Its an honor to appear before the subcommittee on the oronavirus crisis. This morning, we wish the president and the first lady and every American Fighting covid19 a swift and complete recovery. We also mourn the losses of skyler, sheryl, jason and all the other victims of covid19. Thanks to the heroism of so many Frontline Health care workers, scientists and others we are making progress. This progress is possible in large part because of the incredible women and men at h. H. S. , the worlds finest scientists and Public Health experts. I want to say a personal thank you to each and every member of the h. H. S. Team who has contributed to this response. And i want to underscore my commitment to their work today. I started my first job at h. H. S. Nearly two decades ago. Since my first day on the job i have recognized and promoted the value of science and evidence and the Civil Servants who are so dedicated to our nation. That does not mean, especially in an unprecedented crisis, that there are no debates or disagreement witness an agency or administration. But my highest priority will always be to ensure that our efforts are science an evidence driven and consistent with the rule of law. Institutions like the c. D. C. , the f. D. A. And the n. I. H. Are household names and gold standards for good reason. And i intend to keep it that way. No institution is infallible. But americans deserve to know that the actions and communications coming out of our agencies, whether f. D. A. Provals or c. D. C. , mmwrs or nih guidelines are grounded in science and evidence. Of course that standard also applies to authorization or approval of a covid19 vaccine. I will be confident that my family and i should take the vaccine and you should be confident that you and your family should take it too because any vaccine will have met f. D. A. s standards as judged by f. D. A. Career scientists. We are as close as we are to distributing a safe and effective vaccine because of the dedication and humanitarian spirit of americas scientists and because of work that began long before the whole world recognized what an unprecedented threat we faced. Back on january 7, long before china had even admitted that humantohuman transmission was occurring, n. I. H. Researchers began Vaccine Development planning with mo derna. On saturday, the morning after the viral sequence was shared by chinese researchers, n. I. H. Researchers began work on that vaccine, which entered human trials on march 16. On february 3, with just 11 cases in the United States, bar ta began obligating flex barta began obligating flexible funds to support vaccine and therapeutic development. Announced day we therapeutic funding for a drug now in phase 3 Clinical Trials. They began trials of remdesivir. In may we secured 150,000 treatment courses distributed to the hardest hit parts of the country and guaranteed 90 of gileads production through september. It is no longer a scarce commodity. We built on these early efforts with operation warp speed, an uns predened mobilization of h. H. S. , the department of defense, and industry, to simultaneously undertake all of the tasks necessary to deliver lifesaving products to the american people. Today we have four candidates in u. S. Phase iii Clinical Trials, and industrial scale manufacturing sundays way on all six vaccines as to which we have contracted or invested. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Secretary. We will now proceed with questions for the witness. I recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Secretary, i really have only one question i want to ask. And you make you may take the rest of my five minutes to answer if you wish. We have experienced more than 207,000 deaths. And in a very memorable quote, the president said, in talking about the death toll, im quoting him, it is what it is. End of quote. The president says that he puts america first. However, of the 150 countries reliable, in e is we rank ance data, 142nd. Of 150 country, we rank 142nd. That seems to me to be pretty close to last. Will you tell us why this dministration is coming in loser to last . Secretary azar mr. Chairman, i would like to first address the question of the 206,000 americans who have perished. We regret any loss of life. Lets be very clear about that we wish we didnt have this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. But people do die in pandemics. And our job, our mission, what gets me up every morning and motivates the dedicated people of h. H. S. , is the chance every day to make advances to help save some of those lives. So people die, we try to minimize that, we try to mitigate human suffering. It is our mission, its the core of everything we do. And we work. To save those lives. If we hadnt taken some of the aggressive early steps we took, for which we were criticized as being xenophobic, overly aggressive or alarmist, such as shutting down travel with china, shutting down the economy, we could have lost, according to dr. Birx and dr. Fauci, as many as two million americans. So any loss of life is tragic and horrible werg dont want to see any loss of life, but our actions have made a difference. And our actions now with operation warp speed will make a difference saving countless millions of lives in the United States and abroad in the future. As we think about International Comparisons its important to think of the data youre looking at. The best way ep deem yo logically to measure a countrys death rate in a pandemic, because theres various ways to have counting deaths, attributing deaths, etc. , is excess mortality rate. How many people died in the Previous Year . How many people would have been expected to die this year . What was the excess rate . If you look at excess mortality from march to july among over 65age people in the United States, those were 37 lower in the United States than in europe. Excess deaths from april to june across all ages in the u. S. Will be were substantially lower than the excess death rate in spain, the united kingdom, belgium, italy, and the netherlands. Today today there are higher case reports. France has 126,000 per day at this moment when we have 42,000 approximately. We dont want any cases, but i continue hear people talk about macron. Disease spreads and we need to have individual responsibility, the three ws, watch your hands. We will have antibodies to treat people. The day it makes me optimistic. Mr. Scalise other countries that have seen higher death rates. Five governors would have followed the guidelines that the president put out, we wouldnt be on this list. Over 25,000 deaths that should have never occurred. We wouldnt be on this list. But we still would have had deaths. But we want to learn how to properly respond to it. And we had hearings from some of the most respective doctors and scientists on this. Dr. Fauci sat where you were and he said decision after decision after decision, President Trump made the right decision. After we figured china was lying and china corrupted the World Health Organization and if they listened to them and they said it does president spread from human to human. We know. Why w. H. O. Was corrupted by china to do that. Wops we figured out, the president made a decision, do we ban flights from china. As you pointed out, not everyone was on agreement. Dr. Fauci noted that President Trump made the right decision and that decision saved american lives. We would have had more deaths. Same thing with europe, dr. Redfield talked about the decision to ban flights from europe. Wasnt an easy decision, some people are saying, if we ban flights from europe, we have a lot of people that go back and forth to europe and president obama. Dr. Fauci noted that decision saved american lives. Hundreds of thousands of american lives side. I wish china didnt lie. As we sit here today, dr. Azar, were you in some of those meetings where those decisions had to be made and if you were, was the president s Decision Making on that input that he was given to make those decisions hat did save american lives . Secretary azar im a j. D. And not a doctor. The president , whatever you read in the media, i was with him in squan, february, march, in those rly days and every step took decisive, swift action without debate or hesitation. When we shut down. When we first on january 17 started doing Health Screenings of people from wuhan, they had 67 cases. January 17, we started Health Screenings at our airports. 67 cases. China was talking about noa symptomatic transmission and china wouldnt provide any information or allow the w. H. O. Teams to come into our country. When we shut it down, the president didnt hesitate to shut that down in spite of the dislocation that would happen with our trade with china. And brought others to the United States, we imposed the First Federal quarantine in 50 years and the president didnt hesitate. When the diamond princess was docking and the japanese were going to allow them to get on commercial flights to come back o america, we didnt hesitate. And we wrestled with europe. Some people thought it would cause a global depression. Yet the president decided that day. Mr. Scalise thank goodness he did. And i want to ask you about the vaccine and some of the people who are trying to supplant seeds of doubt in the vaccine. Have any corners been cut on a vaccine . Secretary azar absolutely not. Mr. Scalise do you think it would cause more deaths if people were led to be suspicious of a vaccine because of politics when the vaccine as we know from hese Great American companies. Ecretary azar it would be a disservice. People will die. Mr. Scalise i yield back. Mr. Clyburn thank you very much. The chair now yields to ms. Waters for five minutes. Ms. Waters thank you very much for this hearing. It is very important. I would like to ask secretary azar, will you describe the increase in the Coronavirus Infections in this country right now and name the states where the increases are taking place . Secretary azar we are facing increases in the upper midwest and further west as we look at montana, wisconsin, i think north dakota and nebraska. We are seeing increases which are overcompensating. Some of the decreases we have been seeing in the southwest and southeast. Ms. Waters the tell us the numbers. Secretary azar we give you the numbers. Gov. Are at coronavirus ms. Waters i would like to know, do you think that the president s rallies that he has gone to where people are not social distancing six feet or Wearing Masks, does that contribute to the increase . Secretary azar we have consistent vizz to practice watch wash your hands, and people need. Ms. Waters these rallies where the and people are not Wearing Masks and people are not social distancing certainly adds to the increase in the possibility of these infections . Secretary azar the three wmps, whether any type of activity to engage in those protective activities but to evaluate ms. Waters have you ever talked to the president about that and given him advice . Have you interacted with the president about him being a possible role model in this country and being one that could et they are help us to decrease the deaths and the infections by being a role model himself by wearing the mask . Have you ever had that discussion . Secretary azar im not going to discuss my discussions. Ut the guidelines is wear face coverings. Water water are you proud of the job you have done . Secretary azar 206,000 people have died. Ms. Waters you dont like to talk about what you are saying to the president who should be a role model to the people of this country and cant give me any numbers about the increases that are taking place and you dont know and you come here and come here today with this testimony and you expect us to be happy. We are very unhappy what is going on and we feel that the president and his wife and others are now experiencing a positive test, et cetera. And how can you as the secretary with the responsibilities that you have come here and not be very, very open with us about what is happening in this country, the increases and the deaths and what we need to do and the role modeling that we need to have . How can you come here without being prepared to do that . Secretary azar i would be happy to do that and glad to talk you taken. He steps being ms. Waters tell me why, in fact, money has been diverted from d. P. A. To build ships and military equipment instead of being directed. Secretary azar im the secretary of health and not the secretary of defense. We have been aggressive whether on p. P. E. , ventilateors and with regard to vaccines and we have used it any time we have needed it across the entire supply chain. Ms. Waters mr. Chairman, im going to yield back my time and i want to conclude by saying that the secretary is not here with credible testimony today answering the questions that need to be asked. All that we hear is basically a defense basically of the president of the United States and a lot of open lack of openness and information about what is happening in this country. The increase in the infections and the deaths and unwillingness by this secretary to be candid about what we need to do. I yield back. Mr. Clyburn i thank the gentlelady for yielding back. The chair now recognizes mr. Luke meyer for five minutes. Mr. Lucas mr. Luetkemeyer i have some questions for you that i think will help respond to ms. Waters sort of the out of the box questions there. Question one, there were initial shutdowns work . Do the initial shutdowns work to stop the spread of the virus . Secretary azar they did and dr. Birx and dr. Fauci said it saved two million lives. Mr. Luetkemeyer today, how many f those getting tested are positive . Is that rate down . Secretary azar that is down substantially. Mr. Luetkemeyer now we have got that on record. What percentage of americans end up in the hospital . Secretary azar those who end up in the hospital, i believe, it is a very small number. It is 10 . Mr. Luetkemeyer is that up or down . Secretary azar hopizations are down. Mr. Luetkemeyer we answered ms. Waters question, what percentage of individuals have passed away . Secretary azar it depends on the age group that we are talking about. If we stay out of the hospital setting, aged 70 and above, 30 of those individuals who passed away. Mr. Luetkemeyer is that number up or down . Secretary azar down 80 . Mr. Luetkemeyer most of the information is on the website that ms. Waters could find. Safe to say those efforts that work in the continuing guidelines that are out there and things being done by the administration and being put out by the governors and mayors are work iging in those areas . Secretary azar florida, texas, arizona have turned around. Mr. Luetkemeyer you wrote an article and posted in the Washington Post here, we have to reopen for our health. And you make the comment, this is something that i have been talking about over again. Health versus health. The health risks of covid19 mr. Luetkemeyer we need to be looking at both sides of this and i think its important as we found ways to manage this, we have to keep this in perspective. Covid is serious and have to watch this and as you just testified, 70 and over, we need to focus our attention. Those under 70, if they live a managed life can function well. So its important that we understand how we can do this and manage this and your information is extremely important as we have opened schools around the country. Many have inperson learning and as a result, there have been locations of problems that have popped up and it goes out to point out your information. And people have minimal impacts on a minimal basis. It is important how to understand how this is being riven and whether you have a couple of comments. The news we have watched unfolding underscores the importance of testing astam individuals who may have been exposed. We dont know who exposed the president or he may have exposed but everyone who has come in contact with him get tested and everyone should be tested in america. On august 24, new guidance appeared on the c. D. C. s web sites that asymptomatic people should not be tested even if they are exposed. Mr. Secretary, this guidance was contrary to the Scientific Consensus and this change was not made by c. D. C. Scientists but by the president s political advisers who edited over c. D. C. Objections. One federal official told the New York Times said that came from the top down from the h. H. S. And task force and it said, quote, does not reflect what Million People at the c. D. C. Should be the policy. End quote. Secretary azar, did you authorize the publication of this inaccurate guidance on the c. D. C. Website . Secretary azar you made a miss tamente. The c. D. C. Has never made that. What we posted on august 24, individuals with significant exposure and those including ea symptomatic. There was a statement in the guide appears that said ea symptomatic close contact do not necessarily need to be tested. The idea was they wanted to be sured and they were done and you have an incubation period and wanted to Public Health person to guide you through the period of your potential incubation. That was so misinterpreted outside. S, mrs. Maloney i think from the very beginning, scientists were saying that ea symptomatic you could get the virus from an ea symptomatic person and get it from the molecules in the air and next to and we are supposed to wear masks to protect people from us. So to say on the guidance at the time and according to the c. D. C. First that were quoted in various papers they said it was overruling them and their position. So who was response i will for making that change at that time . Secretary azar guidance that comes out of c. D. C. And dr. Redfield is the director. We harness the best doctors. R. Fauci as well as dr. Birx there is debate and discussion on any of these critical guidances but at the end of the day if grideance comes out it is dr. Redfield or n. I. H. Trials, it is n. I. H. Mrs. Maloney im glad on september 18 you reversed yourself and ea symptomati