Coronavirus Preparedness
Floor Speech
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Mr. BERA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a doctor and a public health expert, someone who has spent his time in Congress thinking about global health security and pandemic preparedness. I rise today because the novel coronavirus is on everyone's mind. We have to talk about it, and we have to think about how we got here, what we know, and where we are going.
First, let's think about how we got here. If you think about it, in late 2019, we heard the first reports that there was a novel virus occurring in China. In early January, we saw China take unprecedented steps to enact containment, locking down Wuhan and large portions of their country.
We had our first briefing about 7 or 8 weeks ago. At that briefing, I identified four areas that the administration really had to focus on:
Number one, you need a command control structure. You have to identify one person who is not political and not partisan but is a public health expert who has that ability to work across the interagency process.
Number two, you had to do an emergency supplemental and get resources out to the hospitals, the public health experts, et cetera, to make sure those who were on the front line had what they needed.
Number three, we had to get our scientists and experts--we have the best in the world at the CDC and NIH--to the epicenter, to the hot zone in China. That was delayed not because we didn't want to get there, but the Chinese would not allow us direct access.
Number four, we had to be transparent with the public. We had to let people know the facts as they were occurring.
Fast-forward, 6 weeks ago, I held the first hearing in my Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation on what was going on. We focused on the first step: containment. It was evident at that hearing with the public experts that we had that you really couldn't contain this novel coronavirus now known as COVID-19. We knew, based on the public health recommendations, that we would likely be seeing community events and community spreading; that was pretty evident.
We lost time. The fact that China tried to contain things gave us a little bit of time, but the fact that we didn't develop a test and we didn't put things in place really set us behind the eight ball.
Two weeks ago, we had the first community case in my home county, Sacramento County. That patient was transferred to UC-Davis, which is my home facility. Based on that, we changed the testing criteria. We still don't have enough tests out there, but we changed the criteria to allow the health professionals, if they suspect a case of coronavirus, to be able to order that test. Now we have got a problem though. We don't have the tests that are available.
We now are moving into the second phase of coronavirus, which is mitigation. In order to do that, Congress took the first important step last week with the $8.3 billion emergency supplemental. We have to get the resources, the protective gear, the masks, and the tests out to the community who is on the front line.
The reason why I am saying that is, yesterday, we had the first community case in my home city of Elk Grove, in the school district. We had a grammar school child who tested positive. Both his parents have also tested positive. Elk Grove Unified School District became the first school district in northern California to shut down for a week. I don't know if that is the right move or the wrong move, but I understand, having spoken to the superintendent, the security and health of the children are paramount.
Now we have to make sure that our folks on the front line and the folks who are having to make some of these decisions have the best advice possible. That is why we have got to make sure the CDC puts out guidelines and updates those guidelines on a regular basis.
We have great personnel at the CDC: Director Redfield, Dr. Messonnier, and others. We have got to let them do their work. Even if it is not what the administration wants to hear and even if it is bad news, it is important for us to put out transparent information and guidance to the public.
Now, I also got on the phone and talked to my hospital directors and others. What is concerning to me is they are starting to get those calls, et cetera. They still don't have the testing capabilities that they need. That is of paramount urgency right now.
I applaud Vice President Pence for allowing the commercial sector to step in here and start developing those tests. Let's remove those bureaucratic barriers and give our private sector, public health labs, and academic health centers the support that they need to get testing capabilities up and running.
Now, I think about this as a doctor. It is important for us at the local level to have good command control structures in place and good lines of communication. Let's let the doctors and the scientists do their jobs. Our job as Congress is to support those on the front line and make sure they have the resources that they need, and we will get through this.
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