The US surgeon general said Monday that the United States is about where Italy was two weeks ago in the coronavirus struggle, a sign that infections are expected to rise in America as the government steps up testing and financial markets continue to fall.
We are at a critical inflection point in this country, people," Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told Fox News. "When you look at the projections, there's every chance that we could be Italy." Yet he said the U.S. has opportunities to mitigate the public health crisis.
Two weeks ago, Italy had 1,700 cases of coronavirus and had reported 34 deaths. Now, Italy is reporting an estimated 25,000 cases and more than 1,800 deaths. About 3,800 cases have been reported in the United States and so far, more than 65 people have died from coronavirus. Although the numbers may not be directly comparable, the trajectory is, as Adams sees it.
Adam claimed the U.S. has "turned the tide" on testing, a critical part of tracking and containing pandemics, but whether that is true remains to be seen.
The U.S. effort has been hobbled by a series of missteps, including flaws with the testing kits first distributed by the federal government and bureaucratic hurdles that held up testing by private laboratories.
Adams said there will be 30 to 40 new testing sites running in 19 states that could each perform 2,000 to 4,000 tests a week. However, Brett Giroir, a senior health administration official, said community testing sites manned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and members of the U.S. public health service would be capable of testing 2,000 to 4,000 people each day, not every week.
He said the federal government would begin deploying these sites on Monday.
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Asked about the shortage of intensive care beds and supply of ventilators, which are used to treat patients with respiratory problems, Adams told CNN only that supplies were growing.
Vice President Mike Pence said he and the president would brief the nation's governors Monday on the expansion of testing. Also coming is updated federal guidance on restaurants, bars and other establishments. California and Illinois are among jurisdictions that have ordered restaurants and bars to close to help slow the spread of the virus.
Asked whether restaurants and bars nationally should close for now, Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said he wanted to wait for the guidance to come but allowed, That could be.
The worst is yet ahead for us, Fauci said. It is how we respond to that challenge that is going to determine what the ultimate endpoint is going to be.
As President Donald Trump worked to tamp down anxiety over the virus and called on people to stop hoarding groceries and other supplies, officials in Washington were preparing for what was expected to be a long-haul effort to stem the virus that has upended life around the globe.
Trump expressed satisfaction that the Federal Reserve announced Sunday it was taking emergency action to slash its benchmark interest rate to near zero. The move, intended to help the economy withstand the coronavirus, came a day after Trump once again threatened to fire or demote Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
The Fed made an emergency cut to its key interest rate, slashing it by a full percentage point to a range between zero and 0.25%. The central bank said it would stay there until it feels confident the economy can survive a near-shutdown of activity.
The Fed's move did not seem to calm markets. Stocks sank at Monday's opening, triggering a 15-minute halt in trading as investors worry the virus could lead to a recession.