Coronavirus Facts of the Week:
- Test positivity rates are below 5 percent nationwide, hospitalizations have decreased 43 percent since July, and the fatality rate has dropped 85 percent since April.
- The United States has the world’s largest testing system and now over 100 million tests have been completed in the United States.
- We continue to witness the great American comeback. In addition to the outstanding jobs report issued earlier this month, the Federal Reserve now predicts a more robust economic comeback by the end of the year, revising unemployment projections from 9% to 7.6%.
Coronavirus Quote of the Week:
“I can tell, based on my experience and what I’m seeing, if there’s a vaccine, which I’m fairly certain there will, be that is safe and effective, I for one would not hesitate to take it — nor would I hesitate to recommend that my entire family do it.” – Dr. Anthony Fauci
Bogus Narrative of the Week:
Democrats continue to politicize the pandemic and are now playing politics with vaccine development. Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris have recklessly and repeatedly called into question the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines in development under Operation Warp Speed. Senator Harris has also refused to say whether she would take a vaccine if developed before Election Day. This is about politics, not science.
Why it’s false:
- The fact is any vaccine that is approved will meet the high safety and efficacy standards required by the FDA. The FDA has laid out clear guidance on what is required for COVID-19 vaccine approval.
- Under Operation Warp Speed “protocols for the demonstration of safety and efficacy are being aligned, which will allow the trials to proceed more quickly” and “rather than eliminating steps from traditional development timelines, steps will proceed simultaneously, such as starting manufacturing of the vaccine at industrial scale well before the demonstration of vaccine efficacy and safety as happens normally. This increases the financial risk, but not the product risk.”
- Secretary of Human Health and Human Services Alex Azar refuted the Democrats’ baseless claims by stressing the importance of science and data on all vaccine efforts. “We are working closely with our state and local public health partners…to ensure that Americans can receive the vaccine as soon as possible and vaccinate with confidence. Americans should know that the vaccine development process is being driven completely by science of data.”
- While Democrats peddled anti-vaccination rhetoric, this week President Trump delivered a COVID-19 vaccine distribution strategy under Operation Warp Speed to deliver safe and effective vaccine doses to the American people as quickly and reliably as possible.
- Given the mounting evidence, Democrats are attempting to sow fear in an election year in order to score political points and undermine President Trump. This is reckless and dangerous.
- From Operation Warp Speed, Right to Try, to emergency use authorizations for promising treatments and cutting-edge rapid testing, Republicans will continue to press forward to deliver results to save lives and cure diseases.
This Week’s SSOCC Highlights:
On Wednesday, September 23, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before SSOCC on our nation’s fiscal outlook amid the pandemic.
The Federal Reserve leader is growing increasingly optimistic about a speedy economic recovery. Last month, the U.S. economy gained nearly 1.4 million jobs, making it the fourth month in a row of over 1 million jobs added. A record 10.6 million jobs have been gained since April, bringing back about 50% of the jobs lost from the lockdowns.
In June, the Fed originally projected unemployment to fall around 9% at the end of this year. Thanks to swift and effective action from President Trump and his administration, officials have now revised those projections to 7.6% in order to reflect a more robust economic come-back.
Undoubtedly, the unemployment rate could continue to decline if Democratic governors allowed people residing within their borders go back to work, as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin testified last month. Continued borrowing and spending are not permanent solutions.
Coronavirus News of the Week:
Trump Administration Actions
Trump Administration Releases COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Strategy: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense released two documents outlining the Trump Administration’s detailed strategy to deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to the American people as quickly and reliably as possible. The documents provide a strategic distribution overview along with an interim playbook for state, tribal, territorial, and local public health programs and their partners on how to plan and operationalize a vaccination response to COVID-19 within their respective jurisdictions.