A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Feb. 2, 2020 - Call from Sylvia Burwell asking for clarification of the new policy regarding AU students who are returning fom China. Apparently, the policy is not up on the CDC website. Had daily Task Force call. Discussed the difficult logistics of airport funneling and quarantine/isolation at land crossings with Canada and Mexico. Cases now 14,551 and 304 deaths Now 3 aditional cases in USA = 11 Kansas City Chiefs beat SF 49ers - Patrick Mahomes stars abd comes back from 10 point deficit in the 4th quarter. PRESS: MSNBC; Fox Local TV; NBC Nightly News; CNN with Anna Cabrera
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Feb. 6, 2020 - Cases continue to soare with 28,018/563. Another packed day mostly at HHS and White House. Conspiracy theories still abound. The NAS group with OSTP met (see above) and decided that there was no clear evidence of malfeasance, but it should be looked into (see attachement below): NASEM Response to OSTP re Coronavi HO. Got good Briefed the Asia/East Asia Ambassadors on nCoV in Room EEOB-350. Then had long meeting of Coronavirus Task Force is Sit Room of WH chaired by Mick Mulvany at 4:00- 4:45PM when the core group of Task Force were called to Oval Office to brief POTUS. When we walked in the POTUS was not yet in the room. When he walked in with Melania, the first thing he did was say""Anthony, come here and say hello to Melania". Then, to my embarrassment in front of everyone (Kellyanne, Mick, Bob O'Brien and many in Cabinet) he told Melania that I was the smartest person in the world. We then sat down and briefed him and Melania. He asked what he could do and we said that since he would be calling Chinese President Xi Jinping late this evening, he could ask him to approve the WHO delegation of scientists that include CDC and NIH people. He did what he did last time and directed most of the questions to me, again ending with asking me if I thought that we were on the right track. During the task Force meeting, the issues came up of cruise ships (one in Yokohama, Japan, and one in New Jersey/New York) that had infected Chinese from Wuhan on them and discussion of how to handle quarantine for the rest of the passengers. PRESS: India TV; Podcast with Newt Gingrich; Podcast with Howard Buchner at JAMA (well-received by NYT and WSJ reporters.
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Feb. 7, 2020 - Started with 7:00 AM with a multi-party call hosted by WHO. Got good information. See below. 31,211/637. 61 infections on Japanese cruise ship. Chinese are starting to see a slight downtrend in cases. Perhaps we are turning things around in China? I warn on the call that we need to give developing countries the resources to do contact tracing and isolation or else as we decrease China, another country will become like China. Also, need serologies to determine extent of asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic infection so that we can determine the true case fatality rate among other things. Cancelled trip to Florida for Chris's birthday. So sorry. PRESS: Press conference at HHS with Azar, Redfield, Cuccinnelli, Biegun, Szabat; CNN; interviewed with: USA Today, Bloomberg Law (Jeannie Beaumann), Arizona republic, NY Times (Denise Grady), Bloomberg News (Bob Langreth; WJLA TV ABC7 (Local); CNN with Lou Dobbs.
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Feb. 8, 2020 - Numbers today: 34,867/724. First USCit died in Wuhan. Much press about this and the cruise ships in Japan and Bayonne. Infections and quarantine of the Japan ship (61 so far, including some USCits. 10 people under quarantine from airport screening at the 11 airports. People on Japanese ship getting cabin fever with v the quarantine quarantine. People on Bayonne ship have all been released and the Chinese nationals on the ship are going home. Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak. He and I are on the same page in thinking tht this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%. PRESS: FOX and Friends; WTOP Radio; MSNBC
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2020-02-09 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Feb. 9, 2020 - Sunday, but it goes on. 37,593/814. People on the Japanese cruise ship are being released from quarantine. Outbreak still raging in China. Still only 12 cases in USA (9 travel from Wuhan and 2 spouses of 2 of the 9). Briefed the Governors at the Governors convention at the DC Convention Center PRESS: CNN International (good interview)
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Feb. 10, 2020 - 40,625/910. Outbreak still progressing. I will list below the quarantine centers associated with the various funneled airports: JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (HNL) Great Lakes Training Center Navy Base, Illinois (ORD) Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas (DFW) March ARB, California (LAX) Travis AFB, California (SFO) Dobbins ARB, Georgia (ATL) Fort Hamilton, New York (JFK) Naval Base Kitsap, Washington (SEA) Joint Base Anacostia, Washington DC (IAD) Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey (EWR) Fort Custer Training Center, Michigan (DTW) The Department of Defense already has quarantine centers at Fort Carson in Colorado, Travis Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Ken Cucinnelli sends e-mail to Task Force saying that we should be much more aggressive in "mitigation" right now and not wait until outbreak in USA occurs. This triggers calls at HHS since it might look like HHS is not doing things correctly. Had a vigorous Task Force call at 4:00 PM to discuss merssaging and the fact that we need to prepare for mitigation. Ken Cuccinelli wants to prepare families and businesses to how they would respond to an outbreak. I pushed back saying that my experience with anthrax and the "duct tape" incident made me feel that this would inspire unnecessary panic or ridicule. We should prepare more forward-looking at the state and local health levels, not the family level. Infections on the Japanese Cruise ship up to 136. Sick people taken off and rest quarantined on ship. Question raised whether aerosol spread through ventilation system similar to spread of SARS in 2004 in Amoy Garden Apartment Complex in Hong Kong. 97 people die in China yesterday - most for a single day. CDC wants the airlines give them the contact information of passangers so that they can be tracked. Bob Redfield having trouble clearly articulating the process of converting from containment to mitigation. He is a good guy, but Bob is Bob. Azar/HHS/and WH are all putting me out there to explain things within our group and to the press. Bob seems OK and modestly wants to learn. I like him. PRESS: CNN (Jim Sciutto); Diane Rehm Podcast; Sean Hannity Radio Show; CNN International.
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Feb. 11, 2020 - 13th American infected (San Diego). One of the people airevacuated by State to Miramar from Wuhan. Minimal sxs. 43,138/1018 Bob Kadlec offers the Japanese help in providing remdesivir in a compassionate use protocol to the people on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama. >=mented. of cases Now 131 people infected and the rest are quarantined. I offer Cliff Lane to help with the protocol. A PCC document that I just read is proposing that even in Phase IV (see below) we should continue INA 212 (f) travel restrictions. I disagree with this since travel restrictions are to delay the entry of disease into your country. Once you have sustained transmission in your country, it is a waste of resources to try to keep out travelers. I cannot be on the PCC call this AM (on a panel at the Aspen Institute in DC) and so I called Bob Redfield and asked him to respresent me and my reservations about this: Phases of U.S. Government Response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Phase I--Current Posture • Description: Foreign nationals who have been in China within 14 days prior to their actual or attempted entry into the United States are ineligible for admission under Section 212 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Departments and agencies may exercise certain exemptions. Any person, but specifically U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (LPRs) who have been: (1) in Hubei province within the past 14 days may be subject to 14 day mandatory quarantine; and (2) in China (outside Hubei province) within the past 14 days may be subject to screening and self-isolation for 14 days. All direct and indirect flights from China are funneled to 11 airports with enhanced CDC medical screening. CDC is coordinating with state and local health care clinicians to identify domestic cases, isolate cases, and conduct appropriate contact tracing. o Triggers: Already being implemented. • Objectives: (1) Contain the outbreak at its source, (2) minimize domestic importation of additional cases, (3) limit potential for domestic epidemic, and (4) prepare the domestic response mechanisms. • Messaging: Daily HHS and CDC briefings and on camera task force briefings as appropriate. Phase II--Aggressive Containment • Description: Expand the scope of the travel ban to account for additional states or territories. Apply quarantine measures above to people not covered by the travel ban, including U.S. persons, but who have traveled to these additional states or territories within the time frames described above. All direct and indirect flights from these additional states or territories will be funneled to the 11 airports with enhanced CDC medical screening. Consider reducing the number of airports to concentrate screening resources. CDC further coordinates with state and local health care clinicians to identify domestic cases, isolate cases, and conduct appropriate contact tracing. o Triggers: Sustained human to human transmission and exportation of cases without nexus to China. o China - domestic • Objectives: (1) Limit the outbreak to the source and additional outbreak areas, (2) minimize importation of additional cases, (3) limit potential for domestic epidemic, (4) additional preparation of the domestic response mechanisms and in some cases executing those plans, and (5) begin outreach to state and local authorities to prepare for Phase III and Phase IV. • Messaging: XYZ. • Specific Department and Agency Activities: XYZ. Phase III--Partial Mitigation • Description: Travel restrictions put in place by active INA 212(f) proclamations remain in place. Those not covered by any active travel bans, including U.S. persons from identified countries are allowed to travel to their final destination and may then be subject to self-isolation for 14 days, as coordinated by state and local authorities. Individuals who travel to the affected domestic areas or live in those areas may be subject to self-isolation for 14 days, as coordinated by state and local authorities. o Triggers: Sustained human to human transmission without nexus to China in two or more domestic locations. • Objectives: (1) Implement the national response, (2) reacting to the first domestic epicenters, and (3) mitigating and minimizing the impact of the disease. • Messaging: XYZ. • Specific Department and Agency Activities: XYZ. Phase IV--Mitigation • Description: Travel restrictions put in place by active INA 212(f) proclamations remain in place. Limit non-essential domestic travel, cancel public gatherings, social distancing, execute private sector and government continuity of operations. o Triggers: Wide-spread domestic human to human transmission, could be in cities or regional. • Objectives: (1) Preserve the functioning of critical infrastructure and mitigate impact to the economy and functioning of society, and (2) support community responses to the extent possible to mitigate illness, suffering, and death. • Messaging: XYZ. • Specific Department and Agency Activities: XYZ. WHO officially names the 2019-nCoV as "COVID19". Was on Panel at Aspen Institute chaired by Helen Branswell and with Nancy Messonnier and Ron Klain as co-panelists. Reminisced with Ron about the Ebole-White House days PRESS: NPR Radio 1A (Todd Zwillick); WTOP Radio; Press at the Aspen Institute (2300 N Street); FOX News (Lou Dobbs) ot using just lab
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Feb. 12, 2020 - 45,172/1115 Individual reports are coming out about various clinical characteristics. Unreviewed report now of virus in saliva of infected people. Let us see what kind of reponse that gets. Very busy day today with 4 Congressionald briefings! Also, complicated by wake of Eric Scorce today and funeral tomorrow. Much stress. First we briefed House members at Rayburn led by Rosa DeLauro, Nita Lowey and Tom Cole. Then we went to the Senate Dirksen to brief senators led by Lamar Alexander. Then to Capitol Visitors center to brief House members led by Eliot Engel. Then to Majority hosue leader Steny Hoyer's office to brief members. Steny was profuse in his praise for me, which was a little embarrassing On my way out of White House from the 4:00 to 5:00 PM Task Force meeting, ran into Larry Kudlow, who has become my new best friend. He joked about how many years I have been doing this and he has been following my career. His main question was when is this COVID19 going to crash the economy, i.e. when does he need to start worrying about it. It told him that we are OK for now but this could change rapidly if we start seing sustained person-to-person transmission. He asked me to keep him informed when in my opinion things are starting to go bad Having our second big multipeson conference call this AM with Mike Ryan, Tedros and WHO, Bruce Aylward (Canadian) called from China. He is part of WHO multi-national advance team in China. Still no invitation for US representation from China to be part of group. Azar getting very angry and blaming Tedros for not pushing with China to get us on the group. Azar feels that Tedros in bowing to Xi Jinping who does not want USA. Tough situation since Tedros and WHO depends greatly on China and often bows to them. PRESS: WTOP Radio; Bloomberg TV (by phone;
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Feb. 13, 2020 - 60,349/1369 Sharp increase in that they are not using just lab test for DX; they are using chest x-rays and CT scans of lung. Meeting at White House with Chairs and Ranking members of big 4 committees with Anne Schuket, General Paul Friedrichs, Bob Kadlec in Roosevelt Room. Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, Greg Walden. Chaired by Mick Mulvaney. Also, Eric Ueland of WH Lewg there. Good questions. Many compliments PRESS: CBS This Morning (for showing tomorrow); FOX News (Lou Dobbs)