Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called the coronavirus outbreak "this generation's 9/11 without a doubt," but he also cautioned against overreacting in trying to respond to it on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.
"When you're in the chair, first reactions when you're dealing with a lethal virus," Johnson said, giving as an example imposing a shelter-in-place order in a city the size of New York, "are not always the best reactions. We can have an overreaction.
"By the time you think through all the exceptions you would need to impose a 'shelter in place' order to keep this city running, the exceptions would absorb the rule and you'd quickly become consumed by the complexity of it all," he said.
Johnson stressed, "we have to fight the urge to come up with a 'one size fits all' solution. I think this has to be state by state, community by community, depending upon the nature of the demographics, the population, the workforce."
When asked if he advocates for a shelter-in-place order, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin said he is very concerned by "seeing a doubling of cases now every four days."
He emphasized, "We do need to consider getting more aggressive. I think a shelter in place needs to be very geographically determined, but we cannot afford to sit idly by and to watch ourselves turn into Italy."
Shulkin added, "Our hospital leaders right now in the private sector are doing an incredible job in preparing, but we are going to see staff shortages, equipment shortages" and the country's leadership must make every effort to stay ahead of the game.