Sen. Grassley, HHS says coronavirus no imminent threat to US general public

Following a classified briefing of his staff by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of National Security (ONS), U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reiterated that the novel coronavirus appears to pose no immediate threat to the United States.

Where concern remains is for those who have recently traveled to China’s Hubei province, and for China in general.

“While the coronavirus is not yet a pandemic, there are signs that it could develop into a worldwide threat,” Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said. “Based on public reports, I’m concerned that China may not be accurately reflecting the scale or scope of the problem or sharing information with global health organizations. The United States stands ready to assist China in any way it can. I would hope that on matters with global health implications, the United States and China could work together, especially to prevent the spread of disease.”

For the moment, Grassley stated that both HHS and the Centers for Disease Control have the resources necessary to prevent any contagion of significance from spreading further across the U.S. This includes quarantine efforts, and Grassley noted that the State Department was taking every reasonable measure to evacuate any Americans still in China.

But he also called out Chinese data sharing practices, going against repeated praise of the nation’s efforts by the World Health Organization.

“China’s reluctance to share data makes it all the more important that U.S. federal agencies work together and allow for maximum access to information across the government,” Grassley said. “The intelligence community is hard at work to protect Americans. It’s critical that their hard work not go to waste and that all federal health agencies have access to the information they need to do their jobs. Over-classification during a public health emergency could have deadly consequences. Federal health agencies must also have a seat at the table with the intelligence community when it makes decisions related to this issue.”