Exclusive: We spoke to America's top doctor about the surge in coronavirus cases

Hello,

Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider.

Are you new to the newsletter? You can sign up here to get this email in your inbox every day.

Hope you all had safe weekends and are looking forward to the July 4th weekend ahead (How is it already the end of June?).

Coronavirus cases are still surging here in the US, and it's starting to strain the intensive care unit capacity in some Texas hospitals.

America's top doctor on mask shaming, coronavirus cases, and 'structural racism' in healthcare

Late Friday, Kimberly Leonard had a wide-ranging exclusive interview with US Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

Adams told her that "shaming doesn't work" when it comes to getting people on board with wearing face masks and with social distancing to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. Instead, public health experts should help the public understand why they should take those measures, and what the dangers are if they don't.

Kimberly also spoke with the surgeon general about the surge in coronavirus cases across the country. One factor, he said, is that some places likely opened up too early.

Finally, they spoke about the pandemic's impact on communities of color. "Structural racism," Adams said, has played a role in why the Black and Latinx communities are getting hit disproportionately harder by the virus.

It's something Adams plans to take action on by drawing more national attention to the issue, and by issuing a new call to action.

Read the full story here>>

The coronavirus is devastating communities of color. The Trump administration's top doctor blames 'structural racism' and shares his plans to take action.

Tiny biotechs are touting ties to Trump's Operation Warp Speed coronavirus program and sending their stocks soaring

• The Trump administration's coronavirus vaccine program, called Operation Warp Speed, has been shrouded in secrecy since launching in May.
• Some tiny biotechs have started to announce they have been selected as part of Operation Warp Speed, sending their stocks soaring.
• The government has said that Operation Warp Speed selected 14 vaccine research programs, but it has declined to specify which companies are involved.
• Warp Speed is the federal government's effort to have 300 million doses of a safe and effective vaccine by January 2021.

Read the full story by Andrew Dunn here>>

If everyone in the US wears a mask in public, 33,000 lives could be saved over the next 3 months, one model suggests

• US coronavirus cases are rising sharply in 29 states.
• A growing body of evidence suggests a mask-wearing requirement could stymie the virus' spread significantly.
• The University of Washington's infectious-disease model projects that by October 1, more than 179,000 people in the US could die from COVID-19 — 57,000 more than have died already.
• But if 95% of the population were to wear face masks in public, the projected number of deaths falls to 146,000.

Read the full story by Holly Secon here >>

More stories we're reading:

• 3 nurses share what it's like working in states that have reopened as they brace for a surge in coronavirus cases (Insider)
• Experts are looking to "pool testing" to help universities and offices reopen (Stat News)
• A day in the life of a COVID-19 tester in South Carolina, where new cases surged to a record-breaking daily high this week (Business Insider)
• Meet Regeneron's coronavirus drug-hunter Christos Kyratsous (an alum of our 30 under 40 list!) (WSJ)

Thanks for reading Dispensed Daily, a daily version of my weekly Dispensed email. Let me know what you think! You can reach me lramsey@businessinsider.com.

Be sure to subscribe to the daily email here.

- Lydia