Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney blasts administration’s response to pandemic; Oxford scientists say they’ve found first effective COVID-19 treatment
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
> Pence reportedly urged governors to downplay new community spread of virus
> Oxford scientists say they have identified the first effective COVID-19 treatment for patients on ventilators
> Tulsa officials remain concerned Trump rally could lead to huge spike in cases
> CDC: Coronavirus 12 times more deadly for patients with underlying conditions
> 1 in 5 people worldwide are at risk of developing ‘severe’ cases of COVID-19
> Prison deaths tied to the virus have increased 73 percent since mid-May
> 3 in 10 parents say social distancing is harming child’s mental health
> Dow jumps on spike in retail sales, positive reports of effective virus treatment
> New Gallup vulnerability index shows 750 million people struggling to meet basic needs
> Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney blasts administration’s response to pandemic, worried about bad actors trying to divide Americans and attacking our elections
THE INTERVIEW
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), House Intelligence Committee member
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) blasts administration’s response to COVID-19 pandemic, calling national testing program a “disgrace,” says protests are creating a “powerful river of change,” adds bad foreign actors are trying to divide Americans and suggests Trump will not accept the results of November election.
Watch the full interview here.
THE HILL’S CORONAVIRUS REPORT
Welcome to The Hill’s Coronavirus Report. It’s Tuesday, June 16.
Editor’s Note.
Today I felt the heat of an angry citizen, a member of Congress, who remains quite upset about what he believes was the early incompetence of the Trump administration in managing the challenges of COVID-19. Responding to my question on whether he believed the White House had now upped its game in helping to fight the virus, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) let loose and said:
You’ve got 115,000 Americans dead and 40 million people out of work, you know? How’s it going? The fact is is that our national testing program was a disgrace. I don’t care what the White House says, and if you look at every country on Earth that has got a handle on the virus, it’s because they had a national testing program in place early, aggressively. They did contact tracing and containment. And we have never gotten our act together on that at the federal level. And we are paying a terrible price for it. And we will never get those days back. We will never be able to put that suffering back together because we paid that price already and at the state level we’re now testing 50,000 people a day, and that’s great. We’re doing all the things necessary to win. But we didn’t have to be. We didn’t have to be hurt this badly and I’m sorry. There’s a lot of blame to go around, but the administration will never convince me that they handled this properly.
There is a lot of coronavirus fatigue in the country, a lot of folks who don’t want to hear more of the bad COVID-19 news on television or in their social media feeds. They want to be working and playing and getting back to life as normal. The challenge today is how to do that while living with a virus that continues to infect and kill. The kind of testing, contact tracing and containment regimen that Maloney mentioned is vital has not been deployed well or evenly in the U.S. today.
Sadly, while some restaurants, schools and beauty parlors may be opening, and airlines are adding flights, the brutal truth is that the practices we should have had in place near the beginning of this crisis continue to elude us. And thus, Maloney and others in the nation are likely to find themselves angry about our national situation many more times going forward.
— Steve Clemons
Your Coronavirus Report team includes Steve Clemons, editor-at-large of The Hill, and researcher Andrew Wargofchik. Follow us on Twitter at @SCClemons and @a_wargofchik.
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CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
There are 8,084,396 reported cases of COVID-19 throughout the world and 438,399 deaths have been attributed to the coronavirus as of the time of this newsletter.
The U.S. is reporting 2,123,124 cases and 116,526 deaths. Brazil 888,271. Russia 544,725. India 343,091. U.K. 299,091. Spain 244,328. Italy 237,500. Peru 232,992. France 194,305. Iran 192,439. Germany 188,220. Turkey 181,298. Qatar 82,077. Sweden 53,323. Colombia 53,211. Poland 30,195. Afghanistan 26,310. Ireland 25,334. Ghana 11,964. Algeria 11,147. Guatemala 10,272. Nepal 6,591.
Twenty-seven states reported a seven-day case average higher as of Sunday than their average a week ago, including Arizona, Georgia and Texas. New York is reporting 383,944 cases. New Jersey 167,103. California 155,810. Illinois 133,016. Massachusetts 105,690. Texas 90,211. Pennsylvania 85,866. Florida 80,109. Michigan 66,085. Maryland 62,409. Georgia 58,414. Virginia 55,331. Louisiana 47,172. Connecticut 45,235. North Carolina 45,373.
23,984,592 COVID-19 test results and 576,334 full recoveries from the coronavirus are being reported in the U.S.
WASHINGTON WATCH
Pence encouraged governors to downplay new community spread of coronavirus: report. Vice President Pence encouraged governors to downplay new community spread of the coronavirus and attribute spikes to increases in testing, The New York Times reported Monday. Pence, a former governor, urged the state leaders to take on the Trump administration’s explanation for rises in cases — that more testing has led to more positive cases — during a phone call with governors Monday, according to audio obtained by the Times. The newspaper notes, however, that data shows his explanation is misleading. (The Hill)
Fed leaders urge Congress to spend more on virus relief: “We can’t wait 10 years for recovery to reach everyone.” Top Federal Reserve officials on Monday urged Congress to spend more as the nation emerges from the global health crisis. The calls came the same day that the Fed launched a new lending program for small and midsize firms and announced plans to start buying the bonds of big companies on Tuesday, news that triggered a stock market rally. (Washington Post)
Four lawmakers have benefited from a loan program intended to help small businesses weather the pandemic. At least four members of Congress or their relatives received money under a stimulus loan program created to help small businesses keep paying their workers amid the pandemic, even as Congress intensifies pressure on the administration to release information about who has benefited from the program. (New York Times)
LAWMAKERS TWEET
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
@MarshaBlackburn The @WHO and @DrTedros are puppets for the Chinese Communist Party. Now, @DrTedros is giving a graduation speech at a top Communist University.
Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.)
@RepCardenas The mental health crisis caused by the coronavirus and the recent tragedies of #GeorgeFloyd deserves more attention. That is why I am pushing for mental health funding in the next #COVID package. We cannot ignore this serious and growing problem.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)
@SteveScalise 40% of COVID-19 deaths have come from nursing homes even though they represent just 0.6% of the population. Why? Several Democrat governors violated protocols & forced COVID patients back into them. It’s STILL happening in Michigan. This needs to end NOW before more people die.
ACROSS THE NATION
Coronavirus deaths up 73 percent in U.S. prisons in past month: report. Coronavirus deaths in U.S. prisons have reportedly increased by 73 percent since mid-May, resulting in a total of more than 600 virus-related prison deaths during the pandemic. The infection rates in prisons and jails in the country have jumped in recent weeks as the rate remains relatively stable nationwide, The New York Times reported Tuesday, adding that the number of prison inmates confirmed to be infected has doubled in the past month to more than 65,000. (The Hill)
COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions are 12 times more likely to die: CDC. People with underlying health conditions are six times more likely to be hospitalized with severe COVID-19 illness and 12 times more likely to die of the disease than otherwise healthy coronavirus patients, according to a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common underlying health conditions for COVID-19 patients are cardiovascular disease, lung disease and diabetes, the CDC said Monday. (The Hill)
Almost 3 in 10 parents say social distancing is harming child’s mental health: poll. Nearly 3 in 10 parents said their child is experiencing mental or emotional health issues due to social distancing and coronavirus closures, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. In addition to the 29 percent of U.S. parents who said their child is already experiencing emotional or mental harm, 14 percent said they could only follow social distancing guidelines for “a few more weeks” before their child’s emotional or mental health suffers, based on the poll. (The Hill)
Trump’s rally on Saturday could cause a huge spike, Tulsa officials fear. Officials in Tulsa, Okla., are warning that President Trump’s planned campaign rally on Saturday — his first in more than three months — is likely to worsen an already troubling spike in coronavirus infections and could become a disastrous “super spreader.” They are pleading with the Trump campaign to cancel the event, slated for a 20,000-person indoor arena — or at least move it outdoors. (New York Times)
WORLD VIEW
750 million struggling to meet basic needs with no safety net. Imagine being unable to afford food or to put a roof over your head, or maybe you are struggling to do both. Gallup’s new Basic Needs Vulnerability Index, based on surveys in 142 countries in 2019, suggests this was the reality for hundreds of millions worldwide just as COVID-19 arrived. About 1 in 7 of the world’s adults — about 750 million people — fall into this index’s “High Vulnerability” group, which means they are struggling to afford either food or shelter, or both, and don’t have friends or family to count on if they were in trouble. (Gallup)
WHO director to give graduation speech at top Chinese university. The World Health Organization director-general whose alleged pro-China bias prompted President Trump to withdraw U.S. funding is scheduled to deliver a graduation speech Sunday at a top Chinese university. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will address graduates of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, the Beijing school announced Monday. (NY Post)
SCIENCE
An inexpensive drug reduces virus deaths, Oxford scientists say. Scientists at the University of Oxford said Tuesday that they have identified what they called the first drug proven to reduce coronavirus-related deaths, after a 6,000-patient trial of the drug in Britain showed that a low-cost steroid could reduce deaths significantly for hospitalized patients. The drug being hailed as a “major breakthrough” is a steroid called dexamethasone. (New York Times)
1 in 5 people worldwide are at risk of developing “severe” cases of COVID-19. One in 5 people worldwide are at risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19, scientists have estimated. A team of researchers from the U.S., the U.K. and China estimated that 1.7 billion people — or 22 percent of the global population — are at “increased risk” of developing severe symptoms if infected with the coronavirus. (CNBC)
AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine protects for one year, CEO says. AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine would provide protection from contracting COVID-19 for about one year, CEO Pascal Soriot told Belgian radio station Bel RTL on Tuesday. (CNBC)
BUSINESS
Dow jumps as retail sales rebound. Markets on Tuesday opened to huge gains following a retail report showing a surging recovery in retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 800 points, or 3.1 percent, and the S&P 500 jumped 83 points, or 2.7 percent. Reports that a commonly available drug called dexamethasone could help treat some of the most critically ill COVID-19 patients also boosted the markets. (The Hill)
Coronavirus could usher in cashless casinos. Concerns around COVID-19 could soon usher in cashless payment technologies at Nevada casinos, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending “tap-and-pay to limit handling of cash” to decrease the spread of the virus. A hearing on cashless payments will be held for Nevada gaming regulators on June 25. (CNBC)
McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales fell just 5.1% in May. McDonald’s U.S. customers are coming back to restaurants for their Big Macs and fries. In May, the fast-food chain’s U.S. same-store sales fell just 5.1%. That’s in comparison with a 19.2% plunge in April, its steepest monthly drop during the pandemic. (CNBC)
ISSUES, CAUSES, PASSIONS
Pompeo bet against China — and COVID-19 may prove him right. Before anyone knew how the coronavirus pandemic would upend the trajectory of U.S.-China relations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a gamble. When he assumed the podium at the 2020 Munich Security Conference in February, the secretary leveled a broadside at “Westlessness,” the gathering’s somber theme: “The West is winning. We are collectively winning. We’re doing it together.” (Michael Sobolik for The Hill)
Governors invoke science to justify vastly different reopening policies. America’s governors are a busy bunch, issuing orders, directives and proclamations to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But something’s amiss. Despite their political differences, all 50 are in absolute agreement about one important fact: Each one is employing the best “data and science” to save lives and protect the public health. But the policies these governors use vary in significant ways, which means they can’t all be right at the same time. (James M. Hohman and Michael Van Beek for The Hill)
2021 Oscars delayed until April because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will be delayed two months to April 25, the latest alteration made to award season as the industry continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. (Washington Post)
GENEROUS SPIRITS
Indiana school district surprised with donation to help feed students during pandemic. When schools were ordered to shut down in March, the food services staff of the School City of Hammond in Indiana jumped into action to make sure the kids in their district wouldn’t go hungry. More than 80 percent of these students depend on the school’s free breakfast and lunch program, and with the added stress of lost wages or jobs, the staff knew it was important to keep serving their community. (TODAY)
ICYMI: STEVE’S INTERVIEWS, 15 MINUTES EACH
> Steve interviews New American CEO ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER
> Steve interviews Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN
> Steve interviews MInnesota Attorney General KEITH ELLISON
> Steve interviews Kansas City, Mo., Mayor QUINTON LUCAS
> Steve interviews Eurasia Group President IAN BREMMER
> Steve interviews former Obama Ebola czar RON KLAIN
Watch all Coronavirus Report interviews here.
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