Fauci, Redfield testify on Covid-19 reopening as cases rise

For about three hours, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other health experts testified before a Senate committee on President Trump’s coronavirus response and the country’s progress in reopening.

Their testimony came as at least 36 US states are seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases compared to the previous week.

In case you missed it, here’s what you need to know:

Several members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force told a Senate committee on Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted flaws across health systems and responses in the United States and they want to use it as a teaching moment. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said going forward he wants to see the nation respond as a whole. Fauci said we cannot have a situation “where when you have a challenge, such as we have right now, we have very disparate responses. We’ve got to do it in a coordinated way, because we are all in this together.” 

Fauci also said it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that “what was thought to be unimaginable turned out to be the reality.” 

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “our nation needs to be overprepared, not underprepared.” 

Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at US Department of Health and Human Services, said he wants to see more resilience in the health care system. “Just about every other thing in the health care system was sacrificed for our Covid response, so it’s not just the pandemic response, but it’s everything else we need to do.”

Giroir added, the US needs to work on “health disparities that have been here for decades,” saying it is “critical to raise our general health and prepare us for whatever is going to hit us.” 

Closing the hearing, Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said the supply chain needs critical change. 

“We absolutely need redundancy in the supply chain, we need redundancy manufacturing and we need to emphasize the importance of domestic manufacturing,” he said.

It could take years to achieve herd immunity to coronavirus in the US, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators on Tuesday.

Even then, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, herd immunity isn’t going to be “any kind of showstopper.” 

“In other words, if you wind up getting herd immunity to 75% or 80%, what we need to learn — and only time will teach us this — is how long this immunity lasts. Is it a year, two, three, four, or is it even less? Is it months? We don’t know,” Fauci said.

When researchers find out, that will tell doctors how often a booster vaccination would be needed – if a vaccine is ever developed.

Members of the White House coronavirus task force testified before a Senate committee Tuesday that they would support the distribution of free masks to every American household.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told Sen. Bernie Sanders “of course” he supports the idea, because he thinks masks are “extremely important.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he thinks ensuring an environment where masks are “universal” is “fundamentally the most important thing we can do.” 

Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir agreed with Sanders that increased government production of high quality masks to distribute to Americans is important. He said the US government has already contracted the production of some face coverings.

Americans have to stop going congregating in bars, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday. But he said people can and should still have fun.

But Fauci said that doesn’t mean we have to restrict everything, “because people are not going to tolerate that.”

“We should not look at the public health endeavors as being an obstruction to opening up. We should look at it as a vehicle to opening up,” he said.

“We’ve got to be able to get people to get out and enjoy themselves within the safe guidelines that we have,” Fauci said. “Make public health work for you as opposed to against you.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed the need for an “aggressive modernization” of contact tracing procedures in the United States, telling a Senate committee on Tuesday that “substantial investment” must take place.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, told Redfield in her state, contact tracing is done using a paper copy and faxing a spreadsheet to epidemiology labs.  

“There are a number of counties that are still doing this pen and pencil,” Redfield said, adding, “we need to have a comprehensive integrated public health data system that’s not only able to do something that’s in real time, but actually can be predictive.”

Redfield testified that contact tracing “really doesn’t have any value” unless it is done in real time.

Asked about how possible herd immunity could help the US move past the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci noted there’s still “a lot we don’t know” about immunity — including how long it lasts.

Fauci said the immunity durability — or how long it protects a person — could affect how often a possible coronavirus vaccine needs updating.

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also noted that as of now, only about 5% to 8% of the American public has “experienced this virus,” underscoring the need for a vaccine.

Pool testing for coronavirus could be a helpful tool as schools look to reopen in the fall, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday. This type of testing takes several tests and puts them together into one test.

Fauci said this helps “get a feel for the penetrance of infection in a community, rather than testing multiple each individual person, which takes resources and time.”   

“If you do the mathematical calculation, you can save a lot of time, a lot of resources, and use the testing for a variety of other things that you would need,” Fauci added.

“It can be used in any of a number of circumstances, at the community level, or even in schools if you wanted to do that.”

WATCH:

Asked how many Covid-19 deaths and infections the US could expect before the pandemic is over, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he couldn’t make an “accurate prediction” but it is going to be “very disturbing.”

Fauci said that the country is seeing more than 40,000 new cases a day, and that he would “not be surprised” if the case count goes up to 100,000 a day if the current trend in cases “does not turn around.”

Fauci stressed that he could not make an estimation on deaths as those would need to be modeled.

“I think it is important to tell and you the American public that I’m very concerned because it could get very bad,” Fauci said.

WATCH:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the US is “going in the wrong direction” as the number of coronavirus cases increase in the country.

Fauci said that while some states have gotten ahold of the virus, he’s very concerned about others where it has spiked. 

“Clearly, we are not in total control right now,” he told Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. 

Fauci said on the news he sees people congregating in crowds, not wearing masks and states jumping over guidelines on reopening. 

“We’re going to continue to be in a lot of trouble, and there’s going to be a lot of hurt if that does not stop,” he said. 

“I’m very concerned about what’s going on right now, particularly in the four states that are accounting for about 50% of the new infections,” Fauci added. Those states are Florida, Texas, California and Arizona.

“I’m not satisfied with what’s going on, because we’re going in the wrong direction,” Fauci said.

At least 36 states are currently seeing an increase in cases compared to the previous week, according to data from John Hopkins University. At least 11 of those states are seeing a 50% or more increase in cases.

WATCH:

Asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders about American Airlines’ decision to resume booking flights at capacity and not keep middle seats open, Dr. Robert Redfield, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that there was “substantial disappointment” with the airline when the announcement was released.

In a response from the airline industry, Airlines For America President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio told CNN that airlines have a “multi-layered approach” for health and safety of passengers and employees. “

You can’t employ social distancing on an airplane like you can in a grocery store, but frankly I’d rather be on an airplane right now,” Calio said. He foreshadowed that other airlines will change policies when they feel it’s right.

Some background: US airlines had stopped selling middle seats for months, both to ensure social distancing and because of a lack of passengers.

Despite rising Covid-19 cases in at least 36 US states, American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, disclosed Friday that “customers may notice that flights are booked to capacity starting July 1.” United Airlines had been willing to sell every possible seat throughout the pandemic.

Both airlines said they would notify passengers when a flight has more than 70% of its seats booked, and allow them to change to a less crowded flight. But that won’t necessarily allow passengers with limited flexibility to avoid crowded flights.

On Sunday there were 634,000 people passing through TSA checkpoints at US airports, which was 24% of the traffic on the same day last summer. That’s the highest total since late March and is seven times as many people as were screened the low point in mid-April.

WATCH:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the newly identified swine flu, called G4, is “something we need to keep an eye out on.” 

Speaking to the Senate HELP Committee hearing, Fauci said “the Chinese, over the last week or two have identified a virus — in the environment — it has not yet shown to be infecting humans, but it is exhibiting what we call reassortment capability.”

Fauci explained that when several different strains of a virus simultaneously infect the same host, such as a pig, they can exchange genetic information.  

“When they all mix up together, and they contain some of the elements that might make them susceptible to being transmitted to humans, you always have the possibility that you might have another swine flu type outbreak as we had in 2009,” Fauci said.

Fauci said G4 is still in the examination stage — “It’s not so-called, an immediate threat.”  

The G4 virus, which is genetically descended from the H1N1 swine flu that caused the 2009 pandemic, was described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Earlier today: The World Health Organization confirmed in an email to CNN on Tuesday that agency officials are carefully reading the new data that has emerged on the swine flu virus.

“Eurasian avian-like swine influenza virus are known to be circulating in the swine population in Asia and to be able to infect humans sporadically. Twice a year during the influenza vaccine composition meetings, all information on the viruses is reviewed and the need for new candidate vaccine viruses is discussed. We will carefully read the paper to understand what is new,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in the email.

Dr. Robert Redfield, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged that the country is seeing “significant increases” in the southeast and southwest regions. He noted that the number of jurisdictions and upward trajectory has “continued to increase.”

Redfield said hospitalizations are going up in 12 states, and as of this weekend, the daily death toll has increased in the state of Arizona. 

According to CNN reporting, the state’s average number of deaths per day has about doubled over the course of June – from just under 20 to just under 40. 

Here is a look at the progression of new confirmed deaths in the state:

The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn says he is optimistic about having more than one coronavirus treatments available for adults and older Americans by the fall so there is more confidence in going back to school for not just students but also staff.

He detailed the progress on treatments:

Remdesivir has been authorized based on studies that show it is effective in reducing hospitalization days for Covid-19 patients.

About 20,000 patients have been administered with convalescent plasma as the FDA evaluated its safety and found it to be safe.

The safety data and antibody information that comes out of this plasma study will be passed on to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Dr. Hahn said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is “quite concerned” by the increase in cases in states such as Florida, Texas, California and Arizona, and offered his advice on what states can do to reverse these trends.

Fauci noted that even in states where the leadership opened with the right recommendations, the country saw “clips and photographs of individuals” not wearing masks, not avoiding crowds and not following social distancing guidelines.

“I think we need to emphasize the responsibility that we have both as individuals and as part of a societal effort to end the epidemic that we all have to play a part in,” Fauci said.

He added that when you look “at the visuals, what we saw were a lot of people who maybe felt that because they think that they are invulnerable and we know many young people are not, they are getting serious disease, that, therefore, they are getting infected has nothing to do with anyone else and in fact it does.”

Asked what he would tell a school superintendent regarding reopening schools, Dr. Anthony Fauci said it depends on the “dynamics of the outbreak” in the particularly location where the school is.

Fauci said that if a school is in an area where there is a certain amount of “infection dynamics,” there are some things that can be “creatively done” including modifying the school’s schedule, alternating days, morning versus evening, allowing under certain circumstances, online virtual lessons. 

Fauci stressed the importance of getting children back in schools due the “unintended negative consequences” that occur when they are kept out of school.

WATCH:

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield testified that the country’s daily cases are increasing after an “extended decline” and urged the population, especially young people, to follow CDC guidelines.

Redfield said evidence shows that the increase in cases in some US states are driven by many factors including increased testing, community transmission and outbreaks in the settings such as nursing homes and occupational settings. 

Redfield said the CDC is closely monitoring increases in Covid-19 and have 48 teams with more than 140 staff currently deployed in 20 states and two territories. 

He added that the CDC is speaking with states, tribal, local and territorial health departments on a daily basis to develop strategies to stop the virus while reopening businesses and schools.

At least 16 US states have paused their reopening plans as new cases in at least 36 states are trending upward compared to the previous week.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said there’s “no guarantee” the US will develop a “safe and effective” Covid-19 vaccine — but experts are hopeful.

But he noted that, “there is no guarantee — and anyone who has been involved in vaccinations will tell you — we’ll have a safe and effective vaccine.”

“But we are cautiously optimistic, looking at animal data and the preliminary data, that we will at least know the extent of the efficacy sometime in the winter and early part of next year,” he continued.

He said experts are “aspirationally hopeful” there could be doses available to the public by next year.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, along with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other government officials are testifying before a Senate hearing on the country’s progress toward safely getting back to work and school.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican and chair of the committee, said members in the committee room are sitting six feet apart. All witnesses are participating in-person while some senators are participating remotely.

Alexander said masks can be removed when speaking, but he used his remarks before his opening statement to urge lawmakers and President Trump to wear mask so that his followers will “follow his lead.” He said he has suggested that Trump occasionally wear a mask, even though in most cases it is “not necessary for him to do so.”

“Unfortunately this simple life-saving practice has become part of the political debate,” Alexander said.

The Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension is holding a hearing this morning formally titled, “COVID-19: Update on Progress Toward Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School.”

The hearing comes as the country continues to battle the public health and economic consequences of the pandemic, which has already claimed the lives of more than 120,000 in the US.

The hearing will include both in-person and remote member attendees, according to the committee.

Witnesses include:

Last week, the four witnesses testified in person before a House committee on the administration’s coronavirus response. Fauci told lawmakers “we’re going to be doing more testing, not less,” in response to President Trump’s recent claim that he asked his administration to slow down testing during the pandemic.