By Jeff Overley

Law360 (June 23, 2020, 11:04 PM EDT) -- Some of the nation's leading public health officials Tuesday repeatedly contradicted President Donald Trump on America's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, diverging from him on diagnostic testing, face masks and the outbreak's severity.

During a nearly six-hour hearing at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, high-ranking officials within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discussed the federal government's advice and expectations for the devastating outbreak in ways that clearly differed from Trump's recent pronouncements.

In one of the most notable exchanges, the officials denied that they had been asked to "slow the testing down," something that Trump said during a campaign rally on Saturday that he had requested and has subsequently stood by, despite his advisers insisting the remark was made in jest.

"Neither the president nor anyone in the administration has instructed or suggested that we should do less testing," HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir told lawmakers at Tuesday's marathon hearing.

Trump has accurately observed that the U.S. leads the world in the raw number of coronavirus tests performed — roughly 28 million as of Tuesday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. But the president has ventured onto shaky ground by suggesting that America's dire straits — its 2.3 million coronavirus cases are more than double the next closest country, Brazil — simply reflect superior testing.

"The reason we have more cases than other countries is because our testing is so much," Trump said Tuesday.

That idea found little support at Tuesday's hearing, where witnesses repeatedly called for expanding later this year to about 50 million tests per month, compared with about 15 million per month at the current pace. Identifying infected individuals is one key to control the disease, which has killed over 121,000 Americans.

"We're continuing to try to enhance testing," Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday. "It's a critical underpinning of our response."

The hearing also featured extensive discussion about using face masks and coverings to prevent infections.

Giroir, Redfield and the hearing's other two witnesses — Stephen Hahn, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, and Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert — all wore masks, which the CDC recommends when social distancing can't be maintained.

Fauci stressed that masks are "definitely helpful in preventing acquisition as well as transmission" of the virus. And when he was asked by Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., whether Trump has sent "the wrong message" by not publicly wearing a mask, Fauci suggested it was a reasonable thing to wonder.

"Certainly I wear a mask in public all the time, not only because I want to protect others and to protect myself, but also to set an example," Fauci said. "So I guess that answers your question."

After surging above 30,000 confirmed cases per day in April, the U.S. saw a steady decline to fewer than 20,000 daily cases, even as testing dramatically expanded. But that progress has suddenly reversed amid surging infections across the southern half of the U.S. — including Arizona, Florida and Texas — and the country is now back above 30,000 new cases per day.

Almost 800 deaths were reported Tuesday, according to the COVID Tracking Project, roughly in line with the average in recent weeks and well below the peak daily toll of more than 2,000 fatalities in April.

Fauci on Tuesday called the uptick in infections "a disturbing trend." He also cautioned against speculation that the relatively low death rate means that infections are now occurring more in younger people who are less likely to die from the disease.

"I think it's too early to make that kind of link," Fauci said. "Deaths always lag considerably behind cases."

Fauci's perspective contrasted with the White House's recent assurances. One week ago, Vice President Mike Pence posted an essay that was headlined, "There Isn't a Coronavirus 'Second Wave.'" And on Tuesday, Trump tweeted, "Mortality rate way down!!!"

The health officials on Tuesday did spotlight some reasons for optimism. They emphasized that the U.S. has made great strides in educating Americans and in strengthening the country's supply of so-called personal protective equipment, such as N95 respirator masks.

"I'm confident ... as we ramp [up] domestic manufacturing that we're going to be in a much better position than we were three months ago," Giroir said.

Fauci also expressed hope that there won't be a need again for large swaths of businesses to "lock down," as they did in many states earlier in the pandemic. But when asked about Trump's assertion last month that Americans "have prevailed" over COVID-19, Fauci said he doesn't think the battle's been won.

"I wouldn't use the word 'prevailed,'" Fauci said. "I would say that we are still in the middle of a serious outbreak. There's no doubt about that."

The officials also reiterated concerns that the nation's health system could be severely strained if COVID-19 is still circulating aggressively in late 2020 — a vaccine isn't expected to be widely available until early 2021 at the soonest — and coincides with a challenging flu season.

"We're all concerned about the possibility of co-circulation of influenza A and B as well as COVID-19," Giroir said Tuesday, stressing the importance of flu vaccinations.

Near the end of Tuesday's hearing, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán, D-Calif., asked the officials when they last spoke with Trump about the pandemic. Fauci and Giroir both said it had been about two and a half weeks, Hahn said it had not been more than a month, and Redfield declined to answer.

"The fact that you won't tell this committee when the last time you spoke to him, whether it was days or months ago, is a real concern," Barragán told Redfield.

White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

--Editing by Haylee Pearl.

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