Is and communities need to know what that is, soy hope that we urge that plan to be public as soon as possible so we all know what to expect. Thank you. Thank you, senator murray. Senator burr. Thank you, mr. Chairman. After working on pandemic policy now for 17 years, im reminded this morning tony fauci has been doing it twice as long as i have and most of you at the dais have been doing that as well. I urge my colleagues to Pay Attention to what each of these individuals say because some things are predictable up here. Congress is a fullfledged partner and funds things when theres an urgent need, a threat thats out there, and and i know, tony, youve seen over the years when theres not that threat out there things get shellofed like platforms that we could have developed and had better countermeasures today, platforms that then could address vaccines at a much faster pace than maybe what were doing but we spend more time with the blame game than we do with focuses on how the future should look. While all of us, members of congress and people within government, wish that we could get back to normalcy, your agencies and members of congress are also charged with making sure that we map the future so that future generations have better protections than what we, have and thats why i applaud the chairman for his white paper, and i would encourage every member that have dais to be brutally honest with us about where changes need to be made and where they dont need to be made. Dr. Redfield, that testing and surveillance on this has not been the best performance by cdc. I dont want to dwell on where weve come up short. Share with these members and myself what can we expect over the next several months from cdc that will be different than what the past has looked like . Well, thank you, senator, for your question. I think cdc will continue to work with the state, local, tribal Territory Health departments to build their capacity. I think we all know that for decades theres been consistent underinvestment in Public Health in this nation, and the core capabilities to do that job data monitorization, data analysis, laboratory investigation, workforce, very necessary for the Response Fund that congress provided. These are Critical Infrastructure issues that the reality are have been underinvested. The cdc is right now probably providing 50 to 70 of all Public Health funding to each state. We need to have a much more robust investment in these core capabilities. What you are going to see because of the congress acting, cdc has provided now 12 billion to the local, state, territorial tribal Health Departments to begin to build that core capability that we would have liked to have built over the last several decades so that theres enhances testing. Its been mentioned that its complicated here because this virus is so asymptomatic for so many so the traditional methods of diagnosis, Contact Tracing, isolation are going to be inhibited for many individuals, and thats going to require Broader Communitybased surveillance strategies. Those plans as was mentioned by the admiral are, weve received them for june and july. Were working with the local jurisdictions. They are going to have them in middle july for the plans of the rest of the year, and were going to be working side by side with them to continue to augment the Public Health capacity response to this covid virus with basically enhanced surveillance and enhanced early diagnosis, Contact Tracing are, ice lies to begin to bring this outbreak under control. I hope some that have money will be used to upgrade the systems at cdc that are antiquated. Sir, i agree with you there. I mean, i think as those of you know, when i was given the opportunity to do this job very early on within a month i recognized that the core capabilities of our Public Health infrastructure is not there, particularly the one that i know youve been very supportive of, data modernization and data predictive analysis and that is in progress. It cant happen too soon, and were appreciative of the support that congress has given, and i do think its fundamentally critical to bring our data system and as you know the data personnel that we, have and we thank you for your efforts there, and as we need to hire those individuals strategically well continue to do that to make sure that the premier Public Health agency in this country has the personal and data systems that it does need, but i will say the other big issue we have to correct is to make sure that our Public Health, state, local, territorial and tribal have that integrated system of data. Dr. Hahn, i think you have used your authorities under papa at fda in a very effective way, and the fda has risen to a challenge during the Public Health emergency cutting red today and maintaining agencys Gold Standard in terms of lifesaving medical products. Youve mentioned innovative lynn call trial designs and use of real world data in areas where fda has gained ground during the response to covid. How do you plan to ensure that this progress is maintained long after the Coronavirus Response is over . Thank you, senator burr. Critical issues that you bring up. In addition, some of the things that were doing on the review side to actually expedite review and work winnow rate issors and developers, we will continue. Part of our review of our actions to date, so a midaction review, will inform how we move forward. No question the fact that real world evidence and an modernization of our systems are needed around supply chain and demand for medical psych will and also on the clinical trials. I hope you and other members will allow dr. Fauche toe make any comments on the reports of the swine flu that the chinese have apparently identified and how that might affect us in the future in this country. Well, dr. Fauci, why dont you do that now if you have anything to say about a swine flu. The chinese over the last week or two have identified a virus in the environment. It is not yet shown to be infecting humans, but it is exhibiting what we call reassortment capabilities. In other words, when you get a brandnew virus that turns out to be a pandemic virus, its either due to mutations and or the reassortment or exchanges of genes, and they are seeing virus in swine in pigs now that have characteristics of the 2009 h1n1 of the original 1918 which many of our flu viruses have remnants of that in it as well as sess n segments like other hosts like swine and when they mix together and contain elements of things that are susceptible to the transmission of humans you always have the possibility that you might have another swine flu type of outbreak as we had in 2009. Its something that still is in the stage of examination. Its not socalled an immediate threat where youre seeing infections, but its something that we need to keep our eye out on just the way we did in 2009 with the emergence of the swine flu. Its called g4 is the game of it. Thank you. Senator sanders. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, and let me thank all of our panelists for being here and for the great work that they are doing on this pandemic. Let me ask a question that has just bothered me lately. All of you, and i think most americans understand how important social distancing is. Were told over and over again. The chairman told us at the beginning of this meeting stay apart at least six feet if you can, and just the other day, however, American Airlines announced that they were going to fill up all of their planes and other airlines are going to do the same. Youll have people going from new york to california more than five hours sitting inches apart from each other and buses across america where people are packed in like sardines. Knew question is why hasnt the government, whether its the cdc or the department of transportation issued guidelines prohibiting those violations of what we all know to be common sense. S if dr. Fauci, you want to start on that . Thank you, senator. Well, im im not the cdc but id be happy to make a comment on that and maybe bob would also. I mean, obviously thats something that is of concern. Im not sure exactly what went into that decisionmaking. I would hope there would be something to mitigate against that, because i know and weve said and continued to repeat, it avoid willing crowds and staying distant and when in a situation like that wear a mask. I think in the confines of an airplane that becomes even more problematic. But generally i understand the mask thing, but doesnt it sound a little bit sill and a little bit in violation of everything you guys have been talking about to have people sitting next to each other for five or six hours in an airplane or crowded into a bus. And my question is why hasnt, you know, the president the president issues a lot of executive orders. Why havent we stopped that type of activity and told the airlines and Bus Companies that it is unhealthy. Senator, i appreciate your question, and i think its its a critical area. I can tell you when they announced that the other day obviously there were substantial disappointment with American Airlines. A number of airlines had decided to keep the middle seat open. This is under critical review by us at the cdc. We dont think its the right message, as you pointed out. Again, we think its really important in individuals that whether its a bus or a train or a plane and social distancing to the degree thats feasible, and at least you can have a reliable face covering. I thank you, and i just hope very much that the cdc or the appropriate agency basically tells these companies that that is unacceptable behavior, that they are endangering the lives of the American People. Let me go to another question. I just have a few more questions and not a lot of time so i would appreciate brief answers. At the university of washington, the institute of health there indicated that if 95 of the American People were to wear masks we could save some 30,000 lives. A number of countries including south korea, france, turkeyed a austria have provided lowcost or free masks to all of their people, something that i believe in. Would you support an effort to greatly increase the production of highquality masks in this country and distribute them free of charge to every household in america . Dr. Fauci or anybody else who wants to jump in on that. Yes, of course, i think masks are extremely important,able we keep hammering home, and i think what you just mentioned is this important . Theres no doubt that Wearing Masks protects you and gets you to be protected so its people protecting each other. Anything that furthers the use of masks, whether its giving out free masks or anything other mechanism, im thoroughly in favor of. And i just want to echo that, senator, and in my Opening Statement, again, i called on an environment that we have universal masks. I think its fundamentally and the most important thing we can do. Thats great. But when you refer to quote, unquote universal masks which i agree with you on, would you be supporting the increased production of highquality masks and basically distributing them free of charge to every household in america because i think thats going to save tenses of thousands of lives. Would you agree . Senator sanders, this is brett giroir. Yes, sir, i agree that that is very important because we need to support maskwearing. I would also point out that dr. Cadillac has contracted for hundreds of millions cloth face conversation that could be distributed around the country and those kinds of processes are being thought of. When im not in uniform i wear them, they are white and work very effective, and i think they are a great investment for the American People. Good. Thank you. My very last question. Its an issue ive raised now for the last couple of months. All of us hope to god that a good, safe vaccine will be developed as soon as possible, but that vaccine may not mean anything to a lower income person who might not be able to afford it. The i happen to believe that we should make these vaccines, and by the way, as you all know, federal government, our tax dollars, are going to the tune of billions of dollars into your companies to help develop this vaccine. Thats okay, but would you agree with me that after that kind of investment we should make sure that every american, every person in this country, can get a vaccine regardless of their income . Yes. Okay. Anybody else want to comment on that . Yes, senator, agreed. Yes, senator. Well, good. Thank you all very much. Thank you, senator sanders. Senator paul. Will. Thank you. Fatal conceit is the concept that Central Planning with decisionmaking concentrated in a few hands can never fully grasp the millions of complex individual interactions occurring simultaneously in the marketplace. It is a fatal conceit to believe that any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct and economy or dictate Public Health behavior. I think Government Health experts during this pandemic need to show caution in their prognostications. Its important to realize that a society meekly submits to an expert and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur when we allow one mans policy or one group of small men and women to be foisted on an entire nation. Take, for example, Government Experts who continue to call for schools and day care to stay closed or that recommend restrictions that make it impossible for a school to function. For a time there may not have been enough information about coronavirus in children, but now there is. There are examples from all across the United States and the world that show that Young Children rarely spread the virus. Lets start in europe. 22 countries have reopened their schools and have seen no discernible increases in cases. These graphs behind me show no surge when schools open. The red line is when the schools open. There is data from oughtia, belgium, denmark, france, germany, threat lands, no spike when schools are opened. Content tracing studies in china, iceland, britain and the netherlands failed to find a single case of childtoadult infection. Here at home child care for essential workers continued to be available in some states throughout the pandemic, Brown University researchers collected data on day cares that remained open during the day care. Over 25,000 kids in their study found that only. 16 got covid and when you looked at the confirmed cases for staff, there was about 1 of more than 9,000 staff. The ymca also has put forward statistics. The 40,000 kids at 1,100 sites, there were no reports of coronavirus outbreaks or clusters. Dr. Joshua sharfstein of john hopkins writes that there is converging evidence that the coronavirus doesnt transmitt among children like the flu, that it is a lower risk. Just yesterday the American Academy of pediatrics says weve got to get kids back in school. We want them physically present in school. They even cite mounting evidence that children are less likely to contract the virus. Ultimately this all comes down to the fatal conceit that central planners have enough knowledge somehow to tell a nation of 330 Million People what they can and cant do. Perhaps our planners might think twice before they weigh in on every subject, perhaps our Government Experts might hold their tongue before expressing the opinion when we can play nfl football or major league fool, not in october. Perhaps our experts might think twice before telling the whole world that a Covid Vaccine likely wont provide herd immunity. We dont know why why weigh in with these opinions that we have no knowledge of. These are forecasts that may well be wrong. Perhaps our experts might consider the undue fear they are instilling in teachers who are now afraid to go back to work. No one knows the answers to these questions. We shouldnt presume that a group of experts somehow knows whats best for everyone. Highiac had it write. Only decentralized power in Decision Making based on millions of individualized situations can arrive at what risks and behaviors each individual choose. Thats what america was founded on, not a herd with a couple of people in washington all telling us what to do, and we like sheep blindly follow. This all begs the question when are we going to tell the people the truth, that its okay to take their kids back to school . Dr. Fauci, every day, virtually every day we seem to hear from are you things we cant do, but when youre asked can we go back to school, i dont hear much certitude at all. I hear, well, maybe, it depends. All of of this body of evidence about schools around the world shows theres no surge. All of the evidence shows that its rare. I mean, weve so politicized this and made it politically correct that the w. H. O. Releases its rare and you have a scientist up there giving her opinion. What happens to her. Reporter shes blackballed and the report that shes referred to is taken off to the website. If you go to that scientists speech and you try to clink on the link the w. H. O. Release it had for us because something was said that wasnt blittically correct. All i hear from you, dr. Fauci, we cant do this. We cant play baseball. Thats not based on the science. I mean, flu season peaks in february. We dont know covid is going to be like the flu season but it might. We dont know that. We wouldnt ban school in october. You might close some schools when they get the flu. We need not to be so presumptuous that we know everything. But my question is cant you give us a little bit more on schools that we can get back to school, that theres a great deal of evidence and that its actually good, good evidence that kids arent transmitting this, its rare and kids are staying healthy and, yes, we can open