During a Monday morning appearance on Fox News, Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged Americans to follow key health precautions to avoid the risk of the United States becoming the next Italy, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak outside of Mainland China. If Americans do take these measures, he explained, we could turn the situation in the right direction.
“We are at a critical inflection point in this country. People, we are where Italy was two weeks ago in terms of our numbers and we have a choice to make as a nation,” said Adams. “Do we want to go the direction of South Korea and really be aggressive and lower our mortality rates, or do we want to go the direction of Italy?”
“When you look at the projections, there’s every chance we could be Italy, but there’s every hope that we will be South Korea if people actually listen, if people actually social-distance, if people do the basic public health measures that we’ve all been talking about as doctors all along, such as washing your hands such as covering your cough, and cleaning surfaces.”
As The Daily Wire has previously reported, an Italian medical society has recommended that doctors in the country prepare to turn away patients based on age and the presence of other chronic medical conditions, which would elongate care and diminish medical resources more quickly.
As of last week, one Italian town was already turning away patients who were too old, and another town was refusing patients with coronavirus-induced pneumonia, reported The New York Times. The country, which has 60 million people, is currently on self-quarantine.
To reduce the likelihood of similar drastic measures taking hold in the United States, Adams advocates that people take precautions and follow “basic infection control and public health measures.” The surgeon general then told Fox News the two most important ways to stay safe from the coronavirus.
“I know people are tired of hearing me say it,” said Adams, “but the number one way to protect yourself from coronavirus is by washing your hands properly, for 20 seconds. The number two way is to stay away from people who are sick. Those are the two things that are going to get us out of this.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus expert, has been informing Americans that conditions will continue to get worse before they improve.
“The worst is yet ahead for us,” Fauci said in a press conference, reports the Associated Press. “It is how we respond to that challenge that is going to determine what the ultimate endpoint is going to be.”
The coronavirus expert has advocated that the United States consider a 14-day national shutdown to combat the epidemic.
Major cities across the country have begun the process of deciding which services to keep open, and which services to shut down.
On Sunday evening, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D-CA) ordered bars, nightclubs and dine-in restaurants to close until March 31, although to-go orders have been encouraged, reports the LA Times. Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has also instructed the state’s 5.3 million senior citizens to avoid public places.
According to The New York Times, New York City has announced similarly disruptive measures, including closing the country’s largest public school system for the foreseeable future.