Money, Vaccine, Holidays Discussed in Fortenberry Town Hall Call

Questions ranging from the safety of handling money to the status of work on a vaccine for COVID-19 were raised in a telephone town hall meeting hosted by Representative Jeff Fortenberry Thursday.

Fortenberry, who represents Nebraska’s first district in Congress, hosted the town hall. It also included Dr. Jeffrey Gold, chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Nebraska Labor Commissioner John Albin. The group answered questions from people who called in.

One question concerned the safety of handling money in the form of bills and coins. Gold said the coronavirus lives longer on hard surfaces than soft, but it doesn’t last that long in general.

“I guess unless people are intentionally coughing and sneezing on their pocket cash, and then intentionally handing it off to folks, It's a relatively limited risk,” Gold said.

Still, he said, the risk is not zero, and people can limit their transactions by using plastic or ordering things online for delivery.

Fortenberry was asked about money on a larger scale, namely, how the massive, recently-approved federal spending to support the economy and the healthcare system would be paid for.

“We just spent $2.2 trillion. It’s debt financing. There is no other answer. It goes straight to the debt of the country, which means it's a future bonded obligation of the country, which people in the future will have to pay – (our) children and grandchildren. Or that debt is being sold overseas. Or there's potential inflationary impacts from the dynamics of basically using the Federal Reserve to participate in this payment program,” he said.

However, Fortenberry said, the spending is worthwhile. “The other side of it though, is if you not only look at this as a debt financing question, you look at it as a necessary intervention to save America. In other words, the value here of keeping people healthy curing our sick, keeping our economy afloat, in my judgment is certainly worth moving this level of intervention which is unprecedented, although it will have to be financed by debt,” he said.

Fortenberry said the deficit, originally estimated at $1 trillion for the year, could reach $4 trillion.

Gold was also asked about the timing for a potential vaccine.

“There are at least five of them now in the United States and around the world that are in active clinical trials. And so I am optimistic that we will have effective vaccine, probably… -- I'm guessing -- by the end of this calendar year or at least we'll have identified the safest and the most effective vaccine. And once that happens, it has to be scaled and then delivered,” he said.

Gold didn’t say how long he thinks those last two stages would take.

However, he did have some advice for the more immediate future, as people observe Passover and Easter.

“We're heading into a holiday weekend. It's a holiday weekend that families tend to come together, they tend to worship together and dine together, enjoy each other's company. It's a time that grandparents and grandchildren tend to get together. And I need to tell you that this is not going to be a wise thing to do… Put it off for a month. Let's see where we are at the end of April, and hopefully we can start to reschedule those events,” he said.