Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that the White House coronavirus task force will announce Monday “broad recommendations for the public” on how to behave to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
“You’re gonna see some advanced updated guidelines tomorrow,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top health official on the White House coronavirus task force. He signaled the guidance would resemble what is currently going on in several European countries: namely the closing of restaurants, bars, schools and the like.
President Donald Trump briefly addressed reporters at Sunday’s briefing, touching on his teleconference with grocery store executives and new Federal Reserve rate cuts, before leaving and allowing Vice President Mike Pence to lead the briefing.
The news comes on the heels of several states taking advanced measures to contain the spread of the virus. Both Illinois and Ohio announced Sunday that all bars and restaurants will be closed for the foreseeable future. California is allowing restaurants to remain open but all nightclubs, bars and wineries will close.
#BREAKING California Governor Gavin Newsom orders all bars, nightclubs, wineries, pubs, etc across the state to close. Restaurants to remain open, must reduce capacity.
— Greta Wall (@GretaLWall) March 15, 2020
Video and images across social media showed people in many large cities not heeding the guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on social distancing.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also called on Trump to mobilize the Army Corps of Engineers to help with the high number of patients flooding New York’s emergency rooms.
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 14: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the press briefing room at the White House on March 14, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump also told reporters he was tested for the novel coronavirus Friday night but did not reveal the results and said he did not know when he would get them. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“We are looking at a new war that nobody has seen before,” he said Sunday. “We have never fought a virus before like this with this potential consequence.”
Fauci said earlier Sunday morning that “Americans should be prepared they’re going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing.” (RELATED: Here’s A List Of How Every Country In The World Is Responding To Coronavirus)
“I like to be criticized when I say ‘oh, you’re being too overreactive.’ That’s good for me,” he added, signaling he was in favor of a federally mandated 2-week quarantine. “You know, I would prefer as much as we possibly could. I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting.”