Robert Redfield says that masks, hand washing, and social estrangement are key.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that “the most powerful weapon we have” against the new coronavirus is to wear face covers, wash your hands, and “be smart about social estrangement.”
“If we all did this rigorously, we could really get this outbreak back to where it should be,” Redfield told the Journal of the American Medical Association via video on Tuesday.
Coronavirus cases are emerging across the United States, from California to Texas to Florida. More than 3.4 million people in the country have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and more than 136.00 people have died.
For Redfield, an important key to controlling the pandemic is to wear masks.
“I really think if the American public embraced masking now and we really did, you know, rigorously … I think if we can get everyone to wear a mask right now, I really think about the next four to six eight weeks, we can control this epidemic, “said Redfield.
The CDC director emphasized that wearing a mask “is not a political problem, it is a public health problem,” calling it “personal responsibility” for everyone.
“I’m glad to see that the president is wearing a mask this week and the vice president is wearing it,” Redfield said. “We need them to lead by example.”
President Donald Trump wore a mask for the first time in public over the weekend on a visit to the Walter Reed Medical Center.
Looking ahead, Redfield said he is concerned about next fall and winter, when the flu season begins.
“I think the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021 will probably be one of the most difficult times … in American public health due to … the simultaneous occurrence of COVID and influenza,” he told JAMA.
Redfield stressed the importance of getting a flu shot, “because I believe that those two respiratory pathogens that affect you at the same time have the potential to stress our health system.”
Eric Strauss of ABC News contributed to this report.
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