States have been involved from the beginning but we are stepping it up as much as we can and the testing procedures are going well. Within a short time, the private labs will kick in. It has never been done before and i think it will be incredible if it is done properly. These are great companies, the greatest companies in the world. The states are going to be dealing through themselves and local government, local physicians, local everybody. They are also dealing with us, but we have a tremendous testing policy. Ofare announcing a expansion medicare telehealth. Medicare patients can visit a video without additional cost using facetime and skype. This has not been done before either. Telehealth services for patients , the patient is not seeing the doctor but they are seeing the doctor so there is no getting close. During this time, we will not ipaarce applicable hui penalties. They will not be enforced. We encourage everyone to max if i was use of telehealth to avoid the spread of the
Breathe your strength and peace into our senators and use them for your glory. May they continue to totally depend on you knowing that with your mighty power you will surround them with the shield of your blessing. Holy god, your goodness will prevail until the end of time, we pray in your great name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i request one minute to address the senate in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley as the coronavirus spreads, u. S. Federal health and intelligence agencies are working hard to protect the public. Its critical that their hard work not go to waste. Federal Health Agencies must have access to all Intelligence Community information
It is important we distinguish between federal and state roles but the state is is at. He action they are the possessors of the broadest Public Health powers that you can actually have in the United States. Some states delegate those two locals. They have got the Sovereign Authority to respond in real powers thaterent you are seeing put into effect as we speak. They use those the extensively in an emergency like this. We have seen states act across the country, thinking of new york state, maryland, california, obviously. Of note soou seen far . It is important to observe one thing we have never seen before in u. S. History to my knowledge. Every single state, all u. S. Territories, simultaneous declared state of emergency. We have never seen that. This is that serious. We have unleashed Public Health powers traditional things we might do we are now using those on expedited basis. Everything in relation to testing, screening, social distancing, measures pursuant to quarantine, isolation
Good. The steering will come to order. I want to thank you witnesses for your efforts as they are wed to the current have to call it a pandemic at this point with covid19 karate coronavirus. I think it is important we put ever in perspective. I asked my Committee Members to include my Opening Statement in the record. Fail towe often recognize and put this in proper perspective. Let me battle off a couple figures. Worldwideal cases ended up being less than 29,000. In the mist of that crisis, we were talking about this spreading and it could be a Million People. Which would have been a huge problem because ebola had a mortality rate of already percent. In the end, because of effective action on the part of the world health organization, Obama Organization administration, we prevented that from spreading. Less than 29,000 people contracted that. We have had other topics of ebola where we are Getting Better at it. We have developed effective vaccines that helped protect Health Workers and
In to thisor tuning fortunately, timely conversation on public trust, institutions, and the coronavirus. First, i want to respect the haskers and everyone who responded to the call for social distancing. We do not think that that contradicts the common cause and thats the way we going to run the Atlantic Council at this time. We see this as a challenge. Safe,e to keep our staff the community safe. At the same time, we have to rally. We do not have you here in the room, but we encourage you to engage in our discussion. Accoronavirus throughout this event. Our team will be monitoring your comments and passing them to the moderator as much as possible. At the Atlantic Council, we are working rapidly to respond to provide all viewers as much understanding as we can realtime, but also policy ideas that we how we can collaborate better. We find ourselves racing for. Ajor geopolitical impacts the covid19 spread is causing chaos and confusion around the globe. But what we know already is the c