Good morning ... Want to read the study that said the steroid dexamethasone could be a life-saving coronavirus treatment? A preliminary version — which has not yet been peer reviewed — is now online.
Today's word count is a nice, breezy 775, or a 3-minute read.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, areas with largely white populations have had access to more testing sites than communities that are predominantly made up of people of color, Axios' Caitlin Owens and Andrew Witherspoon report.
Why it matters: Black and Latino people are already more susceptible to infection and serious illness, and racial disparities in testing only contribute to that problem.
By the numbers: The whole country struggled to ramp up testing throughout the spring, but the ZIP codes with large white populations started off with more testing sites, and still have more testing sites, than ZIP codes with more people of color.
Yes, but: This analysis only includes ZIP codes with at least one testing site. But nearly two-thirds of rural counties — home to some 21 million people — have no testing sites at all, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Surgo Foundation.
The bottom line: The racial inequities baked into the U.S. health care system are a defining feature of this pandemic.
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
Hospitals that have pocketed tens of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus bailouts are still pursuing big-ticket mergers and acquisitions, Axios' Bob Herman writes.
Why it matters: The pandemic has dried up big parts of hospitals' businesses, and that's why Congress established a $175 billion bailout fund to help them. At the same time, they're spending millions on lawyers and advisers to explore deals that expand their business empires.
Advocate Aurora Health and Beaumont Health are in discussions to merge into a giant hospital system spanning three Midwest states.
Atrium Health, Duke Health and Novant Health are in a multibillion-dollar bidding war to acquire New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.
ProMedica is offering to take over the operations of the University of Toledo Medical Center. ProMedica has received $158 million in coronavirus bailouts.
Lifespan and Care New England in Rhode Island have rekindled merger talks. The two systems have combined for more than $64 million in coronavirus funds.
The bottom line: The effects on competition and patients' wallets will live on after the pandemic ends.
Medicare says it has spent $1.9 billion on coronavirus treatment, with an average payment of $23,094 per hospitalized patient.
The same report also shows deep racial disparities among seniors.
People in the mostly red states where coronavirus cases have been rising the fastest are developing a heightened sense of risk and are taking steps to dial back their exposure, Axios' Margaret Talev writes in the latest installment of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Between the lines: In the states where new cases climbed by 50% or more last week, populations that had been leaning into visits with friends or getting their hair cut are now pulling back, compared with Americans in states that were hit harder earlier on.