Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday the Trump administration hasn’t taken national travel restrictions or mass closures “off the table” amid the coronavirus crisis.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Azar said there has not been “sufficient spread in the United States” at this point.
“Right now, it's important for people to understand we're not advising any types of particular measures in the United States like travel restrictions or closures,” he said.
“State or local public health offices, which are the frontlines of response, might make their own decisions to do that. But at this point, we do not have sufficient spread in the United States that would indicate those measures. But we're not taking any of them off the table. The full range of options will always remain on the table.”
Azar warned the nation will have “more community cases — it’s simply just a matter of math,” and that HHS has already tested 3,600 people.
“The risk to average Americans remains low. We are working to keep it low,” he said, adding: “We cannot make predictions as to how many cases we'll have, but we will have more and we will have more community cases. It's simply just a matter of math.”
“We've already tested over 3,600 people for the virus,” he added. “We now have the capability out in the field to test 75,000 people. And within the next week or two, we'll have a radical expansion even beyond that of the testing that's available.”
Rhode Island health officials confirmed the state’s first case of coronavirus on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported, signaling a widening spread of the virus a day after the first death in the U.S. was reported in Washington state and the White House imposed additional international travel restrictions.
The Rhode Island patient, the 25th confirmed local case in the U.S., is a person in their 40s who had traveled to Italy in mid-February, the state health department said in a press release. Officials said they are working closely with the hospital where this person is being treated.
Azar conceded that there’s “one drug shortage” because of the virus’ massive effect on China, where many drugs are manufactured, but downplayed its impact.
“This is a drug in a class where there are many, many, many alternatives available,” he said, refusing to name which drug it is. “It's a generic drug. Very available.”
Azar said it remained unclear how the first American to die of coronavirus contracted the disease, and that there was no evidence he had a connection to someone who had traveled to an outbreak area.
Federal and state officials were continuing to investigate how the individual - a Washington state man in his 50s with underlying health conditions - was exposed to the virus, Azar said.