Fauci to testify as coronavirus cases surge across the US

Trump’s officials say increased testing caused the surge, but reopening with loose restrictions is likely a factor.

Dr Anthony Fauci returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday at a fraught moment in the nation’s pandemic response to testify before a powerful panel in Congress as coronavirus cases are rising in about half the states.

The government’s top infectious disease expert will testify before a House committee – along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Since Fauci’s last appearance at a high-profile hearing more than a month ago, the United States is emerging from weeks of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns.

But it’s being done in an uneven way, with some states far less cautious than others. A trio of states with Republican governors who are bullish on reopening – Arizona, Florida and Texas – are among those seeing worrisome increases in cases.

Steep increases

Twenty-five US states reported more new cases last week than the previous week, including 10 states that saw weekly new infections rise more than 50 percent, and 12 states that posted new records, according to the analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.

Texas reported one of the largest rises in new cases at 24,000 for the week ended June 21, an increase of 84 percent from the previous week. The number of COVID-19 tests that came back positive in the state rose to 10 percent, from 7 percent.

New cases in Florida rose 87 percent last week to almost 22,000, with the state’s positive test rate nearly doubling to 11 percent.

Arizona reported 17,000 new cases, a 90 percent increase, with 20 percent of tests coming back positive, according to the analysis.

Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

The governors of all three states have attributed the increases in new cases to more testing, and to younger residents not following social distancing guidelines.

Last week, Vice President Mike Pence published an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal saying the administration’s efforts have strengthened the nation’s ability to counter the virus and should be “a cause for celebration.”

Then President Donald Trump said at his weekend rally in Tulsa that he had asked administration officials to slow down testing, because too many positive cases are turning up. Many rallygoers did not wear masks, and for some that was an act of defiance against what they see as government intrusion. White House officials later tried to walk back Trump’s comment on testing, suggesting it wasn’t meant to be taken literally, but he repeated the claim in a Tuesday tweet.

Fauci has recently warned that the US is still in the first wave of the pandemic, and he has continued to urge the American public to practice social distancing. And, in a recent ABC News interview, he said political demonstrations such as protests against racial injustice are “risky” to all involved.

Asked if that applied to Trump rallies, he said it did. Fauci continues to recognise widespread testing as critical for catching clusters of COVID-19 cases before they turn into full outbreaks in a given community.

Fauci remains optimistic

About 2.3 million Americans have been sickened in the pandemic, and over 120,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci will be joined before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by CDC director Dr Robert Redfield, FDA chief Dr Stephen Hahn and the head of the US Public Health Service, Admiral Brett Giroir.

Coronavirus infections surge in US South

Giroir was tapped by the White House to oversee the expansion of coronavirus testing. But he gained notoriety after a whistle-blower complaint flagged him for trying to push a malaria drug touted by Trump to treat COVID-19 without conclusive scientific evidence.

The FDA has since withdrawn its emergency use authorisation for hydroxychloroquine.

“There have been a lot of unfortunate missteps in the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey.

“As communities across the country ease social distancing guidance and reopen their economies, it is critically important that both the administration and Congress remain focused on containing the spread of the coronavirus and providing the resources and support Americans need during this time of crisis,” Pallone said.

Vaccine, treatments

There is still no vaccine for COVID-19, and there are no treatments specifically developed for the disease, although the antiviral drug remdesivir has been shown to help some patients, as well as a steroid called dexamethasone, and plasma from patients who have recovered.

Since Fauci last testified, hospital physicians have become more skilled at treating coronavirus patients with the techniques and medications at their disposal.

The US continues to ramp up testing, with some 27.5 million citizens, or more than 8 percent of the population, tested thus far.

But most communities still lack enough health workers trained in doing contact tracing, the work of identifying people who have had interactions with an infected person. That could make it more difficult to tamp down emerging outbreaks.

Fauci remains optimistic that a vaccine will be found, noting that patients develop antibodies to the virus – a sign that the human immune system is able to battle back. However, he shies away from promising results by the end of the year, as Trump has done.

The House Energy and Commerce panel has oversight over drugs and vaccines, among other facets of the US healthcare system. Committee Democrats have been harshly critical of the administration. However, not all Republicans have lined up to defend the White House. Some GOP members were growing concerned early in the year that the administration wasn’t doing enough to prepare.

Source: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES