August 17, 2020

Trump elevates Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist with no infectious-disease background who offers a rosier outlook on the pandemic than Deborah Birx or Anthony Fauci, to a senior White House advisory role. Politico reports that Atlas tells the president what he likes to hear, a dynamic that public-health officials who favor stricter measures warn could undermine the response. Business Insider calls coronavirus temperature scans pandemic security theater that may actually be fueling transmission by bringing people to crowded screening points, the latest measure to fall apart under scrutiny.

Protesters gather in Madrid to denounce Spain’s expanded mask mandate, with one demonstrator telling NPR, we can’t live like zombies, as a fresh spike in cases sweeps Europe. South Korea faces a new spike after months of low infection rates, with church gatherings near Seoul blamed for the sudden increase, puncturing the narrative that the country had fully contained the virus. D.C. community spread hits its highest level since May, with the health director saying most new cases come from travel, social gatherings, and the workplace.