Former FDA Commissioner: States and cities may have to shut business ‘for national interests’ amid coronavirus outbreak

Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday cities and states will have to consider shutting down their economies for the sake of national interests amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

“No city wants to be the first to basically shut down their economy, state and cities are going to have to act in the interest of the national interest,” Gottlieb said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” 

“States and cities are going to have to act in the interest of the national interests,” and shut down businesses @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan about #coronavirus. He predicts the federal government will need to provide a significant bailout package to aid economy pic.twitter.com/xkVAoM1Guw

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 8, 2020

He said communities will need to decide whether to shut businesses, theaters and other large gatherings as the virus continues to spread. 

He also said incentives need to be discussed to help localities make these tough choices. {mosads}

“I think we need to think about how do we provide assistance to the people of these cities, who are going to be hit by hardship as well as the localities themselves to try and give them incentives to do this,” Gottlieb said. “Right now if there’s no economic support to do this, you don’t want to be the first to go.”