Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, January 22 2021

Your guide to the latest Hill developments, news narratives, and media headlines from Hogan Lovells Government Relations and Public Affairs practice.

In Washington:

  • On Friday, President Biden signed an executive order expanding the scope of nutrition assistance programs, an effort to address a growing hunger crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and heightening worker protections. The executive order would re-interpret rules already in law, making benefits more generous. The order would also expand the Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The order would also clarify that unemployed people have the right to refuse a job they deem unsafe without losing unemployment benefits.
  • The White House released its 198-page COVID-19 strategy on Jan. 21.  The strategy is organized around the following seven goals:
    • Restore trust with the American people.
    • Mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign.
    • Mitigate spread through expanding masking, testing, treatments, data, health care workforce, and clear public health standards.
    • Immediately expand emergency relief and exercise the Defense Production Act.
    • Safely reopen schools, businesses, and travel while protecting workers.
    • Protect those most at risk and advance equity, including across racial, ethnic, and rural/urban lines.
    • Restore U.S. leadership globally and build better preparedness for future threats.
  • On Jan. 21, Dr. Anthony Fauci, joining White House press secretary Jen Psaki during her briefing.  When asked about the differences between the Trump administration briefings and those in the Biden administration: "It was very clear that there were things that were said — be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that — that really was uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact.  You didn’t feel that you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it," Fauci said. "The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is, and know that’s it — let the science speak — it is somewhat of a liberating feeling."
  • Hundreds of National Guard members who poured into Washington, D.C. to secure the Inauguration have tested positive for COVID-19 or are quarantining in nearby hotels, three Guard sources told Politico. Troops and lawmakers alike worry that the deployment is becoming a superspreader event. Some troops reported lack of testing, pressure to end quarantine early to return to duty, and crowding into Capitol-adjacent parking garages for breaks. Photos from one such break widely circulated Thursday night on social media, drawing scorn from lawmakers. The Senate Rules Committee is investigating, Sen. Roy Blunt (MO) the top Republican on that panel, told Politico
  • The Biden administration sent guidance to incoming White House employees on Tuesday detailing heightened COVID-19 public health restrictions within the White House. The administration will require daily employee COVID tests and N95 masks at all times. The new rules will apply to all White House aides in "high proximity to principals,” which include both the president and vice president, cabinet heads, and chairs of bodies like the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. The email also holds out the prospect that some West Wing aides will soon be eligible for a vaccine.
  • Nineteen Capitol police officers have tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks after the Capitol insurrection on January 6, the union representing Capitol Police said Friday. The union could not confirm that all 19 were on duty the day of the attack. Health officials have worried that the mass of largely unmasked people, many shouting and pushing, would result in the virus’s spread. At least four members of Congress have also tested positive for coronavirus after the attack earlier this month.

In the News:

  • COVID-19 reached every county in the United States in 2020 according to a Wall Street Journal analysis published on Friday. Kalawao County on the island of Moloka‘i, Hawaii was the last known county without the virus. The remote county centers on Kalaupapa Settlement, established in 1865 as a location to which anyone with leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, could move if exiled from their own communities. The county has fewer than 100 residents. In December, Hawaii health officials reported the only known positive case of COVID-19 in an adult resident of the town. The individual isolated and no other residents report symptoms.
  • The total number of coronavirus cases recorded in France since the beginning of the pandemic surpassed the three million mark Friday, according to data from the National Health Agency. On Friday, a further 23,292 cases were recorded, as well as at least 649 additional deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to at least at least 72,647. Instead of a national lockdown, France has opted for a national 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Furthermore, unlike several other countries in Europe, many French schools, offices, department stores, and hairdressers remain open.
  • Moderna and Pfizer need to nearly double their COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to meet their distribution goals in coming months. In the last few weeks, they've each been steadily delivering about 4.3 million doses a week, according to an NPR examination of vaccine allocation data. But in order to hit their targets of 100 million doses on time, they each need to deliver 7.5 million doses a week for the next nine weeks. The task will be difficult. Equipment must run well, doses need to pass quality tests, and companies must maintain a steady supply of chemical ingredients, glass vials and skilled labor, to distribute.
  • The NFL announced on Friday that Super Bowl LV will have about 22,000 fans in attendance, including 7,500 vaccinated health care workers. The league is inviting the health care workers from Tampa and the central Florida area and providing them free tickets. There will also be an additional 14,500 fans in attendance. Among the protocols put in place include mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, podded seating, and touchless in-stadium experiences. The game is scheduled for February 7.
  • Germany’s total coronavirus death toll passed 50,000 on Friday. Meanwhile, the number of new daily infections in the country is dropping, according to The Associated Press. Over 2.1 million Germans have been infected according to Johns Hopkins University. Germany’s vaccination campaign is slower than expected, with a daily average number of inoculations at approximately 86,000. The government had set a target of 300,000. In total, more than 1.3 million people in Germany have been vaccinated since late December. 

 

Authored by Ivan Zapien

Contacts
Ivan Zapien
Partner
Washington, D.C.
Shelley Castle
Legislative Specialist
Washington, D.C.

 

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