First Edition: February 26, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Democrats Sharpen Health Care Attacks As Primaries Heat Up
The ideal began to get real on Tuesday, as seven of the top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination sparred over the price tag on health care reform and even revealed similarities on issues like marijuana legalization. With Democrats in 15 states and American Samoa set to cast their primary votes in the next week, the candidates eagerly seized their chances on the debate stage in Charleston, S.C., to jab Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the current frontrunner, during the party’s tenth debate. (Huetteman, Luthra and Knight, 2/26)

Kaiser Health News: Bernie Sanders Embraces A New Study That Lowers ‘Medicare For All’s’ Price Tag, But Skepticism Abounds
Defending his signature health plan — a single-payer system known “Medicare for All” that would move all Americans to government-funded coverage  — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that the massive health care expansion would actually save the system hundreds of billions of dollars. Sanders’ figures come from a study published Feb. 15 in The Lancet, a British medical journal. (Luthra, 2/26)

Kaiser Health News: Past As Prologue: Questioning Buttigieg’s Claim About Keeping Your Health Care
As the Democratic presidential campaign moves to the battleground of South Carolina this weekend, candidate Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is highlighting his health plan as he seeks to slow the momentum of the front-runner, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. In a video ad airing across the state, Buttigieg argues that his health plan — called “Medicare for All Who Want It” — offers Americans their choice of insurance plans, in a way he says Sanders’ more sweeping “Medicare for All” plan does not. (Luthra, 2/25)

Kaiser Health News: As The Coronavirus Spreads, Americans Lose Ground Against Other Health Threats
For much of the 20th century, medical progress seemed limitless. Antibiotics revolutionized the care of infections. Vaccines turned deadly childhood diseases into distant memories. Americans lived longer, healthier lives than their parents. Yet today, some of the greatest success stories in public health are unraveling. (Szabo, 2/26)

Kaiser Health News: U.S. Medical Panel Thinks Twice About Pushing Cognitive Screening For Dementia
A leading group of medical experts on Tuesday declined to endorse cognitive screening for older adults, fueling a debate that has simmered for years. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said it could neither recommend nor oppose cognitive screening, citing insufficient scientific evidence of the practice’s benefits and harms and calling for further studies. The task force’s work informs policies set by Medicare and private insurers. Its recommendations, an accompanying scientific statement and two editorials were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Graham, 2/25)

Kaiser Health News: Trusting Injection Drug Users With IV Antibiotics At Home: It Can Work
Two mornings a week, Arthur Jackson clears space on half of his cream-colored sofa. He sets out a few rolls of tape and some gauze, then waits for a knock on his front door. “This is Brenda’s desk,” Jackson said with a chuckle. Brenda Mastricola is his visiting nurse. After she arrives at Jackson’s home in Boston, she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure. Then she changes the bandages on Jackson’s right foot. (Bebinger, 2/26)

Reuters: At Rowdy Debate, Democratic Rivals Warn Sanders Nomination Would Be ‘Catastrophe’
Democratic presidential candidates unleashed withering attacks on Bernie Sanders in a boisterous debate in South Carolina on Tuesday, assailing his ambitious economic agenda and warning his nomination would be a “catastrophe” that would cost Democrats the White House and control of Congress. In a debate that featured candidates repeatedly shouting over one another and ignoring their time limits, Sanders’ opponents united in attacking the self-avowed democratic socialist as a risky choice to face Republican President Donald Trump in November. … Pete Buttigieg, the moderate former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, criticized Sanders for the shifting estimates on the costs of his proposals such as government-run healthcare and warned that the front-runner would bring about chaos. (2/26)

The Washington Post: Democrats Gang Up On Sen. Bernie Sanders In South Carolina Presidential Debate
“Bernie is winning right now because the Democratic Party is a progressive party and progressive ideas are popular ideas even if there are a lot of people in this stage we don’t want to say so,” Warren said. “Bernie and I agree on a lot of things, but I think I would make a better president than Bernie,” Warren added, saying that she focuses on details. Using health care as an example, she pointed out that she tried to fill in gaps in Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan. “I dug in, I did the work, and then Bernie’s team trashed me for it,” Warren said. (Viser, Linskey, Sullivan and Wootson, 2/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Debate In South Carolina: The Moments That Mattered
Sanders stood in the center of the stage for the first time this election, underscoring his front-runner status. He certainly earned front-runner scrutiny. “No, the math does not add up,” Ms. Klobuchar said to Mr. Sanders, saying that his Medicare for All proposal was too expensive. She also said that Democratic Party elders, including former President Obama, had opposed his idea for expansive government proposals. “They are not with you,” she said. He also took heat for his votes against the 1993 Brady Bill, which established mandatory background checks, while Mr. Sanders was a member of the House. Mr. Sanders called it a bad vote. (Jamerson, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Rivals Focus On Sanders At South Carolina Debate
The urgency of the moment—days ahead of the South Carolina primary and a week from the delegate-rich Super Tuesday contests—was clear as the candidates jockeyed for airtime by interrupting, insulting and provoking one another, often speaking over their time limits and their rival candidates. Mr. Sanders, coming off his resounding win in Nevada last week that cemented him as the front-runner, heightened the stakes for the others on the stage. (Collins, Day and Glazer, 2/26)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The Democratic Debate In South Carolina
WHAT MR. SANDERS: “What every study out there, conservative or progressive says: ‘Medicare for all’ will save money.” False. There have been several analyses of Mr. Sanders’s Medicare for all health care proposal, which would provide every American with generous government-funded health insurance benefits. Those studies have shown a range of potential costs, including several that estimate that the plan would cost substantially more than what the country would otherwise spend on health care.Mr. Sanders is correct that a recent study published in the medical journal The Lancet showed that his plan would cost $450 billion less in a year than the current health care system. But that study made several assumptions that other economists who have examined the plan have considered unrealistic. Other studies have shown that spending would increase as the plan expands coverage to more Americans, and provides them with expensive new benefits, like long-term care, which few health insurance plans currently cover. This article provides an overview of a few of these studies. (2/25)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking The 10th Democratic Primary Debate
In any case, one study — or even many — can not easily estimate the impact of overhauling one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Sanders has put out a menu of possible options for how to fund Medicare-for-all, though many experts says that he still falls short. One option would require a 7.5 percent payroll tax that employers would pay to help fund the program. Virtually every economist will tell you that a payroll tax paid by an employer largely comes out of the pay earned by the employee, but Sanders argues that the savings on the premiums currently paid by the employer should result in an overall reduction in costs for the employer. He estimates that a company would save more than $9,000 in health-care costs per average employee, but those claims must be viewed with skepticism. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 2/25)

Politico: A Bernie Slayer Fails To Emerge At Tuesday’s Debate
Sanders has glided through a year of campaigning churning out enormously ambitious and expensive federal policy proposals with little regard to the costs. The total now is estimated to be $60 trillion. When the pressure to cough up some more numbers increased this week, his campaign put out a list of pay-fors that did not come close to matching the scale of his spending. For instance, he identified less than $18 trillion in revenue for his Medicare For All plan, which he estimates will cost $30 trillion and outside estimates peg at much higher. (Lizza, 2/26)

The New York Times: Amid Insults And Interruptions, Sanders Absorbs Burst Of Attacks In Debate
Mr. Biden, fighting for survival in the state on which he has staked his candidacy, delivered perhaps the most searing critique of Mr. Sanders, invoking the 2015 church massacre here in Charleston to confront Mr. Sanders for his mixed record on guns. “Nine people shot dead by a white supremacist,” Mr. Biden said, then rebuked Mr. Sanders for his past opposition to waiting periods for gun purchases: “I’m not saying he’s responsible for the nine deaths, but that man would not have been able to get that weapon if the waiting period had been what I suggest.” (Martin and Burns, 2/25)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Dems Implore Fact Checkers To Back Them Up
JOE BIDEN: “A hundred and fifty million people have been killed since 2007, when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability.” THE FACTS: Biden vastly overstated gun deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 413,000 gun deaths from 2007 to 2018, a far cry from 150 million, which equates to close to half the U.S. population. More than half of the gun deaths in 2018 were from suicide, says the CDC. His campaign acknowledged he misspoke. (2/25)

Los Angeles Times: 5 Takeaways From The South Carolina Democratic Debate
Sharing her own story of being discriminated against as a pregnant teacher, Warren reduced the former New York City mayor to sputtering outrage. “At least I didn’t have a boss who said to me, ‘Kill it,’ the way that Mayor Bloomberg is alleged to have said to one of his pregnant employees,” she said. He categorically denied ever making the statement. But the strategy lost a bit of its oomph, lacking the surprise factor and dampened by boos from the Bloomberg-friendly crowd. (Barabak and Mason, 2/25)

The New York Times: The Basics Of ‘Medicare For All’
It’s possible you’ve tuned out when the Democrats running for president have tussled over “Medicare for all.” But now that Bernie Sanders, who introduced the Medicare for All Act in the Senate, is ascending in the nominating contest, it’s a good time to take a closer look at what it would mean for the health system, your health insurance and finances, and the federal budget. Here’s our quick primer, with some suggestions for further reading. (Sanger-Katz, 2/25)

The Associated Press: Medical Report Shows Klobuchar In ‘Very Good Health’
Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar is “in very good health,” according to a medical report the Minnesota senator’s campaign released days after she said during a debate over Bernie Sanders’ health records that “you should release your records from your physical.” Klobuchar, who is trailing Sanders and most of her other rivals ahead of Tuesday night’s debate in South Carolina, released a four-page report late Monday based on a January routine physical and medical records. (2/25)

Reuters: U.S. Health Officials Urge Americans To Prepare For Spread Of Coronavirus
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday alerted Americans to begin preparing for the spread of coronavirus in the United States after infections surfaced in several more countries. The announcement signaled a change in tone for the Atlanta-based U.S. health agency, which had largely been focused on efforts to stop the virus from entering the country and quarantining individuals traveling from China. (2/26)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Officials Warn Of Coronavirus Outbreaks In The U.S.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing. She said that cities and towns should plan for “social distancing measures,” like dividing school classes into smaller groups of students or closing schools altogether. Meetings and conferences may have to be canceled, she said. Businesses should arrange for employees to work from home. “We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare, in the expectation that this could be bad,” Dr. Messonnier said. (Belluck and Weiland, 2/25)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Spread In U.S. Is Inevitable, CDC Warns
Messonnier advised parents to talk to schools about the possibility of internet-based learning in the event that COVID-19 spreads and students would need to refrain from attending classes in a school building, and for businesses to think about how to use teleconferencing meetings in the event that employees would need to work from home. Messonnier said officials would also need to consider whether large community-based events would need to be canceled in such an event. (Shalby and Peltz, 2/25)

NPR: Coronavirus: Americans Warned To Start Planning For Spread In U.S.
She stressed that the current risk remains low. Almost all the cases that have occurred in the United States have been among travelers who have been infected overseas. In addition, there’s always the chance that the coronavirus could begin to subside as spring and summer arrive. Infectious disease experts say that 80% of infections are mild, no more severe than the common cold. (Stein and Wamsley, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: CDC Warns It Expects Coronavirus To Spread In U.S.
So far, American public-health systems have sought to contain the virus by isolating confirmed cases while monitoring close contacts of these patients for signs of infection. This strategy is most effective when the case count is relatively low and each case can be epidemiologically linked to each other and traced to an original source, health authorities say. That is the current situation with the confirmed U.S. cases. But if the virus spreads more widely, it might become difficult or impossible to contain it with the current methods, experts say. Instead, the efforts would shift to strategies such as closing schools, canceling mass gatherings and requiring employees to work from home. “The disruption to everyday life might be severe,” Dr. Messonnier said. (Abbott and Armour, 2/25)

The Washington Post: Trump Officials Warn Of Inevitable Spread Of Coronavirus Across The United States
The warnings from officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, contrasted sharply with assessments from President Trump and other White House officials, who have largely dismissed concerns about the virus. The mixed messages continued Tuesday as dire warnings issued to senators and reporters early in the day gave way to a more positive assessment, after the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 3.4 percent, bringing the two-day loss to more than 1,900 points — the worst in two years. “We believe the immediate risk here in the United States remains low, and we’re working hard to keep that risk low,” Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said during a hastily convened afternoon news briefing. (Werner, Abutaleb, Sun and Bernstein, 2/25)

The New York Times: How To Prepare For Coronavirus
American health officials warned on Tuesday that the coronavirus is likely to spread in communities in the United States. They urged individuals to get themselves and their families ready. But what can you do? Infectious disease experts stressed that people should not panic and offered practical advice. “The mantra is, ‘Keep calm and carry on,’” said Dr. Marguerite Neill, an infectious disease expert at Brown University. (Kolata, 2/25)

The Associated Press: How Deadly Is New Coronavirus? It’s Still Too Early To Tell
Scientists can’t tell yet how deadly the new virus that’s spreading around the globe really is — and deepening the mystery, the fatality rate differs even within China. As infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 surge in other countries, even a low fatality rate can add up to lots of victims, and understanding why one place fares better than another becomes critical to unravel. “You could have bad outcomes with this initially until you really get the hang of how to manage” it, Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization envoy who led a team of scientists just back from China, warned Tuesday. (2/26)

Stat: New China Coronavirus Data Buttress Fears About High Fatality Rate 
One of the hopes of people watching China’s coronavirus outbreak was that the alarming picture of its lethality is probably exaggerated because a lot of mild cases are likely being missed. But on Tuesday, a World Health Organization expert suggested that does not appear to be the case. (Branswell, 2/25)

The Washington Post: Shortages, Confusion And Poor Communication Complicate Coronavirus Preparations
Major U.S. hospital systems are burning through their supplies of specialized masks needed for a widespread epidemic of coronavirus, in part because federal protocols call for them to be thrown out after a single use in practice sessions, federal officials have told health-care leaders. Some hospitals have just a week’s inventory of the N95 face masks, which filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles, even as a top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that spread of the virus in the United States now appears inevitable. (Sun, Rowland and Bernstein, 2/25)

The Associated Press: Study Begins In US To Test Possible Coronavirus Treatment
The first clinical trial in the U.S. of a possible coronavirus treatment is underway in Nebraska and is eventually expected to include 400 patients at 50 locations around the world, officials said Tuesday. Half of the patients in the international study will receive the antiviral medicine remdesivir while the other half will receive a placebo. Several other studies, including one looking at the same drug, are already underway internationally. (2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: First U.S. Testing Begins For Potential Coronavirus Treatment
The NIH-sponsored study is part of public health officials’ race to determine quickly whether the Gilead drug, called remdesivir, is effective in treating Covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. The study is designed to enroll up to nearly 400 patients globally, who will be randomly selected to receive remdesivir or a placebo. While the illness has led to thousands of fatalities world-wide, most people who become infected experience flu-like symptoms such as fever and cough before recovering on their own, health officials have said. (Walker, 2/25)

The Washington Post: Faulty CDC Coronavirus Test Might Delay Detection Of Covid-19 Infections
Problems with a government-created coronavirus test have limited the United States’ capacity to rapidly increase testing, just as the outbreak has entered a worrisome new phase in countries worldwide. Experts are increasingly concerned that the small number of U.S. cases may be a reflection of limited testing, not of the virus’s spread. While South Korea has run more than 35,000 coronavirus tests, the United States has tested only 426 people, not including people who returned on evacuation flights. Only about a dozen state and local laboratories can now run tests outside of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta because the CDC kits sent out nationwide earlier this month included a faulty component. (Johnson, McGinley and Sun, 2/25)

The Washington Post: White House Struggles To Contain Public Alarm Over Coronavirus
Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told The Washington Post late Monday that investors should consider “buying these dips” in the stock market amid the coronavirus panic. The message was to take advantage of one-day slumps and “buy low.” After all, the Dow Jones industrial average had just fallen 1,032 points. President Trump tweeted similar guidance thousands of miles away in India. Less than 24 hours later, the Dow Jones industrial average would fall another 879 points, bringing Trump and Kudlow’s investment advice — at least in the short term — under greater scrutiny. (Stein and Dawsey, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Global Stocks Extend Losses As Virus Fears Deepen
“Investors do not want to catch this falling knife,” said James Athey, a senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments. “The speed with which equities are declining here is something investors find very troubling. It’s hard to see people willing to step in and buy.” Brent crude, the benchmark for global oil prices, fell 1.1% to $53.67 a barrel. Industrial metals including copper also waned, while gold, which is considered a haven asset, was mostly flat. (Ping and Isaac, 2/26)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Shows The Problem With Trump’s Stock Market Boasting
There’s a reason most presidents are cautious when talking about the stock market. President Trump is learning it the hard way this week. He is, in effect, experiencing the downside of having spent the last three years personalizing much of what happens in the markets and the economy, saying that the soaring stock values under his watch are a reflection of his special ability, and a central part of his case for re-election in November. (Irwin, 2/26)

Politico: Coronavirus Triggers Swift Bipartisan Backlash Against Trump
The Trump administration confronted a new threat Tuesday in the mounting coronavirus crisis: a fierce bipartisan backlash amid contradictory statements from the federal government about the severity of the outbreak. Administration officials sought to swat away concerns their emergency request for $2.5 billion to address the outbreak was inadequate, even as some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the amount — and slamming a lack of transparency around efforts to contain the disease on U.S. soil. (Roubein and Ollstein, 2/25)

Politico: Break With China? Top Trump Aide Eyes An Opening With Coronavirus
Peter Navarro, the leading China critic in the Trump administration, is seizing the moment. The White House’s director of trade and manufacturing policy and the administration’s other China hawks are pushing to use the coronavirus crisis to press U.S. companies to end their dependence on foreign suppliers. It’s an outcome Navarro and other advocates of U.S. factories in the Trump administration have sought for the past three years — what they see as a core piece of President Donald Trump’s 2016 promise to bring manufacturing jobs back home. (Cassella, 2/26)

Reuters: San Francisco Declares Emergency Over Coronavirus
San Francisco declared a local emergency over the coronavirus on Tuesday, despite having no cases, as U.S. officials urged Americans to prepare for the spread of infections within their communities. California’s fourth-largest city said it made the move to boost its coronavirus preparedness and raise public awareness of risks the virus may spread to the city. (2/26)

Los Angeles Times: San Francisco Mayor Declares Coronavirus Emergency
“Although there are still zero confirmed cases in San Francisco residents, the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step up preparedness,” Breed said in a statement Tuesday. “We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm.” While three people have been treated for COVID-19 at San Francisco hospitals, there have been no confirmed cases of the illness in the city. (Shalby, 2/25)

Reuters: Coronavirus Infects U.S. Soldier In South Korea As Pandemic Fears Fuel Market Selloff
China and South Korea reported 500 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including the first U.S. soldier to be infected, as the United States warned of an inevitable pandemic and an outbreak in northern Italy spread to several European countries. Worsening outbreaks in Iran and Italy, along with China and South Korea, are raising the risk of a pandemic and drove Asian shares down on Wednesday, following falls on Wall Street. (2/26)

The Wall Street Journal: American Soldier Contracts Coronavirus In South Korea As Government Struggles
The U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees the roughly 28,500 American military personnel in South Korea, had instructed soldiers to not visit off-base establishments and placed its risk level at high. Coming joint military exercises with the U.S. and South Korea could be scaled back due to the coronavirus, the two countries said earlier this week. (Martin and Yoon, 2/26)

The Washington Post: Utah Health Officials Refute Shen Yun Coronavirus Rumors Linking Dance Group To Outbreak
At a performance by the ubiquitous Chinese dance troupe Shen Yun, the only thing audiences risk exposure to is a little culture and some religious and political propaganda. But for the past few days, health officials in Utah have had to quash social media-fueled rumors linking the dancers to covid-19, better known as the disease caused by the coronavirus. Even in states like Utah, which have no confirmed reports of coronavirus infection, concerns over the outbreak have grown as the virus has infected nearly 80,000 people across Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. The growing concerns have prompted significant misinformation — and a rise in anti-Asian prejudice. (Bellware and Wong, 2/25)

The Associated Press: ‘Time Is Everything’: World Braces For Spread Of New Virus
China’s massive travel restrictions, house-to-house checks, huge isolation wards and lockdowns of entire cities bought the world valuable time to prepare for the global spread of the new virus. But with troubling outbreaks now emerging in Italy, South Korea and Iran, and U.S. health officials warning Tuesday it’s inevitable it will spread more widely in America, the question is: Did the world use that time wisely and is it ready for a potential pandemic? (2/25)

The Associated Press: Italy Sees Virus Cases Rise 45% In A Day; Deaths Up To 11
Italy reported a 45% one-day increase in people infected with the coronavirus as other countries in Europe recorded their first cases Tuesday, producing evidence that travelers are carrying the virus from the European outbreak’s current epicenter. Italian officials reported 11 deaths and 322 confirmed cases of the virus, 100 more than a day earlier. While the majority were concentrated in northern Italy, some of the new cases registered outside the country’s two hard-hit regions, including three in Sicily, two in Tuscany and one in Liguria. (2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Infections Increase In Italy
Other EU countries have so far imposed few if any restrictions on people arriving from the affected regions of northern Italy. But France has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to Lombardy and Veneto, the two Italian regions at the center of the outbreak. Bulgaria’s flagship carrier, Bulgaria Air, canceled all flights to Milan until March 27. In a sign of the knock-on effects, Paramount Pictures said it had halted production of “Mission: Impossible VII.” The studio had been slated to soon begin a three-week shoot in Venice with a crew of more than 500, according to a spokesman for the city’s mayor. (Sylvers and Rocca, 2/25)

The Washington Post: Italy’s Elderly At Front Line Of Coronavirus Battle
As the coronavirus death toll ticks up day by day in Italy, a picture has emerged of the people most at risk: a 77-year-old found dead in her home, an 84-year-old man who lost his battle with the virus, and another who was 88. The virus can be carried by anybody. But as it spreads through China and accelerates in other parts of the world, it is delivering an unequal demographic blow to the elderly and those already sick. That has set off a race in countries with significant older populations — like Italy — to figure out whether there are ways to protect their most vulnerable: those in hospitals, in nursing homes, and seniors in sealed-off hot-spot towns who are watching television and fearing the worst. (Harlan and Pitrelli, 2/25)

The New York Times: Spanish Hotel Is Locked Down After Guests Test Positive For Coronavirus
The Spanish authorities scrambled on Tuesday to trace everyone who had contact with an Italian doctor and his partner who tested positive for the coronavirus while on vacation in the Canary Islands, locking down a major resort with hundreds of guests in the hopes of limiting any possible outbreak. While officials said they were acting out of an abundance of caution, the response underscored how quickly the spread of the virus in one European Union nation could become a problem for others in the bloc, which prides itself on frictionless travel across borders. (Peltier and Minder, 2/25)

Reuters: Fears Of Coronavirus Pandemic Spreading Olympic Unease
Fears that the new coronavirus outbreak is on the verge of becoming a global pandemic have stoked concerns about the Tokyo Games and while the International Olympic Committee says there is no “Plan B” doubts remain the event will go ahead as planned. Five months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo, health authorities around the world are scrambling to contain outbreaks of the flu-like virus which has infected about 80,000 and killed more than 2,700 people, the vast majority in China. (2/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Tokyo Olympics Could Be A Victim Of The Coronavirus, IOC Official Says
The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin on July 24, but a senior member of the International Olympic Committee raised the possibility of cancellation or postponement if the outbreak wasn’t contained in the next three months, setting an unofficial deadline around the end of May. The last time the Olympics were canceled was during World War II. “This is the new war and you have to face it,” Dick Pound, an IOC member since 1978, told the Associated Press. “In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo, or not?’” (Robinson, Cohen and Bachman, 2/25)

The New York Times: Second Cruise Ship Blocked From Ports Over Coronavirus Fears
Following a pattern set by the MS Westerdam, a cruise ship in the Caribbean has been turned away from two ports over fears of the coronavirus. The ship, with more than 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members, was not allowed to dock in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after it was discovered a crew member onboard was unwell. The MSC Meraviglia from MSC Cruises arrived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, from Miami on Tuesday morning. After the ship’s command reported one case of influenza onboard, Jamaican authorities, concerned that the man might have the coronavirus, said no one could disembark. (Mzezewa, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: South Korea Plans ‘Maximum’ Quarantine Steps In Coronavirus-Struck City
South Korea’s president visited a virus-stricken city and called the next several days a “clear inflection point,” as the government said it would investigate the roughly 200,000 followers of a mysterious religious sect linked with most of the country’s cases. “We can overcome the coronavirus and fully defeat it,” said President Moon Jae-in, wearing a white face mask as he spoke at the city hall of Daegu, epicenter of the country’scoronavirus epidemic. (Martin and Yoon, 2/25)

Reuters: Nineteen Dead, 139 Infected With Coronavirus In Iran: Health Ministry Spokesman
Nineteen people have died and 139 people have been infected by coronavirus in Iran, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on Wednesday in an announcement on state TV. (2/26)

Reuters: Vietnam Bars Tourists From Virus-Hit Parts Of South Korea
Vietnam banned tourists from coronavirus-hit areas of South Korea on Wednesday, a blow to a tourism industry already reeling from a collapse in Chinese visitor numbers. The government said in a news release that people from those areas who needed to come to Vietnam for other reasons must be quarantined for 14 days when entering the country. The move came after the number of cases of the new coronavirus reported in South Korea rose above 1,100. (2/26)

The New York Times: Spread Of Virus Could Hasten The Great Coming Apart Of Globalization
Globalization, that awkward catchall for our interconnectedness, was already under assault from populists, terrorists, trade warriors and climate activists, having become an easy target for much that ails us. Now comes the coronavirus. Its spread, analysts and experts say, may be a decisive moment in the fervid debates over how much the world integrates or separates. (Erlanger, 2/25)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Weakens China’s Powerful Propaganda Machine
Exhausted medical workers with faces lined from hours of wearing goggles and surgical masks. Women with shaved heads, a gesture of devotion. Retirees who donate their life savings anonymously in government offices. Beijing is tapping its old propaganda playbook as it battles the relentless coronavirus outbreak, the biggest challenge to its legitimacy in decades. State media is filling smartphones and airwaves with images and tales of unity and sacrifice aimed at uniting the people behind Beijing’s rule. It even briefly offered up cartoon mascots named Jiangshan Jiao and Hongqi Man, characters meant to stir patriotic feelings among the young during the crisis. (Yuan, 2/26)

The Wall Street Journal: New Cases Drop In China As Virus Spreads Globally
The number of new coronavirus cases in China dropped dramatically in recent days outside the province at the center of the epidemic, but health authorities raised alarms about sharp increases in infections elsewhere in the world. The number of new cases outside Hubei dropped to just nine on Monday, Chinese authorities said, a marked decrease from the peak of nearly 900 new cases that were recorded Feb. 3. (Cheng and Russolillo, 2/25)

Reuters: Worried Chinese Turn To Online Doctor Consultations Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Spooked by a sneeze or a cough, Chinese consumers are turning to online consultations in droves for advice about possible coronavirus symptoms – a boon for a fledgling industry that has struggled to win over customers. Due to the epidemic, hundreds of millions of Chinese are stuck at home due to quarantine restrictions imposed by authorities or companies. Even if not under quarantine, many are too worried to venture for long outside or to visit a hospital for other ailments as they fear they might catch the highly contagious virus. (2/26)

The New York Times: Shaved Heads, Adult Diapers: Life As A Nurse In The Coronavirus Outbreak
Zhang Wendan and her family were celebrating the Lunar New Year when the 27-year-old nurse got a notice from the hospital: report back to work and join the battle to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Ms. Zhang lives in Huanggang, in Hubei Province, where the virus originated. Two days earlier officials had sealed off her city in a desperate attempt to stop it from spreading. Her mother quietly cried while Ms. Zhang and her fiancé went to her room to pack for her trip. The experience at the hospital, Ms. Zhang says, has been harrowing, especially as a woman. (Stevenson, 2/26)

Los Angeles Times: Health Workers Fighting Coronavirus In China Die Of Infection, Fatigue
  Sudden pain pierced through the anonymity of hazmat suits and protective masks as a woman in full medical gear chased a black funeral van, letting out a faceless howl. Her husband, Liu Zhiming, director of Wuhan’s Wuchang Hospital and a respected neurosurgeon who’d led the institution’s coronavirus response, was inside the vehicle. A video of the anguished moment went viral, showing Liu’s wife, Cai Liping, a nurse who had been on the front lines with him, staggering forward, arms outstretched, watching as his corpse was driven away to be cremated. (Su, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Hong Kong, Hit By Coronavirus And Protests, To Hand Out Billions Of Dollars In Cash
Hong Kong’s government said it would dole out $15.4 billion in cash payouts and other stimulus in its annual budget in an attempt to resuscitate an economy reeling from the coronavirus epidemic and months of antigovernment protests. The city will give each of its adult permanent residents 10,000 Hong Kong dollars ($1,284) in cash—a $9 billion combined payout—and slash salaries tax for close to two million workers, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Wednesday. He also announced tax breaks and financial aid for companies. (Leong and Wang, 2/26)

The New York Times: Democrats Block Abortion-Related Bills As Republicans Seek Election Advantage
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked action on legislation that would ban almost all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and impose criminal penalties on doctors who fail to aggressively treat babies born after abortions, casting a pair of votes that Republicans hope to use to their advantage in the 2020 elections. The two measures, which both fell short of the 60 votes necessary to advance, were doomed from the start, having already failed in the Senate. (Stolberg, 2/25)