WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:05.166 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% The Centers for Disease Control's new timeline for getting coronavirus diagnostic testing 00:07.200 --> 00:10.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% kits to every state was welcome news today. But there have been questions about the country's 00:12.266 --> 00:15.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% ability to do enough tests in the event of a real outbreak. 00:15.233 --> 00:19.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% It's also raised larger questions about the health system's ability to deal with a major 00:19.500 --> 00:21.500 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% surge of patients. 00:21.500 --> 00:25.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Dennis Carroll is the former director of the U.S. Agency For International Developments' 00:25.666 --> 00:30.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Emerging Threats Division. He currently heads the Global Virome Project. It's a nonprofit 00:32.633 --> 00:36.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% global partnership working to prepare for potential future viral threats. 00:37.666 --> 00:39.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Dennis Carroll, welcome to the "NewsHour." 00:39.666 --> 00:41.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DENNIS CARROLL, Former Director, USAID Emerging Threats Division: Thank you. 00:41.766 --> 00:44.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: So, right now, does the United States have in place the systems, the materials 00:45.333 --> 00:47.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% that it needs to address what may be coming? 00:47.000 --> 00:49.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% DENNIS CARROLL: The short answer is no. 00:49.933 --> 00:54.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We do have the plans for what is needed. And I think the public health community in the 00:56.800 --> 01:00.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% United States, and certainly those at the Centers for Disease Control, have arced out 01:00.766 --> 01:05.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a very excellent plan over the years on how to deal with exactly this situation. 01:07.766 --> 01:11.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And for two months, we have known, since the beginning of January, that this is an imminent 01:11.233 --> 01:16.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% threat. A month ago, the WHO signaled that this was a public held event of international 01:18.733 --> 01:22.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% concern, which should have initiated political leadership to step forward and began authorizing 01:24.233 --> 01:26.300 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% the use of these plans. 01:26.300 --> 01:30.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And what we have not seen is the execution or the leadership from the political communities. 01:32.766 --> 01:37.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you're saying it's been slow, slower than it should have been. 01:38.833 --> 01:42.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% What I want to ask you specifically about are those testing kits, a lot of focus on 01:42.700 --> 01:47.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% those. Are there enough available now for what may be coming in the near future? 01:48.833 --> 01:50.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% DENNIS CARROLL: Oh, absolutely not. 01:50.933 --> 01:55.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I mean, I think the strategic use of these kits, as defined by the Centers for Disease 01:57.166 --> 02:02.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Control right now, really limit where we are testing. And it's largely around populations 02:03.466 --> 02:06.133 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% coming in from what we know to be infected areas, largely Asia. 02:06.133 --> 02:11.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We know nothing about what may or may not be circulating within the United States. So, 02:13.066 --> 02:16.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% we have only tested 500 people. South Korea has tested tens of thousands of people. 02:18.933 --> 02:22.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Are there kits available elsewhere around the globe that the U.S. can access? 02:24.100 --> 02:26.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% DENNIS CARROLL: Well, I don't really have insight into that. 02:26.233 --> 02:31.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But it's clear that there's been a real challenge on the part of the United States to provide 02:33.666 --> 02:38.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% these kits. And it's a real exception. Historically, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has really 02:40.566 --> 02:44.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% been a leader in being able to generate these kits for other epidemics, other outbreaks. 02:45.933 --> 02:49.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think what we're looking at is a consequence of underfunding and underattention to the 02:50.933 --> 02:52.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% systems that are required to make this happen too. 02:52.766 --> 02:55.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% You just can't turn on a spigot and make a kit available. 02:55.500 --> 03:00.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: We heard the secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, say today -- he 03:02.500 --> 03:04.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% said the risk of Americans contracting the virus remains low, but he also said some 30 03:04.800 --> 03:09.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% percent of Americans could become infected, and the vast majority would have low-level 03:11.466 --> 03:13.500 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% symptoms. 03:13.500 --> 03:17.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But 30 percent, does that all alarm you? Does that sound like what you would expect, given 03:19.866 --> 03:21.800 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% what we see so far? 03:21.800 --> 03:24.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DENNIS CARROLL: Well, first off, the World Health Organization declared that this is 03:24.700 --> 03:29.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% a very high-level emergency today for the whole globe. 03:31.633 --> 03:35.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I think what we are recognizing, that we don't know how many people will be infected, but 03:37.500 --> 03:41.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what we do know is that it will be -- community transmission will go on. We need to prepare 03:42.966 --> 03:46.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for that. And significant parts of the population will be infected. 03:46.333 --> 03:51.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And the numbers that we see coming out of Asia in terms of mortality, we should be very 03:51.066 --> 03:54.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% concerned about that happening here in the United States. 03:54.400 --> 03:57.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: What would give you comfort? What would you -- what do you want to see 03:57.833 --> 04:02.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% coming from the federal government, the important points inside the federal government that 04:06.733 --> 04:11.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% would give you the confidence that -- frankly, that the country is more ready than you say 04:12.600 --> 04:14.633 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% it is right now? 04:14.633 --> 04:18.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DENNIS CARROLL: Well, we have seen in the past that an effective response begins with 04:19.566 --> 04:21.666 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% leadership at the top. 04:21.666 --> 04:26.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And that has a way of trickling down through the entire system. And so you ask me what 04:28.666 --> 04:31.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I would like to see. The White House really taking this issue seriously and recognizing 04:34.166 --> 04:38.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% that this represents an extraordinary public health risk to the people of the United States. 04:40.033 --> 04:42.133 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Dennis Carroll, sobering words. Thank you. 04:42.133 --> 04:42.933 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% DENNIS CARROLL: Thank you.