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A monthlong resurgence in Covid-19 cases appears to be hitting a peak, but a new assessment of the coronavirus’ trajectory is fueling conflicting interpretations about whether the worst is over. Slowing caseloads in Florida and Arizona have fanned a narrative that the worst of the disease spread is cresting in some of the nation’s worst hot spots — repeating a pattern seen in early June. But public health experts on Thursday issued new warnings that the virus is still spiraling out of control, only in the form of a rolling series of outbreaks in almost half the states, with more troubling signs in many others. (Doherty, 7/23)

Three variables determine the fluctuations of a country’s population: births, deaths, and migration flows. The coronavirus pandemic is disrupting all three. ... The pandemic very likely won’t alter that long-term population trajectory, but the varied and devastating effects it has had—and will continue having—will in all likelihood slow the population’s growth rate even more, pushing it to its lowest level in the past 100 years. (The last time the U.S. population shrank was 1918, which also happened to be a pandemic year.) (Pinsker, 7/23)

As the US hit a sobering 4 million cases of Covid-19 and the rising daily rate of confirmed cases and hospitalizations suggest the virus is far from under control, medical experts are urging political leaders to shut down the country and start over to contain the pandemic. At least 4,038,748 coronavirus cases and 144,304 deaths have been recorded in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As the numbers climb, more than 150 prominent US medical experts, scientists, teachers, nurses and others have signed a letter to political leaders urging them to shut down the country and start over to contain the surging coronavirus pandemic. (Holcombe, 7/24)

Surging coronavirus cases across the country are threatening to explode into new epicenters as the hard-won progress earned by months of painful lockdowns unravels into a summer of lost opportunity. More than 4 million people in the United States have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2, and 140,000 have died. (Wilson, 7/23)

Former President Obama said in remarks released Thursday that the U.S. is not dealing with the coronavirus pandemic as “smartly” as other countries with similar resources. The former president made the remarks during a conversation with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying he was confident that if his former vice president is elected in November he will respond to the crisis effectively. (Klar, 7/23)