The nations top infectious expert will appear before the Republican led Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee along with Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration; Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services who is in charge of coronavirus testing….
Fauci has telegraphed that he will warn the Senators that state’s should not just give ‘all clears’ like his boss President Trump wants, but should follow guidelines issued by the CDC and have gradual relaxing of restrictions….But the session will certain include Democrats looking for inside information on the failures of the Trump admin to lead and to provide assistance and equipment to the nations Governor’s and local officials….Republicans are sure to defend Trump…Politics WILL be present and Fauci WILL have to be careful….
While media headlines are blasting that states should NOT reopen?
Fauci certainly knows that the movement to relax restrictions will continue …
Common sense is there will be spikes upward in virus infections going forward…
And the media shows everyday that most Americans are cautious about trying to go back to pre-virus activities…
But we see more and more cars on the road and more people outside ass the weather gets warmer…
Democratic senators on the committee are preparing to grill top federal health officials, with much of the questioning centered on whether the nation is ready to reopen parts of the country that had been shuttered to contain the pandemic.
Among the topics that senators plan to raise at Tuesday’s hearing are problems in the supply chain for tests, how the federal government makes decisions about testing machines and testing capacity, and workplace safety standards for businesses that choose to reopen. Democrats also want to question the health officials on what the administration’s metrics and goals are for testing, and why it did not take certain key steps earlier, according to interviews Monday with senators and aides.
“I’m interested in more of a prospective interrogation,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “I think there’s going to be a commission and a very painful, under-the-hood look at what went horribly wrong. Right now, my state’s in crisis and we need answers as to whether we’re going to safely reopen.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, plans to focus on reports that the White House interfered with guidance from public health experts and how the federal government will properly distribute a vaccine once it is eventually developed.
“The fact of the matter is, President Trump has been more focused on fighting against the truth, than fighting this virus — and Americans have sadly paid the price,” Murray will say in her opening remarks. “Still, President Trump is trying to ignore the facts, and ignore the experts who have been clear we are nowhere close to where we need to be to reopen safely.”…
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Fauci says he will warn the Senate on Tuesday that opening up the economy too quickly could lead to “needless suffering and death.”
Fauci was a mainstay at the daily White House briefings on the government’s response to the pandemic, and he makes frequent appearances on TV. But the high-profile hearing will give him a rare platform before lawmakers — and the American public — without Trump by his side.
In an email to the New York Times late Monday, Fauci indicated he will emphasize the benchmarks in a three-phase White House plan on when to reopen individual states.
“The major message that I wish to convey … is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” Fauci wrote to the Times late Monday. “If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines … then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country.”
Those checkpoints say states must record a “downward trajectory” of positive tests or documented cases over two weeks, launch contact tracing efforts and conduct widespread tests of asymptomatic but vulnerable people, such as nursing home residents….
image…LA Times