Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Tuesday he did not see White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's January memo warning the administration of the dangers to the United States of the impending coronavirus epidemic, but stressed that preparations were "going on the entire time" after the news of the deadly virus started developing in China.
"I joined the task force later, but there were preparations going on the whole time," Adams told NBC's "Today." "I can tell you within HHS, Secretary (Alex) Azar, from the time this started developing in China, was looking at the stockpile, trying to come up with plans. There was work going on behind the scenes."
In a memo dated Jan. 29, Navarro warned the coronavirus outbreak could wind up costing the United States trillions of dollars while putting millions of Americans at risk, reports The New York Times. The document marked the most direct warning that is known to have circulated throughout the White House.
The novel coronavirus "humbled many of us," said Adams.
"I ran a state health department for three years (and) I've been in public health for 20 years," he said. "We've been saying for decades this is possible. When you look at SARS, MERS, the situations we've dealt with, many people at all levels just did not expect something like this to happen at this magnitude. There are many lessons learned."
At this time, he added, he's focusing on what Americans can do to protect themselves.
"The good news is we're seeing many places across the country level out their hospitalizations, their ICU admissions, their death rates," said Adams. "We know mitigation works. I want people to focus on what we need to do in the next two weeks to flatten the curve and slow death rates."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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