White House coronavirus coordinator warns people of second wave if they start going out

WASHINGTON — Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Wednesday that there are encouraging signs that parts of the U. S. may be flattening their curves but she warned that people shouldn’t start going out and socially interacting.

In an interview with Savannah Guthrie on the “TODAY” show, Birx said that California and Washington state began social distancing very early and said their curves are “persistently flat and that’s very encouraging.”

New York and New Jersey, meanwhile, had a “logarithmic rise in the number of new cases,” she said.

“We're seeing that stabilizing and that gives us great encouragement,” Birx said.

Birx acknowledged a rising death toll, however, but said that those numbers reflect the people who were infected by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, two to three weeks ago, before some of the strict guidelines were implemented. Still, she said that a number of metro areas are still struggling.

“What's really important is that people don't turn these early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread — it's really critical,” she warned. “If people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a very acute second wave very early.”... (Read more)

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