US Health Officials Say Lock-Down May Be Imminent

The number of patients who have tested positive for the infectious coronavirus continues to spike and has now reached 535, with a death toll of more than 22 in the United States.

Coronavirus is now a worldwide health concern. Cases of individuals who are infected with the virus continue to rise in almost all parts of the world. The death-related cases also continue to surge.

U.S. health officials have now warned people that they should avoid traveling most especially to countries that have coronavirus cases and informed them that a possible regional lock-down may be declared if it is deemed necessary to control the spread of the virus.

The announcement was made after it was discovered that the virus has spread across 34 states in the country. Recently, Connecticut reported its first case and another patient who has the coronavirus symptoms surrendered to the authorities to be treated.

In recent reports it was stated that because of the increasing number of patients who are positive for the coronavirus, there are many schools across the country which have been shut down. That includes schools in Washington State, New York, California, and Oregon. It is also expected that other states will do the same in hopes of stopping the spread of coronavirus.

There have been different massive information dissemination on how to prevent and control the spread of the virus. The U.S. government is trying its best to control the spread of the virus that continues the rise.

However, for the U.S. leading expert on infectious diseases Dr. Anthony S. Fauci that the only way to stop the spread of coronavirus is to have a regional lockdown. He also advised that those who have a weak immune system, elderlies, and those who have health condition problems should stay at home and avoid to expose themselves in crowded places.

Fauci said: "I don't think it would be as draconian as 'nobody in and nobody out. But there'll be, if we continue to get cases like this, particularly at the community level, there will be what we call mitigation." He also added that the Trump administration is ready to take appropriate action if the virus gets worst.

Part of the plan in mitigating the virus is to restrict travels in the states in the country where the percentage of infected individuals and death tolls are very high. This means that there might be a temporary regional lockdown in some areas in the United States if COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has already suspended the U.S. army travels to and from countries where there are confirmed cases of COVID -19 like Italy and South Korea until May 6. There are more than 4,500 U.S. soldiers who stationed in these countries.

The U.S. State Department also released a statement that U.S. citizens most especially those who have health problems should not travel by cruise ship because there is a great risk of COVID-19 infection.

This is after few cruise ships were reported to have been carrying passengers who have COVID-19 symptoms.