The elderly and people with underlying medical issues should suspend all their travel plans immediately and should definitely not get on a cruise ship as the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday.
"People with the underlying conditions need to distance themselves from crowds, not travel, not get on long air flights and certainly not get on a cruise ship," Fauci said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "If you look at the people who wind up getting into serious difficulty and even dying, that's very heavily weighted toward individuals with underlying conditions, particularly the elderly."
Further, he said the most important thing for Amercians to do is continue to pay attention to the evolving situation.
"There are things that we know and there are things that we don't know," Fauci said. "We know that the most vulnerable people in our society right now are those people with the underlying conditions ... if you are within that category now you should start distancing yourself from social functions where there are a lot of people."
Meanwhile, on CNN, Fauci would not say if he thinks Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, or Sen. Bernie Sanders, all of whom are over 70, are facing health risks by campaigning for president.
"They have made a commitment of their life to serve publicly, and that's what they're doing. There are just risks that people take," he said. "Each individual makes up their mind for their own safety. What I'm saying in general, for the general public, if you fall into that category, be careful. Don't put yourself at extra risk. But within that, individuals will make their own choice."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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