Chairman the committee will come to order. The department of health and Human Services, everybody is sitting six feet apart. All Witnesses Today are participating in person. We thank you for that. Participatingare by videoconference. I would like to say a word about masks. The office of attending physicians advised us we may remove the mask and talk to the microphone as long as we are six feet apart. Msak imask isy off. When i am walking the senate floor, i am wearing a mask. Simple clothsd, help from transmitting it to others. Unfortunately this practice has become part of the political debate that says if you are forced from you do not wear a mask, if you are against trump you do. I suggested the president occasionally wear a mask even though, in most cases, it is not necessary for him to do so. The president has plenty of admirers. They would follow his lead. End this help an political debate. The stakes are too high about this to continue. Masksrs and staff wear because we do not want to make each other sick heard for. Exposed on my was way to Dallas Airport and had to self quarantine for two weeks. The Senate Physician told me one reason i did not become infected was because the staff member was wearing a mask and that greatly anuced the chances of exposure. I like to wear my plans mask. Dr. Fauci uses his to demonstrate his loyalty to the washington nationals. Senator kaine is either a cowboy or a bandit, i am never first sure wish. Sure which. [laughter] theathletic director of university of tennessee said, if you want to see football this fall, wear a mask. That may have more influence than anybody else in tennessee. The United States is in the midst of a concerning rising cases. The experts in front of us have told us washing our hands, staying apart, wearing a mask are three of the most important ways to contain the disease and slow the spread of the virus. I am grateful to the rules committee, the press calvary, the architect of the capitol police, Committee Staff both democratic and republican, and all for their hard work to keep us safe. Senator murray and i will each have an Opening Statement and then we turn to our witnesses who we thank for being with us today. Each will have five minutes. We ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes and then the senators will have a chance to ask if fiveminute round of questions. We have full participation today. It should be an interesting morning. Among the casualties of this dangerous and very sneaky covid19 virus are the 75 Million Students who were sent home from school and college in march. Add the teachers who were not prepared to teach remotely and the working parents who have children at home and not prepared to homeschool. Seasons and sports the graduation opportunities. Then there were o unprecedented dilemmas for school budgets. Being home from school does not rank with the sickness and death the virus has caused. The United States has over 2. 5 deaths cases and 125,000 according to Johns Hopkins. Well states and communities continue to take action to keep people safe nothing is more disruptive to American Life and nothing heading back toward normalcy then those public and private schools and colleges to reopen. Month thiss Committee Heard from College President and School Leaders about safely reopening this fall. s hearing is an opportunity for an update this hearing is an opportunity for an update. This Committee Last heard on may 12 when three were quarantined and most senators were participating virtually. That was one of the First VirtualSenate Hearings in history as surely the best watched. Every network carried the 2. 5 hours of statements, questions, and answers. The question before the country today is not whether to go back to school or college or childcare or work, but how to do it safely. Even though covid19 is not, in general, her Young Children and collegeage students nearly as much as older and more vulnerable americans there is some health risk. In my view the greater risk is not going back to school. Guidance for reopening schools from the American Academy of pediatricians tells administrators the following. Hour academy strongly believes all policy considerations should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. The academy continues, in Person Learning is well documented. There is already evidence of negative impacts on children because of school closures. Lengthy time away from schools and associated interruptions of supported services often results in social isolation making it difficult for schools to identify and address learning deficits as well as physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation. This in turn places children and adolescents at considerable risk of morbidity and, in some cases, mortality. Beyond the educational and social impact there has been substantial impact on Food Security and physical activity for children and families as the American Academy of pediatricians says. Theincoming president of massachusetts chapter of that academy of pediatricians told reporters, while for most children covid19 has not had the devastating and lifethreatening physical effects that have occurred in adults the negative impact on socials of element, education, has been substantial. Many american colleges overall considered the best in the world will be permanently damaged or even closed. Ofch daniels the president purdue, failure to take on the job of reopening would not only be antiscientific, but an unacceptable breach of duty. In addition to hearing more about the concerning rise in cases and hospitalizations in some states i would like to ask yourselveses to put in the place of one of americas approximately 14,000 superintendents of School Districts or the principal or headmaster of one of hundred 35,000 schools or president or andcellor of 6000 colleges help them answer the question of how to reopen schools and colleges safely. Dr. Fauci, i hope in your Opening Statement or answers you will suggest steps a superintendent might take to open School Safely. Not only had to keep children safe, but the adults, teachers, parents, grandparents with whom they come in contact. Dr. Hahn, will there be treatment or medicines this fall that will speed the recovery or reduce the possibility of death . I belief your of going back to school, or going anywhere these days, is in large part because of the fear of severe illness or death. If that risk can be lessened by treatments, it should increase confidence in going back to school. I would also like to commend dr. Hahn and the work the fda did to get tests on the market as quickly as possible to help understand the spread of the virus. Since then the fda has worked out which tests have not worked as well as they should and taken steps to remove them from the market. That is what is supposed to happen and the urgency of a pandemic. R, you said you hoped there were dies in diagnostic testing by september . Is that true . How does the school make sure gets those and who pays for them . What are the prospect from the shark tank that there will be reliable and inexpensive tests so we can have even more widespread testing . Dr. Redfield, you continue to work on updated guidelines of going back to school and College Employees are cdc going to be available to work with School Districts to develop their plans . What advice do you have about the arrival of the flu season at the same time as covid19 . Discuss, but to there will be time to answer most of those questions. Let me quickly highlight three areas that have come up in earlier hearings that i think need clarification. Contact tracing is crucially important. It identifies the people who might have been exposed so that people do not in turn expose someone else. According to a npr report states have already hired 37,000 contact tracers. State officials and john hopkins issued a report estimating the need for as many as 100,000 contact tracers. Several imports suggested congress appropriate money to pay for those tracers. The reality is Congress Already has. On april 24, congress appropriated 11 billion which has been sent to states and tribes for the expensive testing. That legislation explicitly said the money could be used for Contact Tracing. To 755in addition million from the first emergency legislation on march 6 that could be used for Contact Tracing. That is in addition to the march 27 legislation in which congress appropriated 150 billion i mean 1. 5 billion in the cares act for states, territories, and tribes to use for preparedness and response. Thecares act also included 150 billion to states, but a significant amount of that has not been spent even though it is all designated for expenses related to covid19 which include Contact Tracing. For example, tennessees governor told me he is reserving as much as 1 billion so he could determine what flexibility he has. Washington state has not spent as much as 1. 2 billion. The Missouri State treasury has spent about 1 billion. According to the report by state Health Officials and Johns Hopkins the average salary would be a little more than 35,000. This adds up to 3. 5 billion for 1000 tracers. The point is congress has already sent to states plenty of money to hire all of the contact tracers needed. Second, who pays for the testing . Congress voted to make all covid19 tests available to patients at no cost. This meant insurers would cover diagnostic tests which detect whether a person is currently infected. Whichantibody tests indicate whether a person who has had covid19 in the past and may have protection in the future. Guidance from the labor department, treasury department, and centers for medicare and medicaid said last week that insurers are only required to pay for tests without patient cost sharing if a Doctor Orders it. I agree with that, but given that the cdc recommends doctors finally, flu shots. The cdc says more people need to get flu shots this fall so healthcare workers can better distinguish between covid19 and the flu. The cdc says the priority is for children over the age of six months to be vaccinated for the flu so they do not become sick and pass it to more vulnerable populations who could have more severe consequences. On january 24, senator murray and i hosted our first bipartisan briefing at a time when there were only four cases in the United States. Since then this committee has had four more briefings. Today is the eighth on coronavirus and u. S. Preparedness. Last weeks hearing was about steps to take this year while our eye is on the ball to better prepare for the next pandemic. I have issued a white paper outlining five recommendations for congress to prepare americans for the next pandemic. That paper is receiving more 350 comments that are available to all senators of the committee. I will conclude the hearing by asking our witnesses if they have two or three suggestions about steps congress should take this year to deal with the next pandemic, most of which will also help with this one. This hearing is about what happens now. As administrators prepare to reopen schools and colleges, experts underestimated this dangerous and sneaky virus and there is still much we do not know about it. But we do know the basic steps to take to reopen schools and colleges in 2020 before there is a vaccine and those are these social distance, wearing mask, nds, contact tracers, and isolate those who are sick. Hopefully by the fall there will be treatments to make the consequences less severe. I look forward to hearing from our distinguish witnesses how School Leaders and College President s can safely reopen 135 ,. Schools and 6000 colleges as well as the treatments we can expect before vaccines arrive. Senator murray. Murray thank you for joining us today and thank you to our staff for setting up the technology so we can move this hearing along. I want to get to the point quickly and i am going to be blunt. The covid19 response in our country is still a disaster. ,000 lives lost was once considered an estimate on the high end of the spectrum, but the year is halfway over and it is a grim reality. We have lost more americans to covid19 then we lose to the flu each year, in lost to the Opioid Crisis last year, and what that we have lost in every american war except the civil war and world war ii. Despite what President Trump claims this pandemic is not fading. Far from it. Several states are seeing rapid, recordsetting increases in the country just saw its largest single day increase to date. While this Public Health crisis rages across the country we have seen a leadership crisis ranging in the white house as the president proves time after time he cares less about how this pandemic is impacting families and communities and more about how it makes him look. Just consider his appalling continued failure on testing. President trump said, anyone who wants to test can get a test. They still cannot pick he said testing was overrated. It is not. He said we prevailed on testing. We have not. Now he is saying we should be doing fewer tests and testing makes us look bad. It clearly does not and we clearly need to be doing more. The most honest thing he has set about testing is that he does not take responsibility at all. That is exactly the problem. It is why Congress Took bipartisan action in the last covid19 response bill to required the Trump Administration to submit a comprehensive National Testing plan and why i am still pushing his administration to include more details in that plan and take more steps to ramp up testing. We are still nowhere close to the testing and tracing capacity we need to safely reopen our fortry and ending support federal testing sites is not going to get us there. The ongoing struggle to get President Trump to take testing seriously should be a stark warning to congress then when it comes to a vaccine, we cannot just leave this administration to its own devices. We have to hold it accountable. We know this pandemic will not end until we have a vaccine that a safe and effective that can be widely produced and equitably distributed and that it is free and accessible to everyone. Which is why we need a comprehensive National Vaccine plan from the Trump Administration as soon as possible. Given the testing plan, which congress only received after forcing the administrations hand, was too little, too late. We need to take the opportunity we have right now to get a vaccine plan much earlier and avoid the missteps we have seen. I hope republicans will work with me in a bipartisan way once again to require this administration to put forward a plan. We need the Trump Administration to show us how they will ensure a vaccine that is safe and effective. I am as eager as anyone for a vaccine, but this is not just about doing something fast. It is about doing it right and that is why we need to know the process for developing a vaccine. Is rigorous, inclusive, transparent, and science driven. In light of the hydroxychloroquine debacle and we removal of dr. Price cannot take for granted this process will be free of political influence. We have to demand serious oversight. In order to give the public full confidence that a vaccine is safe and effective the Administration Needs to commit now to being fully transparent about the standard of vaccine will be expected to meet and releasing the Clinical Trial data the fda uses to evaluate safety and effectiveness. We also need a plan detailing how to produce and distribute vaccines nationwide and make sure everybody can actually get them. We saw with testing how avoidable bottlenecks create damaging delays when the federal government refuses to step in and lead like it needs to do in a time of crisis. Unfortunately, we saw how existing Health Disparities are exacerbated without a plan to overcome them as even the incomplete data we currently have shows blacks, latino, and tribal communities has significantly less testing than white communities. This is an injustice we must not repeat when it comes to vaccines. We need a plan to guarantee vaccines are free so cost is not a barrier for patients. It is worth noting we still need to make covid19 treatment available at no cost and the plan must address barriers like Vaccine Hesitancy and misinformation, especially when one of the most prominent sources of information so far has been the president of the United States. While the discovery of an eventual vaccine may be far off these are issues we need the administration to answer now. I hope republicans will work with me to require the administration to submit a comprehensive vaccine plan and address many of the other urgent issues stemming from this pandemic. Our businesses, workers, teachers, students, and families do not have what they need to safely return to work or school period. Our medical syste