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Containment Efforts Show Progress as Coronavirus Curve Begin to Flatten
America’s fight against COVID-19 is beginning to show signs of progress.
Some of the country’s most notable hotspots are beginning to show signs of stabilization. New York, which is at the epicenter of the nation’s coronavirus crisis, reported its first daily drop in coronavirus-related deaths yesterday. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state also experienced a drop in ICU admissions. He also mentioned the discharge rate for coronavirus patients is “way up”. The governor said the drop in new cases was great news for New York. “You could argue we are plateuing,” Cuomo told an assembly of reporters at a briefing session on Sunday.
Several European countries also reported progress in their efforts to contain the virus. Germany reported the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases that it’s had over the past six days. Italy, Spain, and France also reported that containment efforts have started to slow the spread. Perhaps most the most encouraging reports came from Austria and Denmark, where both countries announced plans to begin rolling back restrictions beginning on Monday.
Progress Overseas
Here’s the transcript of Fauci on Face the Nation today. https://t.co/J9IiYbNWYK
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) April 5, 2020
Top White House health advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday to discuss the state of the coronavirus outbreak. Fauci told interviewers that the number of new cases could begin to stabilize this week. He, however, also cautioned that the country’s death toll will continue to rise even as the data is showing progress and the outbreak begins to stabilize.
“Even though you're getting really improvement in that the number of new cases are starting to flatten, the deaths will lag by one or two weeks or more, so we need to be prepared that even though it's clear that mitigation is working, we're still going to see that tail-off of deaths,” Fauci said in the interview. “So the first thing we want to look for is to see on a daily basis are the number of new cases starting to stabilize?” he continued.
Fauci says evidence exists, showing that the daily increase in new cases could be stabilizing in Italy. Additionally, he expressed hope that New York will soon follow. However, he cautioned that the next week is “going to look bad” because the country’s outbreak still hasn’t reached its apex. Fauci says the country’s numbers could turnaround within the next seven to nine days.
A Positive Outlook
President Trump also made a public appearance to discuss the state of the coronavirus outbreak last night. He also had a positive take on the recent data to come in. “We hope we’re seeing a leveling off in the hottest spots of them all,” Trump told reporters during a Sunday evening press conference. According to Trump, 1.67 million people have been tested for the virus in the U.S. He mentioned that the country is beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Dr. Deborah Birx, another top White House health official who helped lead the administration’s coronavirus response, also reported some optimism at the most recent data coming in from abroad. Birx addressed reporters alongside President Trump at Sunday’s press conference and said the administration is very hopeful that there will be a “stabilization of cases across these large metro areas where the outbreak began several weeks ago.” Dr. Birx also pointed out that the slowdowns in Spain and Italy have been “helpful signs” that social distancing guidelines are proving to be effective at slowing the virus’s spread. “It’s giving us hope of what our future could be,” she said.
President Trump and his coronavirus response team are cautiously optimistic that the outbreak could be slowing. However, they still believe the next two weeks could still be particularly grim for the U.S. The outbreak is expected to reach its climax within that time. Regardless, the recent reports from Europe and China show that the U.S. could finally be approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.
Hopefully, this first bit of good news marks the start of the outbreaks eventual turnaround.
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