US 'Not In Total Control' Of Pandemic, Cases Could Soar to 100,000 A Day: Fauci

In a senate hearing held on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci shared an inkling that the U.S. could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a day as not all Americans are consistently practicing preventive measures such as wearing masks or social distancing.

According to a report, Dr. Fauci who had been one of the country's top COVID-19 researchers said that he "would not be surprised" if numbers were to soar that high.

Admitting that the U.S. has not been able to control its spread, Dr. Fauci referenced his testimony on recent studies that detailed the changes in COVID-19 infection rates over the past months.

He shed light on the current standing of the country and has said that the U.S. has been recording more than 40,000 new cases over the past five days - half of which come from the states of Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California.

Dr. Fauci details that these states are among the most heavily hit by the pandemic and are also among the states that have attempted to reopen in the past month but were forced to reimpose their lockdowns due to the rise in its COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Fauci's forecast appears to agree with the data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project which recorded that the rate of daily infections has doubled in the past month. He said that one important factor which may hasten the rate of the spread of the infection is the fact that not all Americans are practicing the advised COVID-19 preventive measures despite the severity of the country's situation.

Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York which has the most number of infections to date, had doubled the initial list of states that are required to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine if they visit the state. The list now contained 16 states, to wit: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, and Tennessee.

Reportedly, the said list affects nearly half of all U.S. residents.

Dr. Fauci also expressed his criticism on states that had disregarded the required benchmarks for reopening and has told Senator Elizabeth Warren that the lack of diligence will result in a disturbing surge of cases.

He urged the U.S. government to maintain its stance on social distancing measures and the use of face masks adding that the government should distribute them to all Americans without a cost.

Dr. Anne Schuchat who is the Principal Deputy Director of the CDC shared Fauci's sentiments and has also warned that the U.S. is not responding in the same way that other countries are containing the pandemic.

To date, the U.S. has recorded 2.69M confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 130K deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.