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A record number of coronavirus cases were reported Thursday, breaking a record set Wednesday of more than 100,000 cases in a single day. A total of 120,048 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, nearly 16,000 more than on Wednesday, according to an NBC News tally. (Stelloh and Mullen, 11/5)

The coronavirus is surging out of control across the country, and more than 121,000 cases were reported on Thursday, more new cases than on any other day of the pandemic. In 43 states, new infections are climbing steadily higher. To many Americans, the pandemic’s march feels inexorable. (Bosman, Burch and Mervosh, 11/5)

Since cases began climbing in mid-September, states have periodically introduced incremental restrictions but largely steered clear of sweeping actions. Some health officials hope that will change in a post-election landscape. “There’s been this sense of people giving up,” Michael Fraser, chief executive of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told The Post. “You had state leaders looking at the election and deciding it was not worth taking bold, unpopular moves against the virus that might save lives but hurt your side politically. There’s been state health officials debating whether to continue telling people to do things, because they know many are not going to listen.” (Noori Farzan, 11/6)

The record officially marks what was already clear: As winter nears, the country’s third surge of infection is dangerously accelerating in almost every region of the country. This is the reality that the United States is facing, regardless of who will become its next chief executive: A deadly respiratory pandemic is spiraling out of control, and the number of hospitalized people—and deaths—is certain to rise over the next several months. (Meyer and Madrigal, 11/4)

A quarter of a million coronavirus infections have been reported at colleges and universities across the United States, according to a New York Times survey, as schools across the nation struggle to keep outbreaks in check. The bulk of the cases have occurred since students returned for the fall semester, with more than 38,000 new cases reported in the last two weeks alone. And the numbers are almost certainly an undercount. (11/5)

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) issued a stricter mask mandates this week as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the nation. Mills issued her order on Thursday, requiring Mainers to wear masks in public spaces at all times, regardless of distance from others. Previously, under the governor’s executive order, people were not required to wear masks in public if they could stay at least six feet away from others. (Hellmann, 11/5)

New coronavirus restrictions in Massachusetts begin Friday, including a statewide face mask mandate. Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday announced a series of restrictions as COVID-19 cases continue to rise: Some businesses, including gyms and museums, must close by 9:30 p.m., all gatherings must end by 9:30 p.m., indoor gatherings must be limited to 10 people, outdoor gatherings cannot exceed 25 people and everyone over the age of 5 must wear a face covering at all times. In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills issued a mask mandate regardless of whether people can physically distance from others. (Flores, 11/6)

Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday issued an executive order requiring Mainers to wear face coverings in public no matter their distance from others. That order comes amid a days-long surge in coronavirus transmission with new cases surging to levels not seen even in the earliest weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s the latest move from the Mills administration to tamp down on rising case levels, following the governor’s move last week to push back the reopening of bars and tasting rooms. Burns, 11/5)

The day before Michigan expects to record the 200,000th case of the coronavirus in the state, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on legislators to pass a law requiring residents to wear masks in indoor places and crowded outdoor areas. The governor said she sent a letter to Republican lawmakers this week asking them to pass a bill. Lawmakers, especially Republicans leading the House and Senate, have asked to have more of a role in the process of tackling the pandemic, Whitmer noted. Now is their time to act. (Boucher and Shamus, 11/5)

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy indicated Thursday that he’s preparing to roll out new statewide restrictions to combat the increased spread of Covid-19 in the state. “How close are we to doing something? Close,” he said in response to a reporter’s question during his regular briefing in Trenton. “We will be clearly taking action, and I hope it will be action that balances all the various challenges and interests that we have. But right now, we’ve had really good success with the hot spot teams.” (Madonado, 11/5)

KHN: How Escalating COVID Cases Forced One State To Change Its Masking Strategy

In Montana’s conservative Flathead County, prosecutors and local leaders were turning a blind eye to businesses that flouted state mask and social distancing mandates, even as the area’s COVID infections climbed to their highest levels. When asked during an Oct. 7 press call from Montana’s capital city whether the state would step in, Gov. Steve Bullock said it was up to the locals to enforce the directives. (Houghton, 11/6)

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said he is feeling “frustrated” with the state’s rising coronavirus numbers as new cases and hospitalizations continued a streak of new record highs on Thursday. State health experts are projecting that the numbers will continue to rise dramatically and overwhelm the state’s hospitals if people don’t modify their behavior, Herbert said. He said he’s concerned that people are feeling fatigued from the pandemic and continued his months-long plea for Utah residents to follow masking and social distancing requirements. (Eppolito, 11/5)

As infection rates and hospitalizations from COVID-19 set records in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds and leaders of two of the state's largest hospitals pleaded with Iowans Thursday morning to "do their part" to stop the spread. Reynolds did not announce any new mitigation efforts, but said the state government would launch a public awareness campaign next week encouraging social distancing and hygiene. She made the announcement Thursday morning at her first formal, televised news conference since Oct. 7. (Coltrain, 11/5)

As COVID-19 cases continue to increase in multiple states, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is encouraging Ohioans to wear masks, socially distance and wash hands just as he has for months in an effort to contain the pandemic. DeWine's approach hasn't been shared by President Trump. So how does he square his calls for masks and distance with a president who is not doing the same?" I certainly wish the president had a more happy relationship with masks," DeWine told NPR's All Things Considered. "We know so much more today than we knew in March. We now know that these masks really work." (Kelly, 11/4)

Hospitals and healthcare systems across Minnesota are bracing for a wave of new patients as the state sees alarming growth in virus cases and hospitalizations are expected to follow. The state’s health department reported 3,956 new coronavirus cases and 25 deaths on Thursday, breaking the single-day record for new cases for the third straight day. (Ibrahim, 11/5)

As the number of Oklahomans hospitalized due to COVID-19 continues to hit record highs, the Oklahoma City metro area on Thursday entered Tier 3 of the state's hospital surge plan. Although the change indicates the situation for metro-area hospitals is getting worse, state officials have no immediate plans to implement additional measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 or free up hospital beds. (Kemp, 11/6)

All seven of Idaho’s public health districts reported a double-digit COVID-19 test positivity rate for the week of Oct. 25-31. The state saw its overall positivity rate increase for the seventh consecutive week to 14.7% on 28,509 tests from Oct. 25-31, according to the latest information from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The rate was 13.9% on 31,378 tests for Oct. 18-24. Idaho has not had a positivity rate below 5%, which demonstrates control over the spread of the virus, since mid-June. (Roberts, 11/5)

Lee County, where the Kentucky River forms among the steep hills and an annual festival is named for the woolly worm, had been touched only lightly by the novel coronavirus much of the year even as it spread illness and death elsewhere around Kentucky. The county was one of the last in the state to have a documented case of COVID-19, and by early October had still seen only 15 cases since the pandemic surfaced in March, and no deaths. (Estep, 11/5)

As the number of new coronavirus cases in Fayette County continues to climb, more people are not cooperating with contact tracers tasked with tracking and preventing the highly contagious illness from spreading, Lexington health officials said. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department reported 152 new COVID-19 cases Thursday morning, the third-most the city has ever reported in a single day. There was one new death, pushing the city’s fatalities to 101. Since March, Lexington has had 11,824 cases, 704 hospitalizations and 101 deaths. (Chisenhall and Musgrave, 11/5)

Support for President Trump increased in 2020 in many of the U.S. counties that lost lives at the highest rate to COVID-19, according to an NPR analysis. Of the 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates per capita, 68 had a higher proportion of votes cast for Trump this cycle than they did in 2016. This includes both Republican-leaning counties and counties that supported Joe Biden. (McMinn and Stein, 11/6)

U.S. voters went to the polls starkly divided on how they see President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. But in places where the virus is most rampant now, Trump enjoyed enormous support. An Associated Press analysis reveals that in 376 counties with the highest number of new cases per capita, the overwhelming majority — 93% of those counties — went for Trump, a rate above other less severely hit areas. (Johnson, Fingerhut and Deshpande, 11/6)

Heading into Election Day, Democrats hoped for an overwhelming victory that would serve as a repudiation of President Trump, and with it his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, while Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads the Electoral College and looks like the favorite to get to 270, a victory will not be in such a sweeping fashion. (Sullivan, 11/6)

In the spring, U.S. medical workers were heralded as heroes. But by the fall, the rhetoric had started to shift, with the public growing increasingly fatigued by the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump accusing doctors of inflating Covid-19 death counts for money. With the death toll from the coronavirus continuing to tick up, many medical workers say they hoped for a landslide victory for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who has said he’ll follow the advice of scientists if he’s wins the presidency. (Farr, 11/6)

In what otherwise appears to be a status quo election, what does a Biden victory mean for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? This post attempts only a tentative first pass at an answer. This post is limited to the coverage expansion of the ACA and does not discuss the pandemic response, Medicaid, Medicare, prescription drugs, or other key health care issues affected by a Biden presidency. (Keith, 11/5)

A Missouri election judge supervisor has died after testing positive for Covid-19 and then working at a polling site on Election Day, local health officials said Thursday. While the cause of death has not been given, the St. Charles County Department of Public Health said in a news release, the person received a positive test result on October 30. (Jones and Harlan, 11/5)

Contact tracing has started and county health officials have contacted the other nine election workers at the site, who were advised to be tested for the virus, St. Charles County, Missouri, spokeswoman Mary Enger said. The infected poll worker’s duties did not “typically” include handling iPads, or having close contact with the 1,858 voters such as taking voter identification, Enger said. (Salter, 11/5)

Almost 2,000 voters were at the site that day, the county said. It’s unclear if any were directly exposed. But some were angry on Thursday. Maggie Pohlmeier, a St. Charles doctor and mom, said she has gone to great lengths to keep herself, her patients and her son safe during the pandemic. “For me to show up and do my civic duty … and to be exposed in that instance when I have been as careful as I have,” Pohlmeier said. “I am completely irate over this.” (Merrilees, 11/5)

Some Republican lawmakers are criticizing President Donald Trump’s unsupported claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election, saying Trump’s comments undermine the U.S. political process and the bedrock notion that all Americans should have their vote counted. (Daly, 11/6)

Election officials in several states said Thursday they are worried about the safety of their staffs amid a stream of threats and gatherings of angry protesters outside their doors, drawn by President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the race for the White House. (Merchant and Sullivan, 11/6)

More than 150,000 ballots were caught in U.S. Postal Service processing facilities and not delivered by Election Day, agency data shows, including more than 12,000 in five of the states that have yet to be called for either President Trump or Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. Despite assurances from Postal Service leaders that agency officials were conducting daily sweeps for misplaced ballots, the mail service acknowledged in a court filing Thursday that thousands of ballots had not been processed in time, and that more ballots were processed Wednesday than on Election Day. (Bogage and Ingraham, 11/5)

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said about 1,700 ballots had been identified in Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps Thursday and were being delivered to election officials. In a court filing early Friday, USPS said 1,076 ballots, had been found at the USPS Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. About 300 were found at the Pittsburgh processing center, 266 at a Lehigh Valley facility and others found at other Pennsylvania processing centers. (Shepardson, 11/6)

Both of Georgia’s Senate races will go to a runoff election to be held on January 5, 2021. With a small number of votes still to be counted in Georgia, particularly in the Democratic-leaning Atlanta suburbs, Republican Sen. David Perdue did not hit the 50 percent threshold he needed to avoid a runoff race with Democrat Jon Ossoff. As of 7 pm ET on November 5, Perdue was sitting at 49.89 percent, compared to 47.80 percent for Ossoff, according to Decision Desk. That’s runoff No. 2 for Georgia voters. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock were already headed to a runoff in the special election for a Senate seat vacated in 2019 by retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson. (Nilsen, 11/5)

The 2020 elections won't end this year. After Republicans significantly outperformed expectations in several key Senate races this month, control of the upper chamber has come down to Georgia's two seats — both of which are heading to runoff races in early January. While Georgia's presidential race remains too close to call as ballots continue to be counted, the state is set to determine control of the upper chamber, a stunning development that gives Democrats a difficult but realistic pathway to having a unified government in Washington, DC. (Dorman and Relman, 11/5)

Republicans have won every statewide runoff vote in Georgia history, a string that started in 1992 when Paul Coverdell narrowly defeated Democratic U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler. But Democrats aim to snap the streak next year, fueled by a surge of new voters. (Bluestein, 11/5)

The likelihood of a Biden presidency and a closely divided Senate means that nothing big is likely to happen in health care for at least the next two years. The big picture: For all the time Democrats spent debating Medicare for All, competing public insurance options and sweeping federal controls over drug prices, the near-term future for health policy will likely be about gridlock and incrementalism. (Owens, 11/6)

Floridians flock to the federal health-insurance exchange in higher numbers than any other state, but Obamacare-supporting political candidates, including incumbents and hopefuls, got beat in key state and federal races Tuesday. ... Health care didn’t translate at the polls the way that Florida Democrats wanted, said longtime Florida political analyst Susan MacManus, because it never was able to be distinguished from the COVID-19 pandemic. “For a lot of people, COVID incorporated the idea of health care,” she told The News Service of Florida. (Sexton, 11/5)

House Democratic leaders will dramatically expand Covid testing for lawmakers as the coronavirus pandemic enters its possibly deadliest phase this fall. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the testing expansion on a private Democratic leadership call Thursday. (Bresnahan and Caygle, 11/5)

The Federal Reserve said the coronavirus pandemic poses considerable risks for the U.S. economy despite recent gains, and officials made no changes on Thursday to their commitment to provide sustained stimulus. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said they were monitoring two prominent risks to the recent rebound in economic activity: one from rising infection rates and another from households exhausting savings after earlier fiscal relief measures had dissipated. (Timiraos, 11/5)

The pace of the labor market recovery showed fresh signs of cooling last week, with new applications for unemployment benefits holding nearly steady as virus cases surged in several states. Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 751,000 in the week ended Oct. 31, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was the lowest level since mid-March, but was well above the 217,000 claims filed in late February, before economic shutdowns to control the spread of the new coronavirus began. (Mackrael, 11/5)

First-time claims for unemployment rose modestly in Texas last week while dropping slightly nationally. Just over 36,000 workers filed new claims last week, up about 1,000 from the previous week. U.S. claims slipped to 751,000, down 7,000 from the previous week. Unemployment claims have fallen substantially since record highs in late March and early April, when initial claims in the state surpassed 300,000 per week and approached 7 million nationally. Economists, however, say the recovery has slowed and fear the resurgence of COVID-19 could lead to another economic contraction. (Carballo, 11/5)

Despite the financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic, few American households have raided their retirement accounts to make ends meet. Faced with the prospect of surging unemployment and a declining economy, Congress in March passed a law that temporarily allows Americans to use their retirement money today. But so far, there hasn’t been a rush of funds out of accounts. (Tergesen and Driebusch, 11/5)

Health care workers will almost certainly get the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. when one is approved, according to Dr. José Romero, head of the committee that develops evidence-based immunization guidelines for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a decision based on the science of what will quell the pandemic fastest. "It's not just the doctors and nurses that are interacting with patients, but also the support personnel that help," Romero said in an interview Thursday with NPR. "It could include those persons that are delivering food, or maintenance people that could come in contact with them," so they can protect themselves and patients from the virus, and stay healthy to keep the U.S. health care system running. (Huang, 11/5)

KHN: VA Joins Pentagon In Recruiting Volunteers For COVID Vaccine Trials 

The Department of Veterans Affairs is recruiting 8,000 volunteers for the Phase 3 clinical trials of at least four COVID-19 vaccine candidates at 20 federal medical facilities across the U.S., according to officials with the VA and Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s initiative to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine. The largely unpublicized effort follows a Department of Defense announcement in September that it has partnered with AstraZeneca to recruit volunteers at five of its medical facilities, which are separate from the VA system. (Kime, 11/6)

A suggestion by an ethics professor at a leading UK university that governments should pay citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has sparked debate over whether such incentives are ethical, or dangerous, and would boost or limit uptake. Arguing that governments should consider a “pay for risk” approach to encourage their populations to have COVID-19 shots when they become available, Julian Savulescu, a professor at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University, said it would allow people to make an informed choice. (Kelland, 11/5)

Government health officials and drugmakers plan to roll out extra tools to detect whether Covid-19 vaccines cause any serious side effects once the shots are cleared for widespread use, aiming to fill gaps in existing safeguards given the expected speed and scope of the rollout. The measures include surveys tracked through a smartphone app developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and special monitoring for groups including pregnant women and the elderly, according to health officials and company executives involved in the plans. (Loftus, 11/5)

The University of Kentucky along with two Kentucky hospitals will conduct a clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. UK will partner with Baptist Health Lexington and Norton Healthcare in Louisville for Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson’s phase three clinical study. The study will evaluate Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. (11/6)

AstraZeneca Plc plans to start early and mid-stage clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in China this year, a senior executive said on Friday, as it prepares a global rollout of the vaccine. The vaccine candidate is already in the final stage of clinical trials in other countries, and AstraZeneca and its partner on the project, the University of Oxford, expect data from the late-stage trials this year. (11/5)

A nasal spray that blocks the absorption of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has completely protected ferrets it was tested on, according to a small study released on Thursday by an international team of scientists. The study, which was limited to animals and has not yet been peer-reviewed, was assessed by several health experts at the request of The New York Times. If the spray, which the scientists described as nontoxic and stable, is proved to work in humans, it could provide a new way of fighting the pandemic. A daily spritz up the nose would act like a vaccine. (McNeil Jr., 11/5)

Children infected with the coronavirus produce weaker antibodies and fewer types of them than adults do, suggesting they clear their infection much faster, according to a new study published Thursday. Other studies have suggested that an overly strong immune response may be to blame in people who get severely ill or die from Covid-19. A weaker immune response in children may paradoxically indicate that they vanquish the virus before it has had a chance to wreak havoc in the body, and may help explain why children are mostly spared severe symptoms of Covid, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It may also show why they are less likely to spread the virus to others. (Mandavilli, 11/5)

Could Wally the llama hold the key to COVID-19? The immune system of the black-coated animal, who lives on a farm in Massachusetts, was coaxed into producing “nanobodies” — smaller cousins of antibodies — that neutralized the coronavirus in laboratory experiments, University of Pittsburgh scientists reported Thursday. The potent proteins still are being tested in other animals to gauge their ability to ward off COVID-19, and the Pitt research team had no firm time frame on when they might be tested in humans. (Avril, 11/5)

Whether it's strange rashes on the toes or blood clots in the brain, the widespread ravages of COVID-19 have increasingly led researchers to focus on how the novel coronavirus sabotages the body's blood vessels. As scientists have come to know the disease better, they have homed in on the vascular system — the body's network of arteries, veins and capillaries, stretching more than 60,000 miles — to understand this wide-ranging disease and to find treatments that can stymie its most pernicious effects. (Stone, 11/5)

Jennifer Spicer thought her days of feeling the effects of covid-19 were over. The fever, chills and severe fatigue that racked her body back in July had long dissipated. And much to the excitement of the self-described “foodie,” her senses of smell and taste were slowly returning. “I thought I had recovered,” said Spicer, 35, an infectious-disease physician at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who was exposed to the novel coronavirus through a patient. Although her senses hadn’t fully come back, she was eating and drinking “completely normally” again. “I felt a lot of relief,” she said. But that relief lasted only until a Friday night in late October when she took a sip from a freshly poured glass of red wine. “It tasted like gasoline,” Spicer said. (Chiu, 11/5)

Rebecca Edgar, 29, struggles to hear her toddler when he talks to her from the backseat of her car. Most nights, she struggles to fall asleep, caught in a cycle of worry that the ringing in her ear is getting louder and recognizing that this very stress is worsening her symptoms. "I've had a constant high-pitched buzzing in my ear for the past 20 years, but there is no doubt that this is the worst my tinnitus has ever been," said Edgar, of Essex County in southeast England. "I'm deaf in one ear, and I'm so scared that catching Covid-19 could destroy what's left of my hearing." (Sullivan, 11/5)

Employees in office settings may be more likely to become infected with the novel coronavirus if they regularly commute to work rather than work from home, according to a new report. Public health investigators who examined possible exposures to COVID-19 among employed adults found that workers who tested positive for COVID-19 were almost twice as likely to report regularly commuting to work, compared with the employees studied who tested negative, according to research published Thursday as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Schumaker, 11/5)

Four companies that made or distributed prescription opioids and played roles in the catastrophic opioid crisis have reached a tentative $26 billion settlement with counties and cities that sued them for damages in the largest federal court case in American history. The settlement offer from opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and the “Big Three” distributors, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, potentially brings a large measure of legal closure for the companies and will funnel money to communities devastated by an addiction crisis that claims more than 70,000 lives in America every year. That death toll continues to rise even as it is overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. (Achenbach, Rowland, Zezima and Davis, 11/5)

If the deal is finalized, four of the most prominent defendants in the behemoth, nationwide litigation — McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and Johnson & Johnson — would no longer be at risk from future opioid lawsuits by these governments. Other drug manufacturers and the national pharmacy chains are still facing thousands of such cases. (Hoffman, 11/5)

The Veterans Health Administration is building up processes to 3D print its own medical devices, striking a new contract with a 3D printing company. Under the contract, the Veterans Health Administration will purchase 3D printers, software and other printing materials from company 3D Systems. 3D Systems will also work with the Veterans Health Administration to set up a manufacturing program that complies with regulations from the Food and Drug Administration. (Cohen, 11/5)

Results from Tuesday’s presidential election remain unclear — but that didn’t stop a panel of experts from trying to parse the consequences for the pharmaceutical industry. At a virtual event hosted by the Massachusetts trade group MassBio Thursday, three panelists were skeptical that either potential president would immediately push aggressive drug pricing legislation. But no one assumed the election would end the issue, either. (Sheridan, 11/5)

Between 2010 and 2017, Americans nearly doubled their spending on pricey specialty medicines that they purchased at pharmacies or by mail. And this was after accounting for rebates paid by drug makers to health plans, according to a new analysis in Health Affairs. (Silverman, 11/4)

Ahead of a widely anticipated regulatory review of Biogen’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug, a small survey found an overwhelming majority of physicians viewed the treatment favorably after combing through the briefing documents. Specifically, 57% of the doctors believed Biogen (BIIB) presented strong evidence that its medicine, aducanumab, has a positive effect on Alzheimer’s. (Silverman, 11/5)

X, the Alphabet subsidiary trying to use artificial intelligence to discover a biomarker for depression and anxiety in brainwave data, reported this week that its initiative had failed to home in on a single indicator that could make measuring mental health as simple as reading a glucose meter. (Ross, 11/4)

Many within the disabled community are speaking out about the HBO Max remake of "The Witches" and how the villains were depicted in the movie. The fallout, which was first reported by Deadline, was sparked over a key difference between the 2020 remake and the Roald Dahl classic book and -- by extension -- the original 1990 film. (Stone, 11/5)

Sofia Vergara is letting fans know that some things in life are just as important as Election Day. For women, one should be their annual mammogram. The "Modern Family" alum took to Instagram on Tuesday to hilariously share her mammogram experience. As it turns out, she enjoyed hers as much as the next person. (Stone, 11/5)

As the pandemic has worn on, churches across the country have emerged as a major source of coronavirus infections. Now Crossroads, a popular Pentecostal church, is one epicenter of an escalating outbreak in Fitchburg. The Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards first investigated complaints about the church’s compliance with COVID-19 health protocols in late September, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The department reviewed a copy of the church’s COVID-19 safety plan, found no discrepancies, and closed the case on Oct. 2. (Pan, 11/5)

The N.F.L. has fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000 and their head coach, Jon Gruden, an additional $150,000 and has taken away a late-round draft pick next year because of repeated violations of the league’s coronavirus protocols, according to a league employee who was not authorized to discuss the penalties publicly. (Belson, 11/5)

College football games have carried on through the coronavirus pandemic, but the matchup between Florida and Georgia found itself particularly susceptible to change because it’s more an event than a game. The weekend-long party brings thousands into the city, even if they don’t have a ticket. ... This year’s edition pits No. 5 Georgia against No. 8 Florida, but with social distancing protocols, only about 18,000 fans will watch from inside the stadium. To discourage gatherings, only ticket holders are allowed in stadium lots, and the city is prohibiting tailgating — though it cannot impede events on private property. (Giambalvo, 11/5)

Most out-of-town visitors to Washington, D.C., from states deemed high-risk for COVID-19, will be required to have a negative test before arriving in the district, but will no longer have to self-quarantine in the city for 14 days, according to an order signed Thursday by the city's mayor. With the new order, the nation's capital joins New York, Connecticut and New Jersey in instituting requirements for visitors to help blunt the spread of the coronavirus amid an alarming increase in infection rates across the country. (Hutchinson, 11/5)

Hundreds of Vermont front-line workers may miss out on hazard pay for working during the COVID-19 pandemic as at least one major retail employer is choosing not to apply for the program, according to state senators. A group of Vermont state senators released a statement Wednesday morning denouncing Walmart's decision not to apply for the program on behalf of their employees. (Bakuli, 11/5)

New Jersey voters this week legalized recreational cannabis. Without Republican support, it’s unlikely that the Keystone State will follow anytime soon.“ As long as we’re in the middle of a declared opioid emergency, we shouldn’t be legalizing another drug," said Jason Gottesman, spokesman for Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R., Centre). “On top of that, revenue projections are that it will only bring in about $200 million a year and that money would only go to new spending.” (Wood, 11/5)

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news conference on Thursday that he will continue to push forward with his goal of expanding Medicaid at a time when voters decided to maintain GOP control of both chambers of the Legislature. “There is a lot of status quo, but I do think that my election, and by the margin, it shows that people do want us to close this healthcare coverage gap, particularly in the middle of a pandemic when so many people don’t have access to affordable health care,” Cooper said. “I want us to try and find new strategies to work together to move forward.” (Anderson, 11/5)

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation administrator Stephanie McCloud to lead the Ohio Department of Health, which has gone without a permanent director for months. ... Unlike her predecessor, Dr. Amy Acton, McCloud is not a doctor. She holds a journalism degree from Ohio University and a law degree from Capital University Law School. (Balmert and Borchardt, 11/5)

Nevada’s LGBTQ community is celebrating after voters overwhelmingly agreed to make the state the first in the nation to protect same-sex marriage in its constitution. On Tuesday, nearly two-thirds of Nevada voters said the state’s constitution should be amended to remove a provision stating marriage is only between a man and a woman. (Alonzo, 11/5)

California regulators announced last month plans to evaluate whether safety-net patients face improperly long waits to see medical specialists in Los Angeles County, the nation’s second-largest public health system. That investigation — which aims to determine whether these wait times violate managed-care standards — raises fundamental questions about the quality of care for safety-net patients nationwide, in the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people. (Hochman and Levander, 11/6)

KHN: KHN On The Air This Week

Columnist and California Healthline senior correspondent Bernard J. Wolfson discussed the start of open enrollment for health care plans in California with KPCC’s “Take Two” on Monday. (11/6)

A group of residents is suing the Municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage Assembly for shutting down Assembly meetings to in-person participation in August following a local emergency order that limited the size of gatherings due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. During that period, people who wanted to provide testimony to the Anchorage Assembly did so via email or phone. Alaskans for Open Meetings, and named plaintiff Michele Deering, filed the lawsuit Monday in state court. (Wieber, 11/5)

Denmark’s State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found mink-related versions of coronavirus in 214 people since June, according to a report on its website updated on Nov. 5. One strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of mink, has however only been found in 12 people and on five mink farms so far. (11/6)

Denmark set off alarm bells this week with its announcement that it is culling the nation’s entire mink herd — the largest in the world — to stop spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the prized fur species because of potentially dangerous mutations. Inter-species jumps of viruses make scientists nervous — as do suggestions of potentially significant mutations that result from those jumps. In this case, Danish authorities say they’ve found some genetic changes that might undermine the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines currently in development. (Branswell, 11/5)

The U.K. is imposing a two-week quarantine on travelers from Denmark, following an outbreak of a rare mutation of Covid-19 in the Nordic country’s mink farms. “I have taken the swift decision to urgently remove Denmark from the government’s travel corridor list as a precautionary measure given recent developments,” U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement. (Buttler, 11/6)

Chocolate shops and stationery stores were busy as usual. Universities held in-person lectures. And workers crowded into some offices and factories, often with nothing more than a bottle of communal hand sanitizer to protect them from the rampant spread of the coronavirus. In England on Thursday, the first hours of Lockdown 2.0, as local newspapers called it, looked very little like a lockdown at all. (Mueller, 11/5)

At least 104 people were arrested at an anti-lockdown protest in London on Thursday evening, according to authorities in the British capital. The protest in Trafalgar Square took place despite the coronavirus restrictions currently in place, and arrests were made after people refused to disperse, according to a statement by the London Metropolitan Police.  (11/6)

With a surge in coronavirus cases straining health systems in many European countries, Greece announced a nationwide lockdown Thursday in the hopes of stemming a rising tide of patients before its hospitals come under “unbearable” pressure. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that he acted before infection rates reached the levels seen in many neighboring countries because, after years of financial crises that have damaged its health system, it couldn’t afford to wait as long to impose restrictions as others had. (Becatoros and Hadjicostis, 11/5)

Rich countries are rapidly claiming the world's lion's share of future doses of COVID-19 vaccine, creating deep inequalities in global distribution. Despite an international agreement to allocate the vaccine equitably around the world, billions of people in poor and middle-income countries might not be immunized until 2023 or even 2024, researchers at Duke University predict. (Doucleff, 11/5)

Health Canada yesterday announced that a rare variant H1N2 (H1N2v) influenza case has been confirmed in Alberta, marking the province's only flu case reported so far this season. The virus was detected in the middle of October after the patient sought care for mild flulike symptoms and quickly recovered, the agency said in a statement. So far there's no evidence that the virus has spread, and agriculture officials are working with health investigators to identify the source of the virus and the possibility of further spread. At a news conference yesterday, officials said the virus is a swine variant and so far no links have been found to swine slaughterhouses, the CBC reported. (11/5)

The pandemic has been a continuing nightmare for parents. This has been particularly true for mothers. Even before the pandemic, child care duties fell disproportionately on women, and this disparity has only grown. But figuring out how many mothers have been pushed out of the labor force specifically because of school closings can be tricky. (Tedeschi, 10/29)

Grant McCracken, a cultural anthropologist, has been studying how the relationship between mothers and children is changing during the pandemic. He noticed a trend in his own research: Mothers told him that they have been focused on raising and launching successful children into the world. But with day cares closed and babysitters unable to work, grade schools and colleges forced online, extracurriculars canceled and tests such as the SAT postponed, many mothers have been spending more high-quality time with their children — time, he said, that has led them to re-examine some personality traits they wanted to foster in their children: kindness and compassion over competition, and empathy for those who may be struggling. (Kramer, 11/2)

It is an idea that may never have been tried in wide-scale vaccine distribution: Citing principles of equity and justice, experts are urging that people living in communities hardest-hit by the pandemic, which are often made up of Black and Hispanic populations, get a portion of the first, limited supply of coronavirus vaccines set aside just for them. A committee of experts advising Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is considering the idea. But as it comes into focus, its underlying concepts and execution must be further defined, and the approach may then face legal and political challenges, even as the medical system grapples with the anticipated logistical hurdles of distributing new vaccines. (Kolata, 10/30)

Before the pandemic, 10-year-old Josiah Hood had a team of 17 people helping him with physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and behavioral therapy at home and at school. When the school he attends for children with developmental disabilities abruptly closed in March, Josiah, who has autism, was suddenly without the structure and routine he needed to thrive. (Jargon, 11/3)

Feeling under the weather? Chances are you or your doctor will grab a thermometer, take your temperature and hope for the familiar 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) everyone recognizes as “normal.” But what is normal and why does it matter? Despite the fixation on 98.6 F, clinicians recognize that there is no single universal “normal” body temperature for everyone at all times. Throughout the day, your body temperature can vary by as much as 1 F, at its lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon. It changes when you are sick, goes up during and after exercise, varies across the menstrual cycle and varies between individuals. It also tends to decline with age. (Gurven and Kraft, 11/2)

On June 16, three weeks after the killing of George Floyd set off a wave of protests that would blaze across the globe, Joël Babdor received an unexpected email. It was an invitation for Dr. Babdor, an immunologist at the University of California, San Francisco, to write a blog post to share his “personal experience as a Black man in academia,” the email said. The sender was a marketing manager from Springer Nature, a company that publishes Nature and thousands of other scientific journals. Springer Nature most likely needed little introduction, the email noted to Dr. Babdor, “since you have published with us before.” Dr. Babdor recalled being excited and flattered by the message. But then, he said, “I started to spiral.” (Wu, 10/30)

The bulky, modern human brain evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago and, for the most part, has remained largely unchanged. That is, it is innately tuned to analog information—to focus on the hunt at hand or perhaps the forage for wild plants. Yet we now pummel our ancient thinking organ with a daily deluge of digital information that many scientists believe may have enduring and worrisome effects. A new study published today in Nature supports the concern. The research suggests that “media multitasking”—or engaging with multiple forms of digital or screen-based media simultaneously, whether they are television, texting or Instagram—may impair attention in young adults, worsening their ability to later recall specific situations or experiences. (Stetka, 10/28)

If a person starts abusing a robot, will other people intervene if the robot’s friends show sadness? That was the objective of a new study by researchers at the Interactive Machines Group at Yale University. As robots become increasingly present in public and work spaces, in roles such as security guards and baristas, harm from humans is surprisingly common. Robot researchers say photos of people punching, kicking, even beheading these machines are popular online. (Miller Rubin, 11/2)

If you’re eligible for a health savings account, now may be a good time to open one. H.S.A.s can help you pay for medical treatment and medicine that insurance doesn’t cover. Typically, money is deposited into an H.S.A. before taxes, grows tax free and is tax free when you withdraw it as long as you spend it on eligible expenses. (A few states tax contributions to H.S.A.s, or earnings from interest or investment gains.) (Carrns, 10/30)

As uprisings continue around the United States in response to police violence against Black people, we have reached a moment of reckoning for many Americans. As a nation, we are struggling to find a way forward. Many organizations have issued statements of solidarity and made promises of support, as first steps. Individual clinicians and physicians’ organizations have joined the efforts, speaking out against police violence and naming racism as a public health issue or crisis. Organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Physicians have issued statements denouncing police brutality, condemning violence against protestors, and calling for inquiries into cases of police violence against Black people. This is new territory for most medical organizations, which have traditionally been conservative, are often self-described as nonpartisan, and have historically shied away from public advocacy efforts focused on social justice. (Jamila Perritt, 11/5)

Most immediately, the coronavirus is running wild, with new cases exceeding 100,000 a day and rising rapidly. This is going to hit the economy hard, even if state and local governments don’t impose new lockdowns. We desperately need a new round of federal spending on health care, aid to the unemployed and businesses, and support for strapped state and local governments. Reasonable estimates suggest that we should spend $200 billion or more each month until a vaccine brings the pandemic to an end. I’d be shocked if a Senate still controlled by Mitch McConnell would agree to anything like this. Even after the pandemic is over, we’re likely to face both persistent economic weakness and a desperate need for more public investment. But McConnell effectively blocked infrastructure spending even with Donald Trump in the White House. Why would he become more amenable with Biden in office? (Paul Krugman, 11/5)

For much of the past year, President Trump’s handling of the pandemic response has been roundly criticized as cavalier, negligent and deceptive. But the election results and exit polling suggest that aspects of his approach to the coronavirus were accepted and endorsed by nearly half the electorate. The coming winter phase of the pandemic is going to be more difficult than earlier months, and people will probably be asked to accept new restrictions to curb viral transmission. How will these voters react? (11/5)

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky recently tweeted what seemed to be a striking finding from a randomized study about the use of masks in the pandemic: “To the scolds blaming ⁦@realDonaldTrump infection on not wearing masks: the only published randomized clinical study of cloth masks shows 97% penetration of particles & higher infection rate than control. But never mind, it’s all about submission ….” The randomized clinical trial that Senator Paul and others have cited as a cautionary argument against mask-wearing did seem to reach a definite conclusion. “This study is the first RCT of cloth masks, and the results caution against the use of cloth masks,” its abstract proclaims. Case closed, right? Not at all. (Zeynep Tufekci, 11/6)

While the presidential candidates spent November 2 making their final stops on the campaign trail, I glanced at my calendar between assignments and realized it was my seven-month anniversary of living with long-term Covid-19. (In case you're wondering, the traditional gift for this milestone is a heating pad.) (Elizabeth Yuko, 11/5)

“So, are you two done with COVID yet?” I get this question a couple of times a week now from family and friends. I appreciate the concern, but I’m still not sure how to respond a month after my husband and I tested positive for COVID-19. The answer is that I think so. I hope so. But it’s too soon to say for sure. (Jill Burcum, 11/5)

If these games turn out to be spreading events, the victims won’t just be spectators. They could be any Japanese person who had the misfortune of running into someone who decided to go out for a night of baseball in a crowded stadium during a pandemic. That prospect should be enough for the government to shut down these experiments and accept a spectator-less Olympics. If it doesn’t, then the IOC should insist. For decades, the committee has argued that the games are in the best interests of host cities. Here’s a chance to prove it. (Adam Minter, 11/5)

At the outset of COVID-19 in early March, there was overwhelming support for our health care workers. As we enter flu season and COVID-19 infections in Indiana continue to rise, there is a heightened need for 24-hour care availability for patients. While frontline and essential workers in all industries face risks as they work to keep the country running in the face of a global pandemic, shift-work fatigue is an invisible risk they face. (Mary Carney, 11/5)

But as in other states, Republicans in Georgia had another advantage. They made a conscious decision to flout pandemic guidelines — issued but often ignored by our governor — and hold rally after rally, more unmasked than not. They followed the example of President Donald Trump, who twice drew thousands of supporters to Georgia events in the final weeks of the campaign — music-blaring, outrage-filled affairs that pushed Republicans to the polls. Social distancing was something for the other side. Democrats used Joe Biden as their model. They leaned on virtual campaigns — Zoom sessions, texting, and socially distanced events such as car rallies. (Jim Galloway, 11/6)