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‘Pearl Harbor, 9/11 moment’: US health officials’ grim warning over Coronavirus

President Trump had earlier warned of a ‘very painful’ two weeks as the United States wrestles with a Coronavirus surge that the White House warns could kill as many as 240,000 Americans.

‘Pearl Harbor, 9/11 moment’: US health officials’ grim warning over Coronavirus

A visibly distraught woman leans against a wall outside of Wyckoff Hospital in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn April 5, 2020 in New York. (Photo: AFP)

US governors on Sunday appealed to the White House for a national strategy against the fast-spreading COVID-19 coronavirus, as deaths surged and health authorities warned the coming week could resemble a “Pearl Harbor moment.”

The US death toll was creeping toward the grim milestone of 10,000 as the pandemic’s epicenter in New York racked up hundreds of lives lost a day and hospitals girded for an influx of new infected patients.

Anthony Fauci, the senior American scientist battling the pandemic stateside, warned of a looming “escalation,” saying Americans should prepare for “a bad week.”

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“I will not say we have it under control,” Fauci told CBS Sunday. “That would be a false statement.”

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams sounded an even more dire alarm.

“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,” he told Fox News.

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9-11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized.”

Most of the nation is under shelter-in-place orders, but nine states have yet to issue such regulations, while the federal government has declined to mandate anything on a national level.

Adams noted that the nine states without orders were producing much of the US food supply.

Still, he pleaded with state leaders to urge residents to stay home for at least the next seven to 10 days: “There is a light at the end of the tunnel if everyone does their part.”

Sunday night the White House aimed to emphasize progress in the fight including plans to send hundreds of thousands of masks to counties in New York, but could not sugarcoat the difficult weeks ahead.

“We all know that we have to reach a certain point, and that point is going to be a horrific point in terms of death,” President Donald Trump said at his briefing.

The Coronavirus death toll in hardest-hit New York state rose to 4,159, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, up from 3,565 a day prior.

It was the first time the day-over-day toll had dropped — on Saturday it hit a record 630 deaths in 24 hours — but Cuomo told journalists it was too early to tell whether that was a “blip.”

New York’s peak could arrive over the next week, he said, though he cautioned it was unclear if the apex would be a point, followed quickly by a decline, or a lingering plateau.

The state has now reported 122,031 confirmed infections — roughly one-tenth the worldwide total.

Cuomo said he aimed to shift patients away from already overburdened hospitals to others with more capacity and equipment.

“I can’t say to a hospital, I will send you all the supplies you need, all the vents you need. We don’t have them,” he said, referring to life-saving ventilator equipment. “You are going to have to shift and deploy to different locations.”

The governor said rapid testing, still out-of-reach, was key to a “return to normalcy,” while reiterating appeals for equipment including ventilators from other states as well as from the federal stockpile.

Cuomo vowed to return the favor as the virus spreads elsewhere — New Jersey, Michigan and Louisiana are all emerging hotspots — saying that New York could offer a strategic blueprint.

Between last Thursday and Friday, the United States recorded nearly 1,500 deaths from COVID-19 coronavirus, the worst 24-hour death toll globally since the pandemic began last December.

As the death toll crossed 7000, US President Donald Trump announced new guidelines on Friday recommending that Americans wear face coverings while in public to battle the spread of the coronavirus pandemic but made it clear that he is “choosing not to do it”.

President Trump had earlier warned of a “very painful” two weeks as the United States wrestles with a Coronavirus surge that the White House warns could kill as many as 240,000 Americans.

Top health experts have said that the decision to maintain strict social distancing was the only way to stop the easily transmitted virus, even if this has caused massive disruption to the economy with three quarters of Americans under some form of lockdown.

(With agency inputs)

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