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A teacher who was thinking of quitting the profession because of the coronavirus recently contacted me. He had read about the infection triggering a wave of heart disease and about patients who were symptomatic weeks or months after recovering from their initial coronavirus infection. He was concerned about returning to school and the prospect of carrying the virus home and infecting his family. (Uan Ashley, 9/17)

Denial is a river that runs through Donald Trump.At Tuesday night’s town hall meeting, he denied that he played down the pandemic, saying, “in many ways I up-played it.”But Bob Woodward has released an audio recording of him saying, literally, “I wanted to always play it down.”Trump further denied that he said President Xi Jinping was “doing a good job” with the coronavirus. “I didn’t say one way or the other,” Trump claimed. (Dana Milbank, 9/16)

Although I now call New York City home, Athens, Georgia, has been a base to me since the late 1970s. It’s where I started REM, and it is a place that I have returned to again and again, even as I have travelled and lived in other places around the globe. Sadly, Athens – also home to the University of Georgia – is now a place that exemplifies the most dangerous aspects of public policy decision-making amid the Covid-19 pandemic. (Michael Stipe, 9/17)

The coronavirus has affected all sectors of our society. It is all too predictable, however, that the virus is disproportionately affecting people of color, the poor, the homeless, and other more-vulnerable and disenfranchised populations. People whose jobs do not allow them to work from home, who lack access to preventive healthcare — and thus have underlying health conditions — and whose jobs and living situations force them into close proximity with others all are more vulnerable. That ‘s why Congress should ensure that, in subsequent rounds of COVID-19 legislation, extra support is directed to these affected populations. Undocumented immigrants, too, are incredibly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. They are our neighbors, our fellow church members, our friends, our family and our students. (Kent Ingle, 9/16)

President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA ) — a move that would wipe out coverage for more than 18 million Americans — during a killing pandemic. Does Trump have an alternative health-care plan? Just ask him. “I have it all ready,” Trump said at a town hall two days ago, “...it’s a much better plan for you and it’s a much better plan.” In fact, Trump already has a plan. It was the “American Health Care Act” (called “the Act” here to avoid confusion of ACA and AHCA) of 2017. It nearly passed except for John McCain’s “No” vote. (Arthur Garson, Jr., 9/17)

This past weekend, HHS spokesman Michael Caputo took to Facebook to proclaim the United States was on the verge of mass violence in the wake of the November election, claimed his own life was in danger and said he was tortured by “shadows on the ceiling in my apartment.” Caputo has since taken medical leave, which sounds like a very good idea. But while public attention was focused on the unfortunate Caputo, many missed this Politico scoop: HHS Secretary Alex Azar, frustrated with the high standards the Food and Drug Administration was insisting on before approving coronavirus diagnostic tests, loosened the standards for lab-developed tests. Yet again, the Trump White House is taking full advantage of the fact that most people find the word “regulation” sleep-inducing, while almost everyone can thrill to the latest bit of presidential or administration craziness. (Helaine Olen, 9/16)

Over the course of a single week in mid-June, most of Tampa Bay’s local governments wisely enacted mandatory mask ordinances. The move sent the right message: That wearing masks is an easy and important step in controlling the virus. Fast forward to today. The number of daily infections has dropped for the peaks in July. Deaths are down, too. But people are still getting sick, and an uptick in cases is still very much possible. This is not the time to pull back on face masks in public indoor spaces, as Pinellas County commissioners said they would consider last week. (9/16)

The patients walk into Dr. Melissa Marshall’s community clinics in Northern California with the telltale symptoms. They’re having trouble breathing. It may even hurt to inhale. They have a cough, and the sore throat is definitely there. A straight case of COVID-19? Not so fast. This is wildfire country. (Mark Kreidler, 9/16)

Among the few remaining advantages that Americans can claim over other countries is the relative cleanliness of our air. Air pollution is a leading risk factor for early death; it is linked to an estimated 4 million premature fatalities around the world annually. But over the last 50 years, since Congress passed environmental legislation in 1970, air quality in the United States has steadily improved. Today, America’s air is significantly cleaner than in much of the rest of the world, including in many of our wealthy, industrialized peers. Over the last few years, for weeks and sometimes months in late summer and fall, my home state, California, and other parts of the American West erupt in hellish blaze, and plumes of smoke turn the heavens visibly toxic. (Farhad Manjoo, 9/16)

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pulled out all the stops trying to be the most aggressively anti-COVID-19 chief executive, vying with New York’s Andrew Cuomo and California’s Gavin Newsom. She imposed harsh lockdowns, which many citizens considered irrational (why prohibit landscaping?), hypocritical (why allow — and participate in — BLM protests?) and ultimately more harmful than beneficial. (Paul Moreno, 9/16)

The pandemic is shining a light on the courage and dedication of our front-line health care workers, but beneath the surface our heroes are suffering. Emergency physicians are struggling to manage their mental health. Even before the pandemic, nearly two-thirds of emergency physicians said they experienced burnout on the job, according to research published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Research indicates that in the U.S. alone, about 6,000 emergency physicians contemplated suicide in 2018, with nearly 400 attempting to take their life. Circumstances have become more dire as the fight against COVID-19 continues. (Jennifer Feist, Corey Feist and William Jaquis, 9/17)