A new research note underscores how the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately hitting U.S. communities of color who already face higher exposure to pollution.

Australian officials in Victoria announced Wednesday some 300,000 people in suburbs north of the state capital Melbourne will go into lockdown for a month from midnight amid soaring cases, per the Guardian.

Zoom in: While other states have reported single-digit or zero cases for weeks, officials in Victoria are concerned there may be a second wave of infections, as it reported another 64 cases on Wednesday. The Australian army is conducting a massive suburban testing blitz in Melbourne. Victorian residents "will be confined to home except for grocery shopping, health appointments, work or caregiving, and exercise" under the new restrictions, the Guardian notes.

Government virus expert Anthony Fauci told reporters in a press briefing on Friday that contact tracing efforts to contain the coronavirus are "not working."

Why it matters: Without a vaccine, contact tracing of cases is the best tool available to stem the spread of an outbreak. But understaffed public health agencies, privacy concerns, disappointing technology, and the sheer size of the pandemic are limiting the technique's effectiveness.

Planned Parenthood interim president Alexis McGill Johnson will take over the role permanently and also become CEO, the organization announced Friday.

Why it matters: Johnson is a civil rights and social justice activist and is Planned Parenthood's second Black president, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the promotion. The organization has long refuted claims by anti-abortion activists that it was founded on racist ideals because its founder, Margaret Sanger, was a proponent of eugenics.

The Gates Foundation is best known for its philanthropy, but it has also spawned a venture capital fund whose mission is to show that investing in global health care issues can also yield returns.

Driving the news: Adjuvant Capital, founded by veterans of the Gates Foundation-sponsored Global Health Investment Fund, is raising a fund that will be at least $200 million, according to SEC filings.

As the elderly, especially those in nursing homes, bear the brunt of deaths from COVID-19, new approaches and tools to keep them safe are emerging.

Why it matters: Seniors are much more susceptible to the novel coronavirus, and the conditions in many long-term care homes facilitate the spread of COVID-19. Independent of the current pandemic, America and much of the world is aging rapidly and is in need of technologies to care for them.

In an effort to better understand how COVID-19 affects underrepresented communities, the National Institutes of Health is expanding antibody testing, surveying personal impacts and collecting electronic health data.

Why it matters: Underrepresented communities have experienced a large portion of severe complications and death from the pandemic, but researchers don't know all the reasons why. NIH hopes to learn more on this, while also shedding light on when the coronavirus entered the country.

A complex public undertaking like the coronavirus response depends a lot on public trust. But a legacy of systemic racism across multiple institutions has eroded that trust in many minority communities.

The big picture: Health care has its own sordid history, from the Tuskegee Study to hospitals' patient-dumping practices to substandard care for black mothers and babies.

The inequalities in American health care extend right into the hospital: Cash-strapped safety-net hospitals treat more people of color, while wealthier facilities treat more white patients.

Why it matters: Safety-net hospitals lack the money, equipment and other resources of their more affluent counterparts, which makes providing critical care more difficult and exacerbates disparities in health outcomes.

The quest for a universal flu vaccine in the U.S. is making "promising" progress, with the possibility of having one ready in five years.

Why it matters: Just because we're battling a coronavirus pandemic right now, doesn't mean a deadly influenza pandemic isn't waiting around the corner. Experts are aiming to create a vaccine that could target a broader array of flu strains in order to prepare for future pandemics.