--- title: Surgeon General Warns of 'Saddest Week' as COVID-19 Spreads description: Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, warned that a difficult week is ahead in an appearance on Fox News Sunday today. canonical: https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-04-05T18:31:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T18:48:10.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Surgeon General Adams Warns of 'Saddest Week of Most Americans' Lives' as COVID-19 Pandemic Spreads og:description: Adams' characterization of the threat has changed markedly since the beginning of the outbreak og:url: https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd05e62a2a719e789/698a0c6c09208f78734168dc/Jerome-Adams.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Vice Admiral Jerome Adams U.S. Surgeon General Speaks At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Surgeon General Adams Warns of 'Saddest Week of Most Americans' Lives' as COVID-19 Pandemic Spreads twitter:description: Adams' characterization of the threat has changed markedly since the beginning of the outbreak twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd05e62a2a719e789/698a0c6c09208f78734168dc/Jerome-Adams.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Surgeon General Adams Warns of 'Saddest Week of Most Americans' Lives' as COVID-19 Pandemic Spreads ## Video: White House Projects 100,000 to 240,000 U.S. Deaths From Coronavirus [Watch (HLS stream): White House Projects 100,000 to 240,000 U.S. Deaths From Coronavirus](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0sAELTk9.m3u8) (1:47)  _Published 2020-04-01. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” ahead as the White House released new projections that there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic._  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:48 PM CUTPublished: Apr 5, 2020 6:31 PM CUT  Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General, speaks to members of the media after a television interview outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, March 20. Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General, speaks to members of the media after a television interview outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, March 20.Al Drago/Bloomberg  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:48 PM CUTPublished: Apr 5, 2020 6:31 PM CUT Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, warned that a difficult week is ahead in an appearance on [_Fox News Sunday_](https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/1246781924917612544 "undefined") today. “This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives,” Adams told host Chris Wallace on Sunday. Adams’ comments come after [President Donald Trump said](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-19/ "undefined") that the U.S. could be facing the “toughest week” of the pandemic on Saturday as the number of deaths from COVID-19 continues to rise. Experts say that the United States has yet to reach the apex of the coronavirus crisis—the point at which the rate of deaths and infections begins to fall—and that American hospitals are likely to struggle to provide care for the swelling number of critically ill patients. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment. Only it’s not going to be localized, it’s going to be happening all over the country,” Adams said. > [](https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/1246781924917612544) Despite this warning, however, Adams defended the federal government’s decision not to issue a national stay-at-home order, arguing that the matter should best be left to the states to make those individual decisions. Adams compared the crisis to the [impact of smoking habits](https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/1246789355785588738 "undefined"), noting that states have different laws concerning smoking. Holding up a report he published on smoking cessation, he said that “More people will die, even in the worst projections, from cigarette smoking, than are going to die from coronavirus this year.” > [](https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/1246789355785588738) “Diseases don’t respect state lines, but we live in a country where we have a system of federalism,” said Adams. [_Keep up to date on the growing threat to global health by signing up for our daily coronavirus newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37918ce5d918b82ded01409b97b89c944b82e7c0c4714103e459d4ec77d4fa2619b8484a7f6cd41088bb8a413a8a29e06fe6 "undefined") Adams’ characterization of the threat posed by COVID-19 has changed markedly since the beginning of the outbreak. On Feb. 1, [he tweeted](https://twitter.com/JeromeAdamsMD/status/1223586401280757762 "undefined") a playful poem that said there was a greater risk of contracting the flu than COVID-19 — a comparison experts say [minimizes the severity](https://time.com/5805894/coronavirus-charts/ "undefined") of COVID-19, which is believed to be far deadlier, and potentially [puts the public at risk](https://www.propublica.org/article/this-coronavirus-is-unlike-anything-in-our-lifetime-and-we-have-to-stop-comparing-it-to-the-flu "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/JeromeAdamsMD/status/1223586401280757762) The Surgeon General’s office also urged the public to “STOP BUYING MASKS” in a [Feb. 29 tweet](https://twitter.com/Surgeon%5FGeneral/status/1233725785283932160?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1233725785283932160&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2020%2F02%2F29%2Fhealth%2Fface-masks-coronavirus-surgeon-general-trnd%2Findex.html "undefined"), declaring that they are are “NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.” However, experts [have argued that this type of statement](https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-to-face-facts-america-masks-work/ "undefined") has inaccurately suggested that masks are useless, and the Trump administration [on Friday established recommendations](https://time.com/5815615/trump-coronavirus-mixed-messaging/ "undefined") that Americans don “non-medical” face coverings. **Correction, April 6** _The original version of this story misstated the name of the anchor who hosted U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams. It was Chris Wallace, not Chris Matthews._ _Please send tips, leads, and stories from the frontlines to virus@time.com._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/"},"headline":"Surgeon General Adams Warns of 'Saddest Week of Most Americans' Lives' as COVID-19 Pandemic Spreads","datePublished":"2020-04-05T18:31:45.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T18:48:10.000Z","description":"Adams' characterization of the threat has changed markedly since the beginning of the outbreak","url":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd05e62a2a719e789/698a0c6c09208f78734168dc/Jerome-Adams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd05e62a2a719e789/698a0c6c09208f78734168dc/Jerome-Adams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vice Admiral Jerome Adams U.S. Surgeon General Speaks At The White House","caption":"Vice Admiral Jerome Adams U.S. Surgeon General Speaks At The White House","creditText":"Al Drago/Bloomberg","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/","name":"Surgeon General Adams Warns of 'Saddest Week of Most Americans' Lives' as COVID-19 Pandemic Spreads"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"White House Projects 100,000 to 240,000 U.S. Deaths From Coronavirus","description":"President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” ahead as the White House released new projections that there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0sAELTk9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-04-01T01:53:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0sAELTk9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/","duration":"PT1M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5815870/jerome-adams-surgeon-general-saddest-week-covid-19/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```