Government scientist has warned that the United States is facing "the darkest winter in modern history"

Dr. Rick Bright, a prominent government scientist who is a whistleblower, said Thursday that without a coordinated national response to a pandemic, the United States risks facing "the most winter dark of modern history ".

Bright filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that he was concerned about Trump's support for the treatment of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus, and was dismissed as director of the Research Agency and of advanced development for biomedicine [BARDA].

Bright, a virologist with 25 years of experience in dealing with pandemics, testified Thursday before the House Health and Trade Committee's subcommittee on health.

He warned that the "country window of opportunity is closing" to respond effectively to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bright said: "If we are based on science, we cannot improve countermeasures now, and I fear that this pandemic will worsen and last longer." He said: "This fall, COVID-19 is likely to be resurrected." The challenge of the seasonal flu will complicate the situation. Without better plans, 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history. "

Before Brett testified on Thursday, Trump criticized him on Twitter, calling him "dissatisfied employee" and "no longer working for our government."

Bright testified that the United States has yet to formulate a comprehensive plan to combat the combined forces of COVID-19 and seasonal flu in the fall and winter .

Bright said the country did not have enough personal protective equipment [PPE] to protect medical personnel and that its supply chain had not been "increased" to produce or effectively distribute drugs or vaccines.

He also said that the United States did not have a "comprehensive testing strategy to let Americans know which test did what to do with the information and how to deal with it."

Bright said all of his concerns about the government's response to the coronavirus had been ignored by his superiors in the Department of Health and Social Services [HHS], dismissed or indifferent.

He said that "the government is life threatening and life threatening" because the government has ignored its concerns about the severe lack of PPE in the country, including the N95 mask.

Bright has told lawmakers that he will never forget that in January he received an email from Mike Bowen, the owner of the largest mask maker in the United States, telling him that the national supply of N95 masks had "decreased".

"He said," We're in trouble, "said Brett." The world is. We need to act. "

Bright said it had brought him to the highest level of HHS, but got no response.

Bright said: "From that moment on, I knew we were going to face the medical staff crisis because we had done nothing." "This is our last chance to open this product to save the lives of these medical personnel."

Bright said the U.S. is required to wear masks provided by other countries, which do not meet U.S. protection standards, and that some of them do not offer that 30% protection.

Bright said: "The nurses thought they were protected and were taken to the hospital."

He also said government officials have raised concerns about the use of hydroxychloroquine and other drugs that have not been scientifically evaluated for the treatment of coronavirus.

Bright said: "Without close medical supervision, there was not enough data to support the use of this medicine."

When he opposed the government's plan to facilitate the use of these drugs by Americans, Bright said he had been boycotted, so he voiced concerns to reporters .

Bright said: "It was a drop that filled the glass and stepped up my evacuation. According to his written testimony, he was unintentionally transferred to" the position at the National Institutes of Health is more limited and influential. Small posts. "

Bright also alerted the United States. United States On the challenges of limited supply and distribution of remdesivir, which is currently used to treat patients with COVID-19.

He said Americans should also "be absolutely worried" that the United States government has no vaccine distribution plan.

Bright said that many delays in developing countermeasures and obtaining significant resources to fight the coronavirus have delayed the timing of obtaining drugs and vaccines, which has to his turn delayed "our ability to reopen the country".

He said: "We will remember what we did or failed to solve this crisis."