Axios

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told CBS News Radio on Friday that the "data speak for themselves," there was "a superspreader event at the White House."

Driving the news: Several people who attended the White House's Rose Garden celebration for the introduction of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett have tested positive for the coronavirus, including President Trump. Photos and video from the event show that few in attendance wore masks.

A quarter of Americans say they know someone who has gone into work while feeling unwell, according to a survey provided exclusively to Axios by the Paid Leave for All campaign.

Why it matters: We will not be able to get the pandemic under control unless people can stay home when they're sick. Clearly, many Americans are not able to do that — especially people of color — without risking their job or their paycheck.

President Trump has called an experimental coronavirus therapy he received "a gift from Heaven" and promised to make it widely available — igniting yet another round of concern about politics encroaching on science.

What they're saying: "We have an emergency use authorization that I want to get signed immediately," Trump said in a video Thursday.

President Trump will be interviewed on camera during Friday's episode of Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" by Dr. Marc Siegel, the network announced.

Why it matters: It will be the president's first on-camera sit-down since being diagnosed with coronavirus last week. He called into Maria Bartiromo's Fox Business show and Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Thursday.

The D.C. Health Department is trying to jump-start contact tracing efforts around the White House's coronavirus outbreak. Tracing has been inadequate so far even as cases spread deeper into the city.

The big picture: The White House has decided not to move forward with recommended public health protocols of contact tracing and testing since President Trump tested positive for the virus. 

HCA Healthcare is giving back $1.6 billion of federal bailout payments and paying back $4.4 billion in Medicare loans early. The money was intended to help hospitals weather the pandemic as patients delayed elective care.

Why it matters: Over the summer, the hospital industry said the pandemic was resulting in "the greatest financial crisis we have ever faced in our history." But HCA expects to report higher revenue and adjusted profits in the third quarter.

Europe is now recording far more new coronavirus cases than ever before.

The big picture: One reason is testing. Deaths and hospitalizations remain far below the levels seen in the spring, though they continue to tick upward.

The COVID-19 pandemic is rife with scientific and medical uncertainty, including debates about the ethics of using experimental treatments.

The big picture: As the global pandemic continues, the tension between providing the best available care for patients and performing trials to determine whether that care is effective risks complicating the medical response.

The New England Journal of Medicine yesterday published the first political editorial in its 208-year history, arguing that America's leaders have bungled the response to COVID-19, leading to unnecessary death and economic hardship.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper with Eric Rubin, an immunologist and infectious disease expert who serves as NEJM's editor-in-chief.

The Washington, D.C. Department of Health on Thursday asked attendees and White House staff at the Rose Garden celebration for the introduction of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26 to seek medical advice and get tested for COVID-19 by their local health department.

Why it matters: The outbreak tied to the White House contributed to an increase in the District's caseload. D.C. experienced a 26% increase last week, rising from some 40 new cases per day to about 50.

The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked a lower court's ruling that extended the deadline for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin to Nov. 9 as long as they are postmarked by the Nov. 3 election.

Why it matters: The ruling, if it stands, is a win for Republicans who had sought to curb the amount of time allowed to count ballots in this decisive battleground state. Wisconsin is expecting 2 million absentee voters due to the pandemic.

After President Trump announced he would not participate in a virtual debate next week, Joe Biden's campaign released a statement Thursday that the former vice president would instead "find an appropriate place to take questions from voters directly."

The state of play: The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the town hall would be entirely virtual "for the health and safety of all involved" as Trump continues to recover from coronavirus.

A signal between breast cancer cells could be a target for new drugs to block the cells from clustering, migrating and metastasizing, researchers said in early findings published in Cell last week.

Why it matters: Metastatic tumors kill nearly 43,000 people from breast cancer, 33,000 from prostate cancer and 135,720 from lung cancer in the U.S. every year. Scientists are seeking ways to prevent a person's cancer from spreading to other organs and becoming more deadly.

The cost of job-based health insurance averaged more than $21,000 for families and almost $7,500 for individuals in 2020 — roughly 4% higher than 2019, according to new survey data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The big picture: These costs only accounted for coverage offered heading into 2020, and therefore didn't factor in the coronavirus pandemic. And although the 4% growth rate was the lowest since 2017, it still exceeded the average growth of workers' wages (3.4%) and general inflation (2.1%) — meaning employer health care continues to eat away at people's budgets.

President Trump, who continues to battle a coronavirus infection, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that he will not take part in a virtual second presidential debate, with his campaign later saying he would do two in person debates later on this month.

What he's saying: "I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. It’s not what debating is all about. ... It’s ridiculous," the president said.

The DNC War Room on Thursday will begin airing a new TV ad, "Had Enough?," that takes on President Trump's claim that his administration has done a "great job" on the pandemic.

The state of play: This is a six-figure buy in swing states and D.C. on both broadcast and cable.

Vice President Mike Pence described a world in which he and President Trump led Americans' heroic effort to defeat the coronavirus during last night's vice presidential debate. The problem is, he described a world that doesn't exist.

Why it matters: The coronavirus is very much not in control in the U.S., and America's failed response begins with the individual actions of the president and the vice president themselves.

The pace of coronavirus infections increased last week in 23 states plus Washington, D.C., and only declined in four states and Puerto Rico.

The big picture: The virus is not under control, or anywhere close to it.

Science has won out over politics in the race for a coronavirus vaccine — for now.

Why it matters: The Food and Drug Administration's end run around the White House on vaccine guidance earlier this week may end up boosting public confidence, which is very important in light of widespread vaccine skepticism.

The number of coronavirus cases exceeded 6 million in Europe Wednesday, per AFP, as the World Health Organization warns that the continent is experiencing "rising COVID-19 fatigue."

The big picture: Cases are surging across the U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Germany, with records set in several European countries in the past week.

Brazil became on Wednesday the third country to surpass 5 million coronavirus cases, as the virus death toll in the nation neared 150,000.

By the numbers: Brazil has the third-highest number of cases after India (almost 6.8 million) and the U.S. (over 7.5 million), per Johns Hopkins.

Sen. Kamala Harris said at Wednesday's vice presidential debate that the Trump administration does not have a plan to protect health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, looking into the camera and declaring: "If you have a pre-existing condition — heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer — they're coming for you.

Why it matters: The Biden campaign has consistently sought to make the Trump administration-backed lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act — which protects coverage for pre-existing conditions — a core election message, particularly as the U.S. continues to struggle to control the pandemic. Health care has been proven to be one of the issues that resonates most with voters.

The No. 2 Marine general, Gary Thomas, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, a day after he and other senior military leaders began quarantining due to possible exposure to the virus.

Driving the news: Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military leaders, including Thomas, entered quarantine after Adm. Charles Ray, vice commandant of the Coast Guard, tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, per the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.