• A group of 80 public health and infectious disease researchers from around the world warned in a letter published in the medical journal The Lancet that a herd immunity approach to the coronavirus pandemic, which would occur once enough people are immune to an infection, making further spread unlikely, was a “dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence.” The letter came after a senior White House official cited the “Great Barrington Declaration,” an online movement that favors herd immunity and calls for an end to “lockdowns,” on a call with reporters this week. (NBC News)

• While legal experts warned it’s still unclear how Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett might rule in a case that could strike down the Affordable Care Act, an exchange with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at her confirmation hearing offered clues that the entire law might not be on the chopping block. One of the key issues in the case is whether the ACA’s individual mandate penalty, which Congress zeroed out in 2017, can be severed from the rest of the law, and Barrett said that when dealing with an unconstitutional provision in a “very long statute” like the ACA, which the justices will also have to decide, “the presumption is always in favor of severability.” (The New York Times)

• Inmazeb, an antibody cocktail made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., became the first therapeutic approved by the Food and Drug Administration to specifically treat Ebola, joining Merck & Co.’s Ervebo vaccine and representing a major breakthrough to battle the extremely deadly infection. Inmazeb is made up of three monoclonal antibodies, and George Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s president and chief scientific officer, noted in a statement that the company was applying “the same sophisticated technologies and manufacturing capabilities against COVID-19.” (Stat News)

• Working in child-care centers doesn’t appear to raise the risk that adults will be infected with the coronavirus, as long as such facilities adhere to guidelines like hand washing, small group sizes and staff wearing masks, according to an analysis of more than 57,000 U.S. child-care centers published in the journal Pediatrics. While many child-care providers have gotten COVID-19, researchers said it doesn’t appear that children were the source of their infections, and the study adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests young children aren’t major vectors of the coronavirus. (The Wall Street Journal)

FDA Chief Defends Vaccine-Trial Halts as Vital to Safety System
Drew Armstrong, Bloomberg

A series of trial stops are part of the system to make sure any Covid-19 vaccine or therapy will be safe, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said.

Fauci takes issue with Trump’s end-of-year vaccine claims.
Sheila Kaplan, The New York Times

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, took issue on Wednesday with President Trump’s repeated claims that 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine would be ready by the end of the year.

It took AstraZeneca researchers 1 month to get vaccine trial data to FDA, source tells CNN
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN

AstraZeneca, whose Phase 3 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial has been on hold for more than a month, did not get critical safety data to the US Food and Drug Administration until last week, according to a source familiar with the trial.

Pfizer to start testing its Covid-19 vaccine in children as young as 12
Maggie Fox, CNN

It will be the first coronavirus vaccine trial to include children in the United States.

US warned Nevada not to use Chinese COVID tests from UAE
Jon Gambrell and Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press

U.S. diplomats and security officials privately warned the state of Nevada not to use Chinese-made coronavirus test kits donated by the United Arab Emirates over concerns about patient privacy, test accuracy and Chinese government involvement, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

Sleepless Nights, Hair Loss And Cracked Teeth: Pandemic Stress Takes Its Toll
Aneri Pattani, Kaiser Health News

Although people often underestimate the influence of the mind on the body, a growing catalog of research shows that high levels of stress over an extended period of time can drastically alter physical function and affect nearly every organ system.

Barron Trump Tested Positive for Coronavirus, Melania Trump Says
Annie Karni, The New York Times

Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son, tested positive for the coronavirus after his parents did earlier this month, Melania Trump, the first lady, revealed on Wednesday, adding that he has since tested negative.

Emboldened by his covid-19 recovery, Trump pushes return to normalcy
Josh Dawsey and Yasmeen Abutaleb, The Washington Post

President Trump is using his recovery from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to reinforce the message that the pandemic is receding and Americans should return to work — resisting entreaties to change his tone and behavior three weeks ahead of the presidential election.

Trump May Be Immune to the Coronavirus. But for How Long?
Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times

The president’s unique treatment may have prevented his body from making the antibodies necessary for long-term protection.

The inside story of how Trump’s COVID-19 coordinator undermined the world’s top health agency
Charles Piller, Science

When Birx, a physician with a background in HIV/AIDS research, was named coordinator of the task force in February, she was widely praised as a tough, indefatigable manager and a voice of data-driven reason. But some of her actions have undermined the effectiveness of the world’s preeminent public health agency, according to a Science investigation.

Democrats decry Trump’s coronavirus response and lay out plan for international cooperation
John Hudson, The Washington Post

A group of 100 House Democrats on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration’s unilateral approach to the coronavirus pandemic and offered a plan for working with other countries to control the crisis and ensure that vaccines can be shared widely and quickly.

U.S. Virus Cases Climb Toward a Third Peak
Lauren Leatherby, The New York Times

The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States is surging once again after growth slowed in late summer.

Covid-19 Outbreaks Led to Dangerous Delay in Cancer Diagnoses
Anna Wilde Mathews and Mike Cherney, The Wall Street Journal

A decline in mammograms and other screening procedures after the coronavirus pandemic struck is leading to missed and delayed cancer diagnoses, according to data from insurance claims, lab orders, Medicare billings and oncology-practice records, an emerging pattern that is alarming oncologists.

Record Health Insurer Profits Stem From Pandemic’s Halt on Care
Sara Hansard, Bloomberg Law

Health insurers enjoyed record profits in the second quarter of 2020 due to the pandemic’s halt on elective surgeries and routine care, credit rating agency AM Best reported.

UnitedHealth Profit Declines, Reflecting Return to More Usual Health-Care Levels
Anna Wilde Mathews and Matt Grossman, The Wall Street Journal

UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s profit declined after outsize results in the previous quarter, as health care returned closer to normal levels after a dramatic pandemic-related pause in the spring and early summer.

Federal workers will pay 4.9 percent more on average for health-care premiums in 2021
Eric Yoder, The Washington Post

Federal employees will pay 4.9 percent more on average for health-care premiums in 2021, an increase driven by long-running upward pressures on premiums that, perhaps surprisingly, were eased by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the government said Wednesday.

Shaky U.S. Hospitals Risk Bankruptcy in Latest Covid Wave
Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg

The growing number of cases is threatening the very survival of hospitals just when the country needs them most.

First-of-its-kind examination shows how widely pharma showers campaign cash at the state level
Lev Facher, Stat News

Well over one-quarter of all state lawmakers nationwide have accepted money from the pharmaceutical industry since the beginning of 2019, according to a new STAT examination.

Purdue’s Handover of Opioid Maker Should Be Nixed, State AGs Say
Jef Feeley, Bloomberg

A potential settlement of a U.S. probe into Purdue Pharma LP’s marketing of its opioid painkiller would improperly force local governments to keep selling the company’s controversial OxyContin drug, state attorneys general said in a letter.

Vertex shelves experimental rare lung disease drug that once seemed promising
Adam Feuerstein, Stat News

Vertex Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday that it has shelved an experimental drug to treat a rare, inherited lung disease due to liver toxicity reported in a mid-stage clinical trial.

Heart, Lung Rehab Via Telehealth Covered Under Medicare
Jacquie Lee, Bloomberg Law

Medicare will pay for heart and lung rehab conducted via telemedicine for the duration of the public emergency, the federal Medicare agency said Wednesday.

AI is about to face a major test: Can it differentiate Covid-19 from flu?
Casey Ross, Stat News

With Covid-19 cases surging in parts of the U.S. at the start of flu season, developers of artificial intelligence tools are about to face their biggest test of the pandemic: Can they help doctors differentiate between the two respiratory illnesses, and accurately predict which patients will become severely ill?

Democrats Assured ACA Would Come Before ACB
Joel M. Zinberg, The Wall Street Journal

Democrats now claim they oppose Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation because they fear she will overturn the Affordable Care Act in California v. Texas, which is scheduled for oral argument on Nov. 10.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Years of Life Lost
Eva DuGoff et al., Health Care Cost Institute

While most COVID deaths are individuals over the age of 65, COVID is also responsible for a significant share of deaths in other age groups.

Overdose deaths spiked in the first few months of 2020
Marisa Fernandez, Axios

Overdose deaths increased by about 10% in the first three months of 2020, compared to the same time period last year, preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.