The possibility of all U.S. schools being closed to stop the spread of coronavirus was not ruled out by the secretary of Health and Human Services.
But Secretary Azar emphasized to Newsmax that any such closure would be accomplished at the “state and local level” and was now purely in the “contingency” stage.
“There is a whole continuum of mitigation steps that one can do in the event of an epidemic, an outbreak, or eventually if there were ever a pandemic situation, a range,” Azar told us on Friday.
Pointing out that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had ordered Japan’s schools to be closed to deal with the epidemic, we asked Azar if it was possible the U.S. government would take a similar step.
Azar did not rule it out.
“Of course, every option needs to be on the table as we assess the situation,” he said.
But, he quickly added, “it depends really on what circumstances we end up facing, if we end up seeing community transmission, if we end up seeing larger-scale community transmission.”
Azar added that what the Administration is “trying to do is just be very transparent with you all and with the public to get our mental frame around that there are things that you might see. That doesn't mean you will see [them]. Many contingencies happen before you get there, but it's just being realistic and understanding you might see various things in the armamentarium.”
The HHS chief emphasized that most of the contingency measures “actually are state and local.” Noting that the last time a secretary exercised the federal quarantine authority “until I did in January” was 50 years ago, “it doesn't mean that in 50 years nobody has been quarantined in America.”
“We quarantine all of the time, especially tuberculosis cases,” Azar said, “We do voluntary home isolation all the time. It's done at the state and local level, in partnership with the [Center for Disease Control] or independently, as they take these measures.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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