Dr. Birx Predicts Social Distancing ‘Will Be With Us Through the Summer’
Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, on Sunday said Americans would probably need to continue social distancing measures through the summer.
“Social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another,” Birx said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. Dr. Birx indicated that social distancing would be strongly recommended even as states gradually lift closures on businesses.
“I’ve had really, very good conversations with a series of governors, and they’ve really been very insightful of how they’re looking at this,” Dr. Birx said when asked if she thought certain states were reopening businesses too early. “They understand the risk, and they talk about this not as turning on a light switch but slowly turning up the dimmer.”
Business closures instated to mitigate the spread of coronavirus have put over 26 million Americans out of work over the past several weeks.
Birx, however, said there was reason to hope that various outbreaks across the U.S. are slowing.
“If you look at these outbreaks over time and you look at places like Louisiana, if you look at Houston, if you look at Detroit, if you look at how they’ve reached their peak and come down and what those cases look like as they come down, it gives us great hope when you project out Boston and Chicago and certainly the New York metro,” she said.
