Surgeon General Jerome Adams updates Trump administration's efforts to fight coronavirus pandemic
Sun Belt states have seen a surge in COVID cases; Dr. Jerome Adams joins 'Fox & Friends' with insight.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Friday that a state’s strict lockdown measures or timing of reopening is irrelevant if Americans do not follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's social distance guidelines.
“What I am saying to people is that in some sense it doesn’t matter when you reopen if people don’t follow the measures that we recommended all along when you reopen,” Adams told “Fox & Friends.”
Adams noted that although California had the “strictest” lockdown measures, the state is still seeing a resurgence.
“What the message the American people need to hear is that we have the power to take control the spread of COVID if we take simple measures regardless of where you are when you reopen and that includes when you go out in public, staying 6 feet apart, at least whenever you can, and making sure you are wearing a face covering,” Adams said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday mandated face coverings in public in all counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases.
The governor also banned gatherings of over 10 people ahead of the July Fourth weekend, with certain exceptions.
In a statement, Abbott urged Texans to wear a face mask so that they could “keep Texas open for business.”
“We have the ability to keep businesses open and move our economy forward so that Texans can continue to earn a paycheck, but it requires each of us to do our part to protect one another — and that means wearing a face covering in public spaces,” the Republican governor said in a statement. “Likewise, large gatherings are a clear contributor to the rise in COVID-19 cases.”
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Adams said masks are “instruments of freedom.”
“I know a lot of people feel that they inhibit their choice in their freedom. But, if more of us wear these, we will slow the spread of these and we get back to worship, we’ll get back to work, we’ll get back to school sooner.”