The New York Times said that one of its reporters "went too far" with his blistering criticism of the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak in a recent TV appearance. Donald
McNeil Jr., the paper's science and health reporter, went on a tear
against several members of the White House task force, including Vice
President Mike Pence, who he suggested was a "sycophant" of President
Trump, during a conversation with CNN International's Christiane
Amanpour on Tuesday. A Times spokesperson said in a statement to
Fox News, "In an interview with Christiane Amanpour today, Donald
McNeil, Jr. went too far in expressing his personal views. His editors
have discussed the issue with him to reiterate that his job is to report
the facts and not to offer his own opinions. We are confident that his
reporting on science and medicine for The Times has been
scrupulously fair and accurate." Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple highlighted
McNeil Jr.'s fiery comments, pointing to the Times' guidelines that say
"Generally a staff member should not say anything on radio, television
or the Internet that could not appear under his or her byline in The
Times on its reporters expressing personal views."
McNeil
Jr. went on a fiery rant, telling Amanpour that "we completely blew it"
regarding the U.S. response within the first two months of the
outbreak. "We were in a headless-chicken phase, and yes, it’s the
president’s fault, it is not China’s fault," McNeil Jr. said. "You know,
the head of the Chinese CDC was on the phone to Robert Redfield on Jan.
1, again on Jan. 8, and the two agencies were talking on Jan. 19. The
Chinese had a test on Jan. 13; the Germans had a test on Jan. 16. We
fiddled around for two months, we had a test on March 5 and it didn’t
work. We didn’t have 10,000 people tested until March 15." The
Times reporter then blasted the "incompetent leadership" at the CDC and
called for its director Dr. Robert Redfield to "resign." He then took aim at President Trump. "And
suppression from the top- I mean, the real coverup was the person in
this country who was saying, you know, 'This is not an important virus,
the flu is worse, it’s all going to go away, it’s nothing,'" McNeil Jr.
continued. "And that encouraged everybody around him to say, 'It’s
nothing, it’s nothing, it’s nothing.'" McNeil Jr. then revealed he
had butted heads with his editors, saying he was trying to convince
them "This is really bad, this is a pandemic,” and how it "took a while
to get them... to believe this." "Getting rid of Alex Azar was a
mistake- he was actually leading a dramatic response," McNeil Jr. said
about the HHS secretary. "And then, in February he was replaced with
Mike Pence, who’s a sycophant." That was in reference to Trump assigning Pence as the leader of the White House coronavirus task force. McNeil
Jr. went on to mock the president, saying he's "the same guy who said
inject yourself with disinfectant" and that his "grasp of the science"
isn't even "at a third-grade level." Wemple
referred to the Times' statement on McNeil Jr.'s remarks as a "mild
brushback" but suggested that the paper should have specifically
addressed his call for Dr. Redfield's resignation. "Such activism,
after all, is extreme even for a veteran newsman exercising his
analytical muscles in a freewheeling cable-news interview," Wemple
noted, but later offered a slight defense for McNeil Jr. regarded the
backdrop of the coronavirus, "unfathomable pronouncements of
incompetence, indifference and cluelessness from the president in public
appearance after public appearance. What’s an experienced health
reporter to say?"
It’s a sure sign of desperation whenever lawyers try to raise President Richard Milhous Nixon from the dead. And
so it is that a group of former Watergate special prosecutors this week
resurrected the Ghost of Watergate Past in a last-ditch effort to keep
alive the federal court case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The
gang, adopting the sobriquet “Watergate Prosecutors,” asked permission
from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to allow them to intervene in
the Flynn case so they can – to put it bluntly – tell his honor how to
think and what to do. The
judge issued an order Tuesday indicating he will soon accept “amicus
curiae” (“friend of the court”) submissions in the case. But
in trial court proceedings involving crimes, only prosecutors and
defense attorneys are permitted to be heard. Judges are supposed to
render decisions based on evidence and arguments presented by the
parties involved, not outside interests. The prosecution of
Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, has been on life-support since
the Justice Department belatedly moved last week to dismiss charges
against him. He was accused of making false statements to the FBI during
an interview that was nothing more than a devious perjury trap designed
to “get Flynn to lie.” The FBI was creating a crime, not investigating
one. A review ordered by Attorney General William Barr discovered
that former FBI Director James Comey’s agents and Robert Mueller’s
special counsel hit squad concealed vital exculpatory evidence from
Flynn and his attorneys. The hidden documents showed that the retired
lieutenant general did not lie to FBI agents, despite his coerced guilty
plea under threat. The former Watergate prosecutors now want
to meddle in the Flynn proceedings like uninvited house guests. In a
court filing, they compare Barr’s decision to drop the Flynn charge to
“the Watergate scandal” and Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.”
The analogy is as tortured as the late President Nixon’s soul. Reading
their “Statement of Interest” is a nauseating exercise in the hubris of
war stories retold by old warriors prone to embellish. The former
Watergate prosecutors imagine themselves as heroes who single-handedly
salvaged democracy from the clutches of the demented Nixon. On that
basis, they argue to the court, they are back to save the day. I’m reminded of what Butch kept asking Sundance: “Who are those guys?” Good question.
These
individuals are hyper-partisans who despise Trump, but have convinced
themselves that since they helped drive the demon Nixon from office 45
years ago they should now be given exalted status as super
Trump-slayers.
The first name that pops out is Nick Akerman. He can be found on page 269 of my book “Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History.”
He is one of the many media flamethrowers who constantly accused
(without evidence) President Trump and his presidential campaign of
colluding with Russia. At one point on MSNBC (July 11, 2017),
Akerman said the following about Donald Trump Jr. and his conversation
with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower: “There’s outright treason. I mean,
there is no question that what he’s doing is giving aid and comfort to
the enemy.” No question? Really? Forget that Akerman’s
hyperbolic claim of treason had no remote application or support in the
law. The president’s son was never charged with any offense because
Special Counsel Mueller found no agreement or conspiracy to do anything
illegal. But don’t let facts get in the way of a good story, Nick. Another
former Watergate prosecutor is Jill Wine-Banks, an MSNBC legal analyst
who has a propensity to channel Nixon’s ghost at every turn. Earlier
this year, she told Salon that “Trump is more dangerous than Nixon” and
should be criminally indicted. On MSNBC, she declared that Trump is more
of an “existential threat to democracy than Nixon.” Richard
Ben-Veniste is also a Watergate alum who has carved out a late career
as an inveterate Trump thumper. In a column for The Atlantic in 2017, he
drew innumerable parallels between Nixon and Trump. In the same
publication the next year, Ben-Veniste accused Trump of going the “full
Nixon on Mueller.” One gets the distinct impression that Ben-Veniste’s
Trump-Nixon obsession belongs on a psychiatrist’s couch. The
16 former Watergate prosecutors who are now determined to insert
themselves into the Flynn case just happen to be the same lawyers (minus
one) who penned a joint op-ed
in the Washington Post on October 10, 2019 headlined “We investigated
the Watergate scandal. We believe Trump should be impeached.” Of course,
we know how that turned out. But the point is this: these
individuals are hyper-partisans who despise Trump, but have convinced
themselves that since they helped drive the demon Nixon from office 45
years ago they should now be given exalted status as super
Trump-slayers. This kind of prejudicial interference from outside
forces has no place in a court of law. It makes a mockery of both
fairness and impartiality. Sadly, Judge Sullivan appears to have
taken leave of his senses and decided to entertain the notion of
allowing the former Watergate prosecutors to usurp the role of federal
prosecutors. This resulted in his order Tuesday indicating he would
permit “individuals and organizations” to file “amicus curiae”
submissions. Hours
later, Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, filed a well-reasoned opposition
argument that courts are not a forum for special interests. “The
‘Watergate Prosecutors’ have no special role and no authority whatsoever
to insert themselves in this litigation on behalf of anyone,” she
wrote. Powell also pointed out that Sullivan rejected 24 previous
attempts by parties to intervene in the Flynn case. In one of his prior
refusals, the judge made this declarative statement: “The Federal Rules
of Criminal Procedure do not provide for intervention by third parties
in criminal cases. Options exist for a private citizen to express his
views about matters of public interest, but the Court’s docket is not an
available option.” What has changed? Nothing. But Sullivan’s
ruling may be a reflection of his own abiding prejudice. In a hearing
last year, he all but accused Flynn of treason, only to retract his
words after a recess. He seems to have a feeble grasp of the facts in
this important case. The
former Watergate prosecutors should be denied the opportunity to pursue
their biased agenda in a court of law. Flynn has been victimized enough
by corrupt and dishonest government officials. Let these former
prosecutors resurrect the ghost of Richard Nixon in a more-friendly
forum: the Trump-hating media. These media organizations are sure to
roll out the welcome mat.
Candidates backed by President Trump were outperforming expectations in two closely watched congressional special elections on Tuesday night, as former Navy combat pilot Mike Garcia inched closer to retaking Democrat Katie Hill's California seat and Republican Tom Tiffany easily prevailed in Wisconsin. Garcia
grabbed a substantial early lead Tuesday in the fight for the open U.S.
House seat north of Los Angeles in the swing 25th District, giving
California Republicans a chance to claim a Democratic-held congressional
seat in the state for the first time since 1998. With 76 percent of
precincts reporting, Garcia was leading Democrat Christy Smith 55.9
percent to 44.1 percent. Trump lost the district by 6 percentage
points in 2016. He went out of his way to promote Garcia in recent weeks
as strong on guns and immigration, and some Democrats had hoped he
would be a liability in the race. Former President Barack Obama, Hillary
Clinton and other high-profile Democrats all lined up behind Smith. Garcia told supporters he wouldn't declare victory Tuesday night, but added, "It is looking extremely good.” Smith,
however, insisted that the contest was “clearly too early to call” and
said her campaign would work to make sure “every vote is counted in the
days ahead.”
Navy veteran Mike Garcia, a Republican candidate in Tuesday's
special election in California's 25th Congressional District, is seen in
an undated photo. (Associated Press)
Smith and Garcia topped a crowded field of candidates
in the state’s March 3 primary and advanced to separate elections: One,
on Tuesday, to fill the remainder of Hill’s two-year term, and a second
in November for the full, two-year term starting in 2021. For the GOP, Smith's statement that more votes need to be counted conjured up memories of the 2018 elections,
when Republicans saw their early leads in California races shrink to
nothing after Election Day, as more and more ballots trickled in. Some
Republicans cried foul and blamed the state's practice of legalized "ballot harvesting," which permits political operatives to pick up voters' ballots en masse and drop them off at polling stations. Trump and the National Republican Congressional Committee have claimed Democrats were trying to steal the election in the 25th District with a last-minute move to open up an additional polling station in the district. The
contest is the only competitive House race in the country in the midst
of the coronavirus crisis. It’s seen nationally as a proxy vote on
Trump’s leadership and a possible harbinger for November elections. "Supporters
of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a 'landslide' and saying
that he represents the 'first domino' in a line of Republican wins this
year," reported The New York Times' Jennifer Medina.
"Supporters
of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a 'landslide' and saying
that he represents the 'first domino' in a line of Republican wins this
year." — Jennifer Medina, New York Times
Less than a year into her term, Hill resigned after
a House ethics probe began looking into accusations of an improper
relationship between the congresswoman and a staff member. Lurid,
intimate photos surfaced. Meanwhile, Trump himself put up historic numbers in the Nebraska presidential primary. With
less than half the vote in, Trump has already doubled his 2016 total in
the state -- leading GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to tout what she
called surging "enthusiasm" for the president's reelection. In Wisconsin, Republican Tom Tiffany, a state senator endorsed by Trump, easily won a special congressional election Tuesday in the state's heavily conservative, rural 7th Congressional District. Tiffany’s
win over Democrat Tricia Zunker in northern Wisconsin’s 7th District
comes in the state’s second election amid the coronavirus pandemic the
past five weeks. Tiffany will replace former reality TV star Sean Duffy,
a Republican who retired in September. The district, which covers all
or parts of 26 counties, has been vacant since Duffy’s retirement. Trump
won Wisconsin by less than a point, but carried the district by 20
points, in 2016. Trump backed Tiffany in the race, but due to the
pandemic was unable to campaign in person for him. Zunker,
president of the Wausau School Board, was trying to become the first
Native American from Wisconsin elected to Congress. She would have also
been the first woman to represent the district, which stretches from
Wausau in the south up to Lake Superior and includes popular tourist
destinations like Bayfield and Madeline Island.
Wisconsin state Sen. Thomas Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, speaks
at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis., May 29, 2015. Tiffany, a
candidate endorsed by President Trump, won Tuesday's special House
election. (Associated Press).
Zunker pulled in big-name endorsements, including
from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but the numbers were against
her. The district has been under Republican control since 2011 and was
redistricted to more heavily favor the GOP. There
was uncertainty over whether holding a special election in the middle
of the pandemic would affect the outcome. Election clerks said they were
prepared, about 20 percent of registered voters had voted absentee, and
there were no calls to delay or alter the election like there were
before Wisconsin’s presidential primary last month. With Tiffany’s
win, Republicans hold five of Wisconsin’s eight seats in Congress.
Tiffany will serve through the end of the year, but will have to run
again in November to serve a full two-year term.
NEW
YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly ended his White House news
conference Monday following combative exchanges with reporters Weijia
Jiang of CBS News and Kaitlan Collins of CNN.
Jiang
asked Trump why he was putting so much emphasis on the amount of
coronavirus tests that have been conducted in the United States.
“Why
does that matter?” Jiang asked. “Why is this a global competition to
you if everyday Americans are still losing their lives and we’re still
seeing more cases every day?”
Trump
replied that “they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world. And
maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China
that question.”
He called for another question, and there was no immediate response.
“Sir,
why are you saying that to me, specifically?” Jiang asked. Jiang, who
has worked for CBS News since 2015, was born in Xiamen, China, and
emigrated to the United States with her family at age 2.
Trump said he would say that to “anyone who asks a nasty question.”
“It’s not a nasty question,” Jiang said. “Why does that matter?”
Trump
again asked for another question, then said, “Nah, that’s OK” and waved
off CNN’s Collins when she approached the microphone.
“You pointed to me,” Collins said.
The
president said, “I pointed to you and you didn’t respond.” Collins said
she was giving Jiang the time to finish her questioning.
“Can I ask a question?” Collins said.
With that, Trump called an end to the news conference, held in the White House Rose Garden, and walked away.
Jiang
and Collins wore masks to the news conference, as did most reporters,
following the recent reports that two White House employees — an aide to
Vice President Mike Pence and a valet to the president — had tested
positive for the coronavirus.
LOS
ANGELES (AP) — A swing U.S. House district north of Los Angeles is up
for grabs Tuesday in a special election that has become an early test
for President Donald Trump as he seeks a second term.
Trump
has sought to bring his influence to the fight between Republican Mike
Garcia and Democrat Christy Smith for California’s 25th District, which
cuts through a hilly stretch of suburbs and small ranches that includes
the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
The results are unlikely to be known for at least for several days, due in part to California’s unusual vote-counting rules.
The
district was long in Republican hands before Democrat Katie Hill
captured it in an upset in 2018; she resigned last year amid a House
ethics probe.
When
Hill won, it was the last Republican-held House seat anchored in Los
Angeles County. It also includes a slice of Ventura County.
The
race is widely considered a toss-up. The outcome will not affect the
balance of power in the House but the race has taken on outsized
importance as the only competitive House race in the country in the
midst of the coronavirus crisis.
Another special election Tuesday is in a Wisconsin district considered safe GOP territory.
But
in California, Republicans are hoping for a rare upset in the heavily
Democratic state where the GOP hasn’t managed to seize a Democratic
House seat in over two decades.
While
the district has a Democratic registration edge, there are factors that
could help Garcia’s chances. Hill resigned in scandal, and in an
expected low-turnout election older, white Republicans tend to be among
the state’s most reliable voters. Younger registered voters in the state
who lean liberal are known to be frequent no-shows.
Virtually
all voters were expected to mail in ballots because of the virus
outbreak, though a sprinkling of polling places are available for those
who want, or need, to vote in-person. That has made predicting turnout
even more challenging than usual.
Early
mail-in returns have been robust and leaning Republican: According to
nonpartisan Political Data Inc., 29% of those ballots had been returned
by Monday. Of that total, 40% were from Republicans, 27% Democrats and
roughly 20% from independents, who tend to lean Democratic in
California.
Garcia
has been running as a Trump loyalist in a district the president lost
in 2016. Trump remains widely unpopular in California outside his GOP
base.
Most of
the campaign was conducted online, without traditional rallies and
door-knocking. And California’s stay-at-home orders apparently will
thwart any effort by the campaigns to engage in so-called ballot
harvesting, a legal practice in California in which operatives collect
ballots from voters and deliver them to polling places.
Republicans
pointed a finger at the practice after the Democratic rout in 2018
House races in the state, in which Democrats captured seven GOP seats.
Republicans now hold just six of California’s 53 House seats.
The
Los Angeles County Democratic Party said in a statement it “has no
plans on participating in the collection of vote-by-mail ballots during
the ... special election.” Republicans also said they will not collect
ballots, citing health risks during the outbreak.
With
the seat vacant, Smith and Garcia topped a crowded field of candidates
in the state’s March 3 primary and advanced to separate elections: One,
on Tuesday, to fill the remainder of Hill’s two-year term, and a second
in November for the full, two-year term starting in 2021.
Garcia,
a former Navy fighter pilot and defense industry executive, has
depicted Smith as another vote for the Democratic status quo in
California that he blames for soaring homelessness, heavy regulation and
rising taxes.
Smith
is a state Assembly member promising to work for improved health care
who has been critical of the president and his administration.
Last
weekend, Trump took to Twitter to attack a decision to add an in-person
polling place in Lancaster, a part of Los Angeles County with a
significant black population. “Rigged Election!” Trump wrote. However,
it turned out the decision was supported by Lancaster’s Republican
mayor.
With a
national debate underway on mail-in voting, the race will also serve as a
window into how the process works out, albeit on a small scale.
California
will be looking to avoid the problems that plagued April’s Wisconsin
presidential primary, where thousands of voters without protective gear
were forced to wait for hours in long lines, while thousands more stayed
home to avoid the potential health risks.
A
win by Garcia in the special election next month would establish him as
the incumbent and show Republicans can compete in a district where
Trump was defeated by Hillary Clinton in 2016. However, November
typically draws a large Democratic turnout in California, particularly
in presidential election years, which would give Smith an edge in the
rematch.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A special election
in a rural Wisconsin district President Donald Trump carried by 20
points pits a Trump-aligned state senator against a school board
president hoping to become the first Native American elected to Congress
from the state.
Tuesday’s
election will help measure the enthusiasm of Republicans in a deeply
conservative part of Wisconsin just over a month after a liberal-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate won a statewide race over a Trump-backed candidate.
The winner in Wisconsin’s deeply conservative 7th District will replace Republican Sean Duffy, a former star on MTV’s “Real World” who held the seat since 2011 and remains a vocal Trump backer.
Republican
state Sen. Tom Tiffany faced Democrat Tricia Zunker, the Wausau School
Board chair. It’s the second time voters will leave their homes in five
weeks to cast ballots in the middle of a stay-at-home order issued to
slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Wisconsin held its
presidential primary election on April 7.
Unlike that election, there have been no widespread calls to delay or otherwise alter voting
for Tuesday’s special election. For one thing, the massive
18,800-square-mile district is mostly rural and has very few confirmed
cases of COVID-19. The district, which includes 21 counties and portions
of five others, has fewer than 2% of all positive coronavirus cases i n the state and less than 2.5% of all deaths.
However,
about 250 members of the Wisconsin National Guard were activated to
help staff polls due to a shortage of willing workers. About 2,500 Guard
members were activated for the April election.
Shery
Weinkauf, clerk for the village of Weston, said voters felt safe in
April and the same safeguards are being put in place for Tuesday’s
election. Those include keeping voters at a 6-foot distance from one
another, making hand sanitizer available and having all poll workers
wear masks.
“I
feel much more comfortable moving forward with this election than I did
with the last election, because during the last election there were so
many unknowns,” Weinkauf said. “I don’t think we all knew enough what
was going on with the COVID-19. And so it was that it was maybe a little
scary and stressful. I don’t feel that way anymore.”
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Democratic
Gov. Tony Evers has repeatedly voiced confidence about the election
being held safely, citing safety measures and experience gained from
holding the April election.
Voting
early by mail-in absentee balloting is also strong but behind the pace
set in April’s statewide election. In that one, about 34% of registered
voters cast ballots absentee. That amounted to about 71% of everyone who
ended up voting in the election. As of Monday, just 19% of registered voters in the 7th Congressional District had returned an absentee ballot.
Tiffany,
a state senator since 2011, had Trump’s endorsement, but the pandemic
prevented the president from campaigning in the district. Zunker, an
attorney, was endorsed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a host
of liberal groups, including EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood.
Tiffany,
62, was born on a dairy farm in the district and ran a tourist boat
business for 20 years. Joining the Legislature in 2011, he was a close
ally of then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker and voted to pass Act 10, the
law that all but ended the union rights of most public employees. He
also voted in favor of legalizing concealed carry and moving the state
forestry division to northern Wisconsin. And he pushed to locate an open
pit mine in northern Wisconsin that ultimately never came to the state.
Zunker,
39, is a justice on the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court and a professor
at three colleges, including one law school. Zunker is on leave from
serving on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
Zunker
has less money and name recognition than Tiffany, but she’s focused her
effort on her home base in voter-rich Wausau where she was raised and
still lives. That’s at the southern edge of the 18,700-square-mile
district that’s larger than New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode
Island combined.
The
winner will serve the remainder of the year but will have to stand for
election again in November to serve a full two-year term.
___
Associated Press writer Carrie Antlfinger contributed to this report from Milwaukee.
FILE
- In this April 22, 2020, file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of
the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about
the new coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White
House, in Washington. A Senate hearing on reopening workplaces and
schools safely is turning into a teaching moment on the fickle nature of
the coronavirus outbreak. Senior health officials, including Fauci,
scheduled to testify in person before the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions committee on Tuesday, May 12 will instead appear via video
link. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Nobody planned it this way, but a Senate hearing on reopening
workplaces and schools safely is turning into a teaching moment on the
fickle nature of the coronavirus outbreak.
Senior
health officials scheduled to testify in person before the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions committee on Tuesday will instead appear
via video link after going into self-quarantine, following their
exposure to a White House staffer who tested positive for COVID-19. The
chairman of the committee, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee,
also put himself in quarantine after an aide tested positive. He’ll
participate by video, too.
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Even
before the gavel drops, the hearing offers two takeaways for the rest
of the country, said John Auerbach, president of the nonprofit public
health group Trust for America’s Health.
“One
thing it tells you is that the virus can have an impact in any
workplace setting or any community setting,” said Auerbach. “All
businesses will find it very challenging to ensure safety when there are
cases.”
Another
lesson is that the public officials involved are taking the virus
seriously by not appearing in person. “They are following the guidelines
that they are recommending to others,” said Auerbach. “There is not a
double standard.”
Appearing
by video link before the committee will be Dr. Anthony Fauci of the
National Institutes of Health, considered the government’s leading
authority on infectious diseases, and FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn
and Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The three are in self-quarantine. They will be joined by
Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus “testing czar” at the Department of
Health and Human Services.
The
main questions for the administration experts revolve around the “Three
T’s,” or testing, tracing and treatment. Without widespread testing,
state and local officials will be basing decisions to reopen businesses
and schools on incomplete data with blind spots lurking. Without the
ability to do the painstaking work of tracing the contacts of people
infected, unwitting transmission will continue. Without effective
treatments, hospitals in a given community could be overwhelmed in a
COVID-19 rebound. Ultimately, the goal is a vaccine that would offer
widespread protection.
It’s all a colossal work in progress, moving in fits and starts.
The
health committee hearing offers a very different setting from the White
House coronavirus task force briefings the administration witnesses
have all participated in. Senators on the panel are knowledgeable and
some have working relationships that go back years with the agencies
that the panelists are representing. Most significantly, President
Donald Trump will not be controlling the agenda.
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Eyeing
the November elections, Trump has been eager to restart the economy,
urging on protesters who oppose their state governors’ stay-at-home
orders and expressing his own confidence that the coronavrius will fade
away as summer advances and Americans return to work and other pursuits.
The
ranking Democrat on the health panel, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington
state, doesn’t think the Trump administration is doing nearly enough to
keep the virus under control as the economy reopens.
“President
Trump is trying to ignore the facts, and ignore the experts who have
been clear we are nowhere close to where we need to be to reopen
safely,” she said in a statement. Murray will participate via video, but
some senators are expected to attend in person.
Alexander
is more nuanced about the nation’s readiness. He suggests there’s
enough testing to move to reopen the economy, but worries that there
won’t be enough to sustain a return to normality.
“It’s
enough to do what we need to do today to reopen,” he said on NBC’s
“Meet The Press” on Sunday. “But it’s not enough, for example, when
35,000 kids and faculty show up on the University of Tennessee campus in
August.”
With
more types of tests on the market from different manufacturers and
providers, testing is an area that’s become particularly difficult for
lay people to navigate.
Until
now there has been only one kind of test to detect active infection.
Called a PCR test, it detects the genetic material of the virus, and is
still considered the most accurate.
Last
weekend the FDA approved the first “antigen” test, which looks for
protein traces of the virus instead, much like rapid tests for flu or
strep throat. Antigen tests aren’t as accurate as PCR tests but promise
to be faster and easier to use.
A
third kind of test detects past infection, by spotting antibodies in
people’s blood. But it’s not yet clear if having those antibodies means
someone is immune from another bout of COVID-19.
