Coronavirus testing czar: US is in ‘much better place than we were in April’

Adm. Brett Giroir, the White House’s coronavirus testing czar, said Sunday that the U.S. is in a “much better place than we were in April” in regards to the coronavirus pandemic, though the rise in cases is concerning.

“We have surge teams, [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] teams, response teams all going to places. We’re in a much better place for our [personal protective equipment] across the board. We have new treatments,” Giroir said on ABC’s “This Week.” “So, look, we are all very concerned about the rise in cases, no doubt about that. And that’s why we’re meeting regularly. We’re surging in assistance. But we are in a much better place.”

.@GStephanopoulos: “Can you say we are in the good place?”

“We are all very concerned about what the virus is doing right now,” testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir says, but adds, “We are in a much better place than we were in April,” pointing to testing, PPE. https://t.co/i5tuANHRb5 pic.twitter.com/EeTJR1I0pD

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 12, 2020

Testing capacity is also up, Giroir said.

“We have enough right now to identify where the hot spots are. But once you identify it, you’ve got to do something. And the do something are the measures we just talked about: wear a face mask, physically distance, wash your hands, et cetera,” he said.

Giroir, an assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, said he expected both hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 to increase in the coming weeks, but added that the medical system has better tools now for dealing with coronavirus than it did several months ago.

{mosads}He also said “everything should be on the table” to limit the spread of coronavirus. That includes the possibility of more stringent lockdowns, he said, but the two most crucial and immediate measures should be closing bars and limiting capacity in restaurants.

“This is not out of control, but it requires a lot of effort,” he said. “And everybody’s going to have to do their part. And you know what you’re going to ask me. And that is, you really got to stop the bars. You have got to decrease restaurant capacity. You have got to physically distance.”