Monday morning news update:

President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said on Monday, making him the most senior White House official known to have contracted the virus.

Mr. O’Brien typically works from a West Wing office that is steps away from the Oval Office. It is unclear when he was last in contact with Mr. Trump, although he joined him on a July 10 trip to Florida.

Mr. O’Brien traveled to Paris in mid-July to meet with several of his European counterparts. It was unclear whether he became infected before that trip.

A test of a late-stage vaccine will enroll people at 89 sites around the United States.

The study, a Phase 3 clinical trial, is to enroll 30,000 healthy people at about 89 sites around the country. Half will receive two shots of the vaccine, 28 days apart, and half will receive two shots of a saltwater placebo. Neither the volunteers nor the medical staff giving the injections will know who is getting the real vaccine.

Researchers will then monitor the subjects, looking for side effects and waiting to see if significantly fewer vaccinated people get Covid-19, indicating that the vaccine works. The main goal is to determine whether the vaccine can prevent the illness. The study will also try to find out if it can prevent severe Covid-19 and death; if it can prevent infection entirely, based on lab tests; and if just one shot can prevent the illness.

Earlier tests of the vaccine showed that it stimulated a strong immune response, with minor and transient side effects like sore arms, fatigue, achiness and fever. But exactly what type of immune response is needed to prevent the illness is not known, so Phase 3 studies are essential to determine whether a vaccine really works.

Birx advises several states to reimpose limits ‘to control the pandemic before it gets worse.’

With Kentucky officials set to announce stricter measures on Monday to contain the virus, a top federal health official suggested that the leaders of nearby states should take a hard look at doing the same.

Deborah L. Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said several states in the region should reinstate bar closures and restrictions on public gatherings “to really make it possible to control the pandemic before it gets worse.”

States in the South and Midwest are facing the prospect of shutting down parts of their economies again to try to stem the virus, which the Trump administration and many governors have increasingly been forced to recognize as unrelenting.

John Lewis Is the First Black Lawmaker to Lie in State in the Capitol Rotunda

The pandemic has dictated an unusual public mourning process for the civil rights icon. He will lie in state briefly under the Capitol dome and then move outside so the public can pay respects safely.

President Donald Trump does not have plans to pay respects to civil rights icon John Lewis, who is the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

According to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, the president will travel to North Carolina instead of visiting the U.S. Capitol.

Trump snaps at Reagan Foundation and Fox News in Sunday afternoon rage tweet

Donald Trump lashed out at the Reagan Foundation on Sunday afternoon in response to a report late Saturday that his campaign has been warned against using the image of the late president as part of his re-election drive.

“The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which runs the 40th president’s library near Los Angeles, has demanded that President Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) quit raising campaign money by using Ronald Reagan’s name and likeness,” columnist Karen Tumulty reported.

White House adviser Peter Navarro: ‘We’re all tired of this politicization of the China virus’

During an interview on Fox on Friends, host Steve Doocy suggested that President Donald Trump wanted to announce a COVID-19 vaccine in October to help him win the November election.

“Let’s not — I think we’re all tired of this politicization of the China virus,” Navarro complained. “The fact that we can get this in January of 2021 instead of January of 2022 is testament to a president whose business oriented, who knows how to get things done.”

“So, let’s not talk about politics when it comes to saving American lives,” he added.

“The only thing I regret is Dr. Fauci’s pitch the other day at opening day,” the White House adviser chuckled.

Senate Republicans, White House seek to reduce weekly unemployment benefit from $600 to $200

Senate Republicans want to reduce the $600 payment to $200 until states can implement a new approach that would pay workers 70 percent of the income they collected before they lost their jobs. The states are supposed to phase in the new formula within two months.

The Republican package will also propose cutting the current $600-per-week increase to $200-per-week as states implement the transition to the new wage replacement mechanism, these people said, as many state unemployment systems are expected to have difficulty implementing the more targeted program.

That’s according to a memo (pdf) presented to Congress last week by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), an organization representing state agencies that administer unemployment benefits and other programs.

The memo, obtained by NPR over the weekend, warned that replacing the flat weekly payment with a more complicated individualized benefit based on prior income “would take 8 to 20 weeks or more” for most states to fully implement, depending on the formula the White House and GOP ultimately propose.

Such an implementation delay “could mean a huge gap in payments and a bigger backlog for millions,” noted NPR correspondent Kelsey Snell.

Ted Cruz spews disgust at ‘waiters and waitresses’ who he says don’t deserve $600 unemployment checks

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday blasted waiters, waitresses and bus boys who he said don’t deserve an additional $600 per week for being unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview on CBS, Cruz told host Margaret Brennan that restaurant owners are at a disadvantage because their staff doesn’t want to work while the pandemic is ongoing.

“The policy the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi are pushing adds an additional $600 a week,” Cruz complained. “The problem is, for 68% of people receiving it right now, they are being paid more on unemployment than they made in their job.”

Cruz added: “And of course they won’t come back because the federal government is paying them in some instances twice as much money to stay home.”

Trump mocked for canceling throwing out Yankees’ opening pitch ‘because of my strong focus on the China virus’

President Donald Trump this week arranged to throw out next month’s opening pitch at Yankee Stadium, just as Dr. Anthony Fauci announced he would be doing so this past week at Major League Baseball’s opening day.

But now Trump, who loves nothing more than to be the center of attention, has just canceled – claiming he’s too busy because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Not many believed him.

Trump spends a good portion of each day tweeting and watching cable news, and usually has nothing on his public schedule until around noon.

And given the White House saw fit to makes available to far right wing cable media outlet OANN, just 24 hours ago, this photo of the President golfing with Brett Favre, being too busy to go to a Yankees’ game doesn’t sound plausible, as many noted.

Melania’s planned Rose Garden makeover drowned in scorn

With the COVID-19 pandemic still killing hundreds of Americans every day, first lady Melania Trump has decided it would be a good time to rearrange the flowers on the SS Drumpf.