Q&A WITH THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL
Dr. Jerome Adams discusses precautions and outlooks for fall with The Highlander* AKASH BALENALLI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARINA QU NEWS EDITOR & DESIGNER
The Highlander: In the D.C. area, what’s the greatest threat that the virus still poses? U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams: We know that D.C., Maryland and Virginia are the three leading areas, and the DMV area overall is the leading area in the country in terms of cases. Most everywhere else, outside of small outbreaks and clusters, is trending down, but we’ve just been surprised at...how resistant the DMV has been to leveling off. We still are trying to figure out why that is. We know a lot of it is related to the fact that we have many essential workers in our area... We also are just an area where a lot of people come in and out from the rest of the country...so it’s a place that is ripe for importation of new cases of coronavirus. It’s critically important that we’re aware of our data, that we are particularly aware of how we can protect ourselves and that we are vigilant about doing the things that we know will keep ourselves and our communities safe and slow the spread. Do you have any concerns with Virginia starting to reopen? I do have concerns when you look at the data... We want to see a downward trend in cases—we don’t want people reopening if case counts are going up. We want people to have hospital capacity, so that if they do see new cases, they have the ability to take care of these people without denying them a ventilator or denying them a bed. We also want to make sure they have the public 2 | NEWS | JUNE
FAMILY TIES — U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and his wife, Lacey Adams, have three children in FCPS: Eli, an 8th grader at Longfellow Middle School, Millie, a fourth grader at Spring Hill Elementary School, and Caden, a freshman at McLean High School. (Photo courtesy of Lacey Adams)
health capacity to be able to test people and to be able to do case contact tracing... That’s the way they contain disease... It’s not a light switch. It’s not one day you’re closed and the next day you’re open. It’s how do we gradually reopen in a data-driven and evidence-based way so that we protect as many people as possible as we reopen our country?
I DO THINK SCHOOL WILL OPEN IN THE FALL IN MOST PLACES. I DON’T THINK IT WILL LOOK LIKE SCHOOL HAS TRADITIONALLY LOOKED FOR US.” -DR. JEROME ADAMS U.S. SURGEON GENERAL Under what conditions do you think schools will open? Do you think it will happen by fall? I think schools will reopen in the fall in most places in the country. That’s just my personal opinion. I think it’s important that we think through how we make that happen... We want to make sure we’re acknowledging the public health tenet of physical and social distancing. We don’t want everyone crowded together in a tight space that is likely to spread coronavirus. We want to make sure we have the opportunity for people to practice good
hygiene, so you’re going to see a whole lot more hand sanitizer... We may even see staggered school. Many places have already put into place plans where instead of everyone coming back to school all at once, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Group A goes to school, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday—and yes, there are some places that are looking at Saturday school, too—you will have Group B go to school. That will better allow for social distancing. I do think school will open in the fall in most places. I don’t think it will look, in most places, like school traditionally has looked for us. But I do think we’ll gradually work our way back to normal with social distancing, with good hygiene and by protecting the vulnerable. One of the other concerns that we have is that it’s one thing to acknowledge that young people actually are much lower risk for coronavirus than older people, but it’s a very different topic of discussion to consider the fact that many of our teachers who have to be there and teach actually fall into the atrisk categories in terms of being older and in terms of having chronic medical conditions. So it’s not just about the students—it’s about everyone who has to be there for reopening the school, including your cafeteria workers, the security officers, your custodians, your
*This interview took place on May 27; it has been edited for space
