It took nearly 3 months for the United States to go from one infection to 1 million. Now, we have more than 12 million at least 1 million americans infected in the last two weeks. Hospitalizations and deaths are unacceptably high. Hospitals in some states are at risk of running out of beds. Some hospitals have reported they may be forced to choose which patients to treat and which to send home to die. On our recent current cross, experts predict another 150,000 americans could lose their lives on the coronavirus by the end of this year. My goal today is simple. To hear from our nations Top Public Health experts on what steps we need to take to stop the unnecessary deaths of more americans. To improve our response, we need to identify and correct past failures, especially those that are ongoing. Regrettably, nearly 6 months after this virus claimed its First American life the federal government has still not yet developed and implemented a National Strategy to protect the American People. The administration has failed to advance testing while they were given warnings included from 50 committees that millions more tests were needed. At least 11 states including my home state of South Carolina are currently conducting less than 30 percent of the tests they need to control the virus. The state surgeon, states now face shortages, wait times results for a week or longer in many places and some states have been forced to ration scarce tests, limiting them to only the sickest patients. Without available Rapid Testing it is nearly impossible to control the spread of the virus safely reopen our economy. Yesterday, it was reported that back in april the administration considered implementing a National Strategy to coordinate the distribution of test kits and Contact Tracing infrastructure decided not to do so because at the time, the virus was primarily spreading in blue states. Since the earliest days of this crisis the Trump Administration has also refused to call on americans to take simple steps to stay safe. Like wearing a mask and social distancing. Instead the president has downplayed the severity of the crisis, claiming the virus will disappear, sidelining Government Experts who disagree and seek to legitimize discredited remedies. When the public agent Health Agencies contradicted the white houses political message , when the cdc warned that fully reopening schools presented the highest risk for spreading the coronavirus , the white house assured the agency to change their advice. The result of these decisions is that the virus has continued to raise out of control in our nations economic misery has continued. And that brings us to todays hearing. It is clear that the administrative support deferring to the states sidelining the experts and rushing to reopen has prolonged this virus and led to thousands of preventable deaths. In fact, the United States response handout as among the worst of any country in the world. My question is where should we go from here . Today, i am calling on the administration to finally give america a comprehensive National Plan that prioritizes science over politics. That plan should include buying and disputing enough tests and protective gear for every american who needs them. And it should include clear Public Health guidance to every american to help curb the spread of the virus. I am looking forward to hearing from our panel what common sense steps we can take as a country to control this virus and how the administrations plans to accomplish this goal. Today witnesses have long distinguished careers on under both republican and democratic president s. Public health is not a partisan issue. And i hope that all members of the committee will join me in seeking the best Health Advice for the American People, not fighting partisan political battles. We do not need to lose another 150,000 american lives. But if we do not make drastic changes now, this tragic outcome is well within the realm of possibility. The chair now recognizes the distinguished Ranking Member for his openingstatements area. Accu mister chairman and thank our witnesses for being here. Before i open i want to mention Mister Truman its the first meeting since weve had since the passing of our dear friend and colleague john lewis. I know you personally were friends with him for roughly 60 years and we all feel that loss, a very fitting tribute to yesterday and he was a Dear Colleague he was also a key important part of a movement that has made america an even greaternation. Its very fitting that our countries are paying such a great tribute to a dear friend and an icon in the civil rights movement, our friend john lewis and thank you mister chairman for having this year and i want to thank the witnesses and also thank your teams because you represent what is on the front lines of President Trumps plan tocombat the Coronavirus Crisis. Or anybody to suggest that theres not a plan in fact, when you look at the title of todays hearing. Urgent need for a plan. Thats not the title of the hearing, thats a political narrative and a false narrative. In fact he wouldnt even be here today if there wasnt a plan because you are the people carrying out the plan. If you were sidelined you wouldnt be here either and i know some people want to suggest that maybe they havent spent time reading different components of the plan. These are just a few by the way, a few of the documents or agencies have published to show states how to safely reopen, how to show schools how to reopen. To show Nursing Homes how to care for their patients which by the way all governors would have followed those guidelines , thousands more Nursing Homes would be alive today if just five governors would have followed your plan was developed by President Trump and is being carried out by you and your team effectively every day so again me thank you on behalf of the millions of American People who are alive today that wouldnt be alive if you werent carrying out President Trumps effective plan to keep americans safe as we learn about this virus, as we work to get a cure for this virus and by the way the cure operation work speed is part of President Trumps National Plan and i think weve all seen how close we are to a vaccine which is revolutionary. Revolutionary in modern times to be disclosed to a vaccine. We wouldnt be here that close to additional vaccines without President Trumps leadership and without the work of you and your teams to carry out that plan so i appreciate the work that you continue to do every day we learn more about a plan like any plan with her its a military plan or a football plan. You start the first play with a plan and then the plan has to change as things change along the way andwere seeing that play out daily. When you look at the work thats been done, i think we talk about different parts of the guidance. Weve not always been in agreement on each part of them but we had a number of hearings where we talked through how to improve testing area and one of the first hearings we had in this committee on testing was back when america was maybe conducting less than 200,000 tests per day to today because of the work youve all been doing and because of the president s plan we are at 800,000 tests per day and that number continues to grow. Nobodys stopping, nobodys resting on their laurels but when you look at that trajectory going from a virus that no one even knew about six months ago and china lied about during that period when we could have learned a lot more and we could have saved lives while china was lying. I wish we could have hearings on that because thats a real fact. We know not only did china lied, they corrupted the World Health Organization and they were perpetuating that as well. I remember being at a meeting in the White Housewith doctor fauci before it was a pandemic and we were talking about the desire to get some of our medical experts into china to find out what was going on and they wouldnt let you in. The Chinese Communist party wouldnt let you in when President Trump wanted to send medical experts into china before it spread into the United States and that cost lives. Why arent we having a hearing about that . Clearly we talk about some of the other Different Things that were done to stop the spread but the president did develop an early plan called 15 days to stop the spread. Its one of the first organized plans to encourage states to hold back. It wasnt an easy plan for the president to have to issue, but it was necessary and in fact there were meetings in the white house i think doctor fauci and doctor birx were there and the plan was determined we may need to go longer and that going 30 more days you could say 1 million, maybe 2 million more lives. And then President Trump announced that plan and it did save those lives. So the trumpet ministration then released a plan called guidelines opening up america again on how states could safely reopen. This is part of the plan by the way. Maybe some people are busy reading tweets that they havent actually read the plan area its good guidance issued by some of the most recognized International Experts on disease for type prevention. Some of you here today represent parts of this plan and so in opening up america again , it showed how states could reopen. Some complained that President Trump didnt have the power power to force states to reopen the administration released guidelines so that states had discretion. Each state we all understand how the10th amendment works. Each governor is in charge of their state. Nursing homes are actually regulated by the states, not by the federal government but we give guidance and its been good guidance and that guidance i saved the lives we hear cities and we hear people talking about the cries of the need for testing. So lets talk about whathhs has done the lead on testing. Protests. Zero tests to 800,000 tests per day in a matter of months. Over 52 million tests have been conducted nationally and nobodys slowing down, or increasing the number you we will be over 1 million tests per day and maybe willhave a hearing on how much progress weve made. I know doctor giroir was with the Vice President talking about what were doing to increase testing even to limit the number of days as a goal to get below seven days for anybody to get results and that number as narrowed dramatically to more than half of america, half of americans to get their results in less than 24 hours because of the rapid work that this team has done carrying out the president s plan. Testing is not just about numbers area its about targeting testing to the right people at the right time so that what the Trump Administration has begun distribution of rapid pointofcare tests to Nursing Homes. I talked to nursing home tests who said that decision by the Trump Administration to purchase nursing and actual testing kits for every single nursing home in america for 15,000 Nursing Homes, each of them well will have their own 15 minute test area that will save lives. Thats part of this plan. On may 15, 2020 President Trump announced operation work speed. Part of a very direct and National Plan to combat this deadly virus. Operation work speed is a Publicprivate Partnership to several federal agencies to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of a covid19 vaccine as well as diagnostics and other things to direct the specific goal of delivering 300 million doses of a safe, effective fda approved vaccine for covid19 by january 2021 and were seeing that happen at remarkable speed. Were not just going to wait for approval, their massproducing those miles so that if there is one of those vaccines approved, its ready to go. We dont start manufacturing at that point and cost us more weeks, we are actually ready to go. Some of that was money we passed in the care zach President Trump has used to be ready as the vaccines are being developed in testing phases. Doctor fauci i look forward to learning more about the progress weve seen researchers make on tours and vaccines. I know youve been involved in researching some of the most awful deadly viruses that weve known inhistory of the world , hiv area e bola and of course corona we still dont have a vaccine for hiv. Its over 10 years of work youve done a remarkable work to at least give therapy so that people can extend their lives but not a proven vaccine for so many of these diseases years and years later and here we are six months into corona and we are this close to a vaccine. So you look at where weve seen the Chinese Government. We hopefully will get into conversations about how possibly it was, how many lives were lost as the Chinese Communist party light to the world, not just the United States but the world adding the World Health Organization to give false information in those critical early days but why dont we now talk about moving into august . A lot of work is being done to talk about how to safely reopen schools and in fact more guidance was given as part of this plan icbc to safely reopen schools area we saw of course the American Academy of pediatrics gave great guidance on how to safely reopen schools and went further and talked about the damage to children when you dont reopen schools. So much damage being done to our children in those systems where they are talking about not reopening. Hopefully we can shine some light and show those other School Systems how they can safely reopen and serve those children millions and millions of children are counting on us to get it right those School Systems have to get it right. Theres money by the way Still Available at every state for sanitizer, for all the things you would need to safely reopen area its not about money,its about the desire to do it. You have the will. You have been carrying out the president s plan. Every day we will learn more and continue to strive to address the new challenges but lets not forget the things that have already been done as part of this plan have saved millions oflives. We mourn every loss but lets recognize the lives that would have been lost if you worked on the jobcarrying out President Trumps plan to find a vaccine which we are on the brink of and to help safely reopen our economy , safely reopen our schools so we can get back to our day of life as we combat this deadly virus and with that i look forward to hearing from our witnesses i would now like to introduceour witnesses. Today a select committee is pleased to welcome doctor anthony fauci, director of the institute of technology and Infectious Disease at the institute of health. We welcome back admiral brett giroir, assistant secretary of health at the Departmentof Health and Human Services. And finally , we welcome doctor robert redfield, director of the centers for Disease Control andprevention. Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. Will the witnesses please stand. So i may swear them and please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. You may be seated. Let the record show that the witnesses all answered in the affirmative. Without objection, your witness statements will be made part of the record. Doctor fauci, you are recognized foryour Opening Statement. Thank you mister chairman, Ranking Member scalise and members of the committee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss with you today role of the National Institutes of health in a Research Endeavor to address covid19. Our Strategic Plan which we put together several months ago and barks on 4 separate points. The first is to improve on the mental knowledge of the virus and the biology of the virus and the response to the virus. This has led to a delineation of the cryo em structure of the famous now protein which is the target of virtually all of the vaccines being produced today in addition to delineate the nature of the receptor in the body to which the virus binds, very important in understanding the path of physiology and pathogenesis of. In addition and number of Natural History studies including a study did in may to understand better the role of infection in children and what role they play in spreading the virus. In addition weve been involved in the second component which is the development of diagnostics. One of which ill point out to you is the nih rapid acceleration of diagnostics referred to as rad ask, including that which is aimed at underserved populations with that very large investment of money to develop pointofcare diagnostics to facilitate even more diagnostic capabilities. Next is the characterization and testing of therapeutics. It is well now now that over the past several weeks there have been two therapeutics that have passed randomized placebocontrolled trials or individuals late in the course of disease. One of these is remdesivir, a trial run by the nih which showed improvement in the time to survival in individuals who are hospitalized pulmonary disease. That has now been part of the standard of care in individuals with moderate to advanced disease. In addition a placebocontrolled randomized trial of dexamethizone showed improvement on individuals with respirators as well as those requiring oxygen and finally the development and testing of effective vaccines. Several months ago we put together what we call a strategic approach to covid19 Vaccine Research and Development Area and the reason we did this is because there were multiple candidate vaccines that are moving along at a very rapid pace and we wanted to make sure that they learned from each other so we made standardized protocols, common data and safety monitoring boards, common in their endpoint and the common individual efforts. There are three separate forms being pursued with government health, nucleic acid including the mrna of morgana, viral vectors such as emerald vectors andvsp and protein subunits. One of these is a trial that started last monday the 27th to begin a phased three trial. Its a trial that will go over several monthsinvolving 30,000 individuals. We hope that at the time get into the late fall and early winter we will have in fact a vaccine that we can say would be safe and effective. One can never guarantee the safety or effectiveness unless you do the trial but we are cautiously optimistic that this will be successful because in the early studies in humans, the phase 1 study it clearly showed that individuals who are vaccinated mounted a neutralizing antibody response that was at least comparable in many respects better than what we see in convalescent from individuals who have recovered from covid19. As i mentioned the phase 3 trial has already started. 30,000 individuals are already starting to enroll. I might also include members of the committee to point out that there is a website called coronavirus prevention network. Org where it individuals can indicate their willingness to participate in the Clinical Trials and to make sure we have a diverse representation already as of last night that have been over 250,000 individuals who have registered their interest in being in these trials and we just want to use my last couple of seconds to urge anyone whos listening wants to participate please go to that website and register so that you can be part of the solution of this terrible scourge. Thankyou mister chairman. Thank you very much doctor fauci and now we will hear from admiral giroir both are fine. Ranking member and distinguished members of the committee it is good to see all of you again its an essential component of our response to covid19, testing enables clinical decisionmaking and heralds the impending outbreak. It informs resource allocation and it assists in minimizing economic and social disruption but we cannot test our way out of this or any other pandemic. Testing does not replace personal responsibility. It does not substitute for avoiding crowding indoor spaces or washing hands were wearing a mask. A negative test does not mean you will be positive. A test does not substitute for avoiding crowds or wearing a mask or protecting the vulnerable with your actions. Two diagnosing covid19 rapidly in hospitalized patients to accelerate receipt of the proven treatments. Three, protecting the vulnerable, both the elderly and high risk racial ethnic and socioeconomic minorities, four, enabling identification and isolation of those who are infectious, coupled with Contact Tracing; five, advancing state testing plans to achieve Overall National objectives as well as state specific goals; and six, supporting safe reopening of schools and businesses through surveillance testing that does not impinge upon the clinical diagnostic system. With the time i have remaining i want to highlight two of these objectives, protecting the elderly has been is and will continue to be a foremost priority for this administration. On july 14th, we announce that every single nursing home in station would receive a point of care instrument and enough tests for their residents and staff to be tested. We are delivering on this promise. By the end of this week, we will have delivered according to schedule nearly 1 million point of care tests to 1,019 of the highest risk Nursing Homes with another 664 Nursing Homes scheduled for next week. My next point is about surveillance testing. We should separate the clinical diagnostic system from the Public Health Surveillance System. Diagnostics are for those who are hospitalized, symptomatic or with high risk exposures. Surveillance testing can be for College Students or potentially students in k through 12 or workers in environments that are not high risk or other similar situations. This type of surveillance can occur in labs, Like University Research Labs or veterinary diagnostic labs, outside of the fda authorization system at low cost and very high throughput. We are working closely with states and universities to implement this type of system, and many of them, like lsu already have. We have all the tools, the supplies, and the Regulatory Framework to enable a robust Surveillance System throughout the nation. In closing, we know how to flatten the curve, slow the spread, and save lives. Wear a mask. Practice physical distancing. Avoid crowded indoor spaces. Practice good hygiene by washing your hands frequently. If you feel sick, stay at home. And protect the elderly and vulnerable populations of all ages through your actions. I look forward to your questions, and thank you for the opportunity to provide these remarks. Thank you, doctor. Dr. Redfield . Good morning, chairman, Ranking Members, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today with my agency colleagues. On behalf of cdc, i want to extend our deepest sympathies for the loss of our nations esteemed georgia congressman and your colleague john lewis. Our nation will remember him for his courage, his conviction, his patriotism, and his commitment to equity for all. Cdc also remembers him as a fierce advocate for Public Health. Working together, we are positioned to honor his lifelong commitment to social justice by advancing Health Equity in mitigating the negative impact of racism on Public Health in our nation. The three of us here today are united in delivering of critical initiatives to stop the spread of covid19, to gain the upper hand on this pandemic in the United States, and to protect all americans, while dedicating greater attention to overcoming the Health Disparities experienced by populations at increased risk for this disease. We are seven months into this global pandemic, and it is with great humility that i share with you this is the most complex Public Health response this nation has undertaken in more than a century. This virus is indiscriminate regarding whom and when it strikes. We continue to learn its characteristics, behavior and effect on americans across the social economic spectrum. We are operating in a highly dynamic environment. We are adapting evidencebased strategies and pushing for Innovative Solutions to confront this unprecedented Public Health crisis. While im optimistic and look forward to discussing the promise of the covid19 vaccine, i want to strongly emphasize that we are not defenseless now. We have powerful tools, and if all of us, not just some of us, but all of us embrace these tools, we will get a handle on this pandemic. I am appealing to all americans to be part of the Public Health solution. Wearing a simple mask properly, its critical to limiting the transmission. Be smart about social distancing and being in crowded spaces, stay six feet apart from others, if possible, and be vigilant about hand hygiene. And together, we can turn the tide of this pandemic. With emergency funding, cdcs distributed more than 12 billion dollars to the state, tribal, local and Territorial Health departments to begin building the Public Health infrastructure this nation needs. But more importantly, that our nation deserves. This system has been underinvested in for decades and needs to be put on a path for sustained funding now. Data modernization is underway to ensure realtime actual data and Data Analytics and to include predictive data analysis. Public health labs are restructuring instituting the necessary resilience to rapidly respond to emergencies. Public Health Talent is being hired to enhance lab capacity, deploy cuttingedge Technology Solutions and conduct effective communitybased Contact Tracing. Public healthcare workers are deployed on the front lines of this pandemic and working 24 7 to protect the health and safety of americans. Cdc staff are on the ground in communities across the nation, supporting Public Health partners with an array of technical expertise. Our state and local partners are committed to advocating and educating about the needs to embrace Public Health strategies that best serve families and their communities. Essential workers, First Responders and Healthcare Professionals are steadfast in their service, sacrifice and commitment to save lives. Please take note and please tend to them as they are tending to us. We cannot afford to do it without them. As i recently told a group of cdcaspiring leaders this week, we are in the arena. Were dedicating, committed to doing our best, and im confident that united, we will emerge a better, stronger, and more resilient nation. Adversity requires all of us pushing harder, thinking differently, being innovative and perhaps most importantly always seeing the possible of what we can accomplish when we unite and Work Together. This pandemic has challenged us with its persistence, its uncertainty, and its unpredictability. And yet, im confident that together well prevail over this virus, but we must lead together in the best interest of our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and our nations generations to come. Thank you, and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, dr. Redfield. And thanks to all of you for your testimonies, and as i said earlier, you submitted to us testimony, and they are entered into the record. I recognize myself for five minutes for questions. On january 3 1st, 2020, exactly six months ago today, the secretary of health and Human Services declared the coronavirus outbreak, and i quote, a Public Health emergency for the entire United States. But rather than immediately bringing our nation together, to tackle the problem, the Trump Administration down played the crisis, ignored scientific experts and deferred tos and the private sector to lead the response. Dr. Fauci on march 11th of this year, you testified before the Oversight Committee saying, and i quote, its going to get worse. I regret to say you were right. It did get worse. On march 11th, the country had confirmed just over 1200 cases and 31 deaths. Today we have confirmed more than 4. 4 million cases, and we have just reached 150,000 deaths. Theres a chart that i have up here. This chart compares the number of new daily coronavirus cases in the United States to those in europe. It shows just how much worse the outbreak has been in the United States. The European Union, here the United States. And here we were along the way. We started going up, while the european countries, European Union plateaued and is going down. Dr. Fauci, can you help us understand why, why europe has largely contained the virus, the United States is seeing a continued rise in new cases . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. The answer to that question is really somewhat complex, but i will try maybe to very briefly go through what i believe are at least some of the factors that were involved. If you look at what happened in europe when they shut down or locked down or went to shelter in place, however you want to describe it, they really did it to the tune of about 95 plus percent of the country did that. When you actually look at what we did, even though we shut down, even though it created a great deal of difficulty, we really functionally shut down only about 50 in the sense of the totality of the country, which means when we reached our peak, as they did, they came down almost to a low baseline as youve shown very clearly, but take a look at what happened to our baseline. We came up, down, and then we plateaued at about 20,000 cases a day. So we started off with a very difficult baseline of transmission that was going on at the time that we tried to open up the country. And when we opened up the country, what we saw particularly most recently, the southern states, was an increase of cases to 20, 30, 40, 50, and a couple of weeks ago it was up to 70,000 per day, and now it is down between 50 and 60. The reasons for that are complex. There were some states that did it very well. And there were some states that did not. And when i say did not, i mean, you know, we put out as Ranking Member scalise mentioned, the guidelines of a gateway phase one, phase two, phase three. Some were followed very carefully and some were not. In those situations in which they were not, that led to the surging that youre showing on your chart there. And one of the reasons is not doing some of the things that dr. Redfield mentioned in his Opening Statement, universal wearing of masks, avoiding crowds, physical distancing, etc. , etc. , so its a complicated reason why those charts are that way, and hopefully as were going forward, we can turn those around, and i do believe we can, mr. Chairman, by doing some of the fundamental things that were talking about, five easy things to do that were mentioned by dr. Redfield. Thank you. Thank you very much. At the risk of going over my time, because of the votes on it, what im going to do is yield to you, mr. Ranking member, for five minutes. When ms. Watters gets back, i will let her have a chance so we can go vote. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Appreciate you being here. When we talk about President Trumps team that he has been relying on to help put together this plan and like i said this is just a small part of the plan. There are thousands and thousands of more pages online of various aspects of President Trumps plan to combat the coronavirus, but we have ok dr. Fauci but we have of course dr. Fauci, dr. Redfield, we see dr. Birx, theres a whole array of doctors, medical experts, best in the world that are helping work with President Trump to develop this plan, is that correct . If i could ask any of you all, is that correct . Were any of you sidelined from coming here . I know some people try to use that term. I havent heard of anybody side lined. If you were sidelined, please share it. I havent seen that. Good to see all of you here. Dr. Fauci, let me ask you about some of the decisions that you worked with President Trump on and the whole team did. I know when you go back to the beginning of this, the china ban was very heavily discussed, were you involved in working with President Trump on deciding to ban flights from china . Yes, sir, i was. Do you agree with that decision . I do. Do you think that decision saved lives, dr. Fauci . Yes, i do. Do you agree with the decision when ultimately we saw spread in europe and then the president recommended that we extend that to europe . Did you participate in that discussion . I was actively involved in that discussion. Do you agree with it . Yes, i do. Do you think the decision saved lives . Yes, i do. Eventually we saw the u. K. Have an outbreak. There had to be a tough decision made. Do we extend it to the u. K. . I was. Did you agree with that . I do. Did it save lives . Yes, it did. You look at 15 days to slow the spread, initially it started at 15, were you part of that decision to implement that . I was very much involved that. Did that decision save lives . I believe it did. When President Trump met with you and dr. Birx to extend that another 30 days, do you agree with that decision that the president made to extend that . I was very much involved and agree wit agree wit with it. Did that decision save lives . Yes, i did. There were respected doctors involved in each of the decisions; is that correct . Yes. By in large were you and President Trump were in agreement on most of those decisions we were in agreement in virtually all of those. I appreciate that. On the testing that you have been involved in to help carry out parts of President Trumps plan, you just talked about over a million testing machines, 15 minute machines that will be brought into Nursing Homes across the country. I know ultimately it is going to be 15,000 im sorry, over a thousand machines that will be delivered already. Is that plan in place and moving forward based on President Trumps guidance . It is. And that money in part was taken from the cares act, the bill that we worked with President Trump to pass in a bipartisan way through this congress, is that correct . Yes, sir, thats correct. And i have heard specifically from nursing home directors who have told me that this decision will save more lives in Nursing Homes. Have you heard the same . There is no question. I dont think any single decision has had more positive feedback than that one. And i know early off guidelines were put out back in march, these were part of the many guidelines that cms put out on guidance to prevent covid spread in Nursing Homes. We know that 45 governors followed this guidance. Five governors did not follow this guidance, and we saw in those states tens of thousands of seniors in Nursing Homes died who shouldnt have died, if this guidance was followed, by those governors, do you think they would have saved more lives . As i have testified here before, i think its a very concerning practice to send an infectious person back to a nursing home. Well thank you. I wish those governors would have followed the guidance that President Trumps team put out as part of a major overall plan. Dr. Redfield, i want to talk to you about reopening schools. I know you have been very involved in this. Cdc has put out multiple documents of guidance for safely reopening schools here. Checklist for parents, checklist for teachers, guidance for k through 12 School Administrators on the use of cloth face masks in school. Some people want to make that controversial. This is part of President Trumps plan to safely reopen schools, talking about the use of masks. Here you have School Decision making tool for parents, care givers and guardians. Are these part of the president s plan to safely reopen schools . Yes have you been involved with President Trump on that . Yes. Do you think schools should safely reopen with in Person Learning . Yes, i think it is important to realize that it is in the Public Healths interest for k through 12 schools to get back to facetoface learnings. Theres consequence of the School Closure they lack the ability to detect child abuse that occurs and is detected often in schools. Do you think how much child abuse will not be detected if children arent returning to the school we are seeing less reporting of it. I think it is a direct consequence of the School Closures. 7. 1 million kids get their Mental Health services at schools, nutritional support from schools. We are seeing an increase in drug use disorder as well as suicide in the adolescent individuals. I think it is really important to realize its not Public Health versus the economy about school opening. It is Public Health versus Public Health of the k through 12 to get the schools open. We need to do it safely, and weve got to be able to accommodate i appreciate that. I know were out of time. I hope the School Systems follow President Trump and the great medical doctors guidance and help those kids by safely reopening. I yield back and thank our witnesses. I thank the Ranking Member. We recognize mr. Maloney for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. I want to thank our witnesses today, particularly dr. Fauci who was born in the great city of new york, in the beautiful burrough of brooklyn. New yorkers are very proud that you were a new yorkraised, new york doctor before you became americas doctor. And i must say that as the chairman mentioned when we had our hearing on march 11th which i was privileged to chair when i asked you how was it going to go, you said it is going to worse and worse and worse. The next day everybody started closing down, sports clubs, the museums, and treating it with the seriousness that the disease had to be treated with. And at that hearing, when asked about testing, you said, and i quote, that were not really geared up to do what we need right now. In fact, you said, and you called it failing. Now, it is five months later, where would you rate us now in our efforts . I know my city and other cities have worked diligently trying to respond. Where would you put us now with testing . What do we have to do to continue to get better . Well, i think you can get a more detailed response from the admiral, but i will comment, i think that things are considerably different and improved now than it was several months ago, both for the numbers of tests that have been improved as well as for the efforts that are going into to expand our capability. In other words, to more prudently have screening testing done in one segment as well as testing to determine diagnosis and follow up on others, but the doctor is much Better Qualified to give you the details of that. But i would like to now move to vaccines. Thats the challenge now. And i recall reading one of your reports on aids, and you said i will never retire until we have a vaccine. We still dont have a vaccine for aids. Ebola took five years. How realistic is a vaccine . Is it dreaming, or is it a reality . Are the protocols as safe as they possibly could be for as weve always had for vaccines . Could you give us an honest assessment of where our country is in Vaccine Development . Yeah. Its reality, congresswoman maloney, i believe it will occur. I think the difference between hiv and coronavirus is so different that i dont think you can compare them because the body does not make a very good immune response against hiv so it makes Vaccine Development very difficult. Whereas the body does make a robust immune response against coronavirus which tells us that i believe that we can get to that goal. I know to some people this seems like it is so fast that there might be compromising of safety and in scientific integrity. I can tell you that is absolutely not the case. The way we are doing it is as a result of very different technologies in getting from the time we recognized this pathogen in the beginning of january to the time we were able to get into a phase one trial to the time we were able to do phase two and then as i mentioned, just this past monday, we started a phase three. That was not reckless rushing. That was technology and doing things in a way that does not compromise any of the steps. So i believe that it is realistic, as i mentioned in my Opening Statement, that the early data from the phase one trial shows that this candidate, and im sure other candidates will do it also, this is not the only vaccine. There are more than one. There are about a dozen, five or six that the federal government is actively involved with is going into phase three trials over the next few months, as i mentioned, one of which is already in. The response that was induced was really quite favorable, and as i have said often and i will repeat it for the record now, theres never a guarantee that you are going to get a safe and effective vaccine, but from everything we have seen now, in the animal data, as well as the early human data, we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year, and as we go into 2020 t. 1. 2021. So i dont think it is dreaming, congresswoman. I believe it is a reality and will be shown to be a reality. Thats very good news. The second step is how do we distribute it . And also, reports are that china and russia are involved in their tests and that they have advanced tests across the world. They are testing in brazil, indonesia for their vaccines. Should they develop one earlier, would we manufacture it here . When we develop it, how do we plan to distribute it . We also have to think about the world because if we dont cure it in the world, then we havent cured it too. Right the steps forward after the vaccines developed. Sure. There are a couple questions there. I will try to answer them quickly, congresswoman. The first thing is i do hope that the chinese and the russians are actually testing the vaccine before theyre administering the vaccine to anyone because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing i think is problematic at best. We are going very quickly. I do not believe that there will be vaccines so far ahead of us that we will have to depend on other countries to get us vaccines. I believe the program that is being sponsored by us right now and being directed and implemented by us is going at a very rapid speed, prudent, but rapid. Now, with regard to distribution, already right now there are plans as was mentioned i believe by Ranking Member scalise that were taking at risk financial risk, not safety risk, but financial risk the development of doses of vaccine right now as we speak so that they will be ready by the time we do show safety and efficacy, we will be able to distribute it, and it will be done by a number of mechanisms, the standard mechanism working with the recommendation by the acip, together with the cdc, now being complemented by recommendations from National Academy of medicine and in collaboration with the department of defense and the cdc working together, it will be distributed. Thank you. My time is expired thank you very much, dr. Fauci. The chair recognizes for five minutes thank you. The most important thing the federal government is working on right now is ensuring im optimist, that we will use the term when and not if when it comes to getting a vaccine shown through trials to be safe and effective that we have manufacturing and Distribution Capabilities to go and get it across the nation quickly. I believe that. President trump has announced operation warp speed to achieve the goal of deliver 3g00 million doses of delivering 300 million doses of a vaccine by january 2021, leveraging the public and private sector the partnerships that are there and becoming partnerships and is unprecedented in this country. I salute that. Astrazeneca told the energy and Commerce Committee a few days ago that this deal it will sell 300 million doses to the government at no profit. Johnson and johnson said it will provide its vaccine at no for profit price. Other Companies Working on vaccines have promised low prices. Between the ms pros of low case between the promises of low prices and existing Government Programs that cover the cost of vaccine, is it safe to say that every american will be able to get a vaccine once it is approved . Given what you mentioned, which i agree with, the promises of company about hundreds of millions of doses, i believe ultimately over a period of time in 2021, if we have, and i think we will have a safe and effective vaccine, that americans will be able to get it. I dont think that we will have everybody getting it immediately in the beginning. It probably will be phased in, and thats the reason why we have the committees to do the prioritization of who should get it first. But ultimately within a reasonable period of time, the plans now allow for any american who needs a vaccine to get it within the year 2021. Right. That is the plan. Right. Staying on the topic of vaccin vaccines, it is my understanding that operation warp speed enabled Clinical Trials for the most promising vaccine candidates to be run simultaneously which will get a vaccine to the market much faster than normal. My understanding from listening to you just a few minutes ago we have eliminated no safety steps in the vaccine approval process; correct . That is correct. Again, just to be clear, so the folks that are watching this are hearing this clearly, concisely and truthfully from you, the fda is not compromising Safety Standards in order to speed up vaccine process approval; correct . Well, i would say it a different way. Okay. We at the nih are doing the vaccine studies with the companies. The fda will look at that data, and on a sciencebased decision will make a determination as to the safety and efficacy and whether or not it will be approved. The fda is a sciencebased decisionmaker. But as far as you know, in that, i agree, but the fda is not compromising Safety Standards . No. No way no how is the fda compromising Safety Standards. No. Their answers and approvals are based on science . Yes, historically the fda has based their decisions on science. They will do it this time also. Im certain. I appreciate it. Thanks for your assurances that we will have a safe, affordable and widely available vaccine for the American People. All of america is praying that one of these promising candidates comes through. Thats why im so disappointed that we have seen some on the other side of the aisle speculate aloud that the administration might rush an unsafe vaccine to the market before the election to help President Trump politically. This irresponsible rhetoric only serves to plant irrational fears in the minds of americans. Im worried that enough of these types of attacks could result in people avoiding an approved vaccine when it does come to market, when it is available for americans. Dr. Fauci, can you address this once and for all . Would the administration approve a vaccine thats not safe . And do you share my concern about the danger of undermining faith in the Vaccine Development process . The commission of fda, dr. Steven hahn has assured me and has spoken publicly that he would make sure any decision on the part of the fda would be based on sound scientific data, proving the safety and the efficacy. Hes told me that, and hes been very public about that. Given that, i think the American Public should be assured that in the process of determining the safety and efficacy, the proper steps have been taken to determine that, and when a vaccine becomes available, its important for their own health and for the health of the country to take that vaccine. I appreciate that. Thank you, gentlemen. I cant let this moment pass without bringing to all of our attention again and to the chairman that just last week, the Justice Department indicted two chinese nationals for hacking companies that are working on a vaccine. We sent a strong message to china this will not be tolerated. Im glad the administration took action by naming and shaming those involved as well as closing down a chinese consulate that was a hub for intellectual property and trade secret theft. We must hold china accountable, mr. Chairman. We have to. Mr. Chairman, before i close, can you commit to holding a hearing on the threat of chinese espionage on vaccine products . Vaccine producers . Mr. Chairman . Whoever is sitting in for mr. Chairman . Will you promise me that we will hold a hearing on the threat of chinese espionage on vaccine producers . The chairman is not here to answer the question. You have a few seconds left. Your time has expired mr. Chairman, this is a grave threat for the record. Thank you mr. Chairman this is a grave threat to our country and the world if china is hacking our companies. I seriously hope the chairman will take my recommendation. I yield back. Thank you very much. I will recognize myself for five minutes. On july 10, the Trump Administration ordered hospitals to change how they reported hospitalization rates, testing numbers and other data related the coronavirus. Instead of reporting to the cdc, which hospitals have done for more than a decade, they were instructed to start reporting the data to the Trump Administration directly, specifically the department of health and Human Services. They were given just two days to prepare for this drast change, leading Health Groups warn that the changes in data reporting will, quote, worsen our ability to mitigate, suppress, and recover from our national Public Health emergency, unquote. Other experts are concerned that this decision may have been made so the Trump Administration could control and hide data it finds politically inconvenient. Dr. Redfield, when did you first learn that the administration planned to move the data from the cdc to a different portal run by hhs . Well, congresswoman, we werent directly involved in the final decision. What i can say is that cdc then and now continues to have access to all data, does all Data Analytics so theres no restriction of any of the data and that data we continue to forward face the American Public. Dr. Redfield, when were you first told, notified . Again, as i mentioned, i wasnt involved the decision. I dont remember the exact date. Am i to understand i dont remember the exact date. Am i to understand that you were not told at all . Well, i was told actually once the secretarys office made the decision that that was the decision. We worked together how long was that . I dont remember, but i can get back to you the exact date, but we did work in cooperation to help make sure reclaiming my time, did you agree with this decision, dr. Redfield . Again, i think it was an important decision did you agree with the decision . Yes, i said it is an important decision thank you. Did you discuss this change with Vice President pence or secretary azar . Not directly. Indirectly . I talk directly with the individuals responsible within the secretarys office. Did you discuss it with Vice President pence . No. Did you discuss it with secretary azar . No. Who told you about the reasons for this change . Well, i think we collectively understood the reasons if i can answer is there was substantial advancements in therapeutics with remdesivir which made it really important to be able to understand who was newly hospitalized in realtime that day so allocations of remdesivir could get to that hospital. I thank you very much for that. You developed the reasons no one dictated the reasons or told you the reasons for the change. You came up with the reasons . Congresswoman, yes, i think it was important that we were able to in realtime be able to know where remdesivir needed to go. The system we had developed, the National Healthcare Safety Network that we do for were you told about the changes, why they were being done, or did you and others develop the changes . Who told you . We worked together we work cooperatively together as members of the hhs and cdc in recognizing the importance of these changes. I only have so much time. The Trump Administration has threatened to cut off the supplies to remdesivir to hospitals that dont follow the new reporting mandates. Should a patient be denied access to a po potentially life saving drug like remdesivir because a hospital was unable to comply with a sudden change in hhs reporting requirements . My understanding is we continue to do everything to make sure that remdesivir gets to all patients that would potentially benefit from it do you agree that they may not be able to get them to patients because of the way that the information was given and the time frame that it was given in . Congresswoman, i would disagree. I think the reason the changes were made to assure that individuals could get access to remdesivir in a timely fashion. Would you agree that we basically well, this is the only drug known to successfully treat the coronavirus. Should a patient be denied access to a potentially life saving drug like remdesivir because a hospital was unable to comply with a sudden change in hhs reporting requirements . And again, im trying to say i think the intent and the consequence of what was done to ensure patients arent denied access to remdesivir to make sure we get timely distribution to the hospitals where these patients are. Thank you very much. Ive exhausted my time. Next we will hear from mr. Foster, i believe . Mr. Lukameier is next. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Th thank the witnesses for being here today. On tuesday, july 14th, you stated that right now were seeing sadly far greater suicides than we are deaths from covid. Were seeing far greater deaths from Drug Overdose than are above excess as background than we are seeing deaths from covid. Since the pandemic began, alcohol sales increased by more than 25 and suspected Drug Overdoses have climbed 18 . I have said this almost every hearing. We need to make sure we are looking at both sides of this healthcare issue. We are targeting our approach right now to take care of those with covid but also need to make sure that we are looking at the severe unintended consequences like Substance Abuse, domestic violence, child abuse that are occurring due to the economic shutdowns that took place across the country because these instances will be around far longer than the virus itself. Dr. Redfield, do you believe that the blanket shutdowns happening throughout the country are contributing to increase in Substance Abuse, suicides, lack of cancer screenings, treatments and operations and other things like that that weve sort of left out of the picture here as a result of our total focus on covid . Congressman, i thank you for the question. I think it is really important as we reopen america now that were much more surgical about those situations that are curtailed. As you mentioned, we clearly our consequences for the discrease in immunization in children, consequences of lack of cancer screenings, consequences for delayed surgeries that were elective that are now semielective, clearly consequences of Substance Abuse and Mental Health services. So it really is important as we reopen our nation that we really ensure that theres not these unintended consequences that i think the reality is did occur during march, april, and may. You know, there was an article that appeared in one of the local magazines with regards to trying to quantify that figure. And they did. It came up with a figure around 65,000 people per month that were dying because of the lack of healthcare that was either being postponed, denied, waived, whatever, versus our total focus on covid. Dr. Fauci, i have watched a number of your press conferences, and ive seen you articulate a lot about covid, but i have never seen you talk about this other part of the healthcare spectrum that we need to be considering also. Would you like to comment on that and give me your position on that, please. Yes, i actually have commented on that, when ive said most recently talking about schools that i think that a default position, despite the fact that we have to have flexibility, would be to try as best as we possibly can in the context of the safety of the children and the teachers, to open the schools, for the very reasons that i think you mentioned, and that dr. Redfield mentioned, because of the negative consequences on children, from a psychological standpoint as well as the downstream unintended consequences on families. You know, one of the things one of the problems that we have here on this committee is were sitting here looking at the consequences of a problem that we have with covid. We are looking at the consequences we have on not attending to the healthcare needs of rest of society, and we have to sit here and figure out how do we manage this . How do we look at both sides of this . How do we from 30,000 feet make sure everybody is taken care of . And our position, what would you recommend, dr. Redfield, how we should approach this problem . Again, i want to echo what dr. Fauci said earlier. We think that if you do five things, we can accomplish as much as we did in shutting down this nation. Wear Face Covering all those things will be able to put us back address the other part of this as well . We can get back without the unintended consequences, the face masks, social distancing, hand hygiene, staying smart about gatherings and staying out of crowded bars and crowded restaurants. If we did those five things, weve done modelling data, we get the same bang for the buck as if we just shut the entire economy down. Okay. You youve commented quite a bit already on school openings. Your comment was it is not about the economy or Public Health it is about Public Health versus Public Health. I have some grand kids. I want them to go back to school. I think for their own health they need to do that. You made the comment you have grandchildren you would like to see that happen as well. Would you like to comment on the other part of this, again, the unintended consequences of the problems with child abuse thats not being reported because most of it a lot of it is reported by teachers. Weve seen that go down. We have seen emergency cases in Emergency Rooms go up as a result of this. Can you comment on some of that, please. I just congressman thank you, i just want to reemphasize because i dont think i can emphasize it enough as the director of the centers for Disease Control, the leading Public Health agency in the world, it is in the Public Health interest that these k through 12 students to get these schools back open for facetoface learning. Mental health service, 7. 1 million kids get it in school. Nutrition, we talked about. Reporting of child abuse, sexual abuse, mandatory in schools. The isolation that thesed a these adolescents are feeling that is associated with increased Drug Overdose deaths and increased suicides, i think it is really important as a grand father, 11 grand kids, i want these kids back in school. I have one grandchild with cystic fibrosis. I want it done smartly. I think we have to be honest, that the Public Health interest of the students in this nation right now is to get a quality education and facetoface learning and we need to get on with it the gentlemans time is expired. The chair now recognizes for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. Gentlemen, its been six months since this crisis began. Yet new infections are still climbing in many states. Many hospitals are at capacity. And thousands of americans are dying. I am concerned about widespread delay in test results that are contributing to this problem. In arizona the test Positivity Rate is over 20 , but test results there have been delayed by up to 16 days. In florida, many hospitals in the state are near or at capacity, but results can take over a week. In georgia, some companies have reported average processing times of five to ten days. Dr. Fauci, you said in a recent interview, and i quote, if youre going to do Contact Tracing, and the test comes back to five to seven days, you might as well not do Contact Tracing because its already too late. Dr. Fauci, if a fiveday testing delay is too long, then if its there to say that a 16 day delay is absurd. What are the consequences from the delays . I believe you can get a more detailed answer from the admiral, but as i said before, that is a delay that would interfere with the effective Contact Tracing, and were trying to decrease that, but the exact numbers of the delay i believe that the admiral has more precise information on that. Yes, sir . Admiral . What are the consequences from these delays . Thank you, maam. About half of the tests are done either at point of care or at hospitals which are pretty rapid. The current data we have from the large commercial labs are that 59 of all tests are reported within three days. 76 within five days. And im sure theres an outlier at 12 to 16 days because that happens, but thats very atypical, and in the cities you talked about sir, that is not what we are hearing from places like arizona, florida, and georgia. I get the data every single morning from every single state and can tell you specifically what that is. We have surge testing. We have brought federal resources to massively surge in phoenix, and thats why its totally gone down. In miami, totally gone down, jacksonville. Reclaiming my time. Dr. Redfield, i would like to turn to you. Does the cdc have comprehensive information about the wait times for test results in all 50 states . I didnt quite hear you, sorry. Does the cdc have comprehensive information about the wait times for test results in all 50 states . I would refer that question back to the admiral. Sir . Yes, we have comprehensive information on wait times in all 50 states, from the large commercial do you publish this data . This data . We talk about it whenever always, i mean you dont think it would be important i was with 69 journalists yesterday, and we talk about that frequently, so if you would like to see that, im very happy to do that. Well, it would be great so that those that are making the decisions at the state and city level, we have access to that information. They do. Because it is important to understand they do. They have that information. In fact, from the commercial labs, when they place an order, theyre told exactly what the expected wait time is for that order. So we cannot expect to reopen the economy safely if the virus is spreading unchecked. Testing, Contact Tracing and isolation will not be effective unless we cut the turn around time for tests. I dont want to talk about puerto re key rico, thats another story. It was told the economy on the course of the virus and the measures we take to keep it in check. The fed will use its full range of tools to steer the economy out of recession. That was said by chairman powell. If the federal government using its full range of tools to get the virus under control, like other countries have. Many states are reconsidering their reopening plans after experiencing a shocking increase in new cases and being unable to stop the spread. Dr. Fauci, what roles does the lack of testing, Contact Tracing play in a states inability to control the virus . Testing and Contact Tracing is one of the number of tools that are used to control the kind of surging we have seen. But i would also like to point out congresswoman, to reemphasize again what i said in my Opening Statement, that we can do a really good job of controlling it if we paid attention to five fundamental principles, one of which is what were doing here right. With masks, crowds, distance, bars, washing hands. That is critical. Testing is absolutely an important part of it, an important part and i understand that, but the largest and most important [inaudible]. It doesnt matter what you say if what you said is undermined by the president of the United States. The gentleladys time is expired. The chair recognizes for five minutes mr. Jordan. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Do protests increase the spread of the virus . Do protests increase the spread of the virus . I think i can make a general statement half a million protesters on june 6th alone. Im asking that number of people, does it increase the spread of the virus . Crowding together, particularly when you are not wearing a mask, contributes to the spread of the virus. Should we limit the protesting . Im not sure what you mean should how do we say limit the protesting . The government limit the protesting . I dont think thats relevant to you just said if it creans the you said if it increases the spread of the virus, should we limit it . Youve made comments on dating, baseball, everything you can imagine. I just said if protests cause the spread, should we limit the protests . I think i leave that to people more in position. Last week, five liberals on the Supreme Court said it was okay for nevada to limit Church Services. Justice gorsuch said it best, he said theres no world in which the constitution permits nevada to favor Caesars Palace over calvary chapel. Im not favoring anybody over anybody. Im just making a statement thats a broad statement that avoid crowds of any type, no matter where you are because that leads to the acquisition and transmission. I dont judge one crowd versus another crowd. When you are in a crowd, particularly if you are not wearing a mask, that induces the spread. It is a simple question, doctor. Should we limit the protests . Government is obviously limiting people going to church. Look, im not theres been no violence that i can see at church. I havent seen people during a Church Service go out and harm Police Officers or burn buildings, but we know that i mean for 63 days, nine weeks, its been happening in portland. Right, yeah. One night in chicago, 49 officers were injured. But no limit to protests, but boy you cant go to church on sunday. I dont know how many times i can answer that. Im not going to opine on limiting anything. I going to tell you you have opined on a lot of things, dr. Fauci. Yeah, but i never this is something that directly impacts the spread of the virus. Im asking your position on the protests. Im not going to opine on limiting anything. Im telling you what it is the danger. You can make your own conclusion about that. You should stay away from crowds. No matter where the crowds are. Government has stopped people from going to work. In fact, just in new jersey, four days ago, two were arrested for opening for trying to operate their business, their gym, they were arrested. But my bet is, if these two individuals owned this gym were outside just in front of their gym and all the people who were working out in their gym were outside protesting, they would have been just fine, but because they were in the gym, working out, actually running their business, they got arrested. Do you think thats okay . You know, im not going to opine on who gets arrested and who does not. I mean, you get where im going . Im telling you as a Public Health official, i say crowds you see the inconsistency, though, dr. Fauci . Theres no inconsistency, congressman. Youre allowed to protest millions of people on one day in crowds yelling, screaming, but you try to run your business, you get arrested and if you stood outside that same business and protested you wouldnt get arrested . You dont see any consistency there . I dont understand what youre asking me as a Public Health official to opine on who should get arrested or not. Thats not my position. You could ask youve advocated for certain businesses to be shut down. Im just asking you on your position on the protests. I havent seen one weve heard a lot about hair salons. I havent seen one hairstylist who between hair cuts goes out and attacks police or sets something on fire. We have seen all kinds of that stuff during protests, and we know the protests increase the spread of the virus. Youve said that. I said crowds. I didnt say specifically i didnt say protests so the protests dont increase the spread of the virus . I didnt say that. You are putting words in my mouth. I just want an answer to the question. Do the protests increase the spread of the virus . I dont have any Scientific Evidence that anything i can tell you that crowds are known particularly when you dont have a mask to increase the acquisition and transmission. No matter what the crowd you dont have a position on whether the protests increased the spread of the virus or dont increase the spread of the virus . Im saying that crowds, wherever the crowds are can give you an increased probability that theres going to be acquisition and transmission but do you understand americans concerns . Protesting particularly to democrats is just fine but you cant go to work, school, or church. Theres limits placed on all three of those fundamental activities, but protesting is just fine . You know the gentlemans time has expired, but i will just ask the gentleman to think about his question and put it in the reference to the crowds that gather at political meetings, at fundraisers, without masks, in texas, nobody wearing a mask, nobody social distancing, but a fundraiser. Would that be problematic . With that, i yield five minutes to mr. Foster. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Dr. Fauci and dr. Redfield, im a scientist as you are. And so you know how important it is that when a great scientific breakthrough reaches the public, that the proper credit is given, not to just those who show up and claim credit at a press conference, but to the long list of federally funded researchers who have made these breakthroughs possible. And also to the enlightened federal employees and the politicians who funded that research. I remember back when a few years ago when we had newspaper headlines about all the miraculous cures in cancer, immunotherapy where i gave a floor speech on the u. S. House saying yeah this was great but equally great were the decades of federally funded research and the researchers who made those clinical breakthroughs possible and also frankly some of the credit goes to the democratic and republican members of congress who resisted the proposals for massive budget cuts to science that were proposed by republicans for years and the paul ryan budgets and the trump and mulvaney budget cuts since then. In the case of the vaccines that have been in the news this week, the story doesnt start with operation warp speed or start with historic 63 day sprint from the publication of the viral genome to the first patient injected by the mrna test vaccines, the sprint i believe began when President Trump when President Trump well, this sprint actually began when President Trump was still ridiculing the idea of the pandemic. The sprint actually started when dedicated employees at nih and moderna who understood the danger of covid19 and began working day and night. The story of federal investments in mrna vaccines actually starts i believe back in 2009, when president obama, who was at the time unhappy with the speed of response to the h1n1 swine flu epidemic convened and famously asked if you are so smart, how come you still make vaccines with chicken eggs . One year later, in august 2010, there was a report put out on reengineering vaccine production for pandemics which emphasized the potential of new technologies to make vaccines and therapeutics available far faster in a pandemic. Heeding the advice of his scientific panel, which they did, back in those days, in 2013, the Obama Administration awarded a 25 Million Dollars grant to a start up called moderna to develop their mrna vaccine platform for pandemic response. This was followed in 2015 by 125 Million Dollars investment so that by the end of the Obama Administration, moderna had mrna vaccines and therapeutics under tests in both animals and humans. So why is it that the Obama Administration prioritized mrna vaccines and therapeutics . Well, first off, it is their speed of development, which we saw realized in the 63day sprint. Its the speed of manufacturer which has to do with the high yields of in vitro transcription reactions and their potency. Scientifically the exciting news of the last few months is a potent human immune response from come from doses as low as 30 micrograms of mrna vaccine. 30 micrograms, what does that mean . It means this one liter bottle if it were full of nrna vaccine mrna vaccine would contain 30 million vaccines, enough to vaccinate every one of americans doctors, First Responders or all seniors over 75 years old. Thats why the Obama Administration invested in mrna vaccines and therapeutics starting back in 2009 and without those investments, frankly, project warp speed would not have squat. Dr. Fauci, would you agree that when there are great medical breakthroughs that the public needs to be reminded about the long line of federal r d thats led to therapeutic successes that were anticipating . administrations both democratic and republican and whether or not the congress was controlled by democrats or republicans, the support for Biomedical Research that goes back decades leading to everything your talking about, but even before then, some of the antibiotic work, some of the work being done with the medical calls directly antiviral molecules. We forget that when we think of the product and often forget is a think you pointedded to what are the scientific investments we should be making now to ensure were petitioner prepared for future pandemics and how can we support those investments with the kind of science budget cuts were seeing proposed in trump and mull vaney budget. I hope we dont debt cuts have been proposed again and again. Okay. Looks like my time is up. Mr. Chairman, over here. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record story from june 5, 2020, underscoring what dr. Fauci wouldnt answer today. He says large protests across the country are a perfect setup for spreading covid19. Said that a month ago even though he wouldnt say it today. Thats the story from Business Insider and ask unanimous consent to enter see record the june 12th store dr. Fauci si says attending rallies, protests is risky even though today his position seems to have changed. Obviously has changed on many things over the last several months but a s no enter those articles for the record. Ill yield to dr. Fauci si. Like insaid any crowd, any crowd, whether its protests, any crowd in which you have people close together, without masks, is a risk. Ill stick by that statement. Its a Public Health statement. Its not a judgment on why youre there in the crowd. Its a statement related to the fact that youre in a crowd. Thank you, dr. Fauci. Mr. Chairman i at any time ask him a question. You let behind respond i was make unanimous consent. Im going run this meeting. Id like to chance im going to chair this meeting. I understand thats i said mr. Chirm. Without objection, your statements, whatever you have there, will be entered into the record. And without objection. Any gathering, whether youre protesting or whether youre politicking, any gathering would be risky and thats what the man has said, and bet that i not what i happening. Thats my point. All that jerk thats what is happening. People cant go to church, couldnt mr. Chairman, that gentleman is out of order. They can protest all they want. That guess for the democrats and republicans. Ill make the decision as to who is out of order. Im going to be as gentlemenly as you will allow me to be. I appreciate that mr. Chairman. Thank you. And with that, i yield five minutes to mr. Grown. Thank you, chairman, Ranking Member and 2 3 your amazes service to our country. First, dr. Fauci, bit of an uproar about a picture of you the nationals game without your mask on. I think you were seated with your wife. You had a close friend there with no one else nearby you. And that gentleman who is with you had his mask on. I think you have said in the you took it off to take a drink of water. I just want to point out according to an article in the new england online of medicine, and i quote, significant exposure to covid19 means facetoface contact within six feet with a patient with symptomatic covid19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes in some say more than ten minute order 30 minutes, the chance of catching covid19 from a passing interaction in a public space is of there minimal, end quote. The science seems to be pretty keir we should absolutely wear masks when were in close contact with those outside of our household. Just the conclusion of that discussion. Its not a crime to pull your mask off to take a drink of water in 100degree temperature when you seated next to your wife and someone else is there. I guess i make the point to show how the media has created all of this hype which has led to some officials across the country making decision that are not based on science, and there are real consequences to those. If people are hot, they shouldnt get heat stroke and not take their mask off; so id like to move on to some other troubling actions that were done this week. This week the chairman of the committee sent four letters all to republican fors in red states demanding extensive documents related to coronavirus response. The White House Coronavirus Task Force Report has 21 states listed in the socalled red zone. This isnt about transparency. Its about ridiculing four states, including my home state of tennessee, and it distort the truth. The letter singled our g. O. P. States and what but the other 17 states . Why didnt california get included in the letter . Theyve seep an explosion in positive casesful theyre in the spike. Theyre in the 21 listed red zone states. Targeting only republican fors when clearly 17 other states, many of whom are democrat, are also experiencing the spikes and in the red zone, shows this effort has nothing to do with getting ans and is as the chairman has said in his opening comments, politics over science. No scientist who wants the truth samples just republicans. Honestly, its laughable partisan strike. It also compounded the insult to all americans for the failure of the committee to look at the real culprit. Also i said in previous testimony, Columbia University study showed that 66 of american death quds have been preveined if the china had spoken up one week earlier. Thats thousands of american lives that could have been saved. So instead of addressing the cause of 66 of our casualties, the select committee on the coronavirus picks on american businesses, the trump admission and now four state governors all republican. When we know other blue states are in the exact same situation. This is the definition of partisanship but i can hear it now. Didnt the right send a letter to certain for and yes we did. Eave single for who refused to follow the trump plan, emphasis on plan, and sent covid positive patients back to Nursing Homes, killing patients. We didnt select just a few of those. I applaud congressman foster who approached me as a physician and asked me to join a bipartisan partnering with the administration to assist in the execution of operation warp speed plan. That is how we should be functioning. That kind of bipartisan action. Finally on a positive knost i wanted to mention the swedish study and then ask dr. Fauci questions because it illuminates the exciting findings in science. T cells are a type of bride blood cell that regulate immune response the swedish study fount that many people with mild asymptomatic covid demonstrate socalled t cell inmuseum to the coronavirus the study further found that twice as men who tests possible positive for antibiotics had t cell inmuseum. Id love if you could educate america on t cell immunity and what the ramifications for the plan. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Very quickly try to answer that. So, there are two limbs limbs oe immune sons, one is an antibiotic a protein made to bind to virus and i was usually the hallmark of protection against infection. Theres another walmart of the immune response called the cellar immune response of t cells and those t cells have the capability of suppressing or killing cells that are infected and preventing the cells that are infected from making new viruses. So there are two parts of it. Even though one is generally felt to be protecting against the initial infection, the other is an important complimentary, and youre right, the swedes came out with a paper and also a paper from nih grantees from la jolla just came out in the journal, cell, showing the same thing. That an individuals who are innexted and recovered they had t cell responses but importantly, there was t cell reactively also detecterred in nonexposed individuals which indians maybe theres some memory from other coronaviruses that are be nine benign, cold viruses youre compose ode that might i say might explain why some people even children might be protected that they had exposure that is not measured in antibodies but measured be t cells. This is work re need pursue. Were just at the cusp of understanding the importance of this type of response in covid19. Thank you. Thank you. The egentlemans time expired, as i yield to mr. Raskin for five multiples, may i address the letter which i have responded to. You have an answer from me. You have not seen the answer . Just be sure, sense you put the letter on he record here left me put any response on the record. My response had to do with the four states that have refused to comply with the critical recommendations from the task force, and all four have governors who have publicly stated they do not plan to comply. In contrast with that we did not the letter to those state that did indicate they were will comply with the task force, and thats three of those states had republican governors and they did not get a letter from us. So this has nothing to do with partisanship, but with the political response rather than responding to the science. For that he yield mr. Was skip for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman for calling the hearing on the urgent need for a National Plan. A stack of paper is not a plan. A large and unwieldy stack of paper is not a plan. The plan is a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for victory, and we havent seen anything like a plan, no one has shown us myth. Blaming other countries is not a plan. Blaming china is not a plan. Blaming china is not even a good excuse for the lethal incompetence and disinformation of President Trump. Chinas early coverup of the disease only deepens the responsibility and complicity of President Trump who on 37 different occasions, as ive demonstrated by submissions to the committee, defended and excused and praised the Chinese Government and president xi, a plan is a plan and havent heard what the man is and this is what has bee deviled it from the gym. We have 4. 4 million cases. We lead the world in case count. We lead the world in death count. More than 153,000 americans dead right now. 54 Million People filed for unemployment benefits. He weve seen a third drop in gdp. A oneshared drop, up press denned in economic activity. The chart behind me demonstrates the astonishing and terrifying growth of this disease. It took us 98 days to reach one million cases. It took us 44 days to reach two million cases. It took 26 days to reach three million cases, and it took us only 15 days to reach four million cases. Director redfield, when do you estimate well get to five million cases . What is next. Thank you, congressman. I think one thing id learn bet the voicer its not predictable. I will say one thing that is important. What happens next is really dependent upon if the American Public fully embraced what we asked. If they fully embrace the five steps well get control of this pandemic. I thank you for that and i thank both you and dr. Fauci si which are restating the absolute imperative and importance of everyone Wearing Masks out in public and everybody maintaining social distance and following the other Public Health patrol cal buts the Pentagon Health officials have been subjected to harassment and we have seen some today. Has been subjected to ridicule andle subjected to ludicrous absurd contradiction. So i want to go through the propaganda and disinformation quickly as a Public Service announce. Because america is watching you, and dr. Fauci, why dont i start with you. Are children almost immune to the disease . Yes or no. Are children almost immune to the disease . We have to okay be at more precise, almost inmuseum . Do children get enfeebled, yes. Hundreds of thousands of children been infected. So children are not almost immune to the disease. Its covid19 going to mam magically disappears . I do not believe itself would disappears because its such a highly transmissible virus and unlikely its going to disappear. Does wearing a mask give people covid19 . Does wearing a mansion give it . No. Okay. Not to my knowledge. Is covid19 a hoax . No. Should people take hydroxychloroquine as a cure for covid19 . The overwhelming cumulative evidence of properly conducted randomized control trials indicate no therapeutic efficacy. Can people cure. Thes of covid19 by injecting themselves with disinfectant . Or bleach . Im sorry . No. Are you safe from the disease if you go to one of the aform mentioned large assemblies, crowds, demonstrations, without a mask on, and not observing social distancing, if you sign a waiver that you wont sue the sponsor of the event . Im not our these things are connectioned but ill repeat what i said multiple times. Being in a crowd particularly without a mansion is a risk for acquisition and transmission. Signing a with a Vice President confer immunity on you from being ineffected by the disease. No, of course not. All right. Dr. Fauci, the european governments are in completely different place. Theyve got the disease on the run. In fact, the Asian Countries have the disease on the run. I saw some remarkable figures, almost every other country on earth is doing far, far better than the United States except for brazil whose president , follow President Trumps policies but we have 153,000 dead. Canada, our next door neighbor, has less than 9,000. We have 17 time the number of deaths from it. China, which is much larger than the United States, has lost 4,661 people. We have lost 153,000 people. Our rate of death is 36 times higher than china and on and doon. Do we have the financial resource and scientific expertise in america to do what other governments have done to bring the infection rate down to something manageable so the end is in sight of this nightmare . I believe we do have the tools and certainly theres been a considerable degree of financial investment. So what is the difference, why are all of the other countries defeating the disease and were not . Why do we not have a plan, strategy for victory to win to beat covid19 . I believe i addressed that in not only my Opening Statement but also in response to the question of one the congressman and that is when you look at the comparison between asia and europe as shown by the chairmans potion pottser up there when she shut down the shut down the he tune of 95 . Get thing baseline down to tens or hundreds of cases per day. When with did it we get it down but unfortunately our baseline was 20,000 a day. So were getting somewhere but would you agree with me that the critical difference is either the presence or absence of social cohesion and Political Leadership to actually develop a man, execute and tick to it. Such a diversity of response in the country from different states we did not have a unified bringing everything down. Yes. The gentlemans time hays expired but dr. Fauci if you would like to add more to his question. No. I think i just answered the question. I men the end was do we need to stop these disgraceful attacks on Public Health the gentlemans time is expired. I i now recognize mr. Kim for five multiples. Thank you. Thank you to the witnesses for coming out here today. A question dom from a constituent of sunshine constituent asked me, i want to ask you, and ill start with redfield. Would you assess that our federal government, the cdc included, is doing Everything Possible to respond to the Coronavirus Crisis . Resfield dr. Red field . I think we do have a comprehensive response. One comment i want to make is the complexity, for over five decade have we underinvested in the cover capabilities of Public Health and hopefully we have seen now the consequence of that with our capabled right now would you sells the federal governmenting doing Everything Possible. Within the capabilities of that we do have but recognizing the core capabilities have not been invested in effectively over the last five decades. Okay. Admiral, same question to you. Is our federal government doing Everything Possible to respond to the Coronavirus Crisis . Its a very broad question. I agree with dr. Redfield, think within the capabilities we have were doing that. Dr. Fauci do you agree with your colleagues here, within the capables of the federal government are you doing Everything Possible to responsible to crisis. I can only speak very cogently about the eight im responsible for and i can tell you, absolutely that the National Institutes of halve is really doing everything they possibly can and its really an all hands on deck approach, not only for the institute i direct, which i the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases about the director of nih itself is spending most of his time on this. I think were doing as much as we possibly can. I appreciate that. Ard miller, i just got a text message from a constituent today that follows up on this type of question and, she laura says i got a covid test ten days ago at driveup testing site and still do not have the results. And i know you mentioned before that 76 of tests are come back within five days but that means a quarter of tests are taking more than five days to be able to get the results back if want to ask you, would it be possible for at the nation to he results for all covid tests completed and returned win 48 and 2 hours is . That a possible benchmark we can achieve . It is not a possible bench mark we can achieve today given the demand and supply. It is absolutely a bench mark we can achieve moving forward. Now issue guess a question as you said the demand and the supply. The demand is something that you dont have an ability to control but in terms of the supply, when i asked you that question are we doing Everything Possible to be able to address the needs of the Coronavirus Crisis, what would you say to laura here is . The federal government doing everything that they can possibly to be able to try to get that testing timeline down to 48 to 72 hours . I do believe we are. As we talk but just the raw numbers of things but were investing in a number of technologies what will greatly expand pound of care testing and thats the future to november nor point of care testing, with existing technologies and new eias dr. Fauci talk be nihs efforts. So thats whether we are pointing because point of care gives you result i was interested in what you said earlier in the hearing which was about trying to get point of care testing to Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities i agree with that greatly and that feel like its a place where the federal government is stepping up with Additional Resources i guess because the stays have been unable to fulfill something of that nature. We always wanted to do that put we did not have the physical technologies that were available with the recent approval of a second point of care instrument and the manufacturing we were able to do that. We were not literally as soon as that happened, we put that into gore and i just what interests me is that this is a situation, again, where when comunicates to test i keep hearing its the states responsibility to take the lead on this. With the longterm care the federal government is stepping is. Always a collaborative relationship. The federal government buys the swabs and tubes and we deliver that to the states we make a affirmative action for Nursing Homes because thats where 40 to 50 and is Everything Else is a collaborative interaction, part state, part federal. He Work Together on that and do not defer everything to the state. If we did i wouldnt be spending 24 7 with a team of 50 people since march 12. Thank you so much. My time has expired, i yield back. Thank you. Without objection, i would like to place two reports into the record. One is from forbes and its entitled he researchers say protests did not increase covid19 spread but republicans are still blaming them. This is one report. And i have in my hand here, i have a report and a study from the national bury co of Economics Research that was published last month, and this study found that there was no connection between black lives matter and protests in recent months and increased spread of the coronavirus. So, without objection i would like to place both of these studies into the record. We will now go to a second round of questioning. Id like to ask the panelis would you like a fiveminute break before we again the next line of questions . Yes. Okay. So, we are taking a fiveminute break and we will be back in five multiples for more questioning. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.