Good morning. The committee will please come to order. Administrative matters based on the advice of the attending physician, after we consulted with the department of health and Human Services and the centers for Disease Control and prevention, individuals in the hearing room are at least six feet apart. As a result theres no room for the public to attend in person. Representatives of the press are working as a pool to relay their observations to colleagues. The hearing may be watched online. Unedited recording will be available on the committees website. Witnesses are participating in Video Conference in a onetime exception. Some senators including the chairman are participating via Video Conference. Senators, weve been advised may remove their masks to talk into the microphone when theyre in the hearing room as theyre six feet apart. Im grateful to the rules committee, sergeant at arms, the press gallery, the capitol police, Committee Staff, and everyone all for their hard work to keep us safe. In our hearing last thursday, i said that all roads back to work and back to school run through testing. Committee staff, and everyone all for their hard work to keep us safe. In our hearing last thursday, i said that all roads back to work and back to school run through testing. And that what our country has done so far on testing is impressive but not nearly enough. Over the weekend, senator schumer, the democratic leader, was nice enough to put out a tweet quoting half of what i said. He left out the other part, the impressive part. Let me say again what i meant by that. When i said impressive, i meant according to Johns Hopkins university study, the United States has tested over 9 million americans for covid19. Thats twice as many as any other country. We dont know what china has done. And its more per capita than most countries including south korea which many members of our committee had cited as an example of a country that had tested well. According to dr. Deborah birx, the United States were double testing the month of may which should get us up to about 10 million tests conducted. Heres what i mean by impressive here in tennessee where i am today. First, anyone whos sick, First Responder or health care worker, can get tested. Our governor bill lee is also testing every prisoner, every resident and staff member in a nursing home, offered weekend drive through testing, done specific outreach for testing to low income communities. A tennessean can get a free test at the local Public Health department. The governors slogan is if in doubt, get a test. Governor lee sent his goals to the federal government as every state has done. The federal government is helping him make sure he has enough supplies in case he has trouble getting them through the labs and the other commercial sources. As a result, our state has tested about 4 of the population. Governor hopes to increase that by 7 in may. Thats one of the best in the country. This impressive level of testing is sufficient, we believe, to begin phase one of the going back to work which as i said last week is not nearly enough to provide confidence to 31,000 students and faculty members, what we hope will show up at the university of tennessee campus in august when school starts. Last week i talked with ut knoxville chancellor about that. We said what would persuade those 31,000 students as well as the 50 million k12 students in the country and the other 5,000 university students, what will persuade them to go back to campus in august . Thats where the new shark tank comes in, dr. Collins at the institute of health calls it rad x. We had our hearing about that on thursday, a remarkable scientific exercise to take a few early stage concepts that are swimming around in what we call that competitive shark tank to see if dr. Collins and his associates can find a few new technologies to create millions of new tests that will scale up rapidly and make it more likely that students will go back to school in august. For example, the fda authorized last week its first diagnostic test using saliva that a person provides at home instead of a nose swab or blood. It authorized its first antigen test. Were hearing a lot about those like the ones used for flu or strep throat which involves the swabbing of the nose and you can get the result in just a few minutes. Another proposal not yet approved is to put in your mouth a sort of lollipop sponge, take a photo of that with your cell phone and send that to your doctor. If it lights up, youre positive. A university might send that lollipop to a nearby laboratory which could be a gene sequencing laboratory which can deal with thousands of those samples overnight. That same process could occur at a middle school. It could occur at a factory. Of course anyone testing negative one day can test positive the next. But such widespread screening of entire campuses, schools, or places of work will help identify those who are sick, trace down those who are exposed. That, in turn, should help persuade the rest of us to go back to school and back to work. In addition to more testing, i expect dr. Fauci will talk to us about additional treatments that will be available to reduce the risk of death and the administrations plan to do something that our countrys never done before which is to start manufacturing a vaccine before it actually has been proven to work in order to speed up the result in case it does work. Those vaccines, those treatments, are the ultimate solution. But until we have them, all roads back to work and school go through testing. The more tests we conduct, the better we can identify those who are sick and exposed and we can quarantine the sick and exposed instead of trying to quarantine the whole country. In my opinion, this will require millions of new tests, many from new technologies. Some of these will fail, but we only need a few successes to get where we want to go. Thats why i said on thursday that what our country had done so far in testing is impressive but not nearly enough. First squeeze all the tests we can out of current technologies. Next try to find new technologies to help us contain the disease and persuade us to go back to work. One other thing. This is a bipartisan hearing to examine how well were preparing to go safely back to work and to school and to determine what else we need to do in the United States senate. Such an exercise sometimes encourages finger pointing. Before we spend too much time finger pointing, i would like to suggest that almost all of us, the United States and almost every country so far as i can tell underestimated this virus, underestimated how contagious it would be, underestimated how it can travel silently in people without symptoms to infect other people, how it can be especially deadly for certain segments of our population, the elderly. Those are preexisting conditions, minority population. Let me go back to the march 3rd hearing that we had in our committee on coronavirus. Six weeks after the first case was discovered in the United States, a day when only two deaths were recorded in this country, i read at that hearing this paragraph from the New York Times two days earlier on march 1st. They reported this much about the coronavirus remains unclear, the times reported. And its far from certain this is march 3rd march 1 that the outbreak will reach severe proportions in the United States or affect many regions at once. With its top notch scientists, modern hospitals, and sprawling Public Health infrastructure, most experts agree United States is among the countries bestprepared to prevent or manage such an epidemic. That was the New York Times on march 1. A lot of effort has gone into trying to make our country wellprepared. Over the last 20 years, four president s, several congresses in response to 9 11, bird flu, katrina, ebola, h1n1, mers passed nine major laws to try to help get this country ready for what were going through today. These laws stood up the Strategic National stock pile, created assistant secretary for preparedness. It created incentives for the developments of vaccines and medicines that were using today, strengthened the centers for Disease Control created barda. Thanks to the leadership of senator blunt and senator murray. All this was part of a shared goal. Democrats, republicans, several congresses, four president s tried to get ready for what were going through today whether it was known like anthrax or unknown like covid19. But despite all that effort, even the experts underestimated covid19. This hearing is about how we improve our response to this virus as well as the next one. During the oversight hearing, i also intend to focus on, as i just said, the next pandemic which we know is coming. What can we learn from this one to be ready for the next one . Can we what can we learn from the fast tracking of vaccines and treatments that were about to hear about that will make it even faster the next time. How can we keep hospitals and states from selling off protective equipment when their budget gets tight . How can we make sure congress does our share of the funding responsibility . How do we provide enough extra hospital beds without cancelling elective surgery, hurting other patients, and bankrupting hospitals . Whose job should it be to coordinate supply lines so that protective equipment and supplies get where theyre supposed to go when theyre supposed to go . Whats the best way to manage the stock pile . My preacher once said im not worried about what you do on sunday. Its the rest of the week that concerns me. Im afraid that during the rest of the week, between pandemics, we relax our focus on preparedness, we become preoccupied with other important things, our collected memory is short. Just three months ago, this country was preoccupied with impeaching the president. Now that seems like ancient roman history. Now while this crisis has our full attention, i believe we should put into law this year whatever improvements need to be made to be wellprepared for the next pandemic. If there is to be finger pointing, hope theyre pointed in that direction. Were fortunate today to have four distinguished witnesses with the heart of the response in the coronavirus. Were grateful for their service to our country. Ive asked them each to summarize their remarks in five minutes. Then well have fiveminute round of questions from each senator. Ive agreed well end our hearing about 12 30 after we have a full round of questions. Every senator will have a chance to have his or her five minutes. Senator murray will then have an opportunity to ask the last question or to close the hearing, and i will then close the hearing. There will be other hearings to follow this hearing like last thursdays hearing, and senators may submit their questions in writing within the next ten days. Staying at home indefinitely is not the solution to this pandemic. There is not enough money available to help all those hurt by a closed economy. All roads back to work and back to school lead through testing, tracking, isolation, treatment, and vaccines. This requires widespread testing. Millions more tests, created mostly by new technologies to identify those who are sick and who have been exposed so they can be quarantined by containing the disease in this way give the rest of america enough confidence to go back to work and school. For the near term, help make sure those 31,000 ut students and faculty members show up in august, we need widespread testing. Millions more tests created mostly by new technologies to identify those who are sick who have been exposed so they can be quarantined by containing the disease in this way give the rest of america enough confidence to go back to work and back to school. Senator murray. Well, thank you very much mr. Chairman. My thoughts are with you and your team right now as you try to navigate the same challenge so many in our country are worried about. We all wish your staff member a speedy recovery. And as everyone works to take appropriate safety precautions today, i would like to thank not only our witnesses for joining us today, but also our Committee Staff for working to set up a safe format for members and witnesses and the public to participate in this hearing remotely. Families across the country are counting on us for the truth about the covid19 pandemic, especially since it is clear they will not get it from President Trump. Truth is essential. So people have the facts, so they can make decisions for themselves and their families and their communities. Lives are at stake. The president isnt telling the truth. We must. And our witnesses must. And were counting on you today. And families need us to take this opportunity to dig into the facts about where things did go wrong so we can finally get them on track because the Trump Administrations response to this Public Health emergency so far has been a disaster all on its own. Delays, missteps, have put us way behind where we need to be on diagnostic testing and allowed inaccurate Antibody Tests to flood the market. Corruption and political interference have impeded efforts to secure desperately needed personal protective equipment and promoted dangerous, unproven treatments. And we recently learned that after experts at the centers for Disease Control and prevention spent weeks developing a detailed guide to help our communities understand how to safely reopen, when the time comes, the Trump Administration tossed it in the trash bin for being too prescriptive. But this is far from the first time this administration has silenced experts who were doing their job and putting Public Health first. 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. Since this Committee Last heard from these witnesses on march 3rd, we have seen over 900 deaths in my home state of washington, over 80,000 deaths nationally, and the numbers continue to climb. Still, President Trump is trying to ignore the facts and ignore the experts who have been very clear we are nowhere close to where we need to be to reopen safely. My hope today is that we can cut through this and have a serious discussion about what is needed to safely open, how close we are as a country to meeting those needs, and how we actually get there. One thing thats abundantly clear, we need dramatically more testing. It is unacceptable we still dont have a National Strategic plan to make sure testing is free, fast, and everywhere. That is why i fought to make sure our last covid19 package included an initial 25 billion testing fund and a requirement that the Administration Submit a plan by may 24th. And when i say a plan, i dont mean a pr plan. I mean a plan with specific timelines and numeric goals for supply and funding needs, one that actually addresses the issues were seeing on Testing Capacity and distribution and disparities and building out our Public Health system and makes clear to states and tribes, employers, and the American People what they can expect and what the administration will do to keep americans safe. Testing alone wont be enough to reopen our country. We still need far more personal protective equipment than has been available for our Health Care Workers on the front lines. And we will need far more for other workers as we reopen. So, we desperately need this administration to step up and get that equipment to states who are doing everything in their power to purchase supplies but simply cannot get nearly enough. Because the reality is unlike states, the federal government has the tools to actually fix the problem if only the administration would use them. And we also need that equipment to actually work and for the fda to act promptly if it does not, not weeks later when people may have already been exposed. And just as importantly, we cant expect people to go back to work or to restaurants or to confidently send their kids to school if there isnt clear detailed guidance about how to do that safely. Schools from Early Childhood through college need to know how to keep their students, their staff, and their educators safe. When should they wear masks . How do you run a School Cafeteria or a school bus . If they cant reopen classrooms, schools and families need to know were working to ensure every student gets an education. Tools like Online Learning can only get us so far if we dont address the Digital Divide so that every student can access them. And even then, there will be learning loss that could deepen existing educational disparities among lowincome students, students with disabilities, english language learners, and other vulnerable populations if we dont make sure they get equal access to resources and support. And of course schools arent the only workplaces weve got to be thinking about. We need to make sure that industries across the countries know how to safely reopen and that people know their workplace is safe. Secretary scalia needs to stop dragging his feet and do his job and have the department of labor set forward a rule that makes clear worker safety is not optional. Mr. Chairman, i hope this committee can hear about those Critical Issues from secretary scalia and secretary devos and other experts in the days ahead. This is especially important to protect nurses and residents at our Nursing Homes where weve seen