Sen. Bill Cassidy on concerns New Orleans will become next coronavirus epicenter
COVID-19 cases spike in New Orleans; reaction from Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee.
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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has proposed the creation of an online registry that would log recovered COVID-19 patients who have likely developed immunity to the coronavirus, in an effort to speed up the return to normal life in the U.S.
"There is hope," Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, said on Tuesday's "Fox News Rundown" podcast. "About 85 percent of the people who are infected have no symptoms or minimal symptoms, but they will become immune."
While experts say there is a strong possibility that those who have already contracted COVID-19 and recovered develop an immunity to the novel virus, it’s likely too soon to know for sure.
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Cassidy suggested a system similar to the "immunization registries for children" currently in place in the U.S., "where all the vaccines you got as a baby and young child all the way up until you're in high school are recorded online in an immunization registry.
"Taxpayers paid for it. It's HIPAA-compliant. Privacy is respected," he continued. "But that way, if I have to prove that I was vaccinated for hepatitis B when I go to nursing school or medical school many years later, I go online, put on my record in, and boom -- they can see that I've been vaccinated."
"I'm proposing we have an online registry for immunity," Cassidy added. "So if I've been exposed, I declare the virus, I'm immune. I can now work facing the public, not fearing that I will get infected and not infecting other people."
WILL CORONAVIRUS INFECTED PEOPLE DEVELOP IMMUNITY?
"If I've been exposed, I declare the virus, I'm immune. I can now work facing the public, not fearing that I will get infected and not infecting other people."
As of midday Monday, Cassidy's home state of Louisiana had recorded 4,025 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 185 deaths.
"We're not emerging as an epicenter [of the outbreak]," Cassidy said Tuesday. "We are a place which is being slammed right now. Now, there's maybe some hope over the weekend there seemed to be a little bit of a flattening of the increase in number of cases ... but one or two days is not enough to call a trend."
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Cassidy urged the public to obey social distancing guidelines, saying "Hopefully, people have taken that to heart" and that it will help flatten the curve in his state.
The Senator also addressed reports that some churches in Louisiana and other states were still holding live religious services, despite calls from U.S. health officials to avoid congregating in large groups.
"God gives wisdom. And when he gives wisdom, we're supposed to obey it."
"You know, scripture tells us to obey our secular leaders. So we've been told by the president, the governor not to congregate," Cassidy said.
"Secondly, it would be presumptuous upon God's grace if we were to say, 'Listen, we're going to fight that which we know to be true, that this virus has spread and that it can kill, and that we're going to defy that. Go ahead, meet anyway.' God gives wisdom. And when he gives wisdom, we're supposed to obey it.
And so I don't step in front of a speeding bullet. I don't step in front of a speeding car," Cassidy concluded. "I dodge both in the same way we should be dodging this virus."
To hear the full interview, subscribe and download The FOX News Rundown on your favorite podcast player.
The FOX NEWS RUNDOWN is a news-based daily morning podcast delivering a deep dive into the major and controversial stories of the day.
Fox News' Madeline Farber contributed to this report.
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