Former White House health official Dr. Deborah Birx has a memoir coming out this spring.

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the Department of Education July 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON House Democrats are criticizing the White House for blocking the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from testifying at a public hearing on safely reopening the nation's schools. Democrats said they invited CDC officials, including director Robert Redfield, to testify at a hearing next Thursday but were rebuffed by the White House. A committee spokesperson said the panel asked for any CDC official to testify but was rejected. A White House spokesperson said Friday that Dr. Redfield has testified on Capitol Hill at least four times over the last three months.

Public health officials and experts say the heavy reliance on statewide hospital data is a misleading and sometimes irresponsible metric to justify keeping a state open or holding back on imposing new limits. The issue of hospital capacity has gained urgency across the nation this week as Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and other states reported skyrocketing case numbers. Governors have repeatedly invoked hospital capacity in arguing against new business restrictions, though the dynamic began to shift Friday when Texas and Florida clamped down on bars amid an increasingly dire situation with COVID-19. Hospital beds in Houston are filling so fast that Texas Childrens Hospital is starting to treat adult patients, and 97% of ICU beds at Texas Medical Center were in use. Ducey has condemned as misinformation the notion that hospital space is running short, even as state data shows that 85% of Arizonas hospital beds are occupied.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy. Trump said most of the funding in the bill would flow to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides money to small businesses to keep workers on their payroll. “Great for small businesses, great for the workers,” Trump said. There’s also $60 billion for small-business loans and grants delivered through the Small Business Administration’s existing disaster aid program. That left thousands of small businesses in limbo as they sought help.

In briefing governors on the plan, Trump said they were going to be responsible for deciding when it is safe to lift restrictions in their states. Just days before, he had drawn swift pushback for claiming he had absolute authority to determine how and when states reopen. “We have a very large number of states that want to get going and they’re in very good shape,” Trump said. Trump also held conference calls Thursday with lawmakers he named to a new congressional advisory task force on reviving the economy. Greg Abbott, who has stuck close to federal guidance throughout the crisis, will lay out his reopening plan Friday.