Dr. Birx: Social Distancing Is Absolutely Critical; If You Can’t, You Must Wear a Mask

RUSH TRANSCRIPT
RADDATZ: But — but — exactly, but you said Friday that people can go out to beaches this weekend as long as they stay distanced, but when you look at the images of these large crowds at beaches on Saturday, at outdoor restaurants, water parks, not keeping social distance. Does this still make you confident that reopening beaches and parks was the right call?

BIRX: I think it’s our job as public health officials every day to be informing the public of what puts them at risk. And we have made it clear that there’s asymptomatic spread. And that means that people are spreading the virus unknowingly. And this is unusual in the case of respiratory diseases in many cases. So, you don’t know who’s infected.

And so we really want to be clear all the time that social distancing is absolutely critical. And if you can’t social distance and you’re outside, you must wear a mask. These are items that really critical to protect individuals.

We’ve learned a lot about this virus. But we now need to translate that learning into real changed behavior that stays with us so that we can continue to drive down the number of cases.