Role in changing the map of the United States. Nph Steve Inskeep on his book imperfect union, how jessie and john fremont mapped the west. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. And next former ebola czar ron cane and others evaluate the coronavirus response. The house homeland subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, response and recovery hosted this event. From yesterday, this is about an hour and 40 minutes. Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness response and recovery will come to order. Subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on Community Perspectives on Coronavirus Preparedness and response. Without objection the chair may declare the subcommittee in recess at any point. Without objection, members not sitting on the subcommittee will be permitted to participate in todays hearing. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good afternoon. We are here today to discuss the coronavirus, also known as covid19. We are at a critical point in responding to the Coronavirus Crisis that is facing our nation. Americans are concerned. Hundreds of americans are sick. Sadly, there are families mourning the loss of loved ones from the coronavirus, and our hearts are with them. The nation is seeing cases on the rise, and experts say the outbreak is getting worse. In new jersey we were just informed that we had our first death from coronavirus. And at least two dozen schools are closing for coronavirus preparation. And we have seen an increase in presumed cases. State and local governments are working tirelessly to limit the spread of the coronavirus in our communities. At the federal level, we have seen our experts, at the cdc, and other agencies, working to address this issue. Unfortunately, we have also seen federal officials offer mixed messages on the seriousness of the coronavirus. We are not here today to point any fingers, but we must tell the truth. The American Public needs to be able to trust the information coming from all levels of government. It is now more important than ever for a leaders to trust science and speak with clarity and precision so that americans can trust what they are hearing. It is helpful to the outbreak response for the administrations staff to state as recently as last week that the virus is contained when we know that is not true. Because cases are on the rise. Another point of confusion with the Administration Lies in the test kits. While the experts at the cdc and even Vice President pence have expressed concern about potential testing shortages, the president on the other hand has dismissed these worries. There have been reports of the white house rejecting the advice of the cdc and even going as far as muzzling experts. These reports are troubling. Lets be clear. I want the federal response to the coronavirus to be robust. No one is rooting for failure. But i have seen what i have seen is leading me to believe is leading me to become very concerned. With that said, the goal of todays hearing is to understand what as members of congress can do to minimize the coronavirus outbreak for the American Public. We need to hear today how congress can support state and locals in preventing the spread of this virus. I would like to thank the panel of Witnesses Today and look forward to hearing their remarks. Without objection, i now recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from new york, mr. King, for an Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I also want to welcome and thank all of our Witnesses Today for taking the time to be here. All of us have a lot to learn on this and i look forward to your testimony. The Novel Coronavirus or covid19 has claimed thousands of lives across the globe including over 20 in the United States around i think as we realis those numbers are changing by the hour. It will be different by the end of this hearing for all we know. This is not the first time our country has had to deal with an outbreak and likely wont be the last. Weve been preparing for situations such as this. Last year the department of health and human siefbss conducted the contagion 2019 functional exercise, a multistate exercise to assess the ability to respond. Last summer the president signed into law the pandemic and hazards act. Since 2016, funding for Infectious Disease response has increased by 70 . 70 in five years. While the virus ask here now in the restrictions bought us time, and mandatory quarantine helped to initially contain the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, through community spread, positive cases for covid 19 have now been reported in over 30 states. The new York State Department of health is reporting over 140 positive cases. Again, thats as of this morning. At the rate theyre going i think there are already several more just on my county today and a state of emergency was declared this past weekend. Blind panic wont help us stop the virus from spreading. Cooperation, information sharing, and strong leadership are critical to successfully deal with a situation of this magnitude. We must ensure proper protocols are put in place and that the federal Government Works hand in hand with our state and local partners. As recommended, a National Blueprint for biodefense by the Bipartisan Commission on biodefense i was pleased to hear last weeks panel of witnesses agree with the president s selection of the Vice President to lead the Coronavirus Task force. To achieve a whole of government coordinated response to this outbreak is important that the person in charge has visibilities of the entire government and a direct line to the president. The Vice President is the right choice. While this has been a vigorous, international already been a vigorous, international, federal, state, and local response, as the situation continues to unfold, i encourage everyone to heed the advice from our medical professionals. Wash your hands. Stay home when sick. Visit the centers for Disease Control website for up to date information. I certainly commend the first responders, medical personnel and Public Health officials who have responded courageously for those who are sick. If i could just add, there are things we can criticize. Im sure things could have been done earlier at the start. There is no problem with constructive criticism but if we just criticize for the sake of criticizing it really adds nothing to it. If we can do it in a constructive way thats fine. Ill say in a bipartisan way, the governor and new york have struck a cooperative balance and the counties i represent have done that also, saying this is real but we shouldnt panic and trying to provide the best Health Facilities possible. And i know that when this does hit a certain stage they may be overrun but i think thats what we should be striving for. And at the federal level and i would disagree with the Ranking Member on this as far as muzzling i think it is important to get a coordinated response out. And again, theres valid criticism that can be made. I think we should try to keep it in focus and try to find ways to go forward. Otherwise you have one side attacking the other and then it goes back and the American People get more confused than ever. Im not here to make excuses or explain away things but i think it is important that we try to treat this as a serious issue as it is and, again, the more briefings we get the more serious we realize it is and we should try to keep that focus in that way. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Did you mean did you mean the Ranking Member . I was lost in the past, in the glorious past when i was chairman and you were Ranking Member. Glory days. Okay. Thank you. I commend you as our chairman. Thank you, sir. I see yvette laughing over there. Other members of the subcommittee are reminded that under the Committee Rules Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. I want to welcome our panel of Witnesses Today. Our first witness is mr. Ron klain, who is among many other positions in Public Service was the white house Ebola Response coordinator during the Obama Administration and can provide Lessons Learned from his time battling a previous Public Health emergency. We also welcome today mr. Christopher neuwirth assistant commissioner of the division of Public Health infrastructure laboratories and Emergency Preparedness for the new Jersey Department of health. In his role, he provides strategic and operational leadership to coordinate new jerseys hospital and Public Health disaster resilience laboratory, services, and Emergency Preparedness and response. Welcome. Next we have dr. Nadine garcia the executive Vice President chief operating officer for trust for americas health, a nonprofit, Nonpartisan Organization that promotes Optimal Health for every person and community and advocates for an evidence based Public Health system that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Welcome, maam. And at this time id recognize the gentleman from mississippi mr. Guest, to introduce our fourth witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. It is an honor for me today to introduce a fellow mississippian dr. Thomas e. Dobbs iii the state Health Officer at the Mississippi State department of health. Dr. Dobbs has served in this role since 2018. Dr. Dobbs has also held previous positions as the health state officer and the state epidemiologist. He is Board Certified in Infectious Disease and internal medicine and practiced in mississippi before joining the department of health. He holds a doctorate of medicine and masters in Public Health from the university of alabama at birmingham. Dr. Dobbs, i personally want to thank you for providing your expertise on this panel today as an Infectious Disease physician and for sharing about the coronavirus preparation you are leading in mississippi. I am proud you have joined us today for this hearing and look forward to hearing your remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. Without objection, the witnesses full statements will be inserted into the record. I ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes and we are going to keep strict time today, beginning with mr. Klain. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member king, thank you for having me here today. Before i begin id like to make two preliminary points. First, as frustrating as it may be, there is still a great deal we do not know about the coronavirus and the disease it causes. In fact, we know less about the coronavirus today than we did about ebola in 2014. Scientists are working at break neck speed to improve our understanding but as we learn more, our response to the virus will have to change. Secondly, while i am a political partisan, i come here today in the same way that i approached my tenure as white house Ebola Response coordinator, putting politics aside. There is no democratic or republican approach to fighting Infectious Disease only sound and unsound measures. It doesnt mean calling out failures demurring out failures where they occur. I have been critical of some steps of the administration and like wise commended some steps. With those two preliminary points made i want to move on how to use the Lessons Learned in the Ebola Response for the current threat. The Ebola Response, itself, was not without problems and mistakes but ultimately president obama mustered an all of government response to the challenge, authorized the first ever deployment of u. S. Troops to combat an epidemic and appointed me to lead a team of talented and dedicated professionals at the white house to coordinate the effort. In the end the epidemic was tragic. 11,000 or more people died in west africa but in september, 2014 there was a forecast that a million lives would be lost. Americas actions as part of a Global Response saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The ongoing legacy of this work is enormous. With congresss support we implemented a National Four tier network of hospitals and medical facilities that remain prepared to this day to identify, isolate, and treat cases of dangerous Infectious Diseases. Nothing like that existed in 2014 before we started. Work on vaccines and therapeutics as well. The challenge we face from the coronavirus epidemic is different in many ways but contains some similarities. I think it is worth thinking about the lessons that can be applied in this case. First, in a complex, rapidly evolving scenario like we are seeing there is no substitute for white house coordination and leadership. At the end of my tenure as Ebola Response coordinator president obama accepted my recommendation to create a permanent pandemic preparedness operation inside the National Security council. That continued through the first year of the Trump Administration but in july, 2018, that unit was disbanded. The administrations decision now to go through a series of different structures, first led by others has produced uneven results and contributed to the largest fiasco in the u. S. Response, the failure to promptly enable widespread testing for the virus, which definitely is a result of some lack of coordination between the cdc and fda. There is simply no reason, none why the United States lags behind nations like south korea and singapore in protecting its people. Second, we must ensure that science and expertise guide our actions not fear, wishful thinking, or politics. There are reports as chairman payne indicated of senior officials in the government rejecting the advice of professionals of the centers for Disease Control and other aspects of sidelining or ignoring medical advice. There are many policy decisions to be made in the days and weeks ahead. Science and medical expertise must guide them not politics. Third, the u. S. Has to lean forward in fighting this epidemic overseas as that i think will become an increasing priority. Unlike what happened in west africa in 2014 the nations of china or italy or south korea do not need our help in responding. But this disease could easily spread to africa and other countries where we might have to step up and do the same kind of things we did in 2014. Fourth, the Administration Must move quickly to implement the emergency funding bill passed by Congress Last week. Congress deserves great credit for acting with unprecedented speed in funding this response. But passing a funding bill is only the first step not the last step. Congress needs to make sure the administration is getting that money out and getting it out quickly and effectively. Too often bills get passed and they dont get implemented. That has to be a priority. The White House Task force report regularly to the American People on the pace and deployment of the Funding Congress provided. Where is the money . When is it getting out . What is going to be done . Fifth, congress has to continue to do its own work on the coronavirus. That includes hearings like this and ultimately work on things like the economic consequences of the virus. Sixth, both the executive and the Congressional Branch need to work on the long standing issues of pandemic preparedness that remain. It is not clear if this will be the big epidemic weve seen coming like the spanish flu was a hundred years ago but sooner or later it will come. There is a wrath of bipartisan proposals sitting on shelves congress has never acted on. Let this be a reminder of the need to act on that. Then finally i want to close by saying Public Officials at all levels of government need to take steps against discrimination. We are already seeing discrimination against chinese americans, chinese american owned businesses that will spread as this virus spreads. This virus affects humans not members of any race or ethnicity. We need to step up and make sure there are no victims of that discrimination. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. The chair now recognizes mr. Neuwirth to summarize his statement for five minutes. Good afternoon, chairman payne, Ranking Member king, and members of the subcommittee. On behalf of new jersey grapefruit phil murphy and the new Jersey Health commissioner thank you for inviting the new Jersey Department of health to participate in todays hearing. I am here before you as the associate commissioner for the position of Public Health infrastructure, laboratories, and Emergency Preparedness. I am responsible for Public Health Emergency Management, emergency medical services, and the Public Health and Environmental Laboratories. My goal today is to share with you new jerseys experience for preparing for and responding to the Novel Coronavirus Public Health crisis. More so i will share experience working with our federal partners at the u. S. Department of health and Human Services and the centers for Disease Control and prevention. I am hopeful that by sharing with you how new jersey has responded to the Novel Coronavirus Public Health crisis you will be able to strengthen and enhance the coordination between critical federal agencies and all states including new jersey. Throughout january, the department of health actively monitored the Public Health situation arising from wuhan city, china. Our Public Health experts and epidemiologists readily identify a concerning novel pathogen to develop into a pandemic. Under the leadership on january 27th i established an internal Crisis Management team using National Incident management principles to coordinate preparedness and response activities from across the department. Shortly thereafter, on february 3rd, governor murphy signed executive order 102, creating a statewide Coronavirus Task force led by the commissioner of health. Since their creation the Crisis Management team and Coronavirus Task force have provided the state of new jersey with a command structure that allows all departments to effectively coordinate and prioritize response preparedness activities. Simply stated new jersey continues to successfully manage the Public Health crisis because of our strategic organization, subject matter expertise, and our collective institutional knowledge. While i certainly could continue describing all of the great work new jersey is actively doing i must draw attention to the two most important aspects of any nationwide Public Health response coordination and communication. On sunday, february 2nd during the afternoon of super bowl sunday, the new Jersey Department of health was notified Newark International airport would be officially designated as the 11th funneling airport in the United States with the First Arriving flights arriving within 24 hours with more than 350 with travelers onboard from china. Within moments of receiving this news, our Crisis Management team began working feverishly to secure housing, transportation, and Wraparound Services for these individuals potentially facing quarantine. Because we established a Crisis Management team that was well organized, highly disciplined, and remarkably proactive, we were able to effectively coordinate a measured response in a moments notice. More importantly as new jersey begins facing its first cases of Novel Coronavirus just last week, the Crisis Management team and Coronavirus Task force continued to effectively coordinate all aspects of the states response to ensure that Communications Remain organized, timely, and in the publics best interest. Throughout the past eight weeks my team has been in lock step with our friends and colleagues at the u. S. Department of health and Human Services and the cdc. Both at headquarters and within region 2. The daily interactions and near Real Time Communications during fast moving situations has allowed the state of new jersey to effectively communicate and coordinate our activities between all stakeholders. As Novel Coronavirus continues to affect new jersey, the strong relationships we have with our federal counterparts ensures we can communicate candidly and resolve issues immediately as they arise. In a dynamic Health Crisis such as this, maintaining tight coordination through streamlined, Clear Communications greatly increases the effectiveness of our collective response. But despite our Great Partnership with our federal colleagues the state of new jersey expends more than 1. 8 million per month responding to Novel Coronavirus. While our cdc award of 1. 75 million is greatly appreciated it certainly will not cover the continued expenses incurred by the state or the health care and Public Health infrastructure including our care facilities, ems agencies, and local Health Departments. Recognizing that medical supplies are facing historic shortage and that Health Care Supply chain is nearly frozen for respirators, disinfectants and other personal protective equipment, we urge you to consider additional funding to new jersey and the distribution of items from the Strategic National stockpile. New jersey remains committed to fighting Novel Coronavirus and protecting the Public Health and safety of all People Living in and traveling through new jersey. As the country continues to respond to this Public Health crisis, we ask that you remain attentive to the evolving needs of each state specifically new jersey and mobilize the information, resources, and funding needed to protect the nations Public Health and safety. Thank you. Thank you, sir. And our next witness, which i was told by my staff i butchered your name, so i will try to do better. Miss gracia, im sorry about that. I now recognize you to summarize your statement for five minutes. Thank you, chairman payne, Ranking Member king, and all the members of the subcommittee, good afternoon. I am the executive Vice President and chief operating officer at trust for americas health. Tfa is a nonpartisan Public Health organization and among our priorities has focused attention on a strong and effective Public Health preparedness system. Over the past nearly two decades tfa has published an annual report called ready or not protecting the Publics Health from diseases, disasters, and bioterrorism. In our most recent report we identified areas of strength in Emergency Preparedness as well as areas that need attention at the federal and state levels. Discussion of our report findings including our state assessments can be found in my written testimony or on our website. I would like to highlight some of tfas policy recommendations to build our nations preparedness for Public Health emergencies and improve the National Response to the Novel Coronavirus disease or covid 19. First, we applaud congress for rapidly approving a robust, emergency federal funding package. Federal agencies should be preparing now to quickly distribute funds to states and other partners. Second, Congress Must prioritize ongoing investment in core Public Health and annual appropriations. The nations ability to respond to covid 19 is rooted in our level of Public Health investment in the last decade. The nation has been caught in a cycle of attention when an outbreak or emergency occurs followed by complacency and disinvestment in Public Health preparedness, infrastructure, and work force. The Public Health Emergency Preparedness line which supports front line state and local Public Health preparedness has been cut by over 20 since fiscal year 2010 adjusting for inflation and on top of steady cuts since 2004. In addition, we have long neglected our Public Health infrastructure. So many Health Departments are reliant on 20th century methods of tracking diseases such as via paper, fax, and telephone. Congress should prioritize funding for data modernization to help with emergencies as well as ongoing disease tracking. Third, we need to ready the Health Care System for outbreaks. Health systems across the nation are beginning to identify, isolate, and care for patients with covid 19. Health care must prioritize the protection of patients and Health Care Workers including appropriate training on Infection Control practices, personal protective equipment, and surge capacity. Unfortunately, funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program which helps prepare the Health Care System to respond to and recover from emergencies has been cut nearly in half since 2003. Fourth, congress should support the medical countermeasures enterprised including the barta and then the Strategic National stockpile which build the pipeline of vaccines, treatment, medical equipment, and supplies for Health Security threats. Fifth, we must build the pipeline of the Public Health work force. Although supplemental funding may help with shortterm hiring, this temporary funding does not allow for recruitment and retention of workers. Emergency preparedness and response are personnel intensive endeavors that require training, exercise, and coordination across sectors. This experience just cannot be built overnight. Six, congress and employers should consider job protected paid sick leave to protect workers and customers from Infectious Disease outbreaks. One of the recommendations we have repeatedly heard is to stay home when sick. For millions of americans that is not a realistic option. They risk losing a paycheck and possibly their jobs if they stay home when sick or to care for a loved one. In fact, only 55 of the work force has access to paid time off. Congress should pass a federal law to require employers to offer paid sick days as soon as possible. Finally, science needs to govern the nations covid 19 response, led by federal Public Health experts who have years of experience in responding to Infectious Disease outbreaks. Keeping the public and partners informed will be critical. We encourage elected officials and Community Leaders at all levels to make policy and communications decisions based on the best available science, understanding that the situation is evolving rapidly and messages may change. Communities that are considering school or business closures should follow Public Health guidance but also consider unintended consequences. For example, nearly 100,000 schools serve free and reduced meals to 29. 7 Million Students each day. The u. S. Department of agriculture should be implementing flexibility for schools to make grabandgo meals and other options available if schools are to close. The full extent of this outbreak in terms of Public Health, health care, and economic and societal costs remains to be seen. We do know that taking immediate steps to mitigate the effects of this outbreak will save lives and prevent harm. Thank you for the invitation to participate today. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. I now recognize dr. Dobbs to summarize his statement for five minutes. Chairman payne, Ranking Member king, distinguished members of the committee, thank you all so much for having me. I really look forward to the opportunity to talk a little bit about why Public Health is important, why is it different from health care, why is it really relevant to what were talking about right now . When i was in medical school back in the 90s i thought id be a medical scientist. I spent the initial part of my career and much of what i was doing i was working on hiv control and tuberculosis control not only in the American South but also, too, in Southeast Asia and in russia. And i learned a lot not only about medical things but the value of Public Health. If you want to have an impact on what goes on in a community, you cant look simply at the individual. You have to look at the community and the environment that surrounds that person. Its this Public Health investment that allows us to do the work that we need to do to make sure that the pub, the community, and the individual is maximum mally protected. Switching to the coronavirus conversation, coronavirus is a virus and though most people will get over it without a lot of issues it will be the mortality rate for older folks who are infected is really bad. We need to mold our responses to those most affected. We have tools in place that Public Health has been using for years to look at Different Things and in mississippi for instance we have these massive well, significant flu outbreaks in Nursing Homes every year and weve learned very quickly that if we implement those basic Public Health responses like rapid identification, immediate isolation, quarantine, restricting visitation, that we can actually severely limit the impact on our older folks. The things weve learned year after year from not only our sort of micro outbreak responses but also, too, from these major things like h1n1, ebola, zika, we build up expertise. We build up capacity. We build up tools. When we talk about ebola virus we scrambled, right . Because it was a new thing and what do you do . The community was really scared about what is going to happen with people in the community. We basically put together technology to do home monitoring using mobile devices. But building on that foundation we were then able to go on and use this for our folks coming over for coronavirus. These historical lessons help us work to the future. But one of the challenges we face is this funding up and down where sometimes we will get specific money to address a specific issue like zika or ebola but then as that crisis resolves or diminishes, then we have to contract back to a state of acceptable but not sufficient readiness. When we look at whats going on in mississippi right now, we have activated our Agency Emergency response functions and we are working closely with our state Emergency Management agencies. Within mississippi and other states we have a Pandemic Response plan thats tailored around influenza but we know the elements within that plan are well suited to the response for a pandemic coronavirus. And pulling together different experts within our state, especially under the governor reeves passed an executive order putting a new Planning Committee in, well leverage that information that we got from responding to h1n1 making sure were prepared for the next flu pandemic to move forward but we cant really make sure we advance those efforts unless we have some steady funding and dont go through this perpetual rollercoaster cycle of funding for one thing limited to that, dont have the flexibility to use it for the next thing. I really think we could almost use less money if given more stably over time and be more effective if we were able to be prepared for the next thing. Also, lets talk about innovation. It is very important. Making sure we innovate not only in technology for surveillance because the things we use for Public Health are high tech data rich environments. We just recently in mississippi invested in Artificial Intelligence Business Analytics trying to look at whats going on with outbreaks in our state. These are things that are not inexpensive but it is not only the software but the people. If you want the best people doing the most important job, we need to make sure that we build up our Public Health work force and have the people there that can do what they need. Then telehealth i would like to say i appreciate the creativity of expanding Telehealth Options as we look at this Covid Response because what is going to be better than making sure people can be taken care of in their home even if they are unable to get out or if theyre ill or theyre being monitored but also, too, the older folks who might need to come in for other nonmedical reasons besides a viral illness, they can stay home and be cared for and not come into the Health Environment where theyll be exposed to these potentially dangerous things. We are proud in mississippi to have a Telehealth Center of excellence where we are advancing telehealth capabilities to reach people in all sorts of areas and department of health has partnered with them. I would like to thank you for the funding coming down. We will put it to good use and make sure we do our best to cut off this epidemic. Thank you. Thank you. I now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. Thank you. This question would be to all of the panelists. Many have criticized the administrations outbreak response for being too slow to realize the severity of the threat. How would you assess the u. S. Governments response and what aspects of the governments response could be improved upon . Mr. Klain . You know, mr. Chairman, i would say there are two things where were lagging quite badly. The first is this testing issue. Again, as i said in my statement, there is no reason why other countries, south korea, are so far ahead of us. A hundred thousand plus tests in south korea. Less than 5,000 in the United States. I think that is a product of bad decisions made at the cdc and a lack of real effort to accelerate testing around the country. The second thing i think is hospital preparedness. In various communities our hospitals are going to see an influx of cases and i dont think theyve been prepared for dealing with that whether that is working with fema to temporarily ramp up capacity in those hospitals or to do things like theyre doing in korea and germany with drive through testing. We need to be creative and flexible but really increasing the capacity of our system to deal with the influx of cases were going to see. Thank you. Mr. Neuwirth . To agree with mr. Klain in that the testing capabilities of each state are something that needs to be addressed. In new jersey weve only received two test kits to date, recognizing that, you know, our 9 million residents are actively dealing with sars, we would expect additional capacity in the state of new jersey to effectively and efficiently test everybody that needs to be tested. To date those two test kits, you know, are something that needs to be addressed. The second is that recognizing how fast moving the situation was even back in january its important that information be shared in a timely manner as effectively as possible and ensuring decisions made at the federal level are effectively communicated to the states to ensure the states are in a position and maintaining a posture to implement those policy decisions made at the federal level. The greater lead time that the states are given, the more effective and appropriate those implementations are. Thank you. Ms. Gracia . Yes, i would emphasize the importance of the coordination and really coordination across agencies and having senior level coordination as we are seeing now through the white house with the Coronavirus Task force. Secondly, the importance of continuing to rely on the science and the evidence to make decisions whether its policy decisions, Public Health guidance that is being put out by the federal agencies, that we continue to rely upon the expertise and the experience of the scientists as well as the medical and Public Health experts. So we need to believe and trust the science as it is coming along. Thank you. Dr. Dobbs . Thank you. You know, its been a very complicated and rapidly evolving situation. I understand it is very challenging. By and large cdc has been very responsive to our needs. I can call the leadership pretty quickly. We in mississippi are a little behind in the sense we dont have much in the way of testing but we do have adequate testing capabilities at this time. I would say that early on if we were given more flexibility in who we test i think that would have been good. There were pretty strict guidelines at the beginning. The other thing is, and this is part of preparedness to begin with, i think the cdc coordination with Border Patrol was a little bit difficult at the very first when we were getting our travelers in. We had a little bit of hiccups with that. But theyve been very responsive and it is a difficult situation and i just really do appreciate the work of cdc and the assistance they gave us. Thank you. In the interests of time, the chair will recognize the gentleman from new york, Ranking Member mr. King. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me just i guess ask mr. Neuwirth and dr. Dobbs, again, you sort of touched on this already, but what improvements could be made in coordination with the federal government now . I mean, allowing for whatever has gone wrong in the past but as of today forward, the last several days going forward, how do you see the level of coordination and what improvements can be made . Well, i think the coordination even among federal agencies would be good because we have seen some miscommunications between those levels which then kind of trickles down to us that can be a little bit difficult. You know, Quick Communications are very important. By and large i think thats been very good. I think clear understanding of what funding is going to be available and what we can use it for. And also i cant say how much i support the Hospital Preparedness Program. I think thats been cut some over the years. Thats really a foundational element for these sorts of responses. We have pulled back from i think actually cashing up as many supplies and ppe as in years past because the priority has shifted a little bit. I think that would be very important. Mr. Neuwirth . Specifically referencing joint base maguire, dix lakehurst, this is a base used by our federal partners as a potential Housing Solution for quarantined individuals. New jersey has put forth a remarkable amount of support and resources to ensuring this Housing Solution remains intact and fully functional to meet the demands of the situation. You know, the base was operational for an initial twoweek period. And the state up until the absolute deadline of friday at 8 00 a. M. Was unaware whether or not that base would remain operational for the quarantine, as a quarantine Housing Solution. So ensuring that, you know, new jersey can appropriately support, you know, this Housing Solution moving forward, this is one example of where understanding where the federal government sits as far as continuing this operation and how we can best support it is important to us. Since new york and new jersey are so close, we have very parochial interests in this and probably tens of thousands of more commuters back and forth every day. What is the level of coordination between the states . And, also, i know Governor Cuomo has gotten approval from new york to do its own testing. Has new jersey applied for that approval . Yes. So were doing our own testing in the state right now as of today the states Public Health Environmental Laboratories is the one in new jersey performing the tests in state and assuring a rapid turnaround time as best we can. We are in lock step with our new york city and new york state partners. You know, we have historically had a phenomenal relationship with the city and the state just because of our proximity, the way we manage and deal with the risk together, how we conduct our preparedness and response activities are often in lock step. And so its the historical relationships weve been able to leverage for this event that have ensured the relationship has been maintained and leveraged so both sides of the river are fully aware of what the other side is doing so we remain in lock step. Mr. Klain let me thank you for your efforts in ebola. It was outstanding and i give you full credit for that. Governor cuomo announced today and i wonder if this was ever contemplated if the ebola virus had not been contained as it was, he has actually ordered the National Guard into Westchester County and new rochelle, a onemile containment zone, basically originates from a synagogue and i think now there must be 50 to 100 cases not actually diagnosed but certain people being tested from that area. Was that ever something contemplated by you . I support the governor doing it but i can see if it is carried to a larger level it is basically going to shut down almost any community center, house of worship, school. It will leave certain businesses open. Do you contemplate how that would actually be implemented . Congress, we did not. We never expected to have that many cases of ebola in the United States. We were focused on isolating people when they came here from west africa and getting them promptly to treatment. I do think this subcommittee should look at the issue raised by this kind of quasiquarantine of new rochelle and what other measures could be effective. I also think, thinking about the National Guard or fema to help increase hospital capacity, tent hospitals, rapid treatment centers, i think, you know, were going to need person power to help respond. At a time when our Health Care System well see doctors and nurses drop out because theyre sick. Theyre going to get the virus, too. I think creative thinking about who can help power this response is an important thing. My time is i yield back. Thank you very much. Thank you. The chair now recognizes the gentle lady from new york, miss clark. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I thank our Ranking Member and our expert panelists for coming in to share your expertise with us today. We know that America Needs a fully funded whole of government response to stay safe against the coronavirus. In my home state and city of new york, we are in the midst of an unprecedented Health Crisis. Leaders should not minimize or exaggerate the scale of the task before us. We can beat the coronavirus but the Administration Needs to set politics aside and put scientists in the drivers seat. Having said that, mr. Klain, after weeks of stating enough resources were available to fight the coronavirus the Trump Administration finally announced that it was seeking an emergency supplemental to make Additional Resources available. This request was made more than a month after the first recorded case of coronavirus was discovered in the United States. How would a timelier response or how would a timelier request excuse me have helped the u. S. Respond better . Congresswoman, i think that is a good question and i testified before the Foreign Affairs subcommittee about a month ago and said that the request should already be here and congress should be acting on it. I do think more funding might have accelerated the testing situation, might be helping states more quickly. I think it is important to know, again, Congress Deserves great credit for passing the funding quickly but the real question is how quickly does it go from washington out to the states . The gentleman and ladies to my left here, you know, theyll have to actually make this work on the ground and they cant unless the money moves from washington to them. I think thats really where we should be focused on now is once congress did this incredible thing of in two weeks writing and passing a bill, is the money really getting out there to ramp up testing, ramp up Health Care Systems, help the people who are going to need the help . Very well. So this question is for both you and dr. Gracia. I think many of us in congress were shocked and disappointed that the administrations initial proposed amount for the emergency supplemental was only 2. 5 billion. Luckily, Congress Passed an 8. 3 billion supplemental that was significantly more robust than the administrations request. What more can the government do to ensure that there is enough funding to support state and local outbreak response efforts . And id add to that, leaving an infrastructure in place so that were not rebuilding the infrastructure time and time again as these outbreaks occur. Because certainly there will be others. Congresswoman, i agree with that so strongly and with what dr. Dobbs said earlier, issues sometimes the amount of money and the consistency of the funding. We are in the middle of an epidemic and thats what were focused on as we should be but were only three years away from the next one. And three years from the one after that and one after that. Its these boom and bust cycles in funding that undermine our preparedness. I think i hope what congress will take out of this is great job on the emergency supplemental but what are we doing to prepare for the big threat that is out there in the future . Thank you, congresswoman. You raise an important point and question and one is a recognition you have that Public Health departments at the state and local level are our first line of defense, where they are Public Health consequences. What we have seen, however, is that there really has been a longer term underfunding of Public Health and there have been cuts that have really impacted Public Health departments at the state, local, tribal, territorial levels. We look at, for example, the Public Health preparedness grant administered by the cdc that that has experienced cuts over the years, 20 , more than 20 over the past decade, where the Hospital Preparedness Program which has been cut in half since 2003. These are important funds to really be able to support Public Health over time, to be able to continue to have the type of Emergency Preparedness response infrastructure for surveillance for the workforce. Its very difficult to hire individuals for the short term and guarantee theyre going to be able to stay on board and build that training and capacity within the Public Health departments. There also is a need for more funding as it relates to the core capabilities in Public Health like pandemic preparedness but also communication expertise, epidemiology and surveillance expertise, bring together coalitions, these types of areas are truly fundamental for core Public Health. The Trump Administration has repeatedly attempted to cut funding to Public Health. Could you describe how chronic under funding makes it vulnerable to outbreaks . So, i think one is to recognize that we have made actually important progress, in particular over the past two decades as we look at Public Healths level of preparedness, in particular since the september 11th attacks, that there was recognition that Public Health really is part of the national Health Security enterprise and we needed to really bolster that infrastructure, which is inclusive of laboratory capacity, the workforce being able to have the Surveillance Systems in place and Communication Systems in place as well as looking at coalitions that can be built between Public Health and health care. As i noted earlier, what we need to do is really build on expertise of Public Health threats. These are the individuals who have been through these types of outbreaks and other emergencies in the past and recognizing that the need to have stability in that funding so that it is not at risk, we have seen, for example, over the past decade the budget to the centers for Disease Control and prevention has declined by 10 and a large percentage of cdcs budget is closed to state and local Health Departments. I yield back. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from mississippi. Mr. Guest. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Dr. Dobbs, you and i had a chance to visit earlier before your testimony and you and i discussed about the fact that we currently in mississippi have both the ability and capacity to test for covid19 in our home state. Can you talk just a little bit about that, please. Part of it may be that the timing was advantageous, but we were able to bring up the covid19 testing pretty quickly. Our Public Health lab within a week of getting the guidance was able to get the testing activated. So far, we havent done a ton of tests. Weve done about 50 but theyre all negative. We have many coming in every day and we think we have sufficient capacity to meet demand for the near future but with private lab capacity coming online, like lab corps and others, that will help with the clinical environment. Im looking forward to the opportunity where Public Health can fulfill a different role, mostly surveillance so we can have a better understanding of whats going on in different communities and acute testing. We can run it in about four hours after we get a specimen. If something needs to happen right away we can execute that. Can you talk about your response that youve received so far from cdc . In response to the testing its been good. The information that theyve been giving us has been helpful. Their guidance has been good, their guidance for clinical scenarios. I will say the website is cumbersome. I need to talk to them about that. It doesnt come as fast as you want it. Honestly, were sitting on go for the next thing. The quality of the work has been good from our perspective. Youve talked in your Opening Statement and questioning and written statement about the use of telehealth and say here telehealth will assist in Community Mitigation efforts by improving efficiencies, permitting patients to stay home and noncovid19 patients access to Health Care Without coming into physical contact with a clinical environment. Could you explain that briefly again. You bet. If you think about who is at risk for bad outcomes from covid19 its older folks primarily, people with chronicle medical conditions, people that will access the Health Care System frequently and a lot nonurgent, things that can be done through a telehealth platform. We have been pushing hard with our partners at umc and other Health Systems today, meeting with blue cross, trying to help them set up systems where they will Fund Communications with people interest their home so that you dont have to right now, you know, or at least previously, you have to go to another clinic setting around a bunch of other people. Its so much more convenient, this is not only an opportunity for us to help with covid19 but maybe catapults the future of health care thinking what telehealth could look like. Is it conceivable telehealth could be used to help screen individuals as they are coming into the country in ports of entry . In mississippi where we dont have a lot of medical providers and rural geography if we could leverage telehealth for that function or any other function that requires medical intervention it does expand our reach remarkably. You talked about the importance of the Hospital Preparedness Program. Can you expand on that a little bit. If we think about the boots on the ground, who are the people who will respond locally when something goes awry, the locally community folks, the local Emergency Management folks, the hospital, the clinic, its going to be the people in that area and the hospital Preparedness Fund helps lets us organize these Health Care Coalitions so that we can have a reach into the communities and respond but also make sure that hospitals are ready not only in supplies but also planning because theyre going to be the at front line. The thing that worries me about this is utilization within our hospitals and intensive care units. If we have a bad flu year we run ot of beds. Having that infrastructure to make sure were ready is going to be important. That helps you in your department with the logistics as you are trying to find placement for individuals who are ill, whether it be with coronavirus or some other illness they be battling . Absolutely. And then also, even within the program, there are flexibilities that might help like, for instance, we have a warehouse of ppe that we keep, we have about 200,000 masks we can distribute immediately if we need to. Were ready to go. Based on some of the structure of the hpp program we only can use 10 of it for overhead administration but they count rent for the warehouses overhead. We would welcome flexibility in funds for hpp as well. Dr. Dobbs, briefly for the people back in mississippi, can you talk about the emergency supplemental funding and how that will be used to fight coronavirus back home . We have got a laundry list of things we want to do. We want to expand surveillance, increase lab capacity, we want to expand and weve started doing some advanced analytics to figure out where cases are going to be. We want to make sure we have resource allocated for like ppe or other things to support hospitals. We want to ive brought on three doctors, i dont know how im going to pay for them, i guess this is how, and nurses, boots on the ground to get the work done and then advancing technology and equipment and other ppe needs. Thank you, dr. Dobbs. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois, miss underwood. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Its a pleasure to see my former colleagues from the Obama Administration here today as we chart a path for congress to lead a response to the coronavirus. Mr. Klain, what essential leadership functions must our federal government fill when it comes to helping the public, state and local Public Health department, employers and our Health Care System navigate this Public Health crisis . I think on the competence and confidence. On the competence side the government has to provide the leadership and funding to deliver this response. This is going to be a giant project to manage these cases, to roll out testings, as the panel has discussed, to help our Health Care System get prepared for the influx of cases and to deal with all the other things, the contract tracing, state and local Public Health departments are going to do. So the government the federal government has to provide expertise in the form of the cdc and people at other agencies, has to provide funding and leadership and confidence. I think we these to see from washington clear direction and messaging so that the American People can panic less and can understand that there is a plan in place and a way of attacking it and so on and so forth. I think both those things, we just not hit the mark on that yet and we need to do better on both of those fronts. Thank you. You recently published a report evaluating states ability to respond to Public Health emergencies like the coronavirus. What did you learn from publishing that report about the actions the federal government must be taking to support state and local Public Health departments in addition to providing supplemental funding . Thank you for that question. Indeed, we published this report which as i noted earlier demonstrates and documents the progress we have made overall with regard to our national Health Security and Public Health preparedness and there are areas for improvement. One being the issue with regards to funding for states and localities to respond in a way that meets these increasing number and frequency of Public Health threats. We also recognize, too, that this is an important area that not only involves the Public Health sector. Often we think about the Health Threats as isolated to Public Health departments and yet they require a multisectoral approach in which we engage various sectors from the business sector to education sector, the Health Care Sectors and others that are really involved and have a seat at the table as well as the community and really driving preparedness and response. When we think about what the federal government can be doing, is really helping to support that capacity for state and local Health Departments, ensure that there is that stability of funding so that type of coordination, that expertise and that capacity can continue to be built in states and localities to do exactly, for example, as dr. Dobbs has spoken about, having the workforce that is trained, having the laboratory capacity, the surveillance thats needed. Awesome. In your written testimony, you also touched on how the flu vaccination is a proxy measure for our ability to vaccinate a Large Population once the Coronavirus Vaccine becomes available. Can you expand on that . Yes. You know, the flu and what we see, for example, with seasonal flu outbreaks demonstrates a couple points. One it shows how Public Health departments are often having to deal with multiple crises at the same time and how they can be stretched with regards to really being able to respond to the needs of the public. But secondly, because with the flu vaccine it is a vaccine that is recommended for almost a majority of the population, recommended by the cdc for individuals who are six months and older, it also demonstrates what our vaccine infrastructure looks like with regards to if we were in need of doing a Mass Vaccination Campaign for adults with children, children are seeing their physicians and other Health Care Providers for frequently, with adults that may be more difficult. In looking how were doing with seasonal flu, which as a nation the average National Average for seasonal flu vaccination is 49 , whereas the actual recommendation from the department of health and Human Services in the Healthy People 2020 is to reach 70 . We recognize that there are shortcomings and gaps with regards to that infrastructure, that entails Public Health departments, health care, commercial entities as well to ensure that population is vaccinated. And do you want to speak about why flu vaccination is so such an important part of our response to this threat . So in particular, we are currently in the midst of, you know, the flu season and we still have high activity across states. You know, its important that we know that the best way in particular to prevent the flu is through flu vaccination and many of the preventative measures we talk about with regards to hygiene and hand washing and staying home when sick, that those are similar types of preventative measures and guidance that were providing as it relates to covid19 and the Novel Coronavirus. As we think about what may be needed down the line with regards to the types of interventions, really building the capacity to respond to outbreaks such as the flu, is important as we think about outbreaks such as covid19. We saw one of the deadliest flu seasons in the 2017 2018 flu season in nearly four decades and that really lends to how we as a nation are prepared for these outbreaks. Thank you all so much for being here and your testimony today. I yield back. Thank you. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, the longhorn state. Mr. Censhaw. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here on this important topic. This question goes to or the gentleman from new jersey and mississippi, i just want to get your take on the proper roles at the state level and federal level, we hear were unprepared, we hear were way unprepared or doing pretty well. Its all relative in the end how well prepared we are. I want to get an idea from you at the state level, what does preparedness look like at a reasonable reasonable standard and what is the different function of a local county Public Health Center Versus the state level versus the federal level . What is the best way to interact . First and foremost, preparedness looks like having the funding and resources needed at all levels of government to adequately respond to what were seeing day to day. That requires our acute care facilities, hospitals, longterm facilities, Health Departments having whatever they need immediately to conduct their job, continue providing high quality care to those that are ill, allow the resources and staffing and information needed at the local Health Departments to ensure appropriate case management, Contact Tracing and overall management of the pathogen in the communities as needed. Coordination and communication to all levels of government is important to ensure that the states have a unified coherent strategy on mobilizing all of the preparedness activities and resources that they have available to them. Without timely information from the top about important policy decisions being made can we get an example. I want to dig into the preparedness. When everything is perfect thats prepared. But thats not reasonable. I asked for a reasonable standard. I mean like how much better can we be reasonably . I want to have reasonable conversations here. Of course we could quadruple your funding and you will be more prepared and come back and ask for more money. I know how this goes. And that is all fine. Of course we want to keep getting better. What does prepared look like . How many masks and pieces of equipment are reasonable to ask for and should have had ready prior . What exactly are we not was the federal government not communicating to you effectively . What has been said moments ago that continued funding over, you know, the past several years to continue to maintain what weve built upon from previous outbreaks such as ebola, zika, the opioid crisis, theres been a lot of work thats been maintained, but the increases and decreases of funding year over year degrades the preparedness activities we have put into place. Ensuring that the resources are available to the states the federal governments job to make sure the states have the resources but so what where is the states role in that and why cant you be ready to the standard youve set yourself . We are ready to the standard weve set for ourselves. Its a matter of maintaining that level of preparedness year over year. In between those years the states are managing disasters, Public Health, Natural Disasters, technological ta we use the resources and activities to respond to. It requires tight coordination and support from the federal government to ensure that, you know, year over year as the states prepare for in response to various disasters, that capability is rebuilt and, you know, exercised and ready for the next disaster. And im just trying to get more details because im trying to get examples on exactly what where did we fall short and what exactly was it and how can we do better the next time . I understand we always need to do more coordination and we can talk in vague terms and say more funding and coordination. Were really trying to get into specifics here. Maybe the gentleman from mississippi can give us insight from mississippi . Thank you for your question. I think one of the things its important to think about from a state perspective, ive been doing this a long time, state budgets and county budgets especially are susceptible to the Business Cycle. Budgets especially are very susceptible to the Business Cycle and when they contract they just they cut indiscriminately. The stability we see primarily will be for better or worse, there is a lot more stability from the federal funding sources. So that can be kind of the bedrobe bedrock of Public Health. The other things thats happened almost philosophically as weve worked to expand Insurance Coverage to people, which is important and i think people need health care, but there has been an assumption that Public Health and health care are the same thing and they are not at all the same. I have about half the nurses i had four years ago. How do you respond to a crisis when i cant pull nurses and go to houses and check on people. This communication about health care versus Public Health has distracted from some of our core needs. I think relationships is so important. Sometimes some places we have great relationships with the local folks and count kwlees and stu and stuff and its a slow investment so when things do go bad we call joe and say we have this going on and we know what to do together. I think that gets to the stability and steadiness of how much better it is to have a slow and steady approach than having more reactive approach. Im out of time. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Richmond. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I will pick up where my colleague left off talking about specific examples. Mr. Klain, i will ask you, but not having enough tests is explain to me was that necessary, was that incompetence, was it just oversight . Tell me how it is that korea has more tests than the United States. Congressman, i think this is, as i said in my statement, a singular failure of u. S. Policy and execution. The president imposed travel restrictions on people coming here from china and those travel restrictions, though uneven and not complete, slowed the pace of the disease, it bought us time. Buying time works if you use the time productively. We knew in december, in early january, we were going to need millions of tests. 30 Million People in the United States, seniors, people who have access to seniors, people in Nursing Homes, doing surveillance as several members said, not just waiting for people to raise their hands and say test me. We knew we needed that in january. The cdc pursued building its own test that turned out to be flawed, didnt adopt the w. H. O. Test. We dont know what significance there was in the messages that the president sent, that this wasnt a big deal, he said as recently as 15 days ago there are only 15 cases and its almost resolved. You had a series of management failures, bureaucratic failures, execution failures that leave us so far behind other countries. This isnt a scientific problem. If they can test 150,000 people in south korea america can test people, too. They dont have any wisdom we dont have here. Thats a failure of execution in this country. Thank you. Dr. Dobbs, let me ask you as the lead state Health Official in mississippi, i want to engage in a conversation about the collateral consequences and challenges that you face. So lets take gulfport, mississippi, and i am a casino worker that gets paid by the hour. Biloxi and gulfport survive a little bit on tourism. If im feeling down, how do we get that person to take those days off thats necessary or selfquarantine for 14 days and still pay their bills at the end of the month . Thank you for the question. Thats an enormous challenge and weve been engaging with business communities, especially businesses that have a lot of hourly workers, and not that we have a resolution to this at all, but it is a big challenge because people who work hourly and get paid and dont have sick leave are not going to do it. At the state level, the State Government you have to take a vacation day before you can take a sick day. People are not going to want to take their vacation day. We are looking as part of any Emergency Declaration to do away with that. With government there are opportunities to address those inequities but in the Business Community it is a challenge and i think as a country and as a state we really need to look at options we can do to make sure people can have paid sick leave. The other thing to think about, is when people have to go home and are out without a job for two weeks who is going to pay the power bill. We are working with nonprofits and i know theres some capabilities to do that but it can be a big issue and might cost a lot of money. Let me ask you a question, im completely thinking out of the box. In new orleans we are accustomed to Natural Disasters, whether its hurricanes, bp, levees. Thats where fema steps in with either individual assistance or public assistance and they start off with a certain amount and then you have to go improve your need and all of the other things. Is fema the agency that we could task with providing either individual assistance, public assistance if needed improved, somebody out there if we want to be responsible with this, somebody out there is going to have to provide some assistance. So could fema do that under the individual Assistance Program . Technically speaking im not quite sure of the best mechan m mechanism, but conceptually it sounds like a very good fit to me. If we align this with a Disaster Response it seems like it makes a lot of sense. I said congress should amend the stafford act to add epidemics as a purposer the sfaf forward act. Fema could do what you suggested if you saw a hurricane or earthquake or fire, but epidemics are not a Natural Disaster in the stafford act. The kind of thing we should be doing to get prepared. Whether its this one or another one some day we are going to face an epidemic that is a fema triggering disaster and and the stafford act should catch up with that. Thank you. And to the former chairman when i got here, mr. King from new york, one of the last recommendations that we still have not adopted from the 9 11 commission is to put all of the jurisdiction to responding to Natural Disasters and others and putting the stafford act back under homeland so that we could coordinate. I think now may be the time for us to raise that issue in a bipartisan manner to get homeland the jurisdiction that it should have. I agree its long overdue and i appreciate the gentleman raising that issue again. Thank you. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. Mr. Neuwirth and mr. Oh, im sorry. Ive done that once before, too. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Green. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the Ranking Member as well. I thank the witnesses for appearing. There are times when we are not as alert as we should be and i do confess that as i listened i was not as alert as i should have been because i seem to believe that i heard dr. Dobbs indicate that in mississippi you have to take a vacation day before you can take a sick day. Im confident that i was not as alert as i should be, i should be more alert, i should hear, i should listen. Dr. Dobbs, tell me that i did not hear you properly, that i misunderstood, please. No, sir, you are absolutely corre correct. Thats just for State Government workers, though, thats not for everybody. Like the same way everybody else eats. Youre telling me that in mississippi if you are sick before you can have a sick a day of sick leave you have to take a vacation day . Yes, sir. Do you know of any other state in the United States where this is prevalent . You know, i didnt know that that wasnt prevalent. I didnt know any better. Well, maybe i dont know better, either. Staff, somebody, please help me out. I want to know because that shocks my conscience to be very honest. It does. Sickness and vacation are totally antithetical. I mean, they are not the same. They are not in the same class of time and leave. But you have given me reason to pause and think. Now, back to why im here today. Much of what we hear and learn when we experience these circumstances is counterintuitive, wearing some sort of gear on your face, the public believes that thats beneficial. People go out and buy as much gear as they can for their faces because they assumed that it would protect them. The staff has provided me with some intelligence that id like to share with you and id like to find out what your thoughts are. It reads, many countries, actually its many others but i will say countries, many countries have implemented travel bans, restrictions and border closures against china and other affected nations. Notably the world health organization, w. H. O. , opposes the use of travel bans and Public Health experts have expressed skepticism. We are going to leave this recorded program and take you now to senator Bernie Sanders making comments after his Campaign Last night
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