‘We will get back to normal’: HHS Secretary Alex Azar says nation working hard on comeback after pandemic

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Testing is increasing and the worst of COVID-19 is, for now, behind us.

In an interview with Eyewitness News, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said testing is ramping up nationwide, allowing communities across the nation to emerge from the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Very pleased with the testing levels we’ve seen in the United States. We’ve crossed over 16 million tests. We’re going to be doing over 13 million in the weeks,” Azar said. “In the coming weeks, we’re going to be testing 350,000 to 400,000 people every day.”

The Secretary says that testing, coupled with tracing will allow things to reopen by giving the public confidence in safety.

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“It’s the good work of public health and we’re going to have tens of thousands of people at the state and local level that do that, and you find who they have been in contact with, you test all of them and you isolate out anyone who is positive and you quarantine people,” says Azar.

But concerns remain for HHS. The secretary said every patient and staff member in a nursing home must be tested. He also said, as we move through the summer, we must start looking at reopening schools safely.

“We have historic levels of testing,” says Azar. “We have the contact tracing. We have the surveillance systems. We’re working to develop therapeutics and vaccines and we have got to get our kids back to school so we have part of getting ourselves back to work.”

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The secretary said some options for schools include separating desks, smaller classroom sizes, allowing kids to eat at their desks and avoiding assemblies.

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