Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner, said Sunday that Georgia has been “jumping the gun” by reopening some businesses as the nation continues to suffer from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
He told CBS News’ Face the Nation, “It’s going to take some time until we see sustained declines in new cases and get to the point where there’s a low enough level of spread in the country that we could feel comfortable about opening up parts of the country.”
“It’s going to be probably mid-May, maybe late May in parts of this nation,” Dr. Gottlieb added. “Georgia’s certainty jumping the gun I think here getting started too early relative to where they are in the epidemic.”
Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that he is easing restrictions on some businesses. He said he allowed gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys, and tattoo parlors to begin operating Friday but in compliance with health and safety requirements. He also said theaters and restaurants could reopen today.
President Donald Trump disagreed with Kemp’s decision and said he believes business “can wait a little bit longer.”
Dr. Gottlieb warned that reopening some business could increase the risk of infection and said Georgia is testing only 1% of its total population. Health authorities say that broad testing is extremely important to start easing some restrictions.
“Georgia’s certainly not out of the woods,” Dr. Gottlieb said, adding the state has nearly 23,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. “They may have plateaued in their epidemic maybe, but they’re still accruing a lot of new cases and they certainly aren’t coming down in terms of the number of new cases each day.”
Last month, the former FDA commissioner said it is unlikely life will return to normal until we have a vaccine. However, with the ouster of vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright from the administration, the nation’s ability to quickly develop a vaccine may have been impeded.
Dr. Bright was until last week the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). He said he has been ousted because he resisted Trump’s theory of treating COVID-19 with malarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.
Dr. Gottlieb said Dr. Bright was “very effective” in his role at BARDA.
“I think it was important to have continuity in that job and he was effective,” Dr. Gottlieb said. “He was a vaccine expert, so I was sorry to see him go.”
“I think changing leadership in that position right now certainly is going to set us back,” he continued. “It’s hard to argue that that’s not going to have some impact on the continuity and also make businesses, companies that need to collaborate with BARDA, a little bit more reluctant now to embrace BARDA now that there’s a cloud hanging over it and some uncertainty about the leadership.”
Dr. Gottlieb also criticized Trump’s speculation about injecting disinfectants to treat COVID-19. However, the president retreated his remarks and told reporters that he was being sarcastic.
“There’s no effective use of a disinfectant internally,” Dr. Gottlieb said. “And we should be very clear about that. Nobody should be using a disinfectant as an ingested agent, injecting it, eating it, in any fashion. These are deadly agents.”
“We see thousands of calls to poison control each year around people who consume, disinfect,” he added. “And so we need to be very clear about this, that nobody should be consuming a disinfectant. And they don’t work for the treatment of anything, let alone coronavirus.”
