Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on another topic, the most frustrating aspect of America's COVID response isn't that we are being asked to wear masks again--I have my mask here--in COVID hotspots; the most maddening part of this pandemic is that Americans could have put this virus in their rearview mirror long ago.

We could have saved thousands of lives. Over 600,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19. We could have prevented a great deal of the economic pain this pandemic has inflicted on America's families and businesses. We are here now, battling a new surge and a more dangerous strain of coronavirus, in large part, because the people with big megaphones chose, cynically and cowardly and cruelly, to spread doubt and denial about this virus and the vaccines that prevent it. Their lies cost lives.

Fortunately, this past week seems to mark a turning point for America. Leaders in both the public and private sectors are stepping up for the common good and requiring their workers to get vaccinated or to get tested regularly to show they are not sick and not a danger to others. If you want the job, get the jab. It is time.

President Biden also announced that all Federal workers must get vaccinated or tested. I commend his decision. That is leadership, and it will save lives.

And to some who come to the floor of the Senate and to other places to say that the government should operate more like a business, take note: Some of the most innovative employers--Google, Netflix, Disney-- have also announced that their workers will have to be vaccinated, and there will be more.

Recently, several of our Republican colleagues took to the floor of the Senate. They even invited over their fan club from the House. They lined up right behind the speakers over on the Republican side of the aisle. And they are very strong in their feelings that the Speaker of the House should not require Members to wear masks.

Well, there is a reason for it, and the suggestion that the CDC has flip-flopped or that Dr. Fauci has flip-flopped belies the reality that the virus has flip-flopped. We are now dealing with something known as a Delta variant.

There is an urgent message for all Americans who have not been vaccinated: While you have been avoiding vaccination or waiting for just the right moment, the enemy--the COVID-19 virus--has not been idle. The Delta variant has arrived in a big and deadly way.

Here is what Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the CDC, said:

The Delta variant is more aggressive . . . more [transferable] than previously circulating strains. It is one of the most infectious respiratory [viruses] we know of . . . in my 20-year career.

Now, in case you dismiss Dr. Walensky as some nonsense-talking Democratic Socialist and you prefer the expertise of Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham on FOX, I hope you will not ignore the grim reality in the actual numbers: Over 90 percent of those infected, hospitalized, and dying from the coronavirus Delta variant are unvaccinated--over 90 percent. People infected by the coronavirus Delta variant may carry 1,000 times--1,000 times--as much virus and for a longer period of time as those who were infected with the original coronavirus. Those infected were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized than those infected by the original coronavirus.

Vaccines still are effective against the Delta variant and coronavirus. But don't believe, if you are unvaccinated, that you are safe around vaccinated people. Early new data shows that fully vaccinated people may be able to spread the Delta variant to others as readily as unvaccinated people.

In fact, it gets down to the very basics: Until America decides to make vaccination part of our survival, we will continue, sadly, to witness infections; hospitalizations; and deaths and, God forbid, more variants.

Leaders in both public and private sectors are stepping up. We should too. People should be tested regularly, if they insist on not being vaccinated, to show that they are not sick and not a danger to others. The COVID vaccines are safe, free, readily available, and almost miraculously effective, and they are the way out of this pandemic.

One more point about COVID protection: Many on the right are spitting mad and filled with feigned confusion about the CDC's new guidance urging people in COVID hotspots to wear masks indoors even if you are vaccinated.

They say: How can we trust an Agency that keeps changing its rules?

Because the virus is changing and the guidance is changing accordingly. The virus has mutated and gained strength because tens of millions of Americans have refused to wear masks or get vaccinated.

Deliberate distortion and outraged speeches aren't going to stop the virus. If you want to take off the mask for good--and I sure do--if you want your kids to go to school without being burdened by a mask--and I certainly do--we need to tell the truth. Listen to the experts. Get the vaccine. Getting this virus behind us for good is the only way we can reopen America's economy.

In the longer term, the way to remain the world's preeminent economy is to invest in the fundamentals of strong, sustainable growth and shared prosperity.

It is good that the Senate is debating this plan. I hope that it passes this week as soon as possible, as well as our budget resolution. But in the meantime, we cannot ignore that the Nation is still in the throes of a pandemic.

I suggest the absence of a courtroom.

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