Amid a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new guidance on its website, encouraging older people and people with severe chronic medical conditions to “stay at home as much as possible.”
This advice is on a CDC website that was posted Thursday.
The CDC says early data suggests older people and people who have severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung, or kidney disease are at higher risk for more serious illness from the novel coronavirus. The CDC says older people are twice as likely to become seriously ill if they become infected with the virus.
Some context: This advice from the CDC comes as two top infectious disease experts with ties to the federal government have advised people over 60 and those with underlying health problems to strongly consider avoiding activities that involve large crowds, such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls, and going to religious services.
A Trump administration official tells CNN that the US Department of Health and Human Services “is in the process of doing targeted outreach to the elderly community and those that have serious underlying health conditions.”
