Dr. Deborah Birx said during a recent visit to North Dakota that she is disappointed with the lack of masks used within the state, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
What’s going on:
Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, recently visited Bismarck, North Dakota, to meet with business and governmental leaders to talk about the coronavirus responses, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
She said North Dakota had the lowest public use of masks she has seen during her visits through the country.
- “Over the last 24 hours as we were here and we were in your grocery stores and in your restaurants and frankly even in your hotels, this is the least use of masks that we have we seen in retail establishments of any place we have been,” Birx said, according to the Bismarck Tribune. “And we find that deeply unfortunate because you don’t know who’s infected and you don’t know if you’re infected yourself.”
- She didn’t name specific places. She said, “we like to get out to a lot of places.”
Birx urged people to wear face masks and practice physical distancing when possible, according to the Bismarck Tribune.. She also called for young people to get tested for COVID-19 after social gatherings.
- “If you’re in a public space, out of respect for each other, you should be wearing a mask because you could be infected not knowing you are infected,” she said, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
A ‘very different’ spread
Birx recently warned Americans about the ongoing coronavirus surge across the country, which experts believe to be a piece of the fall and winter spike, which I wrote about for Deseret News. She said the current spread is “very different” than what Americans have seen before.
- “The spread of the virus now is not occurring so much in the workplace as people have taken precautions,” Birx said. “It’s happening in homes and social occasions and people gathering and taking their mask off and letting down their guard and not physically distancing.”