Surgeon General on coronavirus mitigation efforts: 'It's really go time'

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Surgeon General: Critical every American follows guidelines to slow coronavirus spread

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams weighs in on the spread of the virus and what should be done to combat it.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams encouraged the public Tuesday to heed the advice of health officials and practice social distancing in a nationwide attempt to flatten the curve of the coronavirus outbreak.

"It's really go time," Adams told "Bill Hemmer Reports". "What we want America to understand, [is] we've got to focus on mitigation efforts for about the next 15 days, [and] that means everybody sacrificing a little bit."

Adams said that the United States’ mortality rate from the virus is similar to that of Italy “two weeks ago," but expressed faith in the public to take the necessary precautions to put the country on a trajectory similar to that of China and South Korea, who have seen a drastic decline in new cases.

"They [China, South Korea] leaned into aggressive mitigation efforts such as social distancing, closing down schools, making sure people were working from home or not working," Adams said.

"We have a choice right now... do we want to be like South Korea and China... or do we want to be like Italy and Iran?"

— Dr. Jerome Adams, "Bill Hemmer Reports"

He continued, "We have a choice right now, do we want to be like South Korea and China in terms of flattening and going down, or do we want to be like Italy and Iran? I want America to understand, this is critical, we are at a critical inflection point and ... we want everyone to really do their part to help us over the next 15 days."

Adams emphasized that while the elderly and people with underlying illnesses are much more vulnerable to the virus, millennials and young people -- who appear to have a hard time obeying calls for social distancing --  can easily transmit the disease to those in high-risk categories.

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"It's important for people to know that the average age of individuals across the globe who needed medical attention is about 60, the average age of death is about 80...so that's why we're telling people with underlying medical conditions, [and] who are older, that they are especially at risk," Adams said.

But, he added, "They've got to get it from someone... so younger people going out to bars, going out to restaurants and movies, still getting together in large gatherings, can transmit this disease back and forth to each other and may not be symptomatic but may actually take it home to nana and pop-pop."

Now that the number of new people infected with the coronavirus in China is slowing down, Adams said the U.S. can look to them as proof that although it might be "painful... [but] if we do the things we know work from looking at other countries, this will only take a few months to hit our peak...but then we'll start to see things get better."

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"If we don’t," he added, "then we could be Italy or Iran."

Asked to provide an approximate timeline of the duration of the virus, Adams said it depends on the public and their adherence to precautions advocated by public health officials, but emphasized that a lasting solution will begin with those at "the community level."

"We have a choice to make. W want to see more people come together, we need our millennials especially, younger people to understand that they are transmitting the disease, the older people are at risk but the young people are the transmitters," he reiterated.

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"This is going to take everyone coming together, workplaces, places of worship, schools, all ages, all generations."

Adams also said he is "convinced America is going to do the right thing."

"I'm convinced we will lean into this and we are looking at weeks to a few months before we have our peak and are able to start coming back down."