Tim Kaine: “thank you. I rise to talk about Americans' health and the health of Virginians. We are living through a crisis--the…”

“thank you. I rise to talk about Americans' health and the health of Virginians. We are living through a crisis--the coronavirus crisis--that is unprecedented in American life since 100 years ago with the influenza of the late 19-teens, and a lot of words have been used on the floor to describe the magnitude of the crisis. I needn't dwell on that. Now nearly 220,000 Americans have died. A recent study that was put out suggested that the actual toll may be closer to 300,000. Many States in the country are experiencing dramatic spikes, with predictions that we could see the worst levels of coronavirus in coming months, at least until a vaccine is developed and widely distributed, and that probably won't happen before the spring of next year. In Virginia, we have been hit--3,515 Virginians have died of coronavirus. My wife and I know three of them--two in Richmond and one in Fairfax County. And 168,722 Virginians have had coronavirus. My wife and I are two in that number. This challenge in Virginia hit first in a tiny part of the State that I really love, the Eastern Shore of Virginia. That is one of the least accessible parts of Virginia. The Eastern Shore has two sizable poultry processing plants, with thousands of workers--a mixture of White workers, African-American workers, Latino immigrants, Haitian-Creole immigrants. In March, at these two plants--one run by Tyson and the second run by Purdue Food Company--they started to see cases multiply.…”