At Monday’s White House briefing, President Donald Trump announced new guidelines to combat the novel coronavirus COVID-19
“My administration is recommending that all Americans, including the young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible,†said President Trump. “Avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people. Avoid discretionary travel. And avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants, and public food courts.
Two medical doctors on White House Coronavirus Task Force asked the public to heed the guidelines. Both were concerned millennials wouldn’t take the restrictions seriously.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the task force, called millennials the “core group that will stop this virus.â€
“They intuitively know how to contact each other without being in large social gatherings,†said Dr. Birx. “We’re asking all of them to hold their gatherings to under 10 people, not just in bars and restaurants, but in homes.â€
She added, “We really want people to be separated at this time, to be able to address this virus comprehensively that we cannot see, for which we don’t have a vaccine or a therapeutic. The only thing we have right now is the amazing ingenuity and compassion of the American people.â€
Dr. Anthony Fauci with the National Institutes of Health of the United States asked the public to read the new guidelines carefully. He defended them as being “well thought out.â€
“When you’re dealing with an emerging infectious diseases outbreak, you are always behind where you think you are if you think that today reflects where you really are,†he said. “
“That’s not word speak,” said Dr. Fauci. “It means: If you think you’re here, you’re really here because you’re only getting the results; therefore, it will always seem that the best way to address it were to be doing something that looks like it might be an overreaction. It isn’t an overreaction. It’s a reaction that we feel is commensurate, which is actually going on in reality.â€
Photo Caption/Credit
President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, delivers remarks at a coronavirus update briefing Monday, March 16, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen)