In Washington

• Republican and Democratic lawmakers are no closer on a coronavirus package, and it now inevitable that unemployment and the eviction moratorium that have kept millions of families afloat during the pandemic will lapse. Meanwhile, state and local aid to assist healthcare providers are also on hold as they try responding to the resurging virus, causing a higher-level crisis in their states that are facing furloughs and limited resources on the front lines. States are also clamoring for funding to aid schools that are about to open in just a few short weeks. At this time, no last-minute deals have been announced and Democrats continue to fight for an entire package of much-needed stimulus across the board instead of losing leverage by focusing on just one aspect of aid.
  • White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the other of being unwilling to reach a compromise on a new COVID-19 relief package Friday morning.
  • The Washington Post is reporting that the White House is willing to break with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and cut a deal with Democrats without the liability protection provision from the deal.
  • Despite the impasse, the Senate is not in session today and will be out for the rest of the weekend.
• The House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that the House is canceling its August recess and would remain in session until a deal on the coronavirus stimulus bill is reached. "It is expected that the House will meet during the month of August," Hoyer said in a speech on the House floor. "I have told my members, and I have told the minority leader and whip that no one should schedule themselves for next week or until such time as we adopt COVID-19 legislation."
• A coalition of conservative groups have written a letter to House Leader McConnell calling on Congress to subsidize a limited federal aid paying for laid-off worker’s COBRA coverage. The group conditioned its support to a measure that was “temporary, targeted and require[s] the recipient to pay some premiums themselves.” The groups are concerned that loss of jobs and health care will cause enrollment in Obamacare and Medicare to swell.
• The House approved (217-197) a US$1.3 trillion spending package that includes US$210 billion in emergency money to help federal agencies fight the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to funding other priorities. The legislation, H.R. 7617, would fund DoD and the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, Energy and more. The bill has little chance of passage in the Senate as Republicans slam House Democrats for packing the legislation with the billions in emergency spending that negates the spending amounts negotiated in last summer’s 2-year budget deal. President Donald Trump has also threatened to veto the bill.
• Fauci appeared aside Admiral Brett Giroir, who serves as lead adviser on testing for the administration, admitted that the demand and supply of tests have made it impossible to get all test results back within 48 to 72 hours. Also testifying was CDC Director Robert Redfield, who said he was not directly involved in the administration's decision to order hospitals to stop sending COVID-19 data directly to the agency.
• Three of the countries top health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, testified Friday before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on national coronavirus strategy. All three health experts agreed that there is still no “grand plan” on testing or responding to the virus at this time.
  • Fauci told the panel that he is “cautiously optimistic” that a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready by the end of this year and said health agencies are not compromising safety standards. He also said the administration’s decision to leave shutdown decisions to the states created a “patchwork of policies” with only some providing effective imposed restrictions. Fauci appeared aside. Admiral Brett Giroir, who serves as lead adviser on testing for the administration, admitted that the demand and supply of tests have made it impossible to get all test results back within 48 to 72 hours. Also testifying was CDC Director Robert Redfield, who said he was not directly involved in the administration's decision to order hospitals to stop sending COVID-19 data directly to the agency.
• Speaking about that hospital data, the new public hospital data system used to report crucial data about coronavirus cases and intensive care capacity is updated erratically and is rife with inconsistencies and errors, data analysts say. The administration touted that changing the online system would lead to a more complete, transparent, and an improvement over the old platform run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, administration officials said.
• As part of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. announced its for and largest vaccine deal yet. It will pay French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and Great Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline up to US$2.1 billion to test and produce 100 million doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine.
• The distribution of a future coronavirus vaccine will be handled in a joint effort by both the CDC and Pentagon. The Pentagon would be in charge of the transporting and distribution logistics, while the CDC would track any post-vaccination side effects, as well as communications among the states and their public health organizations. The plan is receiving skepticism given that it differs from traditional distribution which has historically been through the CDC and a centralized system organized with state and local health officials.
• President Trump announced in the July 30 task force briefing that the government is investing US$24 million to speed the manufacturing of COVID-19 antigen tests made by BD. The administration aims to create 12 million test kits per month by the end of February 2021. The tests can deliver results in 15 minutes and received an emergency use authorization from the FDA.
• President’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner reportedly formed a secret working group within the White House to develop a national testing plan to operate in a “bubble” and not coordinate with other experts at HHS. The team came up with a very detailed and aggressive plan for testing and contact tracing that could have brought the pandemic under control, but according to Vanity Fair, the White House scrapped the policy on the political logic that the outbreak was going to be limited to Democratic states and doing so would pit them against each other and cause blame to befall the governors.

In the News

• A new study conducted by pediatric infectious disease specialists at Lurie Children's Hospital, says that young children carry as much COVID-19 in their noses as adults do. The study analyzed data from the diagnostic tests of 145 COVID-19 patients who had mild to moderate cases of the illness. The 145 patients were split into three groups: those under 5, those ages 5 to 17, and adults ages 18 to 65. "Children had equal — if not more — viral RNA in their noses compared to older children and adults," Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent said. The study supports the idea that children are able to transmit the virus just as much as older children and adults.
• The coronavirus outbreak in Texas is disproportionately affecting its Latino communities, where an outsized share are also suffering the worst outcomes, ProPublica’s Perla Trevizo and NBC News’ Mike Hixenbaugh report.
• COVID-19 has infected nearly 4.5 million and killed 152,000 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been more than 17.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 673,000 deaths.
• Gun sales are skyrocketing during the coronavirus pandemic, but background checks are not keeping pace, according to the FBI system that vets gun buyers. In March, the FBI received nearly 1.5 million requests for background checks, according to data the bureau released to FiveThirtyEight in response to a public records request.
• A CDC report says dozens of kids at an overnight Georgia summer camp tested positive for the coronavirus after the camp did not implement several safety measures. The report provides further evidence that children of all ages are susceptible to infection and "might play an important role in transmission," according to a CDC report on Friday.
• Apple reported a big increase in earnings for the third quarter driven by soaring sales for Mac and iPad units, driven in turn by the rise of remote working. Amazon and Facebook reported similarly stellar results. But these reports did not stop a stock slide on Friday driven by a host of pandemic-related economic developments: looming unemployment benefits expiration, Chevron’s US$8.3 billion quarterly loss due to declines in energy consumption, falling consumer confidence, and a massive GDP contraction.
• Along with gold and tech, the housing market is thriving during the pandemic. Real estate brokerage services firm Redfin reports that for homes listed between 22 June and 19 July, asking prices increased by 14%, and that despite this, 46% of new listings had an offer within just 2 weeks, up from 34% for the same period in 2019.

[View source.]