White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said she ’s frustrated that viral covid-19 “ myth ” like those scatter by the president and other high - visibility politicians continue toundermine public perceptionabout the severity of covid-19 , even now eight month into the pandemic after the virus has kill more than281,000 peoplein America .
Inan interviewon NBC News ’ “ touch the Press ” on Sunday , Birx recounted how she ’s visited communities across the country this yr to help oneself plan how to struggle the virus . aesculapian professionals on the frontlines told her they ’re still struggling to convince people to wear mask and practice social distancing , among other basic wellness care , to conquer the spread of the computer virus . But many government and local officials are sending sundry signals by flouting public guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies at a time when the U.S. is reporting more covid-19 grammatical case than almostever before .
“ Right now , across the Sunbelt , we have regulator and mayors who have display case tantamount to what they had in the summertime , yet are n’t set in the same policies and extenuation that they put in the summer that they get laid modify the course of this pandemic , ” Birx told the outlet . Though it was a virtual interview , she wear a face mask in accord withnew CDC recommendationsto wear masks at all fourth dimension when you ’re outside your home . The way updated its guidelineson Fridayand said the pandemic had entered a phase of “ high level transmittal ” in the U.S.
Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)
When the pandemic first peaked earlier this year , many states issued stay - at - home orders , look mask mandates , limits on gathering sizes , and other measures to keep the computer virus from spreading . However , that diligence has gradually have on away in some regions amid pressure from President Donald Trump and hisgovernment stoogesto counter to business as usual .
The effects have been obvious . The U.S. reported more than1 million new covid-19 casesin just five days this calendar week , and on Wednesday it set up a grim fresh record book for itssingle - worstdaily expiry price at 2,760 . America leads the world in covid-19 cases with more than 14.6 million . The CDC warn that thenext three monthsmay be “ the most unmanageable time ” in the country ’s public health account , and the nation ’s leading infectious disease expert , Dr. Anthony Fauci , has warned people againsttraveling for the holiday , which could circulate the virus and lead to more font spikes .
Trump ’s insisting on politicizing basic scientific fact has also hampered public perception about the pandemic ’s rigourousness because the line of thought process goes , “ if the president is n’t take this whole virus thing seriously , then why should I ? ” specially in the early months of the pandemic , the president and his team repeatedly contradicted the CDC about the efficaciousness of face mask for decelerate the computer virus ’ fan out and spouted such outrageous claims about potential coronavirus cures that multitude beganmisting themselves with bleachbecause , well , the president said it could work so why not ?
“ I hear community member parroting back those post , parroting back that masks do n’t work , parrot back that we should solve toward herd exemption , parroting back that gatherings do n’t result in super - spread event , ” Birx said . “ And I think our business is to constantly say those are myths , they are ill-timed , and you may see the evidence base . ”
This should all really be a no - brainer at this point , she continued :
“ We know what behaviors spread the computer virus and we know how to change those behaviors to stop spreading the virus … We have to listen the right way now to what we have it away workplace , which is masks , strong-arm distancing , and washing your bridge player . ”
As bad as thing are , they ’re only likely to get worse after Christmas . According tothe Associated Press , vehicle dealings on Thanksgiving Day this yr was only about 5 % less than in 2019 , and we ’re already commence to see case tallies spike after all this travel . Most Americans seem unwilling to forego their vacation get - together even if there is a pandemic raging .
“ Every state across this country needs to increase their mitigation and every state postulate to be critically informing their state population that the gatherings we saw in Thanksgiving will lead to a surge , it will come about this week and next hebdomad , ” Birx told NBC . “ We can not go into the vacation season — Christmas , Hanukkah , Kwanza — with the same kind of attitude that : ‘ Those assembly do n’t apply to me . ’ They apply to everyone , if you do n’t want to turn a loss your grandparents , your aunt . ”
President - elect Joe Biden has forebode to enforcestricter coronavirus guidelinesonce he takes office in January , such as issuing a face mask mandatory in Union legal power and asking the populace to wear face masquerade party for the first 100 days of his presidency , among others .
[ NBC News ]
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