Hit pause on reopening in states slammed by coronavirus surge, Fauci and Birx urge
Two top White House officials in the coronavirus fight say it may be time for states hard-hit by a resurgence of the virus to put reopening efforts on hold.
Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House pandemic response, said Wednesday that officials in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona need to ask people to “stop going to bars, to close the bars, to move to outdoor dining, to decrease indoor — any kind of indoor gatherings again,” KSBY reported.
Birx identified those four states as being in the “red zone” for a surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, according to the station.
She suggested people in those states go back to limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people, KSBY reported.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also called for a hold on efforts to reopen California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, The Hill reported.
“I would think we need to get the states pausing in their opening process, looking at what did not work well and try to mitigate that,” said Fauci on Thursday, according to the publication. “I don’t think we need to go back to an extreme of shutting down.”
On Wednesday, Fauci had said states with surging coronavirus cases “should seriously consider shutting down,” The Washington Post reported.
But on Thursday Fauci said shutdowns “would not be viewed very favorably,” The Hill reported. “I would hope we don’t have to resort to shutdown,” he said.
Fauci urged people in states hard-hit by coronavirus to wear masks, maintain social distancing and wash their hands frequently, according to the publication.
Arizona, California, Florida and Texas now account for 50% of the new coronavirus cases in the United States, CNN reported.
More than 12.1 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 551,000 deaths as of Thursday, July 9, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 3 million confirmed cases with more than 132,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
