A top US health expert said the United States has now entered a “new phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic, with cases rising in urban as well as rural areas.
Dr. Deborah Birx, one of the key members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, told CNN that the pandemic is extremely widespread and it is now in a different phase from March and April.
To fight the ongoing crisis, public health officials have worked with politicians to offer tailor-made responses in each community. Dr. Birx said that some mitigation efforts have begun to show positive results.
She said, “But I want to be very clear. What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. So everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus and that is why we keep saying, no matter where you live in America, you need to wear a mask and socially distance.”
So far, in the United States, the virus has sickened more than 4 million and killed over 158,000 people.
The health officials’ recommendations have remained the same for months. Many Americans are still attending large social gatherings and refusing to face coverings despite a growing number of new coronavirus cases.
Dr. James Phillips of George Washington University Hospital said there should be stricter measures.
He said, “I’m concerned that the complacency that we’ve seen with coronavirus has led to these mass gatherings and a general disagreement with the science. People aren’t wearing masks, they aren’t distancing.”
Nearly 40 states have mandatory mask orders in place, while about 30 states have put a hold on their reopening plans and imposed new restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. However, some states are trying to reopen schools and colleges.
Dr. Phillips said, “What I’m concerned about primarily is the fact that we haven’t controlled this virus in a serious way, we’re seeing rises in a lot of states and now we’re talking about reopening schools and colleges in the midst of that which I think is going to compound our problem significantly.”
Dr. Birx said school reopening will have to be done carefully. She said some states that have reported a recent surge in new cases should stop cases first and then allow students to get back to classes.
She said, “If you have high caseload and active community spread, just like we are asking people not to go to bars, not to have household parties, not to create large spreading events, we are asking people to distance learn at this moment so we can get this epidemic under control.”
Dr. Birx also urged people to avoid events that can easily spread the virus.
“If we are still going to parties at home, even though the bars are closed, if we are creating interactions where we know it’s not safe, because there’s multiple people there, and you don’t have masks on and you’re not socially distanced, you can assume it’s not super spreading individuals,” Dr. Birx said. “It’s super spreading events, and we need to stop those,” she added.
