Coronavirus News
Democrats Press for Data on Coronavirus Whistleblower Complaint – The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats on Friday pressed the Trump administration for more information about a whistleblower complaint alleging that federal employees were sent to work at coronavirus quarantine locations without adequate safety protocols and then flew back home on commercial airplanes. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) sent a letter to the Department of…
WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats on Friday pressed the Trump administration for more information about a whistleblower complaint alleging that federal employees were sent to work at coronavirus quarantine locations without adequate safety protocols and then flew back home on commercial airplanes.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services asking how many employees were deployed and what safety training was provided to them. Democratic lawmakers on Friday also sought a briefing from HHS on the complaint.
“The general public was also put at risk since your employees were then immediately returned to their communities and jobs at the Department post-deployment, by commercial air flights with no precautions,” according to the letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, who is also leading the federal coronavirus task force.
In remarks to reporters on Friday, Mr. Azar said the administration is “fully investigating” the whistleblower’s allegations.
The whistleblower’s complaint said some employees at the HHS’s Administration for Children and Families didn’t receive prior safety training relevant to functions they performed at some of the quarantine camps in California, at the March Air Reserve Base and Travis Air Force Base. There is no evidence that any of the workers contracted or spread the virus.
The whistleblower said she was then reassigned for raising concerns about employee safety, according to the person familiar with the complaint.
The complaint was filed to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a permanent and independent agency that deals with whistleblower complaints from executive-branch employees.
Mr. Azar also addressed a case of coronavirus in California that involved a person who reportedly didn’t have a travel history or exposure to another person known to have the illness. Mr. Azar said the administration suspects it was an example of community transmission, though that isn’t definitive. The administration doesn’t believe the case is connected to exposure from somebody at coronavirus quarantine sites, he said.
Democrats on Friday also sought information from the administration about a decision to repatriate Americans from Japan on planes chartered by the State Department in early February who were then subject to 14-day quarantines. Some passengers who had tested positive for coronavirus were among those repatriated to the U.S. in the same plane with noninfected passengers.
Democrats want HHS to answer, by March 12, questions about why infected and uninfected passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were flown back together to the U.S. against the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We are concerned the expertise of public health officials may not have been given necessary and appropriate weight, resulting in the potential exposure of uninfected passengers to this highly contagious disease,” according to a letter on Friday to HHS from Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Gary Peters of Michigan.
HHS couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the letter related to the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The letters show that Democrats are intensifying their criticism and oversight of the Trump administration response to coronavirus. White House officials have defended their actions, saying they have taken aggressive steps to contain coronavirus, and that the risk to the public remains low.
Fifteen cases have been confirmed locally in the U.S., and 47 people repatriated from China have tested positive for the virus, according to the CDC.
Write to Stephanie Armour at stephanie.armour@wsj.com and Andrew Restuccia at Andrew.Restuccia@wsj.com
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