What A Day - The Wind Cries Fauci

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

Top U.S. health officials took questions from the Senate Health Committee yesterday on coronavirus. The partially teleconferenced testimonies featured weird background filters, quarantine beards, and one notable poster for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The main takeaway was that the U.S. is far from "out of the woods" in the fight against COVID-19. House Democrats put out a draft of their new economic relief bill. It’s a 3 trillion dollar package that includes money for states, another round of $1,200 checks for some households, hazard pay for essential workers, and more. Republicans rejected it without even seeing it.And in headlines: investigating the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Twitter to let staff work from home forever, and one Australian soap opera resumes production sans kissing.

It's Wednesday, May 13th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we're currently in the early stages of a plan to bake some bread. Yeah, we're definitely in the ideation phase. I'm thinking pumpernickel, but maybe that's too ambitious. My outside consultants say I should stick to rye. I don't know why. On today's show, top health officials testify about the pandemic to Congress,

then some headlines. But first, the latest. House Democrats put out a draft of their new economic relief bill called the Heroes Act. Cool name. It's a $3 trillion package and they are expected to vote on it on Friday. Republicans rejected the bill outright before even seeing it. Not cool. The GOP argument and the White House one has been that not enough time has passed to see whether another relief bill is necessary after the last one, and they want to see if reopenings will boost the economy. But that's a difficult argument to make when all the data says that the economy is clearly the worst it's ever been, or at least since the Great Depression, and that over 80,000 people in the U.S. have died due to COVID-19.

Yeah, that's exactly right. But here are some of the things that Democrats have included in this new bill. Almost a trillion dollars for states, local governments, tribal nations, and U.S. territories. Another round of those $1,200 checks for tribal nations, and U.S. territories. Another round of those $1,200 checks for some households, plus an extension of unemployment benefits, hazard pay for essential workers, mortgage relief and rental assistance, additional funding for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, and money for the Postal Service. So we'll get into more on this bill and where negotiations go from here later on in the week. All right. Well, the other big news from yesterday was a here later on in the week. All right. Well,

the other big news from yesterday was a testimony of top U.S. health officials. CDC Director Robert Redfield, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and Dr. Anthony Fauci from the NIH and Admiral Brett Jirwa all took questions from the Senate Health Committee about the country's coronavirus response. It was partially over video conference. There were weird background filters, some quarantine beards, one notable red hot chili peppers poster. But Gideon, take us through some of the other highlights. Yeah, so one of the top line takeaways from all these folks was that the United States is far from success in the fight against COVID-19. And that's despite the rosy picture that President Trump has tried to present for quite some time as he pushes for the economy to get up and running again. These health officials were saying there's still a lot of catching up to do.

First off, Fauci of the NIH warned against reopening too quickly. My concern is that if states or cities or regions, in their attempt, understandable, to get back to some form of normality, disregard to a greater or lesser degree the checkpoints that we put in our guidelines about when it is safe to proceed in pulling back on mitigation because i feel if that occurs there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control, which in fact, paradoxically, will set you back. Yeah, part of what he's saying there is that there were guidelines put out about the reopening

process from the federal government, including things like having adequate testing and declining cases, which have not been met by all the states that are currently in the process of reopening. No kidding. Yeah. Also, on another topic we've often discussed, Fauci said that the death toll in the United States from COVID-19 is, quote, almost certainly higher than what is currently known. That on a city level has been attributed in topic that we're going to touch on a little bit later in the show. And there was a kind of testy moment with Senator Rand Paul, who has acted as though because he had the virus already, everyone else should just get back to normal. I don't get it. Yeah, it appears to be the case. So Paul was saying that it didn't make sense to keep schools closed at the moment due to the significantly lower fatality rate from COVID-19 among children. While those numbers are true,

the line of questioning comes on a day in which about 100 cases of a dangerous inflammatory syndrome among children is currently under investigation in New York, which appears to be connected to the virus. Now, in part of Paul's question, he said to Fauci, quote, as much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don't think you're the end all. Here's a little bit of how Fauci responded to that. I have never made't think you're the end all. Here's a little bit of how Fauci responded to that. I have never made myself out to be the end all and only voice in this. I'm a scientist, a physician and a public health official. I give advice according to the best scientific evidence. There are a number of other people who come into that and give advice that

are more related to the things that you spoke about, about the need to get the country back open again and economically. I don't give advice about economic things. I don't give advice about anything other than public health. So I wanted to respond to that. The second thing is that you use the word we should be humble about what we don't know. And I think that falls under the fact that we don't know everything about this virus. And we really better be very careful, particularly when it comes to children, because the more and more we learn, we're seeing things about what this virus can do

that we didn't see from the studies in China or in Europe. That's right. And additionally, on the school front, Fauci said at one point that it would be, quote, a bit of a bridge too far to think that treatments or vaccines would be available widely enough to allow for colleges to reopen in the fall. Yeah, that makes sense. And on the topic of vaccines, Fauci was somewhat optimistic again on the overall timeline. Yeah, he was. I mean, so basically, Fauci said that developing a vaccine in the next year or two is, quote, definitely not a long shot, and that he was hopeful that scientists would have an idea

of at least one effective possible candidate by the fall or winter. But he also emphasized one other element on vaccine development, that it is important to have more than one available in order to help with providing it widely to the whole world. So he's hoping for a future where several different types of vaccines are developed and then manufactured and given out to everyone across the planet. All right. Well, before the United States gets into a position where there's actual talk of vaccines and immunity from them, there are more immediate concerns about testing and contact tracing. We've been covering the shortages around testing, but what did the officials

have to say about that? Yeah, so Admiral Brett Giroir, who is overseeing the testing response, started off the day echoing some White House talking points about how the U.S. has done more testing than other countries, including South Korea. There was some pushback, perhaps surprisingly, from Republican senators. Here's Senator Mitt Romney on that. I understand that politicians are going to frame data in a way that's most positive politically. Of course, I don't expect that from admirals. But yesterday, you celebrated that we had done more tests and more tests per capita even than South Korea. But you ignored the fact that they accomplished theirs at the beginning of the outbreak while we treaded water during February and March. And as a result, by March 6th, the U.S. had completed just 2,000 tests, whereas South Korea had conducted more than 140,000 tests.

So partially as a result of that, they have 256 deaths and we have almost 80,000 deaths. I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever. The fact is their test numbers are going down, down, down, down now because they don't have the kind of outbreak we have. Ours are going up, up, up as they have to. I think that's an important lesson for us as we think about the future. Right. Nothing to celebrate whatsoever. And Republican Senator Lamar Alexander also said that what the country has done so far on testing has not been enough. In terms of the testing going forward, Jirwa said that the administration is planning on sending states enough swabs to increase testing capacity in the next month.

Swabs have been a bottleneck among other bottlenecks in this process. He also said by September, the U.S. should have the ability to do 40 to 50 million tests per month. That's about 1.5 million a day, which is short of the 2 to 3 million per day some experts think we need for reopenings and the ability to actually identify outbreaks and areas of concern. In terms of where we are at this very moment, on Monday, the United States processed about 400,000 tests. That's according to the COVID Tracking Project. So that's some of what we heard on Tuesday during the first opportunity that Congress has had to question officials since Trump declared a national emergency. And again, what they said certainly differs from the kind of missions accomplished mentality that Trump has continuously presented. Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right. So, Akilah, what else is going on today? All right. So there's a few interesting updates. We have

some new data from the Labor Department regarding the price of groceries. In April, the prices Americans paid for their groceries spiked by the highest percentage in nearly 50 years. And this inflation obviously hits really hard because it's a price increase on essential goods at a time when millions of people have lost their job or have had their hours cut back. There are several reasons for the price hikes, but the supply shortages are at the top of the list.

The cost of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs jump by more than 4%, but across food categories, prices increased. Cereal and baked good prices jumped nearly 3%. Across other categories, though, like clothing, auto insurance, and plane tickets, prices went down. So in those areas, it was the biggest one-month dip seen since the 2008 financial crisis. High highs and low lows. Right, exactly. And then back to the issues of potential school reopenings in the country, there's an update on what that might look like for some college kids.

Yeah, so there's nothing nationwide in terms of like a decision, but Cal State just announced that it would conduct most classes online this fall. It's the nation's largest four-year university system with over 20 campuses, so the decision will likely have ripple effects. Only a few other small colleges have said that they're going fully online in the fall. You know, some have talked about mixing online with in-person, but we're just going to have to see how this develops over the summer. And since we're on the topic of California, the community college system is suing the education department, challenging the federal government's decision to deny relief money to DACA recipients and international students. It's one of the several cases that gets at the government excluding certain groups from aid, so that's definitely going to be a major case to follow.

And that is the latest. Happy Wednesday, WOD Squad. We're halfway through the week, but all the way through with bad vibes. It is check-in time. Yesterday, Disney Plus announced that the musical Hamilton will be coming to their service. You know, it's no longer going to be this theatrical release that we were hoping for, but we are still so very excited. So, Giddy, have you seen Hamilton? And what's your opinion of musicals in general okay i think you know i dig musicals to a degree

what we saw goofy movie hive rise up goofy movie hive rise up little shop of horrors hive in pasadena true in in before end times rise up i haven't't seen Hamilton. This is going to be my chance to see Hamilton. I have not heard all of Hamilton even. So I am like a newborn just discovering who this Alexander fellow is and who Lin-Manuel is. That's hyperbole. I swear my heart just skipped a beat. I'm so excited for you.

I don't think i've ever been so jealous of someone seeing something for the first time it's gonna be remarkable i'm so excited sometimes it pays to tune out the recommendations of every human being in civilization and wait five or six years for something uh so maybe this is one of those times that's that's legit but how many times do you think you're actually going to watch it when it comes out? I think this is going to be my new Beyonce homecoming, part two, because nothing is homecoming. But it is incredible. The score is jubilant. The acting is incredible. Lin-Manuel is a genius. Lyrically, it is. I mean, you know, in the library of Congress. I just think it's so excellent.

So yeah, I'm going to watch it every day. I'll, I'll do my, my status report after I, after I see it and, um, we'll get, we'll get back to each other. That's what's good. And just like that, we checked our temps. Thank you for listening to the pod where it happens. The greatest pod in the world, et cetera. If you're in the Hamilton hive, you know what I'm talking about.

And we will be asking you more temp check cues tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The family of a woman who was fatally shot by police in her own apartment in March has hired a prominent civil rights lawyer to help in their lawsuit. 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was an EMT in Louisville, Kentucky. According to the lawsuit, she was shot several times after three officers entered her home without knocking or identifying themselves as police. None of the officers involved in the killing were charged, shock surprise, but her boyfriend, who was there at the time, is facing charges of assault and

attempted murder for firing back at officers. He said he was responding to what he thought was a break-in at the time. Ben Crump, the same attorney who is representing Ahmaud Arbery's family, has been hired to represent Taylor's. All three officers have been placed on administrative leave, but they really should have been fired. Google and Amazon are stepping in to help states process unemployment claims faster. With millions of Americans filing for unemployment benefits, state labor departments across the country have been backlogged and struggling to keep their sites from crashing. That's led many states to turn to big tech companies for help replacing the decades-old technology

they've been operating on. In one example, Amazon gave Rhode Island the same systems it uses to handle call volume during Black Friday. 75,000 Rhode Islanders were able to file claims the first day that it was implemented. Google added a very Silicon Valley touch to its approach by adding AI chatbots to New York and Illinois state websites.

People who live in those states could get help with their unemployment applications from the robot influencer Lil Mikaela. God bless. Kansas, Kentucky and West Virginia are also currently working with Amazon. Oh, man. All right. In other tech news, Twitter has announced it will let staff continue working from home even after the pandemic requires it. The people who make the little website that lets the whole world fight can now do it from the comfort of their Zen San Francisco apartments. Twitter said it's able to give employees this option because the company has always emphasized decentralization and a distributed workforce. If Twitter workers prefer loud, open floor plan offices where they have to crawl on a concrete floor to plug in their chargers, they'll still be able to come in, but not until September at the earliest for the majority of Twitter's offices. Other major tech firms like Facebook and Google have extended their work-from-home policies through the rest of 2020. Having done a good job keeping COVID-19 in check, Australia has already seen production resume on one of its most essential items,

TV shows about gorgeous people falling in love and sometimes poisoning each other. I'm listening. Australia's most famous soap opera, Neighbors, which has run for 35 years and aired more than 8,300 episodes, has been shooting since late April. It's not all business as usual, though.

Actors and crew members have to socially distance, limit use of makeup or forego it entirely, and divide themselves into separate units that blend together on screen through the use of movie magic. Perhaps the toughest restriction, given the medium, is a total ban on kissing. This will be the season of Neighbors when we find out that everyone just got jaw surgery

and their mouths hurt. Execs in charge of the show hope that Australia's head start on film production will lead to more exposure in international markets. All right, well, like, you know, it's the only medium that requires people to be beautiful. They don't have to be good actors. So the lack of makeup is bizarre to me. But fine, those are the headlines. Since March, Crooked's Coronavirus Relief Fund has raised over $2 million to support organizations at the front lines of this crisis. Thank you so very much for your support. Now that it's crossed the $2 million mark, we've selected some new groups to support in order to help underserved communities get the resources they need during this time, including World Central Kitchen, Masks for the People, One Fair W wage, and more. The fund spreads your donations equally to groups providing food, healthcare support, PPE, and relief to those hit hardest by this crisis. If you are able,

make a donation at Cricut.com slash coronavirus. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, tell us your favorite episode of Nabez, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the cool stamps on mid-century modern furniture like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick.

And we'll see you on the website that lets the whole world fight. We are in this together in each other's mentions. In our mentions, yeah. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.