‘We are not out of the woods yet’: Trump administration

For the first time since the pandemic began, leaders of the Trump administration’s coronavirus response testified before Congress on Tuesday, and the picture they painted was much grimmer than President Trump’s claim on Monday that “we have prevailed” over the coronavirus.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “But we are more prepared.”

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said there was no chance of having a vaccine ready in time for the new school year in the fall. And he said the U.S. was still far from the levels of testing and contact tracing needed to contain outbreaks.

“If we do not respond in an adequate way when the fall comes, given that it is without a doubt that there will be infections that will be in the community, then we run the risk of having a resurgence,” Dr. Fauci said. “I would hope that by that time, in the fall, that we would have more than enough to respond adequately. But if we don’t, there will be problems.”

A flash point over testing: While an effective vaccine or treatment would be the “ultimate solution,” Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said during the hearing, “until we have them, all roads back to work and school go through testing.”

Adm. Brett P. Giroir, who heads the government’s testing response, testified that the administration planned to send to states enough swabs for 12.9 million tests over the next four weeks. But several committee members were skeptical.

“This administration has had a record of bringing us broken promises that more supplies and testing are coming, and they don’t,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat.