Former director of the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Tom Frieden, says the country is not doing enough to keep the Covid-19 pandemic at bay.
“We may be sick and tired of staying home, but the virus is not tired of making us sick,” Frieden told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.
Frieden is currently the CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the global public health organization Vital Strategies.
The increase in the number of cases in parts of the US USA It is not the result of the country running more tests, as some Republicans have argued, including President Donald Trump. Instead, the numbers are increasing because there are more diseases and it is spreading, Frieden said.
“The US response is lagging behind,” Frieden said. “We are not doing what we must do to stay physically distant. We are not across the country expanding contact tracking as effectively as necessary so that we can prevent cases from exploding into groups and outbreaks. ”
Frieden compared the United States’ response to that of South Korea.
“The facts don’t lie,” Frieden said. “There are 120,000 Americans killed by this virus. There are, at last count, 270 who died for it in South Korea. “
According to a count by Johns Hopkins University, South Korea has reported 281 coronavirus deaths, while the United States has seen more than 121,000.
Countries around the world have lower infection rates because they are better for testing, tracking, and isolating people who are sick, Frieden said. He believes there must be a better national response in the United States.
In the absence of an adequate national response, there is something that individuals can do to keep case numbers low, he said.
“Remember the three W. Wear a mask, wash your hands, look at your distance,” Frieden said. “If you do these three things, we can keep the virus at bay.”
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