Dr. Marty Makary lays out how to safely reopen America
Fox News contributor Dr. Marty Makary weighs in as states begin rolling back restrictions.
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Fox News contributor Dr. Marty Makary said on Friday that a lockdown due to the coronavirus was essential over the past few months, but now a different approach is necessary.
“Since that time, we have data that has taught us that this infection is associated with public transit, with density, with mass gatherings, with city-to-city travel and it is associated with climate,” the Johns Hopkins professor told “Fox & Friends.”
Makary said that mitigation efforts, like social distancing and hygiene, can be “effective.” Makary used Florida as an example of a state that has the conditions to resist the spread of the coronavirus: high humidity and heat, open spaces, minimum use of public transit and lower population density.
He said Florida was not impacted by coronavirus nearly as bad as previous models forecast.
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On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said other governors who have implemented “really draconian, arbitrary restrictions” during the coronavirus outbreak have overstepped.
DeSantis made the comments on “Fox & Friends” in response to a question from host Ainsley Earhardt, who asked if he thinks that “some of these governors that are just doing a one-size-fits-all for the entire state” are “being too strict and going too far.”
“I don't think any governor has the authority to restrict anyone unless there’s a direct relationship to combating this virus,” DeSantis said in response, cautioning governors against acting like a "dictator."
The coronavirus had killed 1,827 of the 42,402 people infected in Florida as of Thursday, according to Florida’s Department of Health. Nine people have died and 333 people in Brevard County tested positive for COVID-19, according to data from the department.
Makary said that all reopening strategies are not “created equally” because it “probably” depends on the "local virus burden."
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“What we do know, [is that] there are safe ways to conduct activities in society if we use certain precautions and we probably need a targeted approach where we find areas where there is either an outbreak or an ongoing increase in cases, and use some of the more aggressive strategies in that particular location.”
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