6:46 p.m. ET, February 27, 2020
Former top US health official urges preparation for coronavirus pandemic
From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer today that he couldn’t comment on a whistleblower in the Department of Health and Human Services who contends HHS workers handled coronavirus evacuees from Wuhan, China, without the proper protective gear until he reads the complaint.
Instead, Frieden stressed what other top health officials have been saying for the past week, that the virus is going to spread in the US.
“The bigger picture here is it has become clear over the past few days that a pandemic is inevitable. What’s not certain is how severe it will be. There are mild pandemics, moderate and severe,” Frieden said.
He said the Trump administration’s request for $2.5 billion to fight the outbreak is key.
“What we can do now is prepare in the society, generally, in our health care settings, in the government – and one of the key things to track in this next week is what happens with the supplemental funding for this, because that will determine how robust the US response can be.”
By the numbers: A 15th case of the coronavirus, confirmed in a woman in California on Wednesday, could potentially represent the beginning of the virus’ spread in the community, something the CDC has been warning about for weeks.
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