Sunday shows – FDA commissioner declines to confirm Trump claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are ‘harmless’

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn appeared on multiple Sunday morning political talk shows to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he declined to confirm President Trump’s claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are “harmless.” On ABC’s “This Week,” he said he couldn’t predict when a vaccine would be ready despite Trump’s timeline claims.

Multiple local officials also discussed coronavirus, which is making a resurgence in the U.S.

Read The Hill’s complete coverage below:

 

FDA commissioner declines to confirm Trump claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are ‘harmless’ By JUSTINE COLEMAN    “I’m not gonna get into who’s right and who’s wrong,” Food and Drug Administration  Commissioner Stephen Hahn said. “What I’m gonna say … is what I’ve said before which is that it’s a serious problem that we have. We’ve seen this surge in cases. We must do something to stem the tide.” Read the full story here

Hahn says he can’t predict when vaccine will be ready after Trump’s timeline claims By JUSTIN WISE    Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Sunday that he would not make a prediction about when a coronavirus vaccine would be available after President Trump claimed that a vaccine or therapeutic would be ready “long before the end of the year.” Read the full story here

Miami mayor says city ‘breaking record after record after record’ of coronavirus cases By REGINA ZILBERMINTS    Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said Sunday he’s hopeful measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus will prevent city officials from needing to enact even more dramatic restrictions in the coming weeks. Read the full story here

Miami-Dade mayor: Residents ‘kind of let their guard down’ during reopening By ZACK BUDRYK    Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) blamed county residents “let[ting] their guard down” since the state began to reopen for Florida becoming a recent hotspot for the coronavirus. Read the full story here

Phoenix mayor: ‘We opened way too early in Arizona’ By REGINA ZILBERMINTS   Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (D) said Sunday that the pace of Arizona’s reopening indicated to some residents that the coronavirus crisis was over and, in turn, spurred a record number of new cases. Read the full story here

Austin mayor: Trump’s ‘ambiguous’ messaging ‘makes me angry’ By JUSTINE COLEMAN   “When they start hearing that kind of ambiguous message coming out of Washington, there are more and more people that won’t wear masks, that won’t social distance, that won’t do what it takes to keep a community safe,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler (D) said. Read the full story here

Public health expert: ‘Mixed messaging’ on masks, social distancing contributed to ‘perilous moment’ for US By ZACK BUDRYK   “I think we opened up a little too early in some places, a lot of states didn’t meet the White House’s own guidelines for when to open up safely,” Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We didn’t have the kind of testing and tracing infrastructure that we needed [and] last but not least there’s been a lot of mixed messaging on masks and social distancing and so all of that has contributed to what I think is a perilous moment for our country.”  Read the full story here

Houston mayor: Hospitals will be overwhelmed ‘if we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly’ By ZACK BUDRYK    Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) pushed back on President Trump’s characterization of the coronavirus as “harmless” in 99 percent of cases, saying on Sunday the city’s hospitals could be overwhelmed “if we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly.” Read the full story here

Top Houston-area official: ‘We’ve got to fundamentally rethink strategy’ in dealing with coronavirus By REGINA ZILBERMINTS   Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo (D) said Sunday that the state needs to “fundamentally rethink” its strategy for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and must return to a stay-at-home order. Read the full story here

Labor secretary: ‘I believe we can continue to reopen our workplaces safely’ By ZACK BUDRYK    Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia echoed the White House on Sunday, saying that despite the increasing coronavirus cases, workplaces could be reopened safely if proper precautions are followed. Read the full story here

Republican governor on Mt. Rushmore event: ‘There should have been face coverings’ By JUSTINE COLEMAN   “Obviously, I would have liked to see more face coverings there in order to set an example,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said. Read the full story here

Duckworth says Trump’s Mt. Rushmore speech showed ‘his priorities are all wrong’ By JUSTINE COLEMAN   Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Sunday that President Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore’s Fourth of July celebration demonstrated that “his priorities are all wrong.” Read the full story here

Senate Democrat: Russian bounties intel ‘the type of information that has to be seized by the president’ By ZACK BUDRYK    Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Sunday criticized President Trump’s response to intelligence alleging Russian officials offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. service members, saying the president should have “seized” on those reports. Read the full story here

Former NYPD commissioner: De Blasio has ‘sapped the strength of the department’ By J. EDWARD MORENO    Former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Ray Kelly said in an interview broadcast Sunday that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) has done significant damage to the department during his tenure. Read the full story here