A whistleblower who claims to have been removed from his government post for raising concerns about novel coronavirus preparedness shared with a congressional hearing on Thursday that the United States could face ‘the darkest winter’ of recent times if it does not improve its attitude towards the COVID 19 pandemic.

A few hours after Donald Trump, President of the United States, rebuked him on Twitter, whistleblower Rick Bright testified to the United States House of Representatives panel about readiness for the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, Rick Bright was ousted from the position of director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA which is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for developing drugs to fight the malignant virus.

“What we do must be done carefully with guidance from the best scientific minds. Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to improve our response now, based on science, I fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged.”, said Rick Bright during his testimony.

The COVID 19 pandemic has infected nearly 1.4 million people in the United States, ravaged the economy and dropped dead more than 82,000.

Whistleblower Rick Bright testified to the subcommittee on health that he would never forget an email he received in January from a U.S. supplier of medical-grade face masks warning of a crucial shortage.

“We are in deep shit. The world is. We need to act. And I pushed that forward to the highest level that I could of HHS and got no response.”, said Whistleblower Bright. 

Rick Bright attested that the United States still missed a comprehensive plan for ensuring a supply of necessary supplies like swabs required to administer the coronavirus tests.

President Donald Trump, who has been forcing the U.S. economy to reopen expeditiously, dismissed Rick as a disgruntled employee on Twitter on Thursday, the 14th of May, in the morning before the hearing commenced.

“To me, he is nothing more than a disgruntled, unhappy person.”, said President Donald Trump.

“Everything he is complaining about was achieved.”, said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.