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. @SenAlexander, who is currently quarantined in Tennessee after a member of his staff tested positive for Covid-19, opens the Fauci hearing by talking about going "back to school and back to work"
Sen @PattyMurray: "The fact of the matter is, President Trump has been more focused on fighting against the truth than fighting this virus. And Americans have sadly paid the price."
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senators just heard a brief snippet of testimony from a pup
Tim Kaine is looking fierce
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn looks like he is testifying from an office in heaven
FAUCI on possibility of universities reopening in the fall: "The idea of having treatments available or a vaccine to facilitate the re-entry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bit of a bridge too far."
MURRAY: You have warned of needless suffering & death if we open too soon, but Trump is saying the opposite. What would the consequences be?
FAUCI: if states open without having capability of being able to respond effectively, my concern is that we will start to see outbreaks
FAUCI: if states open without having capability of being able to respond effectively, my concern is that we will start to see outbreaks
Is that ... is that a New Power Generation bass drum head behind Bernie Sanders?
Sanders asks Fauci if coronavirus deaths are being undercounted. Fauci says "most of us feel the numbers of deaths are likely higher" than the official numbers.
Fauci with a subtle rebuke of Trump: "When you talk about 'will this virus just disappear' -- and I've said publicly many times, that is just not gonna happen because it's such a highly transmissible virus."
Sanders grills government officials on whether a coronavirus vaccine will be made available to everyone. None of them commit to it.
Rand Paul is out here talking about "silver linings" to coronavirus outbreaks at meat packing plants -- his belief (which is not proven) that people who get Covid gain immunity and therefore can go back to work
Rand Paul: "In rural states we never really reached any sort of pandemic levels in Kentucky and other states ... outside of New England, we've had a relatively benign course for this virus nationwide." (More than 81,000 Americans are dead.)
Fauci pushes back on Rand Paul's demand that schools reopen: "We don't know everything about this virus, and we really ought to be very careful, particularly when it comes to children."
Susan Collins is out here asking coronavirus pandemic questions on behalf of the [checks notes] dental lobby
. @ChrisMurphyCT to government officials: It's infuriating to hear experts warn about reopening too soon hours after POTUS declared victory over the coronavirus. I worry you're trying to have it both ways. The guidance you've provided is criminally vague.
"'Soon' isn't terribly helpful" -- Murphy is not having CDC Director Redfield's vague responses about when federal expertise about reopening businesses will be made available to states
. @ewarren: Dr Fauci, I'd like to hear your honest opinion: do we have the coronavirus contained?
FAUCI: "If you think that we have it completely under control, we don't ... in other parts of the country [outside NY] we are seeing spikes."
FAUCI: "If you think that we have it completely under control, we don't ... in other parts of the country [outside NY] we are seeing spikes."
FAUCI: "If we do not respond in an adequate way, when the fall comes, given that it is without a doubt that there will be infections that will be in the community, then we run the risk of having a resurgence."
WARREN: "The president needs to stop pretending that if he just ignores bad news it will go away. It won't. The time for magical thinking is over here. President Trump must acknowledge that the federal response has been insufficient and that more people are dying as a result."
Check out this comparison between coronavirus impacts in South Korea and the United States. A very stark contrast.
Sen @timkaine: Dr Fauci, the coronavirus death rate in the US when compared with other nations is unacceptable, isn't it?
FAUCI: "Yes, of course."
KAINE: Would you say the US has to do better?
FAUCI: "Of course. You always have to do better."
FAUCI: "Yes, of course."
KAINE: Would you say the US has to do better?
FAUCI: "Of course. You always have to do better."
KAINE: "In South Korea, 97% have health insurance. In the US, before Covid-19, millions didn't have it ... and POTUS is doing all he can to dismantle the ACA, which would take it away from tens of millions more. Let's learn the lessons from those who are doing this right."
. @SenatorHassan: "The key distinction between South Korea and the United States is not how many tests per capita over a certain amount of time we've done, but the fact that at the onset of this pandemic SK was much more able to do a lot more tests per capita than we were."
FAUCI on meat packing plants: "I would think when you are calling upon people to perform essential services, you really have almost the moral responsibility to make sure they're well taken care of & well protected ... that's just me speaking as a physician and as a human being."
Mitt Romney's room has Big Grandpa Energy
ROMNEY: The president said the other day that Obama is responsible for our lack of a vaccine. Are Obama or Trump responsible?
FAUCI: "No, senator, not at all."
FAUCI: "No, senator, not at all."
Romney rebukes HHS official Giroir for comparing the US testing record favorably with South Korea : "Politicians are going to frame data in a way that's most positive politically. Of course they don't expect that from admirals ... I find our testing record nothing to celebrate."
. @SenatorLoeffler uses her questioning time to impugn the "mainstream media" for its reporting on the relationship between Trump and public heath experts
. @SenAlexander's pup is videobombing
Dr. Fauci’s Senate testimony debunked a number of Trump’s favorite coronavirus lies https://www.vox.com/2020/5/12/21256178/fauci-senate-coronavirus-testimony-trump-talking-points
