Opening statement. Good afternoon. We are here today to discuss the coronavirus, also known as covid 19. We are at a critical point in responding to the Coronavirus Crisis that is facing our nation. Americans are concerned. Hundreds of americans are sick. Sadly, there are families mourning the loss of loved ones from the coronavirus and our hearts are with them. The nation is seeing cases on the rise and experts saying the outbreak is getting worse. In new jersey, we were just informed that we had our first death from coronavirus and at least two dozen schools are closing for coronavirus preparation. We have seen an increase in presumed cases. State and local governments are working tirelessly to limit the spread of the coronavirus in our communities. At the federal level we have seen our experts at the cdc and others other agencies working to address this issue. Unfortunately, we have also seen federal officials offer mixed messages on the seriousness of the coronavirus. We are not here today to point any fingers. But we must tell the truth. The American Public needs to be able to trust the information coming from all levels of government. It is now more important than ever for our leaders to trust science and speak with clarity and precision, so that americans can trust what they are hearing. It is helpful to the outbreak response for the administrations staff to state as recently as last week that the virus is contained when we know that is not true because cases are on the rise. Another point of confusion with the Administration Lies in the test kits. While the experts at the cdc and even Vice President pence have expressed concern about potential testing shortages, the president on the other hand has dismissed these worries. There have been reports of the white house rejecting the advice of the cdc and even going as far as muzzling experts. These reports are troubling. Lets be clear. I want the federal response to the coronavirus to be robust. No one is rooting for failure but i have seen what i have seen is leading me to believe to become very concerned. With that said, the goal of todays hearing is to understand what as members of congress we can do to minimize the coronavirus outbreak for the American Public. We need to hear today how congress can support state and locals in preventing the spread of this virus. I would like to thank the panel of Witnesses Today and look forward to hearing their remarks. Without objection, i now recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from new york, mr. King, for an Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I also want to welcome and thank all of our Witnesses Today for taking the time to be here. All of us have a lot to learn on this and i look forward to your testimony. The Novel Coronavirus or covid 19 has already claimed thousands of lives across the globe, including over 20 here in the United States and i think as we realize those numbers could be changing by the hour and could be different by the end of this hearing for all we know. This is not the first time, though, our country has had to deal with an outbreak and likely wont be the last. Weve been preparing for situations such as this. Last year the department of health and Human Services conducted the contagion 2019 functional exercise, a multistate whole of government exercise to assess the nations ability to respond to a large scale outbreak. Last summer the president signed into law the pandemic and all hazards preparedness act. Since 2015 under republican and democratic leadership funding for Infectious Disease response has increased by 70 . Thats 70 in five years. While the virus is here now in the United States we didnt see the first cases until mid january, implementing travel restrictions bought us time, and mandatory quarantine helped to initially contain the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, through Community Spread, positive cases for covid 19 have now been reported in over 30 states. The new York State Department of health is reporting over 140 positive cases. Again, thats as of this morning. At the rate theyre going i think there are already several more just on my countiy today ad a state of emergency was declared this past weekend. Blind panic wont help us stop the virus from spreading. Cooperation, information sharing, and strong leadership are critical to successfully deal with a situation of this magnitude. We must ensure proper protocols are put in place and that the federal Government Works hand in hand with our state and local partners. As recommended, a National Blueprint for biodefense by the Bipartisan Commission on biodefense i was pleased to hear last weeks panel of witnesses agree with the president s selection of the Vice President to lead the Coronavirus Task force. To achieve a whole of government coordinated response to this outbreak is important that the person in charge has visibilities of the entire government and a direct line to the president. The Vice President is the right choice. While this has been a vigorous, international already been a vigorous, international, federal, state, and local response, as the situation continues to unfold, i encourage everyone to heed the advice from our medical professionals. Wash your hands. Stay home when sick. Visit the centers for Disease Control website for up to date information. I certainly commend the first responders, medical personnel and Public Health officials who have responded courageously for those who are sick. If i could just add, there are things we can criticize. Im sure things could have been done earlier at the start. There is no problem with constructive criticism but if we just criticize for the sake of criticizing it really adds nothing to it. If we can do it in a constructive way thats fine. Ill say in a bipartisan way, the governor and new york have struck a cooperative balance and the counties i represent have done that also, saying this is real but we shouldnt panic and trying to provide the best Health Facilities possible. And i know that when this does hit a certain stage they may be overrun but i think thats what we should be striving for. And at the federal level and i would disagree with the Ranking Member on this as far as muzzling i think it is important to get a coordinated response out. And again, theres valid criticism that can be made. I think we should try to keep it in focus and try to find ways to go forward. Otherwise you have one side attacking the other and then it goes back and the American People get more confused than ever. Im not here to make excuses or explain away things but i think it is important that we try to treat this as a serious issue as it is and, again, the more briefings we get the more serious we realize it is and we should try to keep that focus in that way. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Did you mean did you mean the Ranking Member . I was lost in the past, in the glorious past when i was chairman and you were Ranking Member. Glory days. Okay. Thank you. I commend you as our chairman. Thank you, sir. I see yvette laughing over there. Other members of the subcommittee are reminded that un under the Committee RulesOpening Statements may be submitted for the record. I want to welcome our panel of Witnesses Today. Our first witness is among many other positions in Public Service was the white house Ebola Response coordinator during the Obama Administration and can provide Lessons Learned from his time battling a previous Public Health emergency. We also welcome today the assistant commissioner of the division of Public Health infrastructure laboratories and Emergency Preparedness for the new Jersey Department of health. In his role, he provides strategic and operational leadership to coordinate new jerseys hospital and Public Health disaster resilience laboratory, services, and Emergency Preparedness and response. Welcome. Next we have dr. Nadine garcia the executive Vice President chief operating officer for trust for Americas Health, a nonprofit, Nonpartisan Organization that promotes Optimal Health for every person and community and advocates for an evidence based Public Health system that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Welcome, maam. And at this time id recognize the gentleman from mississippi to introduce our fourth witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. It is an honor for me today to introduce a fellow mississippian dr. Thomas e. Dobbs iii the state Health Officer at the Mississippi State department of health. Dr. Dobbs has served in this role since 2018. Dr. Dobbs has also held previous positions as the health state officer and the state epidemiologist. He is Board Certified in Infectious Disease and internal medicine and practiced in mississippi before joining the department of health. He holds a doctorate of medicine and masters in Public Health from the university of alabama at birmingham. Dr. Dobbs, i personally want to thank you for providing your expertise on this panel today as an Infectious Disease physician and for sharing about the coronavirus preparation you are leading in mississippi. I am proud you have joined us today for this hearing and look forward to hearing your remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. Without objection, the witnesses full statements will be inserted into the record. I ask each witness to summarize his or her statement for five minutes and we are going to keep strict time today, beginning with you. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member king, thank you for having me here today. Before i begin id like to make two preliminary points. First, as frustrating as it may be, there is still a great deal we do not know about the coronavirus and the disease it causes. In fact, we know less about the coronavirus today than we did about ebola in 2014. Scientists are working at break neck speed to improve our understanding but as we learn more, our response to the virus will have to change. Secondly, while i am a political partisan, i come here today in the same way that i approached my tenure as white house Ebola Response coordinator, putting politics aside. There is no democratic or republican approach to fighting Infectious Disease only sound and unsound measures. It doesnt mean calling out failures demurring out failures where they occur. I have been critical of some steps of the administration and like wise commended some steps. With those two preliminary points made i want to move on how to use the Lessons Learned in the Ebola Response for the present threat. The Ebola Response, itself, was not without problems and mistakes but ultimately president obama mustered an all of government response to the challenge, authorized the first ever deployment of u. S. Troops to combat an epidemic and appointed me to lead a team of talented and dedicated professionals at the white house to coordinate the effort. In the end the epidemic was tragic. 11,000 or more people died in west africa but in september, 2014 there was a forecast that a million lives would be lost. Americas actions as part of a Global Response saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The ongoing legacy of this work is enormous. With congresss support we implemented a National Four tier network of hospitals and medical facilities that remain prepared to this day to identify, isolate, and treat cases of dangerous Infectious Diseases. Nothing like that existed in 2014 before we started. Work on vaccines and ther putics as well. The challenge we face from the coronavirus epidemic is different in many ways but contains some similarities. I think it is worth thinking about the lessons that can be applied in this case. First, in a complex, rapidly evolving scenario like we are seeing there is no substitute for white house coordination and leadership. At the end of my tenure as Ebola Response coordinator president obama accepted my recommendation to create a permanent pandemic preparedness operation inside the National Security council. That continued through the first year of the Trump Administration but in july, 2018, that unit was disbanded. The administrations decision now to go through a series of different structures, first led by others has produced uneven results and contributed to the largest fiasco in the u. S. Response, the failure to promptly enable widespread testing for the virus, which definitely is a result of some lack of coordination between the cdc and fda. There is simply no reason, none why the United States lags behind nations like south korea and singapore in protecting its people. Second, we must ensure that science and expertise guide our actions not fear, wishful thinking, or politics. There are reports as chairman payne indicated of senior officials in the government rejecting the advice of professionals of the centers for Disease Control and other aspects of sidelining or ignoring medical advice. There are many policy decisions to be made in the days and weeks ahead. Science and medical expertise must guide them not politics. Third, the u. S. Has to lean forward in fighting this epidemic overseas as that i think will become an increasing priority. Unlike what happened in west africa in 2014 the nations of china or italy or south korea do not need our help in responding. But this disease could easily spread to africa and other countries where we might have to step up and do the same kind of things we did in 2014. Fourth, the Administration Must move quickly to implement the emergency funding bill passed by Congress Last week. Congress deserves great credit for acting with unprecedented speed in funding this response. But passing a funding bill is only the first step not the last step. Congress needs to make sure the administration is getting that money out and getting it out quickly and effectively. Too often bills get passed and they dont get implemented. That has to be a priority. The White House Task force report regularly to the American People on the pace and deployment of the Funding Congress provided. Where is the money . When is it getting out . What is going to be done . Fifth, congress has to continue to do its own work on the coronavirus. That includes hearings like this and ultimately work on things like the economic consequences of the virus. Sixth, both the executive and the Congressional Branch need to work on the long standing issues of pandemic preparedness that remain. It is not clear if this will be the big epidemic weve seen coming like the spanish flu was a hundred years ago but sooner or later it will come. There is a wrath of bipartisan proposals sitting on shelves congress has never acted on. Let this be a reminder of the need to act on that. Then finally i want to close by saying Public Officials at all levels of government need to take steps against discrimination. We are already seeing discrimination against chinese americans, chinese american owned businesses that will spread as this virus spreads. This virus affects humans not members of any race or ethnicity. We need to step up and make sure there are no victims of that discrimination. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. The chair now recognizes you to summarize your statement for five minutes. Good afternoon, chairman payne, Ranking Member king, and members of the subcommittee. On behalf of new jersey grapefruit phil murphy and the new Jersey Health commissioner thank you for inviting the new Jersey Department of health