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CDC says airborne transmission plays a role in coronavirus spread

CDC says airborne transmission plays a role in coronavirus spread

The Washington Post reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Monday that people can sometimes be infected with the coronavirus through airborne transmission, especially in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation. The long-awaited update to the agency Web page explaining how the virus spreads represents an official acknowledgment of growing evidence that under certain conditions, people farther than six feet apart can become infected by tiny droplets and particles that float in the air for minutes and hours, and…

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Exxon’s plan for surging carbon emissions revealed in leaked documents

Exxon’s plan for surging carbon emissions revealed in leaked documents

Bloomberg reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. has been planning to increase annual carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as the output of the entire nation of Greece, an analysis of internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg shows, setting one of the largest corporate emitters against international efforts to slow the pace of warming. The drive to expand both fossil-fuel production and planet-warming pollution comes at a time when some of Exxon’s rivals, such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are moving…

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A second Trump term would be ‘game over’ for the climate, says Michael Mann

A second Trump term would be ‘game over’ for the climate, says Michael Mann

The Guardian reports: Michael Mann, one of the most eminent climate scientists in the world, believes averting climate catastrophe on a global scale would be “essentially impossible” if Donald Trump is re-elected. A professor at Penn State University, Mann, 54, has published hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers, testified numerous times before Congress and appeared frequently in the news media. He is also active on Twitter, where earlier this year he declared: “A second Trump term is game over for the…

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Trump concealed his first positive Covid-19 test while awaiting a second test on Thursday

Trump concealed his first positive Covid-19 test while awaiting a second test on Thursday

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump didn’t disclose a positive result from a rapid test for Covid-19 on Thursday while awaiting the findings from a more thorough coronavirus screening, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump received a positive result on Thursday evening before making an appearance on Fox News in which he didn’t reveal those results. Instead, he confirmed earlier reports that one of his top aides had tested positive for coronavirus and mentioned the second…

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Covid-positive Trump ignores CDC advice to take joyride, with grim Secret Service agents in tow

Covid-positive Trump ignores CDC advice to take joyride, with grim Secret Service agents in tow

The Daily Beast reports: After teasing a “little surprise visit” via video on Twitter, President Trump left the hospital on Sunday afternoon to wave to supporters from the back seat of an SUV. “It’s been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID,” Trump, who is still suffering from the coronavirus, said in the video. “I learned it by really going to school, this is the real school, this isn’t the ‘let’s read the book’ school, and I…

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I sat in the front row at the debate. Did Trump infect me with the coronavirus?

I sat in the front row at the debate. Did Trump infect me with the coronavirus?

Kristin Urquiza writes: On Tuesday night, I sat in masked silence in the front row of the debate hall in Cleveland as President Trump mocked former vice president Joe Biden for wearing a mask. Earlier in the evening, I watched as Trump’s family and Republican insiders defiantly removed their masks, in violation of the clear guidelines set by the Cleveland Clinic, while most of the other audience members remained masked. We didn’t know it then, but at that moment, Trump…

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How the White House is trying to convince America that Trump’s illness isn’t a big deal

How the White House is trying to convince America that Trump’s illness isn’t a big deal

Philip Bump writes: On Saturday evening, President Trump’s personal Twitter account was updated with a video message. Trump has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Friday after contracting the novel coronavirus, but the video was pointed in its intent: The president is nonetheless doing well, well enough to offer up a bit of politicking and assurances he’s confident in his recovery. In case that point was somehow lost on observers, campaign aides like Jason Miller made it…

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Huge study of coronavirus cases in India offers some surprises to scientists

Huge study of coronavirus cases in India offers some surprises to scientists

The New York Times reports: With 1.3 billion people jostling for space, India has always been a hospitable environment for infectious diseases of every kind. And the coronavirus has proved to be no exception: The country now has more than six million cases, second only to the United States. An ambitious study of nearly 85,000 of those cases and nearly 600,000 of their contacts, published Wednesday in the journal Science, offers important insights not just for India, but for other…

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The Sackler family’s plan to keep its billions

The Sackler family’s plan to keep its billions

Patrick Radden Keefe writes: This past January, the Justice Department announced the results of investigations into Practice Fusion, a San Francisco-based company that maintains an online platform for health records. According to prosecutors, Practice Fusion had created a digital alert that prompted physicians to recommend strong opioid painkillers while meeting with patients. In return for adding the alert, Practice Fusion received a kickback from a pharmaceutical company, described in court papers as “Pharma Co. X.” A federal prosecutor, Christina Nolan,…

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The reckless race to confirm Amy Coney Barrett justifies court packing

The reckless race to confirm Amy Coney Barrett justifies court packing

Quinta Jurecic and Susan Hennessey write: Barely a week after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, before the late justice had even been buried, President Donald Trump hosted a Rose Garden ceremony to formally announce his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the open seat on the Supreme Court. A week later, it appears that the inauspicious ceremony may have been at the center of the coronavirus outbreak now plaguing the White House and the Senate. Yet even with…

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The White House is spreading virus and lies

The White House is spreading virus and lies

Olivia Nuzzi and Ben Jacobs write: The White House is at war with the virus, with itself, and with reality — though not necessarily in that order. With President Trump hospitalized for COVID-19 at Walter Reed medical center, officials spent Saturday sowing doubt about his condition instead of offering clarity and reassurance. Doctors and members of the White House staff provided conflicting information about the timeline and progression of the president’s illness, making a bad situation even worse. Asked what…

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Trump’s debate guests refused to wear masks, flouting rules

Trump’s debate guests refused to wear masks, flouting rules

The Washington Post reports: A little more than two days before she reported testing positive for the coronavirus, first lady Melania Trump – as well as the president’s sons, daughters and several guests – violated safety protocols at the first presidential debate by taking off their masks after being seated in a live studio audience in Cleveland. Several in the president’s entourage continued without masks after an official from the Cleveland Clinic, which co-hosted the debate, offered them masks in…

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Trump thought he’d never get Covid-19

Trump thought he’d never get Covid-19

Amy Wilentz writes: Donald Trump has always thought of himself as above the rules. He has demonstrated this conviction throughout his life: in his business, in his personal behavior, and for almost four years as president of the United States. So we know what to expect from him. But even when Trump does what’s expected—which is generally the worst thing anyone can picture him doing—his actions or inactions can still astonish those Americans who are holding on to their sanity…

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The virus slams into a broken Washington

The virus slams into a broken Washington

Jake Sherman writes: Let’s not mince words: Washington has been plunged into a crisis of historic proportions, frozen by a disease it is both unwilling and unable to control. Washington crises typically conform to a predictable rhythm: They simmer, boil and come to their expected conclusion. The government shuts down for a few days, but it always reopens. A national security emergency demands an urgent response — and gets one. But this time, America’s capital itself is crippled, leaving the…

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A stunned MAGA world offers blame, adulation after Trump’s diagnosis

A stunned MAGA world offers blame, adulation after Trump’s diagnosis

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis has stunned MAGA world, but it hasn’t changed how it reacts to bad news: blame others, accuse the left of craven behavior and cling tighter to the president. As updates around Trump’s health fluctuated throughout the day — before the medical staff decided to move Trump to Walter Reed hospital Friday night — Trump’s hardcore base seemed unable to deviate from its traditional impulses. The president’s backers furiously descended upon commentators who pointed out…

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