US Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the US can turn coronavirus around in '2 or 3 weeks if everyone does their part'
ecranley@businessinsider.com (Ellen Cranley)
IMAGES YOU SHOWED A VERY
US attorney for District of Columbia: We will use all resources to protect monuments
FOX News Videos
Scroll back up to restore default view.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday that the US could turn around novel coronavirus infections in two to three weeks if "everyone does their part."
"Just as we've seen cases skyrocket, we can turn this thing around in two to three weeks if we can get a critical mass of people wearing face coverings, practicing at least six feet of social distancing, doing the things that we know are effective," Adams said.
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday that the US could turn around novel coronavirus infections in two to three weeks if "everyone does their part" by abiding with official prevention recommendations like social distancing and facial coverings.
"So just as we've seen cases skyrocket, we can turn this thing around in two to three weeks if we can get a critical mass of people wearing face coverings, practicing at least six feet of social distancing, doing the things that we know are effective," Adams said.
After host Margaret Brennan pressed Adams on his previous warnings for Americans to avoid buying and wearing masks, he compared the advice he issued early on in the coronavirus pandemic to doctors who previously "prescribed cigarettes for asthmatics and leeches and cocaine and heroin for people as medical treatments" before they learned more.
"I was saying that then because of everything we knew about coronaviruses before that point told us that people were not likely to spread when they were asymptomatic," Adams said Sunday. "So the science at the time suggested that there was not a high degree of asymptomatic spread. We learned more."
Adams added: "We follow the science and when we learn more, our recommendations change. But it's hard when people are continuing to talk about things from three, four months ago."
"We need people to understand why they're doing it," Adams told Brennan. "And we need people to understand how they benefit from it, because if we just try to mandate it, you have to have an enforcement mechanism."
Several members of President Donald Trump's administration made the rounds on Sunday talk shows to sound off on the current state of the pandemic in the US, particularly as school districts across the US continue to grapple with plans for reopening in the coming months.
"We are all very concerned about the rise in cases, no doubt about that," Giroir said. "That's why we're meeting regularly, we're surging in assistance, but we are in a much better place."
"This is not out of control, but it requires a lot of effort and everybody's going to have to do their part," Giroir said, echoing Adams.