Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, November 11 2020

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

In Washington:

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on face masks to say that masks not only protect others around you but also protects the wearer.  The guidance clarifies that masks reduce inhalation of droplets by the wearer, as well as reduce the emission from virus-laden asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers.
  • The CDC has also issued new guidance asking families to rethink Thanksgiving gatherings emphasizing the safest option is to celebrate only with people in your household.  
  • Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and NIH official Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday they expect a COVID-19 vaccine to be rolled out widely in the U.S. by next spring. Fauci told NBC News the Pfizer vaccine could get Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency approval within weeks. Azar told the network he expects it to be available to Americans in priority categories, like those most at risk and health care workers, by the year's end to early January. Azar believes there should be "enough for all Americans by the end of March to early April to have general vaccination programs."
  • Forty-nine percent of the respondents in a Gallup poll released Wednesday said they would be very likely to stay at home for a month if officials order a lockdown due to COVID-19. Gallup found that support for lockdowns has been trending downward since peaking at 67 percent in March and April. Wednesday’s survey found 18 percent said they would somewhat agree to a lockdown, while the remaining third said they’d refuse to shelter in place — double the amount from the spring.
  • GSA Administrator Emily Murphy continues refuses to affirm that President-Elect Joe Biden has won the election therefore delaying Biden’s coronavirus transition work by preventing them from having any contact with the HHS, access to nonpublic information, and setting up government offices.
  • White House political director Brian Jack and one of his aides are testing positive for COVID-19.  Both had attended the White House election night party.   Other White House officials that have tested positive include, Cassidy Hutchinson, one of Meadows’ closest aides, and Charlton Boyd, an aide to senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, and campaign aide Nick Trainer have all tested positive for the virus since the election.   These cases follow the infections of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Trump campaign adviser David Bossie.  It is also reported that a guest who attended the White House election night party with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is also testing positive.

In the News:

  • Congressional inaction on COVID-19 relief and rising coronavirus cases may prompt many restaurants to temporarily close up shop for the winter. An estimated 100,000 restaurants will shut down by the end of December — some temporarily, some permanently. Sean Kennedy, an executive at the National Restaurant Association, an industry lobbying group, said restaurant owners want to see Congress pass the bipartisan RESTART Act, which includes an extended form of PPP that can be used on operational expenses and labor costs. The Independent Restaurant Coalition is separately pushing for the Restaurant Act, which would provide $120 billion in grants to certain establishments. 
  • The number of Americans hospitalized due to COVID-19 has risen almost 50% in the last two weeks, and almost 62,000 people were hospitalized on Tuesday. The previous record for hospitalizations was 59,780 on April 12.  States are beginning to struggle across the country:
    • Coronavirus has infected much of the leadership of a town of Warren, MI outside of Detroit. A group of just under three dozen city officials, including 16 police officers, five to seven city hall employees, and about nine people at the district court, tested positive this week for COVID-19 or displayed symptoms that require them to quarantine. As of Tuesday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services had recorded over 223,000 cases and 7,724 deaths statewide. 
    • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has reinstated COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and bars and limiting small indoor gatherings. 
    • Texas becomes the first state in the US to surpass 1 million coronavirus infections, surpassing former hotspot Italy.  Texas has recorded 1,010,364 coronavirus cases with more than 10,865 new cases recorded Tuesday.
    • City officials in El Paso, Texas, have more than doubled the number of mobile morgues operating in the region as a surge in COVID-19 infections overwhelms local hospitals. The New York Times reported Tuesday that 10 mobile morgues are now operating in El Paso, as health officials deal with more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, more than some states. Meanwhile, 154 bodies reportedly remain in the control of the county's medical examiner due to the surge in deaths. 
    • Philadelphia's public school system reversed its plan to resume some in-person instruction this month.
    • Maryland Gov. Harry Hogan reimposed restrictions to combat a "public health catastrophe" due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Starting Wednesday evening, indoor dining at restaurants and bars must return to 50% capacity.
    • Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has given residents two weeks to start taking stricter safety measures, or expect steps toward another shutdown due to a surge in coronavirus cases.
    • Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order on Tuesday urging, but not requiring, limits on public interaction as they see record infections, deaths, and its state’s hospitals are running out of intensive care beds.
  • Russia on Wednesday said its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was 92 percent effective in protecting people against COVID-19. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the country’s sovereign wealth fund that is bankrolling Russia’s vaccine efforts, said the interim results were based on data from the first 16,000 participants of phase three clinical trials. The data has yet to be peer-reviewed. Public health experts criticized Russia’s August approval and rollout of Sputnik V for use before late-stage trials had begun.

 

 

Authored by Ivan Zapien

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

 

This website is operated by Hogan Lovells International LLP, whose registered office is at Atlantic House, Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2FG. For further details of Hogan Lovells International LLP and the international legal practice that comprises Hogan Lovells International LLP, Hogan Lovells US LLP and their affiliated businesses ("Hogan Lovells"), please see our Legal Notices page. © 2024 Hogan Lovells.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.