COVID-19: Rick Bright warns of “darkest winter in modern history”

Rick Bright, the former head of the Federal Agency charged with overseeing the rapid production of a vaccine, will warn of the “darkest winter in modern history” if the US does not develop a coordinated approach based on science to combat COVID-19, ABC reports.

Bright is due to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.

In prepared remarks, Bright will say to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health :

Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities. While it is terrifying to acknowledge the extent of the challenge that we currently confront, the undeniable fact is there will be a resurgence of the COVID19 this fall, greatly compounding the challenges of seasonal influenza and putting an unprecedented strain on our health care system,

Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be darkest winter in modern history,

– Bright plans to say.

The virus is out there, it’s everywhere. We need to be able to find it, to isolate it and to stop it from infecting more people. We need tests that are accurate, rapid, easy to use, low cost, and available to everyone who needs them,

– Bright will say.

Market implications

As markets that have banked on economies getting back to work, the second spike in new case and deaths will really rock the apple cart. Markets may well take their cues on such warnings.