The committee will come to order. I thank all of our witnesses for returning this morning. We appreciate the recognition of our interest and oversight responsibilities. This is a crisis that is evolving quickly. Since our hearing yesterday, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Cdc has now reported that we have almost 1,000 confirmed cases. That is up from 100 reported cases a week ago. A 900 increase. Americans are worried. They are scared. It is essential that we are able to hear directly from the Health Officials leading this effort with just the facts. Im going to go to the republican side first which is where we left off. Before i do that, without objection, the following three letters we sent on march 3rd to hhs and cdc requesting basic information including about t t testing are entered into the record. We have not gotten any response to those letters. And with that, i recognize mr. Higgins. Thank you, madam chair. Gentlemen, thank you for returning today. Let me ask dr. Fauci, do you lead the executive task force regarding our nations response to coronavirus . No, i dont, sir. Your status is what on the task force . I dont lead the task force. The task force is led by the Vice President of the United States. Understood. But youre the lead scientist. We have several scientists. We have myself, dr. Redfield, dr. Kadlec. Several scientists. All right. The scientists ive spoken with in committee see you as the lead man. I believe most of america does. And we greatly prpt you and these gentlemen being here today. Let me clarify for america watching that according to the rules of this committee, members have the opportunity to submit our questions in writing and given the nature of this challenge and the president s announcements of last night, with all due respect madam chair, i believe this hearing should have been canceled or postponed. These gentlemen should be able to go and do their work. Theres a time in battle when you need your front line men on the front line, not in the rear with the gear. And these gentlemen showed us Great Respect to be here today. An oversite role is incredibly important. Ill be submitting my questions in writing. Well publish those questions and answers in a press release at a greater date. And i yield the balance of my time to the Ranking Member. I would yield to mr. Green. Thank you, mr. Ranking member. My first question is for mr. Kadlec. I want to talk about ppe if i could and a concern about liability and the Liability Protections that might be very important for the fact this is a catastrophic event. If you could comment on that and the liability issues. Youre correct theres a great demand for personal equipment particularly respirators. We have a limited supply in our national stockpile. Annually about 13 million rest praters are used. Only a small percentage by the health care industry. About 35 million. And we believe respiratot prait high demand item. Theres been a strategy to basically and cdcs provided guidance on reuse. Even though some of their sources from finished product is from overseas like china. And the third thing is what can we do to use masks that havent been used for the medical area . Nonmedical m95s could be used in that fashion. Fda is basically certified through the emergency use that respirators used in manufacturing and in mining and in construction could be used in health care settings. Theyre similar but not the same but could be used that way. And the only thing thats keeping a lot of manufacturers from selling those masks to the Broader Health care population is because of Liability Provisions or lack of Liability Protections. There is the public readiness Emergency Preparedness act that was passed in 2005 that basically indemnifies manufacturers, distributors, and users of these masks or users of products that are defined as a device or as a cover countermeasure. Happen to be on the staff that did that legislation in 2005. We did not consider a situation like this today. We thought about vaccines and therapeutics. We never thought about respirators being our only line of defense for Health Care Workers. We think thats a very important capacity and capability to include langs uage or modify to include devices for that purpose. And thats a significant critical item. I had a bunch of constituents ask me after yesterdays hearing whats the difference between a Public Health lab and a commercial health lab. Now, everybody in this room kund of understands that. But would you for the record and for the folks that are watching on tv make the clarification between those in the few seconds i have left . Thank you very much. We have a series of Public Health labs throughout this country whose primary purpose is to do surveillance. To kind of get eyes on whats going on in the community. And cdc has worked cooperatively with them. As you know, about 70 of our funding that we get from you all is then distributed to the state and local territory travel departments including their Public Health labs. Theres also clinical medicine, the practice of clinical medicine. The private sector that actually tries to provide diagnostics so we can diagnose diabetes or anemia, lots of different diseases. Its really the engagement of the private sector to get these tests into clinical medicine which is its a partnership between the private sector. Cdc usually develops the tests first, gets it out into the Health Departments to do surveillance, and then the private sector comes in to provide the clinical tools we need to basically diagnose patients. Not the surveillance of the community. Thank you. The gentlelady from florida ms. Wasserman schultz is recognized. Thank you. Yesterday my colleague mr. Raskind asked you about a nurse who was quarantined after showing symptoms of the disease. She couldnt get tested, if you recall, even though her local Health Department recommended one. She said this and i quote, the public county officer called me and verified my symptoms and agreed with testing but the national cdc would not initiate testing. They said they would not test me because if i was wearing the recommended equipment i wouldnt have the coronavirus. Dr. Redfield, when you were asked about this yesterday, you said this is a misunderstanding if it did occur. You testified that, quote, the test was always available in atlanta. If you sent the sample to us and there was not a time a Health Department could not get a test, they had to send it to atlanta. You claimed that the testing criteria never placed restrictions on who got tested. Rather that was only guidance. And quote, we always left the discretion to do testing to the local Public Health group. So the Committee Staff reached out to the Union Representing this nurse who was not able to receive a test. And they sent us the following test last night. I ask unanimous consent that this statement be entered into the record. So granted. According to National Nurses united, in recent weeks, our union has been made aware of multiple circumstances and the statement is up on the screen. Multiple circumstances in which Health Care Workers have been exposed to covid19 infection and have not received covid19 tests despite requests for testing. They continue, there have been too many cases where exposed Health Care Workers have been refused testing. Further members of our union across the country have reported countless cases in which testing has been refused to patients when clinicians have recommended it. Dr. Redfield, the union that represents nurses across this country just issued a statement publicly contradicting your testimony yesterday before this committee. I ask this question. Would you admit theres a serious problem in this country with individuals obtaining access to testing for coronavirus . You have to turn your mic on. Thank you for your question, congresswoman. Im going to be looking into this in depth as i said yesterday. Clearly we need to protect the Health Care Workers on the front lines. In general these are local decisions or which Health Care Workers need to be tested but these are people who contacted cdc and at cdc they say turned them down and said they couldnt be tested. And i will look into that in detail and get back to your office as soon as i can. Well, as soon as you can hopefully will be today. There are countless more examples of problems with people getting access to tests all across the country including in my home state of florida. We need to have someone in charge of making sure that as many people as possible across this country have access to getting tested as soon as possible. Who is that person . Is it you . Is it the Vice President . Can you give us the name of who can gauarantee that anyone can e tested . As i tried to explain to congressman green, from the cdc perspective im asking for a name. Who is in charge of making sure that people who need to get tested, who are indicated to be tested can get a test. Who . I was trying to say the responsibility i have at cdc is to ensure all the Public Health labs have it and they can make the judgment on how they want to use it. But they are referencing people who had been turned down by you. So is it you . As i said, im going to look into the specifics. I know that. So basically reclaiming my time. Basically you seem to be saying since you cant name someone specifically that theres no one specifically in charge that quick count on to make sure people who need to be tested, theres not one person that can ensure these tests can be administered. Yes or no . My colleague is looking at me to answer that. Here we go. Okay i do have another question. So if we can get to the meat of the question. The system does not is not really geared to what we need right now. What you are asking for. That is a failing. A failing, yes. It is a failing. Lets admit it. The fact is the way the system was set up is that the Public Health component that dr. Redfield was talking about was a system where you put it out there in the public and a physician asks for it and you get it. The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, were not set up for that. Do i think we should be . Yes. But were not. Thats disturbing and i appreciate the information. If i can quickly ask my question which is the question i wanted to ask yesterday. We have four in my home county, we have four positive porte everglades workers who tested positive for coronavirus. These employees according to our state department of health likely contracted the virus with interactions with passengers on ships they were working during their shifts. Ships that held six to eight ships that likely held upwards of 50,000 passengers. The people on these ships who were potentially exposed should have been notified so they could have taken swift steps to protect themselves and others. They deserved to know theyd been exposed to someone with the virus. Yet when i asked our department of health what steps were being tablgen to determine who came into contact with these employees when i asked the port, the cruise lines yesterday, the department of health, the department was not forthcoming. Didnt direct the cruise lines to notify the passengers. Instead of being forthcoming with me, the public and those passengers, i couldnt get a strait answer from the department of health and they said that they were going by cdc guidelines. Sop mr. Redfield, what are the cdc guidelines for notifying people who have potentially been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus case and shouldnt passengers on the relevant ships worked by the Port Everglades employees who have coronavirus been notified in a timely manner so they can take precautionary measures . They still havent been notified. Thank you very much again for both your concern and your question. I know you got a chance to speak to admiral red i think yesterday about that. Yes. Cdc last night spoke with the princess cruise staff about the situation. They agreed to send a note to all passengers on the ship where the greeters have worked. Were in contact today with the florida Health Department. We would concur that individuals that have been exposed particularly in a cruise setting should be notified. I think the controversy here, congresswoman, is i think the state actually thinks they may have gotten infected in the community. But i think we should err on the side of concern respectfully, the state department of health specifically said in the epidemiological study they did, they had not these employees had not traveled internationally and had not had contact in the community with anyone with coronavirus. And so now days and days have gone by, thousands of passengers floated around the ocean with people who had coronavirus likely on the ship they were on and days and days have gone by with no notification, no precautions that those passengers should have taken, and they could be out there spreading coronavirus right now. And to this day, the cruise line still has not been notified and urged by any Public Health entity to notify their passengers to make sure they can figure out whether theyre exposed. My only comment was after you brought this to admiral reds attention, we did have that conversation not just princess. This is the the members time is expired, but the witness may answer the question. I just said based on that, the company the cruise ship staff agreed to send a notice to all passengers that were on a ship in which any of these greeters worked. Madam chair, i want to point out, its not just Princess Cruise Lines. This is the second largest cruise port in the world. And there is more than just Princess Cruise Lines that these employees worked. We will follow up to see with the state that any ship that had passengers that these individuals could have exposed will be notified. Thank you and i deeply appreciate the members indulgence. Mr. Norman is recognized for the equivalent time. Point of order, do i get seven minutes . Yes, you do. Thank you so much. I just want to thank each and every one of you for coming here. I agree with my congressman higgins that yall need to be on the front lines. I admire you for coming in here. Theres nobody watching across this country that has listened over the last few days that doesnt recognize youre doing all you can do. There are certain people, certain groups that want to find every fault. Were in unchartered waters here. Youre drinking not from a fountain, from a tidal wave. I appreciate what you do. Please know the majority of the country understands while we werent aware we didnt anticipate this, yall are handling it and we do appreciate it. First question. I just met with a Company Fortune 500 company who is looking at testing their employees as they come in the door and yet their concern was one frivolous wall suit, class action suits, hipaa violations, health violations. You just cant take temperatures of people without getting into all type of issues. What would any of you what would you say for them to do . Type of issues. What would for any of you, what would you say for them to do . Cdc has published our guidance for businesses and encourage them i heard the first day it got over 500,000 downloads. I would like people to look at that guidance carefully. Secondly, there are complexities as we spoke, about testing. Probably most importantly the number of people could have this and actually have no symptoms. The other reality is when the test turns positive after you are infected is still a scientific question. I can defer to dr. Fauci. So at this stage, we really would like to see the tests provided to those individuals that feel they were exposed in the clinical setting, as we continue to try to expand that. Those individuals that obviously are presented with flulike symptoms in the hospitals. Obviously we want to see the tests used for broader Public Health surveillance. I think thats the stage were in. Id like to see if tony wants to add something. No, it is. There are two situations dr. Redfield described, one, the classic tried and true cdcbased situation, where its based on the doctor patient interaction, where a doctor has a patient who wants to get tested for cause, theyre sick, theyve been exposed, what have you, that works well. The system right now as it exists, of doing a much broader capability of determining what the penetrance is in society right now is not operational at all for us. And what the cdc is doing now is that theyre taking various cities. They started with six, and then theyre going to expand it. Where theyre not going to wait for somebody to ask to get tested, theyre going to get people who walk into an emergency room or a clinic with an influenzalike illness, and test them for coronavirus. If you do that on a broader scale throughout the country, youll start to get a feel for what the penetrance is, and thats a different process. Unfortunately, our system from the beginning was not set up to do that. And thats the reason why were not able to answer the broader questions of, how many people in the country are infected right now . We hope to get there reasonably soon, but were not there now. What is your opinion on the question i was asked by this employee, do i give do i take the risk of when you walk in that door, no symptoms, you just see what whether its a temperature, whether its asking questions, they are petrified of the outcome if they do that. Theyre also petrified of somebody having the virus when they walk in the door and them being held liable if they infect and this company has 500 employees. They do shifts, working three shifts. Whats your advice . You know, at this point,