justice Roberts Recently Spent A Night In A Hospital
Chief Justice John Roberts spent a night in a hospital last month after he fell and injured his forehead, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Tuesday night. Roberts was walking for exercise near his home June 21 when he fell, court spokeswoman Kathleen L. Arberg said in an emailed statement. The injury required sutures, she said, and out of an abundance of caution, Roberts stayed in the hospital overnight. (7/8)

The Washington Post: Chief Justice John Roberts Hospitalized After Injuring His Head In A Fall
Roberts has twice experienced seizures, in 1993 and in 2007, but Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said doctors ruled out that possibility in the latest incident. Doctors believe he was dehydrated, she said. Roberts did not publicly disclose the matter, and the court’s confirmation came in response to an inquiry from The Washington Post, which received a tip. (Barnes, 7/7)

Politico: Chief Justice Roberts Was Hospitalized After Head Injury
“The Chief Justice was treated at a local hospital on June 21 for an injury to his forehead sustained in a fall while walking for exercise near his home,” a Supreme Court spokeswoman, Kathleen Arberg, said in statement. “The injury required sutures, and out of an abundance of caution, he stayed in the hospital overnight and was discharged the next morning.” Roberts, 65, has a history of seizures, but Arberg said that was not believed to have been what led to the chief justice’s injury last month. (Gerstein, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Chief Justice Roberts Hospitalized Overnight Last Month After A Fall 
The injury was reported Tuesday by the Washington Post, which said it received a tip about it. Several people witnessed the incident at the Chevy Chase Club, located in the Maryland suburb near the chief justice’s home, the newspaper said. The court didn’t disclose the incident before the newspaper’s inquiry. (Bravin, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Primary Care Should Be A Top Medicaid Priority, Think Tank Says
Congress should make primary care a top priority for the Medicaid program, the nonpartisan Bipartisan Policy Center said in a report Monday. The group called on Congress to support a comprehensive framework to improve primary care by directing HHS to help states share best practices and innovations and measure and report "spending on primary care as a percentage of total healthcare spending." In addition, Congress should fully fund the Primary Care Extension Program. (Brady, 7/7)

CNBC: How To Handle Medicare Coverage If You Relocate
For Medicare beneficiaries who are eyeing a move to another state, be sure to consider what your coverage would look like once you get there. Whether you already were planning to relocate or the coronavirus pandemic has sparked the idea, it’s important to know the various Medicare rules that apply to such moves, how costs may be different in your new state and how long you get to make changes. (O'Brien, 7/8)

Politico: Trump’s Convention Bash Upended By Florida’s Coronavirus Crisis
President Donald Trump redirected the Republican National Convention to Florida after North Carolina's Democratic governor couldn’t “guarantee” a full venue in August because of the coronavirus pandemic. But with coronavirus cases skyrocketing in Florida as Trump's poll numbers drop in his must-win battleground state, it looks like the president won't get his full-blown festivities there, either. (Caputo and Fineout, 7/7)

AP: Trump 'Flexible' On Size Of Convention As Lawmakers Shy Away
With coronavirus cases surging in Florida, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s “flexible” on the size of the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville. The president spoke as a growing number of Senate Republicans said they’d skip the event, and even as the White House tried to tamp down nationwide concern about the virus’s spread. (Kellman, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Republicans Split Over Attending Convention 
Politicians, donors and party officials, especially seniors at higher risk of complications from the disease, now face a difficult choice between a personal risk to their health and a potential backlash from the president and his supporters. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 78, indicated Tuesday he will attend the convention, but two other top Senate Republicans, Iowa’s Charles E. Grassley, 86, and Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, 80, are taking a pass. (Scherer and Dawsey, 7/7)

The Hill: Romney, Collins, Murkowski Won't Attend GOP Convention 
Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will not attend the GOP convention next month in Florida, aides for the senators confirmed to The Hill. An aide for Collins noted that she was never planning to attend the GOP convention because she does not go when she herself is up for reelection. Collins is in a tight race this year that could be pivotal in determining who holds the Senate majority in the next Congress. Spokespeople for Romney and Murkowski didn't immediately respond to follow-up questions about whether their plans were related to the coronavirus as the country sees an increase in cases. (Carney, 7/7)

NPR: Some Republican Senators Plan To Skip GOP Convention
As for Collins, an aide said she's skipping as part of a long-running tradition not to go during reelection years. Collins "never made plans to attend the convention because she has never attended the national convention in years when she is up for election," the aide said. In 2016, Collins attended the convention despite saying she would not support President Trump. (Grisales, 7/8)

In related news out of Florida —

ABC News: Trump Admin. To Flood Jacksonville With Free Testing Ahead Of GOP Convention 
The Trump administration has picked Jacksonville, Florida -- the site of the planned GOP convention -- as one of three cities in the country where it will set up free "surge testing" sites to try to catch people who are infected with the virus but aren’t showing symptoms. The idea behind the experimental push is to create pop-up sites to test some 5,000 people a day for five to 12 days in one area -- a kind of turbo-charged testing effort that would expose how widespread the virus is in that community. (Flaherty, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Florida Invited The Nation To Its Reopening — Then It Became A New Coronavirus Epicenter 
As the coronavirus savaged other parts of the country, Florida, buoyed by low infection rates, seemed an ideal location for a nation looking to emerge from isolation. The Republican National Convention moved from Charlotte to Jacksonville, the NBA eyed a season finale at a Disney sports complex near Orlando and millions packed onto once-empty beaches. Weeks later, the Sunshine State has emerged as a coronavirus epicenter. (Wootson Jr., Stanley-Becker and Rozsa, 7/7)

The Washington Post: In New Guidance, CDC Recommends Alternatives In Addition To In-Person Voting To Avoid Spreading Coronavirus 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that voters consider alternatives to casting their ballots in person during upcoming elections, as states expand absentee and early voting options for November amid fears of spreading the coronavirus. The guidance was issued with little fanfare on June 22 and suggested that state and local election officials take steps to minimize crowds at voting locations, including offering “alternative voting methods.” President Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that one popular alternative — mail-in ballots — promotes widespread voter fraud. (Ye Hee Lee, 7/7)

Stateline: Election Experts Warn Of November Disaster 
After a presidential primary season plagued by long lines, confusion over mail-in voting and malfunctioning equipment, election experts are increasingly concerned about the resiliency of American democracy in the face of a global pandemic. With four months until the presidential election, the litany of unresolved issues could block some voters from casting ballots and lead many citizens to distrust the outcome of one of the most pivotal races of their lifetimes. (Vasilogambros, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Candidates Confront 2020 Election Campaigns Remade By Coronavirus 
Politicians trying to campaign during the coronavirus pandemic are confronting the risks of courting voters in person and relying on newer, less-proven online operations that are fit for social distancing. The coronavirus lockdown forced campaigns online at an accelerated clip this spring, resulting in a flood of live-streamed candidate meet-and-greets, fundraisers via videoconference and virtual volunteer training sessions by Republicans and Democrats alike. (Glazer and Jamerson, 7/6)

CNN: Massachusetts Governor Signs Bill Allowing All Voters To Vote By Mail
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill on Monday allowing all registered voters in the Bay State to vote by mail in the primary and general elections this fall if they choose, his office confirmed to CNN. The new law means Massachusetts joins other states -- including Michigan, Nevada, California, New Hampshire and Wisconsin -- in moving to make it easier for more people to vote by mail as coronavirus infection numbers climb and states are forced to look ahead to the November election. (Ehrlich, 7/7)

In news from Joe Biden's campaign —

AP: Biden Wants US To Produce More Of Its Own Pandemic Supplies
Joe Biden is promising to shift production of medical equipment and other key pandemic-fighting products “back to U.S. soil,” creating jobs and bolstering a domestic supply chain he says has been exposed as inadequate and vulnerable by the coronavirus outbreak. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign released a plan Tuesday to reinforce stockpiles of a “range of critical products on which the U.S. is dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers” in places like China and Russia. (Weissert, 7/7)

BBC News: Biden Vows To Reverse Trump WHO Withdrawal
US Democratic challenger Joe Biden has said he will reverse President Donald Trump's move to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) "on day one" if he wins November's election. (7/8)

ABC News: Biden Preparing For 'Multiple Scenarios' On COVID-19 Vaccine: Official 
With the November election fewer than four months away and the number of coronavirus cases again surging in the United States, former vice president Joe Biden is preparing for a range of realities when it comes to dealing with the virus if he is elected president, according to an official. "I would say the vice president and the team are working through multiple scenarios. One of those scenarios would involve the existence of a vaccine, in which case, one of the biggest tasks would be the broad-based manufacture and equitable distribution of that vaccine which is an enormous logistical challenge," the official said on a call Tuesday morning. (Nagle and Verhovek, 7/7)

Reuters: As Insurers Face Hefty Pandemic Losses, Newcomers See Chance To Step In 
Commercial insurers are facing hefty claims from the coronavirus crisis but are also seeing a steep rise in premiums – tempting companies and industry veterans to raise capital, launch new businesses or expand into new lines. New insurance ventures sprang up after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The industry is hoping to replicate that process as premiums increase because of the fallout from pandemic. (Cohn, 7/8)

Stat: In Hospital Ranking, Doing Good Counts Nearly As Much As Doing Well 
You won’t find the usual suspects like Massachusetts General Hospital or the Mayo Clinic at the top of a new ranking of U.S. hospitals. That’s because the rating system relies not just on traditional quality measures, but also on a hospital’s community-minded policies and avoidance of unnecessary care. The rankings show that those hospitals with good clinical outcomes tend to score poorly in addressing inequities that affect the health of their communities. (Begley, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: New Ranking System Compares Hospitals By Equity, Community Benefit
Hospitals' charity care spending and other community benefits carry more weight in a new online ranking system that goes beyond traditional quality and safety information. The not-for-profit Lown Institute developed the ranking system, which launched Tuesday and evaluates charity care spending, the amount of low-value services hospitals provide and their patient demographics compared with the community. Other popular ranking systems such as CMS' star ratings, the Leapfrog Group and U.S. News and World Report largely rely on outcomes measures to help consumers decide where to get care. (Castellucci, 7/7)

Crain's Chicago Business: How COVID-19 Threatens Healthcare In Chicago County
Chicago's county public health system faces a financial reckoning as COVID-19 drives up costs and drains revenue. Two-hospital Cook County Health was under pressure before the pandemic to cut spending and address a rising burden of uncompensated care without a permanent leader. Now $30 million behind budget, the system is grappling with increased costs like employee overtime and shrinking revenues due to fewer nonemergency surgeries and routine appointments. (Goldberg, 7/6)

Modern Healthcare: Quorum Health Emerges From Bankruptcy, Announces New CEO
Quorum Health announced Tuesday it has emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a new CEO, new board and stronger financial footing. Former Acadia Healthcare CEO Joey Jacobs is the new head of the embattled hospital chain, based in Brentwood, Tenn. For-profit Quorum said it achieved the plan outlined in its April restructuring agreement with lenders of reducing debt by about $500 million. The agreement included a $100 million commitment from bondholders and a $200 million equity commitment in exchange for shares in the reorganized company. Quorum said it also restructured its balance sheet. (Bannow, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Physicians' Offices Big Beneficiaries Of Small-Business COVID-19 Relief Loans
Physicians' offices hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic received a significant share of forgivable small-business COVID-19 relief loans, according to new government data. After intense public pressure, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration released loan-level data about Paycheck Protection Program loans above $150,000. The healthcare sector received more than 12% of the total loans disclosed, and the biggest recipients in the healthcare sector were physicians' offices. (Cohrs, 7/7)

The Hill: Coronavirus Surge Puts Renewed Strain On Testing Capacity 
The surge in coronavirus cases across the country has put a strain on U.S. testing capacity — again. Six months into the pandemic, the U.S. has significantly increased its testing abilities. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the nation averages about 600,000 tests per week, and the country conducted about 15 million diagnostic tests in June alone, according to the COVID Tracking Project. (Weixel, 7/7)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus CA: Sacramento Test Centers Closing Amid Case Surge 
The coronavirus pandemic is becoming an increasingly urgent situation in the Sacramento region and across California as a whole, both of which are grappling with record-setting influxes of new cases and quickly filling intensive care units of some hospitals. The newest and most severe local setback came with Monday’s announcement that Sacramento County will need to at least temporarily close five community test centers this week, all of them in underserved communities, due to a lack of testing materials caused by a nationwide supply shortage. (McGough, 7/7)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp Seeks Federal Funds And Expanded COVID-19 Testing In Gwinnett
Gov. Brian Kemp has asked the federal government to send more resources to expand COVID-19 testing in Gwinnett County and to renew funds needed to keep the National Guard staffing testing sites around the state. Kemp on Tuesday asked for help getting personal protective equipment like masks and gloves for the state’s first responders and essential workers and an extension in funding for the Georgia National Guard, which has been performing COVID-19 testing and sanitizing long-term care homes during the pandemic. (Coyne, 7/8)

AP: N.C. Residents Won't Need A Doctor's Order For A COVID Test
North Carolina announced Tuesday that residents will no longer need a doctor’s referral to get a coronavirus test. The order, lasting until Gov. Roy Cooper’s current state of emergency is rescinded, aims to encourage more Black, Hispanic and Native American residents to get tested. (Anderson, 7/7)

Kaiser Health News: COVID-Tracking Apps Proliferate, But Will They Really Help?
My 18-year-old daughter, Caroline, responded quickly when I told her that she’d soon be able to download an app to alert her when she had been in risky proximity to someone with COVID-19, and that public health officials hoped to fight the pandemic with such apps. “Yeah, but nobody will use them,” she replied. (Wolfson, 7/8)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Retool Contact-Tracing Processes For Staff Amid COVID-19
When a healthcare worker tests positive for COVID-19, it kicks off a labor-intensive process inside the hospital to track down which colleagues they've interacted with and therefore could be infected, too. That's not unique to the novel coronavirus. If an employee is diagnosed with an infectious disease that can be transmitted in the workplace, infection prevention and occupational health teams have to figure out who else might have been exposed. (Cohen, 7/7)

In related legislative news —

Modern Healthcare: Democrats Ask Trump Administration To Make Insurers Pay For Back-To-Work COVID Tests
Democratic leaders of House and Senate health-related committees asked the Trump administration to revise guidance that would exempt insurers from paying for occupational COVID-19 testing. (Cohrs, 7/7)

NPR: More States Require Masks In Public, But Enforcement Is Uneven 
A growing number of governors and mayors are working to slow the spread of the coronavirus by requiring people to wear masks in public places. Experts say these public health rules will reduce the risk of people getting sick. But some local police and sheriffs are refusing to enforce the rules. (Mann, 7/8)

CNN: Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan Governor, Calls For 'Mask-Up Campaign' Amid Coronavirus Surge 
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday called for a "national mask-up campaign," saying it is necessary for everyone, even those in the White House, to wear masks to stem the spread of coronavirus as the number of cases surge across the US. "It's incumbent on every one of us to mask-up, from the White House, to the state house, everywhere in between," Whitmer said. "We are seeing this play out across the country. We have to do our part to make sure that doesn't happen." (Duster, 7/7)

AP: Iowa Governor Decries Local Mandatory Mask Wearing
Local officials don’t have the authority to require that residents use masks to halt spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday, a day after the mayor of Muscatine issued such an order. Asked at a news conference about Muscatine Mayor Diana Broderson’s order, which took effect Monday, Reynolds said local officials need the governor’s approval to implement such rules. (Pitt, 7/7)

Kaiser Health News: In Texas, Individual Freedoms Clash With Efforts To Slow The Surge Of COVID Cases
The Fourth of July was a little different this year here in Texas’ biggest city. Parades were canceled and some of the region’s beaches were closed. At the city’s biggest fireworks show, “Freedom Over Texas,” fireworks were shot higher in the air to make it easier to watch from a distance. Other fireworks displays encouraged people to stay in their cars. After weeks of surging COVID-19 cases and dire warnings that Houston’s massive medical infrastructure would not be able to keep pace, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on July 2 requiring Texans to wear masks in public, after previously reversing course on the state’s reopening by again closing bars and reducing restaurant capacity. (West, 7/8)

Sacramento Bee: Yolo County CA Will Fine Businesses Who Break COVID-19 Rules 
With coronavirus cases rising, Yolo County on Tuesday passed an urgency ordinance giving county code officers the authority to fine businesses up to $10,000 for refusing to comply with state and county safety measures, including not requiring patrons to wear masks and allowing indoor dining. The ordinance, which goes into effect immediately, is the first such crackdown by a county in the Sacramento region. Cities in Southern California have imposed ordinances with fines in recent days. (Bizjak, 7/7)

Indianapolis Star: Masks In Indianapolis: What You Should Know About Mask Requirement
Starting Thursday, wearing a face covering, like a mask, in public spaces will be required in Marion County. Marion County Public Health Department Director Virginia Caine said the decision to require masks comes from an "abundance of caution" as the amount of COVID-19 cases increase in neighboring states. (Kemp, 7/8)

AP: Protective Gear For Medical Workers Begins To Run Low Again
The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. And Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall. (Mulvihill and Fassett, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Face Shields Vs. Masks: What To Wear On An Airplane During The Coronavirus Pandemic 
As mask rules have caused some controversy on U.S. airlines in recent months, Qatar Airways is taking an even stronger stance by requiring economy passengers and cabin crew to wear both face masks and face shields on board. In its recent announcement, the airline says it will provide passengers with a complimentary kit of disposable protective gear that includes a shield, surgical mask, gloves and hand sanitizer gel. (Compton, 7/7)

CNN: The Right (And Wrong) Way To Wear A Mask 
So, about masks -- they do next to nothing if you don't wear them properly. Yep, even the cloth coverings touted as the best thing since social distancing have instructions. We've laid them out below, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. (Andrew, 7/7)

CNN: The Upcoming School Year Has Everyone Worried. Here's What Experts Say 
As Covid-19 spread across the United States this spring, teachers, parents and students scrambled to move classes to online platforms such as Zoom and FaceTime. It was an enormous effort that seemed, to some, to offer few rewards. Supporting online learning left parents exhausted, even as they worried that their kids were slipping behind academically. Now, everyone wants to know: What will school be like in the fall? (Smith, 7/8)

AP: Missouri Summer Camp Virus Outbreak Raises Safety Questions
Missouri leaders knew the risk of convening thousands of kids at summer camps across the state during a pandemic, the state’s top health official said, and insisted that camp organizers have plans in place to keep an outbreak from happening. The outbreak happened anyway. (Beck and Stengle, 7/7)

CNN: Summer Learning: Does My Kid Need An Extra Boost In This Year Of Covid? 
During summers before the pandemic, I was delighted to let my 7-year-old explore different sides of himself than what he focuses on during the school year. This might have meant more time in nature, doing fun coding projects, binge-reading age-appropriate spy series or spraying his little brother with the hose. I saw it as enrichment, but not the intensive parenting variety in which each and every activity must fit inside a neat trajectory leading to college acceptance, leading to an impressive degree, leading to a top-notch resume, leading to an impressive job. Instead, I wanted him to discover new interests and have a good time. (Strauss, 7/7)

NPR: States Sue Education Department Over Allocation Of Pandemic Funds To Schools 
Several Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia have joined in a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, accusing the Trump administration of trying to unlawfully divert pandemic relief funds from public schools to private schools. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Michigan, Maine, New Mexico and Wisconsin have also joined. (Neuman, 7/7)

In other news —

Modern Healthcare: National School Nutrition Program Linked To Lower Obesity Rates
A federal program that aimed to improve kids' access to healthy food significantly reduced obesity rates in children from low-income families, according to a new study. The 2010 passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was associated with a 47% reduction in obesity prevalence in low-income kids, Harvard researchers found in a study published in Health Affairs that analyzed more than 173,000 students. That translated to more than 500,000 fewer cases of obesity among low-income kids, the health policy experts estimated, advocating for expanding access to the program as well as maintaining the act's original standards. (Kacik, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Care Delays Cause Blacks To Bear Brunt Of COVID-19 Illnesses, Deaths
Black Americans are more likely than white patients to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19, even when controlling for socio-economic status or health comorbidities, according to new research. Researchers analyzed electronic health records of more than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health between Jan.1 and April 8. They found Black patients were 2.7 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 after adjusting for income, age, sex and underlying health conditions. (Johnson, 7/7)

NBC News: Millions Of Americans Are Going Hungry As The Pandemic Erodes Incomes And Destroys Communities
As jobs vanish, incomes drop and food prices rise, more Americans are going to bed hungry — and advocates warn that without intervention from Congress, those numbers could rise to a level unseen in modern times. “People who never thought they'd experience food insecurity are now seeking food assistance,” said Luis Guardia, president of the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center. (White, 7/7)

ABC News: Meatpacking Facilities Still Present Challenge To Containing COVID-19, CDC Says 
As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country this summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday meatpacking plants still present challenges in preventing transmission of the virus and that racial or ethnic minority workers are at much higher risk of getting sick and dying. A new CDC analysis found that 16,233 workers in meat and poultry processing plants were infected with COVID-19 in April or May, according to data reported by 23 states. Eighty-seven percent of the workers were racial or ethnic minorities and 86 have died. (Ebbs, 7/7)

AP: 'Desperation Science' Slows The Hunt For Coronavirus Drugs
Desperate to solve the deadly conundrum of COVID-19, the world is clamoring for fast answers and solutions from a research system not built for haste. The ironic, and perhaps tragic, result: Scientific shortcuts have slowed understanding of the disease and delayed the ability to find out which drugs help, hurt or have no effect at all. (Marchione, 7/8)

Stat: A Disease Detective On The Frontlines Of WHO's Covid-19 Response
People who know Maria Van Kerkhove describe her as someone who has worked her whole life to be in this place, at this moment. This place is at the core of the World Health Organization’s coronavirus team, this moment is when the WHO is trying to steer the globe’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. No one would expect such a job to be anything less than highly stressful, but lately, the ride has been a rocky one. (Branswell, 7/8)

AP: Iowa Governor To Use $50M In Federal Money For Mental Health
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she would spend $50 million in federal funding on adult and childhood mental health and substance abuse programs. The money is part of the state’s allocation from the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, known as the CARES Act, that was approved by Congress and signed by the president in March. (Pitt, 7/7)

NBC News: Nearly Half The Employees At An Arizona ICE Detention Center Have Tested Positive For COVID-19
Nearly half the employees at an Arizona ICE detention center have tested positive for COVID-19, with a guard dying of the disease, and according to two employees and 14 migrants, a shortage of staff has left detainees in their cells without access to showers, laundry and other necessities. CoreCivic, the company contracted to run the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, said 127 of about 300 total CoreCivic employees at Eloy have tested positive since the start of the pandemic, although some have recovered and are back to work. (Ainsley and Soboroff, 7/8)

Kaiser Health News: COVID Cuts A Lethal Path Through San Quentin’s Death Row 
The old men live in cramped spaces and breathe the same ventilated air. Many are frail, laboring with heart disease, liver and prostate cancer, tuberculosis, dementia. And now, with the coronavirus advancing through their ranks, they are falling one after the next. This is not a nursing home, not in any traditional sense. It is California’s death row at San Quentin State Prison, north of San Francisco. Its 670 residents are serial killers, child murderers, men who killed for money and drugs, or shot their victims as part of their wasted gangster lives. Some have been there for decades, growing old behind bars. One is 90, and more than 100 are 65 or older. (Morain, 7/8)

ABC News: Florida Teen Who Died Of COVID-19 Attended Large Church Gathering, Was Given Hydroxychloroquine At Home 
A Florida teenager who died of complications from COVID-19 had attended a church event with a hundred other children two weeks before her death and was given hydroxychloroquine by her parents, health officials said. Carsyn Leigh Davis of Fort Myers died on June 23, two days after turning 17, at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. (Deliso, 7/7)

CNN: Can The AC Filter In Your Home, Office Or Local Mall Protect You From Covid-19? 
When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that malls in New York could not reopen until they installed high-efficiency particulate air filters capable of trapping the virus that causes Covid-19, Harvard environmental health researcher Joseph Gardner Allen was thrilled. "I've been writing consistently since early February about how healthy buildings should be the first line of defense against the novel coronavirus," said Allen, who directs the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (LaMotte, 7/7)

Stat: Proving Predictions Wrong, Health Tech Funding Keeps Climbing
Despite forecasts that investments in health tech would dry up by mid-year, venture funding for digital health companies continues to surge, a new report finds. The report, from health-tech-focused venture firm Rock Health, projects that 2020 will shatter annual records for investments, number of deals, and the average size of such deals. That projection counters previous predictions that the uptick in investments seen earlier this year would subside as the pandemic continued to take a toll. (Isselbacher, 7/8)

ABC News: How Charmin Workers Adapted To The COVID-19 Pandemic To Meet Demand For Toilet Paper 
In mid-March, as the coronavirus began to spread through the U.S. and the possibility of stay-at-home orders became real, scores of people became toilet paper hoarders. As companies scrambled to meet the demand -- some, like Cottonelle, even encouraging people to “share a square” -- many people were left wondering, “Why toilet paper, of all products?” (Kapetaneas, Sandell and Rivas, 7/7)

CNN: Opening Night Major League Soccer Match Is Postponed Due To Positive Covid-19 Tests 
MLS is not quite back. Major League Soccer's MLS is Back Tournament match between Nashville SC and Chicago Fire FC has been postponed, the league announced in a statement Tuesday. Five Nashville SC players have tested positive for coronavirus since arriving in Orlando, Florida last week. Two players received positive results last weekend and the other three received positive results Monday night. (Sterling, 7/7)

CNN: AIDS 2020: Researchers Describe A Possible Case Of HIV Remission And A New Method To Prevent Infection 
There were two notable announcements in the fight against HIV this week at AIDS 2020, the 23rd International AIDS Conference -- a possible case of long-term remission from the virus, and research that found an injection can prevent HIV. Scientists presenting at the conference said a Brazilian man might be the first person to experience long-term HIV remission after being treated with only an antiviral drug regimen -- not stem cell transplantation. (Howard, Thomas and Christensen, 7/7)

AP: Doctors Say Experimental Treatment May Have Rid Man Of HIV
A Brazilian man infected with the AIDS virus has shown no sign of it for more than a year since he stopped HIV medicines after an intense experimental drug therapy aimed at purging hidden, dormant virus from his body, doctors reported Tuesday. The case needs independent verification and it’s way too soon to speculate about a possible cure, scientists cautioned. (Marchione, 7/7)

AP: Health Panel May Open Lung Cancer Screening To More Smokers
A U.S. health panel wants to widen the number of Americans offered yearly scans for lung cancer by opening the screening to less-heavy smokers. Lung cancer is the nation’s top cancer killer, causing more than 135,000 deaths each year. Smoking is the chief cause and quitting the best protection. Usually, lung cancer is diagnosed too late for a good chance at survival. But research shows that annual low-dose CT scans, a type of X-ray, can reduce the risk of death when offered to certain people. (Neergaard, 7/7)

Stat: Lung Cancer Screening Guidance Would See More Black Patients Tested
A prominent panel of physicians and other medical experts recommended Tuesday that a wider swath of people in the U.S. be screened for lung cancer every year — a suggestion that would see more Black patients and women eligible for potentially lifesaving scans. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises the federal government on preventive care, released a draft recommendation that would nearly double the number of people eligible for annual CT scans to check for lung cancer. (Spinelli, 7/7)

Here's a roundup of other medical developments -

CNN: Less Dream-Stage REM Sleep Linked To Higher Risk Of Death, Study Says 
Spending less time in REM sleep is linked to a greater overall risk of death from any cause as well as from cardiovascular disease and other diseases except for cancer, a new study finds. "The effect of short REM time on mortality has not been previously shown," said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, who directs Sleep Basic Research in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and was not involved in the study. REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, is the stage of sleep in which we dream and information and experiences are consolidated and stored in memory. (LaMotte, 7/6)

AP: Twins Joined At Head Separated At Vatican Pediatric Hospital
Doctors at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital said Tuesday they have successfully separated conjoined twins whose skulls were fused back-to-back, an exceedingly rare surgery for an equally rare congenital defect. The twins, Ervina and Prefina Bangalo, were born June 29, 2018 in Mbaiki, Central African Republic with their heads attached and sharing critical blood vessels around their brains. Such cases of conjoined twins occur once in every 2 million births or so. (Winfield, 7/7)

Stat: With A Clinical Hold, Off-The-Shelf CAR-T Hits A New Safety Concern 
The Food and Drug Administration has placed a clinical hold on one of Cellectis’s off-the-shelf CAR-T trials after one patient died of cardiac arrest, a worrying development for a technology thought to be safer than the approved alternative. Cellectis’s treatment, UCARTCS1A, is derived from T cells provided by healthy donors, more practical and potentially less dangerous than traditional CAR-T therapies made from patients’ own immune cells. But the patient death, which emerged in a multiple myeloma study, suggests off-the-shelf CAR-T could carry risks of its own. (Garde, 7/7)

Albuquerque Journal: Navajo President Approves $52M In CARES Act Spending 
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez has approved the spending of more than $52 million in federal CARES Act funds to address COVID-19 on the reservation. Nez, over the holiday weekend, also line-item vetoed $73 million in expenditures from two resolutions passed last month by the Navajo Nation Council. The Navajo government now has more than $662 million remaining. (Davis, 7/7)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports 27 More Coronavirus Cases, 1 New Death
Navajo Nation health officials have reported 27 more coronavirus cases and one additional known death. Tribal Department of Health officials said 7,941 people on the vast reservation that spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have tested positive with 379 known deaths as of Tuesday. (7/8)

GMA: 'We're Paying For It': COVID-Positive Atlanta Mayor Says State Reopened Too Soon 
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Tuesday that she, her husband and one of their children are now among a rising number of Georgia residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are "paying the price" for the state reopening its economy too soon. "Prayerfully my symptoms won’t get any worse," Bottoms said during an interview on "Good Morning America" with ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. (Hutchinson, 7/7)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: As Coronavirus Cases Climb In Georgia, Data About Race, Ethnicity Lag
Georgia on Tuesday surpassed 100,000 cases of COVID-19, an insidious disease that’s hit every corner of the state, and disproportionately impacted communities of color as measured by hospitalizations and deaths. But an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of COVID-19 data through the end of June shows the state Department of Public Health (DPH) only knows race and ethnicity in fewer than seven out of 10 confirmed cases. (Trubey, 7/8)

Boston Globe: Mass. Finds More Than 58,000 Bogus Unemployment Claims, Recovers $158 Million 
The state agency that administers unemployment benefits on Tuesday provided for the first time some details about how badly Massachusetts has been hit by fraud, saying it had verified that more than 58,000 claims were phony and recovered a total of $158 million as of June 20. In May, the Baker administration revealed that a sophisticated international scam network had targeted the state’s unemployment agency, along with those in about a dozen other states, apparently trying to take advantage of the demands on those agencies due to unprecedented job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Murphy, 7/7)

Boston Globe: After 9/11, Officials Ordered A Lengthy Investigation. State Lawmakers Want The Same For The Pandemic Response 
Beacon Hill Democrats are preparing legislation that would create a commission to broadly investigate the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the disproportionate impact on people of color and Governor Charlie Baker’s decisions to close schools, businesses, and other sectors of Massachusetts’s economy. The bill, which state Senator Eric P. Lesser and Representative Jon Santiago plan to file Tuesday, models the seven-person panel after the federal 9/11 commission formed to examine the 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed about 3,000 people. (Stout, 7/7)

Billings Gazette: Yellowstone County Officials Ask Daines To Protect Public Health Resources 
On Sunday, 45 new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported, 16 of which were reported in Yellowstone County. The county has the highest number of active cases, topping at 149. Last Thursday, Montana added 67 new cases of coronavirus, the highest number recorded in one day in the state. (Hall, 7/7)

Arkansas Democrat & Gazette: Washington County Sheriff To Use Electronic Monitoring To Manage Jail Population
Sheriff Tim Helder said Tuesday he plans to expand an electronic monitoring release program to control the detainee population at the Washington County Detention Center once the covid-19 pandemic ends. Helder said the Sheriff's Office has used a state contract program to obtain a supply of the monitoring devices. He said the Sheriff's Office will set up an in-house program, working with the county's circuit court judges and the Prosecuting Attorney to allow some non-violent pretrial detainees and people jailed for failure to appear to be released with the monitors. (Sissom, 7/8)

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Nursing Home Under Investigation After COVID-19 Outbreak, Officials Say 
An east Harris County nursing home is under investigation following a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility, Harris County Public Health announced Tuesday. Four deaths at the Jacinto Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on Holland Avenue are currently “pending review to determine if COVID-19 related,” according to a news release. Another 57 residents and staff members have tested positive and are actively being monitored by public health officials, according to Harris County Public Health spokeswoman Martha Marquez. The facility has 148 total beds, records show. Calls to the facility and its listed owner Tuesday night were not returned by press time. (Gill, 7/7)

The New York Times: President Bolsonaro Of Brazil Tests Positive For Coronavirus 
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, who has railed against social distancing measures and repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus as the epidemic in his country became the second-worst in the world, said Tuesday that he, too, had been infected. Critics at home and abroad have called Mr. Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic cavalier and reckless, allowing the virus to surge across Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation. At one point he dismissed it as “a measly cold,” and when asked in late April about the rising death toll, he replied: “So what? Sorry, but what do you want me to do?” (Londono, Adnreoni and Casado, 7/7)

AP: Brazil's President Says Hydroxychloroquine To Cure His Virus
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he is confident that he will swiftly recover from the new coronavirus thanks to treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effective against COVID-19. Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the new coronavirus on Tuesday after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. (De Sousa and Biller, 7/8)

AP: Wedding Season Brings New Virus Outbreak In West Bank
By the end of May, the Palestinian Authority appeared to have quashed a coronavirus outbreak in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with only around 400 confirmed cases and just two fatalities in the territory, following a nearly three-month lockdown. Then the wedding invitations went out. Over the last few weeks, infections have skyrocketed across the West Bank, with more than 4,000 new cases and an additional 15 deaths. Authorities blame the surge on widespread neglect of social distancing and mask-wearing — and on the summer wedding season. (Daraghmeh, 7/8)

AP: Africa's Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Now Above A Half-Million
Africa now has more than a half-million confirmed coronavirus cases.The continent-wide total is over 508,000, according to figures released Wednesday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after South Africa recorded another day of more than 10,000 confirmed cases as a new global hot spot. (Anna, 7/8)

AP: Australia Isolates Virus-Prone State, Serbs Oppose Lockdown
Australia isolated the state of Victoria on Wednesday in a bid to contain the worsening spread of the coronavirus as the city of Melbourne prepared for its second lockdown, an example of a resurgent disease in places that initially succeeded in taming it. Melbourne’s failure to curb the virus in the past three weeks is a starkly different pandemic experience to other parts of the country that have been reporting single-digit daily counts of infections if any. (McGuirk, 7/8)

Reuters: Masks, Disinfectant, Social Distancing: Japan Responds To Disaster Amid Coronavirus 
Boxes of surgical masks, bottles of disinfectant and a sign saying “Please wear a mask” mark the entrance to a public gym in Yatsushiro city, a shelter for residents fleeing devastating floods in southwestern Japan this week. (Murakami, 7/7)

Reuters: Hundreds Of Drones Light Up Seoul Night Sky With Coronavirus Advice 
Three hundred drones took to the evening sky over the Han River in South Korea to dispense coronavirus prevention advice through a synchronised light display featuring images of hand-washing and social distancing. A horde of pin-point lights lifted into the air in military-like formation on Saturday before rearranging themselves to form the image of a white face mask, with red circles symbolising the new virus which has led to almost 300 deaths in the country. (Park, 7/8)

Stat: Novavax, Maker Of Covid-19 Vaccine, Is Backed By Operation Warp Speed
Novavax has joined the ranks of Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers being supported by the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration announced Tuesday. The Gaithersburg, Md.-based biotech has been awarded $1.6 billion to support late-stage clinical trials and expansion of its manufacturing capacity. In return, Novavax will supply the U.S. government with 100 million doses — likely enough product to vaccinate 50 million people, assuming the product is safe and effective — starting in late 2020. (Branswell, 7/7)

The New York Times: Novavax Gets $1.6 Billion For Coronavirus Vaccine From Operation Warp Speed 
With this deal, the federal government has now invested nearly $4 billion in companies pursuing vaccines, but has provided little information about how Operation Warp Speed is spending money, which agencies the funding is coming from or how decisions are being made. That money has gone to six companies with varying track records and, in many cases, promising but untested technologies. (Thomas, 7/7)

Reuters: GSK To Develop Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine With Canada's Medicago 
The world’s largest vaccine-maker GSK has put its vaccine booster technology to work in a potential new COVID-19 shot, to be developed with a Canadian biopharmaceutical company backed by tobacco company Philip Morris. Rather than developing its own vaccine in the global race to combat the pandemic, GSK has instead focused on contributing its adjuvant technology to at least seven other global companies, including Sanofi and China’s Clover. (7/7)

Also —

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: How A COVID-19 Vaccine Could Cost Americans Dearly
Yes, of course, Americans’ health is priceless, and reining in a deadly virus that has trashed the economy would be invaluable. But a COVID-19 vaccine will have an actual price tag. And given the prevailing business-centric model of American drug pricing, it could well be budget breaking, perhaps making it unavailable to many. (Rosenthal, 7/8)

Detroit Free Press: Trump Tweets Support Of Henry Ford Hydroxychloroquine Study
Medicine shouldn't be political, said Dr. Steven Kalkanis, Henry Ford Health System's chief academic officer. But the social media response to a study the Detroit-based health system published Thursday about the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 has become just that. (Shamus, 7/7)

Boston Globe: Cambridge Biotech Raises $110 Million To Advance Treatment For Blood Cancer 
COVID-19 has upended the economy, but biotechs with promising medical treatments are still attracting venture capital. Take Vor Biopharma. The Cambridge startup cofounded by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, the oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, said Tuesday it has raised $110 million in new funding that it hopes to use to start clinical trials of a new approach to treating acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The company raised $42 million in February of last year. (Saltzman, 7/7)

Modern Healthcare: Florida Oncology Group Will Return $2.3 Million To VA For Drug Overpayments
An oncology group in Fort Myers, Fla. has agreed to pay more than $2.3 million to settle the federal government's claim that the Department of Veterans Affairs overpaid for drugs. The VA's Office of Inspector General determined after investigating a whistleblower tip that the VA had been paying Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute its full billed amount for physician-administered drugs instead of the appropriate Medicare rate, which is lower. (Bannow, 7/7)

Stat: Regeneron Wasn't Paying 'Kickbacks.' It Was Paying Medicare 
Last Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed suit against Regeneron for paying ” tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks” through a foundation that helps patients cover copays associated with Eylea, its macular degeneration drug. Whether or not Regeneron broke the law, the suit illuminates the stupidity, cruelty, and counterproductivity of Medicare’s insistence that patients feel financial pain in order to receive medically necessary therapies. (Peter Kolchinsky, 6/30)

Fox News: Sally Pipes: Coronavirus Drug Cost – Ignore Critics. Here's Why The Price Is Right
Last week, Gilead Sciences announced that it would sell a five-day course of its coronavirus drug, remdesivir, for just over $3,100. The antiviral, currently the only medication proven to speed recovery from COVID-19, received FDA approval in May. Some Democratic lawmakers and policy experts attacked remdesivir's price as soon as it was announced. They claim that Gilead could sell the drug for as little as $1 per dose – and that the higher price reflects nothing more than the pharmaceutical company's desire to capitalize on the crisis. (Sally Pipes, 7/5)

Las Vegas Sun News: Nevadans Deserve Lower Drug Prices 
Drug prices have been coming down, with more drugs facing generic competition as they come off patent protection. However, one area where drug prices have not come down is in biologic drugs. Biologic drugs have been around since the late 1980s, with the development of insulin, followed by human growth hormone and many others. Those drugs should have competition. And that competition should come from pharmaceuticals known as biosimilars. (John Laub, 7/3)

Bloomberg: Gilead’s Covid Drug Remdesivir Shows Fuzzy Math Of Pricing 
While a world awash in a pandemic awaits a coronavirus vaccine, Gilead Sciences Inc. is bringing a treatment to market. Remdesivir is an experimental drug that may help Covid-19 patients recover more quickly — but it doesn’t immunize them. Its price tag is $600 for a series of six treatments for patients who live in developing countries where Gilead, to its credit, allows a generic version to be sold. If patients live in a developed country and the government insures them or provides their health care, it costs $2,340. If they have private insurance and live in the U.S., it costs $3,120. (And that’s if six treatments work; some patients are expected to need 12 treatments, so those prices could double.) (Timothy L. O'Brien, 7/2)

Stat: A Powerful Law Gives HHS The Right To Take Control Of Remdesivir 
A rare bright spot followed the emergence of Covid-19 and its spread across the globe: the discovery that remdesivir, an experimental antiviral originally developed by Gilead Sciences and the U.S. government for use against Ebola, works against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Remdesivir isn’t a miracle drug. It has not been proven to significantly reduce patients’ risk of dying from Covid-19, though evidence from an NIH-led clinical trial indicates that it helps patients with severe Covid-19 recover more quickly, meaning they can leave the hospital sooner and return home. We urgently need more and better evidence of remdesivir’s (likely modest) benefits. (Christopher Morten, Christian Urrutia and James Krellenstein, 7/2)

Bloomberg: Trump May Use Defense Powers To Require Domestic Drug Production 
President Donald Trump may use his executive powers to require pharmaceutical companies to make drugs domestically to counter Americans’ dependence on overseas manufacturing, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said. “The coronavirus pandemic brought home that core elements of our medical-supply chain are just as strategic to our national security as, say, nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers are, and have to be treated with that same kind of approach, which is to say that we have core domestic manufacturing capabilities” Azar said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio on Tuesday. (Edney and Cirilli, 7/7)

The Independent: Scientists Condemn 'Chilling' US Move To Buy Up Almost Entire Supply Of Coronavirus Drug
The US has bought up nearly all of the coronavirus drug Remdesivir available on the market, a move that has left scientists frustrated and worried. Remdesivir, made by the company Gilead Sciences originally as an Ebola treatment, is the first drug that has been shown to effectively treat Covid-19. The US has bought 500,000 doses of the drug, enough to clear out Gilead of its stock for all of July and most of August and September. (Graziosi, 7/2)

Stat: Drug Makers Sue To Block State Law Expanding Emergency Access To Insulin
The drug industry lobbying association PhRMA sued the state of Minnesota over a newly enacted law meant to prevent people who can’t afford their insulin from rationing it. The law, the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act, which is named after a 26-year-old man who died after rationing his insulin, allows Minnesotans who would otherwise forgo their insulin to immediately pick up a 30-day supply of the drug from a pharmacy for $35. Drug makers would be forced to provide the insulin for free or face hefty fines. The law was slated to go into effect Wednesday. (Florko, 7/1)

USA Today: Trump's Goal: Throw Millions Off Health Insurance During COVID Pandemic
If the Trump administration has its way, the Affordable Care Act will be gone long before COVID-19. Late last month, the Justice Department laid out its case for declaring the law unconstitutional and striking it down. That raises the question, what would the COVID-19 pandemic look like in a post-ACA world? To start, over 20 million Americans who are getting insurance through provisions in the ACA would lose their coverage. Uninsured Americans avoid getting care when they are sick. In the age of COVID, that means their disease doesn’t get diagnosed, and they keep spreading it. They suffer, and we suffer. (David Blumenthal, 7/8)

Bloomberg: The Global Fight Over Covid-19 Vaccines Will Get Very Ugly
For most people, a vaccine against the coronavirus can’t come soon enough, as it will be the only tolerable way to achieve herd immunity. So it’s encouraging that more than 100 drug candidates in 12 countries are in development, and eight are already entering clinical trials. To accelerate the process, some people are heroically volunteering to expose themselves to infection. With luck, some of us can get our shots next year. And yet, there’s still a danger that humanity will fail in its quest to control Covid-19. The culprit wouldn’t necessarily be the medical complexity, fiendish as it is, of engineering a vaccine. It could also be the ensuing politics surrounding inoculation. The fights will be intense, irrational and sometimes nasty. (Andreas Kluth, 7/8)

The New York Times: Is The Coronavirus Killing The World Health Organization?
On Tuesday, President Trump formally began the process of pulling the United States out of the World Health Organization, having accused the organization of not holding the Chinese government to account for its handling of the coronavirus. The withdrawal would not go into effect until next July. But the prospect of losing the United States as a member, far and away the W.H.O.’s largest donor, is a big blow to the organization, and comes just a day after 239 scientists in 39 countries wrote an open letter claiming its guidance on airborne transmission was outdated. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 7/7)

Los Angeles Times: Trump's Cruel Plan For International College Students
If there’s a cruel way to handle an immigration issue, the nation can rest assured that the Trump administration will find it. The latest chapter in President Trump’s book, “How to Close Down a Nation to Foreigners” (and no, that’s not a real book), is a pending order that international students enrolled in U.S. colleges must attend in-person classes or leave the country. Never mind that the colleges themselves are still trying to figure out how to start the upcoming academic year as the pace of the coronavirus outbreak seems to be accelerating. (Scott Martelle, 7/7)

The Hill: Trump's Failed COVID Response: Managing A Pandemic Isn't A States' Rights Issue
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that the 50 state approach toward solving the pandemic isn’t working.  Other countries have successfully controlled the spread. Yet today the United States has the dubious honor of reporting 25 percent of the world’s COVID-19 cases when we represent just four percent of the world’s population. Our response has failed because we’ve acted as a collection of 50 separate countries in how we’ve addressed COVID-19. We’ve had more cases and more deaths than any other country in the world. Today Americans continue to be banned from visiting European countries where travelers from other countries, including China where the pandemic started, may soon be welcome. (Lyndon Haviland, 7/7)

Dallas Morning News: Coronavirus Exposes The Weak Underbelly Of The Child Care System
When Gov. Greg Abbott recently paused the reopening of Texas to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he also enacted new emergency health and safety standards for child care operations. That was a good move, but additional steps are needed if child care centers are going to be available when parents need to return to work. This is no easy task. Many child care centers are barely holding on during the pandemic as parents stay home or worry about the risk of infection. Of course, the hard reality is that unless parents have more child care options that they can trust, many will not go back to work, and that will hurt the economy. (7/8)

The Washington Post: Virginia's Premature Reopening Brings Unwarranted Risks For The Region
Complacency is among the most potent forces that have aided the pandemic’s lethal advance — the pleasant and false idea that a modest infection rate or downward trend is here to stay. That’s what prompted what turned out to be premature reopenings across the country, triggering spikes in the novel coronavirus’s prevalence from coast to coast. Now there’s cause to worry that the Washington area, specifically the Virginia suburbs, may be the latest region where complacency will afford the virus a new opening. (7/7)

Bloomberg: A Lower Covid-19 Death Rate Is Nothing To Celebrate
The recent spike in U.S. Covid-19 infections has mercifully been accompanied by a declining death count. There were days in the spring when the country had half the number of cases but twice as many deaths. Now, at least, the U.S. is testing more widely.  And even though death is a lagging indicator, and the numbers are likely to catch up to some degree, there is reason to hope that the lag could now be longer and slower than it was in the spring. After all, much has been learned about how to treat Covid-19 patients. At the same time, however, a lower death count is no justification for states to reopen their economies incautiously or to suggest, as the White House appears to be doing, that Americans should just get used to living with Covid-19.  (Max Nisen, 7/7)

Los Angeles Times: Americans Need A National Coronavirus Face Mask Mandate 
When it comes to face masks in the time of coronavirus, the United States is a confusing mess of patchwork policies. Some states, counties and cities require people to wear face coverings in certain public places; others do not. Some elected officials urge people to wear them to help keep the infection from spreading; others mock people who do. There isn’t even a universal policy for masks on airplanes, despite the fact that it’s impossible to avoid close contact with people on a packed flight. The lack of a consistent message at all levels of government about the efficacy of a tool that has been used for centuries to limit the spread of disease has evidently led far too many people to conclude that face coverings can’t be that important. (7/8)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: 3W’s That Can Keep You Safe From COVID-19
After four months of battling COVID-19, Georgia’s rising infection rates show that we must step up community efforts to fight this infection and we must all continue to work together. That’s why the staff at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory Healthcare, Grady Health System, Piedmont Healthcare and Wellstar Health System have a simple but important message for all Georgians: Wear a mask. We urge you to double down and keep doing the proven things that help to minimize risk. We call them the Three W’s: Wear a facemask, Wash your hands and Watch your distance. (Kevin Brown, John M. Haupert, Donna W. Hyland, Jonathan S. Lewin, and Candice Saunders, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Three Steps To Consider For A More Pre-Pandemic Normal 
Every war begins with people thinking it will all be over in a few months, and the war on covid-19 has been no exception. At present, we’re in the midst of the inevitable psychological shift as everyone realizes that no, things can’t go back to normal anytime soon.Now that the virus is endemic, Americans will be only as safe as our least competent county health department can make us. Whatever is happening 3,000 miles away will eventually show up at your doorstep. Until a vaccine is created or herd immunity is reached, we are going to have to adapt to the constant threat. (Megan McArdle, 7/7)

The Wall Street Journal: How Japan Beat Coronavirus Without Lockdowns 
While the numbers of infected are subsiding in some regions, the Covid-19 pandemic still rages in others. The world is likely to be dealing with the effects of the novel coronavirus until an effective vaccine or treatment is developed. As many governments work to reopen travel and commerce, it has become clear that this is a global crisis, and nation-by-nation approaches alone are proving insufficient. It’s essential for nations to share their experiences and learn from each other. By following the science developed by world-renowned experts, Japan has been able to avoid the worst effects of the pandemic without mandatory lockdowns. How have we done it? High-quality medical care—accessible to all thanks to universal health insurance—no doubt helps. Social and cultural factors might be at play, too. The Japanese routinely wear masks to ward off hay fever and colds. (Yasutoshi Nishimura, 7/7)

Stat: My Covid-19 Symptoms Have Lasted 100-Plus Days. I'm Not Alone 
My first Covid-19 symptoms appeared on March 14: a low-grade fever, profound leg pain, malaise, and loss of appetite. More than 100 days later, Covid-19 is still with me. Some days I wonder if it will ever leave. (Yochai Re'em, 7/8)

CNN: Richard Quest: I Got Covid-19 Two Months Ago. I'm Still Discovering New Areas Of Damage 
The cough has come back, without warning and seemingly for no reason; so has the fatigue. True, neither are as debilitating as when I had the actual virus, but they are back. Like many others, I am now coming to realize that I am living and suffering from the long tail of Covid-19. (Richard Quest, 7/7)