During an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing today, Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) asked questions regarding the response to the coronavirus, including regional approaches to reopening and testing development and supplies, to a panel of witnesses including National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir.
Griffith’s time included this key exchange with Fauci and Redfield, prompted by the process for reopening schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia:
GRIFFITH: Dr. Fauci, you earlier made some statements which led me to believe that you believe that not only nationally, but even within a state the size of Virginia, we probably ought to be looking regionally and maybe even locally as to how we do it and how we go forward. Did I understand that correctly?
FAUCI: You understood me correctly, Congressman, and that’s the point I want to make because it’s really a source of confusion. It’s not one-size-fits-all. I think you have to look at it at the local level, the county level, the regional level, the city level, the state level. So we often say, “In America, should you or should you not be open?” I mean, that’s almost a non-question because for such a large country, and so heterogeneous, and such a range of involvement of this virus in different parts of the country.
GRIFFITH: And Dr. Redfield, I’ll move to you because in the Commonwealth of Virginia they often are citing – for various things related to schools and others – they cite the CDC. Do you agree with Dr. Fauci and his assessment?
REDFIELD: Yes, it needs to be a very targeted jurisdictional decision.
View this exchange and the entirely of Griffith’s remarks by clicking the image below or here.
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Chris Graham
