Fauci testifies on coronavirus response as cases in US rise

The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis is holding a hybrid hearing this morning at 9:00 a.m ET titled "The Urgent Need For A National Plan To Contain The Coronavirus.”

The hearing comes as the US reports more than 1,000 people died in the country yesterday from Covid-19, the highest number of daily coronavirus deaths in more than a month, a statement posted on the hearing's website says.

Witnesses include:

The three witnesses last appeared before Congress on June 30.

According to the House subcommittee's website, after the Trump administration "initially declined" to make witnesses requested by the subcommittee available, Chair Rep. Jim Clyburn wrote to the vice president and the secretary of health and human services on July 14 saying:

Safety precautions: Face coverings are required in the hearing room, and entry will not be permitted without a face covering, the subcommittee's website said.

In addition, seating arrangements will be “in accordance with social distancing guidelines” and “every effort should be made [to] adhere to six-foot social distancing guidelines.”

The Trump administration official overseeing critical coronavirus testing is expected to be pressed this morning on why turnaround times are still too long in the United States.

During CNN’s coronavirus town hall yesterday, Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said testing is improving but not as good as he wants it to be.

He tried to defend the state of testing in the US after large testing companies such as Quest Diagnostics reported it can take seven days or more to run tests and get results back to people.

“Nationally, about 25% of tests are point-of-care so that's about 15 minutes. Another 25% are done in local hospitals … That's generally a quick turnaround,” Giroir said.

But he conceded there is a backlog that’s rendering some coronavirus testing practically useless.

“Where we really talk about it is the big commercial labs and there's no question they've been strained, and Quest has been strained more than the other commercial labs,” he said.

“Our data right now, and this is the worst week, is that 56%, are back within three days, 76% are back within five days,” he added.

Pooling samples from four or five people can speed things up and save resources, Giroir said.

“I've said and I've said before — I want the perfect test. I want it to be perfectly sensitive and specific and back within 15 minutes. That's why we're really working towards more point-of-care but again it is a work in progress, because of the tremendous demand,” Giroir said.

By September, Giroir said he expects half of all tests in the US to be point-of-care tests, but he warned, “You can’t test your way out of this.” People must also use masks, avoid crowds and avoid being indoors with others, he said.

The United States needs to restart its response with policy actions at the federal, state and local levels to get control of the pandemic, scholars at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security said in a report.

The report includes 10 recommendations that include universal mask mandates, federal leadership to improve testing and, in places where rates of transmission are worsening, stay-at-home orders.

Here are some key suggestions:

The report also gives recommendations about personal protective equipment, epidemiological data, funding research agendas, contact tracing, identifying best practices for improving public health response and developing policies and practices to protect group institutions.

Fauci told MSNBC he didn't believe moving back to a complete shutdown is necessary.

"I think psychologically that would be really very difficult for people to accept," he said. He advised that states and communities could "backtrack a little" in order to "regain your footing." Then the next reopening should be done with more caution, he said.

Without a national effort to adhere to preventative measures, it will be impossible to predict how much longer the Covid-19 pandemic will last in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

The US is seeing a resurgence of coronavirus infections after states began reopening their economies, with the number of cases now at more than 4.4 million and the death toll at 152,070, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Here's a look at how confirmed cases and Covid-19 cases in the US compare to other countries:

Meanwhile, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation increased its forecast to 219,864 total deaths by November, in part because the nation continues to debate measures like wearing masks and social distancing.

Regularly taking such precautions is especially important given that a backlog in getting test results is rendering some coronavirus testing practically useless.

The resurgence in coronavirus infections in states across the South and West is now moving into Midwestern states, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC.

In Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, an increase in the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive signaled a later resurgence, Fauci said.

“We're starting to see that in some of the states now, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and other states,” he added.

Fauci said the White House coronavirus task force warned the governors in a conference call Tuesday that they need to get out ahead of the curve.

“Because what we're seeing now is what actually took place a couple of weeks ago and what we're going to see a couple of weeks from now, is what we're doing now,” he said.

Fauci's advice: The states experiencing a resurgence need to take a look at the reopening guidelines, Fauci said, emphasizing the need to adhere to a phased reopening.

“Not all the states did that and even in the states that did, some of the people in the states didn't listen to what the suggestions in the guidelines were. So, what we're dealing with now is we want to make sure that as we start seeing these surges, you may need to go back a little,” he said.

Fauci said, however, he didn’t believe moving back to a complete shutdown is necessary.

“I think psychologically that would be really very difficult for people to accept but what we can do is, if you're going to quickly call a pause, a timeout and think maybe you want to backtrack a little, not necessarily all the way back to shut down, but enough to regain your footing, so that you then proceed to open in a much more cautious fashion.”