Health experts told a House committee that the government's messaging around the novel coronavirus outbreak needs to be more consistent, according to MedPage Today.
The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing March 4 with public health experts, who told the committee that the President DonaldTrump's administration has given conflicting statements regarding the outbreak.
Tom Inglesby, MD, director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told the committee that government officials must use "as much of a single, consistent voice as they can" when discussing the outbreak and the efforts being taken to stem it.
Dr. Inglesby also said the government should share information with the public, but not in an "alarmist way."
Julie Gerberding, MD, former CDC director and current executive at pharmaceutical company Merck, told the committee that giving the public straightforward information will help prevent panic, though the messaging about the outbreak will likely change over time.
During the hearing, the public health experts also emphasized the need for funding, particularly at the local level. Ngozi O. Ezike, MD, director of the Illinois Department of Health, said the outbreak cost Illinois more than $20 million in the first five weeks and includes funds spent on providing adequate housing to isolate patients and running laboratories for testing.
Later in the day on March 4, the House passed a nearly $8 billion emergency funding bill to combat the outbreak, according to NBC News.