New York Times: “The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by President Trump last month, about one week before his administration rolled out a new policy that could prove lucrative to the tobacco industry.”

New York Times: “The Ebola crisis in East Africa is rapidly escalating, with cases now confirmed in major population centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Public health experts around the world and health workers on the ground say that the response has been significantly hindered by the near-absence so far of the United States, historically the leader in any major outbreak.”

“The United States used to fund robust disease surveillance networks across the region and maintained emergency teams to take charge in public health crises like this one. Much of that work ended with the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development early last year.”

President Trump said he was concerned about Ebola after an American tested positive for it, CNBC reports.

Said Trump: “I’m concerned about everything, but certainly I am.”

He added: “I think that it’s been confined right now to Africa, and but it’s something that has had a breakout.”

“The Trump administration’s recent moves to make flavored e-cigarettes and vapes more widely available have caused a splintering among prominent voices in the MAHA movement and even some federal health officials,” NBC News reports.

Politico: “American politics has been deemed broken for years, but something new is happening: Not only are more people depressed or anxious about the state of the world, but now they are seeking professional help. And therapists are more than ready to give it.”

“With anxiety over politics reaching new heights and crises flashing relentlessly across our screens, mental health professionals say they’re seeing an influx of patients distraught about the news coming out of Washington and beyond.”

New York Times: “The chief spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resigned on Wednesday in protest over the administration’s push to allow major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes that appeal to children.”

“His departure came one day after the head of the Food and Drug Administration quit for the same reason.”

U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary plans ​to resign on ​Tuesday, the latest leadership ​change at the federal health department and after weeks of ​public speculation and ​a mounting pressure campaign, Reuters reports.

“The numbers are bearing out what many lawmakers feared: Many Americans can’t afford health insurance through the federal marketplaces without boosted subsidies,” NOTUS reports.

“More than one in five people who enrolled in health insurance through HealthCare.gov during open enrollment and in the weeks immediately following were dropped from coverage for failing to pay their first month’s premium.”

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said little publicly about vaccines in recent months, at the behest of a White House worried that his unpopular stance will hurt Republicans in November’s midterm elections. But he has not abandoned his quest for evidence that they are unsafe,” New York Times reports.

“Working behind the scenes, Mr. Kennedy is spearheading an intense push, across health agencies under his purview, for government scientists and federal data contractors to examine his long-held theory that vaccines are helping to fuel an epidemic of chronic disease.”

A new Pew Research poll finds 73% of Americans now say the affordability of health care is a very big problem for the country, up 6 percentage points from February of last year.

“President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, according to people familiar with the matter, following a tumultuous period for the regulator that included clashes over vaping, abortion and drug policy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

President Trump spoke to reporters:

REPORTER: Have you been briefed on the hantavirus?

TRUMP: Yes I have.

REPORTER: What have you learned?

TRUMP: Ahhh — it’s very much we hope under control.

REPORTER: Should Americans be concerned it’s going to spread? TRUMP: I hope not. We’ll do the best we can.

New York Times: “To some public health experts, the alarming thing about this situation is not the hantavirus, which they note spreads among people rarely, and only with close contact over a period of time rather than casual interactions.”

“It is that the administration’s sluggish response and lack of communication suggest the United States is ill prepared for a larger health crisis, such as another pandemic.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called for Anthony Fauci, former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to be indicted for what the senator claimed was his lying under oath, NewsNation reports.