Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris plan to get regularly tested as they ramp up in-person campaigning ahead of Election Day, a Biden campaign spokesperson confirmed Monday.
Why it matters: Biden had not received a coronavirus test as of this weekend, his deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. Bedingfield said that Biden did not have the virus, but did not clarify how that was determined without a test.
A Florida judge on Monday struck down an emergency order from the Florida Department of Education that would have required all schools to reopen for in-person learning this month, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Why it matters: Leon County Judge Charles Dodson ruledthat Florida had "essentially ignored the requirement of school safety" in pushing to reopen schools and that the state's order overrode school boards' constitutional authority to make decisions for their school systems, per the Times.
Researchers in Hong Kong say they've confirmed a case of coronavirus reinfection for the first time, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: A confirmed reinfection would mean that immunity to the virus can be short-lived. As a result, we shouldn't expect any sort of back-to-work magic bullet from any potential source or indicator of immunity — whether that's antibody testing, the use of blood plasma as a treatment, or perhaps even a vaccine.
Researchers in Germany staged a tightly controlled concert on Saturday to see whether there's a way to bring them back safely, even in a pandemic, per the AP.
The intrigue: Roughly 1,500 people filed into an arena in Leipzig — all after testing negative for coronavirus infections and while wearing masks — for the simulation.
If the U.S. is the first country to develop a coronavirus vaccine, most Americans don't want to share it right away with the rest of the world — but they're OK putting high-risk people at the front of the line within the U.S., according to a new Harris poll shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: Whenever the first vaccine comes, there won't be enough to go around. Experts say both of those tiers of rationing — divvying up the available doses internationally, and then a risk-based system to decide who gets it first within each country — will be necessary.
Florida's confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 600,000 on Sunday, the state's health department data shows.
Why it matters: Florida joins California as the only two states to surpass this milestone. Texas, which is reporting the third-most confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is not far behind, according to state figures and Johns Hopkins data. Florida has added over 100,000 cases since Aug. 5.
The FDA announced Sunday it will grant an emergency use authorization (EUA) of convalescent plasma as a treatment for the coronavirus, one day after President Trump accused the agency of slow-walking the development of vaccines and therapeutics to hurt him politically.
The state of play: The authorization for plasma, which is safe but not yet proven to work on COVID-19, had been on hold after federal health officials intervened with the FDA last week and argued that the current data on the effectiveness of the treatment was too weak, the New York Times reported.
Senior health officials in the Trump administration were taken aback last Monday when the president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, accused them of being part of the "Deep State" during a meeting that was supposed to be about COVID-19 and the Strategic National Stockpile.
Why it matters: Five days after Navarro's private comments toward the FDA, the president echoed Navarro's sentiments with a pair of Saturday morning tweets and tagged Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration.
Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that he rejects President Trump's claim that the "deep state" at the FDA is delaying coronavirus treatments and vaccines for political reasons, telling CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday: "It is a foundational truth that what guides that agency is science."
Why it matters: Gottlieb served as FDA commissioner for two years under the Trump administration. He pushed back on claims from Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that the agency's bureaucrats don't understand the "urgency" of the moment, saying, "To say these products aren't moving at a historic pace I think is wrong."
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said he applauds President Trump's accusation that the "deep state, or whoever" at the FDA is making it harder for drug companies to develop coronavirus treatments and vaccines in order to hurt him politically.
Why it matters: There is no evidence that the agency is purposely working to undermine Trump ahead of the election by slowing progress on life-saving virus treatments.
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) announced Saturday he is quarantining after testing positive for the coronavirus.
The big picture: Meuser is among at least a dozen members of the House to test positive for the virus, according to NPR. At least two members of the Senate — Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — have also been infected. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last month that she would require face coverings on the floor of the House after Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) tested positive.
The three biggest computer companies in the world — Lenovo, HP and Dell — have told U.S. school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops due to supply chain disruptions and sanctions on China, according to an AP investigation.
Why it matters: With many districts choosing fully remote or hybrid learning models, many fear the shortfall and delays of up to several months in receiving orders of the computers could exacerbate inequities in the classroom.
