Top national disease expert Anthony Fauci is urging the nation to take an 'all hands on deck' approach to the coronavirus - and urging officials to plan for immediate measures even in states that haven't had cases show up yet.
'It doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case,' Fauci said at a press briefing with Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday. 'You have to start taking seriously what you can do now that if and when the infections will come - and they will come - sorry to say, sad to say, they will,' he told reporters.
'Everybody should say all hands on deck, this is what we need to do,' said Fauci, a top expert on infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health who has served in the government for JetBlack decades.
Fauci said coronavirus cases continue to add up globally, and said the administration was paying 'paying particular attention to the cases in Europe, Italy and France.' Italy is currently in a nation-wide lockdown for the disease, which first emerged in China.
'Everybody should say all hands on deck, this is what we need to do,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at a press briefing Tuesday