Trump testing czar warns local officials may impose ‘draconian measures’ to combat COVID-19

President Trump’s appointed COVID-19 testing czar on Wednesday warned that state and local officials could impose “draconian measures” to limit the virus’s spread if people don’t take the needed steps of social distancing and wearing masks.

“We still can control this” by wearing masks, social distancing and being careful around the holidays, Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.

“Cases will go up if we don’t make a change.” –@HHS_ASH says wearing masks, avoiding crowds and having more testing can help fight the surge in #COVID19 cases pic.twitter.com/mfLuDAUFNI

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 28, 2020

Giroir cautioned residents to heed pandemic cautions, underscoring that local officials in some states could impose “more draconian measures because cases will go up if we don’t make a change.”

Already, some states with populated city centers have rolled back pandemic restrictions mirroring the measures imposed earlier this year.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) announced Tuesday a return to some coronavirus restrictions, such as the ban on indoor dining and bars.

However, some localized courts have interjected against pandemic measures for a second go-around.

Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request to delay the enactment of a previous court decision that determined she did not have the proper authority to continue a state of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer imposed some of the nation’s most stringent sets of COVID-19 measures, leading to a feud with Trump over the restrictions.

Giroir’s comments come as the nation deals with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, setting daily records.

“Yes, we’re getting more cases identified, but the cases are actually going up, and we know that too because hospitalizations are going up,” Giroir said.

“Now, the [daily hospitalization] peak was in the 70,000s, in July, we’re at about 42, 43,000 now, so we’re much less in July. But those are going up, those are real. And we do know that deaths are increasing, unfortunately,” he added.

There are roughly 43,000 people in the hospital with the coronavirus, according to the COVID Tracking Project, up from about 30,000 at the beginning of October.

The U.S. has averaged nearly 71,000 new COVID-19 cases per day in the past week, Johns Hopkins University data showed.

Giroir said that several areas of the country are experiencing high traffic volumes in medical facilities, though noted overall hospitalization rates are drastically lower than the peak in the summer.