So I was reading the transcript from former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield&#8217;s testimony from earlier this month before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (yes, this is what I do in my spare time).
And I gotta&#8217; say, I missed something kinda&#8217; big. The headlines that came that day from the ex-CDC Chief focused on Dr. Anthony Fauci, who Redfield said &#8220;sidelined&#8221; anyone who dared question him on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
But the doctor also said something fascinating about the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, where scientists were reportedly doing gain-of-function work on coronaviruses — partly funded by U.S. taxpayers at the behest of Fauci.
&#8220;In September of 2019, three things happened in that lab,&#8221; Redfield said in the hearing. &#8220;One is they deleted the sequences. Was highly irregular. Researchers don&#8217;t usually like to do that. Second thing they did was they changed the command and control at the lab from the civilian control to the military control. Highly unusual — and I&#8217;ve been involved in dual-use labs when I was in the military.&#8221;
&#8220;And the third thing they did, which I think is really telling, is they let a contractor redo the ventilation system in that laboratory. So I think, clearly, there was strong evidence that there was a significant event that happened in that laboratory in September,&#8221; the doctor said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dr. Robert Redfield, the former CDC Director, talks about three suspicious events that took place at the Wuhan lab in September 2019:
&quot;In Sept. 2019, three things happened in that lab. One is they deleted the sequences. Highly irregular, researchers don&#39;t like to do that. The… <a href="https://t.co/nIT5b96AbE">pic.twitter.com/nIT5b96AbE</a>
&mdash; kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1633499775734788096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That&#8217;s not at all what Fauci said. For years, the nation&#8217;s top immunologist asserted that the virus appeared naturally, mutating from animals to infect humans.
In April 2020, Fauci cited a study that found the virus’s mutations are “consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
“There was a study recently,” Fauci told reporters on April 17, 2020, when asked if it was possible that virus came from a Chinese lab, “where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.
“So, the paper will be available. I don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,&#8221; Fauci said.
But then, earlier this month, emails revealed by House Republicans showed a completely different story.
The emails showed Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; that very study to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from the lab in Wuhan, China. In fact, he had final approval of the scientific paper he had commissioned.
That paper, entitled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” was delivered to Fauci for final approval before it was published in Nature Medicine on February 17, 2020.
The paper &#8220;was written four days after Fauci, and his NIH boss Francis Collins, held a call with the four authors to discuss reports that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan lab and &#8216;may have been intentionally genetically manipulated,'&#8221; the Post wrote.
The House Oversight subcommittee examining COVID released emails earlier this month that show the paper’s co-author, Dr. Kristian Andersen, said Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; him to write the paper with the specific goal to “disprove” the lab-leak theory, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-knew-new-emails-show-he-prompted-paper-to-shoot-down-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-of-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
During the House Select Subcommittee this month, Redfield also said Fauci actively sought to exclude or silence anyone who failed to embrace his chosen narrative. He claimed Fauci intentionally excluded him from conversations because he refused to fall in line.
“This was an a priori decision that there’s one point of view that we’re going to put out there, and anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to be sidelined. And as I say, I was only the CDC director, and I was sidelined,” Redfield said.
Wait for the next shoe to fall. It all still doesn&#8217;t add up.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Wuhan Lab

Ex-CDC Head Finally Says What We’ve All Known Forever About The Source Of COVID-19

Ex-CDC Head Finally Says What We've All Known Forever About The Source Of COVID-19

COVID

Robert Redfield

World

Wuhan Institute of Virology

Former CDC Director <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/former-cdc-director-says-american-tax-dollars-funded-research-at-wuhan-lab-that-created-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Redfield</a> said on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci actively sought to exclude or silence anyone who failed to embrace his chosen narrative on the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/see-it-jim-jordan-goes-on-tear-against-dr-anthony-fauci-over-covid-origins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pandemic&#8217;s origins</a>.
During a hearing before the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Redfield claimed that Fauci — who served as the head of former President Donald Trump&#8217;s Coronavirus Response Team before taking on the role of chief medical adviser in President Joe Biden&#8217;s White House — had intentionally excluded him from conversations because he refused to fall in line.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c5060834/user-clip-oversight-chair-james-comer-fauci-collins-got-caught-hands-cookie-jar" width="512" height="330" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
&#8220;This was an a priori decision that there’s one point of view that we’re going to put out there, and anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to be sidelined. And as I say, I was only the CDC director, and I was sidelined,&#8221; Redfield asserted during the hearing.
The former CDC director, a virologist himself, said that he was vocal even in January of 2020 about his suspicions that the novel coronavirus had likely originated in a lab. &#8220;I think I made it very clear in January [2020] to all of them why we had to aggressively pursue this. And I let them know as a virologist that I didn’t see that this was anything like SARS or MERS. … And they knew that was how I was thinking,&#8221; he explained — and he said that it was not long afterward that Fauci began working to exclude him from the conversation.
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Redfield went on to detail a conference call that took place on February 2, 2020 — one that included both Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, then head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and that he was not invited to join and did not learn about until a Freedom of Information Act request resulted in the publication of emails pertaining to the call.
&#8220;I didn’t know there was a February 1 conference call until the Freedom of Information came out with the emails, and I was quite upset, as the CDC director, that I was excluded from those discussions,&#8221; Redfield said.
Congressman James Comer (R-KY) pressed Redfield for details, asking, &#8220;Why would they do this?&#8221;
&#8220;Because I had a different point of view. And I was told that they had made a decision that they would keep this confidential until they came up with a single narrative — which I will argue is antithetical to science,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Science never selects a single narrative. We foster — as my colleagues just said — we foster debate. And we’re confident that with debate, science will eventually get to the truth.&#8221;

House Select Subcommittee On The Coronavirus Pandemic Investigates The Origins Of COVID-19

‘Antithetical To Science’: Ex-CDC Chief Says Fauci ‘Sidelined’ Anyone Who Dared Question Him On COVID

Ex-CDC Chief Robert Redfield Says Fauci Intentionally 'Sidelined' Anyone Who Dared Question Him On COVID

Anthony Fauci

U.S.

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield told Fox News during a Monday interview that after viewing classified information related to the origins of the pandemic, he believes COVID-19 came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Redfield began the interview by dispelling the notion that SARS-CoV-2 was a &#8220;SARS-like&#8221; virus and said that the public health response was wrong because officials assumed that it was going to be like SARS.
When asked if he thought that the coronavirus came from a lab, Redfield said, &#8220;Well, my professional opinion, as a virologist, is that&#8217;s the hypothesis that I support.&#8221;
&#8220;I had a very high-security clearance to work with the State Department and the national security group, including the secretary, Pompeo, where we reviewed material together to try to understand, help him understand what it meant scientifically,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if he also asked Dr. Fauci to do the same. But I would say I had probably the highest clearance within the agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, and therefore was privy to a lot of information, some of which now has been declassified.&#8221;
&#8220;And I think, as you see more and more of it declassified, people start saying, well, wait a minute, maybe we ought to look at this other hypothesis at least with the same rigor,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And then, unfortunately, like I mentioned, those scientists and Lancet decided to almost try to power-play you that this is the only way you can think. And I think we&#8217;re seeing now that there&#8217;s an opening of the scientific community to say, wait a minute, we need to look at both possibilities, and we need to be scientific about this.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield after receiving high-level classified information about the origins of the coronavirus: I believe that the coronavirus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. <a href="https://t.co/GRVCC2vfJf">pic.twitter.com/GRVCC2vfJf</a>
&mdash; Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1404982170712559618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Redfield said that Dr. Anthony Fauci was an &#8220;excellent scientist&#8221; but warned that all scientists can form beliefs that are wrong.
&#8220;I think Tony is holding on to this hypothesis tightly,&#8221; Redfield said regarding Fauci&#8217;s assertion that the coronavirus had a natural origin. &#8220;Now, why would that be? Well, the reality is, the only way new pathogens historically came into the human species is from a zoonotic source. So, it&#8217;s not like this is odd. This is the way it always was.&#8221;
&#8220;And now you have this other question, as people are doing research, particularly in this range of we call gain of function research, where we&#8217;re taking natural pathogens that don&#8217;t infect humans, and doing things to them in the lab, where they may gain the capability to infect humans,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;So, I find it — as a virologist, I find it biologically not feasible now that, all of a sudden, this virus, even if we find this intermediate host, which we haven&#8217;t found, is that it immediately has somehow learned how to be highly infectious for man.&#8221;
&#8220;So, I think — and, sometimes, scientists, when they get on — they bite into a bone on a hypothesis, it&#8217;s hard for them to move on. I hope Tony steps back and looks at both hypotheses, as I said, and he works really hard to prove that his hypothesis is incorrect, and people that accept the hypothesis that I have put forward work real hard to prove that our hypothesis is incorrect,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But I do think there&#8217;s a scientific arrogance that they can control any negative consequences. And you have the Lancet letter, and then you &#8212; then you have all of this push back and forth with e-mails that were going back and forth with Tony. It just seemed like a lot of people wanted to squelch any idea that there was another hypothesis.&#8221;
Redfield said that those in the scientific community who tried to suppress the lab leak theory were &#8220;very anti-science.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield after receiving high-level classified information about the origins of the coronavirus says Dr. Fauci is holding on to his beliefs about where the pandemic came from too tightly. <a href="https://t.co/4eOv0MO1Xt">pic.twitter.com/4eOv0MO1Xt</a>
&mdash; Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1404985283922202629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Senate Appropriations Committee Holds Hearing On Response By HHS To Coroanavirus Pandemic

Former CDC Director Reveals Thoughts On Pandemic’s Origins After Viewing Classified Intelligence

Robert Redfield, formerly a top health official in the Trump administration, said he received death threats, including from other scientists, for positing that COVID-19 may have originated in a Chinese lab.
Redfield led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under former President Donald Trump and was one of the most prominent U.S. officials, including the then-president, hypothesizing that COVID-19 may have been bioengineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology before leaking out into the world. The hypothesis he floated in March 2021 was met with fierce resistance from politicians, the media, and other health experts.
Many opposed to the lab leak idea claimed that such a hypothesis was racist, as was referring to COVID-19 as the “China Virus” because of its origin in China. In recent weeks, network media and other outlets outside of conservative and right-wing news have begun to look at the lab leak hypothesis as a realistic possibility, though much of the evidence <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-china-trail-leading-back-to-wuhan-labs/">supporting</a> the theory was public last year and the investigation into the origin of COVID-19 has never been conclusively settled.
In the early days of the pandemic, however, as China misdirected and withheld valuable information about the illness that would infect millions all over the world, many prominent voices discounted the lab leak hypothesis and characterized those such as Redfield, who pushed it, as having racist intent. Opposition to the theory grew so intense that Redfield allegedly received death threats from his peers in the science community, he said.
According to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-inside-the-fight-to-uncover-covid-19s-origins">Vanity Fair</a>:
<blockquote>But for most of the past year, the lab-leak scenario was treated not simply as unlikely or even inaccurate but as morally out-of-bounds. In late March, former Centers for Disease Control director Robert Redfield received death threats from fellow scientists after telling CNN that he believed COVID-19 had originated in a lab. “I was threatened and ostracized because I proposed another hypothesis,” Redfield told Vanity Fair. “I expected it from politicians. I didn’t expect it from science.”</blockquote>
Vanity Fair continued:
<blockquote>In a CNN interview on March 26, Dr. Redfield, the former CDC director under Trump, made a candid admission: “I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped.” Redfield added that he believed the release was an accident, not an intentional act. In his view, nothing that happened since his first calls with Dr. Gao changed a simple fact: The WIV needed to be ruled out as a source, and it hadn’t been.
After the interview aired, death threats flooded his inbox. The vitriol came not just from strangers who thought he was being racially insensitive but also from prominent scientists, some of whom used to be his friends. One said he should just “wither and die.”</blockquote>
A previous version of this article stated in error that Redfield made his remarks in March 2020. He made them in March 2021. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-impossible-to-credible-how-the-legacy-media-is-desperately-spinning-their-wuhan-lab-flip-flop">From ‘Impossible’ To ‘Credible’: How The Legacy Media Is Desperately Spinning Their Wuhan Lab Flip-Flop</a>

‘Wither And Die’: Trump’s CDC Director Allegedly Received Death Threats After Saying COVID-19 May Have Come From Wuhan Lab

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) responded to remarks made by former CDC Director Robert Redfield on Friday during a CNN interview during which Redfield said that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic &#8220;escaped&#8221; from a lab inside China.
&#8220;If I was to guess, this virus started transmitting somewhere in September, October, in Wuhan,&#8221; Redfield told CNN&#8217;s Sanjay Gupta. &#8220;That&#8217;s my own view. It&#8217;s only an opinion. I&#8217;m allowed to have opinions now. You know, I&#8217;m of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped. Other people don&#8217;t believe that. That&#8217;s fine. Science will eventually figure it out. It&#8217;s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect a laboratory worker.&#8221;
&#8220;I am a virologist. I have spent my life in virology,&#8221; Redfield continued. &#8220;I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human and at that moment in time, the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human-to-human transmission. Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonotic (ph) to human, it takes awhile for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient in human-to-human transmission. I just don&#8217;t think this makes biological sense.&#8221;
Cotton responded on Twitter by demanding that the Chinese Communist Party be held accountable for what happened, writing: &#8220;This was never a conspiracy theory.&#8221;
&#8220;We may never have direct, conclusive evidence because of the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s coverup,&#8221; Cotton added. &#8220;But all of the circumstantial evidence points to the Wuhan labs.&#8221;
As to the veracity of Redfield’s theory, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-cdc-director-says-he-thinks-coronavirus-came-from-a-chinese-lab">previously reported</a>:
<blockquote>The former CDC director’s opinion runs counter to that of most other experts, and CNN, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-26-21/h_4018699a962ffd51b2d236cda55a72d8">reporting</a> on his remarks, called his opinion “a controversial theory without evidence.” Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, the lead WHO investigator looking into the COVID-19 outbreak’s origins, has called the lab-leak hypothesis “very unlikely,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china-lab/who-expert-in-wuhan-says-lab-leak-very-unlikely-as-covid-source-idUSKBN2A91FF">reports</a> Reuters.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We may never have direct, conclusive evidence because of the Chinese Communist Party&#39;s coverup. 
But all of the circumstantial evidence points to the Wuhan labs.
&mdash; Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomCottonAR/status/1375462222370066438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Despite a lack of clear evidence, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a CNN documentary clip released Friday that he believes the novel coronavirus began transmitting in fall 2019 and that the virus may have originated in a lab in China. <a href="https://t.co/r4CpbrNsBl">https://t.co/r4CpbrNsBl</a> <a href="https://t.co/GZl1BbM5ZO">pic.twitter.com/GZl1BbM5ZO</a>
&mdash; New Day (@NewDay) <a href="https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1375428147097841665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2103/26/nday.05.html">CNN</a>:
<blockquote>JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Dr. Robert Redfield, the former CDC director, is speaking out for the first time, saying publicly where he believes the coronavirus that caused the pandemic came from. These extraordinary comments come in a new interview for a CNN documentary airing this weekend.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now.
And, Sanjay, Dr. Redfield says he&#8217;s giving his opinion, but I have to say, I think you&#8217;re about to break some pretty significant news here. 
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, this was extraordinary, John, for certain. He is the former CDC director. He spent his entire career as a virologist. I interviewed all six of these doctors sort of in the form of an autopsy, really to sort of meticulously dissect exactly what happened here, really no pre-agenda.
Dr. Redfield, when we sat down to talk, he wanted to start at the beginning, the origins of this virus. What he believed actually transpired.
Take a listen.
[BEGIN VIDEOTAPE]
ROBERT REDFIELD, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: If I was to guess, this virus started transmitting somewhere in September, October, in Wuhan.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: September, October?
REDFIELD: That&#8217;s my own view. It&#8217;s only an opinion. I&#8217;m allowed to have opinions now. You know, I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory — you know, escaped. Other people don&#8217;t believe that. That&#8217;s fine. Science will eventually figure it out. It&#8217;s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect a laboratory worker.
NARRATOR: It&#8217;s also not unusual for that type of research to be occurring in Wuhan. The city is a widely-known center for viral studies in China, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has experimented extensively with bat coronaviruses.
GUPTA: It is a remarkable conversation I feel like we&#8217;re having here because you are the former CDC director, and you were the director at the time this was all happening.
NARRATOR: For the first time, the former CDC director is stating publicly that he believes this pandemic started months earlier than we knew. And that it originated, not at a wet market, but inside a lab in China.
GUPTA: These are two significant things to say, Dr. Redfield.
REDFIELD: That&#8217;s not implying any intentionality, you know? It&#8217;s my opinion, right? But I am a virologist. I have spent my life in virology. I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human and at that moment in time, the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human-to-human transmission. Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonotic (ph) to human, it takes awhile for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient in human-to-human transmission. I just don&#8217;t think this makes biological sense.
GUPTA: So in the lab, do you think that that process of becoming more efficient was happening? Is that what you are suggesting?
REDFIELD: Yeah, let&#8217;s just say, I have coronavirus [that I&#8217;m working on]. Most of us in the lab [are trying to grow a virus], we try to help make it grow better and better and better and better and better and better so we can do experiments and figure about it. That&#8217;s the way I put it together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (on camera): It&#8217;s a pretty extraordinary conversation. And a little glimpse of what we revealed sort of within these couple of hours. I should point out, the World Health Organization calls the lab leak theory unlikely. And Chinese officials have started increasingly pointing to a multiple origin theory, saying that this pandemic may have started in multiple places, even around the world, including U.S. military labs. That&#8217;s unsubstantiated, but that&#8217;s sort of the back and forth that&#8217;s happening right now.
We still don&#8217;t know, a year later, exactly how this pandemic started.
BERMAN: Sanjay, he&#8217;s the former CDC director. So when he says it&#8217;s just his opinion, it&#8217;s not just an opinion.
GUPTA: Right.
BERMAN: The former CDC director sees things and knows things the rest of us don&#8217;t see —
CAMEROTA: A life-long expertise.
BERMAN: But only his life&#8217;s long expertise, but actually when he was in the U.S. government, seeing things that the rest of us aren&#8217;t entitled to. I mean, how much of just an opinion can it be?
GUPTA: That&#8217;s exactly right. I mean, he&#8217;s talking to people on the ground, not just as counterparts of the China CDC, but we have investigators on the ground in various countries around the world, including China. If you look even at our preparedness and response sort of strategies in the United States, it&#8217;s medical and public health. But it&#8217;s also intelligence gathering.
So when we&#8217;re sitting down and talking to all these people, we&#8217;re getting a sort of overall picture, I think, for the first time of what they knew, what they knew at what time, and how they were sort of piecing that together. So, it&#8217;s really — and it&#8217;s not just intrigue. It&#8217;s important to know how this started if you are going to best prepare for a possible future pandemic. To go and — sort from an animal to a human and suddenly become one of the most infectious pathogens we&#8217;ve ever seen in humanity simply doesn&#8217;t happen very often.
That&#8217;s the point that Dr. Redfield was trying to make.</blockquote>

Members Of Coronavirus Task Force Hold Press Briefing

Tom Cotton Responds To Ex-CDC Chief’s Belief That Pandemic Started In Lab: ‘This Was Never A Conspiracy Theory’

Tom Cotton

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday that there will probably be more COVID-19 deaths each day in the U.S. for the next two to three months than there were deaths during the bombing of Pearl Harbor or on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“We are in the timeframe now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days we&#8217;re going to have more deaths per day than we had at 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Redfield said in a Council on Foreign Relations event on Thursday, reports <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/529709-cdc-director-us-covid-19-deaths-likely-to-exceed-9-11-toll-for-60-days">The Hill</a>.
Approximately 2,400 people died in the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and nearly 3,000 people perished in the September 11 attacks. According to data from The New York Times, 3,157 people in the United States died of COVID-19 on Wednesday, December 9.
If, over the next three months, the U.S. averaged 2,700 deaths per day — the middle range in Dr. Redfield’s assessment — the U.S. would add 243,000 deaths to the COVID-19 death total by March 10. So far, 292,000 people have died, meaning that Dr. Redfield’s assessment puts the mid-March U.S. death toll in the range of about 535,000 people.
The CDC director’s grim prediction comes as the Food and Drug Administration appears to be on the verge of approving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a two-dose inoculation the FDA recently confirmed had a 95% efficacy rate in protecting clinical trial recipients.
During an FDA advisory committee meeting on Thursday, independent advisors voted 17-4 in favor of recommending that the FDA approve the COVID-19 vaccine as an emergency measure. Two of the advisors have since said publicly that they voted “no” because the language of the recommendation included 16- and 17-year-olds, an age group for which they wanted more data. Those two said they supported it for adults. 
“This meeting is an important step in the review process, providing an opportunity for outside experts to provide valuable advice and input for the agency to consider as part of its review,” the FDA <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-december-10-2020">said</a> Thursday. “Importantly, the final decision about whether to authorize the vaccine for emergency use will be made by FDA’s career officials.”
The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer-fda.html">reports</a> that the FDA could approve an emergency authorization for the vaccine by the weekend. The Washington Post offers an even higher degree of optimism for a looming COVID-19 vaccine approval, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/10/fda-advisory-panel-recommends-covid-vaccine/">reporting</a> on Thursday afternoon that vaccine approval could come within days.
Both Canada and the United Kingdom, which have some pre-purchase commitments with Pfizer, have already approved the vaccine for the public as an emergency measure. The United States, on the other hand, has pre-purchased 100 million doses of the company&#8217;s vaccine, enough for 50 million people. The CDC expects Pfizer to have 25 million doses of its vaccine for the United State available by the end of December, and another 15 million doses of the Moderna vaccine — a similar vaccine that is pending emergency authorization as well — should it also be approved, reports <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/08/fda-scientists-endorse-highly-effective-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-ahead-of-key-panel/">Stat News</a>.

Members Of Coronavirus Task Force Hold A Briefing At The White House

CDC’s Redfield Suggests COVID Daily Death Toll Drop-Off Unlikely For Next Two To Three Months

Critics slammed Robert Redfield, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after he testified that face masks may be more effective than a COVID-19 vaccine.
Redfield made the controversial statements while testifying in front of the Senate on Wednesday on the coronavirus pandemic.
“I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70%. And if I don&#8217;t get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will,” Redfield said.
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CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield makes it as clear as he can: &quot;This face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Ul0Ppj5qqv">pic.twitter.com/Ul0Ppj5qqv</a>
&mdash; The Recount (@therecount) <a href="https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1306257291726016514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume jumped on Redfield for saying that masks can protect the wearer from the virus. Previously, mask-wearing has been touted as a courtesy or a duty to protect others in case the wearer is infected with the coronavirus.
“For months we’ve been told we should wear masks not so much to protect ourselves as to protect others. Now the head of the CDC is claiming that a mask will protect the wearer better than a vaccine. Does he expect people to believe that?” Hume said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
For months we’ve been told we should wear masks not so much to protect ourselves as to protect others. Now the head of the CDC is claiming that a mask will protect the wearer better than a vaccine. Does he expect people to believe that?
&mdash; Brit Hume (@brithume) <a href="https://twitter.com/brithume/status/1306429970177314816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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President Trump contradicted Redfield at a press conference later in the day, saying, “As far as the masks are concerned, I hope that the vaccine is going to be a lot more beneficial than the masks.”
Redfield tried to clarify his testimony by releasing a statement over Twitter.
“I 100% believe in the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a #COVID19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,” Redfield said. “The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds. #COVID19”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>
&mdash; Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) <a href="https://twitter.com/CDCDirector/status/1306362537924079616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Redfield’s comments on masks are another twist in health officials evolving recommendations. At the beginning of March when the pandemic was picking up, U.S. health officials played down the effectiveness of masks in order to keep people from buying them.
U.S. Surgeon General <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-surgeon-general-seriously-people-stop-buying-masks">Jerome Adams</a> wrote a message on Twitter saying, “Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-fauci-admits-that-public-health-experts-initially-downplayed-face-masks-over-concerns-about-supply">Anthony Fauci</a>, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted in June that health officials were not upfront with the America people over the effectiveness of masks. Fauci said health officials downplayed masks to prevent a run on the limited supply.
“We wanted to make sure that the people, namely the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected,” Fauci said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-director-threat-of-suicide-drugs-flu-to-youth-far-greater-than-covid">CDC Director: Threat Of Suicide, Drugs, Flu To Youth ‘Far Greater’ Than Covid</a>

CDC Director Ripped Over Claim On Mask Effectiveness: ‘Does He Expect People To Believe That?’

Face Masks

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield said Wednesday that he supports reopening the country and that he believes states are &#8220;ready&#8221; to return to more normal operations, albeit with some key changes, including social distancing and contact tracing.
<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/498668-cdc-director-says-us-ready-to-reopen-predicts-thousands-more">Speaking to The Hill</a>, Redfield said that states are making significant strides in bringing down the number of coronavirus cases, and the drop, from March and April when cases peaked, is noticeable &#8212; and something to celebrate.
&#8220;I want to clarify that the community-based transmission, the community-to-community transmission that overwhelmed the public health departments in late February, March, April, that&#8217;s really coming down,&#8221; Redfield said.
He added that &#8220;the CDC is working with state public health agencies to contain outbreaks in nursing homes, among homeless populations, in meatpacking facilities and in other areas. He signaled states will have sufficient testing and contact tracing to follow the White House&#8217;s guidelines for reopening.&#8221;
The CDC is heavily focused on &#8220;contact tracing,&#8221; which involves using data, available through cell phone applications (most of which is provided voluntarily to apps like Facebook), and voluntary connections with individual Americans, to track individuals who test positive for the virus and track their movements, warning those who might have come into contact with coronavirus carriers that they could be in danger of contracting the virus.
The CDC has its own team of contact tracers, but Redfield says the agency is working with state health departments to help them train their own teams, as well.
&#8220;Ultimately, that number [of contact tracers] is going to be decided by the efforts that we have with the local health departments,&#8221; Redfield told The Hill. &#8220;But that&#8217;s ongoing now, and it needs to be in place, operationally ready by October of this year.&#8221;
Redfield stressed that even as coronavirus infections wane, health care officials should be on the offensive, prepared for a possible second wave either or or in addition to an upcoming flu season. He also implored state health departments to improve their guidelines for handling further coronavirus outbreaks, including isolated outbreaks in nursing homes and other residential care facilities.
The CDC was only briefly in the lead of the United States&#8217; coronavirus pandemic response; the issue quickly gave way to a full-government response that spanned agencies and involved its own team of experts. Now that the White House is more focused on the economic implications of the virus, much of the day-to-day pandemic management is falling back on the CDC&#8217;s shoulders.
On Thursday, the CDC released several documents, including updated guidelines for schools, child care centers, restaurants, bars, and subways on how to return to &#8220;normal&#8221; after coronavirus-related lockdowns are lifted. Last week, the agency released a guide on how businesses could disinfect public spaces efficiently and effectively.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Dr. Robert Redfield

CDC Director: Actually, The Country Is Ready To Reopen

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and two other top scientific members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force have entered self-quarantines after coming into contact with or being near someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The other two officials who have entered self-quarantine are Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
&#8220;The actions come after the disclosure on Friday that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the virus,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/us/coronavirus-news-updates.html">reported</a>. &#8220;Ms. Miller has attended numerous meetings of the White House’s coronavirus task force, which also includes Dr. Redfield, Dr. Hahn and Dr. Fauci.&#8221;
The news also comes after the White House said this week that a military aide, who was described as a valet for President Donald Trump, also tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The president’s physician and White House operations continue to work closely to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the president, first family and the entire White House complex safe and healthy at all times,” White House spokesman Judd Deere <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-aides-rattled-after-positive-coronavirus-tests-and-officials-send-mixed-message-on-how-to-respond/2020/05/09/6dab2df6-920d-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html">said</a>. “In addition to social distancing, daily temperature checks and symptom histories, hand sanitizer, and regular deep cleaning of all work spaces, every staff member in proximity to the president and vice president is being tested daily for covid-19 as well as any guests.”
&#8220;The Secret Service has 11 active cases of the coronavirus and 23 employees who have recovered, current and former government officials said Friday, but it was unclear whether any were agents or served in the White House,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/us/politics/white-house-coronavirus-safety.html">said</a> in a separate report. &#8220;The service, which has 150 offices across the country responsible for protecting a variety of dignitaries and investigating financial crimes, also has 60 others undergoing self-quarantine.&#8221;
A White House memo reportedly said that the White House will receive &#8220;heightened levels of daily cleaning&#8221; during this time and that anyone who leaves the Washington, D.C., area must quarantine themselves for two weeks.
The news comes as states across the U.S. are slowly starting to reopen after being shutdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced on Thursday that Republican members of Congress had launched a “China Task Force” to address a wide variety of threats posed by communist China.
McCarthy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kevin-mccarthy-announces-china-task-force-to-take-on-china-democrats-refuse-to-join">highlighted</a> some of China’s actions during the pandemic:
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Hid the severity of the virus and manipulated statistics, leaving the world reeling from a global pandemic</li>
<li>Still refuses to allow international experts to investigate or share viral samples with the scientific community</li>
<li>Forced the disappearance of whistleblowers</li>
<li>Is carrying out a comprehensive propaganda campaign to spread misinformation</li>
<li>Leveraged its supply chain monopoly for global influence</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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