HHS Secretary Alex Azar warns the US is still in the ‘early stages’ of the coronavirus outbreak and tells Americans to brace for ‘more aggressive containment efforts’
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar says there is no doubt the US will see an increase in coronavirus cases going forward
‘We’re going to see very aggressive efforts to try to mitigate and contain this situation,’ he told Good Morning America on Wednesday
The number of confirmed US cases has risen ten-fold in the past week
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 across 38 states and 31 people have died
State leaders have criticized the federal government and the CDC for their slow response to the outbreak, complaining about a shortage of test kits
Azar insisted that there have always been enough kits to test everyone suspected of having COVID-19
By MEGAN SHEETS
DAILYMAIL.COM
11 March 2020
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar has warned that the US is still in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak and says more aggressive containment efforts are coming.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US has risen ten-fold in the past week, sending thousands of Americans into quarantine and prompting the cancellation of numerous events that draw large crowds.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 people in the US have tested positive for COVID-19 across 38 states and the District of Columbia, and 31 people have died.
Azar, one of the top officials in the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak, says there is no doubt that the case count will continue to go up.
‘We’re still in the beginnings of the spread of the disease in the US,’ he told Good Morning America on Wednesday.
‘That’s why we’re taking such aggressive containment measures at the border as well as mitigation steps in local communities to try to slow the spread.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 people in the US have tested positive for COVID-19 across 38 states and the District of Columbia, and 31 people have died
“We are going to see very aggressive efforts to mitigate and contain” the coronavirus outbreak, @SecAzar tells @GStephanopoulos. https://t.co/0gmmeU8Fzn pic.twitter.com/NuVZgTsHMI
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 11, 2020
Azar continued: ‘We need to be really clear – we’ve been clear from the start – we’re going to see more cases.
‘This is virus, this will spread. We need to take steps to slow that, buy ourselves time.
‘Every day we buy is a valuable day in terms of spreading and that’s why aggressive efforts are needed and public cooperation is important.’
Azar said officials will continue ‘very aggressive efforts’ to contain the outbreak, including by prioritizing communities with a large number of cases.
Alarming clusters of the coronavirus swelled on both coasts on Tuesday, with more than 70 cases now tied to a biotech conference in Boston and infections turning up at 10 nursing homes in the hard-hit Seattle area.
New York officials are also struggling to contain a large cluster in Westchester County, where 108 cases have been reported after a lawyer who lives in New Rochelle and commutes to Manhattan for work became the second confirmed patient in the state.
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