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Americans should prepare for the risk of their “darkest winter in modern history” due to continued federal government failure to address the coronavirus pandemic, the US Congress warned. USA
Rick Bright, who was removed from office at the head of a federal vaccine agency last month, told a Congressional committee on Thursday that as the virus continues to spread in the United States, “the window is closing. closing to address this pandemic “because the Trump administration still lacks a comprehensive plan to address Covid-19.
“Time is running out because the virus is still spreading everywhere, people are getting restless as they leave their homes,” Bright told lawmakers, many with masks or headscarves. In Written testimony added that without an adequate response, “I am afraid the pandemic will worsen and continue, causing unprecedented illness and death.”
Bright was director of the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority for almost four years, but was removed from office in April. In a whistleblower complaint, Bright has claimed he was withdrawn after resisting pressure from the administration to make “potentially harmful drugs widely available,” including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.
These two antimalarial drugs have been repeatedly touted as a treatment for Covid-19 by Donald Trump, despite the fact that they did not go through clinical trials for this use and mixed results in initial studies on their efficacy.
The President of the USA USA He has also publicly reflected on the benefits of injecting disinfectants into patients, a statement widely condemned by public health officials and bleach manufacturers as a very dangerous statement.
In his testimony before Congress, Bright wrote that “science, not politics or cronyism, must lead the way in combating this deadly virus.” He added: “Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be the darkest winter in modern history.”
The warning came as Covid-19 deaths continued to rise in the United States. With more than 83,000 people dying from the virus, which has infected more than 1.3 million to convert to the US. USA At the world’s most serious access point for coronavirus.
Mass unemployment has swept across the United States when businesses closed to stem the pandemic, with 36 million people applying for unemployment benefits in the past two months.
This death toll would likely be much lower if the Trump administration had acted much faster to address the crisis, Bright said in the hearing. He said his efforts to obtain early viral samples from China were met with “frustration and dismissal” by leaders of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Bright said he also agitated for an increased stock of urgently needed masks, swabs, and other medical equipment, but was met with “nonchalance” and was later brushed aside. “They told me that my impulses were causing a shock and pulled me out of those meetings,” he said.
Bright said the severity of the unfolding crisis was made clear to him by email from the co-owner of Prestige Ameritech, a maker of N95 respiratory masks. “He said,” We are in deep shit, the world is and we have to act, “Bright told lawmakers.
“I took that to the highest levels I could at HHS and got no response. From that moment I knew that we would have a crisis with our health workers because we were not taking action. That was our last chance to activate that production to save the lives of those health workers and we did not act. “
In a statement, HHS said it “strongly disagrees” with the “unilateral arguments and misinformation” contained in Bright’s whistleblower complaint.
Trump used his favorite medium of Twitter on Thursday morning to repeat his claim that he had never heard of “Whistleblower Rick Bright”. Later, the president added that “for me he is a disgruntled employee, he does not like or be respected by the people I spoke to and that, with his attitude, they should no longer be working for our government.”
The attack was Trump’s second in two days against an infectious disease expert. On Wednesday, he criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for warning him not to restart economic activity too quickly.
Fauci testified at a hearing Tuesday that the coronavirus was still out of control in the United States. USA And it was rushing to reopen before a steady number of new cases and deaths steadily declined at the risk of “serious consequences.” He commented the night before the premature reopening was at risk of “unnecessary suffering and death.”
Fauci also emphasized to US senators the unknown effects that the coronavirus could have on children returning to reopened schools.
“I was surprised by his response,” Trump told reporters. “For me it is not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.”
On Thursday, a small but heavily armed group of protesters gathered outside the state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, demanding an end to orders to stay home and calling for the governor to resign.
Michigan closed its capital and canceled its legislative session instead of facing the possibility of members of the armed militia disrupting business, amid a series of online death threats against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Such protests first erupted in Michigan and then spread to other states in recent weeks, despite opinion polls showing that most Americans do not support the widespread reopening of businesses while the pandemic is still in full swing. The protests were coordinated and also backed by various right-wing groups.
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