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Today at 9AM ET, the @COVIDOversight Cmte hears testimony from Dr. Fauci, Admr. Giroir & CDC dir. Redfield on the need for an effective national strategy on Covid-19.
I will live-tweet. Join me!
Some notes on what we can expect to hear today:
•As of 7/23, CDC has obligated $12.1 billion toward contact tracing
•100k tracers needed acc. to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Study
•Health dept surveys show 37k are currently in place
documentcloud.org/documents/7011…
Critics of contact tracing say it less effective at this point because of the exploding daily case & asymptomatic rates which make tracking more prohibitive outright. It is kind of like trying to outrun an avalanche.
Proponents of contact tracing say it is still an effective way to monitor burgeoning flare-ups in communities and not just today, but in the weeks, months and years ahead.
CDC race data collection ticked up from 21% in April to 59% in July; ethnicity data collection through CDC jumped from 18%o 50% during the same time.
According to Redfield, the initial Covid-19 case report form incl. Qs for sex/age/race/ethnicity & if the case is part of a recognized outbreak. The revised form includes more variables, incl. for tribal nations at higher risk for severe illness, homelessness, disability
'While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will last, COVID-19 activity will likely continue for some time," Redfield is expected to say in opening remarks. He also raises, again, concerns about a confluence of Covid-19/seasonal flu adding pressure to hosps, testing, PPE
CDC has awarded $140M to 64 jurisdictions to scale up for flu season and we should be hearing more on this today.
For his part, Dr. Fauci will talk vaccines
Note: A few weeks ago the National Institute for Allergy & Infectious Diseases set up a network of clinical vax trial networks in partnership with the DoD/HHS to tap what they hope will be thousands of volunteers in 100+ trial sites.
In Fauci's opening remarks, he notes the Moderna entered its Phase 3 clinical trial with the network on July 27; another study shared between Rocky Mtn Labs in Montana and Univ. of Oxford is researching a vax candidate now entering Phase 2/3.
Rigorous testing on safety/efficacy means that a licensed Covid-19 vaccine is going to take time, Fauci underlines.
"There is growing optimism that one or more of these vaccine candidates will prove safe and effective by late 2020 or early 2021" (Same as we have been hearing)
Trials on remdesivir, which, in some studies has shown to speed recovery, are also continuing; antibody treatments are being developed among no less than 21 companies and NIAID and others are working on 19 studies on immune response and disease progression
The hearing will be underway shortly.
CSPAN also has a stream for those who want to watch:
c-span.org/video/?474168-…
And away we go.

Chairman @WhipClyburn will begin with opening remarks and he reminds everyone, all individuals attending the hearing *must wear a face covering* if you don't, you're aren't allowed to stay in the room or be recognized to speak.
Some lawmakers will participate remotely today as well.
.@WhipClyburn Our nation is in the midst of a public health catastrophe.
There are 150k Americans dead, more than any other country in the world.
It took 3 months to go from 1 infection to 1 million.
Today, at least 4 million infected and 1M in just the last 2 weeks.
Hospitals are stressed. Physicians must decide who to treat, who to send home to die, Clyburn says.
Another 100K at least could die before the end of this year if we don't take hold of this.
The Trump admin has yet to implement a national strategy, Clyburn says. Testing has improved but in at least 11 states, including SC, they are conducting less than 30% of the tests they need to control the virus.
W/o widely available rapid testing, it will be impossible to contain the spread, safely reopen economy.
In April, the admin considered implementing a national strategy to coordinate test kit distro but decided not to because "at the time, the virus was mostly in blue states"
It is clear the admin's approach to deferring to states, sidelining experts and rushing to reopen has prolonged this virus and led to 1000s of preventable deaths, in fact, the U.S. response stands out as the worst of any country in the world. - Clyburn
"My Q is where do we go from here?" Clyburn says he is calling on the Trump admin to finally give the U.S. a comprehensive nat'l plan that prioritizes science over politics, incl. buying/distributing enough tests/PPE for every American who needs them
Another 150k deaths before the end of the year is well within the realm of possibilities if we do not contain the virus, Chairman Clyburn urges.
Ranking member Steve Scalise, R-LA, begins his opening remarks by offering a tribute to John Lewis, recognizing him as an icon in the civil rights movement.
Scalise says Fauci, Redfield and Giroir represent the frontlines of the Trump admin's response to the pandemic.
Scalise calls it a false political narrative that the admin has no national strategy or plan.
If you were sidelined, you wouldn't be here, Scalise says.
Well, there was some pushback to the initial sidelining to be fair.

washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
Scalise continues with a mixed metaphor/sports metaphor (for all you fans of those) and says every day we learn more, whether it is a military plan or a football plan, you have to start w. the first play and make changes. And make changes daily.
"Nobody is resting on their laurels" when it comes to testing, expanding US testing.
He echoes Pres. Trump and says that the cmte should be holding hearings on China's role in failing to stop the spread
Scalise claims that half of America gets their test results within 24 hours.
(I will get into this and more in my report later).
On reopening schools, Scalise points to the recently revised CDC guidance on opening schools which highlighted "the damage to children" when schools stay closed.
Fauci begins with his opening statement.
Fauci is touching on how research is expanding and improving on the fundamental knowledge of the virus, the biology and response to it.
Targeting the spike proteins, delineating how the virus binds to the body; understanding how it works in children.
2 therapeutics have passed randomized placebo-controlled trials, one is remdisivir, it showed an improvement in time to survival for those hospitalized w/pulmonary issues and this has become the standard of care.
Dexamethasone showed an improvement for those on ventilators.
More on that here: nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
A phase 3 vax trial involving 30k people already enrolled will go into the fall/winter, could be successful and they are optimistic
Next we hear from Admiral Giroir from HHS who says testing is crucial but we can't test our way out of this or any other pandemic. Avoiding crowded spaces, washing hands, wearing a mask, protecting the vulnerable is the way through, he says
He extolls the ramp up in testing; expanded capacity. LabCorps said turn around times are 2-3 days.
(Some people are still waiting weeks)
Giroir says by the end of this week they will have administered 1M point of care tests to those in nursing homes.
CDC director Robert Redfield invokes John Lewis, offers his condolences and says that the agency will continue his mission of equality by protecting all Americans from the disease and overcoming the disparity of impact on communities of color
Redfield is not an animated man or speaker, and I have heard him testify about a dozen times now.
He is strongly emphasizing that we are in a unique and dynamic situation posing a formidable challenge.
He is holding up a mask for a moment and says wearing one of these properly is critical to limiting transmission.
Stay six feet apart from others. Be vigilant about hand hygiene.
Right after Redfield says you must wear a mask properly to prevent transmission:
@RepBlaine Luetkemeyer is panned over to and he is not wearing a mask properly.
If you do not place the mask over your nose and mouth, you are not preventing transmission.
Clyburn notes how when Fauci previously came before the committee he said "it is going to get worse."
Clyburn: You were right. It did get worse.

Europe has contained the virus but the US sees a continued rise. Why?
Fauci says if you look what happened to Europe when they went to shutdown/lockdown they did it to the tune of 95% of the country. In the U.S. even though we shut down, we functionally shut down only about 50% in sense of the totality of the country.
So when we reached our peak, as they did, they came down to a low baseline. But ours went down, came up, plateaued. We started with a very difficult baseline of transmission at the time we tried to open up the country.
And when we did, what we saw, particularly in southern states, we saw increase of 20-70k cases per day over time in that region, now to about 50-60k
Universal wearing of masks, ending crowding, enforcing strict social distancing, these were all things that we didn't roll out soon enough.
We can still turn it around by doing these now and taking it more seriously.
Scalise asks Fauci to describe the decisions by Trump that worked.
He asks if Fauci agreed with banning flights to China. Fauci does agree that helped and save lives.
(This hasn't been a controversy for many weeks now)
Scalise asks Fauci whether he thinks Trump's 15 and 30 day pandemic plans helped save lives, Fauci says he believes they did and that they were in agreement about virtually all decisions in the early days of the pandemic
Apologies for the small break in tweeting, had to pull away for a moment but I am back.
Fauci on vax: we're taking financial risk right now to speed up dose production and simultaneously enhance efficacy testing, collaboaring with CDC, DoD
Historically the FDA has based its decision on science, Fauci says they will do it again as we develop the vaccine for Covid-19.
Rep Jackie Walorski, R-Indiana says it is irresponsible rhetoric when people suggest they have concerns over safety for vax candidates
Fauci says the commish of FDA, Stephen Hahn, assured him and has spoken publicly that any decision from the FDA on a vax will be based on sound, scientific data. Given that, the public should be assured that in the process of determining safety/efficacy, the proper steps followed
Like Rep. Scalise, Rep. Walorski, R-Ind., asks Chairman Clyburn to hold a hearing on "threat by Chinese on vax producers."
Maxine Waters: On July 10 the Trump admin ordered hospitals to change how they reported hospitalization rates, testing and other data. They were instructed to start reporting data directly to HHS, given just 2 days to prepare for the change.
Leading health groups warned the changes would worsen our ability to mitigate the public health crisis.
Asks when Redfield was first notified of the change.
Redfield says CDC continues to have access to all data.
Waters: But when did he first learn of this?
Redfield, I wasn't involved in the decision, I don't remember the exact date.
Waters: Were you not told at all?
Redfield: I was told it was the secy's decision. (Azar)
Redfield says he agreed with the decision to shift data.
Then he says "he talked directly with those responsible."
But then @RepMaxineWaters asked him if he talked with Pence? Redfield says no, also says he did not discuss it with Azar.
Was he told about the changes, why they were done or did he and others develop the changes?
We worked cooperatively together with HHS
.@RepBlaine, pictured below, offers Qs to Redfield now & asks "how do we from 30k feet" make sure that everyone is taken care of when it comes to schools/reopening
Redfield holds up a mask and says we get smart about wearing these.
CDC director Redfield says it is imperative we get kids back in school. Isolation, threats to children's safety from domestic abuse in the home, sexual abuse.
He's got 11 grandkids, he wants it done smartly but it is in the public health interest for kids to have quality ed
Rep Velazquez notes how states are reporting delays in testing results. In AZ, reports of up to 16 days. In GA, 5-10 days.
She quotes Fauci back to himself: if 5 day delay is too long, you should just forget about contact tracing being effective
Adm. Giroir says half of all tests are done at hospitals or point of care and those are rapid. The current data from large commercial labs: 59% of all tests 3 days, 76% in 5.
But Velazquez says that is not what they are hearing from states like AZ, FL, GA
Giroir says he sees all state test result data every day and it is mostly fast.
Giroir fields Q does HHS/CDC have comprehensive info on wait times from all 50 states. Is it published? Giroir says that info from comm labs is available to everyone from comm labs
Rep. Velazquez: Is the fed govt using full range of tools to get the virus under control? States are considering their reopening plans after experiencing a shocking increase in cases. What role does lack of testing and contact tracing play in states inability to control this?
Fauci says testing and contact tracing are one of the tools used but he wants to reemphaize: We could do a really good job of controlling it if we paid attention to five fundamental principles with masks, no crowds, distancing, no bars, washing hands.
Rep Jm Jordan is asking the same question he always asks at these hearings. Should government limit protesting to stop spread of the virus?
Fauci: I don't think that's relevant.
Then Fauci says, I'm in no position to comment on that in a relevant way. I would leave that to people who are more in a position to do that.
Jordan: Gov't is stopping people from going to church.
Fauci says he "doesn't judge one crowd vs. another crowd."
He says avoid crowds and avoid not wearing a mask in those crowds.

Fauci looks exhausted by this line of questioning.
"I dont know how many times I can answer that, I'm not going to opine on anything."
Jordan combattively says, "you opine on a lot"
Fauci , tosses his head, and goes, "Yeah, but I'm not going to opine on anything. I'm only going to tell you about the danger, you should stay away from crowds no matter where they are."
Jim Jordan badgers Fauci., asks him if he has any proof that protests increased the spread of the virus.
Fauci, says he doesn't have anything on that specifically but says, in effect, common sense: where there are crowds, without masks, esp., there's increased concern for spread
Rep. Bill Foster on mRNA vaccines and what the Obama admin did. They invested in those therapeutics as far back as 2009.
Without that, Foster says, Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" for vax development "wouldn't have squat"
Fauci says antibody work, work done with antiviral molecules in the past are hugely supportive to the mission today.
Foster notes the Trump/Mulvaney budget proposes slashing scientific funds, antithetical to progress
Jordan chimes in again. Again, on protest gambit.
Fauci: Like I said, any crowd, whether it is a protest, where people are close together without masks is a risk. I'll stick by that statement. It's a public health stmt. It's not a judgment on why you're in a crowd,.
Clyburn notes to Jordan that the answer has already been given to Jordan.
@RepRaskin calls out that Jordan is out of order.
Jordan crosstalk.
Clyburn says he will run the mtg and notes that this will all be conducted "gentlemanly"
Rep. Green says the media is creating hype around people who don't wear masks and in effect, that is the problem.
For clarity that is Rep Mark Green, R-Tenn.
.@RepRaskin in his remarks says blaming other countries is not a plan. Blaming China is not a plan. Blaming China is not even a good excuse for the lethal incompetence and disinformation of President Trump.
China's early cover up only deepens the complicity of Trump.
On 37 different occasions Trump defended, excused or praised the Chinese gov't, Raskin says.
More than 153k Americans are dead.
54M filed for unemployment.
1/3 drop in GDP, unprecedented in economic activity.
It took 26 days for us to reach 3M cases, 15 days to reach 4 million cases, @RepRaskin notes.
How long until we get to 5 million cases?
Redfield says what happens next depends on whether the public embraces what CDC asks (wear your mask, avoid crowds, wash hands)
Raskin thanks Redfield for promoting this mask-wearing message today but he wants to dispel the disinformation out there.
Raskin: are children almost immune from the disease?
Fauci: No, children get the disease.
@RepRaskin: Will Covid-19 magically disappear?
Fauci: It will not because it is such a highly transmittable virus.

Raskin: Does wearing a mask give you Covid-19?
Fauci: No.

Raskin: Is Covid-19 a hoax?
Fauci: No.
Fauci: There's no therapeutic efficacy for hydroxychloroquine.
Fauci under questioning: No, no one can cure themselves by ingesting disinfectants or bleach.
Raskin notes how other countries defeat the disease and we are not. Do we have the tools to escape "this nightmare?"
Fauci: When you look at the comparison between Asia & Europe, when they shut down, they shut down to the tune of 95% getting baseline to 10s of 100s of cases a day
Fauci: When we did it, we got it down, but unfortunately, our baseline was 20k a day.
Raskin: Would you agree w/me that the critical difference is social cohesion and political leadership to develop a plan and stick to it?
Fauci: There was such a diversity in response from different states, we really did not have a unified 'bringing everything down'
Rep. Andy Kim asks if the fed govt is doing everything it can to wrangle the Covid-19 crisis:
Giroir and Redfield say to the best of their ability, despite that being a very broad question, they are doing everything they can.,
Fauci agrees at NIAID it is "all hands on deck"
Rep Kim notesGiroir said that 75% of all tests are coming back within 5 days. But that still means 25% of all tests are taking longer than that.
Kim asks when we can achieve results in 48 hours/less?
Giroir effectively admits that we can't achieve that now, but that's the goal
Rep Maloney enters into record reports that show protests did not increase Covid-19 spread and studies showing no correlation between BLM protests and increased outbreaks or infection.
You can read that here: nber.org/papers/w27408
The committee is on a small break. I hope you have enjoyed following along. I will resume live-tweeting shortly.
We're back. Clyburn began by saying he agrees with Fauci/Redfield/Giroir counsel on how we should conduct ourselves, wearing masks/social distancing.
But some of what has been brought up today about exercising 1A/false equivalencies...
He recalls his long term relationship with John Lewis and correlation to protests today.
"I'm glad the government did not limit our protests. The First Amendment has constraints. You can't yell fire in a crowded theater, but you can peaceably assemble to redress grievances."
People out here on BLM plaza - they were not carrying guns. They were peaceful. This was same when Lewis marched across the bridge, Clyburn says, they too were met by weapons. They didn't bring them.
Clyburn says he understands value of keeping kids in school but this has to be done safely.
In his remarks, Scalise says all states have money to safely reopen schools and laments: there's been no deaths of people under 19 in D.C. but D.C. school system opted going all virtual
.@RepMaxineWaters: This virus is not Dem. or Republican.
She sends condolences to Herman Cain's family, noting he was at Tulsa rally with no mask on.
"And he's dead. He died. I'm told he was in good health. But he contracted the virus as a result of his attendance w/no mask."
Background on Mr. Cain via @JackRodgersCNS who - you should be following, you guys.

courthousenews.com/former-gop-pre…
@RepMaxineWaters rattling off all the recommendations made by Trump who said we shouldn't wear masks at the start but has only "found religion" in the last few days, she says.

After all that, now Trump says children are almost immune from the virus. Are we to trust that?
Fauci says the science shows, children get infected.
"If you're talking about a conclusion that children are in general immune - they get infected, therefore they are not immune."
Fauci: When children get infected, when you look at the deleterious consequences, they generally do much much better. You look at the hospitalizations, there's a much lower rate. The curve goes up as you get older..
BUT...
Waters says I understand that, but I'm asking you really, about his latest comment that children are almost immune.
And Fauci asserts, children are not immune.

Will say it again:
Children are not immune from Covid. 19.
Admiral Giroir has to leave the hearing early because they have a virtual meeting with commission officers tackling the pandemic and means no disrespect by leaving.
Jim Jordan is back up. And he is back on protests.
Jim Jordan says Democratic governors and mayors are infringing on people's right to worship, exercise their freedom of religion by closing down church gatherings.
Out of curiosity - have you attended worship services virtually since the pandemic began?
Rep. Jordan asks Redfield/Fauci what is happening to law enforcement at these protests and if they're tracking the exposure they have to Covid-19.

Note: Trump sent FCC Beaumont LEOs to D.C. during protests, after those facilities had outbreaks.
In this July 22 article, Texas reported as "home to three worst federal prison outbreaks in the country" according to the BOP. Between FCI Seagoville, FMC Carswell and Beaumont.
msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-…
I was on the ground in D.C. for weeks with
@JackRodgersCNS and what we saw and documented was the lion's share of protesters wearing masks, handing out hand sani. Encouraging others to do the same.
You can see here:
What we did not see was the lion's share of law enforcement wearing masks. And in particular those agents who came from corrections facilities with high covid rates.
Interesting exchange betwn Rep Luetkemeyer and Fauci on benefits or lack thereof of hydroxychloroquine.
The rep quotes the Henry Ford study that said hydroxy reduced death rates significantly.
The rep says 1st studies didn't use zinc w/hydroxy and that would've helped efficacy
Fauci: The Henry Ford hospital study was non-controlled retrospective cohort study confounded by # of issues, incl. many receiving hydroxy were taking steroids, which we know from another study, is what gave clear benefit in reducing deaths in advanced disease.
Fauci pulls no punches: The Henry For study is flawed, its not randomized.
Rep Leut. cuts in "but it was peer reviewed.
Fauci: "It doesn't matter. You can peer review a bad study. It was not a randomized placebo-controlled trial - which is the gold standard.
Fauci: None of these studies so far "have shown any efficacy to hydroxychloroquine"
Having said that, when he does see that, when he sees a randomized placebo trial showing efficacy, he "will be the first one to permit and promote it."
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