Biden COVID-19 adviser: We can get pandemic under control without another national lockdown

Atul Gawande, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, on Sunday appeared to shoot down claims that the former vice president would order a national lockdown to stop the virus’s spread.

“We are not in support of a nationwide lockdown and believe … there simply isn’t a scenario because we can get this under control,” said Gawande on ABC’s “This Week.”

Gawande said the nation needs a “clear voice from the top backing a national, comprehensive plan” and that the country has so far lacked one, resulting in “disarray” and “confusing messages.”

“That will change,” Gawande said.

Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of Pres.-elect Joe Biden’s transition COVID-19 advisory board, underscores the importance of the transition, saying the team is “ready to go.”

“There’s a lot of information that needs to be transmitted.” https://t.co/n1MpoXGwpW pic.twitter.com/1wSSrnbw1b

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 15, 2020

“The critical parts are understanding what we’ve learned since we did a nationwide lockdown in early April,” Gawande told ABC host Martha Raddatz. “And that is that you can have targeted measures building on mask-wearing to include widespread testing, to include dialing up and down capacity restrictions, and those measures need to happen in a more localized basis.”

Gawande also commented on the need for information and contact with the White House coronavirus task force as the transition to a Biden administration begins.

“It is in the nation’s interest that the transition team get the threat assessments that the team knows about, the — understand the vaccine distribution plans, need to know where the stockpiles are, what the status is of masks and gloves. There’s a lot of information that needs to be transmitted. It can’t wait until the last minute,” he said.

It was announced last week that Gawande, a surgeon, would be joining the Biden COVID-19 advisory board along with former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler. Gawande previously served as an adviser for the Clinton and Obama administrations.