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Soon: Fauci, Other Medical Experts Testify In U.S. House; Half Of U.S. States Reporting Increase In Cases; U.K. PM Announces Further Easing Of COVID-19 Restrictions. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired June 23, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. Any moment now this, Dr. Anthony Fauci
and other top U.S. health experts will testify on Capitol Hill. They will answer questions in a House hearing on the Trump administration's response
to the coronavirus pandemic.
So we will bring you that hearing live when it starts. Now the hearing comes as half of the 50 U.S. states report an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Eight are seeing a more than 50 percent spike. Among the hardest hit states Florida, Texas and Arizona where President Donald Trump Donald Trump is
headed right now to visit the U.S. Mexico border and to address a group of young supporters.
CNN's Senior Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju joins me now so what can we expect to hear at this hearing?
MANU RAJU, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a significant hearing because this will be the first time in some time we have heard from
senior officials, public health experts in the Trump administration because they have not been having these daily press briefings that we saw just a
couple of months ago.
Instead, the President has been pushing to reopen the economy, has been downplaying the threat and the severity of the coronavirus crisis. The Vice
President said there's not going to be a second wave of COVID-19 in the United States. The question will be whether or not these key public health
officials will contradict the President and the Vice President in on these matters, particularly the President increasingly has suggested that testing
in his view is over rated.
He suggested over the weekend that he had asked his top officials to slow down testing because he says it shows more cases in the United States but
public health experts say that more testing is essential to ensuring that the spread of this disease does not continue.
So hearing how these officials discuss this will be key today. The other people testifying of course are Dr. Anthony Fauci who's a senior official,
the top infectious disease expert in the United States as well as the top Director of the Centers for Disease Control, Robert Redfield and two other
top officials as well.
What Fauci is going to say about according to prepared testimony is that the vaccine might "take some time to come forward on COVID-19." Now that is
also different than what the President's been saying which he said it may happen sometime soon but Fauci's going to say that it's going to take time
to go through rigorous clinical testing before this can go to the general public.
So listen to the messages that they say, listen how different it is from coming from the Trump administration itself and this will play out through
the course of the day as these officials come before the House, Energy and Commerce committee after the White House initially insisted these officials
did not testify before this committee, last month.
So a lot of House members are very keenly interested in hearing the witnesses today. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Well, how politicized do you think this is going to be, given the Trump administration as you noted in conflict with many of
those experts as we saw about masks, large indoor gatherings and testing as you mentioned?
RAJU: Well, we probably will hear some Republicans question Dr. Fauci intensely in some ways because a lot of them, the House Republicans in
particular have been skeptical about Fauci's concerns about reopening the economy too quickly.
So expect some push back from Republicans there and expect the Democrats to dry out Fauci and others to expose what they view is the President
misleading the American public about testing, about the actual threat of this disease.
So we should see some of these questions come down along partisan lines so we'll see how these experts who work for the Trump administration, they
deal with these pointed questions from members in just a matter of minutes here. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Exactly. Well, there's been so much mixed messaging, it'll be interesting to hear it directly from those experts as you said. Thank you
so much.
RAJU: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled his new plan for a significant easing of COVID-19 measures. That's after a steady
decline of coronavirus cases in England. He says the Arts, Culture and Hospitality sectors can open back up after being closed for months but they
will still have some restrictions on how they operate.
Mr. Johnson says a review of social distancing prompted the roll back.
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BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: While the experts cannot give a precise assessment of how much the risk is reduced, they judge these
mitigations would make one meter plus broadly equivalent to the risk at two meters if those mitigations are fully implemented so either would be
acceptable and our guidance would change accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson joins us now from Downing Street in London. Welcome news for many Britons, the new catch
phrase one meter plus. Take us through the changes.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure. The Prime Minister came to stress that he has the support of his scientific and
medical advisors. There are some that the dropping down the social distancing, the one meter plus which is perhaps facing chairs in a
different direction, perhaps wearing face masks in some situations.
Barber shops that will open, the barbers in the hair salon will have to wear visors. These sorts of changes are what one meter plus is referring to
but there are some scientists in this country who feel that perhaps the Prime Minister is stepping too quickly but what we've heard him articulate
very clearly is this is his decision.
He feels the need to get the economy going in the country. This is the way to do it. This has been the long awaited, forward-looking strategy from the
Prime Minister. There has been a lot of pressure on him to provide this. You know he describes this as a sort of a coming out of a long national
hibernation, he says that there is cautious but palpable optimism on the streets and in the shops.
I think perhaps in his office also, the same cautious but palpable optimism because of course, how the country fairs and the country has fared very
badly so far on the coronavirus. How it fares under his new strategy will - will have an impact on his career.
But I think the important things to take away from here are simply that this country is getting what it wants which is some relief from
coronavirus. The Prime Minister says that it will be dependent on how the virus affects the country over the - over the coming months.
That this - that things can be turned back but he pointed out the figures and I think this would be the big takeaways for a lot of people go back
early May. 69,000 people in the country a week have tested positive for the coronavirus, have the coronavirus. The first week of June, it's now down to
22,000. Four weeks ago the average number of people with coronavirus was one in 400.
Now he says at the beginning of this month or now it is one in 1700 so these figures are really what he's basing on to try to get the country the
confidence to come out on the streets, the confidence to shop and later on the real confidence to get back to work. Will it work? As I say, sometimes
scientists do question that.
BRUNHUBER: Yes well, on that note, has there been push back from health experts because they're been filled many, many infections per day. Though
this does bring the U.K. in line with what many European countries are surely - the health experts are still worried about this.
ROBERTSON: Yes Britain's really lagged behind the European countries. It was later to go into lockdown and it fared far worse. Its death per capita
has been much worse so the concerns are while some European countries can come out of down in different ways, Britain perhaps was better advice to
wait.
Prime Minister says no, look, the middle of April you had on the rolling average 943 deaths per day. He compares that to this week where he says it
is now down to a rolling average of 130 deaths per day. So he bases it on that but I think before the Prime Minister spoke in the House of Parliament
today, that was an intervention by the former Health Secretary, a significant position when you think about coronavirus, Jeremy Hunt, who
said the test and trace program that the government has in place, which is really the safety net, when you try to sort of get people to recover from
the pandemic and back out on the streets again.
The test and trace program is a safety net. He says - identifies there's a problem here, we need to - we need to implement controls in this area or
these locations. He pointed out some very stark figures. He said the current test and trace program gets to 700 people a day, that are newly
tested with positive for coronavirus but he said there are actually 25,000 people a day, new infections with the coronavirus.
So by his calculation about a quarter million people in the country are not being reached in the test and track program so far. That is where the
concern would lie. The country ready to move forward. Does it have the systems in place to catch future outbreaks?
[11:10:00]
BRUNHUBER: That's the question. So much on the line. Thanks so much, Nic. In Germany, the district that's home to a meat processing plant is back on
lockdown after a massive outbreak there. More than 1500 workers have tested positive. Residents face the same stringent measures that were first
imposed back in March.
Senior International Correspondent Frederick Pleitgen joins me from Berlin so this has been described as the biggest infection events in the country.
How extensive is this latest lockdown.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's extremely extensive Kim. Right now in that area which is a place called Gutersloh
which is sort of a larger area in Germany in the west of Germany, it's about 370,000 people who are currently on lock down there.
You just mentioned that 1500 the workers from that plant have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. That's of 7000 people who actually work
at that plant so it's a huge proportion of the amount of people who work there, who have come down with the novel coronavirus.
Now the authorities there say, at this point in time, they believe they essentially still have this outbreak somewhat under control. They think
it's mostly so people who work at that plant who have the coronavirus but of course many of those folks also live in that town, go to that town so
they're placing everything there under lock down to try and make sure that the coronavirus doesn't spread there even more than it already has.
And just that single spread in that one town has already caused the reproduction number for the coronavirus in Germany to sky rocket from 1 to
2.88, which means that the virus spreading in Germany again so now they're really trying to pull all the stops of trying to get this under control.
They say the lockdown they hope could be lifted in about a week but certainly they're saying right now people, not allowed to go out in groups.
All the restaurants, all the bars, all the cafes closed once again which of course is extremely difficult for that town to try to get that outbreak
under control. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: So a very localized outbreak but still very worrying. Thanks so much. In Brazil, a federal judge ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to wear a
facemask in public. The ruling applies to all government employees in the district where the capital of Brasilia is located. Violators face a fine of
close to $400. Brazil has the world's second most COVID-19 and deaths behind the United States.
President Bolsonaro has largely downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak so we'll see if he actually wears that mask and back in the U.S., President
Trump is threatening some Washington protesters with prison time.
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BRUNHUBER: So you can see here protesters trying to take down the statue of former President and slave holder Andrew Jackson in Lafayette park on
Monday night. Now in response the President tweeted this warning saying, anyone vandalizing federal monuments could face ten years in prison.
Now during the protest, some demonstrators clashed with police briefly and you can see some sort of chemical irritant being used to disperse the
crowd.
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CNN's Senior Washington Correspondent, Joe Johns joins me live from the White House. So Joe, another protest, another statue targeted but a
different outcome to many that we've seen. Take us through what happened.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably the most important thing to say Kim is that the statue is still standing. The
President has been doing a lot of posturing on that over the last several hours since he woke up. He is now on his way to Arizona for campaign
appearances out there.
And the President spoke to reporters before he got on the helicopter. He said we stopped an attack on the Andrew Jackson statue. As you said, he
also tweeted that information about a statue that is in fact in law since 2003 and the United States does not require the President's authorization
and order for police to make arrests people who have destroyed or defaced monuments on federal property.
So again, he was posturing, the question is why. A lot of this has to do with the election. The President is reaching out to a couple of parts of
this base. First, that's the southern heritage base. Those are people who are attached to all things connected to the Confederate war and the second
base is the law and order base.
So he trying to appeal to all of them. Also want to point out the President did in fact comment on the fact that Saint John's Episcopal Church, which
is also just across the way here from the White House had a four-letter spray painted on it B. H. A. Z. that's supposed to mean Black House
Autonomous Zone, apparently in line with the Seattle autonomous zone that we've heard so much about.
The President tweeting this morning, there will never be he says an autonomous zone in Washington DC as long as I'm your President. If they
try, they will be met with serious force.
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So President not reaching any conciliatory notes at this time and of course, the people in Washington DC proper are trying to keep things calm.
Kim, back to you.
BRUNHUBER: Now the President, fresh from that rally in Tulsa now headed to Arizona and it's sort of a two-part visit, part wall, part rally. Take us
through that.
JOHNS: That's right. He's going first to the Mexico border, the U.S. - Mexico border. That is where a portion of his border wall, the border wall
that he promised during the 2016 campaign that has been slow to build at least so far. He's going to portions that have been built.
After that he's going to visit with about 3000 or perhaps less individuals in a Students for Trump rally at a mega church in Phoenix, Arizona. That of
course campaign component as well.
The President has tried very hard to stay away from some of the coronavirus measures that have been recommended by his task force which is testifying
up on Capitol Hill, including not wearing a mask even though the Phoenix city council has voted for the wearing a mask and turned it into a law.
So we'll be watching to see what happens there. We're told the government is not going to enforce the mask wearing requirement but there will still
be some questions about how they handle the social distancing at this church in Arizona, which as you know, is one of the states that is spiking
with coronavirus right now. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes absolutely. All right, well, listen, thanks so much Joe.
JOHNS: You bet.
BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, loved ones will soon say goodbye to Rayshard Brooks, the unarmed, black man killed by police in Atlanta less than two
weeks ago. We'll take you there next. And we'll take a look at the U. S. President's new executive order that's an extension and expansion on his
coronavirus immigration plan.
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BRUNHUBER: Friends and family will honor the life of Rayshard Brooks in a private funeral service, this afternoon in Atlanta. Brooks was killed by
police in a fast food parking lot just over a week ago. The 27-year-old's death has fueled racial tensions across the city which were already running
high.
All right, let's bring in CNN's Nick Valencia, live in Atlanta. So what can we expect to see there today.
[11:20:00]
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is being labeled as a home coming but it's certainly a somber day here for those in Atlanta and across
the country. This is been described as a moral inflection point today by the pastor who was going to eulogize Rayshard Brooks, that's pastor Raphael
Warnock who heads the Ebenezer Baptist church.
That church may sound familiar from some of our international viewers because it was once co-pastored until 1968 by Martin Luther King Junior,
the famed civil rights leader. Today that funeral is expected to happen at 1:00 PM and I asked Pastor Warnock, how is he going to go about eulogizing
a man who he never met.
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REV. RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, SENIOR PASTOR, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Well, Rayshard Brooks is a part of a continuing conversation. He's a part of a
larger narrative about our struggle to live up to our ideals as an American people. The ideal of equal protection under the law, e pluribus unum, out
of many one.
We've been struggling and stretching since the founding of this nation to get there and I think we're at an inflection point. I think that we're in a
moment where people are waking up. We have to continue to raise the issue, raise our voices and in November, we need to raise our votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Many people will be looking towards pastor Warnock to be a moral - sort of moral compass today as he eulogizes Rayshard Brooks and just very
quickly here, I did reach out to the family of Rayshard Brooks and asked them how they were doing today. A spokesperson for the family said that
they are obviously devastated.
They're not interested in any of the fanfare surrounding today's services. They said, they're just simply wanting to lay their loved ones to rest.
That funerals expected to happen at 1:00 PM eastern. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: An inflection point as the pastor said. Thank you so much Nick Valencia in Atlanta. U.S. President Trump is expanding an executive order
from April, extending an immigration ban on some temporary visas and adding some new restrictions.
So under the order, international company transfers, workers and specialty occupations, spouses and even some international students will be barred
entry until 2021. Now the restrictions importantly won't apply to people already living in the U.S. or people who work in the food supply chain,
involved in fighting COVID-19 or have a job in the 'national interest.'
Now the order will take effect on Wednesday and will last at least until the end of 2020. Amazon has called the move short-sighted with Google,
Twitter and Facebook coming out against it as well. So now we're going to bring in CNN's Richard Quest from New York.
Richard, so much consternation out there from immigrants here in the U.S. as well as many would be immigrants from around the world. How worried
should they be?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I think you have to look at exactly how far this will go. There's about a half a million jobs in all
that are involved here, ranging from the H1B visas, through to F1s, through to the J1s and they cover a wide range of employees, some of whom are of
course in the technology sector.
In fact, the majority of the H1Bs go to technology sector and that in itself has caused problems but then you have lots of managerial cases,
executives that are brought over by large companies and indeed if you look at those companies and you look at those organizations that have criticized
this particular move by the President, then it is a vast array of different companies, rights away from technology through to manufacturing.
And I think Kim, what's significant here is you're talking about half a million jobs but the evidence is stand as best as to whether or not any of
those jobs would be - would be - would have gone to American workers.
BRUNHUBER: Well, then if evidence is scant at best, I mean you know why do this, if it's going to hit the economy which President Trump is - will be
campaigning on largely, I guess at the intersection of that and immigration on which he's taken a hard line and immigration has won.
QUEST: Because it's a great line to be able to say to voters, I protected half a million jobs by stopping foreigners coming in to take them. Well,
first of all, the foreigners who take them don't vote and secondly, it's really only the upper management who will be truly aware of what a
difficult thing this is.
It's a small number of people that will fully appreciate the exact extent. So from the President's point of view, it's probably win-win to do this
from ten -
BRUNHUBER: Sorry to interrupt you but we're going to - sorry Richard, we're - we're going to go to those hearings now on Capitol Hill that we spoke
about earlier, where high ranking officials are testifying and we'll listen.
[11:25:00]
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DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CDC: Once again, I call on the American people to remain vigilant in our collective obligation to protect those who
may be at risk for severe complications of COVID-19 due to age or underlying medical conditions.
You must also lessen the burden of COVID-19 among racial and ethnic groups disproportionately impacted. CDC continues to improve its data collection
of comprehensive data of each case, race and ethnicity from our state, local, tribal and territorial partners, reporting from hospital
surveillance sites for example of increase in completeness on race and ethnicity from 30 percent to now more than 80 percent.
CDC is also receiving more complete data from our public health partners. Recent CDC study examined more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases, found that
the most underlying health conditions were cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity and chronic lung disease. Hospitalizations were six times higher
for these individuals and deaths, 12 times higher.
Those reporting these conditions compared to those without. CDC is working to ensure the equity in health outcomes and the social determinants are
being addressed through the COVID-19 response. CDC continues to provide communities with technical expertise, tools and information to confront the
virus.
CDC's created more than 1500 specialized resourcing guidance documents, would have been consulted more than 1.5 billion times on the CDC Web site.
We've deployed over 5000 personnel in the response. We have more than 40 rapid response teams on the ground now, providing local health departments
and health officials with expertise in epidemiology, surveillance, infection control, laboratory science and community mitigation.
We're enormously grateful to the heroes of the response. That's the public health and healthcare professionals, the first responders, the critical
infrastructure workers who have served and sacrificed too much. CDC and our nation's public health partners are actively working on the front lines of
this pandemic to remedy the short comings in a public health system that has been under resourced for decades.
With your support, CDC's been able to award nearly $12 billion to states, territories, tribes and localities to enhance their response capabilities.
When confronted by any disease spread, CDC and public health departments must make real time decisions based on real time data.
Data is the backbone of any disease threat response. With resources that Congress has provided, data modernization is underway. We also must ensure
that our laboratories have resilience, advance technology, personnel expertise and supplies are being sourced.
Our public health workforce must grow exponentially to address COVID-19 and future public health threats. Thousands of contact tracers are on board and
being recruited by public health departments across our nation. Bottom line, sustained investment in the public health system is an investment in
the health and prosperity of our nation.
Last, CDC has begun to prepare for months ahead. When the next season's influenza illness will occur simultaneously potentially with COVID-19,
increasing the challenges on hospitals, healthcare professionals and the public, this fall before the seasonal circulation of influenza increase, I
encourage the American people to be prepared and to embrace flu vaccination with confidence for yourself, your families and your communities.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: Thank you very much Mr. Chairman, Ranking member Walden. Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to
discuss with you today, the role of the National Institutes of Health and Research addressing COVID-19.
The approach to the NIH is very similar to what we do with other emerging infections. It's a four-pronged approach. First to study the fundamental
knowledge of the virus itself as well as the host response to the virus. The second is to help develop diagnostics and assays. The third is to
characterize and test therapeutics and the fourth is to develop safe and effective vaccines.
Speaking of the first, fundamental knowledge of the virus and what the virus is capable of doing, we've done a number of studies now that have
been informed how we're approaching therapeutics and vaccines.
[11:30:00]
For example, the precise molecular structure of the spike protein which is that part of the virus which actually gives it its name coronavirus because
of the spikes that stick out from the virus. That is the way the virus binds to cells in the body. This has been precisely delineated by NIH
scientists and those that we fund.
Second, the demonstration of the precise receptor whereby the virus binds to cells in the body, allowing it to enter and cause disease. In addition
we develop animal models. We do natural history studies such as understanding the virus in different demographic groups.
Second, is the development of diagnostics and assays. We need and we will get within a reasonable period of time, based on a major investment in the
RadX Protein Program diagnostics that are point of care, simple, precise, sensitive and specific.
We hope by the end of the fall and into the early winter, we will have these for wide distribution. Third, the development and characterization of
drugs. You've all heard of the first successful randomized placebo controlled trial of a drug called Remdesivir which was used in hospitalized
patients with lung disease.
It showed a statistically significant but modest impact on decreasing the time to release from the hospital, namely faster recovery. In addition this
drug is now being used in combination with another drug that blocks the inflammatory response baricitinib. We are also looking at a variety of
others.
Convalescent plasma, high premium globulin, other drugs, monoclonal antibodies as well as other immune based therapies. Fourth, the development
of safe and effective vaccines, the hallmark of all really defining responses that we have to virus diseases. If you look at the history of
viral diseases, it is generally vaccines that put the nail in the coffin of these types.
We are now mounting a major effort in which we're collaborating with industry in public-private partnerships to get vaccine trials that are
developed that harmonize with each other. In other words they have multiple trials in which we have common questions that are being asked, common
laboratories that are being looked at, common data and safety monitoring board and common primary secondary and tertiary end points.
So that the data can be compared from one to another. You've probably heard that one of those vaccines and there were more than one. There are several
that are moving along at various paces. One of them will enter Phase 3 study in July. This is one that has already shown in preliminary studies,
some very favorable response in the animal models that were developed.
There will be others that will follow one month, two months, three months later. Although you can never guarantee at all the safety and efficacy of a
vaccine, until you actually test it in the field, we feel cautiously optimistic based on the concerted effort and the fact that we are taking
financial risks, not risks to safety, not risks to the integrity of the science but financial risks to be able to be ahead of the game so that when
and I believe it will be when and not if, we get favorable candidates with good results, we will be able to make them available to the American public
as I said to this committee months ago, within a year from when we started.
Which would put us at the end of this calendar year and the beginning of 2021. I'll stop there Mr. Chairman and be happy to answer questions later.
Thank you.
REP. FRANK PALLONE (D-NJ): Thank you Dr. Fauci and thanks for all your contributions to fighting this pandemic and I'll say the same about Admiral
Giroir who I bother the most. You're recognized for five minutes Admiral.
ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: Thank you Chairman Pallone and I always enjoy our conversation. You call me any time.
Ranking member Walden, distinguished members of the committee. On March 12, Secretary Azar requested that I lead the coordination of COVID-19 testing
efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services.
And I would like to be clear that although I am no longer full time deployed to FEMA, I am maintaining my role coordinating testing. To date,
the nation is performed over 27 million COVID-19 tests, now averaging about 500,000 tests per day. Even without any major technical advances, I
estimate the nation will have the capacity to perform between 40 million to 50 million tests per month by fall.
To address the public health challenges over the past months, we implemented a phased approach to meet the testing needs at each stage of
the pandemic, especially now during reopening, when the need for testing is the greatest.
[11:35:00]
In early March, HHS and FEMA developed and implemented 41 community-based drive-thru testing sites in locations prioritized by the CDC, in
collaboration with our state and local partners. These sites have tested nearly 300,000 high risk individuals and served as prototypes that have
been duplicated multi-fold.
Next, we leveraged trusted pharmacies to further implement community testing, especially for minorities and underserved. This federal program is
now providing testing at 611 locations in 47 states and the district, 70 percent of which are in communities with moderate to high social
vulnerability.
This program has tested over 688,000 individuals. Federally qualified health centers serve over 29 million people across the nation. They provide
care to one in five of those uninsured, one in five rural Americans, one in three living in poverty and 1.3 million homeless.
Again, to assure we reach these most vulnerable among us, 93 percent of FQHCs offer COVID-19 testing. To further expand access, we authorized all
licensed pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 testing under the public readiness and emergency preparedness to our prep act.
Over 90 percent of Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy, again assuring widespread availability. On June 4, using authorities provided to
the secretary under CARES, HHS released new mandatory laboratory reporting guidance so that we can confirm that all groups are benefiting equitably
from COVID-19 testing.
Lab reports must include demographic information like race, ethnicity, age and gender. And today, I am pleased to announce the selection of Morehouse
School of medicine as the awardee for a new $40 million initiative to fight COVID-19 among racial and ethnic minorities as well as rural and other
socially vulnerable communities.
This cooperative agreement with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Minority Health and Morehouse School of Medicine will
develop and implement a strategic network of national, state, territorial, tribal and local organizations to deliver COVID-19 related information to
communities, hardest hit by the pandemic.
In the first year of this agreement, Morehouse School of Medicine will receive $15 million. This massive expansion of testing resulted in
unprecedented demand for supplies, reagents, laboratory platforms. To meet this demand we secured the global supply chain through a military air
bridge. We worked directly with manufacturers to increase domestic production.
We collaborated with external partners to validate you technologies. We secured and prioritize scarce point of care tests for state public health
laboratories, the Indian health service and other critical needs. Finally, we used Title 3 of the Defense Production Act to further invest in domestic
manufacturing.
These actions and others have enabled our current efforts with states, territories and tribes to implement evidence-based diagnostics and
surveillance plans.
I would like to close by recognizing my fellow officers in the United States Public Health Service Commission Corps, the uniform service that I
lead, 4482 officers have deployed to support the pandemic response, including to the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, to our military
bases repatriating Americans, to our community based testing sites, to FEMA taskforces, directly inside nursing homes and to field hospitals across our
nation, exemplifying the care and compassion that all of us feel for those who have suffered during this pandemic.
I thank each and every one of these officers and their families and on their behalf, I would like to thank all of you in Congress for supporting
our training needs and the establishment of a Ready Reserve Corps to supplement our ranks during inevitable future national emergencies. Thank
you again for the opportunity to provide these remarks.
PALLONE: Thank you Admiral and thank you for mentioning the - both military and civilians who are out front in helping us during this crisis. Really
appreciate all that they do and we have to make sure that we help them as much as possible. So last but certainly not least because the FDA is just
as important is Dr. Hahn or Commissioner Hahn.
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, FDA: Sir. Chairman Pallone, Ranking member Walden and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for inviting
me here today. First like to start by thanking all of you for your support of the agency and U.S. government with the laws that you pass and become
law of the land.
It has helped a great deal on our response. FDA has a critical role in the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We remain focused
on our mission of protecting and promoting the health and safety of Americans.
[11:40:00]
President Trump has requested and we have provided appropriate regulatory flexibilities to assure that the American public have access to critical
medical products, sea foods and a confidence that the government is taking measures to address important public health issues.
FDA has used emergency authority since the beginning of this pandemic. We've issued more than a 100 emergency use authorizations for diagnostics,
Personal Protective Equipment, ventilators and other devices as well as for drug products. Since the public health emergency was declared, we issued
more than 50 guidance documents to help, ensure the continuity of healthcare and safe food supply.
And we put into place new initiatives to accelerate the development of needed products. Additionally, we have kept the American public up to date
on what they need to do to protect themselves and to contain the virus from spreading. We are now preparing for the next phase of addressing this
evolving crisis.
It is mission critical that the agency continue to be diligent, assuring the safety of the products that we regulate and that we also put in place,
processes needed to assure the protections that the public will need.
There are a number of experiences we have gained over the past few months that will inform our plans. We recognize that we must be bold in our
decision making and advance effective solutions to achieve challenging public health objectives.
Therefore we have begun a comprehensive real time review and assessment of our actions today to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective is to
identify and address potential organizational and programmatic changes that should be implemented without delay to advance the ongoing response to
COVID-19.
We need to assure that we leverage what is working well while at the same time review our framework and policies to be positioned to effectively
identify and respond to quickly evolving public health situations.
A major focus of this effort will be to identify what regulatory policies should be continued and accelerate, consistent with executive order 13294
signed by the President. Durable policy, organization and programmatic changes will be consistent with advancing the agency's public health
mission and will inform our strategic priorities, moving forward.
One of the challenges facing FDA during the COVID-19 pandemic is how do we assure the timely review of medical product applications, despite an
incredible surge in volume and constraints on our ability to conduct insight inspections.
I am pleased to announce today that FDA has maintained the same pace of meeting its goals on applications for medical products for the last six
months that it has maintained in recent years. We are on target to meet our user fee goals for the drugs this year by reviewing and taking timely
action on at least 90 percent of brand, generic and biosimilar drug applications, even during the pandemic.
Additionally, this work has continued at a time when the number of applications received in some centers is substantially higher than the pre-
COVID-19 times. I want to thank the more than 17,000 employees of the FDA for their incredible efforts, one that reflects the remarkable dedication
and commitment to the public health of all Americans.
Finally, I'd like to discuss what is top of mind for all Americans, namely the work that FDA is doing to facilitate the development of safe vaccines
and therapeutics. FDA launched emergency review and development program called the Coronavirus Treatment Accelerated Program or CTAB and we
continue to work night and day to provide guidance and to review proposals from companies, scientists and researchers who are developing therapies.
Let me be clear, the date in science will dictate when we'll have safe and effective treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 as Dr. Fauci just mentioned.
Toward that end, FDA is using every available authority and applying every appropriate regulatory flexibility to facilitate the development and
testing.
We have not lost sight of our solemn responsibility to the American people to ensure our decisions related to all medical products are based on
science and data and as a commitment that the American public can have confidence in.
Again, I assure you that the FDA will provide leadership, expertise, guidance information and whatever else is needed as we continue to address
this unprecedented challenge. Thank you and I look forward to your questions.
PALLONE: Thank you Commissioner Hahn. That concludes our openings from the witnesses and so now we'll move to member questions. Each member will have
five minutes to ask questions of our witnesses and I'll start by recognizing myself for five minutes.
Now you know that I'm very critical of the President for a lack of leadership from the start of this pandemic which I think continues and of
course, it's difficult because you work in theory for the President and I feel that many of you, on many occasions actually wanted to take more
leadership and be as Dr. Hahn mentioned or commissioner Hahn, fully cognizant of the data and the science.
[11:45:00]
So it's difficult because I'm going to issue questions about the President's lack of leadership and I know it's hard for you to answer those
so we'll see but I do believe the President is encouraging behaviors that are not consistent with good public health, such as encouraging thousands
to attend a rally and not mandate the wearing of mask and I can't imagine NIH or CDC would suggest this is the best practice in the face of this
pandemic.
So it's sort of like there's two versions of reality here. One is the President's and ones hopefully yours based on data and science but I want
to hear from the experts so let me start with Dr. Fauci. You are a trusted voice and have always been candid with us and the American public.
Give us an unvarnished view of where we are at our fight against COVID-19 as quickly as you can.
FAUCI: Thank you very much for that question, Mr. Chairman. It really is a mixed bag. We have a very large country, very heterogeneous, major
differences for example between the New York metropolitan area and Casper, Wyoming. If you look at how we been hit, we've been hit badly.
I mean anybody who looks at the numbers, we've had now over 120,000 deaths and we've had 2.5 million infections so it's a serious situation. In some
respects we've done very well. Right now for example, the New York metropolitan area which has been hit extraordinarily hard has done very
well in bringing the cases down and using the guidelines that we have very carefully put together in a step-wise fashion to try and carefully reopen
their city and their state.
However in other areas of the country, we're now seeing a disturbing surge of infections that looks like it's a combination but one of the things is
an increase in community spread and that's something that I'm really quite concerned about that and you know that, this has been something that's been
in the press over the past couple of days where we're going down from 30,000 to 25,000 to 20,000.
And now we stayed about flat and now we're going up. A couple of days ago there were 30,000 new infections. That's very troublesome to me. The way
you address that and I've said this over and over again is you have to have the manpower, the system, the testing to identify, isolate and contact
trace in an effective way so that when you see those increases, you can understand where they're coming from and you can do something about them.
Right now, the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surging that we're seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona
and in other states. They're not the only ones that are having a difficulty. Bottom line, Mr. Chairman, it's a mixed bag, some good and some
now we have a problem with.
PALLONE: All right, now I'm going to have to ask about the President because you talked about testing and how important it is and I - you know
I've run draw and I know how important it is. At his rally over the weekend, the President said and I quote, "When you do testing to that
extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases so I said to my people slow the testing down please."
And this morning he said he meant this so Dr. Fauci, do you agree with that? Does it make sense that to safely open our economy we should be
limiting the number of tests rather than ensuring that anyone who needs a test can get one?
And you don't have to mention the President, I did but tell us about the testing and - your microphone is on.
FAUCI: I, as a member of the task force and my colleagues on the task force, to my knowledge, I know for sure but to my knowledge none of us have
ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact. In fact we will be doing more testing as you've heard from Admiral Giroir, not only
testing to specifically identify people in the identify, isolate and contact trace but also much more surveillance if you want to get your arms
around and understand exactly what's going on in community spread.
So it's the opposite. We're going to be doing more testing, not less.
PALLONE: And then let me just ask the same question Dr. Redfield. Do you agree with the President on this? Do you think we should be testing more
people? You don't want to talk about the President. Just tell us if you think we should be testing more people.
REDFIELD: Yes. Dr. Fauci said all of us have been and continue to be committed to increasing readily timely access to testing. We've made a
marked improvement. We still have a ways to go. One of the key things as Tony mentioned is surveillance, expanding surveillance because of the
asymptomatic nature of this infection.
And in doing so, we're looking at ways that can really substantially enhanced testing by potentially pooling samples.
[11:50:00]
So right now as Giroir said we're doing 500,000 - 600,000 tests a day. If we can pull samples 5 to 1, that would bring it to 3 million tests a day so
we're continuing to try to enhance testing. It's a critical underpinning of our response.
PALLONE: Thank you Dr. Redfield. I recognize Mr. Walden now for five minutes.
REP. GREG WALDEN (R-OR): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Let me let me go straight to the question that my colleague asked. I'll just ask each of you for yes
or no answer. Has President Trump ever directed you to slow down testing for COVID-19 in the United States?
Dr. Redfield.
REDFIELD: No.
FAUCI: No Sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No Congressman.
WALDEN: Thank you. All right let's go to some other issues here. Dr. Hahn, you created a website I believe on the FDA's side dealing with convalescent
plasma and antibody rich investigational therapies that may help fight the virus. What's the status of the research into the effectiveness of
convalescent plaza in fighting COVID-19?
What do we know right now?
HAHN: Thank you Congressman Walden. Really important question from a therapeutics point of view. As everyone here knows, convalescent plasma is
where you take the natural immunity from a person who's recovered from COVID-19, those antibodies and then administered to a person who's sick.
So we have partnered with BARDA and HHS as well as the Mayo Clinic to develop what's called an Expanded Access Program. We have safety data from
over 20,000 patients that shows this is a very safe therapy and our preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of this plasma is quite
encouraging. We continue to look at the information.
If those data hold, we will have a potentially another weapon in the arm in tearing against COVID-19 pending those final results. This will also allow
us to have information that will feed the development of monoclonal antibodies and something else called high premium globulin, which we can
pull that plasma and actually give it as an injection to people.
So I think it's a - it's a good news story right now. We have to wait for the final data to come in and we should know very shortly about that. There
are also several randomized trials looking at this as well that are only going across the country.
WALDEN: All right, thank you very much. Dr. Redfield, CDC has developed a new test to us simultaneously detect two strains of influenza and COVID-19
and is seeking an emergency use authority. How does the CDC envision its combined tests to be used?
REDFIELD: Yes, I think it's very important as I mentioned this, as we get to the fall, we're going to have influenza and COVID-19 at the same time.
And CDC's developing that test for the public health system but in parallel the private sector now is also advancing - kind of advanced development -
maybe Dr. Hahn must comment on similar tests in the private sector.
So to facilitate timely diagnosis of these two co-circulating pathogens.
WALDEN: Dr. Hahn, you want to comment on that?
HAHN: Yes Sir. In corporation with Admiral Giroir, we have been working with companies to actually look at that. Admiral Giroir has been at the
forefront of this. It's been a great help.
WALDEN: Admiral.
GIROIR: I would just agree with my colleagues. We're all concerned about the possibility of co-circulation of influenza A and B as well as COVID-19
when it comes to flu season so we want to do everything we can to simplify the diagnosis and you can have it - if you have a single test and we're
working with multiple manufacturers as is usual, the CDC is usually in the lead.
But there multiple manufacturers, both at point of care and laboratory, who will have this type of test available.
WALDEN: All right, excellent. You all have been subject to a lot of criticism as has the President. Often that's leveled after we know facts we
didn't know at the time when things started and so it's really great if you have hindsight and 2020 vision. You can look back and say you should have
done that then.
I want to look forward. What is it you need from Congress that you do not have now to have America ready for the fall? What should we be preparing
for now for the fall? I don't care who wants to start but I'm down to a minute to answer so Dr. Redfield.
REDFIELD: I think first I want to just express our appreciation to the Congress for the supplemental funding. I think it's a note that CDC's been
able already to disperse $12 billion to the states to help prepare their COVID responses and really that's an unprecedented amount of resources.
I would only ask that we look to how to make this a sustainable investment as opposed to a sporadic investment to this particular challenge we have
right now.
WALDEN: All right, Dr. Fauci, what do we need to worry about? What don't you have?
FAUCI: Well, I just want to reiterate what Dr. Redfield said. We are extraordinarily grateful for the you know, the unprecedented amount of
supplementary funding that the Congress gave us which really make it totally possible for us to do the kinds of things we need to do on an
emergency basis.
[11:55:00]
But again to mention with Dr. Redfield said, we have to establish some corporate memory. I said to this committee literally many times over the
many years that we forget things when we get distant from them. We're going through a terrible ordeal right now. We need to have in place the stable
type of support for preparedness for outbreaks.
We will get through this, this will end hopefully sooner rather than later but we need to establish a system so that we are prepared for future
outbreaks.
WALDEN: Thank you. Mr. Chair, could the other two just answer that question quickly. Admiral, what do you need you don't have, what should we be
worrying about?
GIROIR: I want to express my thanks again to the committee but let me get to the point. I think sustainability and commitment is very important. I
was involved in Ebola in 2015 in Dallas, trying to lead some of the policy options during that time and you see over a 5-year period, we sort of
forgot all the lessons that we were trying to get implemented including PPE and other stockpiles.
I would say some of the biggest limitations and I know everyone is working on this is the national data infrastructure we need. When we started out,
I'm calling up 100 hospitals a day, trying to understand who's on an ICU bed, who's not, who has a ventilator, how much you have left and we got
through this early, not by systems but by people working 24/7.
The third thing is I'm just going to pound at the vaccine infrastructure in this country to promote vaccination, to promote vaccine confidence, to make
sure that people have the right information about safety and efficacy, that we order enough flu vaccine because we really need to get everybody
vaccinated this winter.
One thing that minimizes our problems if we get everybody flu vaccine, that's one less a virus that could kill 20,000 - 30,0000 - 50,000 - 70,000
and potentially even be a co infection with COVID.
WALDEN: Dr. Hahn.
HAHN: Yes, thank you. Again, thank you for the support. One big point I want to make here is that what we've learned during this epidemic is what
Admiral Giroir said is that we have access to information issue. We have learned is that we need to collect real world evidence in real time during
an emergency just like a doctor would do during an emergency to inform decisions and how we could change them, moving forward.
So your support for real world evidence generation would be incredibly helpful.
PALLONE: So now we're going to move to our members based on seniority and I think our next few are virtual so I'll just remind you to unmute. If you
don't do so on your own, I'll just keep reminding you so next we have Mr. Rush from Illinois.
REP. BOBBY RUSH (D-IL): I want to thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing. Last week, we the subcommittee held an informative
hearing on the racial and ethnic health disparities we're having during coronavirus. The disparities are very troubling and even extremely
outrageous.
A scientific American article published from earlier this month found - (inaudible) black men and women from coronavirus at least nine times the
rate of an American - institutional racism has played a part in certain - (inaudible) and do you think certain racial and ethnic communities are
suffering more than white communities?
FAUCI: I think I know - I didn't hear it quite as clear as I want but I think I know what the Congressman is referring to. So when you're looking
at the African-American community and the minority community in general as a demographic group, there are two elements that make it much more
difficult for them and why they are suffering disproportionately.
One is the risk of infection because of economic and other considerations, the jobs that the majority of them would find themselves in does not allow
them to protect themselves by looking into a computer and doing telework. Most of them are essential on outside, having to mingle in a society in
which the virus is circulating.
END
