Avoiding crowds. We learned last week that despite knowing in january how serious covid19 was, President Trump has been working to down play this is acrisis and on fri night, we learned that trump political operatives in hhs Communications Office have been manipulating cdcs flag ship for months to align with that messaging. Dr. Redfield, did anyone at cdc advise the president to down play this crisis . No. Did you agree with the president s decision to down play it . Im not going to comment on that, but no one advised the president to down play this crisis. Well, understanding the dangers, why have you not done more to push back on President Trumps political interference and his efforts to down play this . I want to make it really clear, senator, and i appreciate your question and the opportunity that, the respect for the science at cdc. At no time has the scientific integrity of the mmwor been compromise and i can say that under my watch, it will not be compromised. Well, i understand the efforts to edit the cdc publication started in response to a may report that reviewed the spread of covid19 in the u. S. , it was by cdc, highly respected career deputy, hhs political officials perceived this report as reflecting negatively on the president. Yes or no. Did that may report as drafted, adhere to the agencys strict code of scientific integrity . Yes. Will the spokesperson for hhs claimed that there is a Resistance Unit at cdc and voiced concerns about ulterior deep state motives and President Trump has bolstered skepticism in the agencys pool. Do you agree with me theres no truth to all those claims . Absolutely, senator. And i want to make a comment that not only is it not true, it deeply saddened me when i read those comments because as i said in my statement, cdcs made up of thousands of dedicated men and women, highly confident. It is the premier Public Health agency in the world. Dedicated 24 7 to use their skills to protect the American Public and the world from the Health Issues and it deeply saddened me that those false accusations were made by a group of really unbelievably professional people that serve this nation. Subcommittee on labor health and human services, education and related agencies will come to order. Want to thank our witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee today to provide an update on where we are in the areas that they are so involved in on covid19. As we continue to be challenged by this pandemic in the country, we know that 195,961 americans have died as part of the pandemic and 6. 6 million have tested positive during the process of testing in the pandemic. This is rapidly swept across the globe and even countries who thought their cases were contained are facing new outbreaks and dealing with those new and unanticipated outbreaks. This is a new disease in many ways and even after nine months, we still know relatively little or about this disease or coronavirus generally. This has hindered our Public Health response. In many ways, its been like y trying to build a plane while we were flying it and that is a challenging, challenging thing to deal with. The, its not to fully exonerate certainly the way the administration has dealt with it or the way its been funded. And im sure that justified criticisms can and will be levelled, but history allows us to look back over past events and to put current ones into perspective. If we wanted to look back to 2014 for instance when west africa faced the largest Ebola Outbreak the world had seen and unlike covid19, we knew a lot about it at the time. The disease had been around since the mid 70s. It was a disease that scientifically, we knew a lot more about in 2014 than we do about covid19 even today. And frankly, we just didnt handle it very well. We made significant mistakes and weve seen those mistakes occur in other disease areas. Members of congress use words when they talked about the cdc response like cryptic and misleading and thought that the information provided wasnt enough. We even had a case that was found in a dallas hospital in the cdc director blamed the hospital. At the same time, one of the nurses at the hospital was allowed to board a commercial flight with cdcs consent, so we seem to keep having to learn these lessons over and over again, that we have to be better prepared. Public health is hard and it seems to be hard for us to keep our eye on what might happen in the future once we get beyond that moment. We should have learned and more importantly, implemented more than we did from ebola and h1n1, both of which created real response problems, but real lessons if we would have had try ed to learn them. Hopefully, well do a better job learning the lessons we need to hearn right now. Neither this administration or the last one, frankly, prioritized Research Like this committee has, and we know that in our committee, weve worked hard in the last six years and in the last five budgets in a bipartisan manner to increase the funding in the annual Appropriations Bills for the nih by nearly 40 for cdc, by 21 and for preparedness, by 44 , but those numbers all have to be coming together before we begin to use them the way that our Witnesses Today or this committee would like to see them used. Ke to see them use weve prove in our committee that medical research, Public Health, preparedness, are all priorities and because weve done so, were more ready than we were, more ready than we were at the last time or hopefully more ready in the future for the next pandemic. Right now, 238 fda emergency use authorizations for diagnostic tests and antigen tests are on the market and every day, we get closer to an affordable, reliable rapid test, where you can get an answer in a way that allows us to really fight the pandemic rather than have another data point. In a few years, when someone gives a History Lesson about covid19 response, there will be criticism. It will go back about 20 years and it will be significant. But i know there are things we all agree on. We need to have more investment in testing. More resources for our vaccine candidates to finish their trials, manufacture the vaccine and for cdc to distribute through a vetted, well thought out plan. I hope we learn more about and im going to insist that we learn more about all of those things today. Id hope we might be able to include child care in our hearing today. We werent able to do that because of time, but clearly, if your going to get back to school, back to work and back to better health, child care has to be part of that and something this committee has to stay focused on. So, again, welcome our witnesses and senator murray is joining us from her office, i believe, and senator murray, were ready for your opening comments. Well, thank you very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you to all of our witnesses who are joining us today. You know, as our country approaches a tragic milestone in this pandemic, 200,000 dead, i want to recognize that our Rising National death count represents countless personal losses. Families have lost parents and grandparents and children. Communities have lost educators and Health Care Providers and other front line workers. And people have not only lost loved ones, but many have lost the small solace of being able to visit and comfort those they care about in their final moments. My heart goes out to everyone whos struggling with the hardship caused by this virus. Whether they are suffering with the loss of life of livelihood. You all deserve leaders who take this crisis seriously. Who take action to support and protect you, your family and your community. Who arm you with the facts you need to stay safe. Unfortunately, we have yet to see that leadership from the president. Like many americans, i was deeply angered last week to hear President Trump admitting that even though he understood covid19 was more deadly than even your strenuous flu, thats a quote, he was intentionally playing down this crisis. But i was not surprised. These recordings were not a revelation. The reality has been painfully obvious for months. Early on, President Trump not only claimed this virus was contained, controlled, going away. He claimed it was a democratic hoax. His Vice President wrote on an oped arguing that there would be no second wave just before we saw a heartbreaking and record breaking increase in new cases and deaths across our country. When it came to testing, President Trump didnt just say he took no responsibility at all, he said he liked the num r numbers where they were. He said he wanted to slow down testing and he blamed testing for the rising case numbers. When it came to Wearing Masks, he not only said they caused problems, too, he also shared a tweet, saying masks represent a culture of silence, slavery and social death. And a video falsely claiming people dont need to wear masks and there is no cure. He continued to promote hydroxychloroquine and suggested we look at bleach as an option and he is still, still, down playing this virus. He is still saying it will just go away. He is saying we are quote, rounding the final turn. Dr. Fauci has made it clear thats not true and pointed out that we have plateaued at around 40,000 cases a day. That daily deaths are still regularly around 1,000. And experts have warned that we still need to prepare for a fall wave that will coincide with the flu season, but President Trump has not been listening to the Public Health experts. He has been fighting them and suggesting fda is part of a deep state conspiracy and cdc is overstating the death counts. But not only is he spreading inacucuracies and lies at a tim when truth is a matter of life and death, and trust, trust in our Public Health agencies is paramount, his administration has been recklessly interfering with the work of these agencies for political benefit to promote unproven treatments, alter cdc guidance on reopening and testing and more. Just over the last week, we have learn ed that President Trump pt pressure on nih and fda to authorize convalescent plasma as a treatment and that political appointees at hhs have worked n unsuccessfully to dictate talking points for dr. Fauci and have succeeded in demanding oversight of and changes to cdcs flag ship scientific publication, the morbidity and mortality weekly report. That publication is a corner stone of Public Health work across the world. It is dangerous and unprecedented that political appointees are editing, censoring and ultimately, undermining a report that is intended to give families, Public Health professionals, researchers and Health Care Providers what they need. The truth. The trumps administrations Political Administration political meddling shows a dangerous disregard for truth, facts, science and most importantly, peoples lives. Data and science are key tools in our fight against any Health Crisis and the damage being done to public trust in those tools by this administration threatens to undermine our able thety ty respond to this pandemic. Public trust in an eventual vaccine and Public Health eff t efforts for years to come. The Trump Administration needs to leave the science to the scientists immediately. Full stop. The leaders of our Public Health agencies need to provide a full account of what political pressure has been applied and what steps they are taking to make sure it does not influence their work or the work of the agencies they lead. Congress needs to act now. To demand the transparency we need to hold this administration accountable. Democrats will be laying out steps soon for how we can do that and i hope every republican who has said they believe we need to follow the science, will prove it by working with us on this. The science will prove it by working with us because you cannot be for science if you are arent against political interference. I also hope republicans will come to the table to work with us in earnest on a larger covid19 package that our communities so desperately need. Unfortunately, theyve not taken this seriously so far and when democrats put forward the heroes act back in may, republicans said there was no rush. They would wait to see if more was needed. When republicans finally did put forward a proposal, months later, it was woefully inadequate to addrethe crisis ad and while democrats are are moved to find Common Ground and even offered to negotiate towards a lower top line number, republicans refused that offer and instead, put forward a bill last week that moved up even further away from Common Ground. This isnt serious negotiating and the ideas that have been put forward are not serious solutions, but the crisis we face remains deadly serious. We cant afford to waste any more time. We need to stabilize the child care sector and make sure schools can educate students safely, whether theyre remotely or in person. We need to make significant investments in Public Health, particularly regarding testing and Contact Tracing and distributing and administering a safe, effective and trusted vaccine. And we need to demand the type of comprehensive National Plan for those efforts that has been long overdue. The Distribution Plan that cdc put out just today is a long, overdue step forward, but there is still more to do. Im still reviewing this and ill have more to say, but its clear this is still not the kind of comprehensive, end to end, National Plan ive called for and that we desperately need. We are still missing important details on research and review like what standards fda would use to authorize a vaccine for emergency use. Like how we make sure despairties are used in Clinical Trials and how we address simply chain issues and avoid bottle mechani necks and we still need more details on addressing disparities. We need to affect the safeties and civil rights of those going to work and provide relief to those who have lost their jobs. We need to support families who are struggling to make rent and health care and get nutritional meals and we need to address the severe disparities and how much harder this crisis is hitting black and latino and tribal communities. We need to provide relief to these governments and last, we have seen recently, certainly not least, we need to make sure, once and for all, that political interference from President Trump does not further undermine our response to this crisis. Now im going to have several questions for our witnesses, but i hope we are all able to get more than just answers in the days ahead. I hope we are all able to finally come together and take action before we lose any more time to save lives and prevent costly mistakes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator murray. Again, let me welcome our guests today witnesses. Admiral is the assistant secretary for health. Dr. Robert catlick is the assistant secretary for preparedness and response and dr. Robert redfield is the director for the center for Disease Control prevention. Were pleased youre here. Like to give you time to make an opening statement. We have the statements youve presented. You can summarize those if you want, but we are eager to get to questions, but were also eager to hear from you, so admiral, why dont you start with your opening statement. Chairman blunt, Ranking Member murray and distinguished members, im honored to update you on our nations efforts to combat covid19 with a specific focus on testing. Testing is an essential component of americas Public Health response to the pandemic. Recommended practices like wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, especially indoors, and washing your hands combined with smart testing is the formula to effectively slow the spread, flatten the curve and save lives. By being evidence based, providing county specific weekly guidance to governors, expanding supplies and managing their distribution, providing the right tests to the right person a at the right time and developing and allocating safe and effective therapeutic, we are seeing promising results. Specifically since the post memorial day peaks in community spread, the number of new covid19 cases is down 48 . The number of people hospitalized with covid19 is down 49 . The number of people in an intensive care unit due to covid is down 62 . And deaths associated with covid are down 33 . But let me say emphatically that these gains could be fleeting or even reversed if we do not continue to follow the National Plan and exercise personal responsibility, especially Wearing Masks and avoiding crowds. Specifically regarding testing, million viral tests complete d this week. We have puchlsed and shipped over 95 million swabs and 81 million tubes of media to states, tribes and federal partners. Starting april 7th, we have puchlsed and delivered to Public Health laboratories and the Indian Health service 2. 3 million abbott id now point of care moll eck lar tests to support outbreak control and rural testing. We have established federal surge testing in 19 sites, helpihelp ing squelch emerging outbreaks typically among asymptomatic young adults. These sites are in addition to the 2,700 federally supported or enabled Community Based testing sites at trusted retailers focused in areas of moderate to high social vulnerability and the late rally thousands of federally qualified Health Centers that offer test iing to pro dominantly minority patients. We are now at an Inflection Point in testing. This month, we anticipate the availability of 3 million tests per day and at least half of these will be rapid point of care. We will have available more point of care tests in september than the total number of tests performed in august. We have been building towards this Inflection Point and ive previous ly testified to its coming several times over the past months. As a result of regulatory flexibility, investments in coordination of the public and private sector, we have implemented comprehensive, cutting edge testing initiatives to flatten the curve and save lives while supporting the reopening of america. Let me discuss two. Protecting the elderly has been, is and will continue to be a foremost priority for the administration. So on july 14th, we announced that every single eligible nursing home in america would receive a point of care instrument and point of care testing supplies. We have delivered on this promise. All 13,850 eligible Nursing Homes have now received a total of 13,985 instruments in over 4. 9 million rapid point of care tests. Ahead of schedule. On august 27th, after months of planning and only one day after its fda authorization, the administration announced a 760 Million Contract with abbott for the delivery of 150 million rapid buy next now point of care tests. This test is easy to perform. Does not require an instrument. Delivers test results in 15 minutes or less and costs five bucks. It can easily be deployed to many settings across the country and it comes with a companion app that enables instantaneous reporting. We have already deployed 50,000 of these tests in support of disaster operations in california, texas and louisiana. And now, another 15,000 to support wildfire operations in oregon. This week, we will ship our first 2 million tests to further prevent spread of covid in Nursing Homes, assisted living and in tribes. In the coming weeks, we will begin shipping millions of tests per week in support of our teachers and students to open and keep open k12 schools and to support vulnerable populations at hbcus. Thank you for the opportunity to provide these remarks and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, admiral. Doctor. Thank you. As a medical doctor, retired military officer and having served in the white house, ive spent my adult career working to serve and protect the american people. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you to highlight the response to the covid19 pandemic. Our progress in Vaccine Development and our efforts to confront and mitt dwigate this pandemic. I want to thank this committee for providing sup mental resources and supporting and sustaining the organization in the past. Your investments have been critical and ensure we have tools available to respond to the covid19 pandemic. Throughout 20, we have used these resources to protect american lives. Weve assisted in the repatriation of americans from china and japan at the start of the pandemic. We provided medical Services Support in louisiana, texas and mississippi after the hurricane and today, we have teams deployed to louisiana and mississippi prepared to assist in response and recovery operations following hurricane sal sally. We havedeployed personnel and teams to california and oregon to support Wildfire Response and the secretary has just signed the Public Health emergency for oregon to assist in the search and rescue of personnel, of individuals who have been affected there. Weve deployed personnel to beirut to assist the government in lebanon following the catastrophic explosion. With that, weve supported these calls to action while also responding to state, local, territorial and tribal requests for assistance in the covid response. It is an honor to lead this organization. Im truly humbled by the selflessness and dedication of the men and women here. While we have seen a decline in new cases and deaths and hospitalizations, we know it takes constant vigilance and responsibility by eavery americn to wash hands and wear a mask and keep social distance. We continue to work hard to enhance our countrys preparedness and Emergency Response capabilities. Weve been part of a driving force in this effort. Since early 2020, they began working to accelerate Vaccine Development. This work was foundational to the work of operation warp speed. A whole of government approach, working with our private sector partners, to produce and deliver a safe and effective vaccine as fast as possible. The sup mental proappropriation provide bid this committee has been essential in permitting significant advancements under warp speed. As a result, americas in a far better position to protect individuals and defeat the covid19 virus. To date, we have awarded 13. 6 billion to support over 50 medical countermeasure projects. Some of these awards are vaccine contracts. Were making significant progress in advancing these vaccines through Clinical Trial processes. Three candidates are in phase three Clinical Trials, mean iin that were closer than ever to a safe and effective vaccine available to the public. Three others are in phase one and two. Safety is top, which is why science is drive iing to ensure they meet fdas Gold Standard of approval. In the meantime, weve implemented a process to promote Vaccine Development. Supporting these efforts simultaneously ensures were in position to distribute and administer the vaccine quickly once approved. We also continue to support advancements in life saving therapeutics like take k approach to oversee the Fair Distribution of remdesivir. Today, weve distributed enough remdesivir to states to treat almost 650,000 states. We also supported the mitigation efforts to slow virus transmission. Since march, weve produced and distributed more than 500 million cloth facial coverings a across the country to protect vulnerable populations and essential workers. This month, were supporting the administrations school facial coverings initiative by sending an additional 125 million cloth facial masks to states and territories for distribution to low income students in order to support the safe reopening of americas schools. As the federal agency leading Emergency Support function, were capitalizing on existing relationships with dod, va and dhs to coordinate a more comprehensive medical nationwide response. Responded to requests from 32 state ss, three territory, five tripes with nearly 100 medical support missions with over 5,700 staff from the National Disaster medical teams, the Public Health service, va and dod. Weve provided personal protective equipment to expand the depth and breadth of our stockpile, grow the base and reduce vulnerabilities to foreign suppliers. Weve used the defense protection act as well. I thank you again for your support and the opportunity to testify before you on efforts during this pandemic and im happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. Thank you, doctor. Dr. Redfield. Good morning, chairman blunt and Ranking Member murray and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. On behalf of cdc and thank you, also, for your continued support of our Public Health professionals and the life saving work theyre committed to do 24 7. Over 6700 cdc staff have been engaged in the agencys covid19 response. 1200 of whom have been deployed to more than more than 200 locations in the United States and abroad. I know you share with me the gratitude for their resilience. Throughout this global pandemic, cdc has brought its scientific expertise to the front lines, confronting rapid investigation of disease outbreaks that identified the highest risk populations and settings. Understanding which populations are at risk and how the virus is spread is critical to protecting the health of americans. Today and even after we have a vaccine, cdc encourages all americans to embrace the powerful tools that we have right now. To wear a mask. Particularly when theyre in public. Maintain social distancing. Routine villagilant hand washin. Be smart about crowds and stay home when youre sick. And as we move into the fall, were add iing one of the most scientific to medicine. Flu vaccination. Flu arena is safe and cdc encourages americans to embrace it with confidence, for themselves, their families and their communities. These simple actions combined could help this nation avert a very difficult fall, lessening the burden on our Health Care System and saving lives. Cdc has awarded 140 million to 64 jurisdictions through agreements to scale up flu vaccination this season. This fund with the focus of ensuring flu vaccine coverages can reach the populations at most risk. This year, cdc puchrchased an additional 9. 3 million doses of adult influenza vaccine up from the usual annual 500,000 dose purchase in prior years, as well as 18. 5 million doses for children. And cdc has developed a new multiplex Laboratory Test that can check for three viruses at the same time, influenza a and b, plus sars covid 2 from a single sample. This will save Public Health laboratories time and resources and help better understand and identify coinfections with influenza and covid. Sars covid 2. To date, cdc has distributed over 135 multiplex kits to more than 100 laboratories across the country with each kit having muff reagents to do approximately 500 tests. Cdc is also working with 64 iminternational space station grant recipients to build readiness for timely and most importantly,