Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday that he'd "obviously" heard about a Federal Emergency Management Agency chart leaked to The New York Times projecting up to 200,000 coronavirus deaths by June 1, but pointed out that the document was an early draft model leaked at a time when many reports are under consideration for determining policy.
"There are hundreds of models that are drafted up to look at various contingencies," Azar said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The president's recommendations on those restrictions on social distancing, etc., will use a collection of the best scientific models that are out there, not draft reports and draft models."
The report was based on modeling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pulled together in chart form by FEMA, according to The Times.
Also on Tuesday, Azar confirmed that HHS is now distributing billions of dollars to the nation's hospitals, including $12 billion for hospitals with the highest volume of patients and $10 billion for rural hospitals to deal with limited resources.
"That's money that's going to support the hospitals with elective procedures," said Azar." It will keep their nurses and doctors and staff employed… it's a broad program to help our health care system to have this complete integration of public and private together."
Meanwhile, Azar dismissed reports that his own administration job is in danger, dismissing the claims as "palace intrigue" being spread because people want to undermine the president's response to the coronavirus emergency.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting people said to be familiar with the matter, reported last week that administration officials were considering replacing Azar after criticism over how he handled the early response to the pandemic.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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