This a sensible warning….
The risks to healthy and young people is NOT the same as to others…
The media and Trump admin is NOT relaying that effectively to Americans…
The virus IS expected to continue spreading…
A usable vaccine is about a year and a half in the future…
The government’s top infectious disease expert on Sunday said that the coronavirus outbreak is getting worse and warned elderly and sick people to think twice before traveling or circulating in crowds.
The remarks from Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signaled a change in tone from health officials representing the Trump administration, making it clear that the outbreak is past the point where it can be prevented from spreading or easily tracked. That contrasted with the more measured language from some Trump officials including Vice President Mike Pence.
Health officials dominated the Sunday morning shows — a change from last week, when Pence and HHS Secretary Alex Azar made a series of appearances to discuss testing for the virus and other aspects of the administration’s response.
“If you get infected, the risk of getting into trouble is considerable, so it’s our responsibility to protect the vulnerable,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “When I say protect, I mean right now, not wait until things get worse, say ‘no large crowds, no long trips, and above all, don’t get on a cruise ship.'”
Fauci noted many of the newly confirmed cases showed signs of “community spread,” meaning they couldn’t be traced back to a single source and suggesting the outbreak is intensifying.
Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon who leads the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that healthy people should go about normal daily activities but noted, “If you are not healthy, think very seriously about attending places where there are crowds.”….
Image of Dr. Anthony Fauci …Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases….Politico
The World cannot just stop….
Italy on Sunday launched a complicated and urgent plan to restrict the movement of roughly 16 million people, a measure that unleashed confusion about how it could be enforced and whether it would be enough to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The plan to lock down large swaths of the north was the first major attempt by a democracy during the coronavirus crisis to radically halt the routines of daily life — an effort that will have significant impacts on civil liberties. But in the hours before and after the measure became law, people continued to stream out of the northern hubs of Milan and Venice on trains and planes for southern Italy or elsewhere in Europe.
Sunday, then, provided the first glimpse of a coronavirus lockdown, European-style — a test of how the open-borders spirit of this continent might change as countries grapple with the scale and risks of the disease.
As the day went on, it became clear that Italy was not trying to impose anything close to the absolute movement restrictions that have been enforced by China. Some analysts pointed out that even limited movement outside Italy’s north risked further spreading the virus, and for the first time a European Union leader — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis — suggested Italy’s government needed to do more to interrupt the flow of its citizens across the bloc’s borders.
“Italy should ban all its citizens from traveling to Europe,” Babis told Czech Television on Sunday. He said Europe was unable to take its own action because its Schengen rules allow movement across borders without passport control.
Other European countries have insisted that borders remain open. It was unclear whether either scenario would help stop the outbreak from spreading as cases multiply throughout the continent….
More…
The Boston Globe
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Ted Cruz staying at home for 14 days after exposure to man with coronavirus
Taegan Goddard
@politicalwire
Two GOP Lawmakers Will Self-Quarantine https://politicalwire.com/2020/03/08/two-gop-lawmakers-will-self-quarantine/… via
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