Top Trump official says country safe to reopen as governors stress social distancing
"This is about simple epidemiology," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said it’s safe to reopen the country because half of the counties reporting “haven’t had a single death” and more than 60 percent of all COVID-19 cases are in just 2 percent of the reporting counties.
“That’s why the local leaders need to lead this,” Azar said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Azar said he was not overly concerned by images of people congregating at bars and other places without staying six feet apart or wearing masks.
“I think in any individual instance you are going to see people doing things that are irresponsible,” he said. Azar emphasized, “we’ve got to get this economy open and our people out and about, working and going to school again.”
In states such as Georgia and Ohio, where 90 percent of the economy is open, “we are not seeing a spike in cases,” Azar said.
He stressed that surveilling people with symptoms and responding with contact tracing and isolation are key to controlling a potential spread.
Azar suggested infections and death seem higher in the United States because it has done more testing and reporting, even though many experts say the country’s slow rollout of testing in the early stages helped the outbreak spread.
He went on to say more Americans were at risk of dying from the virus because of demonstrably higher rates of underlying conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
“This is about simple epidemiology,” Azar said.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening advisory board is expected to release a report on its four-phase approach to gradually relaxing restrictions Monday, which is the same day that the stay-at-home advisory and nonessential business closure order are scheduled to expire. And while the Republican governor announced new mandatory safety standards for businesses earlier last week, it remains unclear what businesses and activities the report will allow to resume, or when.
In a technical fix, Baker did announce Friday that the business closure order and stay-at-home advisory — which were set to expire at midnight Sunday — will be extended 24 hours, through the end of Monday.
But the governor gave no indication of what his plans were beyond that. During a press conference Friday, he said officials would have “a lot more to say” about the stay-at-home advisory Monday.
Nik DeCosta-Klipa of Boston.com contributed to this report.
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