Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Defense Production Act: Don’t need to ‘compel’ businesses to help

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Monday said it’s not necessary to “compel” someone to do what they’re already doing when asked about the idea of President Trump’s invoking the Defense Production Act to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Here’s the thing that people don’t understand: You don’t need to compel someone to do something they are already doing,” Dr. Adams said on NBC’s “Today” program.

He pointed to the companies Honeywell and 3M, which are stepping up production and shipments of protective masks, as examples.

“The other important point is that we’re not going to ventilator our way out of this problem. We’re not going to treat our way out of this problem,” Dr. Adams said. “The way you stop the spread of an infectious disease like this is with mitigation measures and preventing people from getting it in the first place, and so while we are focusing on supply we also need to focus on driving down demand this week.”

Democrats have called on Mr. Trump to use the Korean War-era law to compel private companies to start producing supplies such as ventilators and masks.

But the president said on Sunday that the U.S. isn’t a country based on nationalizing its businesses and that the mere threat of using the law sent tremors through the country’s business community.

There are now more than 34,000 positive coronavirus cases in the U.S., as well as more than 400 coronavirus-related deaths.