Good morning. The committee has come to order. One thing, i want to thank the witnesses for your testimony. Those appearing in person, traveling to d. C. To give it orally, and, also, answer our questions. The title of this hearing now is, i guess, examining the u. S. Approach to early covid19 treatments. I thought it was i originally set out a title of early treatments for covid, a essential component of a covid solution. It was inevitable that the coronavirus pandemic to be politicized into the tragedy it was. From the start, i knew it was impossible to have a perfect response. We were facing a new virus. No one wanted to underreact, and as a result i feared the tendency would be overreact. The challenges facing us were daunting. Our National Strategic stockpile had been reduced during the h1n 1 pandemic. It took time to develop a test. The fact that a large percentage of people that become infected exhibit no symptoms made the coronavirus even more difficult to detect and contain. I
Iowa has been seeing a rise in cases which recently led the governer to issue a statewide mask mandate. From des moines, this is 30 minutes. Governor reynolds good morning. Over the last seven days iowa has seen an increase of more than 22,000 new covid19 cases and an average statewide Positivity Rate of 17. 5 . This is a decrease from the seven days prior when new cases totaled 36,000. And the average Positivity Rate was 28 . At a county level, were seeing that Positivity Rates are beginning to stabilize in maybe areas and these many areas and these are welcome signs and while we may be cautiously optimistic, we have a whole lot of work to do to bring the numbers down to a level where we can safely manage the virus while getting life back to normal. Hospitalizations remain high across the state. But yesterday was the first day and weeks where we saw a slight decrease in the overall number of iowans hospitalized. So this gives us hope as well. But one day is far, far, far from a downwa
Covid solution. It was inevitable was inevitable that the coronavirus pandemic would be politicized and this is a tragedy that it was paid from the start i knew it was impossible to have a perfect response and we are facing a new virus that caused an entirely new disease. No one wanted to under react and as a result i fear the tendency would be to overreact and create Unrealistic Expectations regarding our ability to stop a highly contagious pathogen. The challenges facing us were daunting and our National Strategic stockpile have been reduced during the h1n1 pandemic and had not been replenished. It took time to develop reliable tests and even more time to Scale Production to meet the demand. The fact that a large percentage of people that become infected exhibited no symptoms made the coronavirus even more difficult to detect and contain. I have tried not to criticize the elected officials that have had the response ability to make very tough decisions with limited and highly imperfe
Cases which recently resulted in a mask mandate. This is 30 minutes from des moiness. Governor reynolds good morning. Over the last seven days iowa has seen an increase of more than 22,000 new covid19 cases and an average statewide Positivity Rate of 17. 5 . This is a decrease from the seven days prior when new cases totaled 36,000. Cases totaled 36,000. And the average Positivity Rate was 28 . At a county level, were seeing that Positivity Rates are beginning to stabilize in maybe areas and these many areas and these are welcome signs and while we may be cautiously optimistic, we have a whole lot of work to do to bring the numbers down to a level where we can safely manage the virus while getting life back to normal. Hospitalizations remain high across the state. But yesterday was the first day and weeks where we saw a slight decrease in the overall number of iowans hospitalized. So this gives us hope as well. But one day is far, far, far from a downward trend. Over the next week, it
This is a decrease from the seven days prior when new cases totaled 36,000. And the average Positivity Rate was 28 . At a county level, were seeing that Positivity Rates are beginning to stabilize in maybe areas and these many areas and these are welcome signs and while we may be cautiously optimistic, we have a whole lot of work to do to bring the numbers down to a level where we can safely manage the virus while getting life back to normal. Hospitalizations remain high across the state. But yesterday was the first day and weeks where we saw a slight decrease in the overall number of iowans hospitalized. So this gives us hope as well. But one day is far, far, far from a downward trend. Over the next week, it will be critical that we see hospitalization rates begin to stabilize. Every day we are monitoring it closely and working directly with hospitals and Health Care Systems, to understand their situations and assist as needed. The vast majority of those hospitals continue to be of th