Surgeon general expects social distancing guidelines to continue after April 30

Jerome Adams.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says he expects to continue recommending Americans follow social distancing guidelines into May.

Adams appeared Wednesday on Today after President Trump recently extended the federal government's social distancing guidelines to April 30. Trump had previously floated the idea of the country being "opened up" by Easter on April 12.

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"In my opinion, I think that in 30 days, we will still be telling the country in general that you need to practice these measures," Adams said. "But in 30 days, some places may not need to have a shelter-in-place anymore. So again, we'll start to ease this in 30 days, I think, in some places, but in some places, we'll be ramping it up. We'll follow the data."

Upon announcing the extension of the federal social distancing guidelines, Trump predicted that "by June 1st, we will be well on our way to recovery," and "a lot of great things will be happening."

Adams also said in the interview that because "everyone is on a different place on their curve," some states are "going to need to continue social distancing" after 30 days, while others "may be able to relax some of their recommendations earlier."

The surgeon general additionally addressed the fact that numerous states have not issued stay-at-home orders including Florida, with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) recently saying Trump "has not recommended" that he do so. But Adams on Today described the federal social distancing guidelines as "a national stay-at-home order." Brendan Morrow

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.