Sen. Josh Hawley: Americans should not panic, all hands on deck effort underway on coronavirus
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told 'Fox & Friends' he has full confidence in the Trump administration's ability to take every available and necessary precaution as the world braces for the impact of the coronavirus.
An "all hands on deck effort" is needed from here on out to combat the coronavirus in the United States, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said Wednesday, criticizing China for an "epic failure of leadership."
In an interview on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade, Hawley said that while there are potential vaccines under development and two that are in the testing process, dealing with the spread of the virus is only "going to get more difficult now as cases could be coming to the United States from different countries."
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To date, the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has sickened over 80,000 people worldwide and killed over 2,700. China, still the epicenter of the pandemic, reported 406 new cases and 52 more deaths on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, U.S. health officials reported 57 confirmed cases of the virus and the mayor of San Francisco later declared a state of emergency.
President Trump announced via Twitter Wednesday morning that he would hold a news conference on the spread at 6 p.m. ET. at the White House.
Hawley told the "Friends" hosts that he is set to introduce legislation today which would help bring U.S. medical supply chains out of China and back to the United States.
"My big concern is, when it comes to our vaccines and our antibiotics, too many of them are in China. This has happened over decades. Other administrations have let those drugs go to China -- let those supply chains go to China. We need to bring them home," he stated.
"So, listen, we're just going to have to step up our efforts," he continued. "There's no need to panic. There is [a] need to take every available precaution and every available step. I believe the administration will do that.
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"I applaud the president's request for additional funding. We may need a lot more than $2.5 billion. And, if we do, I'm sure that Congress will give it to them," Hawley noted.
"But, I go back to: let's not get ourselves in a situation where we are dependent on the Chinese for our drugs, for our antibiotics. We need to take steps right now to make sure that doesn't happen," he urged.
"And this goes back to the fact that the Communist Chinese Party did not take the steps necessary to protect their own people and to protect the world," Hawley added.
"So, this is on them. It's an epic failure of leadership. Now we've got to take steps to protect our own people," he concluded.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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