The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus may slow down in the United States in the not-so-distant future, but that doesn’t mean life will go back to normal.
In an appearance on Sunday’s edition of Face the Nation, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CBS’ Margaret Brennan he expects a “slow transition” for society even if the epidemic peaks, as he expects, in late April and peters off in June. That’s because it could come back in the fall, so until there’s a vaccine “life’s never going to be perfectly normal.”
In the meantime, he said some antiviral drugs currently in trial look like they could be effective in combatting the virus, but he wasn’t ready to say that there’s any single development that’s been overwhelmingly convincing.
NEWS: @ScottGottliebMD says there’s no antiviral drug that is in proper trials that’s proven effective in preventing the #coronavirus
“Right now, there is no drug that looks like it’s proven so overwhelming in early stage clinical trials that we can say it’s highly promising. ” pic.twitter.com/CRzwVDaZZb
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 22, 2020
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who has been at the forefront of the pandemic, shared Gottlieb’s prediction that life will revert back to the way it was anytime soon. He rattled off a wide range of time, suggesting things may be altered for anywhere between nine and 12 months.
Cuomo during his daily preser. How long will this last?
“It’s gonna be 4 months, 5 months, 9 months….we’re in that range.”
“Start planning accordingly.”
“Life is going to go. Different. But life is going to go on.”
Stop hoarding. “The toilet paper is going to be there.”— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) March 22, 2020
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