As people notably flouted social distancing guidelines regarding the coronavirus pandemic over the weekend and President Trump claimed to “see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that this week will equate to “a Pearl Harbor moment.”
Adams called on the nation — particularly the governors who haven’t yet issued statewide stay-at-home orders — to at least “give us a week” of restrictions as health officials continue to battle an accelerated number of infections and deaths.
“The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, it’s going to be our 9/11 moment, it’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives,” Adams told CNN Sunday. “And we really need to understand that if we want to flatten that curve and get through to the other side, everyone needs to do their part.
“I tell people we aren’t going to treat or supply our way out of this problem,” he said. “There is no magic bullet or magic cure. It’s good, old-fashioned public health and prevention.”
The official U.S. death toll surpassed 10,000 Monday, with nearly 350,000 confirmed cases across the country, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.