Comments from Scott Gottlieb on CNBC. Thinks unlikely for states to shutdown again this summer or even the fall and that the 20K cases a day is still a high number and these consistent outbreaks here and there will happen at that level. Thinks aggressive contact tracing and finding the source (activities that led to infection, not necessarily every infected person) of outbreaks is important. Doesn't think outbreaks in Houston/Phoenix etc..will get as bad as NYC because of more testing now but it still has the potential to become like that.
From the article:
States like Arizona, Texas and Florida that are seeing surges in confirmed cases, as well as spikes in hospitalizations, in some cases should be conducting aggressive contact tracing, Gottlieb said. Contact tracing occurs when trained personnel interview infected individuals to pinpoint where they were infected and to track down others who might have been exposed.
“We’re not going to be able to shut down the country again this summer. We’re probably not going to be able to shut down the country again this fall,” he said on CNBC’s “
Squawk Box.” “And so we’re going to need to try to isolate the sources of these outbreaks and take targeted steps. If we can’t do that, these will get out of control.”
Nationally, the virus continues to infect about 20,000 people each day, Gottlieb said, adding that it’s a higher rate of infection than many other countries that have grappled with large outbreaks. He noted that come the fall, other countries might place travel restrictions on Americans because of the high level of persistent spread.
In lieu of shutting down much of the economy and restricting movement again, Gottlieb said contact tracing and targeted responses will be key to the U.S. response.
Different states have made various commitments to contact tracing efforts and the federal government has yet to outline specific criteria that states should strive to meet, such as the number of tracers per 100,000 residents.
Gottlieb said that Arizona could take responsibility for contact tracing efforts away from the counties and centralize the effort under state leadership.
He added that the situation in Pheonix, Houston and other hot spots around the country is unlikely to become as bad as the outbreak in New York, “but it has the potential to.” The current hot spots have an advantage that New York didn’t, which is more widespread testing, Gottlieb said.
“This could quickly get out of control,” he said. “What these states need to do, what these cities need to do is good contact tracing, not to find every individual who’s infected, but to find the sources of infection, the activities that lead to the infection and take targeted mitigation steps.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/dr-...t-spots-could-quickly-get-out-of-control.html
