Doctor issues stark warning to Congress: "Don’t just get up there and say this is a flu"
Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, warned members of Congress Thursday against minimizing the risks of novel coronavirus in the United States, calling it “the angel of death for older individuals.”
During the House Committee on House Science, Space and Technology, Oklahoma Rep. Frank Lucas asked what advice he could take home to the public to not prevent panic and instill reasonable steps to avoid spread.
“In an attempt to calm public fears, you’re hearing things like it’s a mild illness, this is like flu. It’s not really the case because this is an unusual virus. For many young people, especially, it is a mild illness, but we’re seeing some devastating things,” Hotez responded.
Hotez said he’s particularly concerned about first responders, health care workers and nursing homes, saying that when the virus entered the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, it “rolled through it like a train” and led to several deaths.
“This is like the angel of death for older individuals. We need to go back and support all of our nursing home — I don’t know what we’re doing wrong,” Hotez said. “Clearly that nursing home was not prepared for this, and I’m going to guess nursing homes across Oklahoma are not prepared, as well."
“Don’t just get up there and say this is a flu, this is a mild illness," he added. "One, it’s not true and people in Oklahoma are pretty smart and will figure that out pretty quickly. Second, explain what the risks are … and here are the steps that we’re doing to mitigate that.”
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