 Welcome to Wednesday's Overnight Health Care. Anthony Fauci expressed concern about the mass protests spreading the coronavirus. COVID-19 cases in Texas are spiking, and Senate Republicans are in no rush to pass the next coronavirus relief bill. We'll start with Fauci: Fauci underscores concerns about protests spreading coronavirus All the people coming together for protests in recent weeks will likely spread the coronavirus, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned. Fauci told ABC's “Good Morning America” he isn’t surprised that members of the Washington, D.C., National Guard who mobilized in response to the protests had tested positive, but he called the development “disturbing.” “The issue of physical separation is important. Masks can help, but it’s masks plus physical separation, and when you get congregations like we saw with the demonstrations, like we have said — myself and other health officials — that’s taking a risk,” Fauci said. “Unfortunately, what we’re seeing now is just an example of the kinds of things we were concerned about.” Fauci said he wouldn’t be surprised if some protesters in D.C. subsequently contracted the novel coronavirus and noted that many of them came from other areas and will return to their home state or city. “It’s the kind of things we were concerned about and unfortunately we’re seeing it come true right now,” Fauci said. Read more here.
COVID-19 surge in Texas sparks reopening fears The indicators coming out of Texas have not been great lately. The state has been relatively aggressive about reopening, lifting its stay-at-home order on May 1 and gradually increasing capacity at shops, bars and restaurants since then. Now, though, the state is seeing a surge of cases of the coronavirus. The state reached a new high of coronavirus hospitalizations on Monday, with 1,935 people hospitalized with the illness, according to state data. Texas is not alone. Arizona and North Carolina have also reached new highs of coronavirus hospitalizations in recent days. South Carolina, Arkansas and Florida are seeing spikes in cases as well. Big picture: The data illustrates how the virus is still gathering steam in some areas, even as the situation improves dramatically in old hot spots like New York and New Jersey. There has also been an element of unpredictability, though, given that some states, like Georgia, which drew national scrutiny after moving quickly to reopen, have not yet seen spikes in cases. Marcia Ory, a professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, said “it is not surprising that the numbers of cases are going up as social distancing reduces.” Read more here. A day in the life of America's contact tracing army States across the country are turning to one of the most basic practices of epidemiology to stamp out the coronavirus, deploying contact tracers to identify and inform anyone who has come into contact with the virus that they are at risk. Every day, thousands of tracers and case investigators head to the new front line in the war against the coronavirus, legions armed with iPhones, databases and carefully worded scripts meant to both educate and reassure. They deliver bad news to those they call, and they bear witness to the suffering their communities endure. Our colleague Reid Wilson spoke to some of these tracers for a look at what their day to day work is like. Read more here. Don’t hold your breath for another relief bill too soon Republican senators are leaning into their go-slow approach on the next coronavirus bill, our colleague Jordain Carney reports. Bolstered by last week’s unexpectedly positive jobs report, Senate Republicans are signaling they will not pass another bill before late July. They have also flatly rejected the $3 trillion price tag of the bill passed last month by House Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated to GOP colleagues during a closed-door policy lunch on Tuesday that he does not anticipate the chamber will take up another coronavirus relief package before leaving for a two-week July 4 recess, according to senators in the meeting. Instead, McConnell told Republicans he viewed the next work period — which runs from July 20 to Aug. 7 — as the time to take up and pass a bill, setting up a crucial three-week window. “That seemed like a pretty wise strategy,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Republican senator, “and we’ll have a better sense for what we’ll need to do probably a few weeks down the road.” Read more here. | 
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