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US can't rule out second lockdown despite Trump's resistance, says Deborah Birx

President Donald Trump recently said that he will not close the country even if there is another wave of Covid-19
PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2020
Deborah Birx (Getty Images)
Deborah Birx (Getty Images)

As America eases stay-at-home measures, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx does not want to rule out a second lockdown in case of another wave of infections in the US. This comes even as President Donald Trump recently said that he will not close the country even if there is a second wave of Covid-19. Dr Birx left open the possibility of recommending a second shut down in the nation if there is another major outbreak, saying it is difficult to tell if she could see the country shuttering again. "It's difficult to tell and I really am data-driven, so I’m collecting data right now about whether governors and whether states and whether communities are able to open safely," said Dr Birx when asked if she sees the US closing down again during an interview on  ABC's 'This Week'.

"I think we're trying to learn right now very carefully about how you reopen safely. You know, we act like we've actually done this before, and besides 1918 and 1919, we’ve not ever closed parts of America, and even then, the whole country wasn't closed. We're trying to understand during this period of coming out of the closure, how do we maintain openness and safety? And I think that's what we're going to be learning through May, June, and July," said Dr Birx. The expert said that the US is "preparing for that potential fall issue, both in PPE, which is protective devices both in ventilators, stockpiles and ensuring that we're really pushing on therapeutics and vaccine developments so we can be ready if the virus does come back in a significant way".

Dr Birx, however, said that proactive testing needs to be in place and must continue because that will determine safely remaining open in fall. She stressed that the US has to do much better with proactive testing, and not just count the number of tests that the country has done. "That’s great, but really ensure those tests are being applied in a way that we find the asymptomatic cases. It is much easier to find symptomatic cases because people are sick. And when people are sick, they’re often not out and about, particularly if they have a severe case of Covid-19 with high fever. What I’m worried about is, what are we putting in place to find asymptomatic cases?,” she said. Dr Birx said that this is the reason the US is emphasizing 100% testing of all residents and workers, as well as proactive ongoing testing of workers in nursing homes before they reopen for any kind of visitation. "Proactive testing where people are living together in large groups, whether they're living together to serve a meatpacking plant or agricultural workers, or transport it together. We know all of these pieces are what we call risk for super-spreading events. I really want to call them 'events' rather than targeting individuals because individuals are unknowingly spreading the virus," she added. 

Dr  Deborah Birx says that proactive testing needs to be in place and must continue because that will determine safely remaining open in fall (Getty Images)

Dr Birx also said that it is critical to wear a mask in public places if one is unable to social distance. She stressed that while people have learned a lot about this virus, one needs to translate that learning into changed behavior that stays with them so that the US can continue to drive down the number of cases. "I think it's our job as public health officials every day to be informing the public of what puts them at risk. And we have made it clear that there's asymptomatic spread. And that means that people are spreading the virus unknowingly. This is unusual in the case of respiratory diseases in many cases. So, you don't know who's infected," said Dr Birx. She added, "So we really want to be clear all the time that social distancing is absolutely critical. And if you can't social distance and you're outside, you must wear a mask."

At another interview, Dr Borx reiterated that it is important that Americans wear masks in public when they are less than 6 feet apart from each other. "There’s clear scientific evidence now by all the droplet experiments that happen and that others have done to show that a mask does prevent droplets from reaching others. And out of respect for each other, as Americans that care for each other, we need to be wearing masks in public when we cannot social distance. It's really critically important, we have the scientific evidence of how important mask-wearing is to prevent those droplets from reaching others," Birx told Fox News. 

When questioned if she wishes that Trump wore a mask from a safety and a public messaging point of view, Dr Birx said that the President did wear a mask while he was less than 6 feet in an occasion where that was important. "I am not with him every day, and every moment, so I don’t know if he can maintain social distance. I have asked everybody independently to really make sure that you are wearing a mask if you cannot maintain the 6 feet. I am assuming that in a majority of cases, he is able to maintain that 6-feet distance," she said. 

As of May 25, over 1,643,240 coronavirus cases have been reported from across the US and more than 97,700 have died in the Covid-19 pandemic, shows data compiled by Johns Hopkins.

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