Health leaders back Biden on response to omicron
Lawmakers irked by scarcity of tests, muddled guidance
Top federal health officials Tuesday defended the Biden administration’s efforts to protect Americans against the highly contagious omicron variant as they faced withering accusations from lawmakers about scarce coronavirus tests and confusing guidance on how people who tested positive for the virus could return to normal life.
Joined by the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, called the wave of omicron cases a “massive, unprecedented surge.”
“This is an extraordinary virus, the likes of which we have not seen even close to in well over 100 years. It is a very wily virus,” one that has “fooled everybody all the time, from the time it first came in, to delta, to now omicron,” Fauci said.
“We’re doing the best we possibly can,” he added.
At one point during the hearing, Fauci angrily accused a senator of making false accusations that are leading to threats against him — all to raise political cash.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has repeatedly said Fauci lies about the pandemic and in a hearing Tuesday also claimed that he tried to “take down” some scientists who disagreed with him.
Paul and other conservative critics have focused their ire at how the pandemic is being handled on Fauci, the National Institutes of Health infectious disease chief. Fauci has needed increased security since 2020 because of threats and harassment against him and his family.
On Tuesday, Fauci expressed frustration that the senator still “accuses me of things that are completely untrue” and “kindles the crazies out there.”
Fauci said that Paul’s website has a “fire Dr. Fauci” page that includes a call for political contributions ranging from $5 to $100.
“You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain,” he said.
The feud overshadowed the hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee designed to examine if policy changes are needed as omicron cases surge.
Among the chief complaints of Republicans and Democrats alike is a continuing lack of tests to make it easier for people to tell if they have COVID-19 so they can stay home and not spread it.
“I just say to all of you right now, testing’s broken,” said an exasperated Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the committee’s ranking member.
Burr said the Biden administration had spent months issuing confusing, contradictory recommendations. He cited zigzagging guidance on booster shots and noted that this month Fauci had publicly contradicted Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, in suggesting the agency’s guidance on isolation for those who had tested positive would be revised to include a testing recommendation.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committee’s top Democrat, praised the administration’s efforts to supply vaccines and treatments to Americans but said health workers are still spread thinly two years in, and schools are “worried they’ll have to shut down again if they can’t get the support for testing they need.”
Still, Burr and several other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also thanked Fauci for his work to fight the pandemic.
The nearly four-hour hearing took place at a critical inflection point in the nation’s fight against the pandemic. The coupling of the delta variant with omicron has driven an extraordinary climb in cases.
“It’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is, most people are going to get COVID,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said.
Federal and state health officials have been particularly worried that hospitals could be overrun, especially with many staff members out sick and intensive care units still overflowing.
On average over the past seven days, more than 135,000 people were hospitalized with the virus, an 83% increase from two weeks ago.
Later in Tuesday’s hearing, Fauci lost his temper when Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., accused him of hiding financial disclosure forms required of public officials.
“You’re so misinformed that it’s extraordinary,” Fauci responded, saying those documents are publicly available upon request.
As the exchange ended, Fauci could be heard muttering off-camera, “What a moron.”