The fraught decision parents in the U.S. are facing when it comes to sending their children back to school just got more complicated. Coronavirus infections among U.S. children grew 40% in the last half of July, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, bringing the total number of child infections to 8.8% of all cases nationwide. Bill Gates said testing for the pathogen in America, seven months after its onset there, still has “mind-blowing problems” that have resulted in the “most worthless test results of any country in the world.” Here is the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

The pandemic recession initially had hints of being the sharpest but shortest U.S. contraction on record. But such optimism is being washed away as signs of economic scarring appear, especially when it comes to how long Americans have been unemployed and how many have stopped looking. This recession could be just as long and bad as previous ones.

There are plenty of casualties in the aftermath of failed negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over a second U.S. bailout package. Worst hit are families, businesses, and state and local governments teetering on the edge of a financial abyss, if they haven’t fallen into it already. With job data suggesting recent promising news was fleeting, the final victim of Washington gridlock could be the broader U.S. economy.

Saudi Arabia has turned off America’s oil taps again. Julian Lee writes in Bloomberg Opinion how the kingdom’s latest effort to manipulate the supply of fossil fuel may not work as intended, thanks in large part to how the pandemic has reshaped U.S. demand.

Lebanon’s government decided to resign as an outraged public demanded accountability for the biggest peacetime catastrophe in the nation’s history.

McDonald’s sued fired ex-CEO Steve Easterbrook to recover tens of millions of dollars in severance pay. Why? The fast-food chain alleged it has evidence that he had sexual relationships with multiple employees, tried to cover them up and even arranged for one worker to get a lucrative stock award. McDonald’s also said it uncovered sexually explicit photographs in Easterbrook’s corporate email account and other evidence of the additional affairs following an anonymous tip last month.

Robinhood Markets looks to be blowing past online-brokerage rivals like E*Trade Financial. The firm revealed its trading data for the first time in the wake of a pandemic-inspired surge of online trading. Whether all those pajama traders know what they’re doing though is another thing altogether.

A Boston money manager was a key player behind the decision by the NFL team formerly known as the Washington Redskins to drop its racially inflammatory name.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

Ballot fraud claims, state-sponsored violence mar Belarus election.
Banks are scrutinizing accounts to avoid U.S. sanctions on China.
China sanctions 11 Americans. But guess who it didn’t sanction?
Beijing’s Hong Kong democracy crackdown claims a media tycoon.
Chicago police-involved shooting leads to looting of Magnificent Mile.
Why Covid-19’s damage to the travel economy may be permanent.
The king of Nutella has a $3 billion side bet to his Ferrero fortune.

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What you’ll want to read tonight in Bloomberg Sports

No College Football? Sports Betting Firms Tank

Shares of sports-betting companies tumbled on Monday, hurt by the growing likelihood that more big college-football conferences will cancel their seasons. The Mid-American Conference announced on Saturday it will cancel its fall season over Covid-19 concerns, making it the first league competing at college football’s highest level to do so. But likely not the last.

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