U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Wednesday federal guidelines warning people to avoid crowds and stay at home if possible effectively serve as a country-wide “stay-at-home” order.
“My advice to America is that these guidelines are a national stay-at-home order,” Dr. Adams said on NBC’s “Today” program.
President Trump said this week he is extending those guidelines until April 30, but that he’s generally willing to let governors set the rules of the road for their own states.
More than a dozen states have yet to pass statewide lockdowns, though some localities in states such as Florida have approved their own limitations.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week that the White House coronavirus task force hasn’t recommended a statewide lockdown and that such a directive would “carry a lot of weight with me.”
Dr. Adams said governors have tough choices to make.
“But again, the most important thing is to stay at home, stay six feet away from each other — that’s how you slow the spread,” he said.
Dr. Adams also said the coronavirus task force is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look into whether the federal government should alter its guidance that healthy people do not need to wear protective face masks.
“Is there a possibility that we can use cloth mask[s] to allow people to start to come back together once they’ve gotten over their peak and flattened their curve? These are questions we have,” he said.
He said if people are going to wear some kind of face covering, they should try to avoid touching their faces and that people should save N95 masks for health care workers.
“Wearing a face covering does not mean that you don’t have to practice social distancing,” he said.
Members of the task force Tuesday said the U.S. could see between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths even if people practice the mitigation guidelines.
“Those projections are definitely sobering, but they don’t have to be our reality,” Dr. Adams said. “If we really do our part — stay at home, social distance — then we can flatten our curve even below those projections.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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