Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fauci Testifies: Inconsistent Shutdowns Caused Surge, Virus Won't Disappear
Politico: Fauci: Virus Rampant In U.S. Because Of Inadequate, Patchwork Shutdowns
The Trump administration's decision to leave coronavirus shutdown decisions to the states created a patchwork of policies that effectively only imposed restrictions on about half of the country, NIH infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci told a House hearing on Friday. “There were some states that did it very well, and there were some states did not," Fauci told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Friday morning without elaborating. (Miranda Ollstein, 7/31)
ABC News: Fauci Testifies 'Highly Contagious' Virus Won't Disappear, As Trump Jeers At Dems
With the president tweeting bitterly at Democrats holding a hearing on COVID-19, the nation’s top health officials on Friday told lawmakers the novel coronavirus was not a hoax and that masks and social distancing remained the nation’s primary weapons in fighting the virus. The panel, which included Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, as well as two Trump appointees, testified in a joint statement that it’s unclear how long the pandemic will last although “COVID-19 activity will likely continue for some time.” (Parkinson, Flaherty and Ebbs, 7/31)
PBS NewsHour: Fauci Tells Congress He’s ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Vaccine This Year
The coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, bringing with it immense economic damage. So far, Congress has been unable to deliver another pandemic relief measure, prompting House Democrats to cancel a planned August recess. But there were signs of hope on Capitol Hill, as top U.S. scientists spoke of encouraging progress toward developing a COVID-19 vaccine. (Sy, 7/31)
The Hill: Five Takeaways From Fauci's Testimony
When Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor, testified before Congress a month ago, the U.S. had just set a record with 48,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day. Now, the country is averaging nearly 65,000 new cases a day. Outbreaks in the South appear to be leveling off, but worrying trends are emerging in the Midwest. And the nationwide death toll recently topped 150,000, a once-unthinkable number that is only going to increase as the pandemic rages on. (Hellmann and Sullivan, 7/31)
Kaiser Health News: Fauci Unfazed As Scientists Rely On Unproven Methods To Create COVID Vaccines
With millions of lives on the line, researchers have been working at an unprecedented pace to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. But that speed — and some widely touted breakthroughs — belie the enormous complexity and potential risks involved. Researchers have an incomplete understanding of the coronavirus and are using technology that’s largely unproven. (Szabo, 8/3)
President Trump took issue with some of Fauci's testimony —
Politico: 'Wrong!': Trump Slams Fauci Over Testimony On Covid-19 Surge
President Donald Trump publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday, forcefully rejecting the nation’s top infectious disease expert's testimony on why the U.S. has experienced a renewed surge in coronavirus cases. “Wrong!” Trump wrote in a retweet of a video where Fauci explained to a House subcommittee that the U.S. has seen more cases than European countries because it only shut down a fraction of its economy amid the pandemic. “We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases,” the president added. (Semones, 8/1)
The Hill: Trump Challenges Fauci Over Comments On Coronavirus Surges: 'Wrong!'
President Trump on Saturday publicly rejected Anthony Fauci's analysis of why the United States has experienced a surge in coronavirus cases, claiming that the nation's top infectious disease expert wasn't accounting for the country's testing capacity. "Wrong!" Trump said in a tweet that linked to a video of Fauci's Friday testimony before Congress. (Wise, 8/2)
