ABC7 talks with former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert about returning to 'normal'
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Everyone is ready to get back to normal as we endure life during the pandemic, but what will that look like?
ABC7's Alison Starling spoke to ABC News Analyst Tom Bossert today. Bossert was previously Homeland Security Advisor to President Trump.
Alison asks, “there are a lot of states very, very anxious to reopen; what are the dangers of these states reopening too quickly?”
“Yes, Georgia is the big hot button discussion today. The danger, of course, is easy, it's a second wave," Bossert says.
I think the thing to tell people at this stage is to be patient in so doing we'll return faster or at least return to some profitability faster, I want to dispel the notion that we're returning to normal I think we have to be clear with ourselves there's not going to be a return to normal for the next year or so.
Starling asks “we need to adjust our expectations, can you give me specifics?”
“Alison, when I say that we need can't return to normal, what I mean is to give a dose of reality to people who think the horses will come out of the barn and we'll return to have our summer vacations and our fourth of July celebrations and all of it will be unchanged, that's just not realistic. What we're seeing is the supermajority of Americans are still susceptible meaning they haven't gotten sick, they certainly haven't died and that means they have no antibodies and they're walking around exposed to this new disease."
Alison asks “what is your assessment of our local leadership during this crisis?”
”Mayor Bowser is my Mayor, and my assessment of her having worked with her in multiple disasters and crises is she's good, she's competent, she has the right team around her and I'm very comfortable to have her there with her experience," Bossert says. "Same goes for the Governors of Virginia and Maryland. In particular, Maryland Governor Hogan is doing a tremendous job leading his state but also leading the rest of the Governors in the Governors Association."
Bossert says the next test four our local leaders is how well they roll out a plan for testing and contact tracing, which means identifying who was in contact with someone who has tested positive.
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