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Public health experts have a warning for Congress: don’t treat emergency coronavirus aid like business as usual.Partisan bickering has often frustrated lawmakers’ attempts to speedily approve emergency spending packages. Congress, for example, dawdled for seven months because of an acrimonious fight over funding for Zika in 2016. That left health departments around the country cash-strapped and forced to cut back on existing public health programs, like responding to STD outbreaks. (Florko, 3/2)

House and Senate negotiators working through the weekend on a COVID-19 aid package are now trying to agree on a figure between $7 billion and $8 billion, people familiar with the talks said, in advance of likely floor action the week of March 1. Lawmakers and aides were hashing out the final details as public health officials confirmed more cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that originated in China last year — including the first reported U.S. death. At a press conference Saturday, President Donald Trump warned "additional cases in the United States are likely," but healthy individuals "should be able to recover should they contract the virus." (Lesniewki and Krawzak, 2/29)

State governments are digging deep into their own pockets to prevent an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease and prepare to address any health crisis that does occur — and they expect to be reimbursed by Uncle Sam. As Congress debates how to fund a federal response, the seven states with confirmed cases have taken extra measures to limit the virus’s spread and states across the country are preparing testing equipment and taking other actions to prepare for a possible emergency. (Fischler, 2/28)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday called for Medicare to cover the coronavirus vaccine, which is still being developed and is at least months away from being widely available. Schumer’s plan is to add a provision into the spending package being negotiated in Congress, which would ensure seniors can be immunized at no cost. (Goldberg, 3/1)

Democratic presidential candidates have seized on President Trump’s response to the spreading global coronavirus outbreak, and the growing threat it poses to America’s record-long economic expansion, to attack the president on what has been his greatest strength with voters: the economy. Until last week, the candidates had largely attacked Mr. Trump’s economic management on inequality grounds, at a time when growth has been steady and unemployment has sunk to a half-century low. (Jim Tankersley and Thomas Kaplan, 3/1)

Rob Maness, a Republican commentator, recently wrote a column, outlining his concerns about how the coronavirus outbreak could disrupt supplies of medicine. He was not ready for the backlash — from his fellow conservatives. “I got accused of being alarmist and trying to hurt the president,” said Mr. Maness, a staunch President Trump supporter, describing the response on social media. “I actually said the government’s doing a pretty good job.” (Healy, Robertson and Tavernise, 3/1)

Top White House officials and Democrats offered conflicting comments Sunday about the administration's response to coronavirus. Vice President Mike Pence defended the administration's handling of the outbreak and accused Democrats of politicizing it. He in particular defended the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who said Democrats were hoping for "millions" of Americans to be killed by the new coronavirus. (Smith, 3/1)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg have long treated each other as foils. But the looming coronavirus health crisis has revealed a core similarity between the senator and the billionaire: Both are using this moment to paint themselves as highly competent technocrats who would use data to guide policy. Over the weekend, both candidates seized on the virus to draw a sharp contrast with President Trump, excoriating the administration’s response to the epidemic and highlighting what they would do differently. (Linskey, 3/1)