Dr. Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, on Wednesday warned that some recent positive trends amid the outbreak shouldn’t cause Americans to start congregating and dismissing federal guidance on avoiding crowds.
Dr. Birx was asked if she anticipates that the U.S. death toll could come in lower than recent White House projections of between 100,000 and 240,000.
“We’re very hopeful because of the seriousness [with which] the American people have taken these guidelines,” she said on NBC’s “Today” program.
“What’s really important is that people don’t turn these early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread,” Dr. Birx said. “If people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a very acute second wave very early.”
There are about 400,000 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 12,900 coronavirus-related deaths, according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University.
But officials in New York and New Jersey, the two hardest-hit states, have said hospitalization numbers have shown signs of leveling off in recent days and weeks.
Dr. Birx had said last week that the U.S. death toll could be between 100,000 and 200,000 people even if Americans almost uniformly followed federal guidance to avoid crowds and stay at home if possible.
In a separate interview Wednesday, she said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would likely be releasing new guidelines soon for asymptomatic workers in “critical jobs.”
“It looks at degree of exposure and really [makes] it clear that exposure occurs within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes,” she said on “CBS This Morning.”
“If you’re in a work situation where you have to be, there [will] be a series of recommendations that if you had a significant exposure what specifically to do and if you’ve had a [lesser] exposure what to do,” Dr. Birx said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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