Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, November 6 2020

In Washington:

• An internal review obtained by NPR reveals that Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials knew that early COVID-19 tests were faulty but released them anyway. This made it difficult for cases to be detected and then isolated. NPR reports that the first COVID-19 tests the agency evaluated had a chance of being wrong 33 percent of the time. Upon further investigation, the agency found the tests were developed with poor laboratory procedures, such as researchers wearing the same clothes in and out of testing rooms and disorganized testing ingredients. One official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told NPR reporters that a potential failure rate of 33 percent should have resulted in an immediate recall of the tests.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are planning to try to pass a coronavirus stimulus bill when Congress returns for a lame duck session. Unsurprisingly, both are not agreeing on the size of the stimulus package.  McConnell is looking at a smaller, targeted bill given the better-than-expected October jobs numbers that saw the unemployment rate fall to 6.9 percent.  Speaker Pelosi is spurring talks to resume saying that the “imperative to act could not be greater” after the U.S. posted a record 120,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. She added that a targeted bill “doesn’t appeal to me at all.”  

• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters during a Thursday press conference that “the recent rise in new COVID-19 cases both here in the United States and abroad is particularly concerning” to the central bank and dangerous to the fragile U.S. economy. Powell warned that economic recovery could lose steam if Congress does not pass more fiscal stimulus. Powell made his remarks after the Fed announced it would keep interest rates near zero. The central bank chair also renewed his call for another fiscal stimulus bill.

• Exit polls showed a sharp split between Biden and Trump voters over prioritizing the economy or COVID-19 recovery. Voters saying coronavirus mattered most to their vote went for Biden 82 percent to 14 percent, according to an exit poll from Edison Research. On the flip side, voters saying the economy mattered most went for Trump 82 percent to 17 percent. Among all voters, more said the economy was most important to their vote (35 percent), than those who said the coronavirus was (17 percent). Mask-wearing continues to poll with majority support. In the exit poll, 67 percent of voters said wearing a mask is a “public health responsibility” compared to 30 percent who said it is a “personal choice.”

• The Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is moving forward with planning a traditional inauguration on the West Front of the Capitol. Construction of the platform is already well underway. Committee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) said the Committee is examining the extent to which “testing and/or tracing” will be required for attendees and workers. An outdoor ceremony may aid social distancing and crowd control. Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently told CNBC, “[b]y the time a new president is inaugurated in January, whether it’s Donald Trump or it’s Joe Biden, I think that we’re going to be probably peaking in terms of the epidemic.” Inauguration-related events like balls will probably be scaled back.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Thursday an expansion of COVID-19 testing on Capitol Hill in response to new travel restrictions implemented by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser. Pelosi told leaders within the House Democratic Caucus that the Air Force would provide up to 2,000 coronavirus tests for the entire Congress at no cost for the next six weeks. The Capitol’s attending physician, Brian P. Monahan, recommended the plan. Under the proposal, if someone traveling to Capitol Hill receives a positive test, the Attending Physician would perform an additional test to confirm the result. A longer-term solution is under consideration. The House’s mask, social distancing, and telework requirements remain in place.

In the news:

• New cases of the coronavirus jumped significantly in the U.S. on Thursday to 121,888, according to Johns Hopkins University. That’s nearly 20,000 cases higher than the previous single-day record set on Wednesday. 

• The U.S added 638,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 percent in October, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The number of workers who permanently lost their jobs also stayed flat at 3.7 million. 

• Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) issued stricter mask mandates this week as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the nation and in their respective states. Mills issued her order on Thursday, requiring Mainers to wear masks in public spaces at all times, regardless of distance from others. Baker issued a similar order earlier this week.

• The NFL has reportedly fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000 and denied their sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft over several violations of coronavirus safety guidelines. According to ESPN, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has also been fined $150,000 for “brazen and repeated violations of [COVID-19] protocols." This week, the NFL released revised COVID-19 safety guidelines, including recommending players and other team staff to wear masks on the sidelines throughout games. 

• Researchers have developed a nasal spray treatment that appears to prevent coronavirus infections in ferrets and could potentially be used to protect humans from contracting the virus, according to a report from the New York Times. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Columbia University Medical Center, has yet to be peer-reviewed. 

Authored by Ivan Zapien