Jamillette Gomes holds her two-year-old son, Avian, as he receives a COVID-19 test, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Lawrence, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Jamillette Gomes holds her two-year-old son, Avian, as he receives a COVID-19 test, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Lawrence, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

 

UNITED NATIONS — The White House coronavirus response coordinator says Americans must not gather indoors with outsiders or take off their masks at any time when they are outdoors — even when they are eating and drinking.

Dr. Deborah Birx says people also have to observe social distancing and wash their hands to contain the coronavirus pandemic. She says some states are taking these measures, but in others it’s “not happening at the level that they need to happen.”

Birx says that even once vaccines are approved, it will take weeks to months before “the most vulnerable individuals in America” can be immunized.

She made the comments after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir at U.N. headquarters in New York on Thursday.

As reported by Vos Iz Neias