#HHS Sec. Azar says ‘window is closing’ to curb coronavirus surge

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US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar
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The secretary of Health and Human Services said Sunday the “window is closing” to curb the surge of coronavirus cases — and encouraged all Americans to follow the government’s guidelines about social distancing and mask wearing.

“So we’ve got the tools to do this … but the window is closing. We have to act, and people as individuals have to act responsibly. We need to social-distance. We need to wear our face-coverings if we’re in settings where we can’t social-distance, particularly in these hot zones,” Secretary Alex Azar said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview Sunday.

Azar said that in many southern states where the virus is spiking — including Florida and Texas — the majority of the cases are people under 35, and a large number of those will be asymptomatic.

“We’ve got our fatality rates and our hospitalization rates are the lowest they’ve been in two months, but this is a very serious situation,” he said.

Azar said the administration is working with local authorities and states to understand why the virus is surging in certain areas.

He noted that treatments like steroids and Remdesivir are now available for COVID-19, and encouraged people who have had the virus to donate plasma to increase the supply.

He said the surge in cases isn’t about which states have reopened or are reopening their economies.

“We’ve got many communities in states that are just as reopened as these southern states but aren’t experiencing this,” Azar said.

“We’ve got to get to the bottom of why we’re seeing these cases surge in this area, but at its core, we all own as individuals, our individual behavior to make sure that we are practicing appropriate social distancing and wearing facial covering when we’re not able to, and practicing good personal hygiene and especially protecting our most vulnerable citizens.”

Asked by host Chuck Todd why President Trump doesn’t wear a mask, Azar said Trump is constantly tested.

“The president, we know, is a very unique circumstance as leader of the free world. He’s tested constantly and those around him are tested constantly and they’re kept at a distance even with that,” he said, adding that people should follow the administration’s guidelines on how to combat the coronavirus.