- Well, we are joined now by United States

Surgeon General, and member of the

White House CoronavirusTask Force, Jerome Adams.

General Adams, thank youso much for being with us.

- It's great to be here.

- Well, some have called theCOVID outbreak an equalizer,

affecting every class and creed.

New data, though, paintsa startling picture

that shows black Americansare at a higher risk.

- Yes.- Why is that?

And how do you address thatin the middle of a crisis?

- Well, thank you for that question,

and this is somethingwe've known all along.

We've known that the impoverished,

folks who are disadvantaged,and communities of color

have suffereddisproportionately from diseases

for as long as we've beenrecording the stats on diseases,

whether it's heart disease,diabetes, lung disease,

and unfortunately, weknow that the risk factors

that I just mentioned actually put you

not just at higher risk forpremature death before COVID,

but they put you at higherrisk of death from COVID-19,

and so that's one of the reasons

that minority communitiesare more at risk,

because they are more likelyto have these diseases,

and it's why we need toaddress them specifically

in those communities,but the other concern

is that many people froma minority background,

particularlyAfrican-Americans and Latinos,

live in multi-generational households.

They can't social distance at home

the way other folks can,

and they work in jobsthat pay hourly wages,

and don't allow you to tele-work.

Many more of them work for the government.

There are bus drivers,there are security guards,

and so again, they can't tele-work,

and they can't do the things that we know

prevent this disease from spreading

in terms of staying sixfeet away from other people,

staying at home right now.

- Well, we know not every jurisdiction

is recording mortality by race,

and you say that data collectionis critically important

in fighting the pandemic.

Is the federal governmentpushing for every municipality

to collect that information now?

- We absolutely are,and we always have been.

Again, one of thechallenges is that this data

has to make it from the local level

all the way up to the federal government

so we can look at it,

so your coroner has tocode a death directly.

Your hospital worker,who's busy dealing with

someone who's actually dying,

has to actually code that correctly

or code that dischargediagnosis correctly,

and so we're working with state,

local, and federal partners,

to try to make sure wecan collect that data

and figure out where theproblems are occurring,

but the key point here is that

people need to understand, noone is immune to this disease

and communities of colorare particularly at risk.

That's why it's important,especially in those communities,

that they follow these

30 days to Slow the Spread guidelines,

including practicing good hygiene,

avoiding large gatherings, andstaying at home if you can.

More critical in communities of color

and the African-American community

than in even other communities.

- Dr. Adams, I'm gonnaask you about antibodies.

I know there's a pushfor testing to determine

how many Americans may beinfected with coronavirus

but asymptomatic.

Why is that importantand when can we expect

to see more of that kind of testing?

- Great question again.

We know that there is diagnostic testing,

which means if you're sick or we think

that you've been exposed, wewant to find out right now

so we can isolate you.

There's surveillancetesting, which is when

we're just going out in the public

and really testingpeople to find out, hey,

you don't have any symptoms,but we want to make sure

we understand what the rate of disease is

in this community, and thenthere's antibody testing,

which is looking backwards.

It's saying did you have the disease

at some time in the past?

That's important becauseit will allow us to put

healthcare workers, frontline workers,

back to work and to putpeople in a position

where they can be safe,

because we know that onceyou have the disease,

there's a 99% chance that you're immune

and that you actually won't get it again,

and so we would rather putyou in a emergency room

taking care of COVID patients

if we know you've already got antibodies

than if we feel that you may be

susceptible to the disease.

- Dr. Adams, the CDChas issued new guidance

for essential workers who

may have been exposed to COVID-19.

What's included in the new guidelines?

- Well, important for people to know

that this is for essential workers,

essential critical workers,

and the challenge that we're dealing with

is that when you look atthe New York City data,

20, 25% of their police force was out

because they'd been exposed to someone

who had COVID-19, and theprevious recommendations were

if you'd been exposed to someone,

you needed to self quarantine for 14 days.

Well, what we've said now,and this is based on the data,

and we had the CDC, it took us awhile,

because we wanted to make sure we weren't

putting people in danger, but if you

take your temperature, if you wear a mask,

if you practice social distancing at work,

if you make sure youaren't sharing headsets,

or sharing food with other people at work,

we feel like you cango back to work safely,

and if you start to become symptomatic,

you should go home immediately

and call your healthcare provider,

but that's the way to tryto get our frontline workers

back out there so that they can continue

to support us as we'redoing the right things

by staying at home.

- You yourself have said you see a light

at the end of this tunnel.

How should Americans moveforward with that mindset

when we know many placesacross the country

still have yet to seetheir hardest hit days?

- Well, good point,

and every place is gonnabe on a different curve,

but we now know whatthat curve looks like,

and we know what we needto do to flatten the curve.

Washington, California were the first

to really focus on mitigationefforts aggressively

in staying at home, and theyhave flattened their curve.

New York and New Jersey,coincident with the time

that they instituted stayat home recommendations,

now are seeing their curvestart to be flattened,

and so we are optimistic.

South Korea and China are reopening.

Italy and Spain were hardhit, and they're on the

down sides of their curve, so we know

that these things work ifeveryone cooperates with them,

and we want people to know that

New Orleans is gonna hit their peak

at a different time than New York.

They're gonna hit theirpeak at a different time

than Washington or California,

so it's important thatwe continue to test.

It's important that we do the things

that we know will flatten that curve

whenever that peak hits.

- In the fight against opioids,

you partnered with faith communities.

This, of course, is Holy Week.

What are your recommendationson how people of faith

can play a part in all of this?

- I love that question.

I myself am a Christian, grew up Catholic,

and Holy Week is very special to me.

I remember going to churchall throughout the week,

and it's really tough notto be able to go this week,

but I would tell people of faith,

I don't think it's a coincidence

that this is happening at this time.

During this week, we celebratethe ultimate sacrifice

that was made for us.

God sent his only son to die for us,

and it was sad, initially,

but then we saw salvationat the end of it.

It is very sad this week when we're seeing

record numbers of peopledying all across the country.

People are sacrificing by staying at home,

but the salvation at the end

is that we are startingto flatten the curve.

We are starting to see that these things

actually are somethingthat is working for us,

and so I would tellpeople to stay the course.

I would tell them to pray for each other.

I would tell them to lookout for their neighbors.

Social distancing doesn't haveto mean social disengagement.

You can still call, you can still Skype,

you can still FaceTime.

As a matter of fact, now more than ever,

it's important that we makesure our food pantries are full,

that our support systemsare actually still there,

because we don't want peopleto be harmed by being isolated.

- A little bit of apersonal question for you.

You're a physician,

you're a father ofthree, you're a husband.

You've worn many hatsthroughout your career,

and you've seen and treated many things.

We know you're working around the clock,

so personally, how are you holding up?

- Well, thank you for that question,

and I'm hanging in there.

I worked at a Level One trauma center

for the last decade, so I'm used to doing

24, 36 hour shifts, but the thing is

usually you get to go homeafter the end of that,

and get some sleep.

We've been working non-stop,and I would ask your viewers

and your listeners to please pray

for the public health workers.

Please pray for the healthcare workers.

Please pray for the public servants.

Please pray for the grocery store workers

and the delivery people out there,

who are actually puttingtheir lives on the line

and sacrificing so thatyou can stay at home,

so that you can be healthy.

And please pray for my family,

because I signed up for this.

I'm doing okay, but I've got

a 15, a 14, and a 10-year-old at home.

I have a wife at home who justfinished cancer treatment.

I understand how familiesin America are struggling

to deal with this social distancing,

to deal with the isolation that comes

with staying at home, butwe will get through this.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel,

and the more we focus on it now,

the quicker this will be over.

- U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams,

we appreciate your time, and we appreciate

you sharing with us.

Thank you so much.- Thank you.