THE US Surgeon General said coronavirus guidelines amount to a "national stay at home order" – but a 30-day lockdown may not stop the disease everywhere. 

Dr Jerome Adams emphasized every state has a different curve and some areas "won’t reach their peak" within the next month despite the COVID-19 measures. 

"The governors get to make the decisions but we’re going to give them the best guidance we can," said Adams on Wednesday.

"My advice to America is that these guidelines are a national stay at home order."

He admitted the death projections were "sobering" on the TODAY Show Wednesday.

"They don’t have to be our reality," he said. "If we really do our part stay at home social distance then we can flatten our curve even below those projections but it really depends on all of us."

Adams highlighted that states like Washington and California, as well as hard-hit countries like Italy, "leaned into aggressive mitigation" to flatten their curve. 

His comments come after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the White House hasn't recommended the order which has been implemented by 17 other governors.

“The task force has not recommended that to me," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Obviously, if they do, that is something that would carry a lot of weight with me.”

Governor Janet Mills issued a stay-at-home order for Maine on Wednesday, joining around 31 other states to implement the measure in varying degrees as of April 1.

During the interview, Adams conceded that originally the CDC, WHO, and the White House task force had recommended against wearing masks based on the best available evidence at the time.

"We're learning more and more about this virus," Adams said.

"[We have] asked the CDC to look into whether we should change our recommendation to prevent people from spreading the novel coronavirus."

The top doc said they are looking into whether cloth masks may be an option to bring people back together after the disease peaks in the next 30 days.

He urged Americans to save the vital N95 masks for healthcare workers and warned people wearing a mask not to touch their face.

The White House expert also acknowledged NY Governor Cuomo's point about 50 states bidding against each other in buying the critical ventilators needed for COVID-19 patients.

"We’re trying to purchase what we can for the stockpile and send it to places like New York that need it the most," Adams said. "We’re also trying to ensure that other states and governors can get priority purchasing at a reasonable rate.

"I think [Cuomo] raises a fair concern and it’s one of the things that we’re working with to try and make sure the equipment can get to where it’s needed in an efficient way and without price gauging." 

Cuomo has repeatedly said that his hard-hit state will need 30,000 ventilators to cope with the influx of coronavirus patients.

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