TASK DEFINITION: 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.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: "Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and his allies, challenged the president's top health official recently on the administration's handling of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak. Dobbs criticized Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar over a lack of transparency in the agency's handling of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 91,000 people globally across 73 countries and led to more than nine American deaths. ""There's a better ratio of testing for the coronavirus in other countries than we maintain here,"" Dobbs said during the March 2 interview on his TV show. ""We're actually screening fewer people because we don't have appropriate testing."" Azar countered that the Trump administration has taken recent steps to roll back regulations and increase the availability of diagnostic test kits to ""hundreds and thousands and millions."" The United States is set to significantly expand its testing capabilities in the coming days and weeks, but Dobbs is correct that the country has lagged behind other nations so far. ""It is true that diagnostic capacity in the U.S. has been lower than in some other countries, but that is changing,"" said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. It's hard to pinpoint how many people have been tested for the coronavirus, both in the U.S. and around the world. The World Health Organization doesn't track the number of tests administered in each country, and the numbers that are available are constantly updating. In a statement to PolitiFact, a Fox News spokesperson representing Dobbs cited data from the WorldOMeter, a real-time tool that ""shows estimated current numbers based on statistics and projections from the most reputable official organizations,"" according to its website. Using estimates derived from official government sources, the WorldOMeter says at least eight countries South Korea, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Vietnam and Turkey have given more tests relative to the size of their populations than the United States. That lines up with experts' analyses and with what multiple news outlets have reported. Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said South Korea ""has screened at least thousands, and Guangdong, China, has screened at least hundreds of thousands,"" citing a WHO report on the outbreak in China, where the virus was first detected. South Korea ramped up testing by building drive-thru screening clinics for speedy assessments, according to local reports. Other countries, like Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Italy have also conducted thousands of diagnostic tests. ""We have done nothing like what other countries have done,"" Lipsitch said, noting that the U.S. had, until recently, limited not only the number of labs that were allowed to conduct tests on suspected cases, but also the number of patients that were eligible to be screened. It's difficult to say just how far behind the U.S. has fallen, due to the murkiness around the number of administered tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped releasing a public count of tests on March 2. The administration's public statements haven't cleared it up. On Feb. 29, the CDC reported testing 472 Americans. A day later, Azar told ABC News the U.S. had tested over 3,600 people. And a spokesperson for HHS, Azar's agency, told us on March 3 that the CDC had tested samples from more than 1,200 patients. ""I don't know how to track U.S. tests any more,"" Lipsitch said. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks at the White House about the coronavirus on Feb. 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP/Vucci) The CDC stopped posting testing data as more state and local public-health labs have been brought into the fold, said Nancy Messonnier, a top CDC official, said during a March 3 briefing. ""With more and more testing done at states, these numbers would not be representative of the testing being done nationally,"" she said. An HHS spokesperson told us that the department doesn't know how many additional tests have been administered by those state and local labs, adding that those labs can now test up to 15,000 people and are expected to be able to test as many as 75,000 people by March 6. The U.S. test count should rise into the millions as IDT, a commercial manufacturer, and other commercial and academic labs begin producing their own tests soon, according to HHS. The government's initial testing effort was hindered by flaws with the CDC's early test kits and restrictions that had limited which labs could run the tests and which patients could be tested. When the first U.S. coronavirus was detected, the country brushed aside the WHO test used by other nations and leaned on the CDC to develop and mass produce a more complicated test capable of detecting other viruses in addition to the coronavirus, according to reports. The test kits went out in early February. But some state labs that received them reported that flaws in the tests were triggering inconclusive results. Those states had to ship samples out to the CDC's offices in Atlanta for results until the CDC fixed the problem weeks later. Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has given labs and hospitals across the country the go-ahead to administer their own tests before the FDA finishes reviewing them, so long as those tests are proven to work. That should lead to more testing, experts said. The CDC also modified its screening criteria to expand testing for some people with severe respiratory symptoms who did not travel to China or come into known contact with a coronavirus patient. Previously, travel to China or exposure to the virus were preconditions for screening. Adequate testing is essential to getting an accurate count of U.S. cases, experts said. Testing is also key for treating patients and identifying people who might be infected but don't show symptoms, said Richard Watanabe, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. ""The latest data suggests the incubation period for COVID-19 can be as long as a couple of weeks,"" Watanabe said. Despite the recent acceleration, Lipsitch said U.S. testing is happening ""very slowly and at a level that is still paltry"" compared with some other countries. Dobbs said that the United States is ""actually screening fewer people (for the coronavirus than other countries) because we don't have appropriate testing."" Experts told us that to date, the United States has lagged behind other countries, though numbers are imprecise. An error with the CDC's early test kits contributed to the United States' relatively low screening numbers. The administration has taken steps to make testing more widely available. With that additional information." Claim: The United States is "actually screening fewer people (for the coronavirus than other countries) because we don't have appropriate testing.

SOLUTION: The CDC has stopped publicly reporting the number of tests it's administered. So far, the United States has lagged behind other nations in terms of coronavirus testing. It has recently taken steps to ramp up its testing capabilities. Until recently, the U.S. had insisted that only the CDC's test could be used despite flaws in some early kits and that only certain patients could get tested.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: The Paris regional administration suspended the job of removing hazardous substances from the fire-ravaged Paris cathedral last month under pressure from labor inspectors concerned about health risks for workers. The administration had said that when the lead-removal work resumed, stricter safety procedures, new equipment and allowing much fewer workers inside at a time would "prevent any release of polluting elements to the outside." But representatives from environmental groups and the CGT union said at a news conference Monday they don't think the government safeguards go far enough. They asked for a regularly updated chart showing the level of lead in the air. Labor and environmental groups are also pushing for the creation of a medical center to monitor of firefighters, workers and residents. Paris Deputy Mayor Anne Souyris said updated measurements of lead levels are set for release on Tuesday. The decontamination work is scheduled to resume Wednesday, starting with the square in front of Notre Dame and adjacent streets, Souyris said. Hundreds of tons of lead that was in Notre Dame's spire and roof melted during the April 15 fire, which came close to destroying the cathedral. Lead levels remain elevated at some spots inside and in the soil of the adjacent park and forecourt, according to the Paris regional health agency. Those areas have been closed to the public since the fire. The environmental activists and union officials said they want a containment shield built over Notre Dame to keep more lead from being released into the atmosphere. "For the efficiency of the decontamination measures within the area, it is absolutely necessary that the site is confined", Annie Thebaud-Mony, co-founder of health and environment group Henri Pezerat, said. Notre Dame rector Patrick Chauvet acknowledged that lead can escape into the environment from a big hole in the cathedral's roof but ruled out building a containment shield before the decontamination work resumes. Paris authorities ordered new checks of schools and day care centers in the Notre Dame neighborhood and recommended blood tests for children under age 7 and pregnant women who live nearby. Children are especially vulnerable to health problems from lead poisoning and exposure. Claim: France: Groups want Notre Dame enclosed during lead cleanup.

SOLUTION: Environmental groups and one of France's largest labor unions called Monday for a containment shield and other safety measures to ensure decontamination work at Notre Dame Cathedral does not expose workers and residents to unsafe levels of lead.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: We won't require a discussion of costs in this story because the use of zoledronic acid for early stage breast cancer is still up in the air. However, since the drug is already being sold for other indications, the story would have been better if it had told readers something about the costs of using the drug for approved indications. The article accurately framed the only potential benefit documented by the AZURE study: that it might provide a recurrence and survival advantage among a subgroup of post-menopausal women and that this results is something to be studied further. The article accurately reported on the incidence of a serious side effect among the women taking zoledronic acid. The article accurately characterized the main conclusions of the study and the results of a secondary subgroup analysis. It also told readers that an earlier trial reached a different conclusion and that other studies are underway, thus helping make clear that these results are just part of a larger picture. The story emphasizedthrough the quote of an independent expertthat the subgroup analysis indicating older women with early stage breast cancer might get some benefit should lead to further research rather than changing standard practice now. There was no hint of disease-mongering in this article. The article quoted an independent source. It also addressed conflicts-of-interest among the researchers. The story did point out that the women in this trial did receive standard therapy (and it did so more clearly than the other story we reviewed), though it did not specifically say what that treatment entails. We will give the story a satisfactory rating since it is not clear that there is a proven alternative that would provide the type of recurrence and survival benefits seen in a previous study of zoledronic acid for early stage breast cancer. The article did not make it clear that the FDA has not yet approved zoledronic acid as adjunctive treatment for women with early breast cancer. The article made it clear that zoledronic acid is already in use for other applications. The article did not appear to be overly reliant on a news release. Claim: Bone Drug Zometa Flops Overall as Breast Cancer Treatment

SOLUTION:
This story offered a solid, informative overview of a randomized controlled trial called AZUREwhich assessed the benefits and risks of zoledronic acid as a treatment for early stage breast cancer. Its clarity, and cautious interpretation of this clinical trial, make it stand out in comparison with the other story we reviewed on this topic. The story accurately described the main conclusions of the study and did not oversell the promise of a subgroup analysis showing that zoledronic acid might give post-menopausal women a survival advantage. The story pointed out specific adverse events, including bone disease in the jaws of some women in the trial.It pointed out financial support from the pharmaceutical company that sells the drug being studied. The article wasn't perfect. It didn't explain the regulatory status of zoledronic acid for women with early breast cancer. It expressed the survival advantage of the subgroup of post-menopausal women in relative rather than absolute terms. But then so did the study summary provided by the drug company which sponsored the trial. Journalists have limited access to study information at meeting presentations. And the author of the Healthday article was careful to point out that the results of AZURE should be regarded as preliminary. Zoledronic acid and other bone-density enhancing bisphosphonates have been employed as treatments for osteoporosis and to prevent skeletal complications among women with metastatic breast cancer. However, their role in the prevention of recurrence among women with early stage breast cancer isn't clear. Animal studies suggest that bisphosphonates may have direct anti-tumor effects in bone. Proponents of zoledronic acid believe it may provide a significant advantage for women with early stage breast cancerin terms of recurrence and survival. But the results of studies in humans have been contradictory. A large randomized controlled trial from Austria (the ABCSG-12 trial) published in 2009 suggested that the addition of three years of zoledronic acid to hormonal therapy following surgery for early stage breast cancer provided a 32% advantage in disease-free survival, compared to subjects who did not receive this drug. All the women in the ABCSG-12 trial had chemically induced menopause. The AZURE trial attempted to confirm the benefits of zoledronic acid in a different study population, one that included both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer. AZURE and other trials are important not only to assess any benefits of zoledronic acid but also to study its adverse effectswhich include the potentially devastating side-effect of osteonecrosis of the jaw bone.