Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, it is no secret that in parts of Texas and in cities across the country, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise. Dr. Angela Clendenin is an epidemiologist at Texas A&M University's School of Public Health, and she attributes this increase to what she calls pandemic fatigue.

After months of vigorous handwashing and mask wearing, it seems that people are becoming less and less vigilant. She said, if we continue in the behaviors that we are behaving in right now without regulatory intervention, we are going to continue in the direction we are headed. I guess that is one way of saying if we don't shape up, the present spread of the virus will continue with, perhaps, in some instances, dangerous, even fatal, consequences.

That is a path we should not head down and one that will put an even greater strain on our healthcare workers. I guess, as I think about it, there are two ways to approach this pandemic. One is to leave it to government to tell us what we can and cannot do, to engage in more and more lockdowns and deprivation of our individual liberty or we can take personal responsibility. Speaking for myself, and I hope others, I hope the personal responsibility route is the one we will take.

From staffing shortages due to the coronavirus exposure to short supplies of personal protective equipment, to a lack of critical equipment like ventilators, our frontline healthcare workers have carried on this fight in the face of tremendous challenges. Now, with cases climbing in parts of my State and around the country, these heroes are in dire need of another line of defense.

The public--meaning Congress--on their behalf has the power to provide that help. Through the same simple steps we heard about since the beginning of the pandemic, we can stop or at least dramatically slow the transmission of COVID-19.

Again, it gets back to the basics we have all been taught and I think more or less most of us have been employing: washing your hands, wearing a mask, practice social distancing, and don't let the pandemic fatigue win.

We need to all remain vigilant and committed to these basic practices until the experts tell us that COVID-19 is no longer a threat--likely, a point after which the vaccine has been widely deployed. None of us knows exactly when that might happen, but we have been getting some great news this last week or so about scientific developments that have been funded by the efforts that we in Congress have taken together on a bipartisan basis.

On Friday, in my State, the Governor announced the Department of Health and Human Services will distribute a new COVID-19 therapy to hospitals across the State as early as this week. The antibody treatment is produced by Eli Lilly and will be critical in reducing hospitalizations. It is meant for those who are known to be at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms, like the elderly or those with underlying chronic illness. For those who are diagnosed with COVID-19, this drug may be effective in preventing the onset of severe symptoms. The antibody treatment received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration last week, and I am hopeful it will help stop or at least slow dramatically the alarming rise in hospitalizations that we have seen across parts of my State.

So far, about 80,000 doses are ready for distribution nationwide, and we should have that up to a million doses a day by the end of the year. While the quantity is limited at this point, every single dose could mean a life saved. This alone is cause for hope.

But the good news doesn't stop there. Last week, Pfizer announced its COVID-19 vaccine has been more than 90 percent effective in clinical trials. Just this morning, Moderna announced its vaccine candidate is nearly 95 percent effective--just incredible results. This is exactly why we invested billions of dollars in developing these lifesaving drugs earlier this year. The funding that we have appropriated has supported not only research and development but manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics. We wanted to be sure that distribution could begin as soon as these drugs were approved as safe and effective, and that is exactly the direction we are headed in.

We are on track to have tens of millions of doses of vaccine available by the end of the year, likely from at least two different drug makers. This historic investment has led to historic progress.

I could not be more proud of the men and women who have made this possible. I am incredibly grateful to the healthcare workers who are continuing to fight this serious infection on the frontlines.

I want to thank the researchers and scientists and thousands of volunteers who are supporting the development of vaccines and therapeutics. Beyond the physical toll this virus has taken, it is also having a profound impact on this country's mental health. This pandemic has brought on a range of new stressors, including isolation, financial struggles, health anxiety, and the stress of teaching children from home.

In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March, roughly, one-third of adults reported that their mental health was negatively affected by pandemic-related stresses. By July, that number has risen to more than half of the adults in the United States.

As we continue to discuss what future coronavirus legislation will look like, we should not--we must not--ignore the mental health impact.

I have spoken at length about the need to support community mental health centers and community behavioral health organizations, which are vital mental health providers across much of my State and across the Nation. These providers are a critical source of care and support for those who battle mental health and substance abuse disorders, and the need for their services has only risen during the pandemic.

The one group that is too often ignored in conversations about mental health care is made up of those transitioning from the criminal justice system as well. More than half of those in the criminal justice system have experienced a mental health issue, and our criminal justice system is ill-suited to provide the sort of treatment and support they need. Yet, even when these individuals do receive treatment while they are incarcerated, they are rarely given the tools they need to succeed upon their release. Approximately 80 percent of these people are uninsured after being released, making it nearly impossible for them to continue their mental health treatment.

Earlier this year, I and Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced the Crisis Stabilization and Community Reentry Act to support those who have become part of the criminal justice system and provide a stable source of treatment for them after they leave incarceration.

Most prisoners who receive treatment for a mental health or substance abuse disorder are released without their having plans to keep up with their regimes. This leads to higher recidivism rates, which could be avoided. It also means that law enforcement is too often left to be the first responder to a mental health crisis, which can escalate those scenarios and put both the officers and the individuals at risk.

Our bill creates grants to connect law enforcement officials to State, Federal, and local resources to help individuals who are either engaged in the criminal justice system or who are being released from prison get access to the support they need. These grants connect those services to make sure that people who are suffering acute episodes can access treatment without there being the risk of unnecessary incarceration. Many times, these people need help. They don't need to go back to jail. It has the ability to strengthen our community-based crisis response, reduce suicides during incarceration, and close the revolving door that leads people back to prison.

I hope the Senate can pass this legislation soon and that our colleagues in the House will follow suit. With the ongoing mental health challenges that have been brought on by COVID-19, there could not be a more critical time to strengthen our Nation's mental health resources.

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