White House: We Need the American People’s Help to Fight Coronavirus

April 01, 2020 by Alec Stone MA, MPA, Former ONS Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy

With almost daily public briefings (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/), the White House is taking a more aggressive approach to communicating updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus (https://www.coronavirus.gov/) to the American population.  

Bringing in public health experts (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/ons-advocates-for-patients-and-oncology-nursing-at-white-house-briefing-on-covid-19) and federal agencies with authorization and experience in epidemics, the White House is illustrating the importance of adherence to social distancing and state stay-at-home mandates. 

“If all of us can take these important steps requested by the president over the next two weeks, then we can be confident that we will get through this, and we will see a better, healthier future for America,” Vice President Mike Pence said. 

Pence added that all Americans must do their part to change the way they interact in public, maintaining social distancing and staying at home when ordered. The communal effort is intended to slow COVID-19 transmission and prevent overwhelming the healthcare system with more critically ill patients than beds, respirators, and providers to care for them.  

“In the fight against the coronavirus, the Trump administration is not just taking a whole of government approach, but a whole of America approach,” Pence said. “Over the next two weeks, there are actions (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/index.html) that every American can and should take to help us slow the spread of the coronavirus. If we succeed in limiting the number of new cases, then we can dedicate more resources to the most vulnerable and save lives.”  


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