August 22, 2020

Bill Gates predicts millions more will die and says “freedom” hinders the U.S. response, pairing a dire forecast with a critique of American individualism. The same day, the WHO recommends face masks for children over 12, but the UK government pushes back, saying masks are not recommended for school-age pupils. The split between global guidance and national policy highlights the absence of settled science on masking children, with each side framing its position as the cautious one. Syracuse University suspends 23 students after what the administration calls an “incredibly reckless” gathering, the latest campus crackdown as colleges attempt in-person classes.

NPR reports on the widening financial collapse of rural hospitals, where months of deferred procedures have pushed already struggling facilities to the brink as federal relief money runs out. The New York Times reports that a drug pitched to President Trump as a COVID treatment, oleandrin, comes from a deadly plant, the latest in a series of unorthodox remedies floated by the president’s inner circle. The Guardian documents the halting of thousands of UK clinical trials for cancer and heart disease, a secondary cost of the pandemic’s disruption to ordinary medicine that official case counts do not capture.