Sep 17: Europe reports a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases. A federal judge in Washington state blocks operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service. The judge sides with 14 states that accused President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of trying to slow down deliveries to thwart mail-in voting. News comes out that a CDC recommendation on coronavirus testing was actually written by Health and Human Services Department officials, not CDC scientists. The guidance said it wasn’t necessary to test people exposed to the coronavirus who showed no COVID-19 symptoms. The administration said the recommendation came from the CDC, but the Times‘ sources said Trump administration officials rewrote it and posted it without the normal scientific review.  The Louisville, Kentucky, city council passes a “no confidence” resolution against Mayor Greg Fischer over his handling of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, and protests that followed. 

Sep 18: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at age 87. The CDC affirms, after much confusion, that people who are asymptomatic but have been in contact with COVID-positive people, should get tested. President Trump claims there will be 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine ready before the end of the year, and that he knows better than the experts.