Good morning welcome to Washington Post life. Im a political reporter for thee Washington Post i would like to welcome our first guest this Morning Health secretary at hhs and remember president trumps coronavirus passport. Thank you for joining me. Good morning its great to be here with you this morning thank you for the invitation. N. I got the correct . T i am from deep down by you louisiana country you pronounced it pretty close thats a pretty good first try. Admiral you are the Public Health policy recommendation so was wondering if you could uave us an overview of the Current Situation on the ground today everyone understands and then to have a significant increase in the number of cases and they are starting to go up and we do however h know to defeat the pandemic but social distancing is incredibly important American People did a really good job. Also with good hygiene. And to have a program a smart testinge and we will be talking a lot about that but we do have the power to control in florida and texas but with that important point in this pandemic right b now and we have done a great job if there is High Community spread the number one message today are the three ws are incredibly important. Washer hands and please be tested when you are asked to because about 75 percent of people these 50 percent to be asymptomatic and is the only way you know you have it is to get tested the only way to prevent spreading it is by wearing a mask. As noted we are seeing changes in terms even of fatalities. There wase a single day high of 83000 new cases and saturday was 39 cases sure of the previous mark. Is this expanded testing or a false surge. I will answer that in two different ways. We were very possible aware going on in july and august so testing could be more cases that is true the true but his now back in march and april probably only one out of 15ec cases so you cannot compare the date back of march and april compared to with a surge. That was a real increase in cases. Not only because the case numbers are up to put into perspective there are many other areas are several areas where there are still 41000 people in the hospital compared to a high of 76000 in july. We have to look at those Public Health measures that we know will work and i can go up substantially. And those that is one reason why those hospitalizations areon shorter and theres nothing that we would do with that in the workplace with the Public Health measures we talked about. Until we get a vaccine. They are coming there are for open with phase three trials. But this will not be here tomorrow we could get the first vaccine tomorrow and the elderly for example in the mostos vulnerable it with a few million vaccines we could get the most benefit. Even if it goes well we can still do 2021. But we have to be very disciplined about wearing crowds especially on the holidays if if its only gathering of 25 or 30, that just means we have to be careful of our interactions with hygiene and in particular people within our family. Putting a new strain on the local health care system. Does the federal government have a plan to get resources to these areas . There was talk of rationing care. There is no need to ration care. We are in a tremendous supply situation. And not how that certain type of ppe but we know almost every state has a storage of ppe and in addition to the National Stockpile we had 150,000 ventilators. We monitor drugs on a daily basis. The idea of rationing care is not wanted anyway is close to reality. And to have care for all who w need it now in certain areas. You are froze. And working to help to represent. There was a momentary lapse. Do you have me now . Continue well see if it keeps going. Okay. There is no idea of rationing care we have the ppe with a 90 days stockpile and with those levels but in certain areas we know the hospitals are b getting tight. There is no concept of rationing care we had plenty of resources and as a pediatrician i will always empathize one emphasize prevention. The best prevention is to prevent those infections from going up the goal is to minimize so everybody has the power to prevent infections and save lives like watcher distance, wear a mask and washer hands. Speaking of those three ws wear a mask and watcher distance there has been another outbreak in the white house those that have tested positive in the white house chief of staff the administration stop trying to control the pandemic its not pgoing to control the pandemic we are going to control the fact we get vaccines so despite that emphasis there is little indication in the middle of next year so with that message that we are getting to the white house and what they are telling americans to do. Im not in the chiefs head but i think he sees this construed because he did talk about controlling through mitigation so thats what he meant but instead of trying to figure out what he meant i want to be straight with the listeners we will not completely defeat the virus until we get a vaccine and riat is distributed to the American People and we have heard immunity in the appropriate ways. But there are things we can do right now we did in arizona florida and texas. Izose were the Public Health measures i spoke with repeatedly about already. There is physical distancing andon everyone had to wear a mask. And terms of the vaccine we need to clarify. That americans will not get their vaccine through mid 2021 because were hundreds of millions to vaccinate and most will need two doses. We will have millions of doses within the year 2020. Has to be proven safe but we will get a read and even those 1 million doses available we could get 50 or 70 or 80 percent in terms of mortality with the work of elderly and then to be highly effective. So even with the healthcare uarkers is for liberal individuals we could save 80 percent of the lives. A lot of this is nuance it might not be through next year but c it is assuming it continues positively. We cannot defeat the virus until we have a vaccine we can certainly control the spread and save lives. Everybody can do that. You dont need a science months on scientist or vaccine expert. Socially distance in one avoid indoor spaces. I am not a party pooper but having 20 or 30 or 40 people your house for thanksgiving without appropriate precautions could be a recipe for spread. As a dumping grandma in but because of your hygiene and your handwashing and physically distance if you can especially for those who are vulnerable. Speaking of the need to be careful, we close the bars and restaurants and other businesses earlier this year when we saw numbers that were comparable to what we are beginning to see again do we need to go back to that to ramp up coronavirus restrictionsri . We saw in arizona, texas, florida, that if people are disciplined meaningpl mask wearing at 90 percent if you cannot physically distance. If you limit bars and Indoor Dining to a certain t percent, outdoorer is fine, that that is effectively the thing that is shutting down the economy. Whowever if we dont do those things we will be pressed against the wall because when you do shut things down people get dont get cancer screenings or children dont go to school or learn and people have emotional issues and Substance Abuse goes up. So there is a whole chain that but for go to the indoor crowded spaces or restaurants, we have appropriate testing but unless we turn the situation around at a local level and the state level they will feel compelled. We wanted to be the last resort because there will be done on harm done by that but it is the last resort. We are not there yet and i think if we a continue to and in many localities before thats what we want to be we can save lives until we absently defeat the virus. That is the plan we need to stick to two avoid those taccone and actors of possible that is on a city by city and statebystate basis its very different in new york and massachusetts than el paso. Every community is different have different risk factors, different social vulnerabilities. That is why you cannot just waive the lawn nationally and it must be done at the community level. The last part takes me to a question from one audience member from minnesota, will we require a National Social distancing mask mandate . On elected 20 office its not my decision but i can say its been the policy of the administration thus far do not follow the authorities in this regard. Ith the community, i tell you what needs to happen, we have 85 people wearing mass, we will find out how that gets done we support the local community and the education and working with children and doing something with the elderly but were telling you what the in results have to be, the best way to get there we believe is the local mayor, county judges and governors. I would like to go to another question from the audience member, victoria from michigan wants to know, with the administration and endless others disregarding basic pandemic safe behavior and incidents resurgence, virus death containment is utterly impossible, the compliance of the cdc guidelines for the rest of us actually make a difference and how. Thank you so much for asking the question, i really appreciate that that gets at the heart of the matter none of us are 100 admission that the data is very clear and they are symptomatic and can virus and something simple like wearing a mask greatly reduces transmission from one person to the next person, we have seen this whether you want to look at the microlevel, like the hairdressers who took care of 129 clients, two of them while they were sick with coronavirus in both of the clients were a mask and what you saw was no transmission, we saw in arizona where the simple measures do make a difference, we see time and time again even summer camps where masks are required, the transmission was minimal, we see a Day Care Centers across rhode island and many other places the transmission is absolutely minimal when we do the Public Health measures, i want to assure the American People that we have to keep her guard up, this is a great weapon against the pandemic, you can save a life in multiple lives if you infect one person, that can affect two people, they really do work and avoid crowds when you can come if youre an area where there spreading, dont have the crowded indoor spaces, there is nothing magical about a bar except that its crowded, indoor are drinking and dont have masks on and if the other house party with hundred people itll be the same different, it does not matter whether crowded or indoor space, make good choices, outdoors versus indoors, smaller gathering versus larger gathering, good ventilation when you can, always wear a mask when he cant physically distant, these things matter, i forget your name but im happy that you asked that question but we gotta keep this up we only have a few more months to go, that few more months could be a difference between 100,000 more people dying and not having that until we get a vaccine, we have the power to do it and keep her guard up. I want to talk about a project you are working on that is really interesting youre helping to coordinate a new Pilot Testing program and for select cities and rhode island with guidance from john hopkins and the center, we are going to get into the finer details of the protocol in the next segment but i was hoping you would explain how the federal government is involved with providing pointofcare of rapid test for americans. Sure, we announced a few weeks ago we would provide 150 million pointofcare on the simple test, its very easy and result in 15 minutes, no need for an instrument we shipped 36 million to the vulnerable in Nursing Homes, assisted living historically black colleges and universities and two thirds of those over 25,000,002 states that they can used to reopen their schools and keep them open and support other critical infrastructure, this is actually happening now, integrate Technology Emphasis dictated technology and only five with the result in five minutes, what were doing on the Pilot Program were very excited the federal government does not work in a vacuum and hopefully everyone understands it, the way it works is by working with the private sector of the academic sector the Nonprofit Sector and the Rockefeller Foundation has been a great partner as well as duke and other universities, we Work Together and talk to each other we have forms together in the rockefeller and duke have been very involved in helping School Districts try to develop plans to reopen schools as we talked about before when children are not in school they have severe and irreversible deficits in their emotional intellectual home at the very critical time, child abuse does not get reported, and hearing screenings, getting kids in school is very important, rockefeller and duke have been supporting that, so we partnered with them to provide them i believe the number to start with is about 120,000 of the by next test, they will be using in multiple School Districts, we know theyre going to be in los angeles, louisville, new orlea orleans, tulsa and rhode island and there is another major School District that we get analysis week that we can talk about but were supplying the actual test to rockefeller and to duke to distribute the School System into test different practices, weve never been in a pandemic like this in modern times were bringing children back to school, a number of possible ways to use the test they could certainly be used for symptomatic children and contact on the spot, they can be used to test teachers every week or twice a week and they can be used for screening and we really want to support the academic and the Nonprofit Sector who are working directly with the School Districts to understand how to utilize, we dont have time to wait six months thats why were distributing and testing them at the same time we know the test performance work very well and how does that utilize, thats what were doing with the rockefeller and with the School Districts around the country who have very interesting pioneering thoughts and we want to make sure that we can share best practices around the country, that is what this is about, the federal government working together with the Nonprofit Sector like rockefeller in the academic like duke in her School Districts working together the way its meant to be were on the same team to get the same results. Thank you so much for sharing we will keep her eyes open for that but im afraid thats all the time that we have left for this segment, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate the opportunity, we want to reach the American People and remember the messages, we can do a lot to control the pandemic and im happy to be on anytime you want me, thanks for the Great Questions and the viewers for the Great Questions. Thank you again, well be right back with senior scholar from John Hopkins Center for Health Security and founding director of the center for Health Policy at Duke University doctor mark, stick with us. Hello i am from the american university, we are talking today why safely reopening schools is a National Priority to prevent further spread of covid19 and how we get there, i am thrilled to be joined by the president of the Rockefeller Foundation which is leading these Pilot Testing protocols for k 12 schools in four cities and one state across the country that has the potential to inform decisions right now on widespread testing, it is great to have you. Thank you its great to be with you. To send her kids back to school is one of the most controversial debate of reopening the country, right now most of the schoolchildren havent returned to classrooms is fall, we see the strain its putting on families and employers and most important leave the kids and all parents want to know if its safe to send their kids back to school especially with the new surges. Im a parent of three kids in elementary, middle and high school and i can tell you that weve looked carefully as an institution rockefeller has around the world and as theyve done in much of europe and much of asia as they continue to do an parts of africa, school should be opened in america through k12 education, you said is it safe for everybody today, the answer unfortunately is probably not, the reality schools that are better resourced, private schools and some Public Schools that just have the Financial Resources in the Community Support to put in place a practices that work to keep kids, faculty and staff safe are able to be open thats why we see across the Nation Private schools largely open in some form and in some states using very large numbers of Public Schools open in some fo form, the reality, we know what to do to keep schools open and its a matter of making the investment putting the policy in place and making sure education in this country is not just a privilege for those who can spend 30 40000 a year for private education but frankly every single american as its supposed to be. You and rockefeller has been clear that its a domi