White House Coronavirus Official Says Effects Of Social Distancing Won ’t be Seen For 7 to 14 Days

In an interview with the TODAY Show on Tuesday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Americans likely won’t see the effects of social distancing for seven to 14 days. Social distancing, or deliberately avoiding contact with other people, has been a crucial part of the government’s effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus. Tuesday morning, TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie asked Birx about Surgeon General Jerome Adams’s comment on on Monday that “this week, it’s going to get bad.” “Do you agree, and in what way, what should people expect?” Guthrie asked. “What we’re seeing in the hospitals now are people who most likely got exposed and sick more than 2 weeks ago. So you’re seeing what was occurring two and three weeks ago,” Birx responded. “The things we have put in place over the last eight days and what the Mayor and Governor [of New York have] done over the last seven days, you won’t see the impact of that for at least another seven or 14 days.” She stressed that it’s not always best to look at hospital rates to determine whether efforts are having an impact epidemiologically. Over the past week, schools, businesses and religious centers across the U.S. have closed in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. The White House issued guidelines last week to work from home, avoid social gatherings of more th...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Desk Source Type: news