WASHINGTON–As many as 200,000 people could die from the coronavirus in the United States in the coming months. That is the projection from the White House Coronavirus Task Force and America’s top health experts.
On Wednesday morning, U.S. Surgeon General and former Indiana State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams told NBC’s The Today Show those numbers are sobering, but they don’t have to be our reality.
“If we really do our part, then we can flatten our curve below those projections. Stay at home. Social distance,” says Adams.
17 states do not have stay-at-home orders. Indiana is under a stay at home order. Adams was asked by Today Show Co-Anchor Savannah Guthrie if every state in the United States should have a stay-at-home order.
“We want people to understand the importance of social distancing. We live in a nation that has a system of federalism and the governors get to make the decisions, but we’re going to give them the best possible guidance we can. That’s to stay home and social distance,” Adams said.
Guthrie then asked Adams if there was a good reason for a governor to not have a stay-at-home order.
“Governors have tough decisions to make. They have to decide whether or not they feel their citizens will listen to them without a stay-at-home order, but again, the most important thing is to stay at home and stay six feet away from each other. That’s how you slow the spread,” Adams said.
Adams says there have been some encouraging signs in other states.
“States like Washington and California along with countries like Italy. When they leaned into aggressive mitigation, they have been able to flatten their curve,” says Adams.
But that does not mean things are going to immediately change after the next 30 days of social distancing guidelines.
“In my opinion, I think in 30 days we will still be telling the country that you need to practice these measures. We’ll start to ease in 30 days some places, but in others, we’ll be ramping it up,” says Adams.
President Trump extended social distancing guidelines until April 30. Those include recommendations to avoid large crowds and work from home.
Cover Image by Vektor Kunst iXimus from Pixabay