Negative COVID-19 tests are not enough protection to make sure families will be safe if they are gathering for their Thanksgiving dinners, so further precautions are necessary to keep everyone safe, Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned Tuesday.
"It takes on average five days, but up to 14 days after you have been exposed to have symptoms," Adams said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Let's be real. I would rather be around someone who just had a negative COVID test. But a negative test yesterday or Sunday doesn't mean that you are safe tomorrow. It doesn't mean that you can relax your precautions."
He added that he's urging people to follow his "three W's:" wearing a mask, washing your hands, and watching your distance.
"We need to be very cognizant of the severity of the moment," said Adams. "A quarter of all of our coronavirus cases this year have occurred in the last month. Forty states are seeing cases go up, and those cases are trending into hospitalizations and deaths. You may not be able to go in and get your heart attack treated. I have heard hospitals not being able to provide care for pregnant women because they are filled with COVID beds. That's the reality."
But there is also hope, said Adams, because science has done "tremendous work" this year.
"We are literally going to start vaccinating vulnerable people within the next couple of weeks," said Adams. "We have Regeneron. We have new remedies out there. But we just need you, the American people, to hold on just a little bit longer and it's not too late to have a safe holiday celebration."
He also encouraged people to do all they can to limit their exposure to people who don't live in their immediate household.
"You should also tell people at higher risk, older people, chronic medical conditions, look, let's do it next year. Keep it small this year. Let's keep grandma safe," said Adams.
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