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The U.S. aviation industry is urging the government to establish COVID-19 testing protocols before international flights as a way to safely reopen travel routes that have been cut amid the pandemic. Industry stakeholders want the U.S. to reach an agreement on pre-flight COVID-19 testing procedures with Europe, Canada or the Pacific first as part of a "limited testing pilot project." This would allow people to travel between two countries without the need to quarantine, and allow government officials to evaluate the efficacy of the program. (Kaji and Maile, 9/22)

The novel coronavirus was apparently no match for a 102-year-old woman in New Hampshire. Mildred "Gerri" Schappals, who lives at The Huntington at Nashua, an assisted living facility, contracted COVID-19 in May but quickly recovered. "I was surprised," her daughter, Julia Schappals, told local news station WMUR. "But then again, I was not surprised that she survived. That's how she's been her entire life, and when we asked her about it she kind of poo-pooed it." (Farber, 9/22)

Our understanding of how the novel coronavirus spreads is still evolving. Early in the pandemic, there was great concern about the potential for infection from surface contact. But since then, evidence has pointed to human-to-human transmission as the primary vehicle of infection. Yet this research is not necessarily being broadly communicated to the American public. (Sy and Carlson, 9/22)

I've covered plenty of cruise ship stories during the coronavirus pandemic for ABC. I was there at a port outside Rome for one of the first suspected COVID-19 cases on a cruise ship, and again in Japan for nearly two weeks standing beside the Diamond Princess cruise ship when more than 700 people were infected on board. So it seems fitting that now, during the pandemic, would be the first time I ever board a cruise ship. (Rulli, 9/23)

Kaiser Health News: Native Americans Feel Double Pain Of COVID And Fires ‘Gobbling Up The Ground’  
When the first fire of the season broke out on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in Northern California in July, Greg Moon faced a dilemma. As Hoopa’s fire chief and its pandemic team leader, Moon feared the impact of the blaze on the dense coniferous forests of the reservation, near Redwood National and State Parks, where 3,000 tribal members depend on steelhead trout and coho salmon fishing. He was even more terrified of a deadly viral outbreak in his tribe, which closed its land to visitors in March. (Green, 9/23)

Nearly three-quarters of hotels will have to lay off more employees during the coronavirus pandemic if they don't receive additional government funding, according to a new survey. Seventy-four percent of respondents to an American Hotel & Lodging Association survey of its members said they would have to lay off additional employees as they await passage of further COVID-19 recovery legislation from Congress. (Oliver, 9/21)

In other public health news —

Experts in adolescent sexual health are concerned that the coronavirus pandemic will have serious effects on the sexual health and social behavior of young people. “I would start from the fact that our young people are not OK,” said Laura Lindberg, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, who was the lead author of an article on the subject in June in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Their developmental task, she said, is to separate from their parents, connect with their peers and build relationships, and “the pandemic has just put an enormous roadblock.” (Klass, 9/21)

If ever there were a time for people to know the important skills that make up what mental health experts refer to as “psychological first aid,” a pandemic is it. Like regular first aid, PFA is a way of helping someone in pain — except rather than cleaning and bandaging a cut or applying ice to a sprained ankle, you tend to someone’s anxiety or distress in a way that will ease it and help restore a sense of equanimity. Many disaster responders and public health professionals have been trained in PFA, but it’s time for the rest of us to join them, so we can help our families, our friends and ourselves. (Colino, 9/22)

Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, are getting candid about mental health. During a ticketed, virtual event for their book "Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community" on Tuesday night, the pop star and her mom addressed a question from an attendee who asked for advice on opening up about mental health to parents. According to Germanotta, many young people resist talking about mental health with their parents because parents don't often share their own struggles with their children. (Trepany, 9/22)