Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.

Q: Paragraph: The confirmation hearing of Ronny Jackson, Trump’s White House doctor and a Navy rear admiral chosen to speed up improvements to the VA, is scheduled for next week. On Tuesday, he met privately with Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, as a part of visits this week to assure lawmakers he could effectively lead the government’s second-largest department. Tester said after the meeting that Jackson had committed to the same stance against privatization as David Shulkin, who pledged before his confirmation as VA secretary last year to continue strong investment in core VA programs and facilities while expanding access to private doctors. Shulkin was fired last month. “We talked extensively about why Shulkin got fired with the issues revolving around privatization and capacity building,” Tester said. He “seems to be somebody who doesn’t want to privatize the VA.” Asked if Jackson had pledged not to privatize VA, Tester said “yes.” “He said basically the same thing Shulkin said--that he wanted to build capacity at the VA,” Tester said. According to Tester, Jackson had not yet informed Trump of his views but would be doing so. Both Tester and Sen. Johnny Isakson, the Republican chairman of the veterans committee who met with Jackson Monday, have declined to endorse Jackson in advance of his confirmation hearing on April 25, saying they need to hear more about his plans to fix VA. Jackson is “certainly not an expert on VA,” Tester said. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a Senate committee member who also met Tuesday with Jackson, said she needed more assurances that Jackson would resist undue White House pressure to aggressively expand private care. Major veterans groups view VA medical centers as best suited to treat complex battlefield injuries, such as traumatic brain injury. “In our meeting today, I appreciated how strongly Dr. Jackson spoke against privatizing the VA, but I still need to know more about how he will stand up to ideological opponents of VA and remain fully committed to putting the needs of veterans first,” Murray said. The issue of privatizing VA has been a political hot button since the 2016 campaign, when Trump pledged to aggressively expand veterans’ access to private doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayers’ expense via the Veterans Choice program. Trump’s comments came in the wake of a 2014 scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center in which some veterans died while waiting months for medical appointments. After he was fired as VA secretary, Shulkin blamed “political forces” in the Trump administration that he says are bent on privatizing the agency and prioritizing “companies with profits” over the care of veterans. On Tuesday, the White House reiterated that there were “no discussions” about privatizing VA. “This administration has taken several unprecedented steps to transform and modernize the VA,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our work with Congress to reform and strengthen the VA Choice program to provide our veterans with more choice in their health care.” Several Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, have vowed to oppose Jackson’s nomination if it leads to greater privatization at the agency. Before he was confirmed last year as VA secretary, Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration, declared in advance that he wouldn’t “privatize” VA. “VA is a unique national resource that is worth saving, and I am committed to doing just that,” Shulkin said in February 2017. “There will be far greater accountability, dramatically improved access, responsiveness and expanded care options, but the Department of Veterans Affairs will not be privatized under my watch.” ___ Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1 Claim: Dem senator: Trump VA pick vows not to privatize vets care.

A: President Donald Trump’s pick to be Veterans Affairs secretary is promising not to privatize the agency, a key Democratic senator said Tuesday, taking a stance on a politically charged issue that his predecessor says led to his firing.
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Q: Paragraph: A deadly fungal disease devastated amphibians in Central America more than a decade ago, quieting some mountain streams. But new research shows evolution may have saved the day — and the frogs. In El Cope, Panama, at least four species disappeared including the red-striped Rio San Juan robber frog. Four other species lost at least 88 percent of their population from a disease-causing fungus that hit Panama hard from 2004 to 2007. The fungus has also been blamed for wiping out amphibian populations in California’s Sierra Nevada and parts of Australia. In the last few years, croaks have been heard in once quiet Panama streams. The critters are by no means recovered since they are still infected with the fungus, but they are alive and growing in numbers, according to a new study in Thursday’s journal Science . “It’s so easy to lose hope when you’ve walked the same stretch of stream year after year, hoping to see a hint of the amazing diversity you once saw there,” study co-author Corinne Richards-Zawacki, a University of Pittsburgh biologist, said in an email. “So you can imagine how good it feels to be able to report some good news from the field.” The recovery is not everywhere and it’s at best modest, cautioned lead author Jamie Voyles, a disease ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. One of the frogs making the most noticeable comeback is the hard-to-catch rocket frog, named because it is so quick, she said. Voyles and Richards-Zawacki wanted to find out why the amphibians survived. They initially figured the disease weakened. But after testing old and new disease samples on frogs, they found the disease was as dangerous as ever. To their surprise, the frogs and toads were fighting back better. The fungal disease attacks their skin secretions and recently the frogs showed a two- to five-fold improvement in the amphibians’ ability to limit the fungus’ growth. The disease is still there, but it does less damage, Voyles said. While this research is important, the findings aren’t too surprising because past studies have shown that as bad as disease outbreaks get, they play a tiny role in species extinction, said Andrew Blaustein at Oregon State University, who wasn’t part of the study. Evolution allows species to resist completely succumbing to the nastiest diseases. “So, yes there is hope,” Blaustein said in an email. ___ Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here . ___ The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Claim: A ribbit of hope: Panama frogs hop back after nasty disease.

A: After years of silence, the rhythmic dee-dee-deeps of frogs and toads are returning in parts of Panama.
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Q: Paragraph: The coronavirus death toll in the Philippines rose to 78 on Monday - the second highest in Southeast Asia outside Indonesia - with 1,546 reported infections. “With respect to the high proportion of deaths in the Philippines, that’s essentially because of the way Philippines has chosen to test,” WHO technical advisor Matthew Griffith told a news conference, referring to the focus on testing only the most severe cases until now. “We expect the testing to increase substantially in the coming days.” Claim: Philippines coronavirus testing to be stepped up soon: WHO.

A:
Coronavirus testing is expected to increase substantially in coming days in the Philippines, where the high number of deaths relative to confirmed cases reflects lower testing so far, a World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.
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