Over the weekend, the White House coronavirus task force said Americans should try to avoid the grocery store and pharmacy over the next two weeks as the outbreak is expected to get worse.
The NY Post reported on Saturday, White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx said at a press conference that over the next two weeks Americans need to be careful.
“This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe,” Birx said, according to the Post.
The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded 300,000, with the death toll climbing past 8,400; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in the state of New York. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump warned that the country could be headed into its “toughest” weeks yet as the coronavirus death toll mounts, but at the same time he expressed growing impatience with social distancing guidelines and said he’s eager to get the country reopened and its stalled economy back on track.