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Worldwide coronavirus cases crossed 40 million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere fuelled a resurgence in the spread of the disease. The Reuters tally is based on official reporting by individual countries. Experts believe the true numbers of both cases and deaths are likely much higher, given deficiencies in testing and potential under-reporting by some countries. The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic continues to pick up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 to 30 million, the 44 days between 10 and 20 million, and the three months it took to reach 10 million cases from when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, in early January. (Ahluwalia and Abraham, 10/19)

Colder temperatures are arriving in the Northern Hemisphere, and an insidious rise in new coronavirus cases in the U.S. and Europe is underway. For months, health officials have warned against this possibility, and as these trends begin to materialize, countries are weighing whether to impose stricter measures to contain the virus’ spread. (Higgins-Dunn, Feuer and Rattner, 10/17)

Although Texas reported a "slight decrease" in cases over the 14-day period that ended Saturday, its news was better than elsewhere: 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam all recorded increases in cases over the last 14 days, and nine states have plateaued, according to NBC News tallies. Rhode Island, which, like Texas, has also had a net decrease, does not report data over the weekend, and Missouri is not reporting data because of a technology issue. (Kesslen and Grumbach, 10/18)

A key model foresees approximately 171,000 more coronavirus related deaths by February 2021, a number that would represent a spike of 78 percent. The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine suggests there will be roughly 389,087 deaths by Feb. 1. If all Americans use face masks, the model’s best-case scenario projects 314,000 deaths by that date. The model, however, foresees more than 477,000 deaths if mask mandates are eased. (Gstalter, 10/16)

Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly in many states as the U.S. heads into the winter months. And forecasters predict staggering growth in infections and deaths if current trends continue. It's exactly the kind of scenario that public health experts have long warned could be in store for the country, if it did not aggressively tamp down on infections over the summer. (Stone, 10/16)

Pfizer Inc. cannot request emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine before the third week of November -- and that’s if everything goes well, the company’s CEO announced Friday. Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated promises of a vaccine before Election Day, scientists have been cautioning that it’s unlikely data showing a leading shot actually works would come until November or December. (10/16)

An analysis of the efficacy of the vaccine could be available sooner, the company said in an open letter from its CEO, Albert Bourla, but required safety data will take longer. The timelines included in the letter are not new, based on disclosures the company has previously made about the status of its vaccine effort with the German biotechnology firm BioNTech. But the need for Bourla, who had previously said a vaccine could be available by October, to make a public announcement emphasizes the tense political conditions surrounding the race for a vaccine. (Herper, 10/16)

Close watchers of the vaccine race had already known that Pfizer wouldn’t be able to meet the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration by the end of this month. But Friday’s announcement represents a shift in tone for the company and its leader, who has repeatedly emphasized the month of October in interviews and public appearances. In doing so, the company had aligned its messaging with that of [President Trump], who has made no secret of his desire for an approved vaccine before the election. (Thomas and Weiland, 10/18)

The Trump administration on Friday announced a partnership with two national pharmacy chains to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine to residents of long term care facilities for free. The partnership with CVS and Walgreens will allow health officials to prioritize a vaccine when one becomes available, so it can be administered to the most vulnerable populations. (Weixel, 10/16)

Retail pharmacy chains CVS Health and Walgreens reached a deal with the Trump administration to quickly provide and administer COVID-19 vaccines directly to nursing homes with no out-of-pocket costs. The agreement, announced Friday, focuses on the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine to the highest-risk individuals ahead of a potential vaccine approval either this year or in early 2021. (King, 10/16)

CVS Health is pushing for pharmacy technicians to be allowed to administer COVID-19 vaccines. The healthcare giant is hiring more than 10,000 full- and part-time pharmacy technicians in Q4 in anticipation of flu season, and urging for them to have an expanded scope of practice that would allow them to vaccinate patients for the novel coronavirus under supervision from an immunization-certified pharmacist. (Minemyer, 10/19)

CVS Health said Monday that it wants to immediately hire 15,000 employees to prepare for an expected rise in Covid-19 and flu cases this fall and winter. More than 10,000 of those will be full-time and part-time licensed pharmacy technicians who can help dispense medications and administer Covid-19 tests. (Repko, 10/19)

With the first coronavirus vaccines in the final stages of testing, the National Governors Association has some pressing questions for the Trump administration: Who is going to pay for the administration of vaccines? And how will scarce supplies be allocated among the states? The association, a bipartisan group headed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, posted its questions on Twitter. (10/18)

Massachusetts residents who are elderly or at risk for serious illness, health care providers, and other essential workers are likely to be the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after one is approved, according to a draft of the state’s distribution plan filed with the federal government. The document, sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prioritizes those groups because the state, home to nearly 6.9 million people, is expected to receive only 20,000 to 60,000 doses of a vaccine during the federal government’s initial allocation, according to the draft. (Fox and Lugli, 10/18)

The Georgia Department of Public Health submitted its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, laying the groundwork for an extraordinary undertaking to vaccinate millions of people across the state. The 56-page plan touches on everything from ordering and tracking the vaccine to meeting cold-storage requirements. It also outlines a strategy of making the vaccine available at not only healthcare settings but non-traditional places like churches and workplaces. (Oliviero and Hart, 10/16)

State public health officials are urging Congress to provide at least $8.4 billion in emergency funding for distributing a coronavirus vaccine, warning that they do not currently have enough money to carry out the immense logistical effort. The letter to bipartisan congressional leaders came from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), a group that represents state public health departments, and the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM), which represents states’ vaccination officials. (Sullivan, 10/16)

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday the White House strategy to combat the spread of coronavirus appears to be "to endure the spread until we get to that vaccine." That strategy, which leaves much of the mitigation efforts up to the states and excludes a national mask mandate, is "problematic" because the "first tranche of people to get vaccinated really won't be protected ... probably until February and maybe March," even if companies apply in November with the FDA to administer the vaccine, Gottlieb said. (Allassan, 10/18)

California biotech company Vaxart, which is working on a Covid-19 vaccine, is under federal investigation and is being sued by a number of investors for allegedly exaggerating its involvement in the US government's Operation Warp Speed program for developing Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. Vaxart stated in an October 14 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it's being investigated by the SEC and federal prosecutors, and that it was served with a grand jury subpoena in July from the US District Court for the Northern District of California. (Liao, 10/18)

A federal judge Sunday struck down a Trump administration rule that could have stripped food stamps from nearly 700,000 people, saying the US Department of Agriculture has been "icily silent" about how many Americans would have been denied benefits had the changes been in effect during the pandemic. ... The rule, announced in December, would have required more food stamp recipients to work in order to receive benefits by limiting states' ability to waive existing work mandates. It had been scheduled to take effect on April 1, but Howell in mid-March blocked it from being implemented, and Congress suspended work mandates in the food stamp program as part of a coronavirus relief package that month. (Luhby, 10/18)

In a scathing 67-page opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of D.C. condemned the Agriculture Department for failing to justify or even address the impact of the sweeping change on states, saying its shortcomings had been placed in stark relief amid the coronavirus pandemic, during which unemployment has quadrupled and rosters of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have grown by more than 17 percent, with more than 6 million new enrollees. (Hsu, 10/18)

By early October, Kaneadsha Jones was close to giving up. It had been seven months since she or her husband had steady work. Seven months since her three school-age children, including a 14-year-old daughter with autism who is blind, nonverbal and immunocompromised, had been to school. Four months since a shooting on her block left her car and her family’s rented house in north Columbus, Ohio, riddled with bullet holes and her 12-year-old daughter struggling with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The pressure of it all – the hunger, the constant worrying, the desperation to find some stability – was crushing. Some days, she struggled to get out of bed. “I’m so tired,” Jones said. “It seems nothing is getting a little better. The only thing that keeps me trying is my family.” (Mader, 10/17)

Indiana families receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps, generally receive less than half of the lowest of food cost budgets projected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over 725,000 Hoosiers received SNAP benefits in August, according to data from the Family and Social Services Administration, but some hunger relief advocates say the amount of aid they — and other families across the nation — receive is insufficient. (Hays, 10/19)

The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) has received federal approval to offer disaster food benefits to eight Oregon counties impacted by wildfires. Residents impacted by the wildfires in Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, and Marion counties are approved to participate. (10/18)

1 in 9 people in the U.S. struggle with hunger. And despite federal assistance programs like food stamps, which aim to help millions of families across the U.S., many of these families aren’t actually receiving these benefits due to the cumbersome administrative process required to enroll. mRelief is changing that. Led by cofounders Rose Afriyie and Genevieve Nielsen, the tech nonprofit is transforming access to food stamps, so more families can get the help they need to eat with dignity. (Farley, (10/15)

Labs that take longer than two days to complete coronavirus tests will see federal payments cut $25 per test under a new policy to begin Jan. 1. The agency overseeing Medicare will pay labs $100 per coronavirus test completed on a high-volume machine within two days of collecting a specimen. Labs that take longer will get only $75 per test next year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Alltucker, 10/18)

In mid-April the agency announced that it was doubling the pay rate to $100 per test to labs using high throughput technology, meaning that, in essence, Thursday’s announcement reveals a $25 penalty to those labs that don’t produce results within two days. The agency explained the new payment amounts ($100 and $75) reflect the resource costs laboratories face for completing COVID-19 diagnostic tests using high throughput technology. (Brown, 10/16)

As summer faded into autumn and the novel coronavirus continued to ravage the nation unabated, Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him to the White House, consolidated his power over the government’s pandemic response. (Yasmeen Abutaleb, Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa, 10/19)

The Trump White House has installed two political operatives at the nation’s top public health agency to try to control the information it releases about the coronavirus pandemic as the administration seeks to paint a positive outlook, sometimes at odds with the scientific evidence. The two appointees assigned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters in June have no public health background. They have instead been tasked with keeping an eye on Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency director, as well as scientists, according to a half-dozen CDC and administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government affairs. (Dearen, Stobbe and Lardner, 10/16)

Twitter blocked a post Sunday from an adviser to President Donald Trump who suggested that masks do not work to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Scott Atlas, who joined the White House in August as a science adviser, had tweeted “Masks work? NO,” and said widespread use of masks is not supported. (Bussewitz, 10/18)

As the coronavirus continued to surge in many parts of the United States, officials and experts offered starkly different outlooks on Sunday about what was to come and when the situation might improve. Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services, noted that many people had grown tired of pandemic precautions, and tried to paint an optimistic picture of how much longer they would be needed. (Delkic, Kolata and Tompkins, 10/18)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, will oversee most of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials in the U.S., but not that of the current front-runner made by Pfizer, documents obtained by ProPublica show. According to a draft charter spelling out how most of the advanced COVID-19 vaccine trials will be monitored, Fauci is the “designated senior representative” of the U.S. government who will be part of the first look at the results. That puts Fauci in the room with the companies — including Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — in deciding whether the vaccines are ready to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration. (Arnsdorf, Chen and Gabrielson, 10/16)

In a wide-ranging 60 Minutes interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci expresses his frustration with a Trump campaign ad; explains why, early in the pandemic, masks were largely recommended for health care workers; and says whether he plans to vote in person. (LaPook, 10/18)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, suggested in a new interview that President Donald Trump is reluctant to cover his face in public amid the coronavirus pandemic because he “equates wearing a mask with weakness.” In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, Fauci said the president’s frequent refusal to model the personal mitigation measure is “less an anti-science [position] than it’s more a statement.” (Forgey, 10/19)

As Covid-19 cases continue to soar across the country, the nation's top infectious disease doctor said following public health measures is the way out of the crisis that has hobbled the economy, claimed thousands of lives and sickened millions. Health experts say the predicted fall surge is here, and rising cases across the US appear to bear that out. The US is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day, and 10 states reported their highest single-day case counts on Friday. (Holcombe, 10/19)

Deborah Birx is nowhere to be found at the White House these days. Though she retains the title of coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, Birx has not attended any of President Trump's press briefings on the pandemic since he started them anew in late July, nor was she at a recent event to tout the administration's advances in testing. (Samuels, 10/18)

Gone are the days when President Donald Trump held forth daily at the White House podium flanked by members of his coronavirus task force. And the days when Vice President Mike Pence and other task force officials would head to Trump’s office to brief him immediately after their meetings. The White House won’t say when Trump last met with the task force. In the week since he emerged from coronavirus isolation, Trump has demonstrated new determination to minimize the threat of the virus that has killed more than 215,000 Americans and complicated his chances of winning another four years in the White House. (Madhani and Miller, 10/17)

A top lawyer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is warning that President Trump's plans to provide a discount on a coronavirus vaccine once it is ready could violate federal election law, according to a new report. In an internal memo circulated this week, HHS general counsel Robert Charrow told aides that Trump's plan could open up the federal government and the Trump campaign to legal troubles, several sources told Politico. (Mastrangelo, 10/17)

Back fully campaigning after COVID-19 sidelined him, President Donald Trump returned to familiar form, spreading a litany of falsehoods. Over the weekend, he asserted yet again the virus was “rounding the corner” when it isn’t, misrepresented Democratic rival Joe Biden’s tax proposals and resurrected unfounded claims about Biden and the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, in Ukraine. (Yen, Woodward and Boak, 10/19)

The Biden campaign slammed President Trump after he said at a Nevada rally Sunday if his Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden were elected there'd be more coronavirus pandemic lockdowns because "he'll listen to the scientists. "What he's saying: "If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression," Trump said. (Falconer, 10/18)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday slammed President Trump for continuing to "lie about the circumstances" of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden reportedly hammered Trump during a rally in North Carolina for comments the president has made claiming that the U.S. is turning the corner and getting past the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak. Most states in the U.S. are seeing rates of COVID-19 infections rise. (Bowden, 10/18)

Americans worried about their health now and in the future can't trust President Donald Trump to keep them safe from COVID-19 or to protect their coverage, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Friday during a trip to Southfield. Standing in a gymnasium at Beech Woods Park in the metro Detroit suburb, Biden blasted the president and touted his own health care plans during a wide-ranging speech.  (Boucher, 10/16)

Most of the differences between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on health care align on a central dispute: Mr. Trump wants to reduce the federal government’s role in Americans’ health care, while Mr. Biden wants to expand it. Both agree that health-care costs should be reduced, but they disagree on how to address the coronavirus pandemic, health coverage, driving down prescription-drug prices and lowering insurance premiums. (Armour, 10/18)

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday that although President Donald Trump incites violence against public servants and inspires domestic terrorism, she would rather focus on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic than his incendiary rhetoric. “Every moment that we are not focused on the fact that there are 220,000 Americans who died from this virus is good for him,” Whitmer, a Democrat, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview. (Forgey, 10/18)

During his rally in Muskegon, Mich., on Saturday, Trump blamed Whitmer for imposing what he sees as too severe restrictions on the state during the coronavirus pandemic. That led to a chorus of "lock her up!" chants. And instead of condemning the chants, Trump seemed to egg on his supporters, smiling and saying, "You got to get your governor to open up your state," and "Lock them all up." (Sprunt, 10/18)

Lara Trump, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, on Sunday defended her father-in-law’s suggestion that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should be imprisoned alongside his other political rivals. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lara Trump insisted the president was merely “having fun at a Trump rally” when he criticized Whitmer, a Democrat, at a campaign event this weekend. (Forgey, 10/18)

Whitmer implored the Republican president and other officials on Sunday to "bring the heat down" and accused Trump of "inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. "Whitmer, a national campaign co-chair for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, made the comments with an "8645" emblem on a table beside her visible in the camera frame, an apparent anti-Trump message referring to "86ing," or getting rid of, the 45th president. The presence of the decal prompted a backlash from Trump's campaign, which argued: "86 can be shorthand for killing someone." (LeBlanc, 10/18)

Early voting for the Nov. 3 presidential election begins in the crucial battleground state of Florida on Monday as a record 28 million Americans have already cast ballots with barely two weeks remaining in the campaign. President Donald Trump, running out of time to change the dynamics of a race that polls show him losing, will visit Arizona on Monday after holding a rally in Nevada on Sunday and urging his supporters to vote amid signs that Democrats are leading the surge in early voting. (Ax, 10/19)

After scrambling to replace an aging force of poll workers most at risk from the coronavirus, U.S. election officials face the challenge of running the Nov. 3 voting with untested volunteers tasked with following strict health protocols in an intensely partisan environment. A nationwide drive that recruited hundreds of thousands of younger poll workers - the people who set up equipment, check in voters and process ballots - means most battleground states will not be understaffed, a Reuters review of Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found. (Harte and Whitesides, 10/18)

This year, there aren't as many large public events with volunteers signing people up to vote in the weeks before the election, due to the pandemic. But doctors' offices are stepping in to fill the void, through programs like VotER and Vote Health 2020, nonpartisan efforts to register patients in free clinics, community centers and emergency rooms. (Silver, 10/18)

Hiral Tipirneni spent nearly a decade working in emergency medicine in Arizona. She started out 23 years ago at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Phoenix, treating patients with broken bones, failing hearts and a lot of other problems. Then some health tragedies hit home. “Our family suffered a great loss to cancer: my mom and nephew,” she says. Tipirneni felt she should do something to combat the illness that took her loved ones. In 2010 she accepted a position as a scientific review officer for the Society of Research Administrators International, a global research management group overseeing cancer studies. But when Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016, “I was terrified of the threats of ‘repeal and replace’ of the Affordable Care Act,” she recalls. “After years spent in the ER seeing thousands of families come through with no access to health care..., it was too much to stand by. That prompted me to throw my hat into the ring.” (Dickie, 10/15)

KHN: Health Care Groups Dive Into Property Tax Ballot Fight, Eyeing Public Health Money

A November ballot initiative to raise property taxes on big-business owners in California is drawing unconventional political support from health care power players and public health leaders. They see Proposition 15 as a potential savior for chronically underfunded local health departments struggling to respond to the worst public health crisis in more than a century. The initiative would change California’s property tax system to tax some commercial properties higher than residential properties, which backers say could generate billions to help local governments pay for critical public health infrastructure and staffing. (Hart, 10/19)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told the White House it had until Tuesday to reach a deal with Democrats, or legislation to provide additional coronavirus relief to struggling households and businesses couldn’t be passed before the election. “That depends on the administration,” Mrs. Pelosi said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” when asked about whether a deal could still be struck. The 48-hour deadline “only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do,” she said. (Peterson, 10/18)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused White House officials of making "unacceptable changes" to language concerning funding for COVID-19 testing efforts in the framework of an emerging coronavirus relief deal. In a letter to House Democrats released by the Speaker's office Sunday afternoon, Pelosi accused the White House of refusing to commit funding for a national coronavirus testing and contact tracing program as well as trying to create a "slush fund" from which the administration could offer grants to various entities at its own discretion. (Bowden, 10/18)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that the Senate will hold two votes next week on a half-trillion-dollar coronavirus relief package, even as the chances of Congress approving a broader deal before the election remain slim. The Senate will vote Tuesday on additional money for the Paycheck Protection Program and Wednesday on the rest of the package. Democrats have already dismissed the GOP approach as inadequate, and are not expected to support the proposals. (Levine, 10/17)

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) labeled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) scheduled coronavirus stimulus vote for this week as “a stunt.” Schumer in a Sunday call with reporters commented on McConnell’s scheduling of two stimulus votes this week, including a stand-alone Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bill Tuesday and a $500 billion package that Democrats rejected last month. (Coleman, 10/18)

Washington's inability to pass a much-needed stimulus bill ahead of November's election is expected to inflict further damage on the economy, potentially kneecapping its recovery as the expiration of key benefits looms. Haggling between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has progressed, with Mnuchin saying he is willing to sign on to a $1.8 trillion deal, but the sides say they remain far apart on key issues. (Elis, 10/18)

Fifty employees at Gove County Medical Center in Quinter, Kan., including CEO David Caudill, tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two to three weeks, Mr. Caudill confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review. Twenty-six of the infected employees have recovered and two remained hospitalized Oct. 16. (Gooch, 10/16)

As COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts inch up day by day, Oliveira is among several hospital officials who expressed a cautious optimism that adequate supplies of personal protective equipment — known as PPE — will be on hand during the second wave of COVID-19. That’s not to say that worries don’t continue: N95 masks, the best protection against the virus, remain hard to get, and a shortage of exam gloves is anticipated. But the global supply chain has stabilized, US manufacturing has expanded, hospitals and the state are stocking up in advance, and new avenues for purchasing have opened up. (Freyer, 10/18)

Millions of Americans are delaying dental appointments over concerns about coronavirus infection, and that's likely to trigger increased fees for patients, job cuts for workers and fewer family practices. When the pandemic began this spring, essentially all dentists temporarily shut down for all but emergency appointments, putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work.  While 99% of dentists have reopened, the number of patients visiting offices remains about 20% below usual levels, according to the American Dental Association. (Bomey, 10/19)

Like health systems across the country and around the world, Emory Healthcare in Atlanta faced a personal protective equipment shortage when the coronavirus pandemic hit. The system was running out of gowns and had to decide whether to recycle or wash them. Instead of making that decision themselves, Emory’s leaders turned to their nurses. (Christ, 10/17)

Yale New Haven Hospital anticipated in March it would soon need as many as 500 more beds to treat an expected influx of coronavirus inpatients. Although the 1,540-bed Connecticut teaching hospital used staffing agencies in part to help with the heightened demand, the closure of operating rooms and clinics presented an opportunity to leverage those nurses, too. (Castellucci, 10/17)

With the help of approximately $300 million in bonus payments, Rollins quietly built one of Georgia’s largest health care empires, which over a decade and a half grew up from making $20 million in total revenues to over $650 million in total revenue. Rollins' nonprofit network, today called Community Health Services of Georgia, or CHSGa, includes a company called Ethica, which includes 55 nursing homes, and related firms that supply the facilities with prescription drugs, health care supplies and medical transportation. (Blau, 10/17)

Northwell Health’s $2.5 billion expansion plan for the Lenox Hill Hospital is facing vehement opposition from healthcare advocates who say the project neglects communities of color because it serves one of the city’s whitest enclaves rather than underserved neighborhoods that need more investment. These communities in the outer boroughs have been disproportionately devastated by the pandemic, the hospital’s opponents say, and the last thing the city needs is a luxury facility in an affluent neighborhood with ample health care resources. (Sachmechi, 10/16)

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare allegedly paid independent physicians more than $400 million for referrals, according to a whistleblower lawsuit. A former Methodist board member and the former CEO of Methodist University Hospital claimed that Methodist would share 340B drug discount program profits with West Clinic physicians each year as well as guarantee above fair market value rates for services, according to a qui tam lawsuit filed in Tennessee federal court in 2017. The scheme allegedly netted more than $1.5 billion in inflated revenues from 2012 to 2018, about half of which was funded by Medicare and Medicaid. (Kacik, 10/16)

KHN: UVA Health Still Squeezing Money From Patients — By Seizing Their Home Equity

Doris Hutchinson wanted to use money from the sale of her late mother’s house to help her grandchildren go to college. Then she learned the University of Virginia Health System was taking $38,000 of the proceeds because a 13-year-old medical bill owed by her deceased brother had somehow turned into a lien on the property. “It was a mess,” she said. “There are bills I could pay with that money. I could pay off my car, for one thing.” (Hancock, 10/19)

COVID-19 continues to ail investors in most types of commercial real estate. But many of those that own healthcare properties are feeling good. While the pandemic jacks up vacancy, hampers property values and raises critical questions about the future of the retail and hospitality and traditional office sectors, medical office buildings have been largely free of those economic symptoms. (Ecker, 10/18)

The Medical Center, Navicent Health says that President and CEO Dr. Ninfa Saunders has effectively stepped down. In a release from the hospital, "As previously communicated, Dr. Ninfa Saunders recently informed us that after an eight-year tenure as President & CEO of Navicent Health, she would be retiring in early 2021. For personal and health reasons, Dr. Saunders will be transitioning from this role, effective October 16, 2020." (Mines, 10/16)

In a defiant move, AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG) is refusing to voluntarily withdraw its controversial treatment for preventing premature births, despite a request to do so made earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, the drug maker is seeking a hearing to review the rationale given by the regulator for wanting its Makena medication pulled off the market. (Silverman, 10/16)

German biotech company Evotec EVTG.DE said on Monday it had received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help identify and develop potential monoclonal antibody (mAbS) drugs for the prevention of severe COVID-19. Several drugmakers are testing antibody treatments for COVID-19 to help patients’ immune systems fight the coronavirus that causes the disease which has killed more than 1 million people worldwide. (10/19)

Disarm Therapeutics, a Cambridge biotechnology firm working on new potential drugs for neurological diseases such as ALS and multiple sclerosis, will be bought by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company for $135 million up front. Under the deal announced Thursday, investors in the four-year-old, privately held biotech could reap up to $1.225 billion in additional payments, depending on how well Lilly does developing and marketing new medicines resulting from the acquisition. (Saltzman, 10/16)

The European medicines watchdog has recommended approving AstraZeneca Plc's treatments for a form of heart failure and a lung disorder, the British drugmaker said on Monday. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approving Forxiga for treating a form of heart failure and Trixeo Aerosphere for a form of lung disorder known as “smoker’s lung”. (10/19)

A medical drone delivery service founded by trainee doctors that aims to transport coronavirus samples, test kits and protective equipment between hospitals has won the backing of Britain’s Space Agency. The start-up project can help free up healthcare staff, avoid courier waiting times and minimize the risk of virus transmission, authorities said Saturday. (10/17)

Since the start of the year, some surgeons and residents at UC San Diego Health have had access to a new surgical resource: reams of video recordings of them performing operations, parsed by artificial intelligence. Video recordings of procedures are uploaded to the cloud for quick analysis. The five surgeons involved in the project and their residents then receive videos of their minimally invasive procedures, which are divided into critical steps with a dashboard that compares an operation against previous procedures. The system pixelates distinguishing features of patients and staff, such as faces and tattoos, to de-identify them. (Cohen, 10/17)

Historically, biotech startups have tried to bring in new money every eighteen months or so — ideally raising enough to keep them going for the next few years. But in the last year, that timeline has become noticeably compressed. Several companies have crammed multiple venture financings into a single year this year, and some have even managed to go public less than eighteen months after launch. (Sheridan, 10/19)

In the course of just under two months that started 40 years ago this week, five events occurred that shaped the biotechnology industry and bioscience research. Looking back on these seminal events is a reminder of the odd ways in which change happens. (Greely, 10/17)

Researchers say they're seeing indications that the pollutants spewed out of tailpipes are making the people who breathe them at high levels more likely to die from COVID-19. Much of the analysis is still in its early stages, but several studies, some not yet peer-reviewed, show high levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter correlate with higher mortality rates from the virus. (Brown, 10/19)

Although inroads have been made in combating antibiotic resistance, infection control specialists are worried that misuse of antibiotics on COVID-19 patients—on top of cuts to stewardship programs and burnout of infection control staff—will only worsen the crisis. (Castellucci, 10/17)

Early in the coronavirus outbreak, hospital data from China revealed a startling disparity: Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, was killing far more men than women. That difference persisted in other Asian countries, such as South Korea, as well as in European countries, such as Italy. Then, it appeared in the United States. (Guarino, 10/17)

Lingering shortness of breath and diminished stamina have dogged many Covid patients whose lungs were viciously attacked by the coronavirus. Early in the pandemic, doctors worried that Covid might cause irreversible damage leading to lung fibrosis — progressive scarring in which lung tissue continues to die even after the infection is gone. ... While global or nationwide statistics on post-Covid lung recovery are not yet available, hospitals and clinics are assessing their cases. (Zeldovich, 10/18)

As scientists around the world race to find a treatment for the coronavirus, a young girl among them stands out. Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Frisco, Texas, has just won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge -- and a $25,000 prize -- for a discovery that could provide a potential therapy to Covid-19. (Elassar, 10/18)

If the idea of drinking hand sanitizer, absorbing ultraviolet light and gargling salt water to prevent or treat Covid-19 sounds bizarre to you, know that this isn't the first time humans have put themselves in dangerous situations to quell their fears. In the face of threat by a new infectious disease, people become desperate, said Dr. Jeremy Brown, an emergency care physician and author of "Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History." (Rogers, 10/17)

A company that performed Covid-19 tests for dozens of Massachusetts nursing homes is facing federal sanctions, including the possible loss of its license, for lab practices that resulted in “immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety.” Last month, Bloomberg News reported that the company, Orig3n Inc., a consumer DNA-testing company that pivoted to Covid-19 testing amid the pandemic, was responsible for hundreds of false positive results at nursing homes across the state. (Brown, 10/16)

People are getting the results of coronavirus tests in the U.S. faster than they were in the spring, but testing still takes far too long to help effective disease control measures such as contact tracing and quarantining, according to the results of a large national survey. The survey, which is conducted monthly by a consortium of researchers from Northeastern, Northwestern, Harvard and Rutgers universities, also finds that Hispanics and African-Americans are waiting about a day longer than whites on average, underscoring yet another way the pandemic is hitting minorities harder. (Stein, 10/19)

Strong demand for novel coronavirus tests is propping up Abbott Laboratories, obscuring downturns in the company's other business segments. Without surging sales of COVID-19 tests, the North Chicago medical device maker's 8% second-quarter revenue decline would have been twice as bad. Sales are down sharply in the company's medical device and drug businesses, and flat in its nutritionals unit. (Goldberg, 10/17)

What will it take to get people flying again? International air traffic is down 92% this year as travelers worry about catching COVID-19 and government travel bans and quarantine rules make planning difficult. One thing airlines believe could help is to have rapid virus tests of all passengers before departure. Scattered experiments on improving safety are under way around the world, and a UN organization is leading talks to set guidelines. There is a lot at stake. With no end in sight to the pandemic, the near total halt to international travel will hinder economies as they try to bounce back from recession and return to normal levels of business activity. Millions of jobs - at airlines, airports and travel related businesses such as hotels and restaurants - are affected. (McHugh, 10/19)

If you fell ill last winter, it probably didn’t really matter whether your sore throat and sniffles were the result of a cold or the flu. This year, with covid-19 added to the mix of look-alike winter maladies, it’s more important to know which virus is causing your illness, because the coronavirus is so contagious and can result in such serious outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people with any symptoms of covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, be considered for testing. However, not all experts agree that those with mild symptoms resembling a cold should. (Chang, 10/16)

Nick Saban, the college football coach who revived Alabama into a national power, returned to work on Saturday — just in time for one of the most important games of the season — after doctors said that he had not been infected with the coronavirus after all. (Blinder, 10/17)

Florida coach Dan Mullen has tested positive for COVID-19, he confirmed in a statement on Saturday. Mullen said he’s isolating from his family and he’s experiencing “mild to no symptoms.” Mullen’s positive test comes amid an outbreak of staff and players that’s amounted to more than 20 positive tests. Florida’s game against LSU scheduled for Saturday had already been postponed, as the school announced on Wednesday that it didn’t have enough players to play. (Thamel, 10/17)

Purdue football coach Jeff Brohm had a presumed positive test for the coronavirus on Sunday, the school announced. Brohm, who is at home in isolation, is undergoing a PCR test to confirm the results of an antigen test. He is expected to speak with reporters during his regularly scheduled Zoom call Monday morning. The Boilermakers are scheduled to host Iowa on Saturday as the Big Ten Conference begins its virus-delayed, eight-game, conference-only season. (10/18)

New York State health officials have taken extraordinary steps to shut down an ultra-Orthodox wedding planned for Monday that could have had brought up to 10,000 guests to Brooklyn, near one of New York City’s coronavirus hot spots. The state health commissioner personally intervened to have sheriff’s deputies deliver the order to the Hasidic synagogue on Friday, warning that it must follow health protocols, including limiting gatherings to fewer than 50 people. (Haag, 10/18)

It had been a long ride back from Sturgis, S.D., so when he first felt an ache at the back of his throat, Kenny Cervantes figured he was just tired. He’d traveled the 400-some miles on his Harley, rumbling through wide-open farm and prairie land on his way home to Riverdale, Neb., where his girlfriend was waiting. A lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, the 50-year-old construction worker and father of five had been determined to go to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a holy grail for bikers. Even when his girlfriend, Angie Balcom, decided to stay back because she was worried about being around so many people during a pandemic, Cervantes was adamant about going. “I don’t think there was nothing that was going to stop me,” he said. (Shammas and Sun, 10/17)

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Sunday that President Donald Trump and his allies in Illinois are partly to blame for the coronavirus spike in the state. Pritzker spoke to CNN’s “State of the Union” the same day health officials announced 4,245 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional deaths. (10/17)

With cases surging to new highs and hospital capacity running low, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum teared up describing a state “caught in the middle of a covid storm. ”To weather it, he said at a news conference last week, people would need to keep their distance, wear masks and avoid gatherings. But the one thing North Dakota did not need were legal limits on reckless behavior. (Witte and Romm, 10/18)

Mayor Brandon Whipple of Wichita, Kan., said he often gets “goofy” threats, like the time someone said they wanted to attack him with a Goodyear blimp. But those threats took a serious turn on Friday after someone reported to the police that they had received text messages threatening to kidnap and kill Mr. Whipple, a Democrat. Although the messages weren’t sent directly to Mr. Whipple, he said a detective read them to him. (Morales and Levenson, 10/18)

New Hampshire’s congressional delegation announced the state has been awarded $1.75 million to establish a new family drug court program. The grant will fund a Family Treatment Court pilot project in Sullivan County to improve access to services for children and families experiencing abuse and neglect as well as those facing substance abuse and mental health issues. (10/17)

Mandy Rong was terrified her 12-year-old daughter had COVID-19. It was 2 a.m. and the young girl was hours into a fierce fever and a racking cough. She was weak and didn’t want to eat. What few medications were on hand had expired. She sipped warm water instead. “Mommy, why are my eyes on fire?” asked Amy Rong. The mother and daughter, along with Rong’s parents, live in an 80-square-foot windowless single-room-occupancy Chinatown building that is a home of last resort for many impoverished Asian immigrants. Hallways are cramped, bathrooms and kitchens are communal. A ripe setting for the spread of the highly contagious novel coronavirus.  (della Cava, 10/18)

Black and Hispanic Americans were disproportionately more likely to die of COVID-19 during the spring and summer months, a new indicator that the coronavirus’s toll is falling most heavily on underserved and minority communities. A new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of more than 114,000 Americans who died of COVID-19 between May and August found that 24 percent were Hispanic or Latino, even though only about 18 percent of Americans are of Hispanic decent. (Wilson, 10/16)

A USA Today analysis shows that of the 10 counties in the nation with the highest death rates from COVID-19, five are in Georgia. Hancock County is No. 1 on the list. The Middle Georgia county, with a death rate from COVID-19 of 45.7 per 10,000 residents, became a virus hot spot after outbreaks in two nursing homes, where at least 27 residents have died. (Miller, 10/16)

They are classic animated films like “Dumbo” (1941) and “Peter Pan” (1953), but on Disney’s streaming service they will now get a little help to stand the test of time. Before viewers watch some of these films that entertained generations of children, they will be warned about scenes that include “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.” The 12-second disclaimer, which cannot be skipped, tells viewers, in part: “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.” (Pietsch, 10/18)

Millennials' health is on the decline, due in large part to rising rates of several behavioral health conditions, according to a new report. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) released an analysis looking at the health of millennials and found that rates of major depression in this cohort increased by 12% between 2017 and 2018. In that same window, rates of alcohol use disorder increased by 7% and rates of tobacco use disorder and substance use disorder increased by 5%. (Minemyer, 10/16)

A pandemic-era rise in the suicide rate is not “inevitable,” argues a new journal article that offers strategies for leaders in policy, business and health care to help reduce suicide risk. While evidence from the coronavirus pandemic’s first six months has pointed to “specific effects on suicide risk,” real-time suicide-mortality data isn’t available in most parts of the world, and data surveillance varies widely, wrote Christine Moutier, the chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), in a JAMA Psychiatry article published Friday. Meanwhile, “emerging data from several countries finds no evidence of increased suicide rates during the pandemic thus far.” (Jagannathan, 10/19)

Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe the parent of a preschooler in your family just called to say they need extra help with child care, and a sick neighbor wants to know if you can pick up some groceries for her. Meanwhile, your best friend keeps calling, wanting to vent. In less stressful times, perhaps, you'd have jumped to help out and lend an ear. But after months of social isolation, juggling work demands, and caring for loved ones, the balance has started to tip. Suddenly your own need for emotional support is outweighing your capacity for kindness. (Fraga and Crowe, 10/17)

Winnebago County sheriff’s deputies and Rockford police officers will pair with mental health experts when responding to emergency psychiatric and suicidal episodes as a new approach over arrests. Law enforcement will team with Rosecrance crisis-intervention specialists to create a three-month pilot program, beginning next month, in efforts to divert people in psychiatric crises away from the criminal justice system and into treatment instead, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said. (10/17)

In what will be among the largest and boldest urban police reform experiment in decades San Francisco is creating and preparing to deploy teams of professionals from the fire and health departments — not police — to respond to most calls for people in a psychiatric, behavioral or substance abuse crisis. Instead of police, these types of crisis calls will mostly be handled by new unarmed mobile teams comprised of paramedics, mental health professionals and peer support counselors starting next month. (Westervelt, 10/19)

New Hampshire has been awarded more than $300,000 to reduce crime and recidivism among defendants who have mental health issues, the U.S. attorney’s office announced. U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray said the $326,150 Department of Justice grant will go to Carroll County to support adult and juvenile justice initiatives. The programs aim to provide care before, during and after incarceration for those with serious mental illness. The funding also goes to support training to law enforcement and their partner mental health and substance abuse authorities with a goal of improving the outcomes of mental ill defendants. (10/17)

The final moments of Stacy Kenny’s life are captured on a recorded 911 call. Kenny, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, begs an emergency operator to explain why she’s been pulled over. Amid screaming and rustling sounds, police officers smash the windows on her red Nissan, Taser her twice, punch her in the face more than a dozen times and try to pull her out by her hair. But Kenny, 33, who legally had changed her gender but still appeared to be a man, was anchored to the car by a locked seat belt. Her life ends, as does the 911 call, when she tries to flee by driving away with one of the officers still inside the car. There’s a burst of gunfire, then an officer says: “We are all okay. Bad guy down.” (Kindy, Tate, Jenkins and Mellnik, 10/17)

Homeless service providers in Massachusetts are scrambling to make sure they have enough space to shelter people and provide protection against the coronavirus as winter approaches. Ntyshall Moore is one of those people. She said she's been homeless in Boston since she checked out of the state foster care system when she was 18. (Jolicoeur, 10/16)

Advocates and officials with NOLA Public Schools say there are likely thousands of youth in the city who are like [Destiny] Hodges was, homeless students who have become more vulnerable since the pandemic has further strained fiscal resources, made couch-surfing more dangerous and made it difficult to connect with people who can help. They're asking Congress for $2.8 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding to help homeless youth age 22 and under attending local schools, living in shelters and crashing with friends or distant family. (Hasselle, 10/17)

In an election year where soaring health care costs are on voters’ minds, a new collaboration aims to help rural cardiac patients avoid a potentially unnecessary — and costly — trip to the emergency department. The $1.2 million program, slated to begin in mountainous Wilkes County early next year, will bring doctors and nurses to the scene of medical emergencies through telehealth. The doctors and nurses — most of them experts in emergency medicine — will help first responders evaluate patients with chest pain to decide the most appropriate next step, be it a hospital visit or a trip to a county health department for further tests. (Engel-Smith, 10/19)

The number of cases of dementia in the United States is rising as baby boomers age, raising questions for boomers themselves and also for their families, caregivers and society. Dementia, which is not technically a disease but a term for impaired ability to think, remember or make decisions, is one of the most feared impairments of old age. Incidence increases dramatically as people move into their 90s. About 5 percent of those 71 to 79 have dementia, and about 37 percent of those about 90 live with it. (Archbald-Pannone, 10/18)

Ignoring generations of parents who’ve warned that knuckle cracking is bad for you, between 20 and 54 percent of Americans continue to engage in this annoying nervous habit. Many have been reassured by repeated clinical reports over the decades that there is no strong evidence that knuckle cracking causes arthritis. A 2018 Harvard Medical School blog went so far as to pronounce the practice “harmless.” “Harmless” is overstating it, however, argue experts who have studied the fine print of the research. Even as there’s no strong link to arthritis — specifically osteoarthritis, the degeneration of the cartilage cushioning the ends of bones — cracking knuckles, they conclude, may still harm your hands. (Ellison, 10/17)

Geraldine Davis, 77, laughs when asked about how long she has been getting an annual mammogram. “Forever, forever,” she said. She nearly considered stopping after she got into her 70s but decided to ask her doctor, who convinced her to keep with it. “And that next mammogram something showed up,” she said, in July 2018. Hers was caught very early and she only had to have the tiny tumor and some lymph nodes removed. But many women like her are not as fortunate. (Corwin, 10/16)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Vetting TikTok Mom’s Advice For Dealing With Debt Collectors 

TikTok mom Shaunna Burns used to be a debt collector, so she knows a few things about what’s legal and what’s not when a company contacts you to settle a debt. We fact-checked her advice with a legal expert: Jenifer Bosco, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. Bosco said most of Burns’ advice totally checks out. A recent report from ProPublica shows that debt collectors have thrived during the pandemic; they’re out in force to get people to pay up. But we have rights. Scroll down for some consumer protection resources. (Weissmann, 10/19)

The scenes from spring break earlier this year make college presidents shudder now: Partygoers on the beach in Florida barely inches from their maskless, sweating companions. Jammed lines at Walt Disney World. Students flying back to campus on still-packed flights before state and campus shutdowns kicked in. Not again. ... FSU and dozens of other colleges and universities nationwide aren’t taking any chances with spring break in 2021, even though it will have been a year since the pandemic set in. They have rearranged their calendars to wipe out the annual ritual entirely to keep students from their uninhibited and unsupervised sunny sojourns. (Shah, 10/18)

When school closed suddenly in March, Boston students not only lost the daily connection to teachers and learning, but dental services that the city’s most vulnerable children depend on for critical care. That has left nearly 4,000 Boston public school students without an opportunity to see a dentist or hygienist in school this academic year, practitioners say, a significant concern given the strong correlation between poor oral health and learning loss and the risk of chronic illnesses. (Irons, 10/18)

Like all of the students at her Bronx high school, Kaitlyn Tineo had to contend with the social awkwardness and technology glitches that were common during the early days of remote learning. But Kaitlyn, a 15-year-old sophomore, had a compounding challenge: She stutters. On the first day of school, she emailed five of her teachers. “It takes a bit for me to say what I want to say,” she wrote, “so please have some patience with me.” (Marder, 10/15)

At a "Farewell COVID" party in June, thousands of Prague residents dined outdoors at a 500-meter long table across the Charles Bridge to celebrate the end of the lockdown measures. The Czech Republic was being hailed by the rest of Europe for successfully stopping the virus after closing its borders and putting in place the harshest lockdown on the continent. Now the country is in the midst of a strong outbreak, with case numbers rising above anything recorded in the spring -- and already there are signs renewed restrictions won't be greeted favorably. (Guenford and Jovanovic, 10/18)

Italy is about to test the value of "flattening the curve." When northern Italy became the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, one urgent concern was that the country’s coronavirus outbreak would quickly spread to the less-prosperous south and overwhelm under-resourced regional health systems. That fear wasn’t realized. A strict nationwide lockdown largely contained the virus in the north and brought the outbreak under control. (Harlan and Pitrelli, 10/17)

The streets of Paris and eight other French cities were deserted on Saturday night on the first day of the government-imposed 9 p.m. curfew that is scheduled to last for at least four weeks. The measure was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron to curb the resurgent coronavirus as new infections peaked to over 30,000 a day. Macron said the curfews were needed to stop local hospitals from becoming overrun. (10/17)

Coronavirus transmission is slipping out of control in Belgium, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said Sunday, on the eve of new restrictions in the country. “We are really very close to a tsunami,” he warned, speaking to broadcaster RTL. “We no longer control what is happening.” New restrictions are set to take effect on Monday, including the closure of all bars and restaurants, and a midnight curfew nationwide. (Wheaton, 10/18)

As one of the few countries to return to a complete lockdown amid a new surge in coronavirus infections, Israel is learning that freezing a nation in place is even more difficult the second time around. Israel's experience could hold lessons for other governments looking to stem the pandemic's stubborn grip across the world. (Hendriz and Eglash, 10/18)

It’s Friday night in Moscow, and popular bars and restaurants in the city center are packed. No one except the staff is wearing a mask or bothers to keep their distance. There is little indication at all that Russia is being swept by a resurgence of coronavirus infections. “I believe that everyone will have the disease eventually,” says Dr. Alexandra Yerofeyeva, an internal medicine specialist at an insurance company, while sipping a cocktail at The Bix bar in Moscow. She adds cheerfully: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” (Litvinova, 10/17)

We live in one of the most plentiful nations on the planet. Yet 1 in 6 people may face hunger in 2020, including 1 in 4 children. This public health crisis is unacceptable. And it is one that we must join together to address. As the CEOs of Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, and Anthem, one of the nation's leading health companies, we have witnessed the devastating impact food insecurity can have on our nation's health. Understanding that no single entity can combat this growing national crisis, Anthem and Feeding America are working together to help deliver solutions. (Claire Babineaux-Fontenot and Gail K. Boudreaux, 10/16)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a draft rule that could dramatically improve access to evidence-based treatments that can be delivered virtually. But it won’t unless CMS makes another seemingly simple change regarding benefit categories. Covid-19 has killed more than 180,000 Medicare beneficiaries to date, representing about 80% of all Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. That means there’s a pressing need for safe and effective socially distanced digital therapeutics. (Andrey Ostrovsky, 10/19)

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged people to stay away from crowded emergency rooms and put-off elective surgery, including heart procedures, to reduce potential coronavirus exposure. As early as April, doctors worried that people experiencing life-threatening emergencies were avoiding hospitals. Those fears were validated. (Dr. Jonathan Fielding, 10/18)

There’s no evidence at this point to substantiate a whistle-blower’s shocking allegation that a doctor was performing unneeded hysterectomies on unsuspecting detainees at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Ocilla, Ga. But it seems clear that something very disturbing was happening at the facility — and that ICE’s approach to detention, and care for its detainees, needs to change. (10/18)

Last week, two women — Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier — were awarded the Nobel Prize for their groundbreaking discovery of an enzyme system (CRISPR-Cas9) that can edit an organism’s genetic code with extreme precision. As the Nobel committee recognized, this discovery has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences. There are arguably fewer discoveries in recent years that have been met with as much excitement about the possibilities — from treating cancer patients to developing new crops to rapidly developing diagnostic tools in pandemics such as COVID-19 — coupled with as much concern of its use and application. (Mahlet N. Mesfin and Scott Moore, 10/18)

Not all our troubles can be blamed on the pandemic. Even before the novel coronavirus outbreak, the number of children living without health coverage in the United States had risen to the highest levels in more than a decade. (10/19)

We support the Great Barrington Declaration and its strategy of focused protection of the vulnerable and freedom to choose individual levels of protection for others. The declaration has been signed by leading epidemiologists, scientists and medical professionals. This internationally endorsed, nonpartisan, scientifically based strategy of how to respond to the pandemic and its subsequent policy responses is based on the most current COVID-19 data. (Rodney X. Sturdivant, Andrew G. Glen and Mark Arvidson, 10/18)

No matter their politics, people nearly always listen to those who say what they want to hear. Hence, it is no surprise that the White House and several governors are now paying close attention to the “Great Barrington Declaration,” a proposal written by a group of well-credentialed scientists who want to shift Covid-19 policy toward achieving herd immunity — the point at which enough people have become immune to the virus that its spread becomes unlikely. (John M. Barry, 10/19)

Covid researchers are racing the clock. They’ve made enormous progress on therapies and vaccines, but they aren’t far enough along to arrest the current surge of Covid infections as winter approaches. One of the biggest challenges is making sure the new treatments reach the patients who need them most. The most immediate opportunity comes from antibody drugs that can be used both as treatment and prophylaxis. President Trump and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie both recovered after they received antibody combinations when their symptoms were worsening. These medications are likely to be most effective when used before or soon after symptoms begin. The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing evidence for the emergency authorization of these drugs, aiming to get them to Covid patients before they need to be hospitalized. (Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, 10/18)

Winter is coming and we are headed towards the feared intersection of COVID-19 and flu season. Yet already the coronavirus is surging across the world and the United States, the global leader in number of coronavirus deaths, is moving closer to a quarter-million fatalities. Our medical system could be overwhelmed if hospitalizations increase. This is why I am concerned about the reports that some officials and policymakers in the White House are considering “herd immunity” as a strategy to combat the pandemic. This is dangerous, callous and flawed thinking. (Thomas Ken Lew, 10/19)

President Donald Trump’s surprisingly rapid discharge from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, coupled with conflicting and vague statements on his condition, has created a whirlwind of confusion among the public. There’s a lot we don’t know, such as how he was exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, what kind of treatments he may still be receiving, and how effective they may be. But there is one thing we do know: His infection was absolutely preventable. In health care, the term “never event” refers to a serious, preventable occurrence that could have severe implications for a patient. These are normally things like operating on the wrong knee, giving the wrong medication, or discharging an infant to the wrong person. (Richard J. Baron, Marianne M. Green and Yul D. Ejnes, 10/19)

Joe Biden does a pretty good job of talking about this. At a recent town hall in Miami, he said: “I view wearing this mask not so much protecting me, but as a patriotic responsibility. All the tough guys say, ‘Oh, I’m not wearing a mask, I’m not afraid.’ Well, be afraid for your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your neighbor, your co-worker. That’s who you’re protecting having this mask on, and it should be viewed as a patriotic duty, to protect those around you.” (Michael Tomasky, 10/17)

For governments facing a growing wave of coronavirus cases as fall turns to winter, there’s a stark lesson in Saturday’s stunning election victory for New Zealand’s incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: Voters really want their governments to suppress the pandemic. A landslide victory means Ardern could govern with the first outright majority since her country adopted proportional representation in the 1990s, with her Labour party on track to win the largest share of the vote in 70 years. (David Fickling, 10/17)