IDSA Experts Answer Important Questions Regarding Growing COVID-19 Outbreak
As the U.S. braces for the possibility of a widespread COVID-19 outbreak, IDSA spokespersons continue to provide credible information in order to educate and abate fear and panic through dozens of media interviews and appearances.
In a recent NBC News article, IDSA spokesperson Trish Perl, M.D., FIDSA, explained that understanding how the coronavirus is spread is central to containing the illness and keeping people healthy.
“I think the question is how quickly the new coronavirus will spread, and can we limit the spread long enough that we can bring in other interventions like vaccines,” Perl said. “We’d like to get more tools [at our disposal], should this spread more widely, so that the implications are just not quite as dramatic and devastating as they have been thus far.”
In that same piece, another IDSA spokesperson Amesh Adalja, M.D., FIDSA, discussed that there is no documented proof of coronaviruses spreading asymptomatically.
“We don’t have definitive evidence that that type of phenomenon is occurring" with the new virus, Adalja said. “There is some possibility that it’s occurring, but we haven’t seen that before with other viruses in the family, and so we have to kind of view any claims of that with a little bit of skepticism and they need to be properly studied.”
This is just one of the stories that IDSA and our member spokespersons contributed to. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the latest news and opinion pieces featuring IDSA, HIVMA and our members.
- CNBC: A coronavirus ‘super spreader’ was identified—what that means and what you need to know (Amesh Adalja, M.D., FIDSA)
- NPR: A Guide: How To Prepare Your Home For Coronavirus (Amesh Adalja, M.D., FIDSA and Trish Perl, M.D., FIDSA)
- Philadelphia Inquirer: The Coronavirus Seems To Be Mild In Most Children, But Scientists Are Not Sure Why (Andrew Pavia, M.D., FIDSA)
- Medscape: Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Good This Season, CDC Says (Amesh Adalja, M.D., FIDSA)
- BuzzFeed: Trump Put Mike Pence In Charge Of The Coronavirus Response. Public Health Experts Aren't Having It (IDSA Statement)
- Infectious Disease News/Healio.com: Trump Appoints Pence To Lead US Response To COVID-19 (Thomas File, Jr., M.D., FIDSA and Amesh Adalja, M.D., FIDSA)