The WHO

• The Trump administration sent notification to the United Nations that it will formally withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization effective July 6, 2021, following President Donald Trump’s pledge in May to sever ties with the WHO over the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and alleged catering to Chinese officials over the initial outbreak.

• A group of 239 scientists in 32 countries published a letter directed to the WHO citing evidence that smaller airborne particles containing COVID-19 can infect people in indoor settings, a claim that the WHO has so far been reluctant to endorse.

• The WHO issued new guidelines on COVID-19 to state that there are some instances of potential indoor airborne transmission, but the agency didn’t go as far as to say that the coronavirus can spread through the air.

Search for COVID-19 treatments

• Gilead Sciences Inc. said its antiviral drug remdesivir decreased the risk of death among critically ill COVID-19 patients by 62 percent compared to standard treatment. Gilead also said that remdesivir was linked to “significantly improved clinical recovery” for the coronavirus patients.

• The Department of Health and Human Services awarded $1.6 billion to Novavax Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., to support the company’s late-stage clinical trials and manufacturing capacity of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate under Operation Warp Speed.

• HHS awarded $450 million to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. under Operation Warp Speed to help boost its development of a potential COVID-19 treatment.

• Federal officials released details on the Covid-19 Prevention Network and unveiled a website for volunteers to sign up for clinical trials at more than 100 sites in hospitals and medical clinics to help researchers test potential coronavirus vaccines and treatments.

• BioNTech SE Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said the German biotech firm, which is working with Pfizer Inc. to develop a potential COVID-19 vaccine that uses messenger RNA, will most likely have the vaccine ready for regulatory approval by the end of 2020.

• The House and Senate are not in session this week.

• The Atlantic will host its “Pulse” Summit on Health Care on Wednesday.

1) 239 Experts With One Big Claim: The Coronavirus Is Airborne
Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times

2) The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus
Richard A. Oppel Jr. et al., The New York Times

3) Bipartisan group of former government officials demand science-based approach to pandemic
Yasmeen Abutaleb, The Washington Post

4) The states where face coverings are mandatory
Marisa Fernandez, Axios

5) How Fauci, 5 other health specialists deal with covid-19 risks in their everyday lives
Marlene Cimons, The Washington Post

6) Walgreens to Open Clinics in Stores, Expand Primary-Care Pact
Angelica LaVito, Bloomberg

7) Volunteers can now sign up for large coronavirus vaccine studies
Carolyn Y. Johnson, The Washington Post

8) Rush to reopen led to spikes in cases that threaten to overwhelm hospitals in some states, officials say
Robert Barnes and Derek Hawkins, The Washington Post

9) Novavax, maker of a Covid-19 vaccine, is backed by Operation Warp Speed
Helen Branswell, Stat News

10) Coronavirus cases rise in 33 states
Sam Baker and Andrew Witherspoon, Axios