U.S. in ‘state of containment’ on COVID-19, Alex Azar tells Congress

Feb. 26 (UPI) — COVID-19 became a hot topic Wednesday during Congressional hearings on the proposed 2021 budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as new cases of the virus continue to emerge in outside China.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said that there have been 14 confirmed cases of the disease in the United States — not including those among passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and State Department evacuees from Wuhan, China, epicenter of the outbreak.

That 14 figure has remained “stable” for 15 days, he added.

“The risk right now is very low to Americans,” Azar said. “From a public health perspective we are technically in a state of containment in the U.S.”

The Trump administration has requested $2.5 billion to fight COVID-19 in the United States, including $500 million previously allocated for Ebola response.

During the hearings Wednesday, there was bipartisan concern over diverting funds from Ebola, given that the disease continues to plague the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Azar said, however, that HHS was “suggesting” that as a COVID-19 funding mechanism and was not “wed” to that approach. He also said that the outbreak in the Congo appears to be winding down, and that there is now an approved vaccine and two candidate drugs to treat Ebola in the pipeline, suggesting that the need there might not be as significant as it once was.