Adriano Espaillat: “Today we reconvene our monthly Special Order hour of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for the first time, really, since…”

“Today we reconvene our monthly Special Order hour of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for the first time, really, since the COVID-19 pandemic reached America's shores. As we speak here today, America's staring down the barrel of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst one, perhaps, that we have so far faced. We are adding a million cases a week--yes, a million cases every week. We are approaching a total of 11.5 million cases, more than any other nation in the world by far, despite many more populous countries with outbreaks. Even more grim, we lead the world in the number of confirmed COVID- related deaths and quickly are approaching 1,000 deaths per day, more than any other nation facing this new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. States and cities are careening towards lockdowns. Just today, Madam Speaker, New York City ordered a shutdown of its schools. It had attempted to open, partially, the schools, but today the mayor of the city of New York ordered another shutdown of the school system. Over 1 million children will stay at home with their family members. And so States and cities are locking down as we speak, right now, as we near the Thanksgiving holiday. Many States across the country, Governors and mayors have spoken to their constituencies and asked them not to congregate in their homes with more than 10 people, family members, during Thanksgiving. It is a wise recommendation by mayors and Governors.…”