W.H. COVID Adviser Slavitt: ‘I Have Larger Concerns’ about COVID Spread ‘Than What’s Happening at the Border’ Like Travel

On Tuesday’s “CNN Newsroom,” White House Senior Adviser for COVID Response Andy Slavitt stated that while people need to be moved out of CBP facilities that aren’t set up for coronavirus and the message needs to be sent that the border is closed, “I have larger concerns about the spread of the virus than what’s happening at the border right now.” And that “all of the travel and the kind of potential people see for the light at the end of the tunnel, that people are letting their guard down” are bigger possible challenges.

Slavitt said, “Well, we’ve got to very quickly get people into HHS facilities away from the CBP facilities that have not been set up properly for COVID, send the message clearly that the border is closed, which, I think, the Secretary, Mayorkas, has done. And we have teams down there, FEMA teams and others, that are working to get people into safer areas. I would say when it comes to my concerns about the spread of the virus, I have larger concerns about the spread of the virus than what’s happening at the border right now. I have concerns with the — with all of the travel and the kind of potential people see for the light at the end of the tunnel, that people are letting their guard down. And I think that’s really a more significant potential challenge.”

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