Washington: The two top infectious disease experts on the White House coronavirus task force think social distancing measures appear to be helping but reminded Americans they are going to have a significant effect on how many people in the Unites States die.
“It’s communities that will do this. There’s no magic bullet (for Covid-19), there’s no magic vaccine or therapy, it’s just behaviors,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the task force. “Each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days.”
Cases and deaths are soaring: There have been at least 3,800 reported deaths in the United States — more than 800 of which were reported Tuesday alone. More than 185,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in the country.
Fauci also told Americans not to get discouraged when the number of deaths keeps increasing because other data will show mitigation is working.
Early clues — in places like New York, California and Seattle — indicate social distancing may be slowing the rate at which Covid-19 cases otherwise would have increased in the United States.
There are, however, signs that rates of case increases may have been slowed in some places. It’s too early to pinpoint why, though the signs have come after federal and state officials urged people to stay at home or avoid crowds.
