By Sandy Fitzgerald (NEWSMAX)
Further lockdowns are not needed to stem the climbing numbers of coronavirus cases because the majority of infections are coming from person-to-person gatherings, not from the schools and businesses that would be shuttered under mandatory shutdown orders, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Friday.
“All of our measures have to be guided by evidence in science, not just assumptions,” Azar told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “Data tells us that our universities, our K-12 schools have not proven to be major vectors of disease transmission.”
In addition, workplaces, businesses, and airlines have not been proven to be where the disease is overwhelmingly transmitted, he said.
“[That is] because we have leadership at each institution working with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance putting good controls in place to ensure people wash hands, watch their distance, wear face coverings when they can,” said Azar.
But informal gatherings are increasing as the weather gets colder, and the same trend is happening in Canada and Europe with the COVID-19 spikes, said Azar.
“That means when we have house gatherings we’ve got to be vigilant,” he said. “We advise people please exercise extra caution. You can get that from family members and neighbors.”
Azar said that thanks to President Donald Trump’s leadership, several important milestones have been delivered this week, including a vaccine from Pfizer that has been shown to be more than 90% effective in stopping COVID-19.
Further, a partnership with the networks of several national pharmacies will help distribute developed vaccines at first to the nation’s most vulnerable citizens starting in December, and then by the end of January, enough will be available for all senior citizens, healthcare workers, and first responders, said Azar.
And by the end of March, there will be enough of the vaccine for all Americans, said Azar, pointing out that 90% of the nation’s citizens live within 5 miles of a pharmacy.
The Pfizer vaccine, though, must be stored at subzero temperatures, but the military, the drugmaker, and distribution channels have worked out how to care for the large quantities of medication that will be coming.
