Axios

Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, told CNN on Monday that the Trump campaign should stop airing an ad that uses comments he made without his permission and out of context.

Why it matters: Fauci describes himself as apolitical and says he has never endorsed a political candidate in five decades of public service. He later told The Daily Beast there's "not a chance" that he would resign if the Trump campaign continued to feature him, but added, "By doing this against my will, they are in effect harassing me."

President Trump tested negative for COVID-19 with an Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen test "on consecutive days," according to a memo from White House physician Sean Conley shared by press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Conley did not specify what days Trump tested negative.

The state of play: The memo comes days after Conley said Trump had met the "CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation" and "is no longer considered a transmission risk to others."

Government spending on testing and contact tracing pays for itself more than 30 times over, according to a new paper published by the American Medical Association.

What they found: Harvard economists David Cutler and Lawrence Summers (yes, that Larry Summers) calculated the total cost of the coronavirus pandemic at more than $16 trillion in the United States alone. Of that, about $7 trillion is attributable to loss of life and long-term impairment from the disease.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) acknowledged on Monday that Democrats do not have "some secret, clever, procedural way to stop" the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, arguing that the only way for Americans to "change the trajectory of this nomination" is by voting.

The big picture: Klobuchar and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee used day one of Barrett's confirmation hearings to criticize the process of rushing through a nomination after voting in the 2020 election has already begun, attacking it as a "sham" and "illegitimate."

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows refused to speak to reporters outside Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing on Monday after they requested that he keep his face mask on.

Why it matters: Meadows has been working out of the White House, which has become a hotspot for the coronavirus over the past two weeks.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) attended the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in person and gave his opening statement without a mask, a little more than a week after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Details: Lee told Hugh Hewitt on Monday he was cleared to attend the hearing in person from the Office of the Attending Physician. "I’ve gone through the appropriate number of days, and I’ve been keeping my temperature under control, and I’m no longer contagious," Lee said, explaining why he felt comfortable being in the committee room.

According to the latest Gallup poll, Americans' willingness get a coronavirus vaccine has dropped to 50% in late September, a dramatic 11-point fall from the previous month.

Why it matters: This steep drop is further evidence that the vaccine has been politicized. Republicans are now more willing to be vaccinated, while Democrats and independents have become increasingly uncomfortable.

A record 4.4. million children were without health insurance last year, an increase by about 320,000, an analysis of Census data shows.

Why it matters: After decades of decline, it's the third year in a row the nation has seen an increase in the number of uninsured children.

The White House coronavirus outbreak has provided a high-profile example of the limitations of rapid diagnostic testing.

Why it matters: New kinds of tests are quickly coming onto the market and being used in places like schools and nursing homes, adding urgency to the debate over how such testing should be used.