U.S. Republican senators have become increasingly worried about the unabated spread of the coronavirus in the country, calling for an end to politicizing the pandemic while suggesting that people wear masks to stem the case spikes, and that communities expand testing capacity, according to media reports on Saturday.
The Hill's report came at a time when those senators faced persistent increase of case counts in their home states, thus sounding the alarm even as Republican President Donald Trump tried every means to downplay the threat of the virus - denying the scientifically-proven effectiveness of masks, boasting the country's mass testing, and promising a soon-to-come vaccine.
"The coronavirus is not involved in American politics. It has its own way forward, and we need to act responsibly," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was quoted as saying when traveling in his home state of Kentucky during the ongoing recess that started in June.
While Trump said in his July 4 speech celebrating the U.S. Independence Day that a coronavirus vaccine would likely be available "long before the end of the year," McConnell offered a more sobering prospect, noting that for a vaccine to come toward the end of the year was an "extremely optimistic" timeline.
"The truth is we're not going to have a vaccine for a while, and the truth is we're experiencing a resurgence in some states," McConnell said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a longtime ally of Trump in the Senate, urged people to wear masks while comparing the fight against the coronavirus to a "war."
"All I can say is that if you believe wearing a mask is a sign of weakness, then you're wrong," he said. "Nobody is asking you to go to Afghanistan and get shot - just asking you to use common sense."
Marco Rubio, senator of Florida - which has emerged as the new global epicenter - also stressed the necessity of masks, while being hopeful that correcting behaviors now would lead to improvement as soon as next month.
"People need to wear their mask, they need to be more conscious of it. I believe they now are. But remember, the hospitalizations we're seeing today are the infections that happened two or three weeks ago. Hopefully, if we can begin to correct that behavior now we'll see improving numbers as we move forward into the next month," he said.
On testing, an area in which Trump repeatedly claimed the United States is second to none, GOP senators have warned of a shortage, particularly given that schools are expected to reopen in the fall, another desperate request from the Trump administration.
"We need to focus on increasing testing capability between now and the first of September," Graham said.
In addition to widespread tests capable of offering results in 15 minutes, Republican senator Roy Blunt of Missouri called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense to craft a plan by September guiding the distribution of a vaccine.
"I think if ... we aren't prepared to distribute the complete kit it takes for an individual to have a vaccine that the country will be outraged and I will too," Blunt said.
