WASHINGTON–The coronavirus has started to plateau in several states that have seen recent spikes like Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida.
“We’re already starting to see some plateauing in these critical four states that have suffered under the last four weeks,” said Dr. Deborah Birx the White House coronavirus task force coordinator said Friday on the “Today” show.
While that is encouraging, it doesn’t mean the battle is close to done, according to Alex Azar, U.S Health and Human Services Secretary and former Eli Lilly Executive. He spoke to both Fox News and CBS’ Face the Nation over the weekend.
“I just want to be careful. While Dr. Birx says we’re seeing signs of plateauing, we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s really important that people remain vigilant,” said Azar to Fox News.
Azar says there is a clear reason why the coronavirus is beginning to die down in those states.
“People are actually wearing their masks. They are social distancing. They’re engaging in good personal hygiene. The governors have closed some of these bars where you can’t social distance or wear a face covering,” says Azar.
He also tells CBS’ Face the Nation that we need to “restrict our indoor dining” as well.
“We know this works. The modeling shows those simple steps will lead to outcomes in terms of disease spread that is comparable to shutting down without all of the pain of shutting down,” says Azar. “If we comply as individuals and if we wear our masks, we can avoid further shutdowns. If we don’t, that will be the consequence.”
Azar also says it will be tough to secure funding for increased testing in the next round of coronavirus economic relief because funds for testing from previous bills are still being spent.
“Well, we got $25 billion of money in the previous acts, $11 billion of it for states. They’ve pulled down about $40 million of it so far. The president’s going to make sure that he works with Congress, that there’s adequate funding for testing. I’m going to leave it to the chief of staff and the secretary of the treasury who is negotiating with Congress now. But we’ll make sure there’s adequate money that meets the needs of this response,” says Azar.
Azar says we need treatments and vaccines as quickly as we can get them.
“We’re working to shave every day off the development and manufacturing that we can do. But we’re going to make sure that any therapeutic or any vaccine is safe and effective up to the FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration) gold standards,” says Azar.
The first Phase Three clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. started Monday. The potential vaccine, developed by biotech firm Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will be tested at around 100 locations. An estimated 30-thousand volunteers are taking part and will either get the vaccine or a placebo. The Moderna vaccine, which is backed by millions of dollars in federal funding, is one of 25 in clinical trials around the world.
