'Now or never': Ex-Trump official warns president time is running out to stop virus 'burning out of control'

Tom Bossert, who served as a homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump during the first two years of his administration, is warning the president that time is running short to stop the coronavirus from becoming a major health crisis in the United States.

Writing in the Washington Post, Bossert argues that the time is "now or never" to stop coronavirus from "burning out of control" in the United States.

Bossert starts by explaining to the president why the coronavirus is much more dangerous than the flu.

"This virus is such a threat because it is both highly infectious and lethal, and not enough people are being tested, despite significant recent effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," he writes. "By the time cases are confirmed, significant community transmission has likely already occurred."

He then warns the president that time is a crucial factor in getting the virus under control -- and he says that America does not have long to act.

"Time matters," he writes. "Two weeks of delay can mean the difference between success and failure. Public health experts learned this in 1918 when the Spanish flu killed 50 million to 100 million people around the globe. If we fail to take action, we will watch our health-care system be overwhelmed."

Read the whole editorial here.