Fauci to testify next week to House panel on coronavirus

Dr. Anthony Fauci and two or top public health officials will testify next week to a House subcommittee that's been investigating federal response to a coronavirus pandemic still inflicting a relentless toll on Americans , officials with panel said Wednesday.

Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has become government's most visible face in battle against virus, and polls show him as its most trusted authority as well. That's in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who gets low marks from public after ceding much of U.S. response to nation's goverrs, resulting in an inconsistent hodgepodge of restrictions and a resurgence of disease in many states.

July 31 hearing will focus on “ urgent need for a national comprehensive plan" to dress virus, committee officials said in a statement anuncing session.

re have been more than 3.9 million confirmed cases in U.S. of COVID-19, disease virus causes, and more than 142,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus Crisis, created earlier this year by House, is supposed to track trillions of dollars Congress has alrey approved to buttress shuttered ecomy and to finance testing, research and medical supplies for strained health care providers . panel is dominated by Democrats and led by . 3 House Democratic leer James Clyburn of South Carolina.

Also appearing will be Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield m. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at Department of Health and Human Services.

Democrats complained last week that White House h blocked Redfield from appearing at a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on fraught efforts around country to reopen schools.

Fauci was prevented from testifying to ar House committee earlier this year, but ended up appearing before a panel in Republican-controlled Senate and ar House committee last month.