President Donald Trump has tried to make Americans feel like it will take just 15 days to calm the spread of the coronavirus. If the country locked down for 15 days, it's possible the spread could stop, or at the very least it would give hospitals the opportunity to tackle the problem.
Research director Michael Osterholm from the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Diseases warned that this could go on for as many as 18 months if we don't lock down to contain the spread of the virus.
"So, first of all, again just from a straight talk standpoint, let's clear up a couple of things," he began. "One, I think the imperial college report is right. It's going to be 15 to 18 months and we're going to have to decide how we're going to live during that time, not just die from the virus. Second of all, let me just say, what the president did today in signing that act is largely cosmetic. And I resent the fact we're trying to sell to America we're doing something we're not."
He explained that companies that make respirators and protective gear have been working full time and every machine has been running for weeks.
"There's nothing new coming," Osterholm explained. "You just don't invent these overnight. so we are going to be very short on these issues. as far as testing, I think we're going to see an implosion of testing in three, four weeks. We're running out of reagents. The world doesn't have enough reagents right now. We do not support drive-by testing right now. We need to focus it in hospitals where it will have its most important good and we're going to be rationing testing in a way that we haven't even thought about just within a few weeks because we can't."
Watch his full comments below: